Golden Kamuy – 39 – Echos in the Sulfur

Privates Usami and Nikaido are washing their privates with the healing waters of the famed Noboribetsu hot springs when Warrant Officer Kikuta and Private Ariko ask them if they have heard any rumors of a strange man walking around in the nearby mountains wearing geta and wearing “strange patterns”. The other privates, still two of Tsurumi’s men, claim ignorance, as does their masseur.

But the masseur, Toni, turns out to be the soldiers’ next tattooed target. He and his blind companions head out in the night, but due to the moonlight and snow it’s not pitch dark, and Kikuta uses a purported pirate’s trick of wearing an eyepatch all day so one of your eyes is adjusted to the dark. The sound of geta turns out to be Toni’s mouth clicking, using echo location to see.

Kikuta, Ariko, Usami and Nikaido join forces and are led into a cave, where they give away their position to their target whenever they tread upon the rare ice stalagmites found there. Kikuta eventually just lights a torch so he can get a clearer shot, hitting Toni in the shoulder.

He leaves the remainder of the hunt to Ariko, who is not only Ainu but a member of a famous group of Ainu who braved the most inhospitable conditions imaginable to bring back the bodies of soldiers who lost their lives in a mountaineering mission gone horribly wrong.

Knowing Toni will be listening to every sound he makes, Ariko, who also knows these mountains like the back of his hand, leads his prey into a spot where his rifle shots cause an avalanche that buries him. “I lose,” a bitter Toni says before he meets his demise.

Four days pass and Ariko fails to return to Noboribetsu, so Kikuta heads out in search of him, and finds him staying in an Ainu village, having removed and dried Toni’s tattooed skin. It will make a fine gift for the two to find themselves back in Lt. Tsurumi’s good graces.

And while their little adventure is fun enough and features plenty of clever tactics, I must admit I still missed Sugimoto, Asirpa, Shiraishi & Co., whom we only get to see at the very end, with an apparently drunk Sugimoto and Shiraishi being gross after eating Granny’s spit-infused rice dumplings. Asirpa doesn’t even say anything! Hopefully we get more time with the main crew soon.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 02 – Blue Ruin

Word comes down the ranks to the 12th Squad scrubs crashing at Ichigo’s that Soul Society has been attacked, the 1st Squad’s Lieutenant Sasakibe is dead, and all 116 squad members were killed in just over three minutes of fighting. At the bad guys’ HQ, their leader has no qualms about cutting off arms, legs, and heads of those who displease him.

We also see he has 3rd Espada Tier Harribel in custody, presumably to use her as a soldier in his war. While Ichigo is on a patrol of town to clear his head, Arrancars Nel and Pesche literally drop in on him, in an acute state of panic and distress.

When Lt. Sasakibe’s funeral pyre is lit, the episode does a smash cut to the blue flames of a gas stove as Yuzu cooks dinner while Karin watches TV. The blue flames are a symbol of the power of the Quincy, while one shot of Ichigo’s beloved little sisters are all that’s needed to make the stakes plain.

Pesche and Nel recount the invasion of Hueco Mundo and the capture of both Harribel and their large companion Dondochakka. They’ve come to Ichigo to ask for his help, and predictably, Ichigo agrees, and both Chad and Orihime are with him. Uryuu declares he can’t accompany them, since he’s Quincy sworn to destroy Hollows and Arrancar. Thus the main quartet is already down a member, and Uryuu’s loyalty to his friends will surely tested.

Urahara Kisuke, having noticed the not-so-quiet arrival of Arrancar to the World of the Living, offers to take Ichigo & Co. to Hueco Mundo via Garganta. They arrive to a land even more ruined than usual, with enemy soldiers in white uniforms rounding up the scant Arrancar survivors of the battle.

Little blue fires are omnipresent among the ruins; a dead giveaway that this was the work of the Quincy. And while even though Pesche doesn’t sense Dondochakka among the nearest group of POWs being herded away, Ichigo wants to get a closer look at his enemy, and if possible, give them a bloody nose.

One of the commanders of the Quincy invasion and subjugation forces is the flamboyant Quilge Opie, who is looking for “choice” Arrancar that might possibly be of use to their cause (read: competent cannon fodder). That said, he doesn’t give the lineup of captives an equal chance of survival, but rather stabs a number of them to death simply because he can.

Two of the captives are of a higher level than most: Loly and Menoly, Lord Aizen’s former aides. They ditch their cloaks, brandish their blades, and introduce themselves, but they’re no match for Quilge, who shatters their blades and easily disables them both.

This activity attracts the attention of still stronger Arrancar, namely Harribel’s Fraccion, the Tres Bestia of Mila Rose, Sun-Sun, and Apacci. The three are their usual cocky, argumentative, and highly skilled selves, and they dispatch seemingly all of Quilge’s underlings.

However, by the time Ichigo and Nel arrive, Quilge is looming over their defeated bodies, quite unscathed. One would hope that won’t be the case in a battle against Ichigo, but Ichigo is only one human, and the Quincy know who he is and possibly how best to fight him. I don’t think he can expect any “easy” battles going forward.

More than a married couple, but not lovers. – 02 – Hearing her out to the end

Jirou is having a lovely dream about Shiori visiting him in the night, only to be woken up by Akari wanting the same thing. Not so fast: she wants him to watch scary movies with her so they’ll earn points—while wearing matching PJs she’s comfortable enough to change into with him right there (with his back turned). When there’s a blackout, Jirou also learns Akari’s not great with storms or the dark.

Jirou may not learn here that Akari’s as inexperienced in love as he is, but her little vulnerabilities help bring her down to earth, as someone more approaching an equal to Jirou rather than someone to place on a pedestal and venerate (or resent her elite gyaru status). Between the close quarters and a sweet-smelling aromatherapy candle, a cozy chemistry emerges, with Jirou even admitting how cute Akari is and how hard she’s working, thinking she’s asleep when she’s not…and is very flattered!

As a result of spending the night together on the couch (avoiding the no-going-in-each-other’s-rooms rule) Jirou and Akari earn enough points to end up ranked 8th in their class. But both are shocked to find that Shiori and Minami are ranked 71st. If the other couple doesn’t make Rank A, all their efforts are for naught.

While Jirou can’t deny he’s a little happy things aren’t going well with Shiroi and Minami, as he friend he wants to help, but can’t broach the subject, and then he’s out with a cold. Shiori’s best friend Mei, who is either overprotective or has a crush on her herself (maybe both!) cheers Shiori up with her piano play and a willing ear.

Just as Jirou admits to be being a little hurt Akari went out with her friends instead of taking care of him, while also dreaming of Shiori taking care of him, it’s Shiori who is at the door with a bag of stuff to nurse him back to health.

Rather than an angel sent by heaven, Shiori was asked by Akari to look after Jirou, both knowing Jirou is in love with her and that, most likely, Shiori feels the same way. I’m not sure how premeditated this was for Akari, but this results in us getting almost the full measure of Jirou and Shiori’s history together.

Shiori still cherishes the day she was sick in elementary school and Jirou came and replaced her forehead compress, and relishes the opportunity to repay the favor. Jirou also watches intently as Shiori puts on an apron like a pro to whip up some rice porridge for him.

He’s worried this sudden wife-like attention will “give him the wrong idea”, but he’s had that ever since they parted ways when she had to transfer schools in middle school. Before he could summon the courage to confess to her, she asked him if they could remain friends despite the new geographic distance.

Jirou thought he was being friendzoned, so he canceled the confession, but he was mistaken. Just as he needed to make a great effort to even consider voicing his feelings for her, so too did Shiori, and those were the compromised words that came out at the wrong time. These two have loved each other all along, but that misunderstanding kept them from getting what they both wanted.

Now they’re “married” to separate people for this ridiculous school training, but Jirou’s cold afforded them the chance to live out what life might’ve been like if they had gotten their confessions for each other out into the open. It broke my heart when Shiori’s voice broke after she said, quite genuinely, that she thought it would be better if he were her husband. But my heart was re-forged when Jirou took her hand and, without thinking, called her “Shiori”, which causes her heart to similarly swell.

Shiori remembers that day just as much as Jirou does as a missed opportunity. Shiori was mere words from asking him on a date to see fireworks, but since he believed that would be as “just friends” he made an excuse to part ways right then and there. When Jirou called her “Shiori”, her mind went blank from happiness.

Not only that, when she’s sure he’s asleep, she leans in to steal a kiss…just as Akari’s galfriends are teasing her about the possibility of Shiori stealing Minami away. Shiori doesn’t kiss Jirou, but still prays that one day he’ll hear her out to the end. If only he did, he’d know that she wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her.

The thing is, things are no longer so simple. Despite her haughty gal front and enduring crush on Minami, the fact is Jirou is the one with whom she’s experiencing all these new things. It’s gotten to the point that even when Jirou thanks her when she gets home for asking Shiori to come by, and resolves to work his hardest so she can be with Minami, she’s actually annoyed, despite herself.

Shiori isn’t going to be falling for Minami anytime soon. Maybe we’ll get Minami-centric episode at some point, but for now he’s simply a placeholder. Ironically, the harder Jirou and Akari work to make Rank A, the more good times they’ll have and the more they’ll learn about each other that overwrites their shallow first impressions of one another. By the time they’re offered the opportunity to exchange partners, who’s to say they’ll want to?