Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 18 – Speaking the True Name

At his fancy new subdimensional HQ, Kurotsuchi calls Head Captain Kyouraku and tells him to do his job. Only around 30% of Soul Society’s military force remains, so Kyouraku orders all soul reapers to regroup at the nearest barracks that’s still standing, regardless of their squad and rank.

Captain Muguruma wastes no time whipping out his bankai, which creates armor around his arms and fists, making him seem like a good match for the pugilistic luchador. But while Muguruma pounds him into submission, he fails to account for James, his opponent’s #1 Fan.

Jame’s cheer powers up the wrestler, who turns the tables and beats Muguruma to a pulp before revealing his name and rank: “S”, “The Superstar,” Mask de Masculine. Which is wonderfully ridiculous in the true spirit of Bleach baddies.

Rose thought he wouldn’t be needed, but once he learns he is, he also unleashes his rather unique bankai, which takes the form of a
“musical troupe of death” and makes Mask believe he’s wielding both fire and water at the same time.

Unfortunately, Rose is a little too eager to explain his bankai, which uses sound to create deceptions. Mask counters his third and final “movement” by piercing his own eardrums, then sending a massive star-shaped beam right through Rose’s chest.

This somehow doesn’t kill Rose, but Mask moves in for a finisher when his star beam is blocked…by Abarai Renji’s Zabimaru. He’s back, along with Kuchiki Rukia, and both are sporting what I’ll call “Soul Society skiwear.”

Renji tells Rukia to fall back and get the two captains treated, and while it’s clear she doesn’t really want to leave Renji’s side, she obeys, and gets them to Kotetsu Isane, now the acting-captain of the 4th Squad by dint of Unohana’s death. Mask calls Renji a dirty, cowardly villain, a mantle he has no problem picking up and running with…starting with beheading that twerp James.

When Renji’s attack tears Mask’s mask, a multitude of James emerge from Jame’s corpse, and Mask breaks out his Vollstandig, growing wings and bashing Renji around like a pinball in midair. But despite the cataclysmic star-shaped explosion Mask brings down on him, it doesn’t make a scratch.

That’s because while he was hanging with Hyousube Ichibei, who came up with the whole idea of zanpakutos, shikais, and bankais, Renji learned that all this time he’d been getting his bankai’s name wrong. It isn’t Hihio Zabimaru…it’s So-Oh Zabimaru.

Mask has no hope against the full force of Zabimaru, and Renji turns him into literal dust. That’s now two Stern Ritters down in as many episodes, and with Ichigo still nowhere near the battlefield. Just twenty-four to go. Yes, Yhwach appears to “absorb” Mask, or at least his reishi, but doing so also causes Yhwach to “fall asleep”.

A confused Ishida watches this unfold, as Yhwach descends back into the shadows, and Haschwalth emerges in his place. Haschwalth isn’t sure even Ishida’s grandfather knows quite what Yhwach is, but as Ishida is Yhwach’s handpicked successor, Haschwalth is open to telling him.

Horimiya: Piece – 06 – Material Things

Our first Piece this week is, as the kids say, a little mid. The big news is that Sengoku invites Izumi, Shuu, and Tooru over for a sleepover. Unfortunately, Sengoku’s room is a little too small for all of them. Call it Dude Tetris. My favorite part of this segment is Sengoku’s awesome loft bed with bookcase steps.

As for Shuu getting all weird about the prospect of Sengoku trying to make a move on Izumi…meh. Sengoku has realized he’s never seen Izumi without a shirt on, even in situations where that would be normal. But since the StuCo president knowing Izumi had tattoos would be problematic, Shuu and Tooru do their utmost to run interference.

The second and third Pieces are much sweeter and more affecting, as Remi figures heavily into both and Remi is an angel anyone would protect with their life. She’s also pretty upfront about when she wants to be spoiled with affection from her boyfriend.

Since this is an anime, that means holding hands in the cold weather and walking together. When they get to her place, Remi wants a hug. When Sengoku calls her, she runs to him and wraps her arms around him, but then he does the same to her and it’s all warm and fuzzy and dawwww.

Finally, Remi is key in the final segment because Kyouko, Yuki, Tooru and Shuu all watch Sengoku slink off with Sakura and then go to a restaurant together. Is he cheating? Duh, of course not.

There’s a reason they’re together and being secretive: Sakura told Remi she’d buy her some fancy premium cookies if she scored a 60 on her next math test; Remi insisted “material things” don’t motivate her.

When she gets a 58 instead and Sakura still brings the cookies (no doubt purchased with Sengoku’s help), it’s not officially a reward for her score, but that hardly matters. Sakura’s reward is getting to see Remi’s face while she eats the cookies with gratitude.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades – 05 – Under the Skin

Oliver’s shadow, Carste, is extremely contrite about not being by his side when a Garuda attacked, but I can’t rule out that his brother hung him out to dry on purpose to test his mettle. Katie’s gentle treatment of the troll has him eating again, and Vera Milligan is very intrigued by her progress with the big guy.

Of course, it was fairly clear she was behind the Garuda attack owing to the shot of someone with identical hair at the end of last week’s ep. There’s also what amounts to a spoiler in the OP that was there all along of Vera looking sinister in front of some very foreboding vats in some kind of lab. That image haunts sweet Katie’s steps.

On the bright side of things, the bullying of Katie has ceased overnight, and Nanao is super-popular for her flashy fight with the Garuda. Katie resents that Oliver, whom it’s clear she has a little thing for, isn’t getting the same rewards. A playful Chela decides to give him one in the form of a “victory kiss”.

Before her lips reach his face, Nanao appears beside them, and when she hears of a victory kiss, she doesn’t hesitate giving Oliver one, much to Katie’s scandilization. Nanao even has Oliver about to kiss her back when his pretty older cousin stops by to say hi…and steal a kiss of her own.

Poor Katie…so much competition for her guy! For that matter, poor Guy and Pete, in whom no girls seem interested…

I’m glad this series hasn’t abandoned the occasional magical class sequence. We see the aftermath of a particularly bloody biology class in which garms and wargs are dissected (I’m surprised Katie went along with it), and we also have Grenville, the alchemy teacher, doing his best Severus Snape impression.

Unlike Snape, Grenville doesn’t mock Oliver when he comes to each and every classmate’s aid when they screw up the alchemy process, including and overconfident Pete who almost blew himself up. While Grenville’s praise is delivered with his usual dour surliness, it’s genuine praise, and Oliver’s friends congratulate him for finally getting some public props.

However, Oliver’s new frenemy Mr. Andrews gives him a friendly warning after class not to trust Grenville, who is infamous for inviting his favorite students to alchemy gatherings, then stealing their ideas and passing them off on his own. I’m more inclined to think Oliver will infiltrate Grenville’s little clique on purpose to gather more intel on Kimberly.

Richard also gets his friend (toadie?) Miss Mackley to own up to what she did during the parade in town. It was she who cast a spell Katie to make her legs run toward the troll. She’s sorry about that, and seems sincere enough, but she insists she didn’t cast a spell to drive the troll crazy. Oliver and Chela believe her. There must’ve been second spell-user.

Katie, who continues to show she’s far tougher than she looks, tables discussion of who did what to the troll, and decides to hang out with the troll more. To her surprise, he starts to speak, telling her o stay away from him, not because he doesn’t like her, but for her own good. Hiding behind a wall is an increasingly sinister-looking Vera.

While Oliver helps Nanao some fire and wind magic training, having her imagine the outside world and her body becoming one and such, Nanao says something that turns on a light bulb in Oliver’s head. At the time of the incident, Nanao didn’t think the troll was rampaging, but trying to escape to the school gates.

Oliver puts what he knows together and they rush to the troll enclosure to find Katie missing, and her athame on the ground. The troll tells them she was taken somewhere deep and dark—the Labyrinth.

Oliver and Nanao find a dark, abandoned classroom amidst Kimberly’s vast halls, go through a magic mirror into the Labyrinth, but he stops when they reach a point that will be too dangerous without upperclassmen support. Unfortunately, the one they’re pursuing already knows they’re there, and magically teleports them into her lab.

There, Vera makes no bones about her intentions: she is a demi-human rights activist who experiments on demi-humans in order to make them capable of human speech and intelligence, so they can one day join society. Fine ends, but far from fine means. She’s basically a mad scientist, and the very entities she claims to care about are her victims.

The troll wanted to get away from her, but with Katie, Vera believes she has the key to completing his development. To use that key, Vera wants to dissect Katie’s brain. She implies it will be a painless procedure and leave no scars, so I assume Katie won’t die, but still…this is really freakin’ bad and wrong!

When Nanao turns her hair white and rushes at Vera without assessing the situation, Vera reveals that the eye under her bangs is that of a basilisk, able to petrify anyone with her glare. Five of her siblings died before it chose her, demonstrating that some magical families are more barbaric than others.

But while her harsh, violent upbringing explains her motivations, it doesn’t justify her actions. Oliver and Nanao need to save Katie, or at least buy time for an upperclassman to help them out. But Vera is determined to perform her experiments and neutralize anyone who would stop her.

7 Spellblades continues to provide engrossing, satisfying storytelling, mystery weaving, and character and world building. One week Andrews does a face turn, the next Vera does a heel turn. These developments expertly keep the audience on its toes, while underscoring the danger of Kimberly contrasted with the cozy camaraderie of the friend group.

Rent-a-Girlfriend – 29 – 4 Da Film

Summer break is here, and with it comes the start of the college film crew making Kazuya and Chizuru’s film. The director makes a little speech to the crew, and Chizuru proves she’s a pro by giving her own.

But Kazuya isn’t used to this kinda thing, and isn’t even sure he knows what he’s doing or whether he can. But when he does manage to get some words out, they have a childish idealism that the crew responds to, especially after Chizuru begins clapping.

This episode had some very beautifully composed and lit scenes and close-ups, but it also featured some extremely janky animation and off-model characters a bit more often than I’d like. The first day of filming is also presented as a sequence of stills.

But as I said, it’s not all bad, and Chizuru’s experly acted sunset scene, made possible after Kazuya nearly gets himself killed shooing a cicada off a bridge, looks really nice and packs a punch by dint of the lighting and palette.

Kazuya is also moved by Chizuru’s performance; so moved, in fact, that he descends back into a downward spiral of insecurity and self-consciousness. He can’t help but put Chizuru on a pedestal higher than the Burj al Khalifa, and feel like she’s a different species he has no business being anywhere near.

This depressive state causes Kazuya to unconsciously avoid Chizuru as they film, and when they end up alone together outside during a break, she thankfully calls him out on it. He also comes clean about how he feels so inadequate, and she tells him his life is just as wonderful as hers, and there’s no need for a hierarchy. The sun happens to come out as she breaks him out of his mood with a smile nearly as bright as the sun.

After she does, both she and the rest of the crew notice how he’s become more upbeat and energetic, no longer hung up on how awesome Chizuru is or how trash he is. Chizuru likes this focused, competent version of Kazuya.

When the director tells Kazuya he’ll be unavailable to film the final scene of the movie, which takes place in Madarao, he finds himself facing a scenario of going on a trip along with Chizuru, which he doesn’t think he can handle.

Mini agrees to come along and also organize their accomodations, if Kazuya contacts Chizuru and Ruka. Chizuru, for her part, is all in; she’ll do anything for the movie.

But the morning the four are supposed to meet and board the Shinkansen, it’s just Kazuya and Chizuru. Mini calls him and says she arranged it so she and Ruka wouldn’t be a third and fourth wheel, and her shisho has a real chance to get closer to Chizuru.

Mini tells both Ruka and Chizuru that she has the flu, so whether he likes it or not, Kazuya is alone with Chizuru on this trip. When the alarm for the closing door sounds, the two find themselves aboard the train when it sets off. They’re in new territory.

Chizuru does her thing where she shuts one eye as she says Mini has the idea that they like each other, then heads off to the bathroom. While there, she drops the cool act, and we see her for the flustered mess she is.

She and Kazuya are the same in this regard: yes, this is supposed to be for the movie, but in the moments Kazuya is able to let go of his anxiety, he actually really enjoys just naturally interacting with Chizuru.

As for Chizuru, when they get off the train and head to the next leg of their journey, she seems ready to say something to Kazuya, but can’t quite get the words out. Kazuya takes notice of this, but he doesn’t press. He may need to sooner rather than later.

Whatever those words were, they’re important to these two figuring things out, both now and beyond the movie. Because it’s increasingly starting to look like their relationship won’t just end when the movie is finished—or, at least, neither of them want it to.