ACCOMPLISHED.




*BLEACH 226 SPOILERS*
*BLEACH 226 SPOILERS*
*BLEACH 226 SPOILERS*




Months of questioning and pondering. A long, long period of isolation and paranoia. Weeks of wondering whether or not I had been spoiled, attempting to convince myself that I actually had not been subjected to such a failure at so close of a point. The long hours spent away from DA as the episode's online posting crept closer and closr, terrified of the ultimate finish-line trip-up...and all of them served to lead to a revelation that satisfied, surprised, and elicited much "WHOA."

Harribel. Is. A. Beast.

The number had been spoiled to me from about five different sources. I had also worked it out myself by Tite Kubo's usual pattern...and that of anyone. In a group composed of nine guys and a girl, the girl will be neither ten nor one. And there followed a process of elimination that left me with three possible answers (2, 3, or 7), and the design of another Espada (Barragan) really narrowed it down to two choices. It was all just a matter of waiting and finding out for sure. And pretending I didn't know.

As for Mr. "I Am the Primera". I was hinted, believed it, and was then more or less spoiled...but only in the manner of confirmation. Surprise was not really there with the numbers.

The SMILE, on the other hand...all of my doubts about his evil-ness kind of turned to ash.


And...speaking of "turned to ash"....


Old. Man. Yama.

FIRST, he pwned Aeon. Allon. However you want to spell it. SEVERAL TIMES. Allon went all ROIDS on us, and Yama just pulled out the first blow.

And then...

*sniffle*

He dashed my hopes of my favorite three Fraccion lingering on with one arm each for the rest of the battle. They dashed in foolishly, and he annihilated all of them. Freeing their souls...sure...but...*sniff*...I liked them...

But then came the CROWNING MOMENT OF AWESOME for Harribel-sama.

When she LIVED UP TO AND SURPASSED EVERY EXPECTATION I HAD OF HER by SHOWING CONCERN AND RESPECT FOR HER FRACCION.

"Apache...Sun-Sun...Mila Rose...you fought bravely."

And then she LOSES it. Earlier, she'd been showing surprise as Hydrahyourinmaru attacked her from all sides, and Hitsugaya pushed back. But now...she freaks out, and her sword GLOWS WITH ENERGY and she THROWS SHIRO-CHAN BACK, and then OPENS HER SHIRT and lets nowhere near ALL OF HER ENERGY GO with a blast of yellow energy that BARELY LETS HITSUGAYA GO BANKAI.


Oh, I forgot to mention zee hilarious filler scene with Soifon and Omaeda at the start...with Barragan...

But WHATEVER, HARRIBEL ALSO HAD A FREAKING MASK WITH TEETH UNDER THERE. SHE IS CREEPY LOOKING.

She also had a very revealing outfit that I'm sure was toned down from the manga.

I had actually been expecting her to have her Hollow hole underneath the collar...right through her mouth...but it was close enough. The design was similar. Just no hole.

But then, after that....Stark immediately revealed HIS number, and also GAVE A MURDEROUS SMILE THAT MADE ME REALIZE THAT HE LOOKS A LOT LIKE FIRELORD OZAI.

Which, apparently, wasn't in the manga...

But STILL.

And then Barragan widened his eye, creepily, and they all let off full blasts of reiatsu that basically promised a huge, epic battle...which we were then, of course, immediately swept away from.

To Hueco Mundo!

Where Chad and Renji are busy accepting the settlements from their "I'm Secondary So I Stink" contracts and pwning armies of mooks.

Rukia, meanwhile, is also pwning mooks as settlement of her "I Die Every Other Battle" contract and then moving on to Rudobone (who will, of course, kill her and be killed by her only-mostly-dead body in the last moments).

And Rudy (I shall call him that henceforth) let off blacky-purpleish reiatsu. Yippers!

Meanwhile, Ichigo and Ulquiorra are duking it out over a woman in a much bigger and less filler-y fight (Rudobone held a big lampshade over how much the Rukia fight matters in the grand scheme of things, which was then only FURTHER emphasized by Ulquiorra's "resistance is futile" speech). Ichigo is going berserk, and Ulquiorra is bouncing off the walls, and Orihime is pleading with them to stop drinking her coffee and go outside if they want to run around.

Ichigo, apparently, decides that he's going to do a triple-take past her, and completely ignores the woman. Ulquiorra uses a Cero, Ichigo goes all-out, and then we end the episode to move on to fillers. That Ulquiorra urges them to take a break for. And so he hangs up his sword, changes into his streets (blue suit, khaki pants), and heads out for sweets with Ichigo and Near. Orihime pulls off the orange wig to show her short, black hair and removes the padding from her outfit and then goes to practice screaming a bit more.

Harribel, meanwhile, is trying to get young Hitsugaya to put more life into his expressions and more food onto his plate. She's a very motherly person. Barragan regales them all with war stories, and Stark and Shunsui both meet up with their other siblings for onigiri. Lilynette, meanwhile, keeps trying to break Ukitake's sword. He bribes her with cake.

....

...it's going to be a long, long filler arc.




I may actually read the manga.

SLOWLY, though. No need to just jam it all in. I'll read it as I crack.

But, yes. Harribel: awesome.

Spoiled for under collar? Nope.



...

...


THE RELEASED FORMS ARE STILL TABOO. UNDERSTOOD??? NO. SPOILERS. PLEASE. EVER. NEVER EVER. NONE!!!

ETA:
ETA:
ETA:

Oh, my gosh, I was just joking about them walking off the set, I was just building on what ran under the preview for the next episode, but then I saw the omake bit and THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. Well, not "exactly," but Ulquiorra sheathing his sword and saying that the execs have made their decision, and then walking off telling them to call him if he's needed "on set"...YES. WIN. WIN. And a thousand times WIN.


Now, if only we could get Harribel standing there with baby Nel on her shoulders...being the den mom she is....