And Now for a Brief Bleach Freak Out!

Yesterday Mason and I had a Bleach marathon. We ate our Japanese candy and drank our lychee soda (which had a cool gimmick as part of the package--the carbonation was started when you punched a glass marble [part of the cap] into the bottle. It rolled around and fizzed. Kind of... cool?.... creepy?) The candy was lovely. I can happily report that the Internet LIES, and "Every Burgers" are only shaped like hamburgers; they taste like chocolate cookies (there is a very Japanese funky raspberry-like after taste, but generally very nom-able.) Ice cream flavored KitKats, however, really pretty much nail the ice cream flavoring. Not sure how that worked for me, but Mason loved them.

We have a lot left over, so you're all happy to come over if you're feeling brave.

At any rate, he and I slogged through seven more episodes. We're at 280-something now, I think. The point is we're in the middle of the Fake Kakakura Town battle. Urahara and company have just joined in to face off with Aizen, and it looks like we have to endure another tiny filler arc before returning to the action, which is why we were okay with quitting yesterday.

At night, when I tuck Mason in to bed, we always have a little chat. He asks, "What would you like to talk about tonight?" and we cover all sorts of topics. Usually I tease him by offering things like, "Chickens!" But, last night, no surprise, the talk turned to Bleach. We'd had to put up with a two episode cleverly disguised filler arc of all of Ichigo's big battles. At some point this triggered a thought for Mason because he said to me, "Is it only Renji and Ichigo whose outfits change during bankai?"

Head. Exploded.

The significance of this tiny detail is actually very HUGE in the world of Bleach. It has to do with how people interact with their magical swords (zanpakuto). There's a lot of discussion about how you level-up. Traditionally, you mediate with your zanpakuto to learn its name (shikai) and then go deeper into your inner world and discover how to work together (bankai.) The fact that both Renji and Ichigo are changed by their swords (and not the other way around) seems really IMPORTANT and indicative of some really deep soul connection. I'm pretty sure, in fact, that Renji's captain is secretly horrified that Renji allows Zabimaru to affect a change in Renji's appearance. This seems almost like a violation of some sacred shinigami thing, but what, exactly, I'm not sure. But, all I know is that I should have noticed. This is, as our vice president might say, a big F*CKING deal.

Why is it that my nine year old son is more brillant about my Anime than I am? He claimed, after I told him how amazing his mind was, that I told him this long ago when we first started watching. I have no memory of that, so I told him it counts as his idea. I'm pretty sure he was just being modest, because I'm not sure he's ever seen me SO EXCITED by an idea before. (He doesn't come to cons with me.)

Also, apparently, there is some juicy information about how Renji's bankai was made waiting for me in the upcoming issues of Jump. Alas, all my friends are reading fan translations, so I'm at least a couple of weeks behind (if not more.) It took me forever to finally see Byakuya's "death" (HA! Still alive you non-believers!) and I only just got to the BIG REVEAL about Ichigo's mother (which I resisted at first, but then I was watching that whole recap of every fight ever and I noticed that Ichigo does seem to have had the ability to suck in reishi, in a way no other Soul Reaper can.... if Kubo-sensei really knew that all along, I might have to decide he's not an irritating moron who makes stuff up on the fly, but ridiculously brilliant.)

I do think, however, that Aizen is the Dr. Doom of Anime. His plans are so convoluted that they almost don't make any sense. (I know, I'll use a Quantum Bullet! No, dude, just shoot Captain America dead.) Aizen needs a Scott Evil to tell him to stop with the plans. Just kill the people and take their stuff. Because I'm still not entirely sure what motivates the guy, despite listening to his villian soliloquy six times at the end of the Rescue arc and now his expanded talks throughout the fight at Fake Karakura Town. Maybe having his rival finally on stage will tease out the truth. I ended up, for instance, kind of digging Tosen's backstory. Kind of goes to my personal theories that the Soul Society is seriously MESSED UP.

And oh? New captain crush? Still in love with Kouryaku, of course, possibly more so since seeing the children's game creepiness of his fight with Coyote Startk, but Komamura... so amazingly noble. Furry fans should be all over him. He's... totally hot.

On that note, I shall sign off.