After managing to bust through the spirit shielding surrounding the Death God Court, Ichigo and the gang find themselves separated very quick due to the explosion of their spirit cannonball. Chad and Yoruichi find themselves fending for themselves while Ichigo/Ganju and Orihime/Ishida are paired up in their fiery decent. For the first time, we get to see that Ganju has some tricky powers up his sleeves (or lack thereof) in his ability to manipulate stone into sand as he creates a semi-soft pile of sand for him and Ichigo to land on. Orihime uses her fairies to cushion her and Ishida. Chad is literally indestructible, so he doesn’t need any help at all 
, and cats always land on their feet, so Yoruichi has no problem landing.
After landing, the pair of Ichigo and Ganju are quickly pounced upon by Yumichika, the Death God metrosexual, and Madarame Ikkaku, a boastful big-talking bald Death God dancing at the opportunity to kill off the intruders. Ganju quickly runs off as he feels that he cannot face-off one on one with any of them, but Yumichika is quick to chase him, leaving Ikkaku to face off against Ichigo.
In one of the better battles on Bleach in a while, Ikkaku tries to use his speed and quickness to cut through Ichigo while Ichigo just seems to wail away at the quick Ikkaku. At first, Ikkaku has the advantage since Ichigo couldn’t quite adjust to the speed, but after a while, Ichigo manages to hone in on Ikkaku and take advantage, striking with critical hits which leave Ikkaku unable to attack. Meanwhile, Ganju is content to keep his distance from Yumichika as he uses his sand techniques to escape and run through walls.
After a tough-nosed battle, Ichigo finally manages to take down Ikkaku, but he keeps him alive so that Ikkaku could tell him where Rukia was being held. Ikkaku tells Ichigo the location of the white tower where Rukia’s being held captive, but warns him about meeting up with his squad leader, Zaraki Kenpachi, later down the road.
It was nice to see things pick up for a bit actionwise in these two episodes and the interaction between Ganju and Yumichika had some pretty hilarious moments 
Also, episode 26 introduced a new opener and ending. The opener was overdue for a facelift, and I think the animators did a pretty good job with it. However, Kon looks a bit offbeat with the new ending 
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This post was written by...
Kungfucius – who has written 275 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the original founders, and a fan of long-running shounen series.
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While I absolutely loved the first OP song for Bleach the new one is just as good, and the new animation is better as well. The part where Chad almost gets pierced by a sword always sends shivers down my spine, because of the way they match the scene with the music. Awesome!
I’m looking for tutorials online so I can teach my cat to break blades like that.