If you’re a fan of epic battles between two powerful beings, this is your episode to watch 
We finally get to see the long awaited battle between Byakuya and Ichigo, and although I felt the battle ran long because of the breaks for flashbacks, the battle definitely delivered on action and excitement! For the sake of not giving away too much, we get to see Ichigo’s and Byakuya’s Bankai, and both of them power up multiple times throughout the two episodes in sort of a game to see who can top the other. Byakuya nearly gets the upper hand in the middle of episode 59, but nega-Ichigo (from episode 39) steps into Ichigo’s body and nearly blasts away Byakuya before Ichigo regains control of his body. The two then have one final strike at each other, and Byakuya declares afterwords that Ichigo has broken his sword and won the battle. In a side story, Hitsugaya and Matsumoto head to some “higher-ups” in the Soul Society who reside in some secured buildings, but they find that the buildings have been broken into, leaving us in a cliffhanger to see who has broken in!
Although the constant powering up seemed sort of ridiculous at times, it sort of kept parity between the two combatants and kept viewers on the edge of their seats as it wasn’t clear who the winner of the battle was to be until the end. Also, it’s good to see team Ichigo together once again for the first time since entering the Court of Pure Souls
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.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I twitch every time you use the term “powering up.” I really do.
And I think I twitch because it’s true. People DO “power up” in this series, and it makes me sick. But the great characters, for me, keep this series from falling into the Pit of Shounen Despair.
You mentioned how the Ichigo-Byakuya battle kept viewers on the edge of their seats. I just realized that I’ve never even been close to the edge of my seat while watching this series. Everything in Bleach is pounded so hard into your head that it’s just so matter-of-fact. The characters’ exaggerated reactions to “power-ups” and unexpected twists really take care of all the emotion—there’s no shock left for the viewer to express.
Just my 2円.
What’s a shounen series without the powerups?
I don’t want to sound like one of those snobby manga readers, but I wish the animators wouldn’t skip or rush through seemingly unimportant bits of the story, such as Byakuya thinking how much Ichigo resembles Kaien both in looks and character.
There’s a HUUUUGE plot twist coming…HUUUUUGE.
simply HUUUUUUUUUUGE. :p
It’s bigger than the biggest ban kai!
those two episodes sucked…. i wanna see more captain fighting…. byakuya fights to much like garra in naruto…
hey, at least we know that Kon is taking great care of Ichigo’s body =D