BLEACH EPISODE #102

Nemu is inside the Technology Development Bureau when the alarms start to go off. Kariya soon bursts through the front entrance and uses his wind powers to destroy and bury everything in rubble. Nearby, Ririn senses the Bount and directs Ichigo in the right direction, though the two are first met up by Sado and Nova who are headed the same way. Meanwhile, Ishida starts his battle against Yoshi by jumping up and using the sun as cover for an attack. Yoshi is able to avoid it and retaliates, but Ishida starts to move away. He leads her to a rooftop where he questions why Yoshi is doing all this since the fighting is meaningless. Determined to stop what he considers a meaningless battle, Ishida engages Yoshi, who then brings out the true form of her Sword Doll. He is forced to rely on his speed to get away from her attacks, and can’t seem to get an opening on her. When he does finally land a powerful arrow attack, Yoshi protects herself by using her fan as a shield. Her dolls can tell that Ishida doesn’t have complete control of his power, but Ishida tries a second shot anyway. Yoshi emerges unscathed from the smoke and sends him on the run again. When Ishida desperately starts firing at her, Yoshi uses an opportunity to hit him and send him flying into ground.

Back at the Technology Development Bureau, Kariya is ready to get the crest that’s supposed to be there - the first one ever created. He’s interrupted by the arrival of Ichigo and Sado, but he uses his wind powers to disappear further into the building. After freeing Nemu and finding out that she doesn’t know what Kariya was talking about, the guys decide to follow his spirit power. Kariya appears to find what he’s looking for when he enters a storage area and the crest on his body starts reacting. As he searches through the room, Ichigo appears and initiates ban kai. The two start fighting similarly to the last time they met, but this time Sado is helping Ichigo. Unfortunately, Sado is no match for Kariya and gets hit with a fist in his side that sends him flying across the room. Ichigo protects his friend from the next wind attack, and then he and Kariya trade ranged attacks with Kariya using twisters and Ichigo using his Getsuga Tenshou technique. The subsequent explosion opens up a hole in the ground, and Kariya sees that something down there has the crest that he was after.



Kariya makes his way down and takes off his jacket, revealing the black crest on his chest. After uttering a chant that leads to a bright flash of light, Kariya declares that he just gained the ultimate power. He had used Ichinose to look for the crest in old documents, and Ichinose had figured out that it was located at the Technology Development Bureau. The original name of this crest, which can purify and erase everything, is Joukaishou. Kariya explains that after the experiments from long ago were stopped, the extraordinary energy that was the foundation of the experiments was sealed off in the Joukaishou. And now, he’s become one with this energy and can release it at anytime to blow away Seireitei. In fact, he threatens to do exactly that if Ichigo and Sado attack him. Before he disappears, Kariya leaves with them a message for Seireitei saying that he’ll delay a day to allow them to tremble in fear as much as possible. Around this time, Yoshi has decided not to finish off Ishida and turns her back to walk off, but Ishida surprises her by firing an arrow straight at her.

I’m surprised that Mayuri didn’t completely lose it when he got back to the Technology Development Bureau (in the after-episode segment) and found the place in shambles. Maybe he’ll get pissed off when he realizes what Kariya took. Somehow I think that Nemu will be the one getting yelled at. Anyway, I’m a little disappointed because I was hoping that Kariya was searching for something more than just a power that can destroy Seireitei in basically one shot. It just seems too convenient and not very well thought out story-wise, and maybe there’s more to it than meets the eye. As for Yoshi vs. Ishida, it’s clear from the preview that Yoshi survives that attack at the end of the episode. I think Ishida’s chance in defeating her probably lies in the transition between her fan armor and her sword armor, but we’ll see what happens.

To be continued...