BLEACH EPISODE #83

Rukia tries to use more of her spells against Yoshi, but to no avail. In order for Rukia to get enough time to cast her spells, Claude transforms into Renji and keeps Yoshi busy in close combat. The plan succeeds in that Rukia is able to blast Yoshi, but it fails because it doesn’t do any damage because she’s able to protect herself with her doll. Yoshi then stabs Claude, which transforms him back to himself. Back at the construction site, Koga says that he is destined to witness the dying moments of young men. Ichigo reminds him of a boy from his past who had the same expression on his face.

Going back in time many years, Jin brought Koga a young Bount to train. At first, Koga had refused, but Jin managed to convince him. The boy’s name was Kane, and Jin wished for him to be trained slowly. Jin also gave Koga a Doll Summoning book, which he wrote himself for his doll-less brothers. After Jin left, Kane had prepared to leave too, but Koga threw him around to show him how weak he is. He then put Kane to work in the fields doing manual labor. Time went by and they eventually brought a harvest of potatoes into town. With the money from them, Koga bought Kane a coat because it was going to get cold soon. On the way back home, Kane even thanked Koga for buying him the coat. However, they were soon followed by some thugs from town. The thugs could not hurt Koga with their attacks, and so Koga and Kane ignored them and moved on. Further down the road, the thugs showed up again, this time with friends and weapons, including a gun. With no choice, Koga called on Daruku, and she scared the townspeople off. Seeing how impressed Kane was, Koga told him that his time will come and called him a chosen person - a Bount.

Koga started Kane on more combat oriented training. After a while of seeing how hard Kane was working, Koga asked him why he wanted to be strong. Kane admitted that he wanted to catch up with Koga and, if possible, continue living with him. Koga decided it was about time for Kane to get his doll, so he handed over the book that Jin gave him. However, Koga wanted to direct the summoning procedure. In retrospect, Koga feels that he ultimately killed Kane. As it turns out, one night while Koga was sleeping, Kane tried to do the summoning by himself. This ritual succeeded, and Koga entered the scene right as Kane brought out his new doll. The problem was, Kane was not strong enough for his doll and got consumed in a bright light. Koga watched as Kane’s life drained away and he turned into dust. Sometime later, Jin returned and mourned the loss of his friend. With Koga blaming himself, Jin had suggested that they live together because the sadness was too painful to bear alone.

Koga tells Ichigo that Jin wants to create a new world that the Bount will command. Ichigo gets back up, but Koga tells him that it’s futile. Then, right as he’s about to send Daruku to finish off Ichigo, Koga senses someone behind him. A familiar figure confirms that Koga is a Bount and jump down to introduce himself. It’s the 3rd Division’s Vice-Captain: Kira Izuru.

I wish they had just cut through all the crap and skipped straight to Kira’s appearance. This episode gave us some background on Koga, but honestly I don’t really care about it all that much. I think the important things from this flashback can be boiled down to three main points: 1. Some Bount have to learn to summon dolls 2. The Bount consider themselves chosen humans 3. Koga is very loyal to Jin. I do have to say though, I did not expect Jin to be crying so much. It didn’t seem very fitting for his character.



Next week is a one hour special! Kira’s appearance means that the rest of the vice-captains have also arrived in this world, so next week should bring a lot of battles, Bount vs. Shinigami. And for those of you marking your calendars, after next week’s double episode, there is a normal episode on June 20th and then no episode on June 27th.

To be continued...