Based on a well-acclaimed seinen manga, Blade of the Immortal follows Manji and Rin in the latter’s quest to eliminate Anotsu Kagehisa, leader of the Ittou-ryuu, to avenge her parents deaths. Manji is the samurai she has hired to protect her as well as aid in her revenge. Despite his appearances, Manji doesn’t die easily thanks to the kessen-chu, worms that effectively patch up his wounds and heal his body, which was given to him by Yaobikuni, an 800-year-old nun. It is through this nun that Rin meets with Manji who will have to face off with the many members of the Ittou-ryuu, who destroyed her parents.

Following the first arc of the manga, we are introduced to a host of characters, several being rather eccentric, during Manji and Rin’s journey. Although there aren’t any glaring deviations in storyline, the anime comes across as a little dull in its portrayals and uncompelling for the first 8 or so episodes. There’s a lack of momentum in the storytelling perhaps due to the editing and/or pacing and a couple of finer details on the characters were ignored for filler-ish additions. That said, the last few episodes do stand out and nicely reflect the spirit of the manga: the exploration of death and its consequences. Also interesting are Kagehisa’s views on the true path of a warrior and his appreciation for flexibility when improving oneself.

In general, Blade of the Immortal is well-animated but its plot might require some patience in the beginning. Personally I’m not fond of the music though it’s not distractingly bad. Worth a look, if you’ve time to spare.

Final rating: 7.2/10

The Pendulum arc has finally started, after that few episodes of pointless filler. Depicting the events in Soul Society 100 years ago, it is here that we will come to know of the vizards’ pasts starting with Urahara’s promotion to the captain of the 12th squad on Yoruichi’s recommendation. This occurs at a time that sees some major changes in the captains of the Gotei 13, including a promotion to the Zero Squad, the Royal Guard, which catches young Aizen’s attention.

It seems like Pierrot also stretched the episode by expanding Soifon’s disapproval of Urahara in the manga to the extent of having her follow him around town to take note of his activities, hoping to use it as evidence to convince Yoruichi of his misconduct. The latter, however, wrongly assumes that Soifon has developed a crush on Urahara. While it doesn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the episode, I didn’t really find it as humorous as intended.

More insight on Nnoitra before his death. Ichigo’s task is seemingly done, Kenpachi tells him to take Inoue back and leave the rest of the battle to the captains. But soon after, Stark arrives to ‘escort’ Inoue to Aizen, who then informs the captains and ryoka in Hueco Mundo of his plan to destroy Karakura Town and make the King’s Key. By capturing Inoue, he has succeeded in luring four captains to Hueco Mundo and sealed them in, thereby halving the combat force of Soul Society. Aizen’s entrance in Karakura is greeted by the remaining captains and vice-captains of Soul Society who have gathered to defeat him. Karakura Town has also been replaced by a replica to avoid heavy damage and casualties when the captains fight. In response, Aizen brings along the top three Espada (Stark, Barragan and Halibel) into the battle, leaving Ulquiorra in charge of Las Noches, looking forward to a rematch with Ichigo.

Some of the faces looked somewhat weird in this episode but no matter. Apparently, a filler segment will be up next and hopefully it won’t last too long. I’m highly anticipating the Pendulum arc.

Set in a post-apocalytic future, Pale Cocoon is a short OVA which focuses on Ura and his female companion, Rika, who both work at the Bureau of Records Excavation. Their task involves decoding archives of the Earth’s history in an effort to know more about the planet before its destruction. While Ura remains keen on discovering new articles, Rika has been spending most of her time lying idle in the upper levels of the Gap.

Over time, the Bureau has become deserted, many discouraged or disappointed perhaps with the historical records of human folly, which had cost them their original home world. Riko and Ura’s male colleague both serve as a foil to the main character, and perhaps representative of the stance that the rest of the surviving humans have taken: that it’s better not to know. On the other hand, Ura is almost obsessed with the past, immersing himself in the images of items that no longer existed, or at least were believed to no longer exist.

Both Ura and Riko want an escape from the mundane and inorganic environment that they lived in however Riko chooses to find peace in ignorance. Ura is willing to believe in the world that once was and in his final decoding of a visual and audio archive, he goes with the spur of the moment and soars to the top for a glimpse of the ’sky’.

The last few moments were rather unique as it seemed that both characters encountered a ‘fact’ that reinforced their own views on the situation. Yoko’s last words of a ‘rusted earth’ appeared to strengthen Riko’s belief that there was no going back; Ura seeing a blue Earth gave hope that the beautiful images from the archives were a reality.

Pale Cocoon has quite a thoughtful story although, with the length of 25 minutes, I would’ve preferred more insight on the living conditions of the Gap or more character introspection. Nevertheless, the visuals in this anime are crisp and beautiful, which makes this OVA worth at least one watch.

Final rating: 7.8/10

With Alucard stuck in dreamland with the spirit of his Jackal, the Major launches a full assault on London, instructing Zorin to take down the main headquarters of Hellsing. Integra is seen with Penwood, lending him mental support and spurs the latter to stand his ground as his officers do their best to consolidate their military resources against the invasion of Millennium’s undead.

On the way back to the Hellsing mansion to regroup, Integra and Walter are stalled by the Captain, to which Walter decides to hold him off to allow Integra time to return on her own. However, the undead soldiers find her and she crashes her car into a post. Integra’s haughty last stand of defence is interrupted by Alexander Anderson and the army of Iscariot in his command. Among them are Heinkel and Yumie. The final scene has Anderson leading the Iscariot to battle with the Nazi vampires.

I can’t say I enjoyed this episode as much as the previous installments but then again, the events of Hellsing Ultimate V are really more of a prelude to the upcoming fights. The animation is noticeably more fluid now that Madhouse is in charge. Anderson is awesome as always, Wakamoto Norio’s voice-acting never fails to deliver and his Anderson embodies all the fanatic and relentless qualities of the character.

I’ve been disappointed in the animation standard of Bleach lately, they seem to be relying heavily on still frames instead of fluidly animating the fights. And this episode isn’t any different. The revelation of Kenpachi’s kendo skills didn’t really have any kind of impact, but then again, it was the same in the manga. That said, I really enjoyed the focus on Nnoitra here. Nnoitra’s past with Nel was one of the more interesting albeit tragic among the Espada. The BGM and atmosphere in Nnoitra’s final moments were well-executed.