Rukia again! I hope you guys don’t get tired of reading my episode reviews..! Now we’re off to Bleach 133: Ikkaku’s Hot-Blooded Kendo Tale!

Ikkaku finds himself caught in the middle of what Hitsugaya calls “Human Affairs”. Karakura First District’s Kendo Club are ambushed by Koutei Academy in an attempt to make them forfeit upcoming tournaments. As Student Council President, Mizuho decides to hold a match between the two schools in order to avenge the seniors that got beaten up.

Ikkaku was rather delighted to have the opportunity to teach. According to him, he owes Mizuho and therefore agrees to her terms. Keigo, however, is doubtful as to Ikkaku’s true intentions.

A series of strange and hard training ensues, and the freshmen are pushed to their limits. One particular freshman caught Ikkaku’s attention. Shinji, who’s inability to fight or flee during the ambush, had a desire to become much stronger and avenge his upperclassmen. It was a long time since Ikkaku’s seen such desire, which made him enjoy training him even more.

Unfortunately, Ikkaku went overboard with his training, resulting in having the freshman even more injured than the upperclassmen..! This poses a problem for them. Who would represent Karakura district if there were no Kendo members left?

Ikkaku then comes up with a plan to participate in the tournament himself along with his “friends”. Mizuho adores this idea as it assures them their victory, but Keigo realized that this was Ikkaku’s intention all along… To participate in the tournament.

Of course, this still left a problem for them. They needed 5 members in order to participate in the match. So far, Ikkaku was the only one in the team. Surprisingly enough, when Ikkaku asked for participants, Shinji stood up to the challenge even if he was sore all over from the training.

Ikkaku proceeds to ask his fellow Shinigami for some help. Unfortunately, Ayasegawa and Rangiku immediately declined his offer because as according to them, “the uniform stinks!”

He decides to use other tactics in order to get the other Shinigami to help him. We first see a hilarious “bribery” going on for Hitsugaya, being offered candy and toys like an elementary school student. Though Hitsugaya doesn’t like being called an elementary student by Shinji, he reluctantly agrees to help Ikkaku out.

Ikkaku was also able to bribe Urahara (with candy of all things) to get Renji to help Ikkaku, but Sado refused to accept bribes. With only one member short, Ikkaku decides to force Keigo as their 5th member.

Hitsugaya, being the first of the five fighters, won his match easily. As expected from Keigo, he ran away and was easily defeated. Renji also won his match, leaving only one more win for Karakura First District to win the match.

Shinji was the 2nd to the last fighter, and Ikkaku assured him that if he were to loose, Ikkaku would win it for him. But how would Shinji feel if he were to lose again?

A hollow appears during Shinji’s match and Ikkaku was forced to leave. Being unsure as to whether he can come back in time for his match in case Shinji loses, he challenges him to go and be a man. 

Shinji took on his challenge, and though he had a hard time, he was able to successfully beat his opponent to everyone’s surprise! Ikkaku was certainly proud of the young man, but as we know, Ikkaku loves to have a good fight. Although it wasn’t necessary since Karakura First district had already won, he looked for his opponent and challenged him. This was where Mizuho’s true true intentions came to light, as the Ikkaku’s opponent turned out to be Igoroshi, a guy who dumped her.

In the end, Ikkaku not only defeated Igoroshi, but defeated the entire Koutei Academy Kendo Club with ease. Mizuho was very happy and fell even more madly in love with her “darling”, and Ikkaku got to fight as much as he wanted…

Strange but very hilarious episode. It’s well worth watching all over again, just for the fun of Mizuho’s crazy personality and especially for the scenes were the Shinigami mod souls showed how completely opposite they were from their masters’… ^_^

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 8:28 am and is filed under Episode. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.