I have said a number of different times in a number of different forums that I have been very disappointed in Bleach as a whole. And I'm not talking about Clorox. I've thought that a few of the eps were worthy of the superb rating, some were fair, some were pretty bad. TV.com's lowest rating is Abyssmal; but there have been a few that were subAbyssmal a new negative rating I call Atrocity. The Don Gongi eps, for example. At one point, in withcing hour of 3am, I recall watching a Bleach ep on [as] and I actually prayed to god to strike me down then and there. You see, the remote to the TV at work was broken...and death seemed like an effective way to turn off the ep of Bleach. Now, of course, I am at the very nader of hyperbole...or perhaps god knew that I was...as I was not smited at that moment. But shortly afterwords, I wrote my review of Bleach. A few people disagreed with my analysis, but I had some validation as one person agreed. See, the 36K I dropped on graduate school was not a total waist.

Anyway, there were a few eps that I liked quite a bit. Perhaps that kept alive that sense of futile hope - I am catholic, so I realize that all hope is fulite, yet necessary none-the-less - that I may encounter a couple more eps that I would enjoy. Besides, I have burned myself out of girlly animie in the past several weeks...of who the hell am I kidding...in the past several months. Fruits Basket...loved it; cried for Hatori, cried for Tohru, cried Yuki, cried for Momiji. Rumbling Hearts - how was I to know??? Saw a box set for like $19, who could turn that deal down??? - wholy crap, mother of god, and all that...that was sadder than an Ann Moore novel. Cried like a punce. High School Girls...why the bloody F did I cry to a comedy?!? And I am a bit, fat, sweaty, scruffy biker who makes a very good living as a treatment provider for children, building good, positive karma. I have a stunningly beautiful wife. Why should I be crying about anything?!?!?!?! So, anyway, I figure that I need a serious break from all this highly tragic, emotionally turbulant, girlly anime. So I pick Wolf's Rain next. Yeah, sounds masculine, almost sinister, preditory, aggressive. Yeah, time to get my testoterone pumping. Besides, I've watched Elfen Lied 12 times already, need to give that a break. So, Wolf's Rain...what a great anime...but what a horrible choice for somebody who needs a little break from deeply tragic, compelling, emotional story lines...cried like a punce again.

So, to make a short story even longer, I figured that I'll watch a few eps of Bleach on youtube. It's sad...but in the demented and pathetic way...not the tragic and emotionally compelling way. No risk of welling up with tears watching Bleach...unless I am asking god to put me out of my misery. Anyway, I watch eps 51 - 58. Holy crap...they were pretty darn good. And the thing was, I was totally unprepared for that. Sure...the animation was poor, the dialogue was flat at times, and for the love of god, Ichigo, say something other than 'I'll beat you'...but the story line wasn't disjointed, the plot tightened up, and the storyline jumped from scene to scene smoothly. Wait, what was this sensation? Was I actually starting to enjoy Bleach? My ontological world is shattering.

Now, instead of the minimally marginal 6.0 I had given Bleach...I'll give it a 7.5; a very low D- to a strong C. On a related thread, I have raised my score of Eureka Seven from a 5.8 to a 6.8; an F to a D+.