Back in Bleach, this time with the “Lost Agent” arc (which in my head was the Fullbring arc). It’s not one of the series’ best regarded sections, but my tastes with Bleach have tended to be contrarian. Will that be the case here?
Podcast links:
My Taste is Better Than Yours Episode 59 – Bleach Lost Agent Arc
abc
May 27, 2026 at 1:07 pmAlways a pleasure to hear you and Samu discuss Bleach! This is an arc that I appreciate more with time and distance. I’m not sure it’s my favorite, but it’s the one I have the most thoughts about.
I also have a lot of theories for why readers maybe didn’t like this arc: it’s intentionally scaled back in scope/stakes and a direct contrast to the Soul Society and Arrancar arcs; there’s more talking and less fighting; fan favorite characters from the shinigami and Espada aren’t present; the Xcution characters are far less charismatic; Fullbring powers seem kind of weird compared to the rest of the Bleach mythology; the end goal of this arc was harder to figure out; Xcution perhaps reminds people of the hated Bount anime filler arc. Another wild theory (which applies to me) is that maybe most readers binged the Soul Society and (most of the) Arrancar arcs to catch up with the serialization, and after years of that, this was the first new arc to be experienced on a weekly basis, and it’s just so different.
I agree very much that this is an inward looking arc, with Ichigo at his lowest, having lost his powers and his identity as a protector of his friends, not trusting his friends, Urahara, or his father. And so he turns to Ginjo for help, the only person who he thinks can give him answers. In a way, I can sort of see this as an allegory for alcohol, drugs, forbidden knowledge, whatever.
Agree that the run of chapters from 453-458 or so are some of the best of the series. Full psychological thriller where Ichigo is like the insane person when everyone else is under Tsukishima’s power, the reversal and reveal of Ginjo being the true villain all this time, and his parallels to Ichigo as the first Substitute Shinigami, and Ichigo at his absolute lowest, thinking he got stabbed by his dad and Urahara. (By the way, Tachikawa Yuzuru storyboarded episode 358, which adapts chapters 452-453.)
I think the climax and dramatic tension in this arc isn’t when the shinigami arrive (at that point, I agree, it’s a foregone conclusion how the fights will end), but it’s when Ichigo is confronted with the truth by Ginjo, and decides to stand with the shinigami. Also worth nothing is that the Soul Society are (still) not necessarily the good guys, but Ichigo has changed them.
One last note: there are several callbacks to foreshadowing in earlier arcs (even more proof that Kubo planned everything from the beginning), but I like the one in 182, where Ichigo shows his badge to Uryuu, but Uryuu seems slightly suspicious about it.
Guardian Enzo
May 27, 2026 at 2:20 pmThanks for that detailed comment. I agree with most of your thoughts on the arc. As a non-Bleach devotee it’s perhaps easier for me to accept Fullbring for what it is rather than bemoan what it isn’t. And after the behemoth that is Arrancar, I like that it’s short and talky – I was pretty much numb by the end of that one.