Bleach Episode 194 Review

Neliel’s Past Revealed!

Bleach returns this episode with Szayel Aporro fighting with Renji and Ishida. Neliel’s past is revealed through her fight with Nnoitra. Meanwhile, Pesche and Dondochakka mounts an offensive against Szayel after seeing Renji struggling against the Espada. The flashback begins with Nnoitra and Neliel fighting. Neliel, ofcourse defeats him without much effort. It is revealed that Nnoitra was the eighth Espada at that time.

Nnoitra demands for a life-and-death battle against Neliel, but she refuses. She states her reasons that to have that kind of fight, one needs to have a reason. She goes on to say that she does not recognize Nnoitra as a warrior, but an animal, due to the fact that he fights only by instinct and not by reason. Nnoitra’s reason for hating Neliel is that he cannot stand a female standing higher than a male in battle.

Nnoitra then hurts Pesche and Dondochakka, the two who are closest to Neliel. This infuriates her and they go into battle. As they start, Neliel is overpowering Nnoitra. But suddenly, as she proceeds to attack him, he disappears, like a mirage, and lands an attack from behind, which breaks Neliel’s mask. It is then revealed, that only through the guidance of Szayel Aporro, was Nnoitra able to defeat Neliel.

Neliel is dumped by Nnoitra, along with Pesche and Dondochakka back out of Aizen’s palace, Las Noches. Nnoitra says that before she can return to the palace, he will become so strong that her blade would not be able to even scratch him. Neliel then obtains amnesia as her broken mask renders her into a child. Pesche and Dondochakka then take an oath, to protect Nel from the fighting, from the Espada and from Las Noches. To the present, Nnoitra taunts Neliel in regards to their past. Neliel then releases her sword, shouting “Declare…!”.

Summarizing the review, the episode in terms of plot was pretty decent. A flashback episode, where the main focus is the relationship of hate between Neliel and Nnoitra. The character development of both these characters, in terms of how they came out to be, is pretty good. Nnoitra, in my opinion, is one of the better characters that the manga artist could have given more light on. He would have been a better choice than Grimmjow, as his character his rather interesting.

Having said that, the animation quality was pretty decent. There was nothing really to show. Stay tuned for the upcoming episode where Neliel reveals her true ability.

And on that note,

See you next, deculture!