of all the countless work Tokumaru has provided to Bleach I think this is in contention for his very best. Shinichi Kurita probably had a small hand in the character art at the end but otherwise it's entirely Tokumaru. Really cool board from Madhouse's Minoru Yamaoka as well- their only Bleach episode- which might explain why even the compositing feels unfamiliar to the series.

PurpleGeth said:
of all the countless work Tokumaru has provided to Bleach I think this is in contention for his very best. Shinichi Kurita probably had a small hand in the character art at the end but otherwise it's entirely Tokumaru. Really cool board from Madhouse's Minoru Yamaoka as well- their only Bleach episode- which explains why even the compositing feels unfamiliar to the series.

I think too, the amount of details is stunning. I'd give an organ to see some key frames of this fight.

https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/87919 I have to mention that earlier work too, smoke and explosion effects seems nerfed a lot by the compositing, unlike all of what we saw in this last amazing filler arc. People tend to talk of Tokumaru as an effect master, but he is truely great with motion and complex poses.

I think that this filler is the best exemple to what happens when strong people join a project to do good things. Good episode directors and boarders innovating (tachikawa is I think the best exemple), strong AD increasing details, and a bunch of skilled or talented animators everywhere. And it's a blessing that this happened on Bleach.