Blue Exorcist-Episodes 18-21
You know, for all the flack that the anime original episodes of this show seem to get, I honestly can't say I've noticed any sort of drop in quality. If I hadn't known otherwise, I'd have never guessed they were even anime original. Perhaps I'm too used to how much the quality of Bleach drops in comparison that I don't notice it so much here...
Bleach-Episodes 339-342 (On Hold)
Hoorah, the final Bleach filler season is now all done. It was yet another season that, whilst having a fairly interesting idea at its core, was ultimately the same old cookie-cutter filler season that we always get. That's my biggest problem with Bleach, on the whole, the filler seasons are so repetitive and bland. There isn't a single filler season where you can't describe it with the phrase 'Someone attacks the Soul Society but this time...'. Someone attacks the Soul Society but this time they're vampires, Someone attacks the Soul Society but this time they use the Royal Family, Someone attacks the Soul Society but this time they use personified Zanpakuto, Someone attacks the Soul Society but this time they have a clone army. It was in some dire need of variety. I mean, I was okay with the Bount stuff, even if it was overlong, but seeing the same formula again and again was so tiresome. The fact that you knew it was filler, therefore would have 0 impact on future arcs at all, thus removing any semblance of tension, also made it bad.
All that being said though, the last episode of the season, 242, was actually great, almost entirely because it was totally removed from the Invading Army story, and actually focussed on an event that is going to carry over. The only reason it's technically filler is because it never happened in the manga, but I actually really liked the anime adding this episode, as it felt as if it actually added something, rather than just filling for time. This is what more filler should have been. Fleshing out the characters, enhancing the story of the manga, not dragging the whole show down.
Seeing as this fairly dull filler arc tired me of Bleach somewhat, it's going on hold again, for the final time. Only one season left now, then I will be done with Bleach. Well, minus the films.