I’ve just finished watching episode 247 of Bleach which is a continuation of the current filler arc. As expected, we didn’t get to see any new sword abilities (Ryūjin Jakka actually did torch things with mere fire, haha). It was definitely a clever plot twist, having Muramasa tell the Zanpakutō to merely stall for time; epic fights were not necessary to advance the storyline.
…and Ichigo falls into yet another trap. Go figure. You’d think Muramasa’s taunting would be enough to ring some bells, but nooo… Everyone else picked up on something suspicious – heck, even Kenpachi knew (though he didn’t give a crap and just wanted to blow things away 
).
As for Naruto, we finally get to see the fight between Sasuke and Itachi. I was kind of expecting something more…mindblowing, but I suppose you take what you can get. Next week’s episode will definitely be interesting as that mini-arc reaches its conclusion; we’ll get to see Sasuke’s Kirin and Itachi’s Susanoo.
I also found out that there’s a new adaptation of InuYasha picking up from where the original anime left off and continuing to the last chapter of the manga. That’s actually pretty awesome news, as the last few episodes of the original were terribad; there were so many loose ends and it was really obvious that the show was unfinished. I actually picked up the manga right after episode 167 since it left such a bad taste in my mouth.
The only negative thing I can say so far is that the new episodes had very little background for those who haven’t followed the original series. I mean, we saw Kagura get killed off 2 episodes in, and she was definitely one of the more interesting characters (few others have had to deal with complex decisions – it’s almost like there was a clear cut between black and white).
I’m not entirely sure how long this “season” will last either. The previous adaptation only reached about halfway through the manga and it had 167 episodes. However, Shōnen Sunday announced that there were only going to be 26 episodes. I’m not sure if I believe that or not, since it’s going to be hard to cram everything in that period of time. Well, as long as we get a decent ending this time around…