BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 3: The Conflict is already here and it feels like a dream. Not only is this the continuation of BLEACH‘s return after 10 years of nearly nothing, but also the beginning of the second half of that return. With the amount of stunning preview visuals, hype for a new BLEACH video game, and excitement for the return of the anime, it’s exciting to see Part 3 finally air. It’s absolutely no surprise to me why this was our most anticipated anime of the Fall season and why something as simple as its opening has fetched millions of views in just days.
The episode can be broken down into two parts. Unfortunately, the first part (and first half of the episode) was pretty much a recap of the finale of part 2. That part’s finale was a sort of clever spin on a cliffhanger; rather than present a situation where the protagonists were seemingly defeated and the crowd was left to wonder how, and if, they would possibly find a way out of a twisted and dangerous situation, the roles were flipped and we were left seeing the antagonists, the Quincy, seemingly defeated. Ichibe had unleashed a variety of primordial powers on Yhwach who seemingly had fallen prey to them. Senjumaru had unleashed her world-rending Bankai and summarily defeated each of the remaining Quincy, trapping them in the cloth from her loom.
The second half of the episode follows up immediately on those two sides of battle as well as the events elsewhere on the battlefield and is what the review will largely focus on.
Spoilers ahead for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 3: The Conflict Episode 1
The Definition of Overpowered
I suppose it’s appropriate that the way to overcome a power as broken as “all black in the world belongs to me” would be something like the Almighty. This was the immediate twist of the episode, that Yhwach’s “I never imagined” line was in reference to him not using his full power, not that he couldn’t imagine the immense power of Squad Zero. He can see and know everything in the future, and that which he sees cannot be used to kill him, making him practically unbeatable in any conceivable battle.
The initial reveal of this ability was more or less in line with how the manga handled it, which was well. The contrast between Ichibe’s righteous indignation and Yhwach’s newfound confidence in battle was communicated solidly. The swelling music paired with a comeback. My personal favorite touch was the use of heartbeat sound effects alongside Yhwach dodging each of Ichibe’s attacks — the cut to a differently colored image with his eyes emphasized really brings across that alien, otherworldly feel that this power needs to have.
Similarly, Ichibe’s Futen Taisatusu Ryo was a nicely done section. I felt that the incantation section kept me wondering exactly how the technique would be displayed and it communicated a similar sense of otherworldliness as Yhwach’s, though perhaps with a bit of a folkish, ancient God feel to it. Given half of the episode was dedicated to recap though, I did itch for the action to resume in the back of my mind, but I was immediately satisfied seeing how the anime handled the animation of the tombstones and the inky blackness of the attack. While we obviously didn’t get to see the technique do much, I thought it looked amazing and had the appropriate levels of creepiness for a technique that purports to even prevent someone from reincarnating.
Uryu’s Comeback, the Soul King’s Death
This episode also provided some new scenes featuring Uryu that were not in the manga, as well as increasing clarification about his new powers. One of the biggest criticisms of Uryu’s role to this point in the manga was that he simply didn’t fight enough or have enough actions on screen to warrant his new important role. Obviously the BLEACH anime has already done some work to increase the amount of time dedicated to him and his role, but this fight against Senjumaru was a nice bonus. This establishes him as a heavy hitter who is able to compete with a legendary Bankai better than the other Sternritter. It also showed a second instance of him using his yet-to-be-explained power, causing Senjumaru to be captured by her own Bankai rather than capturing him. I did find the ending of this fight a bit anti-climactic; it seemed like it should take more than being pierced by a single arrow to take down a Squad Zero member fighting at full power (especially after the others offed themselves to boost that power). It makes Uryu seem strong, but I think the scene needed more to feel like he really earned the victory. The fight itself looked and sounded great though and served as a nice complement to Yhwach’s.
Closing off the episode, we see Yhwach make a beautiful ascent to the Soul King’s chambers as the music swells and he creates footholds from the very reishi of the palace itself, almost to say that the Soul Reapers were the foundation of their own destruction. I’m a sucker for how BLEACH handles the animation and lighting of Reishi in scenes like this and the music and bells were such a great combo to the scene that I can’t complain about much in it.
Ichigo and his friends’ arrival is seemingly too late, as Yhwach has already stabbed the Soul King and kicked off the destruction of the balance between all of the worlds in BLEACH. I’m looking forward to seeing an episode with no recap as the action picks back up again and Ichigo finally comes face to face with Uryu.
© TITE KUBO / SHUEISHA, TV TOKYO, dentsu, Pierrot