Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 25 – Spring Rain

Sarugaki Hiyori and the other Visored show up to find Urahara preparing…er, something, and Hiyori chastises him for sending Ichigo, Yoruichi and the others before they arrived . Yoruichi’s little sister also shows up; I don’t believe we’ve ever met her, but she’s too late to give her sister a large care package.

Then again, perhaps she and the Visored will eventually serve as reinforcements for Ichigo and the others, whom we don’t see this week. Instead, Ichibei scolds and battles Yhwach, using a painted seal to conjure a giant hand that blasts the Quincy King 1000 ri (or roughly 2,500 miles) away, then slaps him back to where he started.

Nimaiya fights a still-alive Askin in a battle of poisoned blood, Kirinji seemingly beats Haschwalth in a duel of blades, and Ishida’s reishi projectiles bounce gently off of Shutara’s hastily-sewn umbrella like droplets of spring rain. Hikifune remarks that Squad Zero isn’t messing around anymore.

Ichibei seems to indulge Yhwach in a bit of melee fighting before using his brush to cut the very name of Yhwach’s arm, reducing it to “ar-” and halving its strength and speed, then shortening Yhwach’s own name to “Yhw”. All in all, it looks like an overwhelming victory for Squad Zero…but I knew it would be fleeting, because 1.) this is Bleach and 2.) there’s one episode left.

Here I was, taking small comfort in knowing Bambietta Basterbine’s suffering was at an end, but nope, here she is, being sucked dry of the blood Gigi gave her in order to heal herself. When she begs for her life, Gigi is again enraged and violent, then snapping back to swooning over Bambi’s lifeless corpse. What did Tite Kubo have against Bambi?!

Lili finds Gigi, and reports that Candice and Meninas and her faced off against Pepe, with mixed results. Lili wants to ensure Quincy forces are stabilized by the time His Majesty returns to Soul Society from the Palace. It seems all Gigi really wants to do is not die and keep fucking around with what’s left of Bambi.

Neither of them get their wish, as Yhwach—sorry, Yhw—seemingly has enough strength in him to activate Auswählen—German for “select”—which draws all of the powers of the Quincy down below (including Lili and Gigi’s) and redistributes it to the Quincy who need it most (Uryuu, Haschwalth, and the Royal Guard).

The lesser Quincy who have their powers and very souls stolen turn into skeletons, but the Sternritter seem to remain alive, if significantly weakened. I wonder it that means Yhwach can still draw from them should the need arise. And I assume if Ichigo’s party and Visored make it to the Palace in time, they’ll be able to re-tip the scales Yhwach just tipped in his favor. We’ll find out in the big Part 2 finish.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 23 – Even In Death

Kurotsuchi Mayuri is a cruel, sadistic, unhinged mad scientist and it’s a doggone good thing he’s all of those things, because Soul Society needs someone who’s able to keep up with the weirdness and amorality of the Sternritter. If given enough time, Gigi could eventually turn every single captain, lieutenant, and foot soldier in the 13 Squads into zombies.

But Kurotsuchi doesn’t allow her that time, and has already developed countermeasures to her (his?) “killer app”. He starts by locking Zombie Hitsugaya into an “Endless Eight”-esque scenario: whenever he kills Mayuri, time for him resets to just before he kills him. After ten loops, Hitsugaya succumbs to paralysis, a side effect of the drug that messes with his perception of time.

At that point, it’s game over for Hitsugaya. Meanwhile, the newly glowed-up Byakuya easily handles Candice, NaNaNa, and, Robert (the Quincy with a gun). Shuuhei joins him, but to Byakuya’s surprise, he starts attacking him, as if he’s being controlled.

He is…by some guy named PePe whom the girls do not like, with good reason. Rather than turning people into corpses with his power like Gigi, he turns them into puppets who love him. He can do it to anyone or thing with a soul, resulting in Byakuya having to briefly fight Shuuhei with his bare hands while Shuuhei wields Senbonzakura.

Ultimately PePe is taken out of commission by Captains Rose and Muguruma, who while initially Gigi’s zombies, were converted into Kurotsuchi’s zombies when the blood of his resurrected Arrancar splattered on them. When Gigi can’t quite make heads or tails of his explanation, Kurotsuchi simply says All Her Zombies are Belong to Him, then she’s stabbed by a zanpakuto.

With things looking up for the Shinigami in Soul Society (at least those who are still alive and not zombies), we witness the destructive arrival of Yhwach, Uryuu and Haschwalth at the Royal Palace, where some much higher-level battles are sure to take place.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 22 – Gigi’s Zombivery Service

Even when Ichigo demands he say something, Uryuu maintains his silence as he blasts through the barrier around Seireitei, bound for the Royal Palace Ichigo just left. As they regroup, Chad and Orihime are just as shocked as Ichigo. Heck, Ichigo even saw this coming: Uryuu is a Quincy.

In a war between them and the Shinigami, it stands to reason he’d choose his people. Still, the three agree that Uryuu is their Friend, and before anything else can happen, they need to track him down and hear his explanation—even if they have to beat it out of him.

Meanwhile, Bazz-B offers to help kill Uryuu and even compliments Renji’s eyebrows (for which Rukia congratulates him) before they re-engage in the fighting. Meanwhile Ikkaku and Yumichika seem to have Gigi right where they want her…except the opposite is true.

Yumichika correctly suspects she’s goading Ikkaku into striking her because getting her blood on them would be favorable to her. Oh, and Yumichika can also tell that Gigi isn’t actually a woman. This seems to piss Gigi off, and she summons Bambi, whom she’s turned into a ZOMBambi.

Urahara gathers Ichigo, Orihime and Chad and reveals that the 12th Division has prepared a one-time use cannon in the style of the Shiba clan for getting them up to the Royal Palace. It will be powered by the very distortions the Quincy have used to sever the boundaries between Soul Society and the World of the Living. Their efficacy was devised by the Vizard and they were collected by Yoruichi (Hi Yoruichi!)

Ikkaku engages ZOMBambIE and Gigi with his usual recklessness, supported from the rear by Yumichika, who slashes Bambi’s arm before she can turn Ikkaku’s head into a bomb. But their battle is halted by the arrival of one of the biggest blowhard sumbitches in all of Bleachdom: Captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri, with Lt. Nemu in tow as usual.

Mayuri and Gigi are classic narcissists, and engage in quite a bit of spicy trash talk. When a drooling (?) Bambi interrupts by saying she”wants it so bad” from Gigi (and it’s heavily implied she’s not talking about her arm—necrophilia might be involved), Gigi cruelly slaps her down.

It’s here where I remember that when she was alive, Bambi gruesomely killed hot Quincy underlings just for fun, but Taketatsu Ayana’s performance still made me feel for Bambi’s plight. Mayuri approves of Gigi’s treatment of “subjects”, but of course she’s no match for his shining greatness.

When Bambi and Gigi fly up into the air to fight Mayuri, he and Nemu calmly prepare a number of recently-prepared devices that capture Bambi’s bombs and delay their detonation for three seconds, so they explode on Bambi and Gigi. It’s a very cool trick that demonstrates Mayuri isn’t just bluster and contempt: he’s a deviously capable customer.

When Mayuri declares he’ll be turning Gigi and Bambi into his two newest test subjects (ick) Gigi summons the goddamn shinigami zombie army she’s been amassing ever since she arrived. Ikkaku and Yumichika recognize many of them.

Mayuri, expressing less than convincing sentiment, says he has way too much love in his heart to bear cutting down his former comrades. So he summons a quartet of his own zombies to do it for him: Arrancar zombies, including Charlotte, who closes in on Gigi with great interest.

When Bambi swoops in to shield Gigi, Charlotte tosses her aside like a ragdoll. When she charges him again, he unleashes his extremely verbose signature Cero, turning Bambi into a glimmer in the sky. Gigi isn’t fazed, however. She just needs a stronger zombie, and she has one in Zombie Hitsugaya Toushirou. I guess the Ice-Boy Wonder is dead after all.

This outing balanced action, drama, and comedy, the Scooby Gang reaffirmed their commitment to hear their four-eyed wayward brother out, and featured Mayuri being his usual bad self trying to out-evil the equally demented Gigi. Dude loves to be bad, but even he looks a little worried with HitZomgaya Toushirou staring him down.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 21 – Two Ships Passing in the Night

After defeating Gremmy, Kenpachi’s primary objective is locating Yachiru, whose armband is somewhat worryingly lying in the rubble. But there’s no rest for the weary, and his search is interrupted by the arrival of the Quincy It Girls: Giselle, Candice, Meninas, and Liltotto, voiced by an all-star voice cast of Touyama Nao, Uchiyama Yumi, Ueda Reina, and Yuuki Aoi, respectively.

While composed of varying personalities from impatient to lazy and providing no shortage of comic relief with their antics (and Looney Tunes sound effects), the four are seriously powerful and make quick work of the already battered Kenpachi. However, their fun is interrupted by the long-awaited return of the new-and-improved Kurosaki Ichigo, their Number-One special target.

Candice takes the lead, enraged as she is that Ichigo covered her in dust with his first strike (it takes her hours to get ready in the morning). When their initial Quincy projectiles are easily turned away, they proceed to unlock their Vollständigs, each a different color, complete with transformation sequences that make them feel even more like an evil magical girl squad.

However, as fun and powerful as these four ladies are (and it’s arguable that Bambietta was the most powerful of them), they’re no match for Ichigo in his current state. He only has to raise his voice when he counters Candice’s most powerful attack with a Getsuga Jujuisho, a step-up from his Tensho that forms a Quincy-like cross.

The stalemate between the four Quincy girls and Ichigo is seemingly broken when four male Quincy led by Bazz-B enter the fray, eager to be the one to claim Ichigo’s head. Clearly Yhwach has encouraged a culture of backstabbing which I’m sure will be his subordinates’ undoing. The ensuing 8-on-1 brawl is interrupted by another column of blue light: Yhwach is awake again.

When Ichigo turns towards Yhwach, Meninas delivers a crushing blow, but it’s the only one he endures, as he gets welcome reinforcements: Renji, Rukia, Byakuya, Hiisagi, Ikkaku and Yumichika. Unlike the Quincy who are all in it for themselves once the King’s edicts are followed out, the Soul Society shinigami will work together to leave Ichigo free to confront Yhwach.

When Ichigo spots Uryuu there, he’s understandably a bit shocked, even if we’ve watched him standing beside the king for several episodes now. He has nothing to say to Ichigo except to leave before he wastes his life. When Ichigo refuses and asks more questions, Uryuu lights him up, which is when Orihime and Chad show up to shield him.

Uryuu has nothing to say to them either, and joins Yhwach and Haschwath in ascending to the Royal Palace, the opening to which Ichigo himself created with his bombastic arrival. I can only imagine that’s what Squad Zero wanted. Soul Society is only a stepping stone to the Palace and the Soul King. And Ichigo’s big return is essentially met by a shrug from the Quincy King. He’s got bigger fish to fry.