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 – 18 – Speaking the True Name

At his fancy new subdimensional HQ, Kurotsuchi calls Head Captain Kyouraku and tells him to do his job. Only around 30% of Soul Society’s military force remains, so Kyouraku orders all soul reapers to regroup at the nearest barracks that’s still standing, regardless of their squad and rank.

Captain Muguruma wastes no time whipping out his bankai, which creates armor around his arms and fists, making him seem like a good match for the pugilistic luchador. But while Muguruma pounds him into submission, he fails to account for James, his opponent’s #1 Fan.

Jame’s cheer powers up the wrestler, who turns the tables and beats Muguruma to a pulp before revealing his name and rank: “S”, “The Superstar,” Mask de Masculine. Which is wonderfully ridiculous in the true spirit of Bleach baddies.

Rose thought he wouldn’t be needed, but once he learns he is, he also unleashes his rather unique bankai, which takes the form of a
“musical troupe of death” and makes Mask believe he’s wielding both fire and water at the same time.

Unfortunately, Rose is a little too eager to explain his bankai, which uses sound to create deceptions. Mask counters his third and final “movement” by piercing his own eardrums, then sending a massive star-shaped beam right through Rose’s chest.

This somehow doesn’t kill Rose, but Mask moves in for a finisher when his star beam is blocked…by Abarai Renji’s Zabimaru. He’s back, along with Kuchiki Rukia, and both are sporting what I’ll call “Soul Society skiwear.”

Renji tells Rukia to fall back and get the two captains treated, and while it’s clear she doesn’t really want to leave Renji’s side, she obeys, and gets them to Kotetsu Isane, now the acting-captain of the 4th Squad by dint of Unohana’s death. Mask calls Renji a dirty, cowardly villain, a mantle he has no problem picking up and running with…starting with beheading that twerp James.

When Renji’s attack tears Mask’s mask, a multitude of James emerge from Jame’s corpse, and Mask breaks out his Vollstandig, growing wings and bashing Renji around like a pinball in midair. But despite the cataclysmic star-shaped explosion Mask brings down on him, it doesn’t make a scratch.

That’s because while he was hanging with Hyousube Ichibei, who came up with the whole idea of zanpakutos, shikais, and bankais, Renji learned that all this time he’d been getting his bankai’s name wrong. It isn’t Hihio Zabimaru…it’s So-Oh Zabimaru.

Mask has no hope against the full force of Zabimaru, and Renji turns him into literal dust. That’s now two Stern Ritters down in as many episodes, and with Ichigo still nowhere near the battlefield. Just twenty-four to go. Yes, Yhwach appears to “absorb” Mask, or at least his reishi, but doing so also causes Yhwach to “fall asleep”.

A confused Ishida watches this unfold, as Yhwach descends back into the shadows, and Haschwalth emerges in his place. Haschwalth isn’t sure even Ishida’s grandfather knows quite what Yhwach is, but as Ishida is Yhwach’s handpicked successor, Haschwalth is open to telling him.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 17 – All Dogs Go to Soul Society

What if Nakano Nino died her hair, broke bad, and became one of the most powerful Quincy elites? We’d get Bambi Basterbine, who is easily my favorite Quincy foe so far, based largely on Taketatsu Ayana’s voice performance, her character design, and her bad attitude. Also, she doesn’t like to lose, and loves dogs.

With her Vollständig unlocked, she makes quick work of Captain Hirako, since his reversal of up and down and left and right mean nothing against her power to turn anything her reishi touches into a bomb. When a valiant but reckless Lieutenant Hinamori Momo rushes in to defend her captain, she’s save from Bambi’s onslaught by Captain Komamura.

Bambi is fine with this, as she wanted to fight the “doggy” all along. But to her disappointment, the big furry dog transforms into a human, due to Komamura’s wolfman clan’s Junka technique. Embued with temporary invulnerability, he unleashes a version of his Bankai, Kokujou Tengen Myou’ou, with his armor stripped down.

Because Kokujou Tengen Myou’ou’s armor is his life, being stripped of his armor means there’s no life for Bambi’s bombs to take. The colossus just keeps coming at her, until she’s no longer able to fire bombs fast enough to make up for the ones harmlessly detonating against Myou’ou’s body of pure spirit pressure.

I liked Bambi when she was an imperious, arrogant princess, and also when she was ragdolling captains. But I like her even more as she’s essentially humanized along with Komamura, albeit in terms of emotion rather than physicality. There’s genuine fear and panic on her face as she tries in vain to flee.

There’s even greater fear in her face when her fellow girlbosses show up, led by Gigi, who is poised to do…er…something the battered Bambi begs them not to do. As for Komamura, in exchange for the power to defeat a Stern Ritter, the Wolfman Elder eats his heart, and all trace of humanity is erased. His loyal lieutenant Iba Tetsuzaemon scoops him up, not yet willing to give up on his fuzzy captain.

Haschwalth notes that the battles outside seem to be evening out, but he also reveals he’s been stealing reishi while standing there, and is able to lower Nanao’s barrier. No matter; Nanao simply raises another, completely different type of barrier.

In response, Haschwalth removes the proverbial gloves and prepares to unleash his Vollständig, but is stopped by a summons from His Majesty. He promises to return, and Shunsui assures him some nice tea will be waiting.

Finally, one of the goofier Stern Ritters is beaten by the combo of Shuuhei, Ikkaku and Yumichika, only for a tiny old man named James to basically will his burly friend back into the ring. He defeats all three of them with a couple of moves, and when they protest being “defeated” simply because of a three-count, he is ready and willing to bury them, but his boot is stopped dead by Captain Muguruma, who has arrived along with Captain Rose to deal with him.

As we look forward to the new battles and consider the consequences of Bambi’s defeat along with Ishida’s arrival on the battlefield, our boy Ichigo continues his interminable march down that hallway of ropes. The reason his advance is so laborious is explained by Ichibe: he’s bearing the weight of the power of the Soul King himself.

When he appears to pass the test, he’s transported to a pink and purple throne room festooned with elaborate tapestries, where a serene and stately lady sits on a throne before him. Ichigo’s first words to her are 100% Ichigo: “What’s next?”