Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 26 (Part 2 Fin) – Ant Trap

At first, it looks like Yhwach’s Auswählen ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Squad Zero takes the upper hand in every fight, while Ichibei unleashes his zanpakuto, Ichimonji, which he uses to paint things black. Anything painted, like Yhwach’s sword, loses its name, thus rendering it useless. Another point to Squad Zero.

But, as has been so often the case in these high-level battles, the Quincy manage to turn the tables and take down the Squad Zero members, one by one. As for Yhwach, he simply steals Black from Ichibei and envelops him in blue flame. Another point to Team Quincy.

Finally, Squad Zero stops playing around. They reveal that they’d only been using a small fraction of their power, the rest being bound by one anothers’ lives. But when Kirinji, Hikifune, and Nimaiya all kill themselves, the blood oath seal on the surviving Shutara is broken, and she’s able to wield her full power, causing earthquakes on all three worlds.

She summons her Bankai, which has a very long name and takes the form of a colossal loom. The Royal Guard members plus Haschwalth and Uryuu are all surrounded by various patterns of cloth, chosen by Shutara to eliminate them in unique, trippy ways, all while uttering highfalutin poetry describing their demises.

Finally, the blue flames around Ichibei dissipate. Turns out Black wasn’t Yhwach’s to steal. The moment Ichibei released Ichimonji, anything and everything in the three worlds is fair game to be painted black. Ichibei then releases his “Bankai”, which I put in quotes because it technically far predates that concept.

The ink on his brush turns from black to white, enabling him to write a new name for Yhwach on his black ink-covered body. Ichibei chooses “black ant”, and Yhwach becomes so. Ichibei first stomps on him with a gigantic foot, then as he’s falling through the sky he smashes him between two giant palms.

We cut to credits from this apparent but almost certainly premature victory, and afterwards we get a very tonally dissident omake sequence featuring Kon, whom we haven’t seen in quite some time, and whom I wasn’t that interested in seeing anyway.

The weird, out-of-place omake aside, this finale, while featuring plenty of bombastic battles and table-turning, didn’t have quite the luster it could have had for the simple reason that of the eleven combatants, only one was a character I actually cared about: Ishida Uryuu. There’s no freakin’ way he’s dead, either, so we’ll have to wait till next year for his showdown with Ichigo & Co.

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 – 24 – Upper Echelon

The lesser undercards down in Seireitei are all but finished. Yhwach, Haschwalth, and Ishida have arrived at the realm of Royal Palace, and are met by Zero Squad Captain and Royal Guard Shutara Senjumaru, who cuts a regal, aloof figure as she summons the Soul King’s Blade.

But before that, we get a brief flashback to centuries earlier, when Hyousube Ichibei was proposing a non-aggression pact between the Soul King and the Quincy. Turns out Yhwach is the Soul King’s erstwhile son, and basically tells Ichibei to shove his pact.

While this is going on, Shiba Ganju joins Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, and Yoruichi aboard the cobbled together rocket to take them up to the palace, claiming to have been given info on the place by his sister. Orihime warmly comments how this feels like when they went to Soul Society to rescue Rukia. Now it’s Ishida-kun they hope to bring home.

Yhwach counters Shutara’s guards with the “W” Sternritter, a two-tongued weirdo who can’t be touched, but when he’s dispatched, the Quincy King summons his own Royal Guard: Askin plus three other powerful Sternritter we hadn’t seen in action before.

One of them has a big-ass rifle, which he uses to shoot Shutara in the head and then destroy the five Squad Zero’s floating islands. This is looking too easy for the Quincy…and it is. All of their gains were an illusion weaved by Shutara.

In reality, Yhwach and his people are trapped within a giant cage made of trees grown forth from Hikifune Kirio’s body. Kirinji Tenjirou shows up, as well as Nimaiya Oh-Etsu with a new prototype zanpakuto that’s so sharp that no amount of strikes can can dull it and no sheath can hold it.

Nimaiya uses this ridiculously powerful sword to defeat the three Quincy Royal Guards with one stroke; I won’t bother with their names since they simply didn’t last long enough to note them. Askin manages to just barely survive the one stroke, but he doesn’t survive a second.

Yhwach, apparently unfazed by the hasty fall of four of his top generals, manages to slip outside Hikifune’s tree cage. This makes Hyousube “Osho” Ichibei, whom he met with and did not defeat back in the black-and-white flashback, the only one between him and the Soul King.

Fortunately, Ichibei doesn’t seem any less capable of repelling Yhwach as he was back then. And even if Yhwach does manage to kill or get past him, Ichigo and his friends are on their way.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 09 – The First Kenpachi

Ichigo is healing up nicely in Kirinden, to the point that when Kirinji strikes him and he doesn’t die, he’s deemed healed enough to head to the next palace. Renji, not one to be left behind, also takes Kirinji’s punch and gets to depart with Ichigo. Kirinji tells his brothers that they exceeded expectations, especially Ichigo. He can see why the Soul King has taken an interest in him.

Back down in Soul Society, the Central 46 have appointed Captain Kyouraku the new Head Captain and Captain of 1st Squad. His first official act is to strengthen the Gotei 13 by finally teaching zanjutsu to Zaraki Kenpachi. His teacher is to be the first Kenpachi: Captain Unohana Retsu, AKA Unohana Yachiru. The 46 forbade Zaraki from learning swordsmanship lest he grow strong enough to rebel, but desperate times…

Ichigo and Renji are rocketed from Kirinden to Gatonden, the Food Palace. There, Hikifune Kirio, AKA the Grain King, prepares them a massive feast of colossal food. There’s not trick to it, either: now that they’ve been healed in Kirinji’s baths, they must restore and augment their strength with large quantities of food.

After Ichigo briefly feels guilty, Kirio emerges from the kitchen to support Renji’s encouraging words: they are preparing for battle, just like those in Soul Society. Kirio’s far more slender figure is a result of her pouring her spiritual pressure into the food she’s making, which means Ichigo and Renji are becoming more powerful than they’ve ever been.

Kirio tells them that she invented Gikon, which eventually led to the creation of Kon and Soul Candies—an extremely useful development. The next member of Squad Zero invented the Zanpakuto, and were Ichigo and Renji not itching to hold swords in their hands once more, the next palace might be quite an unpleasant experience.

The comic relief provided by Ichigo, Renji, and the Squad Zero weirdoes is fun, but I appreciate that the balance of the episode adopts a far more serious tone. Unohana and Zaraki descend to Muken, the very lowest level of the Soul Society prison. A vast, virtually limitless empty space, it is the perfect place for to ridiculously powerful shinigami to have at it.

I always assumed that despite her role as Gotei 13’s chief medical officer, Captain Unohana concealed hidden, never-used powers and/or a dark past. Turns out it’s both: she was one of the OG Gotei 13 and former Captain of the 11th Squad. Before she joined the Gotei Unohana was the most notorious criminal in Soul Society

Zaraki is one of my favorite captains due to the fact he cares so little for the pomp and circumstance of his station, and simply wants to fight the strongest opponents possible. In Yachiru he certainly gets his wish. He may have defeated her to gain the 11th Captaincy (and gave her a scar on her chest that itches when he talks) but she makes it clear her hands were largely tied in that battle.

Here in Muken, there are no rules or boundaries. She can summon any and all criminal tactics and dirty tricks of yore in this rematch. As the first person Zaraki ever fought that he actually feared could kill him, he knows he might’ve gotten lucky that last time, and she even seems to use a bit of Aizen-like illusion to make him think she had killed him.

But she didn’t; she only brought him to the verge of death, which as she knows is the only way he gets stronger. It’s basically the opposite of everyone else (except for the Hulk). And since this “training” exercise is almost certain to be fatal to either Zaraki or Unohana, we see their lieutenants grappling with the fact they may never see their beloved captains again.

If Unohana is the one to emerge victorious, she’ll likely return to her 4th Division duties, but consider herself a failure. The job Shunsui gave her to do is to make one of their strongest warriors even stronger. If that means sacrificing herself so Soul Society can survive, so be it. If Zaraki returns from those black depths as the victor, he’ll be a changed—and even more utterly fearsome—shinigami.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 08 – Zero Hour

In the aftermath of the Quincy invasion and subsequent withdrawal, triage operations underway. Lieutenant Kotetsu tearfully asks Captain Unohana if it was really the right call to remain in the Squad 4 barracks for the entirety of the battle. Unohana reminds Kotetsu not to let emotion rule her decision-making.

They made the right choice because it was Head Captain’s final order, and now they’re still alive to take care of the wounded. Ichigo is there, and while he’s received first aid he still needs a lot of work. Less, though, than his pals Rukia and Renji, who are in stable condition. Rukia can tell something’s troubling Ichigo beyond the destruction of his zanpakuto and failure to protect everyone.

At the captain’s meeting, the younger, more hot-headed Captains like Soi Fon and Muguruma get into it and have to be calmed by Iba and Shunsui, who reminds them that if Old Man Yama were there he’d smack them all for whining about this defeat. They do receive some good news: both Byakuya and Kenpachi are still alive. The bad news? They may never wake up.

Captain Kurotsuchi invites Ichigo to his lab to give him the good and bad news: restoring his shikai is possible, but his bankai is gone forever. He then takes Ichigo to where the other captains have gathered near Seireitei’s protective wall…to await the arrival of the Royal Guard, AKA Squad Zero, which consists of five captains, each one stronger than the combined Gotei 13.

Here I was, wondering who the hell was going to fight the Quincy when they’ve taken out Yamamoto and neutralized Ichigo. It’s these guys. And while the Gotei 13 captains find them irritating, the fact is they infuse both optimism and comedy to the proceedings.

As one would expect, the character designs of the five Squad Zero captains are extremely extra, including a dude with a huge, sharp pompadour that’s almost a character in and of itself, a due with a white puffer jacket instead of the standard captain’s obi, and a lady with six golden legs she uses for everything from playing the squad’s arrival fanfare to holding four spheres that contain Ichigo’s broken zanpakuto, Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya.

Squad Zero has come down from the Royal Palace realm to rebuild the ravaged Gotei 13, but first they’re bringing the injured Kuchikis, Renji, and Ichigo back home with them, where they’ll be able to heal properly. After receiving a video call from Kisuke, Inoue and Chad reassuring him they’re all right (and have apparently made a deal with Grimmjow) Ichigo agrees to go with Squad Zero.

They all pile up in the giant pillar-shaped conveyance they used to travel to Seireitei, and with help from Shiba Kuukaku (joined by Ganju and making a reference to her uncle, Ichigo’s dad) it launches back to the realm of the Royal Palace, which is very cool and austere looking. The main palace is surrounded by five city-sized plates where the five Squad Zero captains’ castles are located.

Ichigo and his injured comrades are sent to Kirinden, the castle of Captain Kirinji Tenjirou, who is apparently the healer of the bunch, and someone whose healing powers far surpass Captain Unohana, who was a past student/apprentice of his.

That said, his methods are pretty simplistic on the surface, consisting of soaking the injured in a white-colored hot spring, then tossing them into a red-colored hot spring, then repeating the process. In Ichigo’s case, only one night in the spring will be enough to restore him, while Byakuya will need more intensive treatment.

Once Squad Zero arrived I started to feel a lot better about Ichigo and the good guys’ chances against the Wandenreich. They’re certainly an eccentric bunch, but I’m sure glad Bleach’s cheeky levity is back, anyone who fixes up Rukia is fine by me. They’re also able to re-forge Ichigo’s sword, so even if he can’t restore his old bankai, perhaps he’ll be able gain a new one, or perhaps even something beyond a bankai.

And, oh yeah, the Soul King is awake … so there’s that.