Bleach Thousand Year Blood War episode 5 review
Way back in episode 52 of the original series, the first review I ever wrote was titled “Rukia, it’s Ichigo. Byakuya’s here, Renji’s dead, call me back.” It was a play off the old Seinfeld line “Jerry, it’s Frank Costanza. Steinbrenner’s here, George is dead, call me back.” So I felt it fitting to use the same title here.
Only… that’s exactly what happened in this episode. Byakuya gets beaten by his enemy with Renji watching as he goes down. Then the Soul Society, including Rukia, calls for Ichigo to come and rescue the whole place because they’re getting wiped out.
And the biggest problem going for TYBW at this point is that there’s actual concern that characters might actually die. When you watched the original Bleach, you knew there was no chance of any good guys dying, so you could get yourself swept up in the shounen excitement. There was nothing to lose there; the worst thing that might happen is that they’d lose an appendage but get it back later.
But now we’re closer to the end of the manga, and everyone can’t live forever. Plus, there are spoilers. But even without spoilers, you’ve got to figure… some of these characters are going to die, and it’s going to be painful.
So, watching Byakuya get the crap beat out of him makes you wonder… is this the end for one of the pillars of the Bleach series? And then it happens to Kenpachi at the end of the episode. Is this really it? Or are these guys going to make us all happy in our shounen feels, like they always do?
Old Man Yamamoto never had a backstory, and certainly his Lieutenant didn’t, either. (Or Vice-Captain, I can’t remember which one is the correct term.) So, we finally get one for both of them, even though one of them is already dead. And the Old Man’s still got it; he easily defeats his opponent in front of Shuhei Hisagi, the guy who is popular and important but never actually does anything.
So, Ichigo’s in “Jail,” Yamamoto’s forced to go out on the front lines, Byakuya’s beaten to a pulp, Kenpachi’s in a chokehold, and Rangiku cut her hair. All of these issues are very troublesome. Can everyone hold it together for the next 47 or so episodes?
Best girl of the episode: Rukia Kuchiki
Episode rating: 9/10
Tommy A. Phillips 