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Bleach TYBW 6: Substitution jutsu

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Bleach Thousand Year Blood War episode 6 review

There’s a real problem when a non-main character fights the Big Bad only six episodes into a 13-episode season. You know for sure that said character is going to die and that the Big Bad will survive. Even if it is Captain of Squad 1, Old Man Yamamoto.

Yamamoto shows off his Bankai to Yhwach, which predictably ends in disaster. He fires up his flames to 15 million Celsius (as opposed to the much cooler 15 million Fahrenheit) and then goes on to revive everyone he’s ever defeated as skeletons, like those are going to stop his opponent. It’s a lot of cool animation, for sure, but we know Yhwach’s not going to die six episodes in. So, after all these attacks, he’s blown a hole into Yhwach’s body. Yeah, that’s it.

But it wasn’t even Yhwach to begin with! Because Yhwach used a substitution jutsu to turn that Quincy, whoever he was, into a fake Yhwach who was just there to get Yamamoto off his guard. And now Yhwach goes and steals Yamamoto and probably kills him. I say “probably” because we haven’t had the sad flashback yet, so that death may have to wait an episode.

If this fight had occurred in the last episode of season 1, even though I’ve been spoiled, this would have been thrilling to watch. But knowing that the Big Bad can’t die this early, it makes things obviously clear that this is the end for Yamamoto. Put Rukia up against him, and we know Rukia can’t die. But Yamamoto is disposable. You can always get a new Squad 1 Captain.

And besides, Yamamoto’s decisions made very little sense. After he pulls out those skeletons, he walks away as if the skeletons are going to finish off Yhwach. Then he blows a hole in Yhwach and again walks away, instead of finishing him off. Yamamoto waits 300+ episodes into his existence to pull off his Bankai, and then couples it with this stupidity? Come on. The old man can’t be that dumb.

One brief note: Yhwach visited the imprisoned Aizen, who is arrogant as ever. Now that’s a storyline I want to see – whether or not Aizen gets involved in this fight, something I haven’t even been spoiled on for the most part. Could that turn into something really cool? Or are they just teasing us? We’ll see.

Best girl of the episode: Retsu Unohana, for that one brief scene where she’s with Isane Kotetsu

Episode rating: 6/10

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Bleach TYBW 5: Ichigo, it’s Rukia. Renji’s here, Byakuya’s dead, call me back.

Tommy A. PhillipsLeave a comment

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

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Bleach TYBW 4: You cannot be serious

Tommy A. PhillipsLeave a comment

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode 4 review

The bad guy Quincys (should I spell it Quincies?) have invaded the Soul Society and killed hundreds, not just the very insignificant Lieutenant from episode 1 – it’s possible that the Lieutenant of Squad 3 Izuru Kira may be dead, but I’m doubting it. So now the bad guy Quincys choose to go up against four Captains at random. And two of those four happen to be the most popular Captains of all – Squad 6 Captain Byakuya Kuchiki and Squad 10 Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. Oh, one of them just happens to be my favorite Captain, Soi Fon (or Sui-Feng as the cool kids call her). The other is the wolf – not a fox, like I thought when I was into Bleach over a decade ago – Sajin Komamura of Squad 7.

So what happens? The bad guys prove to be too strong, so everyone decides to immediately go Bankai. This is in stark contrast to the original series, when characters would wait until 90% of the blood in their bodies had spilled out until they finally “went all out” and used their Bankai. But this decision is a bad one, because the Quincys don’t just have the power to seal their Bankai – they have the power to steal said Bankai.

How this is going to work is beyond me, because it seems like a pretty hopeless situation if Bankai are all they’re cracked up to be. Soi Fon actually suffers a cut to her face. That obviously means that these guys mean business. Now, in desperation the Soul Society calls for Ichigo, in what can be nothing less than a “come and save us, we beg you!” cry. Isn’t this the Ichigo they all… never mind.

So, Ichigo’s about to go back when the Quincy he thought he beat suddenly gets up off the canvas and seals Ichigo inside a Quincy box. Obviously Ichigo is screwed and the Soul Society will be destroyed. It’s time to wrap up the show, if that’s the case. Unless…

Best girl of the episode: Soi Fon

Episode rating: 8/10

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Bleach TBYW 3: The last Quincy

Tommy A. PhillipsLeave a comment

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode 3 review

That above pic might be the single-best screenshot I’ve ever seen in Bleach. There’s Orihime, who was tortured by the two people sitting a yard to the left of her – and she’s healing them. Even Loly, who did some really nasty things to her. That pretty sums up Orihime as a human being. If you don’t like Orihime, then may I suggest you give up anime and go watch reruns of King of the Hill?

Anyway, Ichigo is fighting the Quincy guy, while back at home in the world of the living (see, I still remember the Bleach terminology well) Uryu goes to work on trying to find why the hell there are all these Quincys. Remember, when Uryu was first introduced, he was billed as the “last Quincy.” Then his father came along, so now there’s two “last Quincys.” Now, there’s an entire army of Quincys attacking the Soul Society. That’s right, an entire army.

How could Uryu and his father be so catastrophically wrong about this? The answer is in one of the millions of books at the Texas School Book Depository. And Uryu realizes that the answer is on the sixth floor, I mean, a desk of his father’s. Now he’s going to figure out how the single biggest retcons in anime history manages to make sense.

Ichigo had a pretty epic fight, while a few of those other Arrancars fight and get beaten by the Quincy. By episode four, I should know his name, but I won’t make any promises.

Best girl of the episode: Orihime (2)

Episode rating: 8/10