Bleach TYBW E29 Review: hAnds & chAirs

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 29: The Dark Arm

So it's been a while since our last Bleach review, and considering how my schedule is looking for the next couple of months, it's likely that my Bleach reviews are going to be sporadic as hell, especially considering how much I talk about them. It's a bit harder when I'm dissecting changes to the manga!

And... what the third cour has done is basically take all of 610-620 and rearranged everything while expanding some fight scenes. So throughout the manga version of everything we've seen in the previous episode, there are scenes showing what's going on in the Soul Society as Urahara and everyone on ground level scramble and try to figure out what in the heck is going on. Rearranging the scenes really did do a huge job in making the flow and continuity of these episodes and the revised version of events feel a lot better. 

This episode starts off with a rather jarring jump, however, as we immediately begin with Ukitake announcing to the assembled Shinigami that he's going to take over the Soul King's place. This is something without any buildup in the anime, which really made me even more angry about the wasted airtime in the first episode of the cour where we had a recap for 9 minutes. We don't even see Ukitake arriving in Urahara's laboratory, not even as a post-credits cliffhanger. 

Ukitake begins to walk towards the center of the room as the very excellently-animated writhing mass of Mimihagi begin to bleed out of his body. I thought the manga did a really great job with the heavy block-coloured stains, having the weird scribbly effects in the anime is a nice move that also contrasts very well with the otherwise clean artwork.

And then we get the flashback to Mimihagi's backstory... and we get a huge expansion of it. All we saw in the manga was a rather truncated version of the first scene we see, where we see Ukitake's parents praying to the strange enshrined metal hand with an eye, and Mimihagi would bless and seemingly cure a young Ukitake's tuberculosis... though not exactly cure, since all it's doing is to keep it at bay. 

This scene is kept in the anime, of course, but expanded a fair bit. The voice-acting really helps to sell the desperation of Ukitake's parents, while also making the whole "Mimihagi, devour our child's organs" chant feel as sinister as Kubo definitely intended it to be. It's also a lot more clear that even as a sick, dying three-year-old, Ukitake Jushiro is a kind child who is far more concerned about his mother's tears than the fact that he is on death's door. This gesture of wiping away his mother's tears seems to be what moves Mimihagi -- as much as the strange entity that is the enshrined Right Hand of the Soul King can be 'moved'. The statue also cries, and a blackness washes over young Ukitake.  

And everything beyond this is original to the anime in the flashback -- and young Ukitake ends up meeting with Mimihagi in a realm not dissimilar from the 'primordial sea' we've seen Juhabach and the Soul King be associated with multiple times in previous episodes. It's very strange, and very trippy, but young Ukitake walks up to Mimihagi (who's wearing clothes, too) and drinks the tears from the eyeball. As he does so, Ukitake's stomach seems to expand and all the creepy Mimihagi shadows burst from his body and eyes... before ultimately briefly forming a shadowy, creepy version of Mimihagi -- with negative space around the pupil, which is how present-day Mimihagi manifests. 

This whole sequence looks painful and creepy as fuck. And yet it's also undeniable that Mimihagi is doing all of this because he's trying to save Ukitake. A benign 'deal with the devil', so to speak. And it's just rather unsettling all around, which, again, seems to be the tone that we are going for here.

The shadowy aura around young Ukitake dissipates, briefly revealing a black-haired Ukitake beneath before the blackness forms into Mimihagi-shadow-matter and leaves his hair. It is a bit weird that even pre-Mimihagi, young Ukitake already has the white hair? I thought that was an art error, but apparently it's intentional thanks to the art of the manga. 

Anyway, we get to see Ukitake's whole life after this. We get a rather long scene of Ukitake walking down the streets of the Rukongai -- a nicer part of the Rukongai, anyway -- and he sees an elderly woman being accosted by an angry thug who bumped into her. Ukitake is willing to intervene... but the elderly woman beats the shit out of the thug. Ukitake then shows that he's not a pushover either, asking the thug to join him in the Gotei 13 by grabbing the dude's hand in a very firm handshake. It's a nice scene, though these two characters are actually not relevant to the rest of Bleach. It is... an interesting but not unwelcome decision considering how selective the TYBW anime has been. 

(We also see that Ukitake is still vomiting blood here and there, showing that while Mimihagi saved Ukitake's life, it doesn't reverse or heal the progression of the disease). 

In a very welcome addition (and after a brief shot of present-day Kyoraku in the Muken), we get to see Ukitake's first meeting with Kyoraku when they were young, in a sparring battle supervised by Yamamoto, Chojiro and Unohana. Both of them are already dual-wielding wooden katana at this point, and as Yamamoto and Unohana comment on the potential of these two, we get to see the moment that caused the two of them to develop respect for each other and make a lifelong friendship. Ukitake falters in the battle and starts coughing up blood all over Kyoraku... and Kyoraku just ignores it and continues to fight and charge through. It's a nice showcase of Kyoraku's own character, where he's not someone who would take pity on the enemy just because they are distracted or weakened. I think Ukitake appreciates not being pitied either. It's a nice scene for both of them. 

The battle ends with a draw, and they introduce themselves and get a nice, manly meeting. The two of them are aware of each other through their respective reputations in the class. Ukitake asks Kyoraku for a favour... introducing him to some sweets. Ukitake gets super-surprised that the sweet has alcohol in it, and panics when his younger siblings charge in and consume all the alcoholic sweets. It's honestly quite adorable. We get a nice little montage of the seasons passing and Kyoraku and Ukitake being friends...

...until one day, Ukitake brings Kyoraku to the Mimihagi Shrine. Which is where the anime decides to inform the audience about a lot of the stuff that was given to us via an infodump spoken by present-day Ukitake in the manga. This is a lot nicer, and also helps to establish that Ukitake isn't acting alone and that Kyoraku, as always, is in on the secret. Kyoraku being Kyoraku, he's already heard some rumours about it, and he confirms rather shamelessly that he's been trying to research it because of Ukitake. 

We learn that Mimihagi is the local deity of the Sakahone district, and that some of the upper Noble Houses know about rumours of pieces of the Soul King's power falling down from the heavens. Kyoraku notes the irregularities in these rumours, particularly since the Soul King is still in the Soul King's Palace, and Kyoraku notes the appearance of Mimihagi being similar to a right arm. This is where the left-hand-is-advancement, right-hand-is-stillness exposition happens. Ukitake notes that he's got a similar theory thanks to his own sickness never going away despite his survival. 

We also get a really nice scene that ties in to Bleach's source material, showing Ukitake arguing against Central 46 after the death of Shiba Kaien. Central 46 insists that Ukitake appoint a vice captain, while Ukitake is adamant that Kaien cannot be replaced, and that it is the purview of a captain to appoint his or her vice captain. To be absolutely fair to Central 46's arguments, Ukitake did have a tuberculosis episode when fighting Metastacia, leading to Kaien's death, but... his response of 'if I can't handle it, then I guess I'll die a quick death' is so metal that I can't even be mad. 

Another nice Ukitake/Kyoraku friendship scene happens after this, with Kyoraku being flippant as ever, noting that he would've liked to have multiple vice captains, preferably cute girls... before becoming serious and tells Ukitake that this 'wasn't his time to put his life on the line', and shares one of the sake sweets with Ukitake. 

We cut to a scene closer to the present day, right after Yamamoto's death. The three oldest captains -- Kyoraku, Ukitake and Unohana -- gather around the shattered remnants of Yamamoto's blade, while Kyoraku confides with the other two about how hard it is to give orders as the new Captain-Commander. There is a nice little back-and-forth between the three captains with some gallows humour about Kyoraku needing a drink. Later on, Unohana and Ukitake head outside... and have a farewell. I'm not sure how much they know about each other's plans, but Unohana bids Ukitake farewell, knowing that she needs to die in her plan to train Kenpachi, while Ukitake tells Unohana that they will 'see each other soon'.

And then we cut to the present day. 

All of what happens after this is essentially an adaptation of Ukitake's infamously-maligned conclusion in the manga. Which I really do think is one of the lower points of Bleach and is a huge disservice to the character. I've never really cared about Ukitake all that much, but where the other major deaths in the Thousand-Year-Blood-War arc had some kind of conclusion to the characters -- Unohana and Yamamoto in particular -- Ukitake gets a random deus ex machina plot device that... doesn't even save the day, just delays Juhabach for two or three chapters, making his entire death scene felt forced and completely insulting to the character. 

Here? Did the flashbacks help? Absolutely. The events that happen after this are mostly the same (though Ukitake's final words are far more consistent to who he is as a character; Manga!Ukitake is kind of a dick for no reason) but we get a more rounded-out look at Ukitake's character and his life over the years. 

Mimihagi finally bursts out of present-day Ukitake, glorping out in its shadowy, swirling glory, to the shock of everyone present. Rukia gets the biggest reaction, but instead of being brusque with her as in the manga, Ukitake tells Rukia about how he's given up all of his organs to Mimihagi, essentially turning his body into the Right Hand of the Soul King. Ukitake then talks about how he's thought about the day he's going to have to lay down his life and pay his debts for all of his life, and as a drop of blood drops from him, Ukitake muses that nothing would be a better end than to lay down his life for the sake of the Gotei 13. 

Rukia asks Ukitake briefly what will happen to the Thirteenth Division, and Ukitake morosely apologizes for always making things hard for Rukia. It's not much of a farewell, but it sure is one hell of a badass final line. "There are two types of battles... you understand, don't you, Kuchiki?" which is the discussion about why people battle from Kaien's death. 

This, by the way, is such a huge improvement to how utterly dismissive Ukitake was of Rukia, with his dialogue essentially amounting to "greater picture, fuck your emotions, girl!" Turning it into something that fits Ukitake's character development throughout his life -- which has always been about sacrifice; tying it to the death of someone extremely significant in both Ukitake and Rukia's life; and making it into one last personal advice that both highlights the necessity of Ukitake's sacrifice while also urging Rukia onwards? The anime is cooking. 

We get a shot of Ukitake coughing up a whole lot of blood as the Mimihagi's shadowy form grows its fingers. We then cut to Muken, while Kyoraku thinks to himself of Uktiake's own 13th Division Credo -- the two types of battles being to defend life, or to defend honour. Kyoraku then steps into the darkness of the Muken, knowing what battle he needs to fight... as he addresses Sosuke Aizen, imprisoned in the dark. 

We then cut to the end of episode 28 with Ichigo clashing against Juhabach. Juhabach continues to mock Ichigo, detailing how the various worlds will cease to exist now that the Soul King, the lynchpin of the universes, is gone. 

Since some of the action scenes from this part of the manga was moved to the previous fight scene, we get a new sequence as Yoruichi, Chad and Ganju charge in to continue distracting Juhabach. Now the latter two are honestly kind of jokes at this point, but fuck it, they tried. Which is a whole lot better than their manga counterparts, who did nothing. Ganju unleashes a gigantic blast of Seppa, and Chad unleashes his most powerful attack, Brazo Izquierda del Diablo... which of course doesn't even phase Juhabach in the slightest. Yoruichi unleashes a Raioken attack (which was seen in the manga only during the final Aizen fight), and Juhabach very calmly blocks that with his other hand. 

This leads to the sequence where Orihime attempts to use Soten Kisshun to heal the Soul King... the magical barrier seemingly reversing time as it should... before shattering. Juhabach then unleashes two gouts of blue flame, which... I am surprised it didn't actually kill Chad and Ganju, let me put it that way. Considering the sheer gap between the godlike Quincy and the two relatively regular guys. Juhabach mocks their belief that they think a mere human could heal the Soul King. And the Soul King's crystal's red glow starts to fade as everyone is in despair. 

But then as this happens, Ukitake screams, his body is fully enveloped by Mimihagi, and the tentacle-like hand extends into the sky. Breaking through the Shakonmaku, it snakes through the hole made by Juhabach and Ichigo during their anime-exclusive fight (which is a clever bit by the anime team) and grabs onto the Soul King's upper half. 

Juhabach is surprised to see the shadowy thing, which is something that doesn't go unnoticed by Yoruichi. We get a nice representation of Juhabach trying to see it with The Almighty, with the slightly-faded colour effect that we've seen in previous episodes... only for the scene to crack. Juhabach is, for the first time throughout the invasion, genuinely surprised at something beyond his control. 

In the ground level, poor Ukitake's body is still twitching on the ground level, and it just looks really sad. Soi Fon, however, is in all business mode, noting that this ritual won't make Ukitake a replacement for the Soul King and it will only last as long as Ukitake's body is alive. Urahara admits that he is out of his depth, and since they don't have a fixed timeline, they need to do what they can in the time Ukitake has bought for them. Yushiro tells Urahara that the Tenshi-heiso is ready... but they don't quite have enough reiatsu yet. Again, in the manga, the rather dull Tenshi-heiso plotline happens concurrently with Ukitake and Mimihagi and Juhabach killing the Soul King. Rearranging the scenes here allows for the two far more emotionally important scenes to have their proper impact without being distracted by a glorified sidequest. 

The last part of the episode is essentially just Aizen's return, which... is admittedly not quite as cool as it was in the manga considering that Aizen's got a couple of cameo appearances in the first cour. Kyoraku goes through the whole song and dance of showing off the 20 keys, and that he's gotten authorization to use 3 keys. Kyoraku starts unlocking some of the seals, allowing Aizen to talk, but in typical Aizen fashion, he seems to briefly already be walking around before being revealed to still be in the BDSM crucifix.

We get some fun back-and-forth, some verbal sparring, as Aizen acts all uncooperative, showing off his sheer power in being able to still talk even without the 3 keys freeing parts of him, and briefly taunting Kyoraku about not even wanting to go out of Muken. Kyoraku also reveals that Central 46 has embedded the Muken key into his heart, meaning that if Aizen kills Kyoraku in the Muken, he would be sealed forever. I do like Aizen's utter disgust at Central 46, and Kyoraku's subsequent attempts to bring the conversation back to business. 

AND CHAIR-SAMA ARRIVES!m

Kyoraku shows off a row of attendants and the super-powerful Chair-sama, an item that has became quite a bit of a meme in this stage of the story back when the manga was running, since Aizen will sit in that chakir -- and survive quite a bit of a punishment -- with Chair-sama. 

We get a fun scene where one of the stupid nameless attendants charges in to Sosuke Aizen, who wants to 'bind Aizen' before he is seated. Which, of course, is a completely stupid thing to do. The moment the attendant gets close enough to Aizen, his arms explode in geysers of blood. Aizen mocks the fool, noting that the Muken restraints do not eliminate his Reiatsu, merely condenses it and keep it near him. We get a cool visualization of the blood splatters being atomized by the forcefield-esque reiatsu barrier around Aizen's eye. 

Having spooked the mooks, Aizen addresses Kyoraku, asking if they believe that he's going to ever fight for the sake of the Soul Society... but Kyoraku just notes that they have similar interests. Aizen notes that Kyoraku is amusing, before muttering about how Kyoraku wants him to breathe the air of a Soul Society about to be crushed by Juhabach. 

End episode. 

And... I really don't have much of a commentary on the Kyoraku/Aizen scene, which is translated practically perfectly from the manga. Ditto for the brief Team Ichigo vs. Juhabach fight, which is nicely extended but not quite to the sheer emotional and visual impact of the previous and subsequent episodes will bring us in terms of fight scenes. But the Ukitake stuff? I still think Ukitake deserved a better exit, but this is as best as you can get without changing the actual events that occurred, changing and adding just enough to give Ukitake a proper mini-arc before he goes. Great stuff. It really is nice to see them really taking advantage to fix a lot of the much-maligned parts of the pacing, and it's not just adding flashbacks and fight scenes -- I do feel one of the strongest parts is the rearranging of scenes to make them flow much better. 

Random Notes:

• Notably, the audience receives almost all of the information that is given to us in the manga. However, in the manga some of it is delivered through Ukitake's present-day monologue, while here most of it is told to the audience in a different way in the past (i.e. the talk about the hands of the Soul King governing over different aspects) so while Rukia, Urahara and the others got some of the context in the manga, the anime version of them are probably a lot more confused. 
  
• No Bankai for Ukitake in the anime, although to be honest I've never expected him to show off his Bankai since he's never in a position where he could've had an extended fight scene. 
• When I first watched this episode, I thought the random punk beaten by the grandma in Ukitake's youth is like, a pre-Gotei Iba or Kotsubaki or something. Of course, even accounting for the weird Shinigami aging, the timelines don't exactly sync up. 
• It is quite weird that for all the talk about the Right Arm of the Soul King being about stillness and stasis that Ukitake is still able to grow to adulthood. 
• It really is fun that while Yamamoto and Chojiro look super-different in their younger, post-Quincy-war forms, Unohana is just this unchanging bastion of stability throughout all the ages. 
• Of course, ironically Kyoraku would also fight Central 46 over vice captaincy, appointing two vice captains instead of one. He probably didn't expect one of them to be the older gentleman Okikiba, though. 
• A lot of people are very excited about the Hell Arc when Unohana and Ukitake tell each other that they will see each other soon. I highly doubt that 'Hell Arc' will actually happen, not until the TYBW anime is over, anyway. 
• I genuinely forgot that Juhabach was unable to perceive Mimihagi, but that whole exchange was actually drawn straight from the manga. I thought that this is something the anime added to explain Juhabach's defeat! 
• In the manga, only Yoruichi attacks Juhabach to allow Orihime to use Soten Kisshun -- with the strings attack the anime moves to episode 28.
• Even with the heart-bomb or whatever, Kyoraku is only allowed to use 3 of the 20 keys. Why did Central 46 allow him to bring ALL TWENTY keys to Muken? 
• CHAD VS JUHABACH, BABY! My man threw down with god! 
• CHAIR-SAMA!!!!