Bleach TYBW E48 Review: sosuke Aizen's soul society

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 48: THE END 2 WORLD

So this is a bit of an interesting episode. After the mostly anime-original episode 47, this one follows certain aspects of the manga a lot more closely. And it's one that I know have raised some strong opinions from the fandom who had expected more. Not a lot more, but a bit more -- a couple extra flourishes to a long-awaited battle. And I think that is the big elephant in the room -- the fact that Aizen vs Juhabach is as rushed and as fast as it was in the manga. 

To be fair, this was a problem I had with some other fights that I also wanted to be extended -- the Gerard Valkyrie fight being a major contender in my head -- but considering how great the Thousand-Year Blood War is at extending major fights and even giving us brand-new ones, it is kind of a shame that there are many aspects here that are abrupt. 

One thing is, admittedly, there to note -- Aizen vs. Juhabach was always fanservice, even in the original manga. It wasn't a pivotal character the moment the way the extended Ichigo, Uryu or Orihime fights were in this final cour. Aizen, for all of the excitement of seeing Bleach's original Big Bad face off against the newest one, was ultimately irrelevant to the final story, and involving him in the finale would require a massive restructure... and it's a restructure that is fast running out of runway. As good as the TYBW anime has been at adding a lot of context to the major characters, there are still a lot of things I felt disappointed about -- the lack of relevance of Ryuuken and Isshin; the lack of relevance of Ichibei (though this is likely to be fixed in the next two episodes) and any explanation about the Soul King. 

And ultimately, them adapting Aizen's scenes as-is from the manga is... it wouldn't be bad. It wouldn't be good, but it wouldn't be bad... if the scenes were given some impressive flourish like 'The Perfect Crimson'. I also thought Kenpachi's Bankai and Hitsugaya's adult form were also kind of irrelevant, but they were spectacular in the anime that it does almost wash off the poor taste of the conclusion of the Gerard Valkyrie fight. 

But yeah. While I do think the Aizen sequence was ultimately irrelevant, the fact that they're including it at all and not doing stuff to make it be a bit nicer... that's a bit in poor taste. I wasn't as pissed as some of the fandom (many of whom are clamouring for Aizen's Bankai) but I did think that this was a rather weak episode in comparison. 

Anyway, after the events of the previous episode, we get a neat connective tissue scene as our main cast are being healed. Renji is inexplicably whole, which is something I'm going to bitch about. Nanao is smartly trying to heal Orihime first, who gets up and almost zombie-like goes off to try and use her powers to restore Tensa Zangetsu. Rukia also tells Nanao to focus her healing on Ichigo and Renji...  which is more to make sure that the manga equivalent of the scene of Ichigo and Renji going down to fight Juhabach happens. I am entirely unconvinced that Renji is a better fighter than Rukia, especially with their respective Bankais, but okay. It is a nice bit of detail as Nanao shrinks her little healing cube, and both Chad and Ganju start coughing blood. 

Surprisingly, at this point, a completely unexpected scene happens of Sajin Komamura standing in the afterlife. Komamura kind of disappears from the manga after his fight with Bambietta, last seen being carried in his dog form by Iba. I've always felt like there should be an epilogue to this beyond a tragic handwave. Komamura sees an apparition of Genryusai, before flowers blow at him to show him a vision of Soul Society.  Komamura realizes he's meant to protect it, before waking up in his wolf form alongside Iba. Which... I really love Komamura so some screentime for him is neat, but it is kind of an odd choice to give him this bit now, and over many other somewhat neglected characters. 

Speaking of neglected characters, the scene of Orihime being unable to fix Tensa Zangetsu happens as it does in the manga. Rukia and Pesche talk about Juhabach's powers. Renji picks Ichigo up in a manly elbow-lock, and tells Rukia that they don't really have a plan. Renji notes that it's impossible to come up with a plan against that monster anyway, but they have to fight at least. 

And then Ichigo gets stabbed through the back by Tsukishima! Again, this happens similarly to the manga. I've always found the Fullbringers' involvement in the finale to be shoehorned in, and it kind of is shoehorned in here. But at least it's something. Tsukishima and Ginjo show up, while Riruka, Yukio and Giriko hang out in the background. And essentially, Tsukishima does his big thing for the arc, using his bullshit reality-warping power to counteract Juhabach's bullshit reality-warping power. By rewriting the past, Tsukishima allows Orihime to restore the blade, and even Ichigo's inner world is restored. Ichigo and Renji head off, and the XCution fuck off to irrelevance, I guess. 

Speaking of irrelevance... Uryu wakes up to see Isshin and Ryuuken. We condense this meeting and the exposition to Ryuuken just giving Uryu the Still Silver arrow, the Standspitze. Unlike some of the other stuff -- like the Soul King or Haschwalth/Juhabach's powers and whatnot -- the Still Silver still really comes out of nowhere, and its connection to the Auswahlen blood clots is still inconsistent with how the anime has been showing the Auswahlen vaporizing Sternritters into skeletons. 

Still no explanation of what they have been doing, or what they will do. I really hope they at least get involved and shoot of some attacks during the final battle, because moreso than the Visored or Gerard or XCution or whoever, these two absent dads really should've been doing something. 

Anyway, Juhabach arrives back in the Soul Society. Which has places that look remarkably intact after the two different Vandenreich invasions. The anime's version of events with Uryu's big plan last episode does give Juhabach a more sensible return to come down to the Soul Society. He sends out gigantic blasts of reishi to casually blow up a bunch of streets' worth of generic Shinigami, as if there hasn't been enough dead generic Shinigami. 

Aizen in his chair, however, confronts Juhabach, and delivers the stone-cold line of "welcome to my Soul Society". 

We then cut off to Ichigo and Renji running down the spirit path down to the Soul Society, and in a nice bit of character moment taken straight from the manga, we get a nice scene of Ichigo asking Renji if he really needs to come. Renji goes and punches the also-wounded Ichigo a couple of times, before going on a 'manly man' rant. Renji notes that this is the only time he will ever admit to this, only because the two of them are alone, and that's a cute little scene. But basically he really appreciates Ichigo for being the person that allowed him and Rukia to get back together again, and because of that debt he's going to always keep going on to help Ichigo even if it means his death. And of course, ol' softie Renji goes "I'll never repeat what I said". A pretty cool scene!

In Soul Society, Juhabach unleashes a gigantic blast of black goopy energy that shatters Aizen's chair, and there's a cute little bit where Aizen mocks Juhabach for having trouble with Ichigo, while Juhabach counter-mocks him by saying that Aizen's just projecting his own failures to other people. Aizen thanks Juhabach for destroying the awful chair (Chair-sama was a meme back in the day),  and fully freed, blasts off the dust around him. Aizen tells Juhabach that he's going to fight him not because it benefits him, but out of principle against anyone that tries to control him. 

Now, everything that happens here is technically under Kyoka Suigetsu, and it's interesting to see how the next episodes are going to handle this. Ichigo and Renji come in and attack, but this whole fight is an illusion and I don't even know if Renji was ever involved (or was knocked out off-screen, or off-illusion). As Ichigo and Renji jump Juhabach, he does his whole "I see everything" spiel, and cracks Tensa Zangetsu. Interestingly, it doesn't break? That is just the illusion, I guess? 

Juhabach launches gigantic blasts that vaporizes part of the execution hill at the center of Soul Society, while continuing to gloat. Renji uses Zabimaru to attack, then goes Bankai to So'o Zabimaru, but gets his arms sliced off by Juhabach, before just getting swatted aside by giant Soul King powers. Before Juhabach can wipe out Renji, Aizen charges in and attacks with his sword. He then jumps to a rock and unleashes Hado #99: Goryo Tenmetsu. This was a hado that was very weirdly depicted in the manga, and only really fleshed out in the Can't Fear Your Own World manga. Aizen summons a couple of giant lightning dragons and charges into battle with them. And that's really the only major addition to this fight. 

Juhabach apparently shatters Kyoka Suigetsu, and unleashes a blast that draws blood from Aizen and dispells Goryo Tenmetsu. 

An arm-less Ichigo charges in and swings down with his sword, and Juhabach notes that he had identified Kyoka Suigetsu working -- apparently, Juhabach was under the impression that Ichigo and Renji swapped places, with 'Ichigo' being the armless Renji. Juhabach then attacks Ichigo, blasting a massive hole in his chest. Juhabach unleashes gigantic gouts of energy, telling Ichigo that hsi resistance is over and he can perish alongside Soul Society. 

And, of course, this is just Aizen's illusion, and the body impaled by Juhabach is actually Aizen. Ichigo charges in, stabs Juhabach from the back, and unleashes a Getsuga Tenshou, which seemingly causes Juhabach to melt into the ground. Aizen does some explanation about how Ichigo's immunity to Kyoka Suigetsu ended up strangely becoming useful, and he's about to say another thing to Ichigo... when a gigantic blast of blood happens, Juhabach is of course still not dead, and Aizen gets eaten and consumed by Juhabach's goopy eyeball shadows. 

Juhabach, reduced to nothing but eyeball-goop and a mouth, mocks Aizen for undoing his Kyoka Suigetsu, seemingly because he's reached his limit. Ichigo charges in towards the massive goopy goop form of Juhabach, but he blasts off Tensa Zangetsu, and seemingly also overwhelms Ichigo and his blade while he does a monologue about being stronger than even death. 

Credits roll, as we cover the literal last parts of the manga that could be adapted faithfully. And so far, I do think that adapting these fights a bit too faithfully has been the wrong move, especially considering how cool the rewritten parts of the Uryu/Haschwalth and Ichigo/Juhabach (or Ichigo-Orihime-Rukia/Juhabach, more like) battles have been.

Anyway, after the credits, we get scenes from the real world which did run a bit too long -- and could've been given to other parts of the episode (like Aizen, or XCution, or Ryuuken and Isshin) where Tatsuki runs around to see the real world covered with rogue Hollows. Shino and Ryunosuke attack a Hollow and there's a bit where Tatsuki argues with them for being careless. But then Juhabach appears in the sky, causing all the Hollows to fly up towards him. Juhabach vaporizes all the Hollows with one shot, conveniently not hitting any of the living people or Shinigami. 

We cut away to Hueco Mundo, following Yammy's cute Hollow puppy. Somehow, despite last seen being around Orihime and the others, Harribel, Neliel, Pesche and Dondochakka have all been teleported back to Hueco Mundo. It really feels random, and having a Garganta or some kind of portal open behind them would've really been useful here. But they also see Juhabach in the sky. 

Juhabach, in the Soul Society, monologues that he has fused with the world itself, allowing himself to access all worlds. And there's a cool sequence where the background flashes around between Soul Society, the real world, and Hueco Mundo as Juhabach monologues about his absolute power. Juhabach then unleashes even more goopy Soul King power to create a brand new world. Ichigo struggles in the goop, and as a giant goop-dome is formed, eyeballs open up all over the inside of it. 

Shino and Ryunosuke take a stand against Juhabach in the real world... which I guess is a neat bit to bring their character into full circle, especially after getting some screentime in the beginning of the arc? But then four captains appear in the sky. Kyoraku, Byakuya, (kid form) Hitsugaya and... Soi Fon! Soi Fon? Soi Fon!!! They remembered she exists! Huh! Kyoraku gives a badass line about how he's ordering everyone to fight and return back alive, and dying is punishable by death. 

In Hueco Mundo, Harribel and little Neliel get ready to fight, and Grimmjow also walks up, pulls his sword and does a bunch of acrobatic flips through the air as he Leeroy Jenkins-es against Juhabach. 

Uryu comes in, uses a Quincy arrow to free Ichigo and grab Tensa Zangetsu, and after a brief bro moment, they get ready to fight Juhabach. 

So yeah, final battle time. It seems like it might be a nice little 'raid boss', as I've seen other fans online call it, allowing the captains and other characters to all fight against Juhabach while Ichigo and Uryu hold down the fort in the 'main' battle before it ends with Still Silver. There are still a bunch of stuff that is going around that Juhabach might not be able to predict (Antithesis and whatever Kyoraku/Ukitake is planning with Mimihagi). It's nice to see some of the Captains and Arrancar fight, and I'm really hoping for Aizen to be involved somehow still, even if it's in a minor role. As much as this episode and a bit of the previous one has been a bit rocky, it is a nice buildup to finally close the chapter to the final fight of Bleach. 

Random Notes:

• 
  A non-exhaustive list of things that Ryuuken and Isshin could have been doing off-screen between cours: 
• Gather the Still Silver from dead Sternritter, which would explain what they are doing off-screen. 
  
• Fight the Lille Barro birds. 
• Fight Gerard Valkyrie. 
• Rescue Team Ichigo from the throne room instead of Pesche and Dondochakka.
• Help Uryu last episode in his bombardment plan, which is an invention of the anime. 
• Join the rookie Shinigami in fighting the Hollows in the real world, which is an invention of the anime.
• Fight the Hollows pouring into the Rukongai last episode. 
• Help heal or gather the wounded, which would put them at Nanao and Momo relevance, but at least they would be doing something.
• I know I rag on the whole explanation about broken Bankai, and I'm not even bitching about Tsukishima and Orihime restoring Tensa Zangetsu. But with Renji's So'o Zabimaru being absolutely shredded by Juhabach last episode... the fact that Renji was completely whole in this episode, and uses his Bankai without any problems, does raise some questions. I suppose his Bankai could be an organic, restorative type just like Komamura? Or perhaps the Renji we saw in the illusion was just an illusion. 
• I probably shouldn't be too harsh on Rukia wanting Nanao to heal Renji to send him down to fight -- love does make you do illogical things, I suppose. 
• Orihime has such a "I'm done with you" death-glare at the XCution. Sure, it could be just exhaustion from the death battle she just did, but I like the idea that she's just not in a forgiving mood against Tsukushima. And honestly, I really did feel like XCution was handwaved and forgiven way too fast and what they did here in this arc was really not deserving of forgiveness. But I also really don't care about the two main guys of XCution to really be bothered by it. 
• Yeah, in the manga, Juhabach just decides to very randomly fuck off from the Soul King's Palace down to Soul Society after breaking Ichigo's Bankai, seemingly for no good reason. 
• I am never the biggest fan of the Fullbringer arc, but the shot of the Shinigami bursting out of an spiritual portal to help Ichigo at his lowest moment -- and that scene being part of Renji's "pledge" on always being there to help Ichigo -- is a very appropriate and cool one. 
• There's a random scar on Juhabach's mouth that is particularly prominent in the anime due to the colours. I'm not sure what this scar is meant to represent? The wound caused by Ichigo's Getsuga in this scene, I guess? 
• Neliel is reduced to her child form, because she uses her form-changing bracelets that Urahara gave her as something for Uryu to use Antithesis on. Really should have scrounged around for a brick or a Quincy button or something... 
• Other than those already established to be present, here's some other people who might make it to the finale:
• Presumably Renji isn't too wounded to join in the fight, even if he can't possible out-bro Uryu. 
• Kira still looks quite fresh in Soul Society, and can probably join the fight. 
• Iba is still also very fresh, and that flashback with Komamura should lead somewhere.
• Aizen might pop back out of being goopified. 
• XCution are very fresh and haven't really battled. At least Ginjo would be cinematic as an action fighter. 
• While we can maybe rule out Kenpachi, Mayuri and the Visored as we've seen them injured; we've also seen Rangiku, Momo, Ikkaku and Yumichika standing around. 
• Ichibei is a shoo-in for doing something, regardless of his allegiances. 
• Ryuuken and Isshin, the bums.

Daredevil: Born Again S02E02 Review: Bull's Eye

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, Episode 2: Shoot the Moon

I thought the episode opened up in a rather splendid fashion, ratcheting up a fair bit of tension. Bullseye is back and we get to see him be a wildcard in-between Kingpin and his taskforce; as well as Matt's 'resistance' allies. What seemed to be another taskforce-vs-good-cops standoff regarding the hospitalized Cherry ends up being unexpectedly brutal as Bullseye does that cool elevator moment, complete with an actual (sadly overmodernized) supervillain suit.

On the other side, Kingpin pushing up the hunt for Daredevil while also making a brilliant manhunt for Matt Murdock -- framing him as a poor blind hero who is a victim of Daredevil and someone that he wants found due to saving his life in the previous season -- was also fantastic. We... don't really get any of these cool threads followed up in the second half of the episode, which just kind of meanders around with the side characters until we land at the requisite fight scene. 

Some of these are entertaining, of course. Vanessa Fisk (and Wilson too, to a lesser degree) having paranoia about Bullseye and having conversations about legacy and escaping New York is nice. The action scene at the end of the episode is neat, too. The AVTF try and arrest Josie, leading to Daredevil fighting them as they breach the bar and find out Matt and Karen's little hidey-hole. I do like the close-quarters combat of Daredevil ziplining and beating up the two AVTF members that entered all the way to the basement, particularly the bit where he jumpscares the taskforce members with the gun (that he wasn't going to use). This action scene leads to the cliffhanger of the episode showing that Karen actually subdued a task force member for interrogation. 

But I must admit that the secondary cast really isn't the most exciting part of the episode, and more importantly it really does take away from Matt, Karen and Kingpin. Again... not all of them are interesting. 

Angela del Toro, the niece of the late White Tiger, ends up being caught smack dab when AVTF members come in and arrest some thieves, the store owner that pulled a gun on them, and Angela's aunt for 'assaulting an officer'. The unfairness and the power abuse is clearly shown well, and it's a nice contrast to the word-on-the-street interviews with random civilians who talk about how good the Fisk regime is to New York. This leads to Angela going off to Kirsten and finding her uncle's superhero amulet, which presumably will lead to White Tiger II in the upcoming episodes. That's neat, I guess, if I didn't feel that the show has too many characters, many of whom are struggling for airtime. 

Blake gets into a confrontation with Kingpin, and manages to weasel his way out of suffering the same fate as the overeager boxing coach in the episode's earlier scenes. His fooling around with BB has caused a data leak and Kingpin is really not liking it. The confrontation between BB and Blake is very muted and I must confess I don't find either character particularly engaging. The reveal that BB is also producing the 'fake Kingpin parody' propaganda isn't a huge surprise, either. 

Both Blake and Sheila (who's kind of protecting Blake? Sort of?) get implicit warnings from Fisk, who shows off the reports of Gallo's unfortunate death. I do find Sheila to be a fair bit more engaging and I like that she's kind of protecting the overeager puppy that is Blake... but again, all of this is coming at the expense of potentially more interesting storylines. 

The titular 'shoot the moon' comes from Taskforce goon Powell, who gets a couple of scenes establishing how much he hates vigilantes (and hates them even more after Bullseye kills two of his men that were clearly trying to arrest/murder/brutalize Cherry). We also get Cole from Born Again season one, who inexplicably survived Matt's apartment blowing up to kingdom come with some scars. Not sure if he's going to be particularly relevant. 

Meanwhile, up until the end of the episode, Matt and Karen kind of just do some vague investigating that doesn't really add up to much. Karen's frustrated that they can't do more (hence her capturing a Taskforce member at the end of the episode) and... Kingpin prepares for a gala and they're paranoid because of Bullseye, but nothing really happens in this episode. 

(It also doesn't help that most of the other side-characters spotlighted last episode -- Duquesne, Heather, Mr. Charles, the missing sailor Christofi -- essentially disappear in this one)

Again, I get the need of a setup episode, but considering how Daredevil: Born Again's greatest strength has been in Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk (and sometimes Karen) even as it builds a world around the two main characters. Honestly, it is quite baffling that we haven't really given either of the leads any particular huge moments or character spotlights two episodes into the second season. I wouldn't have minded if Karen, Bullseye or Vanessa had been given the spotlight to build them up a bit, but the focus has been so scattershot and it's even harder when I sit down and have to review the episodes and I have to sit down and really think about what has happened in the episode that's notable. Still enjoying myself, but I'm waiting for something actually interesting to happen. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Bullseye looks for Sister Maggie, who was last seen in Daredevil's third season before the channel hop from Netflix to Disney+. Maggie's on a sabbatical to Rome, apparently. 
• Kingpin in His Gym is a trope named after Kingpin's comic-book incarnation, and this is certainly a demonstration of the trope as Kingpin trains in boxing and ends up maiming his coach. 

Bleach TYBW E47 Review: tri-world cooperAtion

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 47: The End 2

Been a bit behind in Bleach: TYBW reviews, but considering that there's a bit of delays in the final two episodes, I guess it all works out in the end. After the previous episode was a relatively faithful adaptation/remastering of some segments in the manga, 'The End 2' gives us mostly new content. 

And we start off with a rather fun scene, and one that quite interesting for the anime staff and the writers to focus on, since we start off in a strange purgatory with waters. The near-death Kyoraku gets dragged underneath by an a hand, and is confronted by the spirit of Ukitake. Ukitake gives a bit of a recap about Juhabach's plan to merge the Three Worlds, and how he's managed to delay it with his whole Mimihagi gambit. Ukitake notes that he's very likely to die soon (and Kyoraku agrees), and before he does so, he wants to make a gambit on Kyoraku by giving his last powers to him. There's a nice couple of jokes between the two old friends, before Ukitake notes that despite this not being Kyoraku's style, he's still going to do it since there's no one else that can. 

Kyoraku walks off into the distance and wakes up in the real world, while Ukitake fades away (and says his last line in his adult voice). It is quite surprising that we're getting a bit more for Kyoraku to do, but I am absolutely not complaining. 

Our main star in this episode is Uryu, however, as we go through a massive sequence that's original to the anime. Fresh off his victory over Haschwalth, zips down into the giant orb of deathly distortion, summons his fancy new four-pronged bow, and starts shooting arrows into it. The arrows whirl around the giant death-orb, and Uryu notes that this is exactly as his master (his grandfather) wrote. Utterly unexpectedly, the two best characters in Bleach, Pesche and Dondochaka show up. They were apparently caught up in the 'black eyeballs' and got teleported there. Which I guess are the portals that were opened a couple episodes by the science team? 

But much more exciting is the arrival of Neliel and... Harribel! There's a bit of a comedic bit from Pesche where he accuses Uryu at ogling Nel's adult form. Harribel is completely no-nonsense, pointing her giant shark-bone-sword at Uryu's face. Which, fair enough, he is a Quincy and even though Harribel has been out of the loop, her being suspicious would be entirely proper. Kyoraku and Nanao then show up, leading to a three-way meeting between the Shinigami, Hollows, and (a) Quincy. 

And can I just say how cool it is for Tier Harribel to have a large-ish role here? They didn't have to do this. They could've just had Harribel be freed in the epilogue and called it a day. But I've always had a huge soft spot for the Espada, and seeing Harribel get extended screentime where she had nothing in the manga is great. 

We get a brief cutaway to a whole ton of Hollow rampaging and destroying the Rukongai, with Akon and the rest of the science team remarking about how this appears to be stabilizing the distortion as best as they could, and while the destruction of the poor Rukongai to be a necessary evil. There's some discussion about how Shinigami need to ensure balance, although I don't think 'maybe Rukongai existed just for this moment' makes much sense beyond the Shinigami telling themselves that to feel better. 

We then get Kyoraku and Harribel both commenting on the big orb of doom, and Uryu identifies it as a 'final arrow' by Juhabach to trigger the collapse of the Three Worlds. And Uryu makes it clear that his duty and objectives as the Last Quincy is to destroy that Seed of Distortion. We get a flashback to Ishida Soken, Uryu's grandfather, apparently being the one to have discovered this distortion with his experimentation... and inadvertently caused this to be known to Juhabach. Soken notes that there might be a way to destroy the Seed of Distortion by driving it into the distortion itself. A bunch of handwave-y explanations that I have watched a couple of times and shrugged, but essentially it gives Uryu a game plan. 

The whole Seed of Distortion stuff is admittedly still a bit of a random plot device from out of nowhere, but we at least get some modicum of explanation and exposition this time around. I'm not the biggest fan of it, but I can see how it works around the explanation for Uryu's big moment in this episode, and at least one aspect of Juhabach's plans to merge the three worlds -- even if he seems perfectly capable of doing it on his own with just his Auswahlen powers. 

There's a bit of a 'tough guy' act from some of the parties involved, but ultimately the various factions decide to work together to enact Uryu's plan -- drop the castle down into the distortion. Uryu plans to drop the central tower of the five-pointed Soul Palace (apparently the other four mini-palaces keep the central structure floating in the skies? ....sure?). In an adaptation of the silly unexplained bombs from the manga, Uryu gives out 'Leiden Scherben', Quincy explosives that break down and scatter reishi. Uryu's allies will go around to tear down the bridges of Wahrwelt to drop the central castle. 

We cut back to Juhabach and Ichigo, where after the previous episode, Ichigo is basically in complete shock while Juhabach does an evil villain monologue. We get a short but powerful monologue from Ichigo, who notes that everyone there has had their powers rendered ineffective... and Juhabach attempts to take back the power he has given to Ichigo. I'm not sure if it actually worked or not, but Juhabach draws in power from Ichigo and Blut Vene appears all over Ichigo's body. As per Ichigo's flashbacking to the origin of his Quincy powers, Juhabach is drawing the Quincy-Hollow powers into himself, and Ichigo's hollow horn shatters. 

Shadowy goop comes out and creates a gigantic halo, and this slams down all over the battlefield. Everything is bathed in vague purple light... and sadly, this does mean that the Gerard Valkyrie fight ends the same way, without even the slightest bit of extra scene for Byakuya/Hitsugaya/Kenpachi to do something against Gerard and his heart. Boo! Boo boo!

(At least this time it does seem to be Juhabach unwittingly hitting the other Schutzstaffel in the crossfire while draining Ichigo, instead of him grabbing the villain ball). 

As the church-bells sound and Gerard gets atomized into a skeleton, the Auswahlen also slams onto the Lille Barro birds, wiping them out of existence while a confused Izuru Kira looks. It's...  it's a bit of a little bugbear for me, too, that we didn't even get a token scene of Kira fighting the Lille birds. We don't have to get a proper fight, just to see Kira clash maybe once or twice with the Lille birds. There were enough random scenes with the science team that I'm sure it could've been snuck in. 

More importantly, Mimihagi around Ukitake explodes and Ukitake presumably dies properly in this episode... but Kyoraku raises his hand, which contains a fragment of Mimihagi... and that shadow morphs into a mass of energy, and then an eyeball, and gets sucked in by Juhabach as well. What this means, and why Ukitake needed to entrust that power to Kyoraku, I'm not sure... but I really do appreciate the added Kyoraku/Ukitake stuff and hope that all of this builds to a less ass-pull-y finale for how they defeat the Almighty. 

Juhabach, fully empowered as thus, flies up above the Wahrwelt and notes about how his plan is entering fruition as the Seed blooms, and as he's about to make an offering to the 'chaotic tranquility'. 

(I will still be critical and note that the anime still doesn't explain why Juhabach needs to do a second Auswahlen to get rid of Gerard and Lille, which still feels as random as it was in the original manga. I can infer stuff, but it still feels rather random._

It's at this point that the five bridges blow up as Uryu's allies detonate the bridges, and Uryu flies in from the skies. And as if he's a goddamn proper main character this time around, Uryu challenges Juhabach. And as Uryu and Juhabach prepare to fight, we get a cute scene of Dondochakka's giant pet Hollow worm, Bawabawa, evacuating the rest of the main cast. 

Uryu and Juhabach fight, with Juhabach outspeeding Uryu handily... but then a gigantic blast of water slams onto Juhabach as Tier Harribel joins the battle! That's so awesome. Underused characters actually participating in big fights? I guess the Espada rightfully is more popular even among the writers and animation staff compared to the XCution or Visored. 

And Harribel just keeps slamming large amounts of water onto Juhabach. Nelliel charges in with Super Acceleration, although she gets pierced on the side. It is quite cool, since Nel did absolutely nothing but stand around and evacuate people in the manga version of the arc. Juhabach mocks the 'King of the Arrancar', noting the sheer gulf between their powers. Harribel cares not for power level gaps, or of the title of 'King'. 

Harribel and Neliel are completely outmatched, mind you. Juhabach is right. But it's still cool to see old school Bleach attacks as Harribel drops a Cascada on Juhabach, dodges some black shadow tendrils before being pierced. Uryu uses Feder Zwinger to break down the reishi of Wahrwelt to create a gigantic arrow, and does a massive combo attack with Nelliel's Lanzador Verde... the scene moves between multiple projectiles and it's a bit odd, but as Juhabach queries whether this is the 'future that Uryu has chosen', Uryu goes "I haven't chosen yet!" So... uncertainty works to work around the Allmighty? Lanzador Verde slams onto Juhabach and seems to stun him for a bit. 

Juhabach notes about how futile this is, and uses his powers to 'break the arrow of hope'... but then, Uryu finally, finally shows off why Antithesis is actually important to fight against Juhabach. 

In the face of Juhabach's future-swapping abilities, Uryu notes that he could already see that the future's going to be swapped... and he uses Antithesis to reverse the futures, restoring the arrow that Juhabach broke. It breaks apart and swarms around the Seed of Destruction, finally sending the Royal Palace descending down into the giant void in space. 

Again, this is cool. In the manga, Uryu barely gets to use his Antithesis powers, but everyone keeps calling him as some kind of special Quincy. Uryu actually having the power to defy Almighty with Antithesis, and his still-unexplained immunity/survival of the Auswahlen (which I really hope the anime explains) really does make it understandable why he's super crucial to defeating Juhabach, instead of it feeling arbitrary. The added Uryu fight scenes against Squad Zero, Renji and Ichigo, of course, most certainly helped out too. I know I did complain a bit across my reviews about some things that could've been extended, like the Visored, or Gerard, or whatever.... but Uryu definitely is someone who went out of this new rewrites with a massive victory. 

As the Seed of Distortion falls into the distortion itself, and Juhabach mocks Uryu that this is going to blow up the Seireitei... Uryu uses Antithesis to swap some stuff. With the trinkets that Uryu and Neliel has thrown around, Uryu swaps Juhabach and traps him within the explosion, while teleports the Arrancar into safety. And then with a gigantic amount of Feder Zwingers that take the form of like, mummy bandages, Uryu wraps everything around the gigantic explosion to contain it. The interlocking Quincy arrows is some over-the-top CGI stuff, but it looks impressive enough. Uryu gets a pretty cool Dragon Ball Z style yelling, before the explosion happens. 

And Uryu falls out of the sky, and just like Orihime a couple of episodes ago, this feels like a victory. But then Juhabach appears in the sky, laughs, and notes that this alters nothing of the future he had planned. Can't... can't Uryu just Antithesis this again? But sure. I get where they are going for with this, and we could handwave it as Uryu just losing power. 

Juhabach boasts as eyeballs appear all over his body that 'all Schrifts have sublimated' within him, and that the final end and beginning is about to happen. With the distortion plan gone, Juhabach walks into a portal and heads down to the Soul Society. This happens in the manga, too, but felt random and arbitrary. 

While I'm still a bit salty about some choices, I really do appreciate that the anime is really showing off some characters that really deserved better. Harribel, Nel and Kyoraku all having stuff to do is absolutely welcome, but Uryu getting a proper huge gambit to fight against Juhabach is great. I also really like that between the Antithesis powers of Uryu and the whole Mimihagi gambit by Ukitake and Kyoraku, that we're slowly building up various other ways to properly get around The Almighty beyond just a vague handwave of 'plot device magic arrow'.

This episode does feel a bit clunky, and if we're being honest a couple of the changes are quick handwaves just to give us some popular characters returning as a bit of a fanservice... but I can't lie; I did really enjoy all the returning characters and the huge Uryu moment. It feels like they could've did some work to make the pacing work better, but otherwise it's still a nice episode. 

Random Notes:

• Kyoraku and Ukitake getting extra scenes is most welcome. One could already make an argument that Kyoraku had his big moment, and Ukitake's big moment comes off a lot better now that the anime equivalent of that scene has a flashback attached to it. But having a proper conclusion to that is most certainly welcome. 
  
• And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Ukitake getting a proper close-out is probably a nod to his upcoming big role in the Hell Arc, whenever that happens. 
• 
  Among the discussion between Kyoraku and ghost!Ukitake, there's  a cute line where Ukitake notes that the chances of their plan working out is the same chance as Kyoraku successfully asking Unohana out on a date. Okay!
• With Xcution really not doing anything more than their manga counterparts in the next episode, I really thought that they could at least help out in laying down the bombs. At least Kujo, Riruka and the Time Tells No Lies guy would have something to do? They would represent the 'Earth' part of the Three Worlds a lot  better than just Uryu alone, at least. 
• It was a bit confusing how Pesche, Dondochakka and Harribel got sucked to the Royal Palace. Pesche claims that some 'black shadowy eyeballs' teleported them there, which seems to imply Juhabach's powers, but considering they were all last seen in Hueco Mundo, and the only portals that opened to Hueco Mundo seem to be the one activated by the Gotei 13... it's just a bit odd. 
• Nanao was fully ready to throw down and Hado the Arrancar if Kyoraku hadn't stepped in. 
• The Gerard fight really does rankle me. Even a couple of extra scenes showing them figuring out that it's the heart that's the source of regeneration and commenting on it would've been something. 
• As Juhabach does that final Auswahlen  and everything goes purple, there's a very cool chanting background music that I think is Never Meant to Belong (?) but with the Auswahlen church bells effect overlaid on top of it. 
• I do like that among the five orbital palaces, we get to see the massive terrain damage caused by Gerard's kaiju fight, as well as Lille's Trompete attack. 
• So despite Renji being cut up into ribbons last episode, I guess only the Bankai parts are broken? Because he seems quite whole on top of Bawabawa. 
• The bangles that Nelliel drops to allow Uryu to use Antithesis are the bangles that prevent her from reverting to her child form... she does get turned back into a kid next episode, so it's a bit... foolish, I would say, to use those when any item would really do. 
• Really love the scene of Uryu swooping in like a damn fighter jet into the glowing yellow explosions of the Seed of Distortion. 
• Rangiku, Momo and motherfucking HANATARO make brief cameos around Byakuya and Hitsugaya as they witness Uryu stopping the big explosion. 
• ...did none of the Shinigami try to help contain the blast? Even with the handwave that the more powerful Arrancar are wounded, the Shinigami no longer have Gerard to deal with, after all...

Gotta Review 'Em All - Moves [Generation VIII], Part 1

Generation VIII is here! And while it isn't as broadcasted as heavily as the 'National Dex' stuff, in addition to huge swathes of Pokemon simply not being playable in Pokemon Sword and Shield, a casualty that went unlamented are entire scores of moves that are simply... purged from the game entirely. While not including some of the more extraneous moves like Z-Moves or the Let's Go special Pikachu/Eevee moves are understandable, the fact that so many moves are just lost and not available feels like kind of a disservice. 

I do understand that it's a nice simplification of the game for newbies, to reduce the available amount of moves to something somewhat comparable to Generation III or IV. With moves, I can at least somewhat see the 'competitive field' argument. Not that I really find it a good reason myself, since it really does reek of them simply not caring enough -- or more likely, not having the time -- to program all of these older moves into the game. 

And I think part of my frustration with this 'move purge' is that, unlike the Pokemon species, there really isn't much in lieu of replacements for these 'lost' moves. When you do a rotation in a TCG, normally the cards that leave are replaced with ones that do a similar thing, but in a more balanced manner. And while we do have some new moves, they're also... not the most exciting? Which is probably why my Generation VIII move review took so long to write. 

And as such, I honestly do think that Pokemon lost something when so much of these new moves in a generation are just either gimmick signature moves, or, in the case of Generation VIII, part of a series of moves meant to fill a quota, in this case the Dynamax/Gigantamax moves. And honestly, the sheer lack of flavour in the G-Max moves in particular is what made writing this article so hard for me. I finished up most of the other moves, but for the Max/G-Max moves, it took me so long to write. So I do apologize in advance if I sound a bit too salty, but these are my honest opinions in reviewing these moves.

(This was originally supposed to be a single article due to the relatively smaller amount of moves, but my ranting ended making it a bit longer than it should be.)

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Normal-type Moves:

So to refresh your minds about the Dynamax/Gigantamax gimmick for Generation VIII, once per battle in certain areas, a Pokemon can become really big to turn into their Dynamax (or Gigantamax) forms for three turns, getting some buffs to their stats and replacing all their moves with "Max Moves". It's something similar to Z-Moves from Generation VII, with all attacking moves turned into their respective max moves, while all support moves turned into a specific variation. And some Pokemon get special 'G-Max' moves if they have Gigantamax forms, which allows them to use a unique variation. 

Which sounds like them trying to do a balancing act between Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves on paper. It sounds neat! On execution... I can't speak for the 'meta' implicatoins, but execution wise, it's almost always kind of boring and if I was a bit more cynical, I would point this out as yet another example of Generation VIII's rushed, cost-cuting measures because almost everything uses the same bunch of animations, robbing the whole point of what made Z-Moves unique in the first place. Which is really a shame, but honestly, considering the bulk of new moves in Generation VIII are tied to this Dynamax gimmickry, there really isn't much for me to talk about 'flavour'. But I'll get the Max moves out of the way for every type, but... if you can't tell, all things considered, I really do think that the Dynamax gimmick in Generation VIII is probably my least favourite of all the gimmicks we've had. 

(The fact that you only really have eighteen animations and they're not skippable means that you'll see them over and over and over again, so after a while despite being impressive on paper they kind of become quite boring.)

• Max Strike (Dai Attaku/Dy Attack) This is what all the Normal-type offensive attacks are transformed into, and the animation is probably the only thing that these Max moves do well. It's an over-the-top giant strike from the heavens with a lot of flashy lights, taking a nice advantage of the Nintendo Switch's comparatively better graphics. It's a bit less silly than VII's Breakneck Blitz, which is the Normal-type Z-move, but it's all right. 
• Max Guard (Dai Woru/Dy Wall) A fair bit more boring is the 'guarding' Max move, which is what all status move turns into. It's basically Protect. Again, conceptually it's okay. You go big, and one of the big stuff you do is a big forcefield. Neato.
• G-Max Gold Rush (Kyodai Koban/Gigant Koban), G-Max Cuddle (Kyodai Hoyo/Gigant Embrace), G-Max Replenish (Kyodai Saisei/Gigant Regeneration) ...but this is where things kinda fall off. All these fancy Gigantamax forms -- Gigantamax Meowth, Gigantamax Eevee, Gigantamax Snorlax -- have fancy new forms, and each of them have a specific new Gigantamax move... all of which are given such inspiring and memorable names starting with "G-Max". The animations? Exactly the same as Max Strike, with some effects that are not displayed visually. Coins burst out with Gold Rush, berries burst out with Replenish, which seems like such a cheap, additional tack-on. Remember how cool it is that some Pokemon got unique Z-move animations in Generation VII? All the animations with Snorlax waking up and charging at the enemy, or Incineroar summoning entire boxing rings, or Decidueye spinning around shooting shadow arrows into a tornado? Man, those were so personalized to each Pokemon and so memorable. 

• Court Change (Koto Chenji/Court Change) Depending on the release date of this article compared to the abilities one, you will or have seen me bitch about Libero. But Cinderace's signature move, Court Change, is actually very flavourful! In football (or soccer), the teams swap fields at some points in the game. Cinderace replicates this, swapping the effects of each field and moving buffs/debuffs onto the opposing field. Unlike the random favouritism of Libero, I actually really like this move's flavour. 
• Stuff Cheeks (Hobaru/Stuff Cheeks) Originally the signature move of the Skwovet line, this one has the Pokemon eat its berry to get whatever effect that the berry has and get a defense boost. It's a way to guarantee your Pokemon get the effect of the berry. Sure, it's kind of cute for the starting rodent, I suppose, and it's quite flavourful. Later generations would make this move available to other 'glutton' Pokemon like Swalot and Lechonk. 
• Teatime (Ochakai/Tea Party) ...why is this a Normal-type move? You'd think it's Ghost-type, since it's Polteageist's signature move. The effects are also kind of strange. Despite the visuals of Polteageist doing... well, poltergeist stuff on a spectral tea-set, the effect is... all parties in the field eat their berries? Uh? Okay?
• Terrain Pulse (Daichi no Hado/Terrain Pulse) A rather simple move, this was only available in the DLC through a move tutor. Terrain Pulse ties into the Terrain gimmick introduced in Generation VI -- Terrain Pulse changes its typing based on the active terrain at the time. Neat! Not much to say beyond that. 
• Power Shift (Pawa Shifuto/Power Shift) This is a very interesting move introduced in Legends: Arceus, which also came out in this generation. Power Shift basically swaps the physical and special stats -- both attack and defense -- allowing some Pokemon with weird movesets to benefit from different stats. In competitive play you really do want to build your Pokemon to their stats, but maybe you reeeeeeally want your Dusknoir to be destroying opponents with Shadow Ball instead of Shadow Punch. I can't say I don't understand, in my head Gyarados blasts Hyper Beams and Hydro Pumps instead of slamming onto them with Giga Impacts and Waterfalls. 

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Fire-type Moves:

• Max Flare (Dai Ban/Dy Burn) So yeah, the Max Fire-type move is just... a bigger Flamethrower that creates a big fire explosion. Admittedly there's only so much you can do with fire, but still... I dunno. Just 'Flamethrower but big' feels so lazy. 
• I think I haven't really mentioned that almost all of these Max moves have some kind of additional effect, yeah? I'll just note all of them here. Where possible, the weather or terrain associated with the type is unleashed by the move. Max Flare, for example, casts the sunlight weather effect. The water, ice and ground Max moves cast rain, hail and sandstorm; and the electric, psychic and fairy moves cast their respective Terrains. The rest, though? Just some random buffs or whatnot, which I thought was honestly kind of lame. 
• G-Max Wildfire (Kyodai Gokuen/Gigant Hellfire), G-Max Centiferno (Kyodai Hyakka/Gigant Hundred Flames), G-Max Fireball (Kyodai Kakyu/Gigant Fireball) And really, there isn't that much of an excuse that Charizard and Centiskorch's "Wildfire" and "Centiferno" basically have the same animation but with slightly different effects. Being a DLC form, Cinderace's "Fireball" actually does have unique animation... but it's honestly just Cinderace doing a regular attack animation of kicking the giant bunny fireball, so I'm not impressed either. 

• Pyro Ball (Kaen Boru/Flame Ball) Of course Cinderace gets two signature moves and a signature ability. Freaking Fire-type starters and their favouritism. I actually do like the flavour of Pyro Ball, though, where Cinderace isn't just kicking balls of fire (which already fits with his theme). He's actually kicking little rocks on the battlefield, and those get ignited and expand into the fireballs. I don't like Cinderace, but this little detail, I can appreciate. 
• Burning Jealousy (Shitto no Hono/Flame of Jealousy) The Sword/Shield DLC gives a bunch of moves that the dojo move tutor can teach you. For Fire, it's Burning Jealousy, where in a rather hilarious anime-style wackiness, the user gets so jealous at any opponent that had a stat increase, and attacks them and leaves them with a burn. Bit of a shame that the visual effects are just a 'big fire explosion', but at least the name and effects are cute. 
• Raging Fury (Daifungeki/Great Infuriation) Legends Arceus gives us some additional moves. Raging Fury is essentially Fire-type Outrage, and it honestly kind of fits the flavour of a 'fiery rage'! That's neat. In Legends Arceus, this was originally exclusive to Infernape and Hisuian Arcanine. 

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Water-type Moves:

• Max Geyser (Dai Sutorimu/Dy Stream), G-Max Stonesurge (Kyodai Ganjin/Gigant Rock Formation), G-Max Foam Burst (Kyodai Homatsu/Gigant Froth) Again... the animation for the water-type Max move is... just an over-the-top Hydro Pump. It looks cool, yes. The bright beams, the explosions of water erupting away as the beam is unleashed... but after all the flash disappears it's kind of just a beam? An unskippable beam of an annoying gimmick that you have to see over and over again if you want to engage with this game long-term. 
• And, again, my complaints continue where the names of attacks like "Stonesurge" and "Foam Burst", assigned to Gigantamax Drednaw and Kingler respectively, doesn't really reflect the flavour. No stones are shown with Stonesurge; and a giant Final Flash beam isn't exactly a 'foam' that traps the enemy. 
• G-Max Cannonade (Kyodai Hogeki/Gigant Bombardment), G-Max Hydrosnipe (Kyodai Sogeki/Gigant Snipe) The DLC Max moves fare a bit better, in a way, even if the animation mostly just involves zooming into the anatomy of the Pokemon in question. G-Blastoise just unleashes multiple streams of water from the little fortress on his back; G-Inteleon aims, shoots and it explodes the enemy in water.
• G-Max Rapid Flow (Kyodai Rengeki/Gigant Continuous Strikes) G-Urshifu does some rapid-strike moves. It's kind of what you expect from a kung-fu attack, and... normally I'd complain, but my standards for Max moves are very low so the fact that he received any kind of unique animation already gets Urshifu an A in my books. 

• Snipe Shot (Neraiuchi/Snipe Shot) This is Inteleon's signature move, and it has ol' Gecko James Bond point his finger-guns at the enemy and then unleash a compressed blast of water that just slams onto them. This ignores 'taunting' moves and abilities that draw in this attack like Storm Drain or Follow Me. I think I've gone on record that I'm a bit disappointed with how Inteleon's visual design turned out, but the finger-gun water sniping ability gets no complaints from me. 
• Fishious Rend (Era Gami/Gill Bite) Fishious! Like 'vicious'! Get it, get it, get it, ehhh? I love this pun. The half-and-half fossils of this generation get two signature moves split across the 'heads', and Fishious Rend is shared by Dracovish and Arctovish. It's basically a glorified prehistoric fish biting you, but a dunkleosteus looks creepily badass enough that I believe that their bites warrant a whole new move on their own. The effect is doubled damage if the 'Vish moves before the opponent, which I'm not really sure what the flavour is. 
• Life Dew (Inochi no Shizuku/Life Droplets) A bit of a rarity in this generation, this isn't a signature move or a move tutor move, but just a move that many Pokemon can learn. Life Dew just instantly heals the user and its allies by 25% of their HP. The flavour of 'healing water' that is quite common in fantasy fiction hasn't really been all that prominent in Pokemon outside of Aqua Ring, so I do like the addition of this one.

• Flip Turn (Kuikku Tan/Quick Turn) Flip Turn is basically Water-type U-Turn. The user deals damage then quickly switches out. This is the DLC tutor move for the Water type, and I didn't care at all for this the first time I saw it... until I was informed that Flip-Turning, or Tumble-Turning, is actually a technique that professional swimmers do to quickly change direction. And now I really like the flavour! 
• Surging Strikes (Suiryu Renda/Stream Strikes) This is Rapid-Strike Urshifu's signature move. He hits three times, flowing like the river and whatnot. I like the fun display of kung-fu movie tropes here, but I have to confess that beyond the fact that "it looks cool", I can't really find much to say. 
• Wave Crash (Uebu Takkuru/Wave Tackle) This is a move introduced in Legends Arceus, and is shared between Empoleon and the Hisuian Basculin line. It's a recoil move and is therefore the most efficient way to rack up the recoil damage needed for Basculin to evolve into Basculegion. In the original Legends Arceus, Wave Crash interacts with the 'action speed' mechanic that replaces turn order. In the full games, however, it just gets reduced to a straight Double-Edge clone. I do really like Legends Arceus for introducing some new mechanics separate from the original games, but I also acknowledge that sometimes not all of them can be translated well to the mainline games. 

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Grass-type Moves:

• Max Overgrowth (Dai Sogen/Dy Grassland) The Dynamax move for Grass-types is Max Overgrowth, which essentially summons shoots several seeds that emerge into of spectral giant mushrooms and grasses. I like the mushrooms for this one, and it's quite neat to see the slight contrast between the giant Pokemon stomping around and the normally much smaller grasses and mushrooms and whatnot. 
• G-Max Tartness (Kyodai Sangeki/Gigant Acid Attack), G-Max Sweetness (Kyodai Kanro/Gigant Nectar). These two are the G-Max moves of the Applin final evolutions. Which... okay, not all the G-Max moves are lame! For Appletun and Flapple, they summon giant apples instead of mushrooms, which is cute. 
• G-Max Vine Lash (Kyodai Bentatsu/Gigant Whipping), G-Max Drum Solo (Kyodai Koranda/Gigant Drumbeat) And, of course, DLC Gigantamaxes get more unique animations. G-Venusaur's G-Max Vine Lash is basically an over-the-top vine whip animation, while G-Rillaboom's drum solo summons a root through the ground that explodes upon the enemy. Slightly more neat. 

• Apple Acid (Ringo San/Malic Acid) Most Pokemon introduced in this generation gets a signature move, and the apple dragons of course get some. Appletun gets Apple Acid (the Japanese goes a bit more specific with 'malic acid'), where it vomits out some sour fluid that lowers the opponent's Special Defense. All well and good, but...
• Grav Apple (G no Chikara/G-Force) Look at what Appletun's brother Flapple got! "Grav Apple", or "G-Force" in the original Japanese. What has the Grass-type or apples have to do with gravity? Isaac fuckin' Newton, that's what! Flapple summons a tree and we get an animation of a giant apple falling down and smashing apart on the opponent's head. If the Psychic-type move Gravity is in effect, Grav Apple does more damage! That is how you do flavour. Holy shit. I didn't realize this move was a thing until I started reviewing stuff on this blog, and I feel like that's yet another reason why the Dynamax/Gigantamax gimmickry of this generation isn't a particularly good showcase of the actual Pokemon. I mean, yes, the visual designs of the Gigantamaxes are showed off, but all their moves are the exact same as everyone else. The most fun stuff in this generation are stuff like Inteleon's Snipe Shot or Dragapult's Dragon Darts or Flapple's motherfuckin' Grav Apple, you know? 

• Drum Beating (Doramu Atakku/Drum Attack) Drum Beating is Rillaboom's signature move, where it beats its drums a lot and a bunch of roots move across the ground to slam onto the enemy. I honestly kind of expected a bit more (especially compared to Cinderace and Inteleon's far more fun signature moves), but kudos for Rillaboom for at least having something neat. 
• Branch Poke (Edazuki/Branch Poke) This one is almost Grookey's other signature move, but it's also shared with the Phantump line. It's essentially a reskinned version of Leafage or Vine Whip, a weak early-level move that's flavoured a bit differently, this time with a branch poking you. I've been hurt more times by branches than vines or leaves, so yeah.
• Snap Trap (Torabasami/Foothold Trap) What a fun move, huh? This is Galarian Stunfisk's signature move, and it does what you expect it to do. Stunfisk latches on to the enemy like a bear trap, and it both traps the enemy in the field and also deals damage over time. Cute!

• Grassy Glide (Gurasu Suraida/Grass Slider) Grassy Glide, or 'Grass Slider', is the move tutor move for the Grass-type, and... I don't like the flavour of this one all too much. The idea is you sliding on the grass and hitting the enemy, so it gets a bonus damage if Grassy Terrain is in effect? Terrains are a bit ignored and so a bunch of moves that synergize with it is nice, but I feel this one feels a bit forced from a flavour standpoint. 
• Jungle Healing (Janguru Hiru/Jungle Heal) Jungle Healing is Zarude's signature move, which is also a reminder for me to actually watch the Zarude movie. Zarude would extend his vines and attach them to the jungle around him, and then draw enery from the jungle to heal itself and its allies, restoring health and status conditions. I do like the little contrast of a very feral-looking psycho-ape like Zarude having a super-powerful healing move!
• Chloroblast (Kuroroburasuto/Chloroblast) Chloroblast is almost assuredly a pun on Chloroplast, the organelle in cells that contains chlorophyll. This is the signature move of Hisuian Electrode, and takes the form of a gigantic beam of light as Electrode unleashes all of the stored chlorophyll energy within his body. I guess Hisuian Electrodes unleash plant-powered laser beams instead of exploding? Pretty sure they explode too in Legends. It's a powerful recoil move, because presumably Electrode 'burns out' its chloroplasts, but in exchange for one of the highest base-power Grass-type moves, tied with the starters' signature Frenzy Plant. 

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Electric-type Moves:

• Max Lightning (Dai Sanda/Dy Thunder), G-Max Volt Crash (Kyodai Banrai/Gigant Heavy Thunder), G-Max Stun Shock (Kyodai Kanden/Gigant Electric Shock) Again, just like the fire-type move, Max Lightning is... just a really over-the-top Thunderbolt. Which looks cool the first couple of times you see it, but there's not a whole lot of creativity here, I guess. Almost half of the Electric-type moves that already existed already summon a thunderbolt from the skies. 
• Volt Crash is G-Pikachu's; Stun Shock is G-Toxtricity's... there are effects for them, but I just find it so boring to list everyone's effects, so I'm not going to. I'll list the Pokemon that does them, but trying to find something interesting to write about these end up giving me such a bad case of writer's block that I'm not going to.

• Bolt Beak (Dengeki Kuchibashi/Electric Shock Beak) This is the signature move of the 'Zolt' fossils, where the 'bird head' portion of Dracozolt or Arctozolt lights up their beak and pecks the enemy. It's got a weird additional effect of getting a bonus if they manage to attack before the target. Okay? 
• Aura Wheel (Ora Guruma/Aura Wheel) Because Morpeko is a hamster, it runs around in an 'Aura Wheel' and slams onto the enemy as it runs in a wheel made out of electricity. It's cute. Depending on Morpeko's form, Aura Wheel swaps between dealing Electric and Dark type damage. Gimmickry, yes, but it's neat. 
• Overdrive (Obadoraibu/Overdrive) This one is Toxtricity's signature move, and it's unleashing an epic rockstar guitar TWAAAANG that explodes out in one of the nicest effects in Sword/Shield, taking the form of those musical beats in DJ machines that I don't know the exact terminology for. In a game where a lot of the animations are actually simplified, I really appreciate moves like Overdrive and Aura Wheel for giving us some really fun effect. Overdrive is also a sound-based move, which synergizes with Toxtricity's ability! 

• Thunder Cage (Sanda Purizun/Thunder Prison) Thunder Cage (or 'Thunder Prison' in the original Japanese) is Regieleki's signature move, and it looks particularly cool in the anime. Regieleki already has his arms be made up of a bunch of viney, ropey fingers that open and close, so it really lends well to the imagination of it opening these up and making them into a cage. The anime interprets this, however, as Regieleki's legs exploding into a giant skirt or root system of electricity that cages his opponents. The actual effect is basically a simple damage-over-time thing, but the visuals are really nice. 
• Rising Voltage (Raijingu Boruto/Rising Bolt) Kinda boring. Rising Voltage is the tutor move for the Electric type, and it's just an upwards-rising lightning bolt that gets boosted by Electric Terrain. I guess it's cute that in Generation IX it ends up being the signature move of the long-necked Raging Bolt? Eh. 
• Wildbolt Storm (Kaminari Arashi/Thunderbolt Storm) Wildbolt Storm is Thundurus's new signature move thanks to Legends Arceus. Another 'storm' attack, Wildbolt Storm afflicts its opponents with paralysis. Rather simple, but also fitting with the flavour of a lightning-themed weather god. 

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Poison-type Moves:

• Max Ooze (Dai Ashiddo/Dy Acid), G-Max Malodor (Kyodai Shuki/Gigant Stink) This one's okay. Three giant pillars burst out of the ground, enveloping the enemy. It's something a bit more flavourful than 'just a poison beam'. I am... kind of surprised we don't have a 'Poison Terrain' yet? Really? You'd think that it would've been an easy video game trope to add into Pokemon moves. 
• G-Max Malodor is G-Garbodor's version of the move... and there actually is a difference here because the giant pillars of poisonous goop are now BROWN! It looks suitably disgusting. See? It's not that hard to change some of the moves to look a bit different!

• Corrosive Gas (Fushoku Gasu/Corrosive Gas) This is the Poison tutor move, and... I actually like the flavour of this one! The user unleashes a cloud of corrosive gas around it that "melts down" all of the held items of everyone else. The flavour of a corrosive acid destroying items is pretty solid, and I find it one of the favourites out of the DLC tutor moves. 
• Shell Side Arm (Sheru Amuzu/Shell Arms) This is Galarian Slowbro's signature move, and Galarian Slowbro's whole deal is that his spiral Shellder shell is now a Mega-Man style cannon. Can you just imagine Slowbro cocking that shell like a shotgun, and then firing off a round that explodes into a cloud of poison? I really like this one just from a flavour standpoint. 
• Dire Claw (Feitaru Kuro/Fatal Claw) Dire Claw, or "Fatal Claw" in the original Japanese, is Sneasler's signature move. To be honest, I actually find Sneasler to be one of the more forgettable Hisuian evolutions. Dire Claw is... interesting? It has a 50% chance of casting not just Poison, but also Paralysis or Sleep. I'm not sure how that last one came around. It just feels honestly kind of random and I'm struggling to think of what the flavour is for the lanky, moutnain-climbing weasel. 
• Barb Barrage (Dokubari Senbon/Thousand Stingers) And Barb Barrage here is Hisuian Qwilfish and Overqwil's signature move, which, in addition to being able to cause poison, has a variation of Venoshock's effect (increased damage if the enemy is poisoned) but for all status conditions. Oh, and Qwilfish needs to have this move to evolve into Overqwil!

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Dragon-type Moves:

• Max Wyrmwind (Dai Doragun/Dy Dragoon), G-Max Depletion (Kyodai Gensui/Gigant Decay) The Dragon-type summons a vertical tornado, and two dragon wings spin around before the tornado explodes. It's... all right? Not particularly Dragon-flavoured, but then again what is? I like the little pun with 'Dragoon' in the original Japanese and 'Wyrmwind' in the English. It's okay. 
• Depletion is G-Duraludon's signature move, and a giant winged tornado isn't something that you'd normally associate with a walking building. 
• Dynamax Cannon (Daimakkusu Ho/Daimax Cannon) Dynamax Cannon is one of Eternatus's signature move. Being the anti-Dynamax Pokemon, Eternatus's Dynamax Cannon is just a really huge fuck-off laser beam. It deals bonus damage to Dynamax Pokemon, which is both a nice little counter to these gimmicky bastards but also quite thematic from a lore perspective. 
• Eternabeam (Mugendai Bimu/Infinite Beam) In his "Eternamax" form, Eternatus transforms into his eldritch hand/worm/satellite form, and unleashes a whole load of laser beams down at the enemy. In-game, the Eternabeam animation is the only way that you can see Eternatus in his 'Eternamax' form after the boss fight, since that isn't a form you can access in normal gameplay. That's cool, actually. Eternabeam has a similar 'cooldown for one turn' similar to Hyper Beam. 

• Breaking Swipe (Waido Bureika/Wide Breaker) Breaking Swipe, or 'Wide Breaker' in Japanese, is originally almost a TM-exclusive move in Generation VIII (Duraludon learns it naturally), and it's kind of a way to give Dragon-types an AoE move, isn't it? The flavour is basically similar to Dragon Tail (the tail glows and the user swings it), but with the main selling point being the ability to hit two opponents. Can't say I'm too excited about this one. 
• Dragon Darts (Doragon Aro/Dragon Arrow) The best signature move, this one belongs to Dragapult. Dragapult launches the Dreepies hiding in his little missile pods, and they fly towards the enemy and explode. They're fine, because the little babies are already ghosts! Back in Generation VIII, there is even a little easter egg that if another Pokemon copies Dragon Darts, the 'missiles' are not Dreepy but a glowing purple energy dragon. That's cute! 
• Clangorous Soul (Souru Bito/Soul Beat) Clangorous Soul, or "Soul Beat", is Kommo-o's signature move. With the Z-Moves being removed in this generation, Kommo-o doesn't have anything special going for it, so they actually did a nice thing and repackaged Kommo-o's original "Clangorous Soulblaze" into this move... which gives Kommo-o the same buffs, but now he has to sacrifice some HP to get it. Poor Kommo-o! 
• Scale Shot (Sukeiru Shotto/Scale Shot) This is the Dragon-type tutor move, and... it's a nice, flavourful one. The idea is that the Dragon-type launches its own scales like throwing knives or something, making this move a multi-hit one. But as the scales are launched, the user's Defenses are lowered, while the Speed is increased. Pretty simple 'shed armour, be faster but weaker' flavour here. I like it. 
• Dragon Energy (Doragon Enaji/Dragon Energy) Dragon Energy is Regidrago's signature move, and the power of this move is tied to Regidrago's own "life force" -- the higher Regidrago's remaining HP, the more powerful this is. It's all right. It's no Thunder Cage. 

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Ice-type Moves:

• Max Hailstorm (Dai Aisu/Dy Ice), G-Max Resonance (Kyodai Senritsu/Gigant Melody) This one is a bit more creative -- the user creates a bunch of giant icebergs in the sky that then plummet and shatter all over the opponent. It also explains the casting of the 'Hail' weather effect better than the water and fire type moves.
• G-Max Resonance is G-Lapras's version of the move.
• Triple Axel (Toripuru Akuseru/Triple Axel) This is the DLC tutor move for Ice, and it's hilarious in that it's meant to be a figure skating move, reinterpreted as the Pokemon coating their legs in ice and then doing said Triple Axel move to kick the enemy multiple times. It's particularly hilarious in this anime example of Mr. Rime kicking a badass, presumably while tapdancing. 
• Glacial Lance (Burizado Ransu/Blizzard Lance) This is Ice Rider Calyrex's signature move. Where upon riding up on top of Glastrier, Calyrex summons a giant lance made out of ice and chucks it at the enemy. It's a neat visual, if nothing else, fitting with the idea of a jousting knight.
• Mountain Gale (Hyozan Oroshi/Iceberg Wind) Mountain Gale is Hisuian Avalugg's signature move, and to call it a 'gale' is a bit of a misnomer. Its original Japanese name, which translates to roughly "Iceberg Wind", is more descriptive because Hisuian Avalugg quite literally drops several icebergs down onto the enemy. This originally had a completely different effect relating to action orders in Legends Arceus, but in the proper mainline games, it causes flinching instead. 

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Bug-type Moves:

• Max Flutterby (Dai Wamu/Dy Worm), G-Max Befuddle (Kyodai Kowaku/Gigant Bewitchery) Despite being given the utterly confusing name of "Dai Worm" in Japanese, Max Flutterby actually summons a bunch of glowing butterflies that fly towards the enemy, and then explode in a giant Dragon Ball Z energy dome. It's... it's not very 'Bug'-y other than the butterflies, is it? I'm not the biggest fan of Savage Spin-Out from Generation VII, but at least that's unmistakably very Bug-flavoured. 
• I'm also kind of disappointed that G-Butterfree's unique version, G-Max Befuddle, doesn't colour the butterflies in Butterfree's colours. 
• Skitter Smack (Haiyoru Ichigeki/Creeping Strike) The Bug-type DLC tutor move is... it's got a cute name, representing the Bug-type scuttling behind the opponent and then striking it. This lowers the Sp. Attack stat. Okay. Kinda boring, honestly. I don't have much to say about this one, it's not particularly 'buggy', and if we're being honest, fells more like a Dark-type move.  

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Flying-type Moves:

• Max Airstream (Dai Jetto/Dy Jet), G-Max Wind Rage (Kyodai Fugeki/Gigant Wind Strike) I actually really like this one. The Flying-type Max move is a giant horizontal tornado that actually looks super-badass, ripping up the air and the ground as it blasts through the enemy. It's more of a 'wind element' move, I guess, but it does make sense when you've turned into a giant bird to unleash such a devastating tornado upon the enemy. 
• Wind Rage is G-Corviknight's version of the move. Unfortunately, despite the badass design, the mini-Corviknights don't do anything in the move. 
• Dual Wingbeat (Dabaru Uingu/Double Wing) The Flying-type tutor move. This one is simple. Birds tend to have two wings. So you hit them twice with your wings. Thus, the Dual Wingbeat -- or 'Double Wing' in the original Japanese. This is actually the first Flying-type multi-hit move. Not the most creative, but it's okay. 
• Bleakwind Storm (Kogarashi Arashi/Chill Wind Storm) Legends: Arceus gave the Forces of Nature signature moves, and Tornadus got the very badass "Bleakwind Storm". The idea of this attack is that Tornadus weaponizes the cold, chilly winds to hurt the opponent, causing them to be afflicted with Frostbite (Legends: Arceus' version of Freeze) or a lowered speed in subsequent generations. I like the principle of giving some of the more ignored legendary pokemon new moves, and having suffered through cold winds myself, I can see why this move is quite damaging.