Bleach TYBW E17 Review: Beast Titan

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 17: Heart of Wolf

So unlike the last couple of episodes, I don't actually think there's a whole ton that they changed or altered for this one. After the handful of fights, we get what I think is the marquee fight for this batch of episodes -- Komamura's last hurrah against Bambietta Basterbine.

The other female Sternritters observe as Bambietta's crimson-red Vollstandig is visible in the distance, and we get the conclusion of the fight between her and Shinji. And... some people were hoping that Shinji's going to get a better showing with his Bankai against Bambietta, and I honestly wouldn't mind him saying 'Bankai' only to be interrupted. Even if (and that's a big if) Shinji gets an extra anime-exclusive fight, I don't think his Bankai would work well in this 1v1 situation. 

Bambietta announces her schrift, "E" for "The Explode", and does the honestly most logical thing against Shinji's sense-reversal technique -- blow everything straight to hell. As Shinji gets sadly blown up and knocked down, we get the arrival of Komamura and his bucket-helmet again. Momo comes in to fight, but Komamura likely saved her life by knocking her out of the way before Bambietta's explosions erupt. We get some explanation about Bambietta's "The Explode" powers, in that it doesn't shoot reishi bombs, but rather the reishi blasts infuse things and turn them into bombs. 

...which the anime-exclusive extension of the Komamura/Bambietta fight in the first cour explicitly contradicts by Komamura being able to slice one of Bambi's spherical blasts, but eh. 

Bambietta attacks Komamura and reveals his brand-new human form, and we get a flashback to explain Komamura's training with the Wolfman Clan's elder, his great-grandfather. It's... it's kind of a shame because we didn't really get any more exposition that the manga didn't already give us. I do think that we did get a fair bit from this scene, and I know that the Wolfman Clan is a reference to the Six Paths of Samsara (which other parts of Bleach had drawn from) but we really didn't get a whole ton out of this. 

In the past, we get the Elder's explanation about the Humanization Technique, and how the Wolfman Clan hasn't atoned fully for the sins that sent them to the Animal Realm. Breaking down the chain of sins would allow them to briefly regain their original human form, but the Elder tells Komamura to basically give up his heart... which Komamura literally does by ripping it out and placing it on the bowl before the Elder. Komamura also gives this whole speech about how he has a debt to repay to Yamamoto, who was slain by the Quincy. 

And in the present day, Komamura summons his Bankai. Or rather, his upgraded Bankai -- Kokujo Tengen Myo'o: Dangai Jo'e. The anime is a bit more deliberately slow with Dangai Jo'e's debut, showing Kokujo Tengen My'o in its original armoured version. Bambietta flies up and starts attacking the armoured giant. Komamura talks about how his original Bankai is imbued with life... but Dangai Jo'e isn't. And as the armour falls, we get to see the armoured, emaciated form of Dangai Jo'e with all the glory of its fiery eyes and large mustache. 

And Dangai Jo'e is CGI, but it's... pretty okay? It's meant to be creepily distracting, so I do think that the stiffness of its movement is appropriate in this situation. The fight is pretty, and relatively faithful to the manga. We've got Bambietta flying up and shooting bombs at Dangai Jo'e, while Komamura explains that the power of The Explode is only frightening to something that's alive, and Dangai Jo'e is dead. Or rather, unkillable. This is punctuated by an explosion on Dangai Jo'e's chest corresponding on Komamura, revealing that his chest has a hole in it. 

Komamura talks about how his body is now an empty shell driven only the desire to enact revenge on the Quincies. Dangai Jo'e begin pursuing Bambietta, and we get a bit of differing arguments. Bambietta yells about how the point of a battle is to avoid dying... while Komamura counters that he had staked his life because Yamamoto did the same, and he had 'left his life behind' even before the battle. Dangai Jo'e slashes his sword and hits Bambietta with it, causing a very beautiful backlit explosion. Bambietta's bombs are pressed against her as she's knocked away by the gigantic blade. Poor Bambi! 

However, in the cave, the Elder praises Komamura for being 'one of them'. And the portrayal of the Elder is truly sinister, huh? He's reveling at how Komamura's allowed desire for revenge to take over him, how he's doing the very things he condemned Kaname Tosen for...  but in the Elder's point of view, it's a good thing since revenge is what their clan stands for, and he's proud that Komamura 'returned' to their clan... while eating his heart. Damned creepy demon dog!

And it is kind of a sad, we do get a very cool shot of Juhabach and Uryu in the Quincy castle, watching as Kokujo Tengen Myo'o: Dangai Jo'e rises up from the giant explosion in the distance. It does remind me of something from Attack on Titan, and really does highlight how Komamura, at this point, just wants vengeance for Yamamoto... and he's still so far away when he falls to his knees and his secret forbidden technique just... shatters. The Elder pointing out the Tosen stuff is really what makes this scene not feel like a gigantic waste of time and Komamura's character... I really honestly wished that Juhabach one-shotted Komamura just to take him out or something, but I also kind of understand just how tragic that Komamura fell to the side-effects of his literal deal with the devil and reverts into a real dog. 

And... we really still don't get much of an explanation for this, which I was kind of hoping we did. But Komamura gets the backlash of that forbidden technique, and is cursed to lose his human body. Iba shows up and brings Komamura with him, asserting that Komamura did nothing wrong and that they'll attack Yamamoto together. And this is when the title, "Heart of Wolf", appears. And... that's the end of Komamura, and I honestly always thought that they really could've done more? I do appreciate the Elder's monologue at this point, though, comparing Komamura to Tosen. 

We get the weird shadow doors appearing next to Cang Du and BG9, although this time there's a slight difference as Uryu is the one ordering these two defeated Sternritters to return. I do wonder if the execution scene will be different, and if we'll learn the meaning of BG9's "K" then? Bambietta, also defeated, doesn't get the Uryu treatment. However, her four lady friends show up and she's clearly terrified as Giselle walks up to her. 

We also get the conclusion of the Kyoraku/Haschwalth confrontation. Haschwalth destroys Nanao's barrier, only for Nanao to erect a hexagon-patterned one, noting that she's got time to create a new barrier by the time Haschlwath absorbed the previous one. We get some cool shots as Haschwalth destroys the barrier and Kyoraku posing, before Haschwalth retreats as he's summoned by Juhabach. Pretty fun scene. 

We get also the conclusion to the extended Ikkaku/Yumichika/Shuhei fight against Mask De Masculine. Shuhei panics when he realizes the allied reiatsu that disappeared is Komamura, but then Mask's eyes and mouth glow as James cries over him, causing Mask to come back to life with the power of The Superstar. We get a cool shot of the three lieutenants pulling out their shikais, then Mask just bullrushing them, knocking them into the air, and then slamming all three down with a single punch. Poor Shuhei gets bullied even more, getting pinned and held in an elbow grip as Mask goes HEY ONE TWO THREE! 

...And then two glowing lights, Rukia and Renji, fall down from the skies down into the city. Mask and James talk to each other and decide to investigate these new, flashy foes. Shuhei uses Kazeshini's chain to attack Mask, being pissed off at the 'three count', but Mask just pulls Shuhei towards him, clotheslines him, and is about to stomp on him when Kensei shows up and stops Mask's foot with his own. Kensei and Rose then basically challenges Mask to a fight. 

And in the post-credits scene, we get Ichigo still in the Irazu Sando. It's far more interesting, as Ichigo gets more and more tired. Ichibei talks about how everything, every weird flash that Ichigo is seeing, is the weight of what Ichigo is trying to protect. They are the 'everlasting memories and revelations' from the power of the Soul King. Ichigo is surrounded by a whole ton of glowing energy (presumably representing his different Reiatsu types?) while Ichibei asks Ichigo if he's going to be a vessel that can hold the power... or a bowl that shatters. We get a creepy image of Ichigo's body turning tumorous and erupting in an explosion, which is a vision of what happens if Ichigo is a 'bowl that shatters'. But Ichigo holds his blade up high and everything seems to revert to relative normalcy. Ichigo then walks through the Torii gate... and into the bright-purple-and-red parlour of Senjumaru Shutara. This one is particularly surprising since nearly all of Senjumaru's scenes in cour two have been cut so far. But both Senjumaru and Ichibei's trainings are ones that we didn't get to see, and it's definitely welcome to see both Senjumaru and Ichibei be far more involved in these post-credits Ichigo scenes!

Random Notes:

• We get to see Giselle and Candice disengaging their Vollstandigs, with Giselle's Vollstandig appearing way earlier than it did in the manga. Mark Giselle as one of the two or three unknown Vollstandig users from the end of the previous episode!
  
• We also get the removal of the remark about Candice only learning Vollstandig recently. 
• I didn't realize it until after I posted this review, but there is a split second that we can see NaNaNa activating his Vollstandig -- his is the orange pillar. We don't actually get to see him with angelic wings or whatnot (and neither do we get to see Cang Du or BG9's holy forms) but at least we know the identities of the pillars from the previous episode!
• Man, poor Shinji just kinda looks... pathetic as Momo carries him away, huh? Hopefully he gets a bit of a better showing later on before/during the Royal Palace fights...
• She doesn't manage to do a damn thing, but the balls on Hinamori Momo for getting ready to throw down with Bambietta with her honestly rather underwhelming Tobiume.
• It is really interesting that they decided to fold both Senjumaru and Ichibei's palace trainings together!
• Kubo would later reveal that 'Mask De Masculine' is just a construct created by the real Sternritter, James... and it is kind of notable that for all of the showboating that Mask does, the one that actually makes the decision to investigate the two falling objects is James.