Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 35: Don't Chase A Shadow
Which, in my opinion, does admittedly make me wished they did a bit more. These later fights in Bleach are some that I wanted them to fix some of the pacing and lack of foreshadowing in. I think the Mayuri/Pernida one is a fine battle from start to finish, but I really did hope that they added a bit more here. Still, not much to complain in this specific episode, since what I wanted to see would revolve more around the second half of the fight.
"Don't Chase A Shadow" opens up with a bit of a follow up to the previous one, as Mayuri's gloating is interrupted when Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo begins to writhe and deform as Pernida is not quite dead and starts attacking it from the inside. They actually repeat this in the beginning of the next episode, so I'm not entirely convinced that including it here is particularly necessary, but there we go.
Simultaneously, Kyoraku sees a giant green pillar of light from Lille's location... then gets shot straight through the chest and begins to cough up blood, much to the horror of Shinji and Nanao. This is something that flows a lot better in the anime because we see everything happening one after the other. I remembered being frustrated by the manga's version of this events due to them really prolonging the cliffhangers with constant shots of Kyoraku being riddled with holes. The anime also makes Kyoraku pinpointing Lille's location with Daruma-san a lot more clear.
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Lille, meanwhile, pontificates about how he's seen packs of warriors collapse due to the foolish action of a single person. But then Kyoraku's voice starts singing a children's song creepily, the Daruma-san ga Koronda song. Kyoraku emerges behind Lille unharmed, and slashes down at the Sternritter. Lille dodges seemingly in time, but his sniper rifle Diagramm was sliced in half.
Lille is baffled by what happened before him, not sure how Kyoraku closed the distance between them so quickly. Kyoraku asks Lille if he's ever played Daruma-san ga Koronda before. We also have the revelation that Nanao was able to keep up with Kyoraku, following right behind his footsteps to the rooftop. The two have one of their typical bantering, which I guess Lille is nice enough to let them talk? Considering Lille's super-serious demeanour throughout this fight, this does feel like a weird action for him to take.
Lille notes that the Wandenreich has intelligence on all the battles fought by the Gotei 13... and I actually like the subtle note that this Daten isn't the most useful when fighting Kyoraku since he can theoretically make new children's games a reality and the games we've seen in his battle against Coyote Starrk is implied to be a mere fraction of what Katen Kyokotsu's Shikai can do. There is an interesting conversation where Kyoraku explains Daruma-san's rules (for most of the Anglosphere, it's "Red Light, Green Light") and Lille identifies it as 'Chocolate Inglés'. Unlike some other manga like Hunter x Hunter or Jujutsu Kaisen, it doesn't appear that Kyoraku needs to explain his powers to Lille, so, again, the two discussing the Daruma-san game and how it lets Kyoraku see the reiatsu of the 'daruma' feels a bit like it's more for the audience's benefit. I've always found this sequence to be a bit odd since Lille is shown to be almost mechanically cold and Kyoraku is previously known as "fuck honourable one-on-ones, I'm fighting to win".
Kyoraku also notes -- and introduces for the first time -- the concept of 'Reikaku', spiritual sensing. Kyoraku reveals that the image of himself with a giant bloody hole behind him is just some 'solidified reiatsu' he left behind in the previous location. Apparently, skilled warriors rely so much on their Reikaku sense that it's easy to fool compared to sight, like a natural reflex, and Kyoraku was able to use that to fool Lille's honed senses. While conceptually this sounds like a cool way to get around a well-trained sniper with honed senses, I always felt -- and still do -- that the whole Reikaku thing is a bit of a random ass-pull and I would've liked it much better if it was just another one of Kyoraku's children's games.
This does lead to one of the more badass lines in this cour, though, with Kyoraku Shunsui calmly declaring that he is the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13, and he can walk the walk. For as much as I dislike the Reikaku explanation, this bafflement and this badass line from Kyoraku is extremely cool.
However, Lille reveals that he has pierced a hole in Kyoraku's foot, and boasts about the difference of their information about each other. Lille boasts that his Schrift is "X", the X-Axis, and explains that his power penetrates everything in front of him. Lille fires at Kyoraku again, who appears to dodge... but turns out that this is an afterimage created by a game called Kageokuri, involving projecting a shadow they stared at to a different location. I don't know if Kageokuri is the source of the other 'solid reiatsu' clones, but the way Kyoraku and Lille reacts, it seems to be different.
We get another badass line from Kyoraku who tells Lille how scary and unpredictable children's games are, with the visuals of a child dragging Kyoraku's hand and forcing him to play. I think the child is meant to be a child version of Katen? Kyoraku says that when a child asks you to play, you need to play all the way to the end. As if to punctuate this, Lille's rifle is cut in half once more, and falls to the ground. Kyoraku notes that he should've moved in a bit closer to sever Lille's arm, but Lille just reforms Diagramm (with a different barrel!), revealing that the big fuzzy sniper rifle is, in fact, his Spirit Weapon.
It's at this point that Kyoraku appears behind him and slashes again, before disappearing in darkness and warning Lille that seeing his shadow will cause him to see silhouette afterimages from Kageokuri. Kyoraku mocks Lille, noting that many children are scared of their own shadows... before a swarm of shadowy Kyorakus burst out and descend on Lille. The real Kyoraku's blades stab Lille from behind, and Lille... slowly opens his left eye and observes that this is the third time.
I love Kyoraku's response to this, blithely commenting that he wouldn't mind if Lille closed his eye again.
But we do have to adapt what has been written, and Lille's whole concept goes from 'badass sniper' to 'Tite Kubo's take on a biblically accurate angel'. Lille's Jilliel is like a weird cocoon that covers all of his body below the face, and eight massive wings each with holes on the wings. It's green, which... somehow works? I'm not sure. If you'd described this to me, I would've said that it would suck, but it actually works quite well here. In a display of power that Lille never shows again, Kyoraku is rooted to the spot and can't move, leading Lille to pierce Kyoraku with three shots.
We get the title drop... and we cut to Kyoraku running across rooftops to reach a tower, resting and nursing his wounds. He's shot through his right shoulder and left hip... and also his hat. It is admittedly a bit silly that Lille was somehow able to freeze Kyoraku in place and... shoots him in the hat? Eh. Kyoraku gets a brief monologue, noting that it would've been so much easier to die instantly and laments that he's actually so strong that he can't use it as an excuse. Kyoraku muses that there's no point to bitching if Nanao-chan isn't there to listen, before leaping out of the tower he hides in... right as Lille Barro annihilates that tower with a barrage of shots from his wing-holes. Lille appears in front of Kyoraku, boasting of his invincibility. Kyoraku tries Kido, casing Hado #78: Zangerin. It's actually nice to see a Kido spell, even if this ring-shaped explosion does nothing to Lille.
We get a brief cut to Ichigo battling against Askin Nakk Le Vaar. In an anime-original scene, Askin actually asks Ichigo if he did some training in the Soul Palace. While it's a fair enough question for an opponent to ask Ichigo, it is curious that out of all people, it is 'promoted from the lower ranks' Askin that is asking Ichigo about this. Askin confirms that apparently this training is what's stopping Ichigo from getting Reishi poisoning, and Askin gets ready to adjust the flavour of his attacks. I'm not sure if we're going to extend this scene a whole lot more, or if this line is just there to give an explanation as to how Askin is able to off-screen defeat Ichigo, which canonically is what happens in the manga when we check in on them later on.
Kyoraku escapes to another building, noting that even though he didn't expect Zangerin to seriously beat Lille, he's disappointed that it doesn't even do a little bit of damage. Kyoraku notes that he is at the end of his rope, but he's also returned to the part of the city that the Shinigami arrives on. Kyoraku notes that everyone else should be far enough, apologizing briefly if Nanao gets caught up in this... poses with two of his blades pointed downwards, and then speaks the legendary word everyone has been waiting from the Captain-Commander... Bankai.
However, Lille is startled when a wound is made on his side, when he should, by rights, be invincible. Kyoraku identifies this as the First Act: Hesitance and Apportionment of Wounds. They're in a play now, a shinju or double-suicide play, and the story will go through several acts. This first one causes wounds inflicted on the enemy to appear on one's own body, and another wound corresponding to Kyoraku's appears on Lille's shoulder. As Lille panics, Kyoraku tells Lille to not talk between acts, and remain silent for the rest of the performance.
Second Act: Pillow of Shame activates, and brown pockmarks appear on Lille's body. This is disease, apparently, and Kyoraku notes that a man who failed to kill his adversary will collapse from shame and suffer an incurable sickness. I guess there are certain conditions for the acts to progress? And then the world around them is covered with the ocean as the Third Act: The Severing Abyss activates. This is the man and his adversary accepting their fates, and tossing themselves into the waters until their reiatsu is exhausted.
Back in the day, this was a huge deal as people went into debates about the seeming canonization of an aspect of a filler arc. But that filler arc is still that -- filler -- while the designs themselves are canon. Katen teases Kyoraku a bit, noting that Kyoraku got what he deserves for wearing another woman's kimono and pity is what's keeping her bound to him. Katen also bemoans that Kyoraku doesn't 'play' with her as often. Kyoraku also refers to Katen as 'O-Hana' (flower) and with the revelations about the true nature of Zanpakuto Spirits, it is very interesting what aspects of Kyoraku's soul and being that Katen and Kyokotsu manifested from.
The cut on Lille's neck expands and whether it's because of Lille's unique physiology or because of the effects of Karamatsu Shinju, the wound begins to swell and expand upwards, creating a tumorous mass that ultimately explodes, leaving Lille's headless body to plummet down the sea/sky. It's a badass sequence, and even though Kyoraku's Bankai leaves more questions than answers, I just really like him talking about a completely different play about a man and a scornful woman while Lille is just being continually bamboozled by the bloody effects of the play.
The final sequence of the episode has a wounded Kyoraku falling down and falling into Katen's lap. Kyoraku flirts with Katen a bit, causing Katen to comically try and jab her fingers down onto Kyoraku's good eye. Katen notes that she is also missing her right eye, musing that fate has a way of playing games with them. Katen admits that she is glad they won, and Kyoraku is about to say something as the episode cuts to a close. Bit of a weird thing to close the episode in, since this 'something I have to say' doesn't actually lead anywhere and would be interrupted in two episodes' time. I wonder if the episode would've had a better stop when Lille reveals himself to be alive; or if it should've stopped a couple of lines earlier when Kyoraku's head falls on Katen's lap.
Random Notes:
- The review title is a reference to the somewhat bloody but pretty great manga, Kami-sama no Iutoori, which features a supernatural force forcing people to play deadly, fucked-up versions of children's games. The very first game, and the mascot of the manga, is also Daruma-san ga Koronda.
- It perhaps seems so quaint right now, but it was such a huge deal back in the day that Kubo canonized the otherwise non-canon designs for the Zanpakuto Spirits of Katen and Kyokotsu. While it was common knowledge that almost all the Zanpakuto Spirits were designed by Kubo, it's a bit of a surprise to see them actually show up in such a major part of the canon.
- Katen's voice actor was recasted from Fujimura Ayumi to Koshimizu Ami, but apparently becuase Fujimura is taking a hiatus from her career.
- Katen notes the similarities of their missing eyes, which I wonder whether it was part of Kubo's plans when he designed Katen for the filler arc. The Zanpakuto Rebellion arc, after all, was animated way before the Thousand-Year Blood War arc was published in the manga and most certainly before Katen's appearance in the manga.
- It really is weird that the Gotei 13 gang acknowledges that they can sense Mayuri's reiatsu fluctuating... but not a single one realize that they 'left' Mayuri and Kenpachi behind?
- The anime removes a scene where Urahara and Renji discuss the surviving Vice Captains, because we added a scene in 'Gate of the Sun' showing just who got sniped by Lille... but it's also frankly a line that makes Urahara look a bit incompetent.
- I can't actually find which culture 'Chocolate Inglés' is from, though 'Inglés' does imply Spain. The game seems to be called Pollito Inglés or El Escondite Inglés in Spain; and Hot Chocolate in the UK, so it's possible that Kubo just mixed the two.
- There is a line where Kyoraku notes that 'a game cannot begin until both sides understand the rules', but that is clearly bullshit since throughout both of his battles against Starrk and Lille, Kyoraku is shown to pull off Katen Kyokotsu's abilities without explaining or calling out the game that they're playing.
- We never really know who puts these limiters on Lille's powers. Is it Juhabach? It has to be Juhabach, right? But what purpose does this serve? "Being unfair to sinners" doesn't seem to be something that either Juha or Lille would really care about.
- Also removed from the episode are the dialogue in Ganju, Chad and Orihime's scenes about how 'cold' the Bankai activation is. They still get a cameo reacting to it, but the lines are gone.
- I don't think I processed it that well when I read the manga, but the whole point why Kyoraku's Bankai is so powerful in this case is that it was able to damage Lille's undamaged form. I almost wished they had shown us a bit more of Jilliel's ability to phase through things to hammer this threat a bit more.
- Apparently the Wandenreich does not have Daten on Kyoraku's Bankai. I guess they hadn't set up the data-collection when Kyoraku unlocked his Bankai? We don't know from when the Quincies began gathering data on the Shinigami. Or Kyoraku could alternatively have utilized his Bankai in another realm that's not the Soul Society.
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