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 (who's the most injured out of the Gerard squad), Mayuri and the Visored as we've seen them injured; we've also seen Rangiku, Momo, Ikkaku and Yumichika standing around. 
• Nanao presumably is still healing people?
• The Visored, maybe? Let them shoot some beams? Shinji, at least, wasn't super injured after his embarrassing defeat at the hands of Gerard.
• Other Arrancar that would be around are the Tres Bestias, plus Loly and Menoly, who aren't super strong but we've seen them earlier in the arc.
• Ichibei is a shoo-in for doing something, regardless of his allegiances. 
• Ryuuken and Isshin, the bums.