Bleach TYBW E41 Review: lightning beAst

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 41: God of Thunder

It has been a while since I watched the previous cour of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War. The previous cour rewrote huge chunks of the rushed and mishandled finale, and I have been waiting for the final cour to finally conclude the vision of how Bleach was supposed to end nearly a decade ago. Unfortunately, this cour, rather annoyingly for me personally, comes out at a time where I just don't have quite as much time or energy to devote into writing about stuff in time. That has affected a lot of my other writing, but I do care enough about Bleach's final arc to put effort into doing proper reviews. Hence, the compromise, and the delay in these reviews. I'm sure schedule slip will hit this review series at some point, but I am going to at least try my best to deliver.  

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Anyway, 'God of Thunder' opens up the final cour of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War arc. These first couple of episodes are going to wrap up the final Schutzstaffel fights, and the final properly-paced fight during Bleach's original last days. The episode starts off with an interesting bit of a recap. Juhabach 'dreams' and sees some ominous visions about Ichigo and Haschwalth, before we get an interesting way to recap things -- a CGI shot of Wahrwelt and the camera zooming through the battlefields to show where everyone at, from Gerald Valkyrie rampaging against the Visored, showing the other combatants facing off, until finally landing at Uryu and Ichigo facing off against Haschwalth. 

In scenes that are still relatively consistent with the manga's counterpart of these events, Uryu tells Ichigo that Haschwalth and Juhabach switches 'The Almighty' powers, and basically sends Ichigo off to end Juhabach while he stalls Haschwalth. There is a bit of a back-and-forth while Haschwalth's shadowy powers explodes out of his body, and Uryu assures Ichigo that he doesn't planning on those being his last words. 

Ichigo, Orihime and Chad run up the stairs until they are interrupted by random giant moving stone statues. This was an infamous scene in the original manga that really came out of nowhere and is unexplained, and just functioned to give Chad (and Ganju) the lamest reason to stand back and do something. The scene is preserved more or less in its entirety here, so poor Chad really doesn't do much but fight some unnamed statues. 

What is changed, however, is that we do get some explanation as to what the statues are -- they are glorping with the same shadow-goop and eyeballs that animated some of the fake Soldats that attacked the people below in the Seireitei, as well as the false Soldat that fought Giselle and Liltotto, so at least we do get the explanation that these beings are tied to Juhabach. Chad, for his credit, does get a cool line talking about how Ichigo always watches the front, so it falls to him to make sure the path back is clear for him. 

Of course, I highly doubt this is a fight that's going to get any extension, and I'd be happy just to see the resolution. Does Yasutora Sado actually beat some nameless stone statues? Find out after a nail-biting ten-year delay to this epic cliffhanger!

Instead of the very vague Antithesis-vs-Balance non-fight that they had in the initial manga (which played in the background of the Askin, Gerald and Juhabach fights and concluded in the lamest way ever), Uryu and Haschwalth are actually given some action. Uryu is trying to figure out how to fight someone who can see the future, and trying to push the limits of Haschwalth's (or the Almighty's) future sight. We get a flashback to Haschwalth's note that he is surprised from the last season. 

While Uryu thinks about it, he keeps shooting his Quincy arrows, while Haschwalth dodges and Matrix-es around the battlefield. It is quite interesting to see Haschwalth smirking in a smarmy manner and actually showing more emotion than his normally emotionless look that he's had for essentially the whole series, for sure. 

Uryu then elects to do something quite logical -- just because Haschwalth can see the future doesn't mean that he can react to a massive, gigantic area-of-effect attack, and Uryu again assumes his Vollstandig form. He sends his army of arrow drones around Haschwalth and begins a multi-directional attack to try and get Haschwalth in them, but Haschwalth just blitzes through them, dodging or deflecting every single projectile and even getting close enough to last blows on Uryu a couple of times. These scenes look very cool! There's a nice bit of an attempt on tactics (as much as that means in a battle between superpowered ghost-people) with Haschwalth noting that Uryu is limiting the angles that Haschwalth can attack by constantly positioning walls behind him; and a pretty cool sequence where Haschwalth jumps on Uryu's little arrow flechettes like they're  platforms in a video game. 

Haschwalth then gives an interesting motive speech, talking about how no one can take His Majesty's power away from him, since he's the Quincy born to be together with Juhabach. It isn't emotional or anything, but it's a nice description of why he does what he does -- and reaffirms the flashback with Bazz-B and why Haschwalth ultimately betrays poor Bazz-B. He really is essentially brainwashed and seeing that his life and existence only has value as long as it revolves around Juhabach's purpose. 

Haschwalth then changes the topic, pointing at the ominous giant black orb-rift thing that was glimpsed very briefly in the previous season. This then cuts to a scene in the real world, where forgotten characters Tessai, Jinta and Ururu are beating up Hollows only to see a massive crack in the sky appear. That's quite welcome, and they identify this as a Distortion -- and Haschwalth notes that this is Juhabach's "True Wish". Juhabach's main goal, and this is something that wasn't fully explained in the original manga, is to use the constant imbalances of souls going from one realm to the next, to upset the three realms... and to utterly destroy the borders between the living world, Soul Society and Hueco Mundo so Juhabach can rule over everything in his own image. 

It is something that the TYBW anime has been slowly hinting at, and wasn't present in the original manga unless you squint really hard (much of Juhabach's manga motive discussions has been more nebulous, and involves more about taking revenge and taking the throne away from the Soul King). According to Haschwalth, Juhabach wants to create a new 'Welt', a world only for the Quincy. Haschwalth boasts that Uryu isn't part of this future that he has seen. 

And we get a rather cool (if cheesily ridiculous) scene of Haschwalth's sword taking forever to pierce Uryu's glasses, and doesn't even do anything but scratch it a bit before Uryu zips aside as he transforms back into his Vollstandig form. Surrounded by the CGI glowing arrows, Uryu delivers a bit of a badass boast... even if his 'to-do list' boast isn't really anywhere as cool as even Chad's in this episode. My boy's trying, though. Bless him. 

Finally, the second half of the episode deals with a very faithful adaptation of the Askin Nakk Le Vaar fight, although the addition and extension of action scenes does make the fight a lot cleaner to follow. There's a fun comedic scene as Askin lies down on the ground and does some random monologues about how he doesn't have to move to avoid the giant pieces of rubble falling all around him. He converses with a paralyzed Yoruichi, who is disabled with a Gift Ball containing the spiritual pressures of common gases. Askin also notes that it's not that he's not trying to kill Yoruichi; anyone else would ahve been dead with all this fatal dose manipulation. Askin notes that Yoruichi is a 'freak', and he absolutely did not go easy on her. 

But then, Urahara pops up and for an anime adaptation that has removed all instances of sexual jokes (and only leaving in just fanservice designs), it is actually a bit of a surprise that they retained Urahara's wedgie joke, and the fact that he administered the cure to Yoruichi by groping her butt. There's a bit of a comedy thing going on, and... and I actually buy that Askin is the type of guy to let this kind of nonsense happen. 

Urahara, of course, cures Yoruichi and they run off. This is to the surprise of Askin, before he remembers the data about the 'special potentials' and how Urahara is one of them due to his sheer unpredictability. Askin, who prefers to outsmart his opponents, bemoans the fact that he's stuck with a troublesome opponent. 

Urahara, of course, injected an improvised 'immunity enhancer' plot device that can neutralize the effects of the Deathdealing on Yoruichi for around a mere five minutes. Yoruichi engages Shunko again to attempt to fight, but Urahara then notes about trying out 'that thing', which Yoruichi is reluctant about... but of course, we quickly later find out that Urahara isn't giving her a chance, and forces her to engage her 'Raiju Senkei: Shunryu Kokubyo Senki' form. The manga (and this anime adaptation) does gloss over it, but it actually is a nice nod as to how Urahara is funny and good, but not nice, seeing that Yoruichi has shown to actually not consent to assume that form. 

It is a cool (if, as always with Yoruichi, very fanservice-y... particularly with how the animation handles her lightning 'clothes') form. And just with Yoruichi's earlier Raijin Senkei animations, the animators had a lot of great fun animating Yoruichi zipping around here and there with lightning flashes and thundering explosions. 

But let's take a step back from the huge flashy explosions, and note that the Raiju Senkei form has always been a bit of an ass-pull. The fact that Urahara gets to find the perfect solution to Askin's immunity (with some handwave about this functioning like influenza A antigens) isn't the problem. Heck, I didn't even mind that the story continues to refuse to give us Yoruichi's zanpakuto name or whatever and just keeps introducing new Shunko forms. That's all right. Her having a more 'beastly' form -- as eye-rolling as the gag of her purring up to Urahara at the end is -- is also something that kind of makes sense. 

But to introduce it here after we already see Yoruichi have a pretty good showing earlier in the arc, just as a random last-minute power up before Yoruichi collapses anyway and doesn't really do anything beyond setting the stage for the Urahara/Askin fight? For all the screentime that Yoruichi got throughout the TYBW arc, it is a bit of a shame that the way that Yoruichi exits the arc (and the story, too, in the manga) is for her to be defeated and against her wishes be forced to take on a form that she hates... which proves to not be all that useful either. 

That said, it is cool, and as the animation studio has shown last cour, they love Yoruichi. Both showing how she blitzes around and the effects of the lightning blasts slamming and blasting in the skies... it's good punchy-punch action stuff. Yoruichi zipping in and appearing in front of Urahara to bash Askin in the middle of an exposition is a really fun sequence, and I like the sequence where Yoruichi blitzes Askin on top of that spire. 

After that cool sequence, we get the silly bit where Urahara distracts Yoruichi with some catnip, notes that Yoruichi can't transform back until the mood strikes her, and Yoruichi gets knocked out as the five-minute timer expires. But then Askin returns with a giant purple ball, 'Gift Ball Deluxe', as he finally engages his Quincy Vollstandig, Hasshein. And that's where the first episode of the cour ends. 

And that's where this episode stops. It is a visually great episode, with Yoruichi and Uryu both having really cool, flashy action scenes. The weaknesses of Yoruichi's exit from the story still remains, and I am always never a big fan of the random new Raiju Senkei form. But a lot of the buildup to some other aspects of the show's final story is done pretty well, and I'm a fan of it. Moreso than the adaptations of the relatively straightforward fights, I'm just really excited to see what new additions and expansions they do. 

Random Notes:

• The first three episodes of the cour were released in certain regions as a compilation movie a month before the airing on TV. Which means that through osmosis, I already know roughly all the major changes in the first three episodes -- making it a bit easier to write the first three episode reviews. The rest of the season would absolutely take a lot more time to review, though.  
  
• Among the things shown by the CGI 'drone view' recap is, rather interestingly, Bazz-B's corpse. Out of everything else to show? Okay? Wonder if there's something they're going to do with Bazz-B?
• Using the imbalance of souls does tie in neatly with how the TYBW arc did start with the Shinigami killing a lot of Hollows offscreen, and something tying in to the upcoming serialization of the Hell Arc, the deaths of great Shinigami like Yamamoto and Squad Zero. 
• It is from the source material, but I did find it a bit hilarious that the anime kept Yoruichi's 'sexy ass up' pose for when she's injured and barely able to move, while giving us a brief shot of her brother in a similar predicament but he's choking up blood and nearly dying.
• Also, just to rub the fanservice in more, the 'God of Thunder' title card is even shown on a shot of Yoruichi's ass, which got a loud chuckle out of me for its sheer absurdity. 
• As much as an asshole Urahara is in this episode, the expressions he makes while he brings up flashcards, and how he responds about his role as doing exposition for Yoruichi's form to Askin, is hilarious and brings back some old-school Bleach vibes where there was a bit more comedy. 

Bleach, Season 15: Gotei 13 Invading Army Arc [Episodes 317-342]

Bleach, Season 15: Gotei 13 Invading Army Arc [Episodes 317-342]

So I had a much more detailed writeup for this filler arc which goes almost episode-by-episode... but it was unfortunately the casualty of a corrupted Word save file. Which is also the reason this one never got published back when I was doing Bleach filler arcs last year. And so unlike most of my Bleach filler arc reviews, this one is going to be a lot more truncated. 

That said, this season, the "Gotei 13 Invading Army" storyline, is pretty well known for one thing: its badass animation. It honestly holds up to some modern-day anime standards, owing to the fact that this was created at the tail-end of the original Bleach anime... and it honestly is a bit of a shame that a lot of the actual 'canon' fights in Bleach didn't get as pretty of an animation sequence as this. Soi Fon fighting Komamura's giant Bankai is one of my favourites from the arc, but we've got a lot of great shots and animation in general from the 25-episode season. The season is kind of an 'excuse' plot between the end of the Aizen Deicide mega-arc and the beginning of the XCution arc, and... one huge problem that I'm going to mention quickly is the fact that poor Ichigo is supposed to have lost his powers, but we're just giving him back just with some excuse plot and handwaving going on. It's a bit of a shame since a world where Ichigo has fully lost his powers would've been prime material to explore some of the secondary characters, but I guess you can't have a Bleach arc without Ichigo? I don't know. From a writing standpoint, it definitely cheapens the end of Deicide and the beginning of XCution if Ichigo just randomly gets his powers back for 20+ episodes at some point in-between the events. 

One thing that is either going to break it or make the arc for you is that Kon actually gets a lot of screentime here -- again, in canon Bleach a lot of the initial supporting cast ends up getting pushed to the wayside, particularly the more comical ones. Having them take a bit of a spotlight is a nice thing, and I don't mind Kon. So having him show up a bit and have the big emotional connection with the Doomed Filler Anime Girl(tm) Nozomi is understandable. It's just that not everyone really likes Kon, and his huge role in this arc was a point of contention. 

And lastly... well, the entire concept of the season is fighting against clones that somehow have equal (or maybe more) power than the originals. Our primary enemy is Kageroza, a scientist who's been doing these experimentations on artificial beings called 'Reigai' in secret. Which... it sounds straightforward enough (and similar enough to the plot of some of the Bleach movies, or the Bount or Zanpakuto Spirit arcs) but things honestly get a bit confusing on how powerful Kageroza is -- and how he managed to even exist in Soul Society without anyone realizing how powerful he is; and the usage of clones that act and behave identically to our heroes. As a concept, it's a bit less visually interesting than the Zanpakuto Spirits we had a while back, since those at least looked different visually and we get to see a bit of character analysis between the Zanpakuto Spirits and their owners. 

Muddying things a bit further are some Dangai-related time-jumps which I don't think is explained particularly well, and is honestly just dropped entirely after the first five or six episodes. 

As we jump around the real world and the Soul Society, the plot itself just isn't that interesting to be stretched around 25 episodes. Kon befriending Nozomi, while extremely predictable (and done in much shorter time in the first Bleach movie) is probably the stronger storyline, where Kon finds some kinship with another artificial being that is not considered alive. It gets lost a bit due to the fact that these heavy points are delivered by Kon, but I do really appreciate them highlighting how Kon's story is actually quite tragic, and highlighting the similarities with our Sad Filler Anime Girl(tm) Nozomi. 

Meanwhile, Kageroza's master plan is to... something-something, use the Reigai to conquer both worlds and replace all the Gotei 13, I guess... but because we need a mid-season plot twist, turns out that Kageroza and Nozomi are two halves of the same whole, and Kageroza is doing all this to fuse with Nozomi to resurrect their original form, Yushima. It's a way more convoluted version of the Muaramasa story from the Zanpakuto Rebellion arc, and I really don't think the explanations and the plot twists are worth the screentime that the season devotes to them.

The actual fights are very pretty, though, and I argue that they are worth the price and time of admission. Admittedly the season doesn't quite do a good enough job at making the Reigai interesting at all in any sense of the form... sometimes they infiltrate our heroes, and most of the time they just go bwa-ha-ha psycho-evil when it comes to fight. And yet, because the manga hasn't revealed them yet, Evil Reigai Unohana, Kyoraku and Ukitake doesn't use their Bankais, because... they're not that evil? Eh. 

Again, the animation is pretty cool, particularly when characters like Renji, Byakuya, Hitsugaya and Komamura start going around waving around their Bankais. It's not anything particularly new compared to what we've seen, but the character match-ups and the slick animation does make this season a rather pleasant watching experience. There's a lot of cool stuff involving Kenpachi fighting his own Reigai; Komamura vs. Soi Fon; Byakuya vs. Hitsugaya; Genryusai blowing up Byakuya's reigai; Mayuri managing to bullshit-planned-for-this Kageroza; Genryusai holding off the Reigai of the three 'senior' captains Unohana, Kyoraku and Ukitake... 

But, again, a lot of this ends up being confusing as sometimes it really is hard to keep track which character is a reigai or not. I realize that it's realistic for these doppelgangers to look identical to their original counterparts, but as an audience that's not the most invested in the story being told, it does make some of the action scenes and episodes a bit harder to follow, particularly when at one point it turns out that there are two Momo reigais. 

And then we get Nozomi regaining her power around slightly after the halfway point, and it's apparently super-uber broken since she gets to be the one one-shotting the Reigai Kenpachi and restoring Ichigo's powers for the remainder of the season... at which point the plot kind of loses me with the sheer writer's pet shown to Nozomi. The main character trait is now "oh no, Nozomi wants to use her powers but she will tire herself out and/or get captured". Kageroza also gets some nonsense abilities allowing him to copy exactly any power that's launched towards him because of something-something spatial manipulation, leading to an honestly rather awkward fight that's tailored around showing how Nozomi's essential to helping Ichigo and Genryusai fight against Kageroza. 

And... again, the Kon/Nozomi stuff that happens throughout this, particularly when Nozomi ties Kon to a rock to stop him from following her into danger, is all pretty well voice-acted. It's just that the plot itself kind of meanders all around Nozomi's story-breaker power status that I find it difficult to care. Ichigo's also distracted several times throughout the climax in trying to regain his powers through some Dangai time-loop... but due to something-something power imbalance, he rampages in a half-Hollow form. 

Anyway, Nozomi and Kageroza fuse together back into Yushima, but not before Nozomi helps Kon restore Ichigo's powers. Yushima fights against Hollowfied Ichigo, a bunch of Reigai fight our heroes, Yushima uses his own story-breaking Zanpakuto to fight everyone... but there's only two episodes left and so Ichigo fights Yushima and defeats him. The power of friendship between Ichigo, Kon and Nozomi allows the part of Yushima that was Nozomi to fight back, and this allows Nozomi's soul to expose Yushima's weak point so that Ichigo can Getsuga Tenshou it away. Also, all the Reigai sacrifice themselves to stop a generic doomsday weapon, because they still have some pride that makes them want to protect Soul Society, which... if you're first exposed to the story of this season through this review and think that that particular plot point came out of nowhere, yes, yes it did. 

And... yeah. The plotline is honestly a mess, and while I know that there's a fair amount of leeway that a filler arc can get away with, I do think that this is easily my least favourite of the Bleach filler arcs I've reviewed in terms of story. Now, in terms of entertainment it rises up a bit due to some really fun animation and action scenes, but I do find it really hard to get invested in either Kageroza or Nozomi, and especially not their fused forms. Throw in the fact that clone enemies aren't the most interesting adversaries for a filler arc, and especially not for a 25-episode one... and all the nonsense around the Dangai time loops and Ichigo constantly losing his powers, and it's just not the best story to digest. 

So yeah, it's... it's really not the best, and unlike some of the other filler arcs which can still reasonably be handwaved into tying in with the main story somewhat (like the Zanpakuto Rebellion or even the Bount arcs) this one just feels so jarring and placed at such a weird time in the main story that I find it hard finding much to say about this one beyond 'nice animation' and 'I like the Kon/Nozomi scenes'. 

Bleach TYBW E40 Review: the visored strike bAck

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 40: My Last Words

So yeah, with this, cour three of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War has ended, and... I think it has more than surpassed the expectation of almost all of the fans out there. The last batch of chapters in the Bleach manga will always be met with more scrutiny due to the sheer amount of rushed battles, or buildups that were aborted, or characters that did nothing before the ultimately rushed finale. And while the previous two cours did a mighty great job at bringing a lot of scenes to life in gorgoeus animation, this cour gave us so much. Fixing the fact that Uryu does nothing in essentially the entire arc (and allowing him to kill a Squad Zero member; fight Ichigo and fight Uryu); allowing Ichigo to actually have proper fights instead of being one-shot; solidifying Juhabach's motivations; and tidying up two of the messier parts of the manga (the Gotei getting to the Soul Society; and the Gerard fight), we've had an amazing run. And this episode... well, this episode is a bit more of a setup chapter as we adapt a lot of the scenes in the manga that doesn't relate to the conclusion of the final four villains, but with some very welcome extensions. 

The episode opens up with the confrontation between Ichigo's group and Uryu in front of the giant black swirling orb (which I assume is like, the main Gate of the Sun? The anime doesn't make it super clear) and Haschwalth gloats that Uryu will need to kill his friends if he truly isn't a traitor... and as Haschwlath pontificates about his ability to see the future, we get some interesting shots of his eyes flickering between red and blue. It is also interesting to note that Haschwalth feels a lot cockier and more abrasive in this fight compared to how phlegmatic he was in 'Friend' and episodes prior. I wonder if hosting The Almighty is causing some personality changes in him, or is it just the mental instability after killing Bazz-B?

This is a scene that actually existed in the manga, but Ichigo and Uryu fight again. Of course, the anime severely extends on this confrontation -- in the anime it was just a couple of arrows and deflections. Here, Uryu activates the simplified version of his Vollstandig and clashes with Ichigo. It's nowhere as elaborate or as well-animated as "The Betrayer" earlier in the season, but it didn't need to. 

We then cut to... Ishida Soken! Uryu's grandfather! Who was entirely unmentioned in the manga version of the TYBW. Soken was super significant to Uryu's original characterization and motivation, particularly in regards to his rocky relationship with his father Ryuken. Turns out that the mysterious notebook that Uryu found in the short scenes in the first cour was written by Soken... and within that book is the notes that Soken made about Juhabach's evil, how he steals the powers of Quincies for his own vendetta... and also the Auswahlen that happened in 1994! 

And we actually see this Auswahlen happen, the one that claimed Kurosaki Masaki's powers as she's fighting against Grand Fischer... but more interestingly, we get to see Uryu's mother Katagiri Kanae... not fall to the Auswahlen. Instead, a young Uryu and the unnamed maid with them were the ones to fall to the Auswahlen!

Which is very interesting! The manga's version of events (which was second-hand and very glossed over) notes that Kanae didn't immediately die, but fell into a coma and died much later. And we never got an explanation to why Uryu didn't die beyond the main-character syndrome. "Everything But The Rain" made a whole big deal about how Masaki and Ryuken are echt (pure-blooded) while Kanae is gemischt (mixed-blood), and I wonder if that's going to play into this? While we don't see what happened, my theory is that Kanae did something to save Uryu, which probably leads to a whole lot of survivor's guilt on Uryu's end. We'll see!

As this flashback ends and we get to see a replay of Uryu joining the Vandenreich, Soken's monologue notes that it's the duty of the surviving Quincies of the human world to stop Juhabach... and we all know just how much Uryu takes pride in qualities like duty and pride. 

In the present day, Uryu chases Ichigo around with his little drone feather-arrows, and we get a fun little sequence as Ichigo keeps leaping up and trying to attack Uryu's main body. At one point as they jump around, we get a really badass sequence as Ichigo unleashes a gigantic Getsuga Tensho that cuts a line across the castle they are next to... and then as the Getsuga dissipates, it has atomized everything in its path and the castle just slams down like someone cleared a row in Tetris or something. That's very cool!

As the dust covers the air, Uryu sees a glowing light and unleashes the same five-pronged attack that he used against Ichigo in "Betrayer"... but turns out that the light is just one of the Zangetsu blades, hovering in the air. Ichigo uses the bigger blade and knocks down Uryu from behind and unleashes a close-range Getsuga Tensho that Uryu intercepts with an arrow. The explosion collapses the floor beneath them, but in a scene lifted from the manga, Chad jumps in! Chad grabs Ichigo by one of his swords and chucks him at Uryu even as he himself falls down.

We cut away to other parts, however. Giselle and Liltotto make their way to Juhabach's throne room with the three zombies. Juhabach is entirely silent throughout this, and we also don't get any real explanation about the strange eyeball-Soldats. Giselle does toss away the severed head of one of the Soldats, before the five ex-Sternritter charge in with their powers... and that's all we see of them. It's still better than the manga, but I really would've liked to see Juhabach beat them or something. 

Then we cut away to the Askin-vs-Yoruichi fight. Yoruichi briefly puts the wounded Yushiro behind some rubble, but turns out Askin is quite fast himself and catches up to her. We get a pretty cool scene as Yoruichi unleashes Shunko again, while Askin admonishes her for doing the same mistake Yushiro did. After all, with The Deathdealing active, Askin is immune to Yoruichi's Shunko... but Yoruichi knows this. Instead, she kicks the lightning orbs, creating what's essentially a massive flashbang grenade to blind Askin. Not using the reiatsu but rather her physical strength, Yoruichi proceeds to wrap her legs around Askin's neck and slam him into a building. 

And then we cut away to poor Momo, hiding in a building. It feels like a goddamn horror movie as the gigantic Gerard Valkyrie just looms around in the distance with his glowing eyes, before appearing in the window outside. It's actually pretty creepy! Gerard then slams the arm down and seemingly utterly crushes the building that Momo is hiding in. It would fit in with how brutal the Vice-Captains have been taken out in these expanded stories, and it wouldn't even be bad writing to have Momo be taken out here particularly since she's already done so much more than her manga counterpart. 

But then a snaking Zanpakuto slams and explodes in Gerard's face, while a mocking voice tells Gerard that the real 'miracle' is him failing to kill a wounded girl. Is it Zabimaru? No, it's actually Kinshara, belonging to Rose! Yes, Rose is back! He and Kensei are clearly in the other two pods that Mayuri brought with him -- the extra pods were always there but never amounted to anything in the manga, but here they clearly brought back the de-zombified Rose and Kensei. 

And it's not just Rose and Kensei either, because everyone is assembled. As Shinji puts Hinamori down safe, Shinji delivers a badass line about how if Captains are not enough, the Visored stand ready to fight back. Kensei, Hiyori, Hachigen, Love and Lisa all stand ready, and we get a nice parallel to their entrance to the Karakura Town fight as they pose with their Hollow masks on and their swords drawn. Oh, and Shinji also tosses away his captain's cloak, which is a badass scene. 

In the manga... the Visored do nothing. Shinji and Momo get taken out in the 'arm slam' scene that was adapted and expanded last episode; while Hachi, Rose, Lisa and Hiyori get one-shotted instantly by Gerard. I don't doubt that the Visored will still lose to Gerard, but this promises for a much more dignified battle -- and defeat -- for them. It's not about them being defeated, because that's never been the problem! It's the callousness and choreography!

Speaking of forgotten characters, we see XCution! Riruka and Yukio are in Invaders Must Die as it descends down. Riruka's clearly still fuming about not being able to help Ichigo, Orihime and the others, but Yukio verbally intercepts her before she could even complain. But Yukio notes that there are other things they can do... as Invaders Must Die stops and deposits them outside of the Shiba residence. Clearly, they are there to pick up Ginjo and Tsukishima! They barely show up in a 'too little, too late' sequence in the final battle in the manga, and here's hoping for them to, again, get a bit more to do this time around. 

Before they can meet the dead Fullbringers, Riruka and Yukio turn around to witness a rain of gold falling down from the sky down unto the Seireitei. From his chair, Aizen also observes this. These golden rain are the remnants of Sternritter "X", Lille Barro, which begin to transform into long-limbed, long-necked flamingo-owl light beings that begin to shoot laser beams on the poor Shinigami left on ground level. The Barro-birds rant a little until one of them gets slashed in the middle as we zoom in to the moon, then out of it to see a hole in the chest with random metal rods stuck through it... as Third Vice-Captain Kira Izuru show up and identifies himself.

Yep, Zombie Kira! This was always something that was clearly meant to set up something more before the rapid and abrupt conclusion, and I really do wonder what the original intention of Zombie Kira was supposed to be! After having this plot point brought up and randomly never mentioned again, I wonder what we'll get out of this!

We then cut to a flashback -- which in the manga I think happens a bit later on. This is Ichigo and Uryu on top of their high school, where they discuss about their parents and their enrolment in the school. Ichigo notes how weird it is that someone as smart as Uryu is enrolled in a normal school since he's probably going to be a doctor... but Uryu then notes that he doesn't want to become a doctor anymore. Not since he, as a child, witnessed his dad performing an autopsy very callously on the corpse of his mother. Traumatic for sure, and I do look forward to seeing Uryu's relationship with Ryuken expanded a bit more. 

Cut to the present, and we see Ichigo, Uryu, Orihime and Chad gathering themselves in this underground level. Ichigo demands Uryu explain himself, and Uryu lampshades the silliness in Ichigo's words since he'll get beaten up either way. It's not exactly a one-to-one parallel, but having this episode released so closely to 'Friend' does make the rowdy-but-healthier communication between Ichigo and Uryu in contrast against the toxic, clingy and selfishness of Bazz-B and Haschwalth's relationship.

Of course, Uryu is actually still on the good guys' side. He pulls out a Sun Key and explains that there is a Gate of the Sun that's set up to invade the human world. He tells Ichigo to take that Gate and return to the world of the living, while he has a way to destroy Juhabach due to his bloodline. (Which isn't the manga's explosive tags plan, and I wonder what Uryu's master plan is in this revised story... and if Ichigo's Quincy heritage will also come to play) Ichigo gets pissed off because Uryu really should've told them. 

But as Uryu explains how he's thought things thoroughly, Haschwalth looms out of the shadows, and does another "ah-ha, I have foreseen what you are going to do" moment. Haschwalth has apparently destroyed the Gate of the Sun offscreen, and a black aura explodes out of him as he promises to finish them off before Juhabach awakens. This phrasing causes Uryu to realize that Haschwalth and Juhabach have swapped powers, and Uryu tells Ichigo to go off and finish off Juhabach who doesn't possess The Almighty. 

Ichigo rightfully asks Uryu if he's can handle this battle since Haschwalth before them possess The Almighty, but Uryu insists that Ichigo get going, and that these would not be his (titular) last words. Ichigo smirks at Uryu before running off with Orihime and Chad. This sets up the Uryu and Haschwalth one-on-one confrontation as they draw their respective weapons. Haschwalth mocks Uryu as being a bit different since he's now 'surprisingly full of hope', but Uryu mocks Haschwalth right back, noting that the fact that Haschwalth is 'surprised' means that The Almighty... is not so Almighty! Haschwalth isn't pleased, and the two begin their face-off. I do hope that Antithesis vs. Balance will get a more proper fight instead of the absolute bare minimum that we got in the manga. Seeing how much they improved all the other marquee fights, I have faith. 

In another scene, another Sun Key clinks on a Gate of the Sun as Ryuken and Isshin arrive on Wahrwelt. Ryuken notes that it's fortuitous that such an old key owned by the banished Soken would still work. Isshin gives a rather fun response, noting that Ryuken's terrible attitude about Soken is why he and Uryu don't get along.

We cut away to a bunch of other characters. Hitsugaya and Rangiku are on some buildings. Kurotsuchi slumbers in his preservation pod. And Ukitake's twiching body-corpse... seems to be forming the Mimihagi halo again. Very curious where we're going with this Ukitake subplot! And then we cut away to... Liltotto and the other Sternritters taken out offscreen by Juhabach. Unlike his manga counterpart, Juhabach says nothing, and Liltotto enigmatically curses her luck because Juhabach "is not actually asleep" before she collapses. And Juhabach's dark reiatsu floods the throne room... 

I do hope this leads somewhere, by the way. Liltotto isn't the most well-developed character but I've always been fascinated by the fact that they were deemed important enough to survive and go up to Wahrwelt, indicating that Kubo originally had plans for her. Even if it's as a vessel to develop other characters like Bazz-B was. But even if that was it, I still hope Juhabach's dark reiatsu does something. Corrupting them to turn them into thralls to fight Orihime and Chad and maybe some other characters would be great!

And... that's it. The episode still has a fair bit of runtime, but we'll put Askin's four-wall-breaking comedy routine below. It's admittedly a whole lot of scenes jumping around, but setting up a bunch of fights is super interesting. Having Juhabach's menace be the focus of the final shot is neat enough, but the highlight has to be the Haschwalth/Uryu and Gerard/Visored setup. And... with only so few chapters in the official material before the trunacted ending, I am really looking forward to see what the Thousand-Year Blood War arc's true, proper conclusion would be! But that's it for the third cour, see you guys hopefully soon for the conclusion of Bleach!

Random Notes:

• We lost an episode in cour two (which was reworked to become the first episode in this cour, itself not technically being a full episode) so this cour had an extra episode to compensate. 
• Quincy Daten:
• Just like the finale to the previous cour, the ending is a tongue-in-cheek, minimal animation sequence hosted by a comedic character. In this case, Askin Nakk Le Vaar. All the animations that Askin makes are repurposed from his many other scenes in the episode, except for his main pointing position that's taken from the cover of volume 68. 
• We get a rather fun monologue about how a cafe au lait is important due to the balance between substances, and screwing up that balance can be fatal. 
• The primary significance here is Askin telling us the spelling of the four ancient members of the Schutzstaffel -- Huburt, Algora, Seydlitz and Nikita -- as well as a relationship map. 
• The rest of the Daten has Askin kind of doing a skit about him recapping parts of his battle with Yoruichi, then mocking/impersonating the Bambis, which went on for a bit too long to be funny. The end is a tongue-in-cheek moment where he actually has a timer showing the time left given to him by the producers.
• Though, really... this could have been a proper 'end of episode' moment in the traditional Bleach sense where Askin could've been explaining stuff like the Vollstandig and Sklaverai, or Uryu's powers, or his own powers, or -- probably what most people would want -- the revelatoin of what BG9's "K" and Robert's "N" stand for. (And frankly, I'm sure a bunch of minor Sternritters also didn't have what their letters stand for revealed properly in the anime).
• I guess the 'Chad and Ganyu pointlessly fight golems' scene is cut entirely. Ganyu himself is just kind of missing ever since the group got split up hunting after Askin, isn't he? 
• A fair amount of Lille's lines and confusion after being reformed into the wacky flamingos are cut, particularly of note is him realizing that his halo is gone, and how he's going to reduce the Seireitei to rubble out of vengeance against Kyoraku.
• Also cut from the episode is all of Juhabach's dialogue. In the manga, after beating Liltotto and Giselle, Juhabach makes some comment about 'going back to sleep' since the noise has quieted down. Here Juhabach is menacingly silent throughout the scene, seemingly implying that he didn't even properly 'wake up' to address Liltotto's squad.
• I'm happy to see the Seele Schneider make a return in Uryu's arsenal! Amazingly, Uryu using the Seele Schneider against Ichigo was in the manga, but this confrontation happens so quickly that I didn't even remember it. 
• In what's likely an error, Gerard's fist is inconsistently drawn with the knuckle-armour that he would only have after he regenerates his arm, 'stronger than before', later on down the fight after Kenpachi severs it. 
• It is interesting that Shinji tosses away his captain's coat. Out of the three Visored captains that were officially reinstated into the Gotei 13, none of them donned their Hollow masks -- not even when Kensei and Rose were in near-death situations. Which does make sense considering the Gotei 13's immense hatred towards Hollows. I wonder if it's just honour, or if there's some kind of magical seal that physically prevents them from using the masks?
• Really love that when all of the other Sternritter ladies are charging in with their powers active, Giselle is just punching the air, cheering them on.
• Realistically, while it's probably just going to be Kira fighting against the Barro-birds, I wouldn't mind Aizen or the Fullbringers joining in. Is it also perhaps too much to hope that we get some confirmation of Robert Accutrone's death, since we're on ground level? 
• I like how Uryu's initial response to Ichigo's questioning is that "isn't your dad also a doctor?" and Ichigo just handwaves his dad as being more of a rowdy person than a proper doctor. 
• Ryuken having a Sun Key implies that either Soken or a more distant ancestor was a Sternritter. I do want to see this -- if nothing else to see how the Ishida clan ended up in Japan, alive but seemingly ostracized from the other Vandenreich Quincies. 
• So, presuming that the final cour has 13 episodes, and we're going to need 1 episode for the Askin-vs-Yoruichi/Urahara fight, 1 episode for the Gerard-vs-everyone fight, 1 episode for the Uryu/Haschwalth fight, 1 episode for Juhabach-vs-Ichigo and 1 episode for the epilogue... that leaves 8 whole episodes to work with! Even with the fights being a bit more extended and giving some room for them, we're still looking at anywhere between 5-8 episodes to fit in a proper flashback episode for Juhabach and the Soul King, a proper flashback for Ryuken, a proper emotional resolution to Uryu's betrayal, a proper emotional resolution to Isshin's story, Fullbringer content, Kira-vs-Barrobirds... might we get another Rukia Bankai? Might we get another Shinji Bankai? Might Nel or Soi Fon do something? Hell, we might even get Shuhei's Bankai for real! Even if we only get some and not all of this, I'd be happy!

Bleach TYBW E39 Review: tobiume vs. the mirAcle!

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 39: The Visible Answer

And so we begin the two-parter finale for the third cour of the Thousand-Year Blood War anime. This episode combines a lot of the scattered scenes of the other two Schutzstaffel members that hasn't been covered in the two-parter episodes, which are Sternritter "M" Gerard Valkyrie and "D" Askin Nakk Le Vaar. We've gotten a fair chunk of Askin content here and there throughout the previous episodes, and while I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't actually get to see Askin beat Ichigo on-screen, it is nice that the anime at least gives us a reason how Askin takes Ichigo out. Meanwhile, keeping all of the Gerard scenes out of the way helps to streamline all of the previous major fights, removing the random distractions while also making the entire Gerard sequence flow a lot better here. 

But we start off with another interestingly ominous scene of the 12th Division scientists in the Soul Society, watching as the twitching maybe-corpse of Captain Ukitake begin to twitch with the Mimihagi shadows. The resulting scene is a bit ambiguous on what's exactly happening, with the shadow tendrils seemingly curling around and making a tree-shape? I'm really not sure what's going on here, or if it'll lead to a more elaborate Ukitake death scene or something, but it's nice that it seems like we're going to have something more out of Ukitake's sacrifice.

The scene then cuts to Ishida Uryu standing in front of a Gate of the Sun before Jugram Haschwalth, fresh off of his fight against Bazz-B, shows up. The action flows a lot better here since Haschwalth ins't MIA for 20 chapters in-between 'Friend' and 'Visible Answer' this time around! Haschwalth puts up a bit of a cocky look here as they recap the power-swap thing, and Haschwalth shows off his Almighty triple-pupils. I do wonder if the slight change in Haschwalth's demeanour has something to do with Juhabach's powers seeping into him? Uryu asks Haschwalth if he sees him becoming a traitor, while Haschwalth muses that he hasn't said anything about treachery and asks if Uryu is confessing his true agenda before the supreme power of the Almighty... wihch Uryu immediately denies.

I really do wish we did get maybe one or two extra scenes of Haschwalth (or other Sternritters -- Lille, Bazz, someone) confronting Uryu about his loyalties to the Sternritter. Obviously with scenes of Uryu actually participating in seeming deathmatches against his friends, this scene of Uryu's allegiance has a lot more weight in the anime as compared to the manga. Haschwalth draws his blade and continues to glare at Uryu... and his eyes briefly flash blue. I'm not entirely sure what this is supposed to represent, but the Uryu/Haschwalth fight is one of the fights that needs a big rewrite and I hope we get to see something more interesting here since that was one of the fights that got very chopped up in the manga. 

We cut away to setting up the Gerard Valkyrie fight, another sequence that was also famously chopped up a lot in the source material. Just like the 'gateway' sequence earlier this cour, the anime has wisely gathered all of the various short scenes of Shinji's group encountering Gerard Valkyrie and merged them together in this episode. 

And what a fun entrance! We get the big group charging in towards the castle, only for Gerard Valkyrie to slam down and crash in front of our heroes like a meteor. Urahara and Shinji both have some smart-aleck comments to make about this, but Gerard is a big, hammy showman and gives a whole boasting speech. Unexpectedly for the anime, we get an adaptation of a scene from the manga where Abarai Renji uses Zabimaru to restrain one of Gerard's arms. This is a scene lifted from the manga, but since Renji got a brand-new fight that left him in an incapacitated state in the anime, I was wondering if this scene was going to instead be given to one of the others.

And... we get a flashback to how Renji survived the Uryu shot to the heart, which is... a bit of a weak explanation, I feel. Hiyori and the other Visored are apparently just wandering around that area. They comment about how clean the wound is, which allows Hachigen to create a Kido box and heal Renji. It's... it's honestly a bit too simple. Hopefully a future episode would add in some of the obligatory-but-necessary 'I knew it wasn't a killshot' moment from either Uryu or Renji. Crucially, though, this does mean that the Visoreds actually do something in this adaptation, where they were very famously forgotten in the manga. 

This also nicely adds a little bit of a reason why Renji sticks to his Shikai for a majority of the sequences we see him fight Gerard -- recovering from such a brutal fight with Uryu, it makes sense if he has to recharge and recover a bit. 

Renji tells the other Shinigami that he's going to handle Gerard, and Shinji is about to lead the group away... but Gerard knocks Zabimaru away, and in one of the most ridiculous but funniest sequences in the manga, Gerard jumps in front of Shinji's group... and his cape expands and hardens and slams down on the ground like a wall. It's such a random ability that has nothing to do with Qiuncy powers or The Miracle, but there you go -- Gerard's sentient wall-transforming cape. That exists!

The other surviving Schutzstaffel, Askin, we've seen confronting Grimmjow and later Ichigo, and... well, Ichigo still gets beaten offscreen, face-planted onto the ground. It's still a bit annoying that this happens, but I really did think that the addition of Askin muttering about changing the type of dosage of his reishi poison a couple of episodes ago was a really good way to make this a lot more believable.  Askin also drops some lore about the Elite Guard, reiterating that Lille Barro was the first Sternritter to receive a Schrift... but Pernida and Gerard were not. They had their powers even before becoming Sternritter, and were assigned honorary Schrifts that matched their powers instead of the other way around. Askin then notes that there are rumours that Pernida and Gerard are respectively the Right Arm and Heart of the Soul King. 

Orihime and Chad arrive to assist Ichigo, and Chad tries his Brazo Derecha de Gigante attack... only for Askin to quickly create a field of 'Gift Bad'. Unlike how the rest of Askin's powers have been shown in the anime (which are glowing purple reishi effects) Gift Bad takes the form of an area that kind of looks like an oil spill or something. This essentially takes Chad and Orihime out of the fight as well, while Askin finally explains what "The Deathdealing" does. He can select any kind of substance he wants to turn toxic to someone else, and he needs to ingest a large amount of whatever he designates -- such as reishi (which is natural to Quincies) or blood (as in the Nimaiya fight). It's one of the relatively more complex and weirder powers in Bleach, and while we did breeze through Askin's first power exposition during the Nimaiya fight, I'm glad this longer explanation is retained. 

As Askin gloats, we get a legendary line from Yoruichi, who is hanging upside-down from a chunk of rubble behind Askin, identifying him as "one of those guys who likes to talk a lot of nonsense". Lady, that's like 90% of the Bleach cast! Yoruichi makes a morbid comment about how since Ichigo, Chad and Orihime are incapacitated, Askin could just walk up and, y'know, snap their necks. Askin notes that he had this conversation with Bambietta before, musing about what is it about beautiful women asking him to do such 'distasteful' things. 

Askin then does an amazingly-animated spin-kick while Yoruichi does a very elaborate spin-around in the air, and... the animation for this episode ratchets up a lot. Both Askin and especially Yoruichi are animated very fluidly and beautifully, and while this has been something common with the Thousand-Year Blood War anime in general, it's especially noticeable with the Yoruichi scenes in this episode... especially when you compare it with the Yoruichi-Askin scenes from the next one. 

Anyway, Askin tells us a bit of his philosophy -- his way of killing people is utilizing his lethal dosage Deathdealing gimmick to kill them, and he's not about all that brutish strangling thing. He then talks about how while people like Yoruichi and Bambietta are beautiful, the most important thing is style. Yoruichi responds with a badass Shunko transformation as we do a very highly-detailed spin-around of her while her outer clothes burn away, revealing her skintight bodysuit beneath. 

We get a very cool sequence as Askin launches several arrows at Yoruichi, who speed-blitzes forwards and does a spinning sequence as she evades one arrow, grabs the other arrow mid-air, and chucks it at Askin. The repurposed arrow slams Askin with so much force that he gets throw through a building and into another one. Askin is tough enough to be unharmed, but Yoruichi unleashes her next ability, which is probably one of the single coolest interpretation of one of the manga's attacks to make it into animation. 

They did not need to go this hard for this one attack, but it was so awesome how we just follow Yoruichi's hand as she taps and creates six floating orbs of electricity in a ring around her, with appropriate 'bang' sound effects and flashing screens. The camera pans out as Yoruichi announces the name of the attack -- Shunko: Raijin Senkei -- as the reishi and electricity explode around her. Yoruichi then brings the mother of all thunderbolts down upon Askin, vaporizing every building other than a small, vertical strip that Yoruichi herself is standing on. That is so cool. 

As this happens, we cut back to the Gerard Valkyrie fight, where he isn't faring particularly well. Gerard points out just how many adversaries he is facing, and rants about how it would take a miracle for him to defeat all of them. He gives a little speech about how miracles are only miracles if the odds are truly stacked against someone... and Byakuya recognizes this as an anime villain about to pull off some dastardly trick and just unleashes Senbonzakura down and shreds Gerard. The anime still cuts away from the actual impact, but the state of the helmet implies that Byakuya most likely blendered Gerard's head into a paste. We get an interesting moment where Momo asks if Byakuya should've taken things that far... but Shinji admonishes Momo, and, well, considering the amount of shit the Quincies has done, and how Gerard was actually talking some shit that implies he's got a trump card, Byakuya did the absolute right thing.

...except, unfortunately for Captain Kuchiki, he didn't. Against any other enemy in Bleach, this "kill them before they finish their monologue and unleash their trump card technique" would have been so useful! It would be a rare moment of genre savviness for our heroes. But alas, Team Shinji just pushes forwards, leaving Gerard's body in a pool of blood. 

We briefly cut away to see the human world in Karakura Town where an earthquake shakes the Kurosaki clinic, causing Yuzu to panic while Karin is blasé about it. The tremors continue, though, and in Digimon Adventure style we even see rifts in the sky and the Soul Society appearing in the skies above Japan. The same tremors also shake Hueco Mundo. We cut back to see the silent forms of Juhabach and Kamikake!Ukitake, and while we don't really get a full explanation, I think the implication is that Juhabach hasn't been enacting his plan due to resistance from Ukitake and Mimihagi, and the tremors are caused by Juhabach finally winning and getting ever so closer to what he wants to do with the Soul King's power. 

As the tremors subside, Yoruichi tells Orihime (who's been healing Ichigo and Chad) to keep going while she deals with Askin. As Ichigo and company goes off, Askin returns with a huge chunk of his uniform torn off, and laments about how Juhabach is going to tell him off for letting Ichigo through. Askin then gets the name of Yoruichi's technique wrong... causing a very offended little bratty voice to protest that it is called Raijin Senkei, and it's an honourable technique, and his sister is the best, and... yeah, welcome to no one's favourite Bleach character, Shihoin Yushiro. 

The anime, thankfully, dials down Yushiro's obnoxious scenes a fair amount here, keeping the funniest joke and purging the rest. Yushiro was such a random last-minute addition to the cast and such an utterly irrelevant character who adds nothing to the story other than being beaten up by Askin here. With so many other characters who are struggling for screentime, back then a lot of people are wondering why Yushiro's role in this fight wasn't taken up by Soi Fon, or Shinji, or Chad, or anyone else.

Anyway, we get the funny scene where Yushiro has absolutely no concept of sarcasm at all. Yoruichi isn't particularly pleased at her snotty little brother being here and is quite sarcastic about it but everything goes over the moronic Yushiro's head and he just misinterprets everything as praise. Askin accidentally calls Yushiro a 'young woman', prompting Yushiro to angrily declare that he's a dude, then charges in and delivers the mother of all sucker punches to Askin's face. Yushiro then follows this up with an actually very well-animated barrage of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure style punches while Askin yells and tells Yushiro to slow down while he clutches his face. Yushiro culminates his attack with Shunko: Baku'en Muso, creating a gigantic explosion of flame. 

We cut away to Team Shinji, and a giant shadow looms over them... and the gigantic form of Gerard Valkyrie arrives, slamming down and forcing Rukia and Urahara to dodge the gigantic foot. The gigantic Gerard declares his Schrift, "The Miracle", and explains its abilities -- he can convert damage done to him into 'God Size', and this is apparently the largest he has became with the power of his Schrift. Gerard rips off random spires and starts launching them at the Shinigami. 

In a sequence lifted straight from the manga, Shinji grabs Momo before she's thrown off Wahrwelt, but giant Gerard rushes in and slams down his palm on the two of them. In the manga... this was it for poor, poor Hirako Shinji. Multiple aborted fights with different Sternritter, a whole lot of dialogue, and ignomiously taken out not even with a proper named technique.

In the anime, however, Hirako Shinji, Captain of the Fifth Division, isn't going down without a fight! He and Momo burst out of the smoke, and we get a pretty fun sequence as Momo uses a combination of Tobiume's flames and a Bakudo spell to create a giant reishi trampoline. The Bakudo spell is Tsuriboshi, which Momo used in the Fake Karakura Town fight. Momo releases Tobiume and this allows the reishi trampoline to launch both her and Shinji into the sky -- because the choreographers remember that the Shinigami can't freely fly in Wahrwelt! 

Once in the sky, Shinji unleashes Hado #91: Senju Koten Taiho, without an incantation, creating a storm of machine-gun flames that pepper Gerard's face. This was the Hado spell that Ukitake used against Aizen in that battle, which is awesome. And as Gerard reels back in pain, motherfucking Momo unleashes a gigantic fireball from Tobiume into Gerard's mouth which explodes and it really looks quite painful! This is the true miracle, that Hinamori Momo got such a badass sequence given to her in this anime. What a nice addition! Again, I don't want a rewrite where Shinji randomly uses his Bankai to beat Gerard or whatever, since that isn't true to the spirit of the source material. But actually showing them do stuff and not just take up space is really cool! I don't doubt most of the secondary cast will still be taken out by Gerard, but just like the other extended fights, showing that they at least put up a fight instead of being taken out like bitches is so much better.

Gerard does swat Shinji and Momo onto the side of a building after that sequence, though they're not quite out yet. Byakuya attacks with Senbonzakura but it just pings off of Gerard, and... poor, poor Soi Fon pulls out her Bankai, Jakuho Raikoben... but doesn't even get to fire it as Gerard smashes the building that the two of them are standing on. Poor Soi Fon! She didn't even get to use her Bankai against the shadow-blob monsters either. Could've at least let her fire the damn thing! Gerard then does the giant breathing attack that he does in the manga to blow away Rukia and Renji as well, boasting that not even a miracle can save them. 

We cut back to the Askin/Yoruichi fight. Yoruichi berates Yushiro for butting into her fight, although she also praises Yushiro for being able to master Shunko so quickly. Askin, however, emerges from the dust and rubble, still alive. The dark wounds on Askin's body begins to flake off as he tells them that he can control the lethal dose of anything he intakes, and in this case, Yushiro merely nearly kills him. And now, Askin is immune to this particular flavour of Reiatsu. Yushiro is as confused as most Bleach readers at this proclamation, however, and charges in with Shunko again. 

Yushiro's Shunko, however, doesn't even move Askin, and we get a very badass sequence as Yushiro is just impaled by three arrows that fall from the sky while Askin calmly walks past him. If nothing else, at least Yushiro got an appropriately painful-looking exit! Askin drops his 'lethal mistake' one-liner as we cut away from them. 

The final scene in the episode is a continuation of the Haschwalth and Uryu scene. Haschwalth notes something about scales and balance, and tells Uryu to prove that he isn't a traitor... and attacks Uryu, blowing him through a wall... and right in front of Ichigo, Chad and Orihime. Uryu and Ichigo glare at each other as the credits roll. And the post-credits scene is Isshin and Ryuken in a massive graveyard, discussing that it's about time to go. 

So, yeah. I am really happy with the changes made here. While we get a rather all right first half of a fight with Askin Nakk Le Vaar, both the battles against Haschwalth and Gerard were always messily handled, being chopped up and inserted in-between other confrontations. The anime also has clearly a much better track record to at least keep track of the secondary characters and hopefully give them better exits in battle. But in general, this is just a really fun episode to watch!

Random Notes:

•  I really do like that the 'excuse' for Gerard being absent throughout the past five episode is just him being lost and yelling after picking a corner where the Shinigami wasn't attacking from. In the manga, this 'being lost' only delays him for a little and a lot of the fight sequences we see here are seen piecemeal throughout the Pernida and Lille fights, but the restructuring here is really nice; keeping Askin as the only 'piecemeal' fight and collating all the Gerard sequences here. 
• Removed from this episode and the next is everything about the Reishi-diffusing chips that Uryu has scattered all around Wahrwelt, which means that Uryu either has a different plan, or something.
• A removed line from Askin is him noting that Gerard should use his Schift because Lille Barro has fallen, which always felt a bit weird since Gerard's Miracle isn't really tied to anything Lille does. Some of the lines are altered a bit as well, in response to them rearranging the scenes of Gerard going giant, as well as Yushiro arriving a bit later than he did in the manga. 
• Ironically, despite the title of this episode, nothing from the chapter titled "The Visible Answer" is adapted into this episode, with content from that chapter being adapted into the next episode instead. 
• I really do find it a bit of a shame that we don't get a bit more of an extended fight for Grimmjow and Askin in particular. While there's still time for more in the second part of the Askin fight, I've always found it to be ridiculously anticlimactic -- even among Bleach's other many underutilized characters -- that we've been building Grimmjow's return for literal years and he barely had a confrontation with Askin before disappearing into the background. 
• Since Askin needs to ingest something to turn it toxic against someone else, theoretically if anyone else fighting him drank cafe au lait before the fight, they would be royally fucked against Askin.
• I also find it funny that despite Askin bitching about how he is 'full' during the Ichigo fight and he needs some time for his stomach to process more substances, he's been going around having picnics and drinking cafe au laits throughout the arc. 
• It's a bit of a throwaway line, but I really like the idea that some of the more 'human' Sternritter like Bambietta and Askin just kind of hang around and gossip, talking shit about each other's methods. 
• I always love it that Askin has like these... gym wristbands or something that spin around and holds his bow in a compressed form. It just feels so... weird. I can't describe it, but it really does add to the charm of the character.
• Sorry, Sternritter "T" Candice Catnipp, your thunderbolts ain't got nothing against Yoruichi's Raijin Senkei. 
• Back in the day, people wondered if another member of the Shihoin clan appearing is going to tie in to the ancient clans that dismembered and sealed the Soul King. While nothing of the sort was ever explored in the manga, maybe these ancient Seireitei clans might get some relevance in the anime's final cour? 
• Wait, whatever happened to Ganju?
• But seriously, in the manga there was no reason for Juhabach to... essentially do nothing after absorbing both the Soul King and Mimihagi. There was no reason for him to sit while his Schutzstaffel run around and do battle, other than maybe he wants to take a nap. Even if it's not outright stated, having Ukitake still be alive and Mimihagi still writhing and doing stuff makes it a lot more palatable. 
• We get a brief cameo of Nanao looking over Kyoraku from where the two of them dealt with Lille when the shaking is going on. That's whatever. When Gerard goes giant, however, we have a random shot of Hanataro and Matsumoto looking from a distance... which is interesting! In the manga, Hitsugaya joins in the Gerard fight (which presumably is happening), but Matsumoto and Hanataro just disappear. While Hanataro not being accounted for kind of peeved me during the Pernida fight, I am curious to see what they're going to do with them. Matsumoto at least should do something, right? 
• The ominous zoom-in to Matsumoto's face is quite curious, since in the Can't Fear Your Own World manga, we get a revelation that the mysterious orbs that Aizen extracted from Matsumoto when she was young -- something never actually brought up in the manga -- are revealed to be other fragments of the Soul King. Is Matsumoto reacting to giant Gerard because we're going to tie this in finally? 

Bleach TYBW E38 Review: toxic friENDship

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 38: Friend

Back in the day, I didn't really care for the 'Friend' saga as it was being released. Which is a huge mistake on my part -- I didn't know how few Bleach chapters we were going to have left, so having focus on Bazz-B (who, as a hot-blooded fighty-fight punk, wasn't a character I found particularly interesting -- which ironically led me to glaze through this arc, which did make him interesting) and Haschwalth (who had nothing interesting to him beyond being ominous) instead of all the other cool characters felt a bit weird. Now? Now I realize just how underdeveloped and how hungry for screentime the Sternritter are as a villainous organization, and how much "Friend" really helped to flesh out a lot of the internal drama within the Sternritter faction. 

But more importantly? More importantly, now it's a bit more clear to me that Bazz-B and Haschwalth's relationship, where they are fighting to the death despite being friends before, with a betrayal thrown in the midst of their relationship for good measure... it's meant to be a parallel to Ichigo and Uryu's far healthier relationship. Sure, Ichigo and Uryu are both fighting each other, and there is also a fair chunk of betrayals and hidden loyalties hidden between them... but it's nowhere as dysfunctional as Bazz-B and Haschwalth's, which ended up in tragedy. Admittedly, why I didn't realize this until my reread of Bleach years after its end was because 'Friend' was separated from the Ichigo/Uryu conflict by multiple chapters; and unlike the anime, Manga!Uryu was so passive in the background and didn't get the chance to shine, making the comparisons a bit harder to draw. 

Anyway, let's go through the episode! "Friend" starts with an ambiguous part of the world several decades before the start of the first battle against the Soul Society, in an area in the middle ages populated by Quincy tribes. It's... it's just the setting, go along with it. A young Jugram Haschwalth is just a kid in the forest, who tries and fails to kill a rabbit with a wooden bow and arrow. However, the rabbit is killed by a Quincy's holy arrow, a Heilig Pfeil, shot by a young Bazz-B with his Quincy crossbow as he hops down from the trees. Bazz-B criticizes Haschwalth's poor shooting, and the two kind of get into hijinks as Bazz-B goes "the Great Bazz does not need to identify himself!"

We then cut to the present, following after the post-credits scene of episode 36. Haschwalth asks Bazz-B what he is doing in Wahrwelt, while Bazz-B is pissed because the question Haschwalth is asking should be "how is he alive"? The two begin a confrontation, which starts off with a very smooth sequence of Bazz-B about to burn Haschwalth's collar, but he spins around his cloak to trap and block Bazz-B, before ramming the handle of his sword towards the trapped Bazz-B... but Bazz-B grabs the handle to unleash a Burner Finger One through the cloak. We get a really cool effect of the finger burning away the cloth, firing and tearing a path through the dark sky.

Haschwalth expresses some surprise that Bazz-B's injuries came from Auswahlen, and Bazz-B rants that all the Sternritters left behind were wiped out by Auswahlen. Haschwalth attempts to apologize, before pointing out that this is a conversation that goes nowhere because Bazz-B is never going to believe him if he said that he didn't know about it in advance. Which... I don't think the manga ever confirms either way, but Haschwalth does have limited access to the Almighty powers, which I suppose means that he probably knew and did nothing about it.

Bazz-B then addresses Haschwalth as "Jugo", and yells at Haschwalth to call him as "Bazz" -- just like when they were kids. As Bazz-B unleashes Burner Finger Two, Haschwalth unsheathes his blade and prepares for battle. After a brief flashback of Bazz-B witnessing his childhood home burn down under Juhabach's blue flames (is that where 'the Heat' came from? Interesting!), Bazz-B attacks. We get a really cool sequence as Bazz-B slashes around with Burner Finger Two, and Haschwalth avoids Bazz-B's attacks by running up a wall, across the ceiling and then down another wall to launch a counterattack slash at Bazz-B. 

However, Bazz-B points out that it's almost nighttime, and this is Bazz-B's chance to kill Haschwalth and Juhabach's The Almighty powers once it gets transferred to his former friend. (Which... I've always found the fact that Juhabach has powers that flip-flop between him and his second-in-command to be a bit of a random revelation, but I don't think it's as huge of an asspull as the Shinken Hakkyoken or Still Silver; since at least we've had foreshadowing that Haschwalth is really weird. We'll discuss this a bit more in cour four when we have more Haschwalth content).  

We cut back to the past with young Bazz and young Haschwalth. The two kind of bond because Bazz just kind of... decided to follow Haschwalth around under the guise of 'you're too weak to catch anything yourself'. We learn later on that Bazz is the heir of House Black, a local royal family, and he just plain don't know how to properly interact with kids his age. Haschwalth admits that, yeah, he is kind of pathetic because he can't make a Heilig Bogen. Young Bazz tries his best to explain that he is actually quite gifted, since kids his age can't make Heilig Bogens, let alone a unique construct like his crossbow. 

After telling Bazz that he doesn't have friends to compare to, young Haschwalth then asks Bazz not to call him "Jugo" because that's what his uncle calls him and he doesn't like that. Haschwalth then grabs his arms, which are covered in bruises, before being evasive and saying that he really needs to bring a rabbit home. I don't think Bazz actually knows the degree of what young Haschwalth must be suffering through, but he realizes enough to chuck the rabbit at Haschwalth and gives some excuse about how he's "hunting to prove how good he is" instead of for actual food. Haschwalth then rips off a button with a B from his cape, and flicks it over to Haschwalth, 'adopting' him as his underling. 

(The anime actually adds a couple of scenes showing this button on present-day Haschwalth, which is very nice). 

As little Bazz scampers off with all the energy that only hotheads can muster, Haschwalth's very creepy uncle show up and start muttering about how much trouble Jugo is going to be for going so deep into the forest. In typical abusive dialogue, the uncle gaslights him and talks about how Jugo can't do anything without him, and while the pedophilic undertones were always there in the manga, the anime makes it much worse by having the scene cut to Haschwalth's very dead eyes while the uncle's voice trails off into a singsong "my sweet Jugo". Yyyyeah. 

We cut back to the present day where Bazz-B is pissed that the name of the Quincies' castle got changed from 'Silbern' to 'Wahrwelt' with no real reason, before being frustrated because he just knows that Haschwalth will refuse to answer his questions as always. Predictably, Haschwalth does exactly that, changing the topic of the discussion and asking Bazz-B to take the battle outside to avoid damage to His Majesty's castle. Bazz-B gets pissed and unleashes Burner Finger Three, creating tongues of flame that surge towards Haschwalth and swirling around him like a vise. Haschwalth blocks them with his sword and some kind of shield, but the flames seemingly consume him as Bazz-B draws his Quincy crossbow seemingly for the kill.

We cut back to the past, and it's six months after the kids' meeting. This is a scene added entirely for the anime, which really does highlight Juhabach's hypocrisy and depravity. We see Bazz-B and a woman we can assume to be his mother looking from the room of their castle as Juhabach's soldiers sack it. We get to see the older members of Juhabach's Lichtreich murder all of the people in Castle Black, with all their unique weaponry... and Nikita Deslock just turns around and snipes the shit out of Bazz-B's mother, blowing her head up.

As Bazz-B screams in horror, we get the ominous scene of Juhabach manifesting a gigantic Sankt Bogen in the air above the castle -- which is a move he used against Ichigo -- and unleashes it downwards towards the castle. It's such an imposing thing to see from the far shot that the anime gives to us, showing the sheer power of Juhabach as he essentially executes an entire castle. Poor little Bazz-B, surrounded by nothing but dust and blood, watches with hatred as Juhabach and his four generals ride out from the wreckage of his family. 

On the next day, Haschwalth finds Bazz-B in the ruins of his castle, and we get to see them sort through the wreckage. In a nice anime-original detail, it's revealed that Haschwalth picks up his sword from Castle Black. Bazz-B gives some exposition, noting that Juhabach is a powerful monster that wields strange powers and controls the 'northern territories' by wiping out other rival factions, and that there are strange rumours that he is 200 years old and the Father of Quincies. Haschwalth claims that his uncle died in the fire when the forest he lived in burned down, which... not a painful enough death for creepy uncle, but there you go. 

Bazz-B tells Haschwalth that they are going to go train up and kill Juhabach, and the two young boys go off to do just that. At some point, the plan became to get close to Juhabach so that they can kill him. As they grow older, Haschwalth expresses doubt that he can be of help since he's a dud of a Quincy, but Bazz-B decides to train him. Five years pass, and we get a montage of the two trying to hone their skills... but Haschwalth still can't do any basic Quincy stuff. We get a scene of Bazz-B lurking as he sees Haschwalth trying to train with his sword the best that he could. There is a very well-animated shot of Bazz-B coming out of a tent during the winter to see Haschwalth practicing with his sword at the dead hours of the morning.

And it's an interesting thing because it's mostly Bazz-B's monologue here. Bazz-B is proud of his growth, but he also has to admit that Haschwalth is kind of hopeless in terms of learning Quincy skills. While he's more liability than asset, whether it's pity or loyalty, Bazz-B couldn't bear to cut Haschwalth off. It's... it's a bit of a somber and pragmatic-laced observation. 

While this is also going on, we get to see a discussion of Juhabach with one of his lieutenants at the time, Seydlitz. Seydlitz is confused because there's nowhere else to conquer within the Lichtreich, but Juhabach makes it clear that his target is... the Soul Society, and that the new combat unit is going to be called the Sternritter. 

This is where the paths of the two young men cross, as the four Lichtreich commanders arrive on a nearby village. Huburt gives a proclamation that a new combat unit called the Sternritter will be formed to invade the Soul Society, for the glory of the Quincies. So... again, the implication is that these are Quincy villages where most people are familiar with a lot of the spiritual world. Of course, we don't dwell on this too much because the focus is still on Bazz-B and Haschwalth. 

Being the hotheaded type, Bazz-B charges in and interrupts the Lichtreich commanders, and asks to be enlisted into the Sternritter. Huburt scoffs dismissively and plans to depart, but Bazz-B spooks his horse with his reishi crossbow, goading Huburt into confronting him. Throughout all of this, it's notable that Haschwalth keeps trying to stop Bazz-B and keeps trying to tell him that the wisest course of action is to infiltrate the Sternritter during the actual recruitment session... but Bazz-B just ignores him. 

Huburt draws his blade and denounces Bazz-B as a monkey, but Bazz-B counters that his friends will have to go back to Juhabach and report that he was killed by a monkey. However, before a fight can properly break out, Bazz-B and all of the villagers are slammed down by immense, overwhelming spiritual pressure. Great visual effects here for sure. Huburt kneels and apologizes to Juhabach for being driven to anger by a mere child... but Juhabach makes the proclamation that he is here to collect the person that will be his 'second in command'. 

And Bazz-B mentally declares that he is this super-talented second-in-command, that he's the one that Juhabach is looking for, that Juhabach will pick him for his talents, that he will get close to Juhabach and get his sweet sweet revenge. We get a scene where Bazz-B is able to stand up from the sheer immense pressure that Juhabach is unleashing upon him... but as Bazz-B stands up, Juhabach ignores him completely and focuses on Jugram Haschwalth, calling him by name and identifying him as his 'other half'. To the confusion of every single person present, Juhabach says that Haschwalth will come with him as his advisor. 

And internally? Internally, Haschwalth is elated. Because after all, wasn't this what he and Bazz have been working so hard for? Haschwalth looks to see Bazz-B on how to proceed, or for affirmation, or for something. But this is a really great scene because what Haschwalth saw on Bazz-B's face is not any kind of support that their plan is progressing, or even pride for his friend for being acknowledged. No. There is nothing but pure hatred in Bazz-B's glare. Envy, jealousy, disbelief. An amazingly drawn panel drawn by Kubo in the manga, and translated very well here. 

Because for Bazz-B, as we learn in his monologue... even if one of them would be chosen for talent, it should be him. Haschwalth silently pleads with Bazz-B not to look at him like this, not understanding why his friend is angry with him. 

Haschwalth even speaks up, and you can tell this isn't an easy thing for the meek young man to do. He asks if there has been a mistake -- much to the anger of Huburt because how dare anyone suggest His Majesty made a mistake -- and Haschwalth points out that he is talentless, while Bazz-B is a genius that would be a better fit of being Juhabach's advisor. Bazz-B, instead of being glad or grateful in any way, gets even more pissed that Haschwalth is essentially taking pity on him. 

However, Juhabach gets off his horse and explains that Haschwalth is not aware of his own awesome power... because a Quincy without the ability to create Heilig Bogens is born every 200 years, but that's not because they are powerless, but rather because their power is different -- it's the ability to share powers. The last Quincy to be born like this? Juhabach himself. Juhabach then turns around and reveals that Haschwalth is unconsciously giving power to other Quincies, and actually turns to face Bazz-B, revealing that Bazz-B's extremely rapid and 'genius' growth was because he was training in close proximity to Haschwalth. 

(Which, by the way, is partially bullshit because we saw Bazz-B already being super-talented as a kid when he's running around with a Quincy bow shooting rabbits. But we know Juhabach is a bit of a gaslighter himself.)

But it also puts things into perspective, because one of the pillars of Bazz-B's existence, the sheer pride he puts into his amazing talent and rapid growth in comparison to the talentless Haschwalth, is not because he's special but because Haschwalth is. 

While all of this is going on, while Haschwalth is being told how special he is by Juhabach and while Bazz-B is doing nothing but glare at him in hatred, Juhabach tells Haschwalth how he "needs" him at his side. This, by the way, has been identified by many people as tying into Haschwalth's history of being an abuse victim, and how he latched on to Juhabach as essentially a 'provider' of sorts. 

We get a lot of great visuals of Bazz-B trying to process all of this with his eyes wide open, and a shot of a dark void with Juhabach and Haschwalth standing on one side, and Bazz-B on the other end... with Haschwalth having this very cold expression on his face. It's not clear to me -- and kept ambiguous on purpose, I think -- how much Haschwalth has decided to essentially abandon Bazz at this point. But in Bazz's head, the 'treachery' is done. He screams in anger, summons his Quincy bow and fires an arrow at Juhabach... only for Haschwalth to stoically, with a dead expression on his face, jump in the way and catch the arrow before it hits Juhabach. 

This cuts beautifully to the present day as Haschwalth also catches an arrow that Bazz-B fires in an identical pose. Haschwalth slashes at Bazz-B, knocking him backwards and causing him to crash through a wall. Haschwalth tries to say that Sternritter infighting does not benefit Juhabach, but Bazz-B yells that he doesn't give a shit because he's here to kill Juhabach, summoning Burner Finger Four and creating a gigantic blade of flame around his arm. Haschwalth finally shows emotion for the first time in the present day, yelling at  'Bazzard Black' to stop.

Bazz-B doesn't, of course, and even in his wounded state, his giant fire blade is able to cleave a gigantic pillar. Haschwalth can run around Bazz-B and he has spent almost the entire fight dodging and blocking other than that one slash. Bazz-B asks Haschwalth why he keeps running away from the fight, and if he's scared of losing to him. 

And we cut away to a different time in the past, a bit later after their confrontation with Juhabach. Apparently, Juhabach and his lieutenants didn't kill young Bazz, and he grew up to an adult. At some point, Bazz-B worked his way into the Sternritter, and one of his first acts is to fire arrows to provoke Haschwalth to a fight. Haschwalth, however, doesn't rise to the bait, only giving some vague warning that infighting among the Sternritter is punishable and he has no intention of fighting. We get a montage of various seasons and years as Bazz-B keeps trying to goad Haschwalth into a fight and he keeps ignoring him. 

At one point, Huburt -- who addresses Haschwalth as Sternritter Grandmaster -- observes that he remembers Bazz-B as the 'monkey from that time', and muses if he needs to beat some manners to him. Haschwalth tells Huburt the same line -- infighting among the Sternritters will be punishable by death. Huburt dismisses this, saying that no one will be watching... but in a way of protecting Bazz-B despite his estrangement, Haschwalth coldly tells Huburt that he will be watching. 

This moment really does add a nice layer of complexity to Haschwalth. That moment during their first meeting with Juhabach was quite transformative already, but if all we had was "Haschwalth became loyal to Juhabach because Bazz-B betrayed him emotionally" it wouldn't be interesting. The revelation that Haschwalth still had loyalty to Bazz-B enough to look out for him? That brings up a bit more complexity around Haschwalth. 

We then cut to the final stages of their present-day confrontation. Bazz-B yells about how he's "not lost yet" to Haschwalth, but Haschwalth finally decides to go on the offensive. With a single strike, he cuts off Bazz-B's arm on the shoulder as he's leaping down with Burner Finger Four active. It's very fluidly animated, particularly the flame effects as the arm rockets off like an out-of-control engine and slices through a pillar in the background. The blood effects are really cool too. Bazz-B stumbles for a bit, but gets back up and uses his other hand to unleash Burning Full Fingers. Bazz's ultimate technique takes the form of a whirling five-pronged energy beam that erupts in one hell of a massive explosion. Again, extremely well animated. 

But this full-power attack fails to harm Haschwalth. For all the huge bluster of the attack, it also ends extremely abruptly as Haschwalth just rushes forwards and slashes Bazz-B down his chest, instantly cutting him down in a shower of blood. And unlike Bazz-B's taunting, Haschwalth hasn't been refusing to fight Bazz-B because he's afraid of losing. Rather, Haschwalth is likely afraid because he knows that he's the powerful one now and can kill Bazz-B very easily. Honestly, though, the episode is a bit less about their actual physical battle (it's just Bazz working up his fingers one by one until he gets two-shot by Haschwalth) but more in their emotional confrontation. 

Bazz-B stumbles up towards Haschwalth as he succumbs to his wounds, admitting that his former friend has won. He observes that things never worked out the way he wanted them to, but also admits that he didn't feel as bad as he thought he would if he ever lost to Jugo. As Bazz-B lies bleeding on the ground, Haschwalth walks up the stairs while their conversation as children plays over the background. 

And... yeah. The anime did a masterful adaptation here, and I really do think that the very flawed relationship between Haschwalth and Bazz is told extremely well both in this episode and in the original source material. Haschwalth and Bazz clearly care for each other as friends, as brothers. Even late in their life with all the animosity, there's still some bond between them. But unlike how Ichigo and Uryu would treat each other even post-betrayal, there's no real amount of communication between them. Bazz's story is tragic, yes, but he's not a particularly good and supportive friend to Haschwalth... and vice versa.

While he dupes himself into thinking that they're friends, Bazz-B views the relationship as being very unequal when the chips are on the table, and he couldn't bring himself to be happy or to cheer for Jugo's victory. Lots of little moments here and there over their backstory -- and while Ichigo and his friends may be a bit rough around the edges, their relationship is a lot healthier. And, indeed, that puts a lot of "Ishida, what the hell are you doing!" attempts at communicating into perspective. So yeah. I really do have a lot more appreciation for this fight now for sure! Great episode, well-animated, well-structured.

Random Notes:

• Not that the previous episode was bad or anything, but this episode has a very pronounced increase in quality in the present-day sequences! Particularly the first and last confrontations of the episode. I guess someone on the production staff really liked these guys!
  
• In the manga, we never see Haschwalth hold Bazz-B's button until all the way at his death scene. Here, the button is shown prominently several times throughout the episode any time the episode zooms into Haschwalth's sword. Most prominently is this shot right before Bazz-B charges in with Burner Finger Two. 
• Some bonus content in the final episode of this cour has given us the proper spellings for the four 'Schutzstaffel' of the past, including the name of the blue-haired sniper girl -- since this episode is where they're getting a bit more screentime, I'll cover them here. We've got the douchebag subcommander of the original Licht Reich, Huburt Alexander Kleich (previously 'Hubert'), the eyepatched Johann Seydlitz (previously 'Zeidritz'), the burly Algora Lallau (previously 'Argola' or 'Algora') and the sniper lady Nikita Deslock. 
  
• We've seen Huburt draw a saber in the manga, and Nikita has used her rifle in the anime before, but the sacking scene reveals that Seydlitz uses reishi pistols and Algora uses reishi hand-axes. Nikita, of course, uses her sniper rifle. That headshot of Bazz's mom is brutal. 
• The manga's version of the events of 'Friends' only has Huburt and sometimes Seydlitz show up, but the anime seem quite intent on having the four older Schutzstaffel show up as a unit.  
• I did mention it in previous episode reviews and in this one, but in the manga, 'Friend' takes place before the 'Baby Hold Your Hand' and 'The Theater Suicide' storylines, whereas the anime swaps things around. It doesn't really matter which one happens first, but this way it does really help to bring the parallel between Bazz and Haschwalth's friendship and betrayal in very stark contrast with Ichigo's confrontation with Uryu next episode. 
  
• Really love the highlighting of 'end' in the anime's title episode for 'friend'. That isn't actually from the manga, but it also feels like something that Tite Kubo would absolutely do. 
• I get why Kubo wanted to be ambiguous on where the Quincies come from geographically, and if timeline-wise it's just "several decades/years before the original invasion of the Soul Society", but it really is kind of vague where all of these Quincy kingdoms and tribes have been. I guess they're all wiped out by either the Soul Society or Juhabach's Auswahlens? 
• In the manga, there is an aborted confrontation between Bazz-B and Shinji's group that wasn't adapted into the anime. This was the first showcase of Burner Finger 3. That technique makes its debut in this episode.
• 
  It is a bit of a missed opportunity for the scene where Bazz-B joins the Sternritter to not have some cameos from some of the older Sternritter. Wouldn't it be nice to have, like, Lille Barro or Quilge Opie or some others show up in the background?
• Also, assuming that this incarnation of the Sternritters invaded the Soul Society (and since we know Huburt, Algora and Seydlitz are killed by Yamamoto's Bankai), were Haschwalth and Bazz-B also killed in that conflict? Or did they survive and just somehow 'migrate' to the Wandenreich separately? 
• So... no new Vollstandig for Bazz-B, although I suppose it's appropriate because out of all the Sternritters, he's probably the one that's going to reject Juhabach's powers the most.