Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen - Soukoku-tan BLEACH 千年血戦篇-相剋譚-

2024 fall | Episodes: 14 | Score: 8.7 (138327)

Updated every Saturdays at 23:00 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Streaming: Disney+ | Ani-One Asia | Bahamut Anime Crazy | Hulu

Synopsis

After an awe-inspiring battle with Ichibei Hyousube—leader of the Soul Society's Royal Guard—the powerful Yhwach moves into the final stage of his master plan. He aims to slay the Soul King, the being whose very existence maintains the status quo of three worlds: Hueco Mundo, the Soul Society, and the realm of humans that Ichigo Kurosaki and his closest friends hail from. Conquering his own bout with the remainder of the Royal Guard, Uryuu Ishida joins Yhwach in his efforts to create a new world in his image. With a flood of resolution and newfound power, Ichigo rushes to stop Yhwach from accomplishing his ultimate goal and save the countless lives within the three existing realms. But Ichigo has a complicated lineage, one that leaves him susceptible to Yhwach's sinister influence. Meanwhile, in a final desperate gambit, Jirou Sakuranosuke Shunsui Kyouraku, the newly promoted head captain of the Soul Society's combat corps, enlists the help of an old enemy whose immense power may turn the tide of battle. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Voice Actors

Sugiyama, Noriaki

Morita, Masakazu

News

Reviews

Makonoto
10/06/2025, 07:44 PM
Bleach has changed, changed for the worst. This is one of the worst seasons of Bleach I've ever watched. There's not a single thing good about this. The animation? puke color and too flashy. The Music? Forgettable, a serious crime because one of the best aspects of Bleach anime was the iconic music. The plot? lol. The characters? Horriblly written. The Fights? Terrible like the manga. They added new ones that are Uryu centric, but no one cares about him or his awfully defined motives. What a waste of screentime for someone so boring and useless. Who ever was in charge of this needs tobe fired. Bad fights and overly focus on stale unpopular characters is a recipe for disaster. I see why this fell down the ranks and no one is talking about it.
owidx_123
09/21/2025, 08:09 PM
Overall 8/10. Compared to the other two parts, this one felt like a bunch of battles with no ending. At times i felt myself skipping 10 seconds because of how slow paced it was and how being 'dead' wasn't the end and it really felt tedious to watch at times. I get it, it's a shounen, but the pace felt so off and the battles were just a bunch of X does this, X retialties, but wait, X has special power etc.. just a bunch of back and forth. That said, the artwork is absolutely phenomenal and so is the soundtrack. I really hope thenext part follows suit of part 1 atleast in terms of pace.
C4bs
09/15/2025, 03:19 PM
Writing and drawing manga in Japan is an extremely challenging job. With grueling schedules that border on slavery and enormous pressure from publishers to maintain their work's popularity among fans, authors face the constant risk of having their serialization canceled. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon to see manga artists suffering both physically and psychologically from these conditions. One of the most emblematic cases of this strain is that of Tite Kubo, creator of the world-famous manga Bleach. Bleach was part of the legendary "Big 3 Shounen": a trio of manga series published simultaneously in Weekly Shonen Jump, Japan's largest manga magazine, consisting of One Piece (1997-), Naruto(1999-2017), and Bleach (2001-2016). During the 2000s, these works dominated sales in the country, forever impacting the entertainment industry with both their astronomical numbers and their immense popularity. However, in the final years of publication, Kubo-sensei suffered from exhaustion caused by years of uninterrupted work—in total, fifteen years of weekly publication with almost no breaks—resulting in various illnesses and pains that directly affected the quality of his work. As a result, Bleach's popularity declined drastically, also affecting its anime adaptation, which was halted indefinitely in 2012. For years, Bleach was the only anime of the "Big 3 Shounen" series without a full manga adaptation, leaving countless fans disappointed at not being able to see the final arc in an animated version. However, in November 2021, Studio Pierrot—responsible for producing the anime until its hiatus—announced the return of the anime to finally adapt the manga's extensive final arc. The new adaptation, titled Thousand-Year Blood War, surprised audiences with its technical quality in practically every aspect. With fluid direction, stylish animation, and an epic soundtrack, the new production proved its worth, becoming yet another example of how animation studios are treating already established anime with great care. Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict, the third of four seasons adapting the final arc, begins with the aftermath of the battle between Ichibei Hyosube, leader of the Soul Society Royal Guard, and the King of the Quincy, Yhwach. After defeating the powerful shinigami, Yhwach advances to the final stage of his plan: to kill the Soul King, the being whose existence maintains the balance between the three worlds—Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, and the human world. And to thwart his plans, Ichigo Kurosaki, now with a newfound power, sets out to confront him and save countless lives. As mentioned, the new seasons of Bleach boast a technical excellence that few studios can match these days. And this quality continues impeccably in the third season. If you've already watched the previous two installments—which, presumably, is the case if you're reading this review—you can expect the same excellence in The Conflict. However, in my initial reviews of the initial episodes, I realized that the season's biggest weakness might be the script, the same problem that made me abandon the manga years ago. As the episodes were released, even with the grandeur of the production, the narrative flaws became increasingly evident and bothersome. These problems already existed in previous seasons, but now they're harder to ignore. At various points, the plot seems to mistime events. When it needs to move forward, the characters pause for excessive dialogue—often resulting in clichéd and even comical scenes. However, in moments that require more detailed explanations, the story accelerates, leaving important questions open. Bleach has always flirted with philosophical themes and a poetic approach, providing moments of reflection, but these elements aren't always well-applied to the narrative's pacing. Furthermore, there are plot holes and forced solutions, especially when they serve only to conveniently get the characters out of complicated situations. Another aspect that has always bothered me about Bleach, not just in Thousand-Year Blood War but throughout the series, is the "magic" system. Perhaps it's my own limitation, having not fully grasped the initial explanations, but the impression I get is that this system doesn't follow strict rules. In the end, the resolutions seem to depend more on Tite Kubo's momentary imagination than on a set of previously established norms. These inconsistencies in the script leave me worried about the story's outcome. The antagonists have reached such an absurd level of power that I'm not sure if the solutions presented will be convincing enough to feel like a victory for the protagonists and not just a narrative convenience. I haven't read the manga's ending, but Tite Kubo himself has already announced that there will be significant changes in the final season. Perhaps this will help address the issue and ensure a satisfying conclusion for the audience, without it feeling like a mere "Deus Ex Machina"—something that has happened countless times in the anime's previous arcs. Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict maintains the impressive technical quality of previous seasons, but suffers from a lack of script and, at times, from the pacing. The feeling of stagnation is real, as the plot often focuses on uninvolving plot threads, making the narrative progress slower than it should. Many characters end the season almost where they began, which may frustrate those hoping for a more dynamic progression. Despite my concerns, I believe the anime's future is promising. The changes promised by Tite Kubo could lead to a more coherent and impactful ending. And ultimately, it will be interesting to see, after more than twenty years, the definitive conclusion of the animated adaptation of one of the greatest mangas of all time.
Nomaed
06/08/2025, 02:39 AM
Remember when you were a kid, you watched a few epic shows, and then would constantly come up with "cool" ideas about epic characters and epic fights? Now you've grown up and when you look back on your younger self and those ideas you had, you cringe and try to find something to distract yourself just to forget about this and hope that nothing triggers you to recall those memories again. Unfortunately, at some point, Kubo Tite reverted to the state of this kid with "cool" ideas, resulting in this abomination. It is exactly that: "epic" characters engaging in "epic" fights where nothing makes sense andthe outcome is decided by whatever comes to Kubo's mind. If I were to summarize the events of the "Trillion Years Unforgivable Endless Painful Reminiscence Battle", it would be as follows: Yuhabaha: "Ichigo, thank you. Without you, I would not have achieved my goal!" Ichigo: "What, what do you mean?" Yuhabaha: "You are a sinigami, a quincy, a hollow, a weizard, a human. And more importantly, you are a wizard, Harry, I mean, Ichigo. I needed the power of all to open the portal to the real where sense doesn't make sense. The last season!" Ichigo: "Impossible. That can't be true." Yuhabaha: "Yes, it can. You didn't know that, but that dog that you gave a piece of bread to after the sixth lesson you had on the sixth day after your sixth birthday had exactly 666 hairs. Did you think it didn't have that much fur for no reason? It was all a part of the sequence of the gate activation!" Ichigo: "NO!" Yuhabaha: "Yes! Even that time you spent on the sixth of June, which is the sixth month, of 2006, pleasuring yourself for exactly 666 seconds, was a requirement to open the gate." Ichigo: "No, you are lying! That doesn't make any sense!" Yuhabaha: "Precisely! Off we go, Hashuwarudo, my trustworthy right hand, whose family I have slaughtered mercilessly but who still follows me but maybe still plans on betraying me after having so many opportunities to kill me, and Ishida Uryu, who is totally not planning on betraying me." Before leaving, Isida turns and looks at Ichigo. Isida: "Ichigo." Ichigo: "Isida, you..." Isida: "I HATE SINIGAMI!" Later, that very same minute: Ichigo: "This guy is just a quincy, he can absorb the soul energy from all around him to replenish his reisi, but we have destroyed everything, so he's done!" Villainous minion whose name does not matter and who is completely forgettable (VMWNDMMAWISF): "HAHAHAHAHA! You are a fool, Ichigo! Behold my true power: the instant defeat!" Ichigo: "What? Impossible! How can you do that with your reisi, which has been an established concept throughout the series?" VMWNDMMAWISF: "Have you forgotten where we are, Ichigo? This is the realm where nothing makes sense! KIYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Random Ichigo's sidekick places his hand on Ichigo's shoulder in reassurance. Rando: "Don't worry, Ichigo. Go, I will deal with him." Ichigo: "What? Have you lost your mind? He can summon an instant defeat!" Rando: "Yes, he can. But can he defeat every of the one million techniques that I have acquired?" Ichigo: "A million techniques?.. Wait! Don't tell me that during the five minutes break that you took to pee, you managed to finally master the one million techniques technique! IDIOT! YOU WERE MAKING A FOOL OF ME THIS WHOLE TIME! AND EVEN WHEN WE WERE FIGHTING THAT GUY YOU KNEW WE WOULD WIN CAUSE YOU COULD HAVE USED YOUR TECHNIQUE!" *funny_face.jpg* *laugh_track.mp3* Ichigo smirks with a confident look. Ichigo: "Yes, I trust you." Ichigo and company leaves. A few moments later... VMWNDMMAWISF: "KIYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! So much for a million techniques! Are you an idiot? Did you not hear the name of my ability? What does it matter how many techniques you have if I can use my ability to defeat you? KIYAHAHAHAHA! You are such an idiot! And all your friends are idiots! And even your relatives are idiots! Have you been doing it on purpose? Did you surround yourself with idiots on purpose? Or did you surround yourself with idiots because you are an idiot?" Rando: "You managed to defeat all of my million techniques. What a shame. It would be the end for me if I had only one million techniques..." VMWNDMMAWISF: "Nani?" Rando: "Talking about being an idiot. It seems you didn't hear the name of my technique." VMWNDMMAWISF: "Only the deaf couldn't hear it. It's one million techniques." Rando: "No. It is One Million Techniques TECHNIQUE." VMWNDMMAWISF: "That just means that your technique consits of one million techniques, you idiot! What does it matter?" Rando: "No, it means that my technique that I have only one technique, which consits of one million sub-techniques. And because you have used your ability to defeat my sub-techinues, makes it a sub-ability, and you will not be able to use it to defeat my tehcnique!" VMWNDMMAWISF: "No, that is impossible. You are just a shinigami, who uses reyatsu, the soul energy, the concept of which has been established throughout the series. What you tell defies all logic, it doesn't—" Rando: "Make any sense?" VMWNDMMAWISF: "No, no, you couldn't." Rando: "Now, witness my true technique: UNO REVERSO!" VMWNDMMAWISF: "That's even not the name of you techinue!" Rando: "You are indeed an idiot! NOTHING MAKES SENSE IN THE LAST SEASON!" VMWNDMMAWISF: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" *dies* To be continued...
_Bubassotto_
05/23/2025, 10:20 AM
A sequel that really has the sauce! The anime that brought back one of the greatest Shounen of all time and did not disappoint at all. I read the manga a long time ago but it is clear that this anime adaptation is a thousand times better than its manga version, the animation is impeccable, fluid and with beautiful lines, even the scenery has become a beautiful thing to see. Although it has been a while since I watched this season, I can clearly remember the sound quality present in this season. Bleach has always been impressive in its sound effects and here in this seasonit is equal, simply majestic to hear the characters activating their Quincy abilities and their Bankais. Finally, I gave it a score of 8 because it is simply wonderful to watch this, I strongly recommend it to those who like Shounen, I just don't give it a higher score because Bleach still maintains that distressing problem for me of the characters floating in the air for no reason at all. =================================================================================================================Versão em Português===================================== Uma sequência que tem o molho de fato! O anime que trouxe de volta um dos maiores Shounen de todos os tempos e não decepcionou em nada. Li o mangá a um bom tempo atras mas é nítido que essa adaptação em anime esta mil vezes superior à sua versão em mangá, a animação está impecável, fluida e com um traço lindo, até o cenário se tornou uma coisa linda de se ver. Apesar de fazer um certo tempo que vi essa temporada eu consigo lembrar nitidamente da qualidade sonora presente nessa temporada, Bleach sempre foi impressionante em seus efeitos sonoros e aqui nessa temporada isso se iguala, simplesmente majestoso de ouvir os personagens ativando suas habilidades Quincy e suas Bankais. Por fim dei uma nota 8 pois é simplesmente maravilhoso de assistir isso, recomendo fortemente para quem gosta de Shounen, só não dou uma nota maior pois Bleach ainda mantem aquele problema angustiante para mim que é os personagens flutuarem no ar sem justificativa nenhuma.
TheGreatAnimeGuy
05/16/2025, 10:50 PM
It was nice and the animation was good but the storyline seems a bit lengthy but overall it is good :) I recommend watching this anime. The story is unique and there are a lot of twists and the series seems like non ending fantasy , but there are a lot of unnecessary elements also but it is nice and it`s definitely a masterpiece. If you are watching this series then I think you enjoy it. The series is mostly fictional and and the characters are depicted very well. They creators have put a lot of efforts into the making of the series looking forward for the 4thpart of the thousand year blood war arc.
Autonomia
04/22/2025, 08:43 PM
Thousand year blood war made me bored even though it's filled to the brim with battles and events. Because every single time it's like that: look these guys are super super strong but their opponent now unlocks or reveals powerup and then these guys: oh we actually have powerup too, and it just continues oh... (no it's not "because it's shonen", i've watched a lot of shonen and it's never been this bad). It's such a cheap suspense, at some point i just couldn't care about battles anymore, in the end good guys are gonna win - that's all i need to know. The amount ofpower explaining mid-fight is very high as well. Power creep is a problem, some enemies have absolutely ridiculous power that can only be countered by some other very bullshit specific power. Villain faction came out of nowhere(not even ounce of foreshadowing), and all of them are super strong just because plot needs fights. Trash villain. He wants to bring back old order but the thing is - we don't know anything about old order of things, so why exactly is he doing whatever he's doing? Location - third cour is happening mostly in quincy city which looks ugly as hell, no even worse, it's colorless, same and bland at every point. I was excited to see where the story goes in the 1st and 2nd cour. I wasn't impressed much by plot reveals, but in 3rd cour there is nothing even left to reveal or show, now it's just overpowered main villain and whatever garbage good guys come up with to defeat him.
Justykanna
02/10/2025, 09:59 PM
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict is part 3 of the four-part series for the Bleach sequel, and it's still amazing. Story & Characters: There's really not a ton to expand upon with the story, and, given the landscape that we already have, that's perfectly fine. Ichigo and friends finally make it to the castle where Yhwach is standing by, and the entirely of the Soul Society needs to find a way to stop him - by any means necessary. Something that often gets expanded upon with new characters in a final season are more backstories. That's something that happens once again with afew of the Sternritter and while the stories, particularly with Bazz-B. While these tales are solid on their own, inserting them into the main story really breaks the continuity and pacing of the series. It's so hard to implement well, as something like Demon Slayer has struggled to do this properly. I'm mostly okay with the way Pierrot Films has gone about this because it builds something up for our characters. We even get some background story on Nanao, someone who we haven't seen much during our Bleach journey. It's unique and her weird relationship with her captain makes a lot more sense now. Some characters from the past return, affecting the story in different ways. It's a bit of a mixed bag, but it never really feels like they're totally there for a reason, outside of "save the world". It's fine, but nothing mindblowing. Fight sequences, however, bring no indecisiveness to what's going on, and while we did get a bit too simple with some fights, there's no question that they're flashy, and display just how strong some of our cast members are. We obviously haven't seen everyone at full power yet, and that leaves us with more to chew on when the final season airs. (Story: 8/10, Characters: 9/10) Art: Animation remains consistent throughout the season for the most part. This is the studio that also did Naruto, and I was expected some amount of lower quality at some point because of their history. I'm happy to report that the series looks solid. (9/10) Sound: Monochrome, the ED by suisoh, was probably my favourite tune this time around. I wasn't too high on the OP though. Voice work remains strong, with more returnees from the first series bringing in strong work, including Lucien Dodge (Yukio), Cristina Vee (Riruka) and David Vincent (Grimmjow). Terrance Stone (Mayuri) might've put together my fabourite performance this time around though. (9/10) Overall: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict remains strong, even if it's still not as good as the first season. There's tons of action, plenty of story weaved in throughout and we can tell we're finally building up to the final showdown. I'm very excited, as should each and every other Bleach fan out there. (9/10)
KENKAIYT
01/25/2025, 06:34 PM
Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen - Soukoku-tan is the best of the Thousand Year Blood War anime so far. Visuals - This cour is easily the most visually impressive for this anime so far. The animation quality is excellent and rarely dips. Still frames, weird compositing, and bad cgi are present but are infrequent and brief. More talented staff has been added to the series which allows for clean and fluid animation to be present far more often than before in this anime. Soundtrack - Bleach is well known for having awesome music. This is still the case for cour 3. The old and new songs created byShiro Sagisu are great. The main problems for the soundtrack in this cour is that songs that have been used frequently in prior cours are used fairly often and as a manga reader, some songs did not fit my expectations for certain scenes as I felt a different emotion reading the manga than the emotion trying to be conveyed from the music by the studio pierrot staff. The reuse of music problem is also exacerbated by the fact that Shiro Sagisu has made a huge catalogue of music for the Bleach IP but very few are being used. Though I do not think these issues is enough to ruin the experience. Story - The story is fairly consistent and takes it's time in comparison to prior cours adapting less chapters from the manga. The plot is generally coherent, lacking plot holes or stupid decisions made by characters (mostly). Characters - The characters are still written consistently with more development is being offered to old and new characters. The added content for this anime is probably the most unique aspect since the staff adds so much with the mangaka, Tite Kubo being a part of staff as a general supervisor. The added content mostly serves to benefit the series, with very few either not doing anything to the series, or hurting the series. This cour is very well made with some minor setbacks. tl;dr The visuals are mostly excellent, the soundtrack is mostly good, the story is still mostly coherent, and the characters haven't been tarnished.
ecktt
01/03/2025, 02:04 PM
TLDR: It took me 15 years to realise how much shit Bleach really is. For a series that started off fair enough; the power creep, contrived story, inexplicable superpowers and vintage anime "I will defeat you with will power" nonsense has finally caught up to the good animation; it is terrible. Or maybe I was naive, and it was always a pig with lipstick. Was Nelliel running around with those 2 idiots not enough to warn me this show failed at trying to be funny, while being serious? Did the horny teddy bear synthetic soul not signal the incoming stupidity? Was Kenpachi and his lolicon sidekicknot a red flag? Was everyone strangely idiotic Bankai not a giveaway? I could go on but that would be a retelling of the entire show. The world building created a mess of chaotic themed factions with the mechanics of a rotary engine. Great at 10000 rpm but utter shit everywhere else. If you ask the typical Bleach fan what they like; it is all about the fights and nothing to do with the stapled-on story with weak characters. So, who really is Bleach for? The only thing I can think of is, adults with the mindset of a 12-year-old, unless you're okay with actual 12-year-olds getting a healthy serving of Matsumoto fan service.
Winnah_Daniels
12/30/2024, 08:32 AM
I love the fact that they brought this show back with such a high attention to detail. If you're a Bleach fan, you simply must watch this. You get to spend extra time with many of the characters that you'll forgot you missed. I think if you have not seen the original series, you will love the art, and fights, but you will be lost in the story. I recommend catching up on Bleach even via a recap before getting into this show. It does not try too hard to explain itself and just takes you through the story quickly. The art is sublime. There'sa darkness and realness to it. Very crisp animations even during movement and complicated battle exchanges. The still shots are screenshotable, and the short bursts of fighting are more than worthy of an anime amv. The story is what it is. Not too many crazy twists and turns outside of the standard battle shonen "he lost...but he was concealing some power" trope. The combination of nostalgia, beautiful art, and great fights almost makes this a 10 for me. The fact that they broke one season up into FOUR parts (with part 3 just ending and no release date for part 4) brings it down to a 9
lucjan
12/30/2024, 08:21 AM
Season 3 of the Thousand Year Blood War is the arc at its strongest so far. With every episode, the intensity builds. The anime heavily rearranges the manga, piecemealing pages and sometimes small moments from different chapters. The result is a far tighter adaptation. To add the cherry on top, the anime was given a longer production time, providing a more immersive experience. So we have a tighter adaptation with improved production. If you’re this far into the series, I have to hope you’re a Bleach fan. This is Bleach at its best. When most people think of a good series, they don’t immediately nerdout on the production quality – the music, animation, and art. The story and the characters are always the drivers in any vehicle, and while Bleach isn’t high-literature, it’s deeper than you would think at first glance. There is a heavy emphasis on lore within this arc – exposition set deep in the past. Unfortunately time is of the essence here and a lot of the lore is undeveloped. There is a lot of it, but they’re like half-popped or even mostly unpopped kernels of popcorn – the flavor is there, but the depth isn’t. For example, in episode 7 of the TYBW (season 1, so I’m backtracking a bit, but the example still holds) we, the audience, receive a flashback to the original blood war between the Quincy and the Shinigami. This was more than we received in the source material so it was a welcome addition; but, it barely provides anything. It still lacks context. A more recent example, one that takes place in cour 3, is Bazz-B’s past. While the anime conveys his history succinctly and beautifully, it’s difficult to invest yourself in a character’s plight with less than one episode of exposition. That doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate what we do have but it’s that love for Bleach that leaves you wanting more. Despite the breakneck pace, some of the cast shine brighter in this arc than in previous arcs. Shunsui and Mayuri both receive huge slats of time dedicated to who they are and why they act the way they do. Both characters are given ample time on stage and their battles aren’t abbreviated like many of the TYBW’s prior ones. While Starrk vs Shunsui span more episodes than Shunsui’s battle in cour 3, we learn more about Shunsui in his battle here than we did when he fought Starrk. Uryu, too, has received an enormous amount of characterization throughout the arc. In the source material, Uryu’s motivation and participation was mostly absent, whereas the anime provides a much stronger role for his character. Unlike the previous 2 cours, cour 3 has rearranged the events from the source material to provide characters like Uryu the opportunity to more heavily stake their place in the story. Lastly, we need to discuss the production: The art, animation, and score. Cour 3 has knocked all 3 out of the park. Other than episode 8, which has some wonky CGI, I have been very satisfied with the production. The art is incredible. Every frame looks like a painting, with episode 12 looking like it was ripped straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. The environments are lush, detailed, and vibrant. The animation is fluid, intermixed with beautifully crafted choreography and large sweeping camera arcs. Dynamic camera angles truly shine in episode 7 during Renji’s anime-original fight. Paired with the amazing soundtrack, every battle feels emotional. Episode 11’s brand new song when trompete is charging is beautiful. If you’ve made it to cour 3, you’re either a huge fan or suffering through for some reason. If you’re a fan, this review is more or less pointless. If cour 1 and 2 weren’t enough to rope you in, then cour 3 will also be a slogfest. I don’t know who this review is for but I enjoyed this season so here are my thoughts.
logic340
12/29/2024, 08:51 PM
I really wanted this cour to succeed. The promise of new anime-original content gave me some hope that it could fix the flaws of the manga’s poorly received final arc. Unfortunately, this season couldn’t escape the problems of its source material. No amount of nostalgic callbacks, solid animation, or impressive sound design could save it. This feels like one of the most overhyped anime in recent memory. That being said, if you’re a fan of Bleach like I am, I still recommend giving it a watch—but go in with lowered expectations, or you’re bound to be disappointed. Story/Plot: 4/10 The plot is where this cour falls apart.Just like in the manga, the story feels barebones and poorly constructed. Many characters are shoved into the narrative not because they serve a purpose, but because their presence panders to fans. It’s bloated, overcrowded, and detracts from moments that could have been better fleshed out. There’s a severe lack of stakes throughout this cour. Weak characters like Chad and Orihime somehow survive impossible situations because they’re fan favorites, but it’s completely unrealistic given the circumstances. This leads to a lot of plot conveniences and fake-out deaths that kill any tension. By this point, the trope feels tired and predictable. Ichigo, Renji, Lille—so many moments could’ve had lasting emotional impact but instead feel cheap and meaningless. Animation: 7/10 While the animation started off strong, it quickly revealed its limitations. Initially, I was impressed, but as the cour progressed, I noticed more still panels and an overreliance on DBZ-style explosions rather than meaningful choreography. The battles lack creativity, and the muted color palette throughout the season gave the visuals a dull, lifeless look.There were a few standout shots, but some of the most hyped scenes didn’t even match the quality of the original series. For a series with such high expectations, this season's animation felt overhyped overall. Characters: 6/10 When I say everyone is back, I mean everyone. The Vizards, the Arrancars, Nel, Grimmjow, Kira—the list goes on. While it’s nice to see so many familiar faces, the sheer number of returning characters completely derails the narrative. Most of them have no meaningful role and are just there to please fans. It’s frustrating to see characters like Nel and Grimmjow brought back only to do almost nothing. Chad and Orihime are present all season but contribute absolutely nothing of substance. Instead of developing key players or focusing on meaningful relationships, we get a “greatest hits” montage of cameos that detracts from the story’s flow. It felt like an old Oprah episode: “You get a cameo! And you get a cameo!” Sound: 8/10 There is not a lot to say here it's Bleach we know what to expect from the sound design. The opening and ending themes didn’t do much for me, but the OST was solid. The nostalgic tracks from the original series were a highlight, and they did a great job of setting the tone for some scenes. However, even great sound design couldn’t save the season from its narrative shortcomings. Enjoyment: 5/10 My enjoyment of this cour was heavily weighed down by its overreliance on nostalgia and the fanbase’s overhyping of this arc. The execution felt sloppy, and the pacing was all over the place. Instead of focusing on the important parts of the story, the season jumped between scenes in a frantic attempt to cram too much into too little time. The humor also felt outdated, with gags interrupting serious moments and pulling me out of the immersion. Key characters weren’t given the time they deserved, and others shouldn’t have been included at all. It feels like the staff prioritized quantity over quality, which is a shame considering the potential of this arc. Final Thoughts Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Cour 3 had the potential to elevate one of the series’ weakest arcs, but it fell short in almost every way. While the sound design and occasional moments of animation were enjoyable, the barebones plot, bloated cast, and lack of stakes made it a slog to get through. If you’re a Bleach fan, it’s worth watching for the nostalgia—but keep your expectations low. This cour is a reminder that not everything can be fixed with callbacks and flashy animation. Here’s hoping the next cour delivers on the potential that this one missed.
Jay-Stevenson
12/29/2024, 03:59 PM
Bleach's Thousand Year Blood War arc had, in my opinion, a superb first cour and a bit of an underwhelming second cour. After a long wait, I was excited to see if the extra production time benefitted the season, and I also wanted to see if season 2's sacrifices ended up benefitting season 3 as many people told me it would. And it did. ==SPOILER WARNING== Bleach's third cour has so many strengths. It has - for the most part - very good animation and detail. It's new director has incorporated a ton of versatile and unique shots that add gravitas to the individual fights. It's voiceacting is, as always, superb, and its soundtrack is the best it has ever been. Most notably though, it adds a ton of new contact. We got brand new fights, none of which felt out of place or tacked on, as well as extended battles that we'd only seen brief fragments of in the manga. The additions elevate the story and help to flesh out individual character arcs. For example, Uryu's additional fight with Renji help to portray the character in a more ambiguous light, and his extended battle with Ichigo makes his perceived 'betrayal' that much more impactful because we see how well the pair understand each other. Bleach's fights fell apart for me in cour 2 but I think they've mostly recomposed themselves. For starters, it helps that there aren't too many fights, whereas the second season felt over bloated. Secondly, cour 2 fell into the issue of unexpected power up reveal followed by unexpected power up reveal which made the season feel very repetitive. That isn't really the case here. We have a lot more actual combat where the characters play around with the arsenal that is available to them and therefore when one character gets the upper hand in a fight, it feels much more earnt - for example, in the Mayuri vs Pernida fight or the Yoruichi vs Askin fight. That doesn't mean there are no deus ex-machina type moments - I'll get to that in a bit - but on the whole the fights feel stellar. The pacing of this season was well done, in my opinion, with no fights feeling prolonged to the point where it damages the viewing experience. The season's opening is stellar, with amazing animation and superb creative choices in regards to its use of colours. It's ending is also good, although its reversed version feels a bit half-baked as a concept and you can tell it doesn't fit properly. Nonetheless, both great themes. The season does a very good job at fleshing out characters with backstories. It also reveals the stories in segments, as opposed to one heavy dump, which allows the backstory and current events to run concurrently and keeps the episodes well paced. The Friends flashback sequences were very well done and I very much enjoyed how the episode switched between the past and the present to maintain good pace and action. Bleach has always been a character driven series and its character work is really something here. There's a lot of great moments between characters like Shinji and Momo, or Shunsui and Nanao. The story also progresses nicely, with some of the key villains falling, and the Soul Society going on the offensive. The change of setting is very nice and as much as I loved the red skies of the Sereitei and the dazzling blue of the Soul King Palace, I think the backdrop of darkness is the best in TYBW so far. There are some flaws with this season, however. I'll first discuss a couple things I would've liked to have seen done differently, but don't impact the score: - Bleach only introduces backstories directly before we see the pay-off of them. For example, we only see the Shunsui and Nanao flashback during the fight where it becomes relevant. It is the same with the Nemu and Mayuri flashbacks. I don't mind this, but would have liked a change of pace every now and then with some being at least partially introduced before they became integral to the plot, as I feel they would have then had more emotional impact. - I would have liked Pernida to be hand-drawn as giant Gerard was. The CGI just looked a bit weird in my opinion. - I would have liked the antithesis to have played into Renji's survival and his inclusion with the Gerard confrontation felt a bit janky. There are other issues I can't look past and ultimately pull the season down a bit. - Episode 1 begins with a lengthy recap - I think there are production reasons for this so I understand it but it does ultimately harm the viewing experience. The ending of episode 14 with Askin also felt like a weird way to end the season: it would have worked maybe partway through or in the penultimate episode but alas. - Episode 2 is not well animated and I was very surprised to see people enjoy the episode, as for me it is visually the weakest episode of all of TYBW. All detail is completely lost during the Yhwach vs Ichigo fight but this isn't replaced by good choreography or fluid animation - a lot of the fight is janky and simply comprised of different coloured lines flying around. It also was filled with awkward movements, especially the sequence with Ichigo stabbing the Soul King. This episode really hurts the overall quality of cour 3. - Nanao's sword feels just as much of an asspull in the anime as it does in the manga. It should have been foreshadowed, perhaps in the episodes were the Soul Reapers were preparing to head up to the Soul King Palace, as there was a lot of room for character interactions. It even could have been hinted at in the first part of the Shunsui vs Lille fight. Instead, it just ends up feeling cheap and a silly convenience. - Uryu's actions in episode 14 feel very silly. It doesn't make sense, to me, why he would just decide to tell Ichigo his plan when he did - why not do it sooner? Why not keep it a secret? I am excited for the consequences but it just felt so nonsensical. He gets surprised when Haschwalth appears but this doesn't make sense to me because he knew Haschwalth had the almighty. I am also confused as to why Haschwalth was referring to his normal schrift despite saying he'd swapped powers with Yhwach, and also as to why Yhwach wouldn't suspect Uryu if he too can see into the future and would know Uryu is a traitor, but because I feel like that will be explored in cour 4 these don't really affect me. Just Uryu's actions do. - Some of the dialogue feels corny but hey its a Shounen. I will say though, the soul reapers' reactions to Byakuya decapitating (?) Gerard in the final episode was ridiculous. How is killing your enemy, who threatens the entire universe as you know it, going 'too far'? Despite its flaws, Cour 3's strengths heavily outweigh them. This feels like a very solid season, with a good balance between different storylines, great pay-offs, emotional moments, exciting action-packed moments, and simply unforgettable moments. Paired with killer animation, composition, and an ingenious use of colours, along with a director with a unique vision, Cour 3 learns from Cour 2's mistakes and lays the groundwork for what could be a truly mind-blowing final season. I give this season a 9/10
Hakuren366
12/29/2024, 10:33 AM
The 3rd cour of Bleach TYBW nailed it again with it's cinematic animation especially on the big fights, OSTs, and anime-original content. However, the same can't be said of the pacing. Anyway, let's expound on them. So the first half of the first episode of cour 3 started on a recap of the last episode of cour 2. Some people viewed the recap as a red flag due to production issues. Others saw it as unnecessary because Pierrot could have just started where cour 2 left off (Yhwach falling after being seemingly defeated by Ichibe), which I really agree. If I were to rectify that situation,the recap could have been reduced to the bare minimum by not showing the entirety of the fights from the last episode of cour 2 and just exhibit key points, or just pick off where cour 2 stopped. Then around the 2nd half of this series, there happened two big fights that spanned 2 episodes each. It felt weird when the two alternated instead of finishing the first battle then starting the second so that it could have been a linear flow. Was it to display what happened on the other side of the battlefield? I believe those were the only noticeable pacing flaws that were irksome, at least for me. As for the soundtracks, some new ones were distinguishable. Others were remixes of old OSTs. Shiro Sagisu is still going strong. The tune for the OP theme is good, with its visuals showcasing what to expect of this anime. Not much opinion on the visuals of the ED theme, just standard Bleach, though hearing it was a unique experience. Lastly, this season has the most anime-original content compared to the previous 2 cours due to smaller manga content left to adapt. Most of it were fight extensions and new battles, then some were relegated to flashbacks in order to give more context to a few character motivations and history. Speaking of those new battles and the fight extenders, while their existences were not really necessary for the plot, at least they excelled on the animation with some sakuga here and there, a good mix of 2d and 3d that isn't so all over the place, and good fight choreography. Despite some imperfections, this anime still managed to perform well on other areas. Overall an enjoyable watch. The last episode might have ended in a cliffhanger, what with all the different events that took place all over Soul Society, but it did give off anticipation for the final season.
Mr_Ubaldo2
12/28/2024, 11:55 PM
3 Cours down one to go. This was a part of the manga where I think people had the most disconnect. Storylines were started and dropped, off screen fights, and characters simply disappeared without explanation. With this anime they have not only fixed many of the issues that occured in this arc but added to the lore of bleach. New content galore this season brought. Brand new scenes that connected the worlds and patched plot holes. Many characters got power upgrades and new transformations only alluded to in the manga. The art and animation was absolutely stunning, a huge upgrade from the first 2 cours.Sure I had my nit picks about CGI background mobs or one of the main bosses being CGI but it was used into barely noticeable moments so I let it slide. Studio Pierrot definitely earned their pay grade with this one. I am excited for the end, to see what cour 4 can bring to the table. We aren't done yet, Kubo and the boys at Pierrot is definite cooking up something special for the finale.
ggol
12/28/2024, 10:48 PM
Brief overview: A little bit weak at the start, but quickly gets better. Before I begin I want to criticise the management for the last episodes of both TYBW part 2 and 3 and the first episode of part 3 aswell. Towards the end of the last episode for both part 2 and 3, there is a 4-minute filler content of PowerPoint slides of characters discussing various topics and the first episode of part 3 has half of the content that is a recap from the last episode of part 2. As a fan of the original Bleach and having waited a long time for this.It is upsetting, to say the least. The three-episode should not be managed like this and the content could've been better used or managed. Now let's get to the review. Introduction The Quincies have arrived at the Soul King's palace. Squad Zero is at a desperate measure to defend the soul king from the Quincies aggression. While at the Soul Society the Soul Reapers is trying to find a way to save the world from below. Meanwhile, Ichigo and his friends are rushing toward the Quincy King to stop him. Story 9/10 The story has a weaker start, but it gets better when you invest more into it. The big problem with the story for part 3 is that the feeling of war and big battles have mostly been toned down in part 3 however in exchange they provide a deeper story and slower pacing to give more side characters more screen time and backstory. When it comes to Squad Zero's introduction it shows a strong interaction between the power difference of the Gotei 13 but its fight against the Ywach Royal guards is underwhelming. It is underwhelming as we only got to see one Bankai instead of all 4 of them and the most disappointing part is Ichibei's Bankai ability. I have pointed this out in my previous review of Bleach where the characters have a good showcase of their skills but it is not enough explanation and you left wanting more details of it. Ichibei's Futen Taisatsuryō is a good presentation of his skill, but it doesn't show its capability, it only shows the visual representation so most viewers would be wondering what his ability does because it doesn't kill or destroy anything. If you take a step back and look at the battles of Yamamoto compared to Ichibei. Yamamoto's fight was extremely well done because we get to see the explosion and the overwhelming power that Yamamoto has which makes the fight feel very heavy like you're seeing the strongest fighting the strongest. When it comes to the strongest character fighting the strongest you do expect more from the fight scene. Ichibei's fight is quite generic in a sense. His abilities is all about manipulation which allows him to significantly drain his opponent's power. It sounds broken and all but it needs to add more into the scene to make it more interesting such as adding a whole Quincy army and he wipes it out with his Bankai. This would make him look and feel way more powerful. The Squad Zero fight scene is well done but lacks the feeling of desperation. I give you an example of a sense of desperation from One Piece Marine Ford Arc (SPOILERS AHEAD) when Marco saved Luffy you get a sense of desperation because recently the Pirate allies had lost two of their most strongest and important characters which this severely weakened one side effectiveness in the war. You get the sense of desperation because Luffy is unconscious and all the other character is significantly wounded or tired from the endless combat and everyone is using all of their last strength to save Luffy from the Marines. This is a good example of desperation because everyone is trying to defend that one person while at the same time fighting without two of the most important and strongest characters which tips the scale of war. I am not saying that Bleach doesn't have a desperation element. The first part of TYBW is masterfully well done especially the scene when Yamamoto dies which is a great sense of desperation and unknowing of the desperation to find out the critical point of the opponent's power but there is a huge problem which is the extremely fast pacing of the story. It is also very important to add that element in the Soul King's palace as the Soul King is an important figure that keeps the world's balance. Also, another problem is that most of Ywach's royal guards showcase their real powers towards the end of the seasons which makes us wonder that is Squad zero really stronger than the whole Gotei 13? You can clearly see that most of the big battles and the true power/form held by the strongest Quincy is handle by the Gotei 13. Squad zero only bought down a fraction of Ywach's Royal guards power. They should've made some sort of way to keep squad zero in the fight instead of replacing them with the Gotei 13. Characters 9/10 The characters is quite good. as the pacing has been fixed it gave a lot of depth to the character's story. It gave us more depth into the relationship between Ukitake, and Shunsui, and how Ukitake is related to one of the important Key elements of the story. It also gave us more intention on what the Quincy King wanted. There is extra screen time from the previous characters that died such as Unohana and Yamamoto which adds more emotional moments. Shunsui knows that they are in a desperate situation and this character is portrayed beautifully in a passive-aggressive way. He knows that they have to sacrifice one of their own to achieve victory and at the same time is also very emotional and stressed out. However, he knows that being emotional at a critical time would cause severe morale issues within the soul reapers. That's why Shunsui acted confident in front of his peers while deep inside you can feel with him the emotion and the difficult decision that he has to make. I don't know how to explain this exactly but Bleach has this feeling of uncertainty, uneasiness, and mystery toward its characters, which brings a massive amount of attention and build-up. The most notable ones are Shusui, Urahara, and Mayuri they all show signs that they know something but are hiding it to prevent further disasters from other characters. There is one problem with the dialogue between Ichigo and Ishida, which is badly written that is mostly on Ichigo's side. Most of the time Ichigo keeps saying that Ywhach is about to destroy the world and do bad things. However, let's be for real, all the people in the world know that Ishida joined the Wandenreich with a specific reason and Ichigo should be finding out or at least asking him why he joins the Quincies instead of explaining on what is going on. Ichigo's narrative mostly focuses on the what and does not give enough deficit such as the why, when, and how. It would be more compelling to add more to the dialogue such as what about the past struggle they have been together or understanding both of their family heritage that would draw closer to both character's relationship. Animation 9/10 Aside from the battle between squad zero. The rest of the fight scene is great and many quality has been put into it, especially Renji's fight scene we get to see a lot more of his new Bankai ability and Ichigo's fight with Uryu. There is a lot more CGI in this part and perhaps the most within the TYBW series it can be a massive letdown for some but the CGI does have a really good quality that has been put into them. Music 10/10 Now, if you are an old fan like me the music for TYBW is a masterpiece, especially at part 3. This is because they kept most of the original music from the old version but added and improved it to fit the modern audience. This is like a love letter that you received 10 years ago, but just recently you received the love letter from the same person with improved sentencing and vocabulary that has been written into it. TLDR Bleach is a well-balanced story that is about adventure, comedy, and lovable characters. It is not trying to be what it isn't supposed to be by adding unnecessary genres such as romance or next generation that replace the lovable main character that we have always loved or been used to seeing for the past 10 years. It has great animation, characters, and adds some spice to the old music to give more modern flavor to the present day. This is a must-watch for anyone that loves anime and even though there is a decent amount of errors at the start it is still the same old Bleach that we have been loving for the past 20 years.
Cyrose
12/28/2024, 01:32 PM
I would rather live in sad reality than live in fabricated happiness. OG Bleach (366) was somewhat decent as a TV series. It had so many cool characters and events that was meaningful, funny and entertaining to watch. However, this new seasons “Thousand Year Blood War” is completely the opposite. Old Bleach was slow given all the events to build up for the viewer, but now things happen in an instant that just ruined the whole build up and connection for all the fights to unfold and for characters and the story to grace in any way. Fans after the last episode of the previousseason of TYBW hyped up Senjumaru like she is the 🐐 and unbeatable. I knew right the way what is going to happen. It is task book Bleach outcome; She gets this super power up to impress everyone, then she gets destroyed by plot as always. This was indeed the main issue with Tite Kubos writing. He can’t possibly write meaningful and comprehensive stories that has fundamentally driven by the act of the characters. Rather he writes nonsensical and soulless outcomes of the events since these characters like Senjumaru or Ichibei are so powerful that they could have ended the series. So does Aizen in the OG series should have defeated Ichigo with a single move, but Tite tried his best to gave Ichigo 2 years to train in the middle of the story which was hours in the actual timeline so he can somehow makes this train wreck story move forward into.. an absolute madness like it did. The whole conflict is ridiculous anyway, Quincy’s are just made for being the bad guys that couldn’t get along with the Shinigamis. Obviously someone pulled the strings to make them hate each other, but they are so stupid to just talk through things. It is also way more interesting to put on flashy, but zero effort fights. The real reason for my dissatisfaction with Bleach is its chaotic emptiness and the lack of any revelatory narrative to tell. Battle on top of battle just consumed this series alive since it has nothing behind its flashy overpowered characters acting battles between each others for years. Every single Bleach episode now is random fighting against random pop out plot device characters that you will only know for no longer for one episode as the “strongest opponent”. Those who got beaten up and should have died like four times so far are getting stronger and still alive… Those who should have stayed alive are getting killed by plot. Ridiculous.. Lets talk about the battles and powers, because this show possesses the most unbalanced power system and unga-bunga action tactics ever. All the powers are random and hardly had any foundation whatsoever. Senjumaru should have killed everyone, but again the plot saved all the Quincy’s… so the story can continue. Not to mention she killed everyone in her Bankai, except Uruyu so HE can be the one who ends her. Even Bleach fans knows that she is way above the league of Uruyu, but still can’t accept that this series and Tite Kubo is just playing with the viewers with his extremely poor writing. Since no one saying this out loud, he is free to write this mediocre nonsense all day. Also, since when does Uruyu can use Sasukes Rinnegan abilities? Didn’t know it was their voice actor’s ability all along. “This is my highest level” until you kill me and I come back stronger Ahh power system. They are supposedly multiverse level, but in battle they do normal human damage to each other. The biggest attack power is probably small town level, but usually their attacks are building or wall level. However their aura and “spiritual pressure is shaking worlds”. We all know aura is a big deal. The sad fact is that the whole power scaling is so unbalanced that no strong opponent can last longer than one second against another stronger opponent. They one tapping each other because they are so lacking correspondence to their titles. No worries though, the gap might be large in powers, but they are equally boring in battle tactics. The villains in bleach follows the trope of evil for the sake of evil without any reasonable or rational justification of their actions or goals. They just want the opposite of what the other group wants. Kindergartners level scrimmage. Deaths also has no emotional connection since characters dies from one frame to another without any logical connection to the battle or story. Tite creates these crazy cool characters to appear epic, just for them to die a few frames later. One tap 90%. Also gives random explanations to some new stuff that he pulled out from no where. The animators had to drag the scenes like “his aura is shaking worlds now” it might look cool and powerful.. but definitely not well written or enjoyable. When it comes to actual battle, one side acts like they are the strongest ever, then when they don’t have anything else to say gets one tapped immediately. Don’t worry though, they are fine. Yamamoto: “There is no better protection here than myself.” Five minutes later: 🥝 Poor Toushirou was humiliated five times and he still alive. Team Zero were named zero, because you need zero effort to defeat them. (Strongest group in Bleach btw). Ichigo dies for the fifth time, I guess the training at the dinner table and in the jacuzzi wasn’t enough for him. “Absolute Cinema” more like absolute Circus. Considering that all Quincy’s are turning into a Pokemon, it is pretty accurate. Whenever you hear an anime is called “peak cinema” - run. Conclusion, This series in its essence is all smoke, and people acting like there is fire. Bleach was actually somewhat interesting as a shounen back then on its TV scheduled pacing. Now unfortunately it rock button with its extremely low effort of writing standards and nonsensical unbalanced content that made it look like a random piece of show off that has nothing to offer, but lazy action on top of action without no genuine or valuable content to disclose. This type of battle Shounen what Bleach TYBW provided has been the most abundant of all action stories I have seen. What starts with a Ban-kai will end with a Ban-kai, eventually. Everything in the middle is milky-parody. As a result, Bleach has fallen from its knees to its face with this one. “Bah-ouch”. Final Score: 1/10 ⭐️ I have a big appetite, but after all these exquisitely plated titles, I am still hungry for quality. Thank you for taking the time to read.
whiteflame55
12/28/2024, 08:30 AM
It really shouldn’t be a surprise that this series keeps popping off season after season, but it remains a joy to watch Bleach continue to thrive in the Thousand Year Blood War Arc. I have plenty of issues with how the manga handled this arc, but this portion in particular was one I looked forward to as it contains a few of the more interesting fights in the arc. Kurotsuchi Mayuri’s fights are always a spectacle to behold and contain their own distinct flavor, so watching him pop off makes the season strong by itself, but this season has several memorable and visually stunning fightsas it moves along the track to the finale. My only substantial complaint with this season is that there was a rather long lull in the middle where the pacing dropped off for reasons that seemed unnecessary to include. I get that it can’t all be fights, but that portion of the season was the obvious down point, particularly episodes 4 and 5. Still, this season fires on all cylinders for the vast majority of its run. A lot of the "problems" I've seen people cite with this and previous seasons largely come down to not liking shonen tropes, which is fine, but for me, when they're done this well, it doesn't bother me. These are characters finally unveiling some of their absolute best after seasons of holding back, and it's glorious to watch. I can’t wait to see how they end it.
Stark700
12/28/2024, 08:01 AM
2024 has been a year that can be described as 'giving back to the fans'. Franchises such as Fairy Tail and Spice and Wolf made their returns while classics such as Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura got their remake treatment. It came as no surprise that Bleach wanted a piece of that pie. With confidence, I can say that Bleach marks one of the greatest anime comeback in recent memory. It wasn't a long break so if you need some refresh of memory, just read the premise and the promotional videos. The core of the plot still involves Ichigo, Soul Society, and their allies defend againstYhwach and his draconian Wandenreich army. The most elite among them are known as the Sternritter. This season pits our main characters against some of the most creative and deadly enemies the franchise has ever seen. Sternritter's higher ranked members are no pushovers as they push the Gotei 13 captains to their limits. Even the captain commander Shunsui Kyouraku is pushed to his limit when confronted by the Sternritter leader. Watching this season constantly pushes the limits of what Bleach characters can do. From malevolent transformations to otherwordly abilities, there's no shortage of entertainment. As a very plot focused season, we also find out Yhwach's motivations and how far he's willing to push himself to achieve his ends. Commanding a legion of forces, he is describe as a 'final boss' of the season. To get to him, this season truly explifies the meaning of war. It's interesting to note that to achieve a meaningful plot, there's character background stories told for both Soul Reapers and Quincys. Characters such as Nanao and Ukitake's stories are told with important narratives. Others including Bazz-B gets deeper character study of how they ened up as who they are. Bleach's background storytelling sometimes defines what it means through loss, characterized by a character suffering through some form of tragedy. This is no different when we see how war and tragdies affects them. Bazz-B is a classic example of what he has experienced in the past and present. Nonetheless, popular characters in the past arcs also return who viewers should be very familiar with. However, because this season is heavily plot focused on the war, their roles are given through battles rather than more background stories. I've always thought Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War had a thirst to prove itself through unorthodox battles. Let's say if you're in for some glorious action, this season won't be a letdown. The chereography achieve cinematic sequence through its usage of character movements, expressions, and creativity. Every character in this arc is unique in itself that we question what their limits are. Yhwach is at the top of the hierarchy as we witness his power, a force that truly sets his reptuation in this entire final arc. Others such as Mayuri and Kyouraku have more creative abilities to deal with their adversaries beyond just brute force. To put it in perspective, Ichigo is not the one carrying this season on his back. But likewise, this season is also a rollercoaster of emotions when unresolved conflicts take place. For instance, how does Ichigo deal with Uryu, his former friend who joined the other side of this war? Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict continues to prove itself that no matter how longm it delivers what fans want to see. From the emotional storytelling through its cinematic battles, there's really no shortage what this final arc has set out to to do. It once again shows that Bleach is one of the greatest anime to make its comeback in history.

Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen - Soukoku-tan BLEACH 千年血戦篇-相剋譚-

2024 fall | Episodes: 14 | Score: 8.7 (138327)

Updated every Saturdays at 23:00 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Streaming: Disney+ | Ani-One Asia | Bahamut Anime Crazy | Hulu

Synopsis

Voice Actors

Sugiyama, Noriaki

Morita, Masakazu

News

Reviews

Makonoto
10/06/2025, 07:44 PM
Bleach has changed, changed for the worst. This is one of the worst seasons of Bleach I've ever watched. There's not a single thing good about this. The animation? puke color and too flashy. The Music? Forgettable, a serious crime because one of the best aspects of Bleach anime was the iconic music. The plot? lol. The characters? Horriblly written. The Fights? Terrible like the manga. They added new ones that are Uryu centric, but no one cares about him or his awfully defined motives. What a waste of screentime for someone so boring and useless. Who ever was in charge of this needs tobe fired. Bad fights and overly focus on stale unpopular characters is a recipe for disaster. I see why this fell down the ranks and no one is talking about it.
owidx_123
09/21/2025, 08:09 PM
Overall 8/10. Compared to the other two parts, this one felt like a bunch of battles with no ending. At times i felt myself skipping 10 seconds because of how slow paced it was and how being 'dead' wasn't the end and it really felt tedious to watch at times. I get it, it's a shounen, but the pace felt so off and the battles were just a bunch of X does this, X retialties, but wait, X has special power etc.. just a bunch of back and forth. That said, the artwork is absolutely phenomenal and so is the soundtrack. I really hope thenext part follows suit of part 1 atleast in terms of pace.
C4bs
09/15/2025, 03:19 PM
Writing and drawing manga in Japan is an extremely challenging job. With grueling schedules that border on slavery and enormous pressure from publishers to maintain their work's popularity among fans, authors face the constant risk of having their serialization canceled. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon to see manga artists suffering both physically and psychologically from these conditions. One of the most emblematic cases of this strain is that of Tite Kubo, creator of the world-famous manga Bleach. Bleach was part of the legendary "Big 3 Shounen": a trio of manga series published simultaneously in Weekly Shonen Jump, Japan's largest manga magazine, consisting of One Piece (1997-), Naruto(1999-2017), and Bleach (2001-2016). During the 2000s, these works dominated sales in the country, forever impacting the entertainment industry with both their astronomical numbers and their immense popularity. However, in the final years of publication, Kubo-sensei suffered from exhaustion caused by years of uninterrupted work—in total, fifteen years of weekly publication with almost no breaks—resulting in various illnesses and pains that directly affected the quality of his work. As a result, Bleach's popularity declined drastically, also affecting its anime adaptation, which was halted indefinitely in 2012. For years, Bleach was the only anime of the "Big 3 Shounen" series without a full manga adaptation, leaving countless fans disappointed at not being able to see the final arc in an animated version. However, in November 2021, Studio Pierrot—responsible for producing the anime until its hiatus—announced the return of the anime to finally adapt the manga's extensive final arc. The new adaptation, titled Thousand-Year Blood War, surprised audiences with its technical quality in practically every aspect. With fluid direction, stylish animation, and an epic soundtrack, the new production proved its worth, becoming yet another example of how animation studios are treating already established anime with great care. Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict, the third of four seasons adapting the final arc, begins with the aftermath of the battle between Ichibei Hyosube, leader of the Soul Society Royal Guard, and the King of the Quincy, Yhwach. After defeating the powerful shinigami, Yhwach advances to the final stage of his plan: to kill the Soul King, the being whose existence maintains the balance between the three worlds—Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, and the human world. And to thwart his plans, Ichigo Kurosaki, now with a newfound power, sets out to confront him and save countless lives. As mentioned, the new seasons of Bleach boast a technical excellence that few studios can match these days. And this quality continues impeccably in the third season. If you've already watched the previous two installments—which, presumably, is the case if you're reading this review—you can expect the same excellence in The Conflict. However, in my initial reviews of the initial episodes, I realized that the season's biggest weakness might be the script, the same problem that made me abandon the manga years ago. As the episodes were released, even with the grandeur of the production, the narrative flaws became increasingly evident and bothersome. These problems already existed in previous seasons, but now they're harder to ignore. At various points, the plot seems to mistime events. When it needs to move forward, the characters pause for excessive dialogue—often resulting in clichéd and even comical scenes. However, in moments that require more detailed explanations, the story accelerates, leaving important questions open. Bleach has always flirted with philosophical themes and a poetic approach, providing moments of reflection, but these elements aren't always well-applied to the narrative's pacing. Furthermore, there are plot holes and forced solutions, especially when they serve only to conveniently get the characters out of complicated situations. Another aspect that has always bothered me about Bleach, not just in Thousand-Year Blood War but throughout the series, is the "magic" system. Perhaps it's my own limitation, having not fully grasped the initial explanations, but the impression I get is that this system doesn't follow strict rules. In the end, the resolutions seem to depend more on Tite Kubo's momentary imagination than on a set of previously established norms. These inconsistencies in the script leave me worried about the story's outcome. The antagonists have reached such an absurd level of power that I'm not sure if the solutions presented will be convincing enough to feel like a victory for the protagonists and not just a narrative convenience. I haven't read the manga's ending, but Tite Kubo himself has already announced that there will be significant changes in the final season. Perhaps this will help address the issue and ensure a satisfying conclusion for the audience, without it feeling like a mere "Deus Ex Machina"—something that has happened countless times in the anime's previous arcs. Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict maintains the impressive technical quality of previous seasons, but suffers from a lack of script and, at times, from the pacing. The feeling of stagnation is real, as the plot often focuses on uninvolving plot threads, making the narrative progress slower than it should. Many characters end the season almost where they began, which may frustrate those hoping for a more dynamic progression. Despite my concerns, I believe the anime's future is promising. The changes promised by Tite Kubo could lead to a more coherent and impactful ending. And ultimately, it will be interesting to see, after more than twenty years, the definitive conclusion of the animated adaptation of one of the greatest mangas of all time.
Nomaed
06/08/2025, 02:39 AM
Remember when you were a kid, you watched a few epic shows, and then would constantly come up with "cool" ideas about epic characters and epic fights? Now you've grown up and when you look back on your younger self and those ideas you had, you cringe and try to find something to distract yourself just to forget about this and hope that nothing triggers you to recall those memories again. Unfortunately, at some point, Kubo Tite reverted to the state of this kid with "cool" ideas, resulting in this abomination. It is exactly that: "epic" characters engaging in "epic" fights where nothing makes sense andthe outcome is decided by whatever comes to Kubo's mind. If I were to summarize the events of the "Trillion Years Unforgivable Endless Painful Reminiscence Battle", it would be as follows: Yuhabaha: "Ichigo, thank you. Without you, I would not have achieved my goal!" Ichigo: "What, what do you mean?" Yuhabaha: "You are a sinigami, a quincy, a hollow, a weizard, a human. And more importantly, you are a wizard, Harry, I mean, Ichigo. I needed the power of all to open the portal to the real where sense doesn't make sense. The last season!" Ichigo: "Impossible. That can't be true." Yuhabaha: "Yes, it can. You didn't know that, but that dog that you gave a piece of bread to after the sixth lesson you had on the sixth day after your sixth birthday had exactly 666 hairs. Did you think it didn't have that much fur for no reason? It was all a part of the sequence of the gate activation!" Ichigo: "NO!" Yuhabaha: "Yes! Even that time you spent on the sixth of June, which is the sixth month, of 2006, pleasuring yourself for exactly 666 seconds, was a requirement to open the gate." Ichigo: "No, you are lying! That doesn't make any sense!" Yuhabaha: "Precisely! Off we go, Hashuwarudo, my trustworthy right hand, whose family I have slaughtered mercilessly but who still follows me but maybe still plans on betraying me after having so many opportunities to kill me, and Ishida Uryu, who is totally not planning on betraying me." Before leaving, Isida turns and looks at Ichigo. Isida: "Ichigo." Ichigo: "Isida, you..." Isida: "I HATE SINIGAMI!" Later, that very same minute: Ichigo: "This guy is just a quincy, he can absorb the soul energy from all around him to replenish his reisi, but we have destroyed everything, so he's done!" Villainous minion whose name does not matter and who is completely forgettable (VMWNDMMAWISF): "HAHAHAHAHA! You are a fool, Ichigo! Behold my true power: the instant defeat!" Ichigo: "What? Impossible! How can you do that with your reisi, which has been an established concept throughout the series?" VMWNDMMAWISF: "Have you forgotten where we are, Ichigo? This is the realm where nothing makes sense! KIYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Random Ichigo's sidekick places his hand on Ichigo's shoulder in reassurance. Rando: "Don't worry, Ichigo. Go, I will deal with him." Ichigo: "What? Have you lost your mind? He can summon an instant defeat!" Rando: "Yes, he can. But can he defeat every of the one million techniques that I have acquired?" Ichigo: "A million techniques?.. Wait! Don't tell me that during the five minutes break that you took to pee, you managed to finally master the one million techniques technique! IDIOT! YOU WERE MAKING A FOOL OF ME THIS WHOLE TIME! AND EVEN WHEN WE WERE FIGHTING THAT GUY YOU KNEW WE WOULD WIN CAUSE YOU COULD HAVE USED YOUR TECHNIQUE!" *funny_face.jpg* *laugh_track.mp3* Ichigo smirks with a confident look. Ichigo: "Yes, I trust you." Ichigo and company leaves. A few moments later... VMWNDMMAWISF: "KIYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! So much for a million techniques! Are you an idiot? Did you not hear the name of my ability? What does it matter how many techniques you have if I can use my ability to defeat you? KIYAHAHAHAHA! You are such an idiot! And all your friends are idiots! And even your relatives are idiots! Have you been doing it on purpose? Did you surround yourself with idiots on purpose? Or did you surround yourself with idiots because you are an idiot?" Rando: "You managed to defeat all of my million techniques. What a shame. It would be the end for me if I had only one million techniques..." VMWNDMMAWISF: "Nani?" Rando: "Talking about being an idiot. It seems you didn't hear the name of my technique." VMWNDMMAWISF: "Only the deaf couldn't hear it. It's one million techniques." Rando: "No. It is One Million Techniques TECHNIQUE." VMWNDMMAWISF: "That just means that your technique consits of one million techniques, you idiot! What does it matter?" Rando: "No, it means that my technique that I have only one technique, which consits of one million sub-techniques. And because you have used your ability to defeat my sub-techinues, makes it a sub-ability, and you will not be able to use it to defeat my tehcnique!" VMWNDMMAWISF: "No, that is impossible. You are just a shinigami, who uses reyatsu, the soul energy, the concept of which has been established throughout the series. What you tell defies all logic, it doesn't—" Rando: "Make any sense?" VMWNDMMAWISF: "No, no, you couldn't." Rando: "Now, witness my true technique: UNO REVERSO!" VMWNDMMAWISF: "That's even not the name of you techinue!" Rando: "You are indeed an idiot! NOTHING MAKES SENSE IN THE LAST SEASON!" VMWNDMMAWISF: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" *dies* To be continued...
_Bubassotto_
05/23/2025, 10:20 AM
A sequel that really has the sauce! The anime that brought back one of the greatest Shounen of all time and did not disappoint at all. I read the manga a long time ago but it is clear that this anime adaptation is a thousand times better than its manga version, the animation is impeccable, fluid and with beautiful lines, even the scenery has become a beautiful thing to see. Although it has been a while since I watched this season, I can clearly remember the sound quality present in this season. Bleach has always been impressive in its sound effects and here in this seasonit is equal, simply majestic to hear the characters activating their Quincy abilities and their Bankais. Finally, I gave it a score of 8 because it is simply wonderful to watch this, I strongly recommend it to those who like Shounen, I just don't give it a higher score because Bleach still maintains that distressing problem for me of the characters floating in the air for no reason at all. =================================================================================================================Versão em Português===================================== Uma sequência que tem o molho de fato! O anime que trouxe de volta um dos maiores Shounen de todos os tempos e não decepcionou em nada. Li o mangá a um bom tempo atras mas é nítido que essa adaptação em anime esta mil vezes superior à sua versão em mangá, a animação está impecável, fluida e com um traço lindo, até o cenário se tornou uma coisa linda de se ver. Apesar de fazer um certo tempo que vi essa temporada eu consigo lembrar nitidamente da qualidade sonora presente nessa temporada, Bleach sempre foi impressionante em seus efeitos sonoros e aqui nessa temporada isso se iguala, simplesmente majestoso de ouvir os personagens ativando suas habilidades Quincy e suas Bankais. Por fim dei uma nota 8 pois é simplesmente maravilhoso de assistir isso, recomendo fortemente para quem gosta de Shounen, só não dou uma nota maior pois Bleach ainda mantem aquele problema angustiante para mim que é os personagens flutuarem no ar sem justificativa nenhuma.
TheGreatAnimeGuy
05/16/2025, 10:50 PM
It was nice and the animation was good but the storyline seems a bit lengthy but overall it is good :) I recommend watching this anime. The story is unique and there are a lot of twists and the series seems like non ending fantasy , but there are a lot of unnecessary elements also but it is nice and it`s definitely a masterpiece. If you are watching this series then I think you enjoy it. The series is mostly fictional and and the characters are depicted very well. They creators have put a lot of efforts into the making of the series looking forward for the 4thpart of the thousand year blood war arc.
Autonomia
04/22/2025, 08:43 PM
Thousand year blood war made me bored even though it's filled to the brim with battles and events. Because every single time it's like that: look these guys are super super strong but their opponent now unlocks or reveals powerup and then these guys: oh we actually have powerup too, and it just continues oh... (no it's not "because it's shonen", i've watched a lot of shonen and it's never been this bad). It's such a cheap suspense, at some point i just couldn't care about battles anymore, in the end good guys are gonna win - that's all i need to know. The amount ofpower explaining mid-fight is very high as well. Power creep is a problem, some enemies have absolutely ridiculous power that can only be countered by some other very bullshit specific power. Villain faction came out of nowhere(not even ounce of foreshadowing), and all of them are super strong just because plot needs fights. Trash villain. He wants to bring back old order but the thing is - we don't know anything about old order of things, so why exactly is he doing whatever he's doing? Location - third cour is happening mostly in quincy city which looks ugly as hell, no even worse, it's colorless, same and bland at every point. I was excited to see where the story goes in the 1st and 2nd cour. I wasn't impressed much by plot reveals, but in 3rd cour there is nothing even left to reveal or show, now it's just overpowered main villain and whatever garbage good guys come up with to defeat him.
Justykanna
02/10/2025, 09:59 PM
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict is part 3 of the four-part series for the Bleach sequel, and it's still amazing. Story & Characters: There's really not a ton to expand upon with the story, and, given the landscape that we already have, that's perfectly fine. Ichigo and friends finally make it to the castle where Yhwach is standing by, and the entirely of the Soul Society needs to find a way to stop him - by any means necessary. Something that often gets expanded upon with new characters in a final season are more backstories. That's something that happens once again with afew of the Sternritter and while the stories, particularly with Bazz-B. While these tales are solid on their own, inserting them into the main story really breaks the continuity and pacing of the series. It's so hard to implement well, as something like Demon Slayer has struggled to do this properly. I'm mostly okay with the way Pierrot Films has gone about this because it builds something up for our characters. We even get some background story on Nanao, someone who we haven't seen much during our Bleach journey. It's unique and her weird relationship with her captain makes a lot more sense now. Some characters from the past return, affecting the story in different ways. It's a bit of a mixed bag, but it never really feels like they're totally there for a reason, outside of "save the world". It's fine, but nothing mindblowing. Fight sequences, however, bring no indecisiveness to what's going on, and while we did get a bit too simple with some fights, there's no question that they're flashy, and display just how strong some of our cast members are. We obviously haven't seen everyone at full power yet, and that leaves us with more to chew on when the final season airs. (Story: 8/10, Characters: 9/10) Art: Animation remains consistent throughout the season for the most part. This is the studio that also did Naruto, and I was expected some amount of lower quality at some point because of their history. I'm happy to report that the series looks solid. (9/10) Sound: Monochrome, the ED by suisoh, was probably my favourite tune this time around. I wasn't too high on the OP though. Voice work remains strong, with more returnees from the first series bringing in strong work, including Lucien Dodge (Yukio), Cristina Vee (Riruka) and David Vincent (Grimmjow). Terrance Stone (Mayuri) might've put together my fabourite performance this time around though. (9/10) Overall: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict remains strong, even if it's still not as good as the first season. There's tons of action, plenty of story weaved in throughout and we can tell we're finally building up to the final showdown. I'm very excited, as should each and every other Bleach fan out there. (9/10)
KENKAIYT
01/25/2025, 06:34 PM
Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen - Soukoku-tan is the best of the Thousand Year Blood War anime so far. Visuals - This cour is easily the most visually impressive for this anime so far. The animation quality is excellent and rarely dips. Still frames, weird compositing, and bad cgi are present but are infrequent and brief. More talented staff has been added to the series which allows for clean and fluid animation to be present far more often than before in this anime. Soundtrack - Bleach is well known for having awesome music. This is still the case for cour 3. The old and new songs created byShiro Sagisu are great. The main problems for the soundtrack in this cour is that songs that have been used frequently in prior cours are used fairly often and as a manga reader, some songs did not fit my expectations for certain scenes as I felt a different emotion reading the manga than the emotion trying to be conveyed from the music by the studio pierrot staff. The reuse of music problem is also exacerbated by the fact that Shiro Sagisu has made a huge catalogue of music for the Bleach IP but very few are being used. Though I do not think these issues is enough to ruin the experience. Story - The story is fairly consistent and takes it's time in comparison to prior cours adapting less chapters from the manga. The plot is generally coherent, lacking plot holes or stupid decisions made by characters (mostly). Characters - The characters are still written consistently with more development is being offered to old and new characters. The added content for this anime is probably the most unique aspect since the staff adds so much with the mangaka, Tite Kubo being a part of staff as a general supervisor. The added content mostly serves to benefit the series, with very few either not doing anything to the series, or hurting the series. This cour is very well made with some minor setbacks. tl;dr The visuals are mostly excellent, the soundtrack is mostly good, the story is still mostly coherent, and the characters haven't been tarnished.
ecktt
01/03/2025, 02:04 PM
TLDR: It took me 15 years to realise how much shit Bleach really is. For a series that started off fair enough; the power creep, contrived story, inexplicable superpowers and vintage anime "I will defeat you with will power" nonsense has finally caught up to the good animation; it is terrible. Or maybe I was naive, and it was always a pig with lipstick. Was Nelliel running around with those 2 idiots not enough to warn me this show failed at trying to be funny, while being serious? Did the horny teddy bear synthetic soul not signal the incoming stupidity? Was Kenpachi and his lolicon sidekicknot a red flag? Was everyone strangely idiotic Bankai not a giveaway? I could go on but that would be a retelling of the entire show. The world building created a mess of chaotic themed factions with the mechanics of a rotary engine. Great at 10000 rpm but utter shit everywhere else. If you ask the typical Bleach fan what they like; it is all about the fights and nothing to do with the stapled-on story with weak characters. So, who really is Bleach for? The only thing I can think of is, adults with the mindset of a 12-year-old, unless you're okay with actual 12-year-olds getting a healthy serving of Matsumoto fan service.
Winnah_Daniels
12/30/2024, 08:32 AM
I love the fact that they brought this show back with such a high attention to detail. If you're a Bleach fan, you simply must watch this. You get to spend extra time with many of the characters that you'll forgot you missed. I think if you have not seen the original series, you will love the art, and fights, but you will be lost in the story. I recommend catching up on Bleach even via a recap before getting into this show. It does not try too hard to explain itself and just takes you through the story quickly. The art is sublime. There'sa darkness and realness to it. Very crisp animations even during movement and complicated battle exchanges. The still shots are screenshotable, and the short bursts of fighting are more than worthy of an anime amv. The story is what it is. Not too many crazy twists and turns outside of the standard battle shonen "he lost...but he was concealing some power" trope. The combination of nostalgia, beautiful art, and great fights almost makes this a 10 for me. The fact that they broke one season up into FOUR parts (with part 3 just ending and no release date for part 4) brings it down to a 9
lucjan
12/30/2024, 08:21 AM
Season 3 of the Thousand Year Blood War is the arc at its strongest so far. With every episode, the intensity builds. The anime heavily rearranges the manga, piecemealing pages and sometimes small moments from different chapters. The result is a far tighter adaptation. To add the cherry on top, the anime was given a longer production time, providing a more immersive experience. So we have a tighter adaptation with improved production. If you’re this far into the series, I have to hope you’re a Bleach fan. This is Bleach at its best. When most people think of a good series, they don’t immediately nerdout on the production quality – the music, animation, and art. The story and the characters are always the drivers in any vehicle, and while Bleach isn’t high-literature, it’s deeper than you would think at first glance. There is a heavy emphasis on lore within this arc – exposition set deep in the past. Unfortunately time is of the essence here and a lot of the lore is undeveloped. There is a lot of it, but they’re like half-popped or even mostly unpopped kernels of popcorn – the flavor is there, but the depth isn’t. For example, in episode 7 of the TYBW (season 1, so I’m backtracking a bit, but the example still holds) we, the audience, receive a flashback to the original blood war between the Quincy and the Shinigami. This was more than we received in the source material so it was a welcome addition; but, it barely provides anything. It still lacks context. A more recent example, one that takes place in cour 3, is Bazz-B’s past. While the anime conveys his history succinctly and beautifully, it’s difficult to invest yourself in a character’s plight with less than one episode of exposition. That doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate what we do have but it’s that love for Bleach that leaves you wanting more. Despite the breakneck pace, some of the cast shine brighter in this arc than in previous arcs. Shunsui and Mayuri both receive huge slats of time dedicated to who they are and why they act the way they do. Both characters are given ample time on stage and their battles aren’t abbreviated like many of the TYBW’s prior ones. While Starrk vs Shunsui span more episodes than Shunsui’s battle in cour 3, we learn more about Shunsui in his battle here than we did when he fought Starrk. Uryu, too, has received an enormous amount of characterization throughout the arc. In the source material, Uryu’s motivation and participation was mostly absent, whereas the anime provides a much stronger role for his character. Unlike the previous 2 cours, cour 3 has rearranged the events from the source material to provide characters like Uryu the opportunity to more heavily stake their place in the story. Lastly, we need to discuss the production: The art, animation, and score. Cour 3 has knocked all 3 out of the park. Other than episode 8, which has some wonky CGI, I have been very satisfied with the production. The art is incredible. Every frame looks like a painting, with episode 12 looking like it was ripped straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. The environments are lush, detailed, and vibrant. The animation is fluid, intermixed with beautifully crafted choreography and large sweeping camera arcs. Dynamic camera angles truly shine in episode 7 during Renji’s anime-original fight. Paired with the amazing soundtrack, every battle feels emotional. Episode 11’s brand new song when trompete is charging is beautiful. If you’ve made it to cour 3, you’re either a huge fan or suffering through for some reason. If you’re a fan, this review is more or less pointless. If cour 1 and 2 weren’t enough to rope you in, then cour 3 will also be a slogfest. I don’t know who this review is for but I enjoyed this season so here are my thoughts.
logic340
12/29/2024, 08:51 PM
I really wanted this cour to succeed. The promise of new anime-original content gave me some hope that it could fix the flaws of the manga’s poorly received final arc. Unfortunately, this season couldn’t escape the problems of its source material. No amount of nostalgic callbacks, solid animation, or impressive sound design could save it. This feels like one of the most overhyped anime in recent memory. That being said, if you’re a fan of Bleach like I am, I still recommend giving it a watch—but go in with lowered expectations, or you’re bound to be disappointed. Story/Plot: 4/10 The plot is where this cour falls apart.Just like in the manga, the story feels barebones and poorly constructed. Many characters are shoved into the narrative not because they serve a purpose, but because their presence panders to fans. It’s bloated, overcrowded, and detracts from moments that could have been better fleshed out. There’s a severe lack of stakes throughout this cour. Weak characters like Chad and Orihime somehow survive impossible situations because they’re fan favorites, but it’s completely unrealistic given the circumstances. This leads to a lot of plot conveniences and fake-out deaths that kill any tension. By this point, the trope feels tired and predictable. Ichigo, Renji, Lille—so many moments could’ve had lasting emotional impact but instead feel cheap and meaningless. Animation: 7/10 While the animation started off strong, it quickly revealed its limitations. Initially, I was impressed, but as the cour progressed, I noticed more still panels and an overreliance on DBZ-style explosions rather than meaningful choreography. The battles lack creativity, and the muted color palette throughout the season gave the visuals a dull, lifeless look.There were a few standout shots, but some of the most hyped scenes didn’t even match the quality of the original series. For a series with such high expectations, this season's animation felt overhyped overall. Characters: 6/10 When I say everyone is back, I mean everyone. The Vizards, the Arrancars, Nel, Grimmjow, Kira—the list goes on. While it’s nice to see so many familiar faces, the sheer number of returning characters completely derails the narrative. Most of them have no meaningful role and are just there to please fans. It’s frustrating to see characters like Nel and Grimmjow brought back only to do almost nothing. Chad and Orihime are present all season but contribute absolutely nothing of substance. Instead of developing key players or focusing on meaningful relationships, we get a “greatest hits” montage of cameos that detracts from the story’s flow. It felt like an old Oprah episode: “You get a cameo! And you get a cameo!” Sound: 8/10 There is not a lot to say here it's Bleach we know what to expect from the sound design. The opening and ending themes didn’t do much for me, but the OST was solid. The nostalgic tracks from the original series were a highlight, and they did a great job of setting the tone for some scenes. However, even great sound design couldn’t save the season from its narrative shortcomings. Enjoyment: 5/10 My enjoyment of this cour was heavily weighed down by its overreliance on nostalgia and the fanbase’s overhyping of this arc. The execution felt sloppy, and the pacing was all over the place. Instead of focusing on the important parts of the story, the season jumped between scenes in a frantic attempt to cram too much into too little time. The humor also felt outdated, with gags interrupting serious moments and pulling me out of the immersion. Key characters weren’t given the time they deserved, and others shouldn’t have been included at all. It feels like the staff prioritized quantity over quality, which is a shame considering the potential of this arc. Final Thoughts Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Cour 3 had the potential to elevate one of the series’ weakest arcs, but it fell short in almost every way. While the sound design and occasional moments of animation were enjoyable, the barebones plot, bloated cast, and lack of stakes made it a slog to get through. If you’re a Bleach fan, it’s worth watching for the nostalgia—but keep your expectations low. This cour is a reminder that not everything can be fixed with callbacks and flashy animation. Here’s hoping the next cour delivers on the potential that this one missed.
Jay-Stevenson
12/29/2024, 03:59 PM
Bleach's Thousand Year Blood War arc had, in my opinion, a superb first cour and a bit of an underwhelming second cour. After a long wait, I was excited to see if the extra production time benefitted the season, and I also wanted to see if season 2's sacrifices ended up benefitting season 3 as many people told me it would. And it did. ==SPOILER WARNING== Bleach's third cour has so many strengths. It has - for the most part - very good animation and detail. It's new director has incorporated a ton of versatile and unique shots that add gravitas to the individual fights. It's voiceacting is, as always, superb, and its soundtrack is the best it has ever been. Most notably though, it adds a ton of new contact. We got brand new fights, none of which felt out of place or tacked on, as well as extended battles that we'd only seen brief fragments of in the manga. The additions elevate the story and help to flesh out individual character arcs. For example, Uryu's additional fight with Renji help to portray the character in a more ambiguous light, and his extended battle with Ichigo makes his perceived 'betrayal' that much more impactful because we see how well the pair understand each other. Bleach's fights fell apart for me in cour 2 but I think they've mostly recomposed themselves. For starters, it helps that there aren't too many fights, whereas the second season felt over bloated. Secondly, cour 2 fell into the issue of unexpected power up reveal followed by unexpected power up reveal which made the season feel very repetitive. That isn't really the case here. We have a lot more actual combat where the characters play around with the arsenal that is available to them and therefore when one character gets the upper hand in a fight, it feels much more earnt - for example, in the Mayuri vs Pernida fight or the Yoruichi vs Askin fight. That doesn't mean there are no deus ex-machina type moments - I'll get to that in a bit - but on the whole the fights feel stellar. The pacing of this season was well done, in my opinion, with no fights feeling prolonged to the point where it damages the viewing experience. The season's opening is stellar, with amazing animation and superb creative choices in regards to its use of colours. It's ending is also good, although its reversed version feels a bit half-baked as a concept and you can tell it doesn't fit properly. Nonetheless, both great themes. The season does a very good job at fleshing out characters with backstories. It also reveals the stories in segments, as opposed to one heavy dump, which allows the backstory and current events to run concurrently and keeps the episodes well paced. The Friends flashback sequences were very well done and I very much enjoyed how the episode switched between the past and the present to maintain good pace and action. Bleach has always been a character driven series and its character work is really something here. There's a lot of great moments between characters like Shinji and Momo, or Shunsui and Nanao. The story also progresses nicely, with some of the key villains falling, and the Soul Society going on the offensive. The change of setting is very nice and as much as I loved the red skies of the Sereitei and the dazzling blue of the Soul King Palace, I think the backdrop of darkness is the best in TYBW so far. There are some flaws with this season, however. I'll first discuss a couple things I would've liked to have seen done differently, but don't impact the score: - Bleach only introduces backstories directly before we see the pay-off of them. For example, we only see the Shunsui and Nanao flashback during the fight where it becomes relevant. It is the same with the Nemu and Mayuri flashbacks. I don't mind this, but would have liked a change of pace every now and then with some being at least partially introduced before they became integral to the plot, as I feel they would have then had more emotional impact. - I would have liked Pernida to be hand-drawn as giant Gerard was. The CGI just looked a bit weird in my opinion. - I would have liked the antithesis to have played into Renji's survival and his inclusion with the Gerard confrontation felt a bit janky. There are other issues I can't look past and ultimately pull the season down a bit. - Episode 1 begins with a lengthy recap - I think there are production reasons for this so I understand it but it does ultimately harm the viewing experience. The ending of episode 14 with Askin also felt like a weird way to end the season: it would have worked maybe partway through or in the penultimate episode but alas. - Episode 2 is not well animated and I was very surprised to see people enjoy the episode, as for me it is visually the weakest episode of all of TYBW. All detail is completely lost during the Yhwach vs Ichigo fight but this isn't replaced by good choreography or fluid animation - a lot of the fight is janky and simply comprised of different coloured lines flying around. It also was filled with awkward movements, especially the sequence with Ichigo stabbing the Soul King. This episode really hurts the overall quality of cour 3. - Nanao's sword feels just as much of an asspull in the anime as it does in the manga. It should have been foreshadowed, perhaps in the episodes were the Soul Reapers were preparing to head up to the Soul King Palace, as there was a lot of room for character interactions. It even could have been hinted at in the first part of the Shunsui vs Lille fight. Instead, it just ends up feeling cheap and a silly convenience. - Uryu's actions in episode 14 feel very silly. It doesn't make sense, to me, why he would just decide to tell Ichigo his plan when he did - why not do it sooner? Why not keep it a secret? I am excited for the consequences but it just felt so nonsensical. He gets surprised when Haschwalth appears but this doesn't make sense to me because he knew Haschwalth had the almighty. I am also confused as to why Haschwalth was referring to his normal schrift despite saying he'd swapped powers with Yhwach, and also as to why Yhwach wouldn't suspect Uryu if he too can see into the future and would know Uryu is a traitor, but because I feel like that will be explored in cour 4 these don't really affect me. Just Uryu's actions do. - Some of the dialogue feels corny but hey its a Shounen. I will say though, the soul reapers' reactions to Byakuya decapitating (?) Gerard in the final episode was ridiculous. How is killing your enemy, who threatens the entire universe as you know it, going 'too far'? Despite its flaws, Cour 3's strengths heavily outweigh them. This feels like a very solid season, with a good balance between different storylines, great pay-offs, emotional moments, exciting action-packed moments, and simply unforgettable moments. Paired with killer animation, composition, and an ingenious use of colours, along with a director with a unique vision, Cour 3 learns from Cour 2's mistakes and lays the groundwork for what could be a truly mind-blowing final season. I give this season a 9/10
Hakuren366
12/29/2024, 10:33 AM
The 3rd cour of Bleach TYBW nailed it again with it's cinematic animation especially on the big fights, OSTs, and anime-original content. However, the same can't be said of the pacing. Anyway, let's expound on them. So the first half of the first episode of cour 3 started on a recap of the last episode of cour 2. Some people viewed the recap as a red flag due to production issues. Others saw it as unnecessary because Pierrot could have just started where cour 2 left off (Yhwach falling after being seemingly defeated by Ichibe), which I really agree. If I were to rectify that situation,the recap could have been reduced to the bare minimum by not showing the entirety of the fights from the last episode of cour 2 and just exhibit key points, or just pick off where cour 2 stopped. Then around the 2nd half of this series, there happened two big fights that spanned 2 episodes each. It felt weird when the two alternated instead of finishing the first battle then starting the second so that it could have been a linear flow. Was it to display what happened on the other side of the battlefield? I believe those were the only noticeable pacing flaws that were irksome, at least for me. As for the soundtracks, some new ones were distinguishable. Others were remixes of old OSTs. Shiro Sagisu is still going strong. The tune for the OP theme is good, with its visuals showcasing what to expect of this anime. Not much opinion on the visuals of the ED theme, just standard Bleach, though hearing it was a unique experience. Lastly, this season has the most anime-original content compared to the previous 2 cours due to smaller manga content left to adapt. Most of it were fight extensions and new battles, then some were relegated to flashbacks in order to give more context to a few character motivations and history. Speaking of those new battles and the fight extenders, while their existences were not really necessary for the plot, at least they excelled on the animation with some sakuga here and there, a good mix of 2d and 3d that isn't so all over the place, and good fight choreography. Despite some imperfections, this anime still managed to perform well on other areas. Overall an enjoyable watch. The last episode might have ended in a cliffhanger, what with all the different events that took place all over Soul Society, but it did give off anticipation for the final season.
Mr_Ubaldo2
12/28/2024, 11:55 PM
3 Cours down one to go. This was a part of the manga where I think people had the most disconnect. Storylines were started and dropped, off screen fights, and characters simply disappeared without explanation. With this anime they have not only fixed many of the issues that occured in this arc but added to the lore of bleach. New content galore this season brought. Brand new scenes that connected the worlds and patched plot holes. Many characters got power upgrades and new transformations only alluded to in the manga. The art and animation was absolutely stunning, a huge upgrade from the first 2 cours.Sure I had my nit picks about CGI background mobs or one of the main bosses being CGI but it was used into barely noticeable moments so I let it slide. Studio Pierrot definitely earned their pay grade with this one. I am excited for the end, to see what cour 4 can bring to the table. We aren't done yet, Kubo and the boys at Pierrot is definite cooking up something special for the finale.
ggol
12/28/2024, 10:48 PM
Brief overview: A little bit weak at the start, but quickly gets better. Before I begin I want to criticise the management for the last episodes of both TYBW part 2 and 3 and the first episode of part 3 aswell. Towards the end of the last episode for both part 2 and 3, there is a 4-minute filler content of PowerPoint slides of characters discussing various topics and the first episode of part 3 has half of the content that is a recap from the last episode of part 2. As a fan of the original Bleach and having waited a long time for this.It is upsetting, to say the least. The three-episode should not be managed like this and the content could've been better used or managed. Now let's get to the review. Introduction The Quincies have arrived at the Soul King's palace. Squad Zero is at a desperate measure to defend the soul king from the Quincies aggression. While at the Soul Society the Soul Reapers is trying to find a way to save the world from below. Meanwhile, Ichigo and his friends are rushing toward the Quincy King to stop him. Story 9/10 The story has a weaker start, but it gets better when you invest more into it. The big problem with the story for part 3 is that the feeling of war and big battles have mostly been toned down in part 3 however in exchange they provide a deeper story and slower pacing to give more side characters more screen time and backstory. When it comes to Squad Zero's introduction it shows a strong interaction between the power difference of the Gotei 13 but its fight against the Ywach Royal guards is underwhelming. It is underwhelming as we only got to see one Bankai instead of all 4 of them and the most disappointing part is Ichibei's Bankai ability. I have pointed this out in my previous review of Bleach where the characters have a good showcase of their skills but it is not enough explanation and you left wanting more details of it. Ichibei's Futen Taisatsuryō is a good presentation of his skill, but it doesn't show its capability, it only shows the visual representation so most viewers would be wondering what his ability does because it doesn't kill or destroy anything. If you take a step back and look at the battles of Yamamoto compared to Ichibei. Yamamoto's fight was extremely well done because we get to see the explosion and the overwhelming power that Yamamoto has which makes the fight feel very heavy like you're seeing the strongest fighting the strongest. When it comes to the strongest character fighting the strongest you do expect more from the fight scene. Ichibei's fight is quite generic in a sense. His abilities is all about manipulation which allows him to significantly drain his opponent's power. It sounds broken and all but it needs to add more into the scene to make it more interesting such as adding a whole Quincy army and he wipes it out with his Bankai. This would make him look and feel way more powerful. The Squad Zero fight scene is well done but lacks the feeling of desperation. I give you an example of a sense of desperation from One Piece Marine Ford Arc (SPOILERS AHEAD) when Marco saved Luffy you get a sense of desperation because recently the Pirate allies had lost two of their most strongest and important characters which this severely weakened one side effectiveness in the war. You get the sense of desperation because Luffy is unconscious and all the other character is significantly wounded or tired from the endless combat and everyone is using all of their last strength to save Luffy from the Marines. This is a good example of desperation because everyone is trying to defend that one person while at the same time fighting without two of the most important and strongest characters which tips the scale of war. I am not saying that Bleach doesn't have a desperation element. The first part of TYBW is masterfully well done especially the scene when Yamamoto dies which is a great sense of desperation and unknowing of the desperation to find out the critical point of the opponent's power but there is a huge problem which is the extremely fast pacing of the story. It is also very important to add that element in the Soul King's palace as the Soul King is an important figure that keeps the world's balance. Also, another problem is that most of Ywach's royal guards showcase their real powers towards the end of the seasons which makes us wonder that is Squad zero really stronger than the whole Gotei 13? You can clearly see that most of the big battles and the true power/form held by the strongest Quincy is handle by the Gotei 13. Squad zero only bought down a fraction of Ywach's Royal guards power. They should've made some sort of way to keep squad zero in the fight instead of replacing them with the Gotei 13. Characters 9/10 The characters is quite good. as the pacing has been fixed it gave a lot of depth to the character's story. It gave us more depth into the relationship between Ukitake, and Shunsui, and how Ukitake is related to one of the important Key elements of the story. It also gave us more intention on what the Quincy King wanted. There is extra screen time from the previous characters that died such as Unohana and Yamamoto which adds more emotional moments. Shunsui knows that they are in a desperate situation and this character is portrayed beautifully in a passive-aggressive way. He knows that they have to sacrifice one of their own to achieve victory and at the same time is also very emotional and stressed out. However, he knows that being emotional at a critical time would cause severe morale issues within the soul reapers. That's why Shunsui acted confident in front of his peers while deep inside you can feel with him the emotion and the difficult decision that he has to make. I don't know how to explain this exactly but Bleach has this feeling of uncertainty, uneasiness, and mystery toward its characters, which brings a massive amount of attention and build-up. The most notable ones are Shusui, Urahara, and Mayuri they all show signs that they know something but are hiding it to prevent further disasters from other characters. There is one problem with the dialogue between Ichigo and Ishida, which is badly written that is mostly on Ichigo's side. Most of the time Ichigo keeps saying that Ywhach is about to destroy the world and do bad things. However, let's be for real, all the people in the world know that Ishida joined the Wandenreich with a specific reason and Ichigo should be finding out or at least asking him why he joins the Quincies instead of explaining on what is going on. Ichigo's narrative mostly focuses on the what and does not give enough deficit such as the why, when, and how. It would be more compelling to add more to the dialogue such as what about the past struggle they have been together or understanding both of their family heritage that would draw closer to both character's relationship. Animation 9/10 Aside from the battle between squad zero. The rest of the fight scene is great and many quality has been put into it, especially Renji's fight scene we get to see a lot more of his new Bankai ability and Ichigo's fight with Uryu. There is a lot more CGI in this part and perhaps the most within the TYBW series it can be a massive letdown for some but the CGI does have a really good quality that has been put into them. Music 10/10 Now, if you are an old fan like me the music for TYBW is a masterpiece, especially at part 3. This is because they kept most of the original music from the old version but added and improved it to fit the modern audience. This is like a love letter that you received 10 years ago, but just recently you received the love letter from the same person with improved sentencing and vocabulary that has been written into it. TLDR Bleach is a well-balanced story that is about adventure, comedy, and lovable characters. It is not trying to be what it isn't supposed to be by adding unnecessary genres such as romance or next generation that replace the lovable main character that we have always loved or been used to seeing for the past 10 years. It has great animation, characters, and adds some spice to the old music to give more modern flavor to the present day. This is a must-watch for anyone that loves anime and even though there is a decent amount of errors at the start it is still the same old Bleach that we have been loving for the past 20 years.
Cyrose
12/28/2024, 01:32 PM
I would rather live in sad reality than live in fabricated happiness. OG Bleach (366) was somewhat decent as a TV series. It had so many cool characters and events that was meaningful, funny and entertaining to watch. However, this new seasons “Thousand Year Blood War” is completely the opposite. Old Bleach was slow given all the events to build up for the viewer, but now things happen in an instant that just ruined the whole build up and connection for all the fights to unfold and for characters and the story to grace in any way. Fans after the last episode of the previousseason of TYBW hyped up Senjumaru like she is the 🐐 and unbeatable. I knew right the way what is going to happen. It is task book Bleach outcome; She gets this super power up to impress everyone, then she gets destroyed by plot as always. This was indeed the main issue with Tite Kubos writing. He can’t possibly write meaningful and comprehensive stories that has fundamentally driven by the act of the characters. Rather he writes nonsensical and soulless outcomes of the events since these characters like Senjumaru or Ichibei are so powerful that they could have ended the series. So does Aizen in the OG series should have defeated Ichigo with a single move, but Tite tried his best to gave Ichigo 2 years to train in the middle of the story which was hours in the actual timeline so he can somehow makes this train wreck story move forward into.. an absolute madness like it did. The whole conflict is ridiculous anyway, Quincy’s are just made for being the bad guys that couldn’t get along with the Shinigamis. Obviously someone pulled the strings to make them hate each other, but they are so stupid to just talk through things. It is also way more interesting to put on flashy, but zero effort fights. The real reason for my dissatisfaction with Bleach is its chaotic emptiness and the lack of any revelatory narrative to tell. Battle on top of battle just consumed this series alive since it has nothing behind its flashy overpowered characters acting battles between each others for years. Every single Bleach episode now is random fighting against random pop out plot device characters that you will only know for no longer for one episode as the “strongest opponent”. Those who got beaten up and should have died like four times so far are getting stronger and still alive… Those who should have stayed alive are getting killed by plot. Ridiculous.. Lets talk about the battles and powers, because this show possesses the most unbalanced power system and unga-bunga action tactics ever. All the powers are random and hardly had any foundation whatsoever. Senjumaru should have killed everyone, but again the plot saved all the Quincy’s… so the story can continue. Not to mention she killed everyone in her Bankai, except Uruyu so HE can be the one who ends her. Even Bleach fans knows that she is way above the league of Uruyu, but still can’t accept that this series and Tite Kubo is just playing with the viewers with his extremely poor writing. Since no one saying this out loud, he is free to write this mediocre nonsense all day. Also, since when does Uruyu can use Sasukes Rinnegan abilities? Didn’t know it was their voice actor’s ability all along. “This is my highest level” until you kill me and I come back stronger Ahh power system. They are supposedly multiverse level, but in battle they do normal human damage to each other. The biggest attack power is probably small town level, but usually their attacks are building or wall level. However their aura and “spiritual pressure is shaking worlds”. We all know aura is a big deal. The sad fact is that the whole power scaling is so unbalanced that no strong opponent can last longer than one second against another stronger opponent. They one tapping each other because they are so lacking correspondence to their titles. No worries though, the gap might be large in powers, but they are equally boring in battle tactics. The villains in bleach follows the trope of evil for the sake of evil without any reasonable or rational justification of their actions or goals. They just want the opposite of what the other group wants. Kindergartners level scrimmage. Deaths also has no emotional connection since characters dies from one frame to another without any logical connection to the battle or story. Tite creates these crazy cool characters to appear epic, just for them to die a few frames later. One tap 90%. Also gives random explanations to some new stuff that he pulled out from no where. The animators had to drag the scenes like “his aura is shaking worlds now” it might look cool and powerful.. but definitely not well written or enjoyable. When it comes to actual battle, one side acts like they are the strongest ever, then when they don’t have anything else to say gets one tapped immediately. Don’t worry though, they are fine. Yamamoto: “There is no better protection here than myself.” Five minutes later: 🥝 Poor Toushirou was humiliated five times and he still alive. Team Zero were named zero, because you need zero effort to defeat them. (Strongest group in Bleach btw). Ichigo dies for the fifth time, I guess the training at the dinner table and in the jacuzzi wasn’t enough for him. “Absolute Cinema” more like absolute Circus. Considering that all Quincy’s are turning into a Pokemon, it is pretty accurate. Whenever you hear an anime is called “peak cinema” - run. Conclusion, This series in its essence is all smoke, and people acting like there is fire. Bleach was actually somewhat interesting as a shounen back then on its TV scheduled pacing. Now unfortunately it rock button with its extremely low effort of writing standards and nonsensical unbalanced content that made it look like a random piece of show off that has nothing to offer, but lazy action on top of action without no genuine or valuable content to disclose. This type of battle Shounen what Bleach TYBW provided has been the most abundant of all action stories I have seen. What starts with a Ban-kai will end with a Ban-kai, eventually. Everything in the middle is milky-parody. As a result, Bleach has fallen from its knees to its face with this one. “Bah-ouch”. Final Score: 1/10 ⭐️ I have a big appetite, but after all these exquisitely plated titles, I am still hungry for quality. Thank you for taking the time to read.
whiteflame55
12/28/2024, 08:30 AM
It really shouldn’t be a surprise that this series keeps popping off season after season, but it remains a joy to watch Bleach continue to thrive in the Thousand Year Blood War Arc. I have plenty of issues with how the manga handled this arc, but this portion in particular was one I looked forward to as it contains a few of the more interesting fights in the arc. Kurotsuchi Mayuri’s fights are always a spectacle to behold and contain their own distinct flavor, so watching him pop off makes the season strong by itself, but this season has several memorable and visually stunning fightsas it moves along the track to the finale. My only substantial complaint with this season is that there was a rather long lull in the middle where the pacing dropped off for reasons that seemed unnecessary to include. I get that it can’t all be fights, but that portion of the season was the obvious down point, particularly episodes 4 and 5. Still, this season fires on all cylinders for the vast majority of its run. A lot of the "problems" I've seen people cite with this and previous seasons largely come down to not liking shonen tropes, which is fine, but for me, when they're done this well, it doesn't bother me. These are characters finally unveiling some of their absolute best after seasons of holding back, and it's glorious to watch. I can’t wait to see how they end it.
Stark700
12/28/2024, 08:01 AM
2024 has been a year that can be described as 'giving back to the fans'. Franchises such as Fairy Tail and Spice and Wolf made their returns while classics such as Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura got their remake treatment. It came as no surprise that Bleach wanted a piece of that pie. With confidence, I can say that Bleach marks one of the greatest anime comeback in recent memory. It wasn't a long break so if you need some refresh of memory, just read the premise and the promotional videos. The core of the plot still involves Ichigo, Soul Society, and their allies defend againstYhwach and his draconian Wandenreich army. The most elite among them are known as the Sternritter. This season pits our main characters against some of the most creative and deadly enemies the franchise has ever seen. Sternritter's higher ranked members are no pushovers as they push the Gotei 13 captains to their limits. Even the captain commander Shunsui Kyouraku is pushed to his limit when confronted by the Sternritter leader. Watching this season constantly pushes the limits of what Bleach characters can do. From malevolent transformations to otherwordly abilities, there's no shortage of entertainment. As a very plot focused season, we also find out Yhwach's motivations and how far he's willing to push himself to achieve his ends. Commanding a legion of forces, he is describe as a 'final boss' of the season. To get to him, this season truly explifies the meaning of war. It's interesting to note that to achieve a meaningful plot, there's character background stories told for both Soul Reapers and Quincys. Characters such as Nanao and Ukitake's stories are told with important narratives. Others including Bazz-B gets deeper character study of how they ened up as who they are. Bleach's background storytelling sometimes defines what it means through loss, characterized by a character suffering through some form of tragedy. This is no different when we see how war and tragdies affects them. Bazz-B is a classic example of what he has experienced in the past and present. Nonetheless, popular characters in the past arcs also return who viewers should be very familiar with. However, because this season is heavily plot focused on the war, their roles are given through battles rather than more background stories. I've always thought Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War had a thirst to prove itself through unorthodox battles. Let's say if you're in for some glorious action, this season won't be a letdown. The chereography achieve cinematic sequence through its usage of character movements, expressions, and creativity. Every character in this arc is unique in itself that we question what their limits are. Yhwach is at the top of the hierarchy as we witness his power, a force that truly sets his reptuation in this entire final arc. Others such as Mayuri and Kyouraku have more creative abilities to deal with their adversaries beyond just brute force. To put it in perspective, Ichigo is not the one carrying this season on his back. But likewise, this season is also a rollercoaster of emotions when unresolved conflicts take place. For instance, how does Ichigo deal with Uryu, his former friend who joined the other side of this war? Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict continues to prove itself that no matter how longm it delivers what fans want to see. From the emotional storytelling through its cinematic battles, there's really no shortage what this final arc has set out to to do. It once again shows that Bleach is one of the greatest anime to make its comeback in history.

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