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Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War |OT| If You Wanna See Some Action

H-I-M

Member
I haven’t been this excited since I have learned to masturbate.

What an amazing adaptation.

Kubo doing justice to Squad 0 is legit fucking amazing.

What an ending.

I never thought Kubo would be able to redeem Sqaud 0.
When mother said BANKAI, I LOST IT

27A0.gif
 
Surprising that this is actually worth watching. Better than anything to come out of Bleach since the Rukia rescue arc a lifetime ago.
Where do I begin?

I stopped reading the manga and watching the anime after Aizen betrayal of Soul Society in the first arch. Everything that has come after that was a blur with all that Espada crap.

Interesting but it didn't keep my interest for a long time.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Where do I begin?

I stopped reading the manga and watching the anime after Aizen betrayal of Soul Society in the first arch. Everything that has come after that was a blur with all that Espada crap.

Interesting but it didn't keep my interest for a long time.
I don't think much is worth watching after the Soul Society / Rukia Rescue arc in the original series. I've seen a lot of it but it's so drawn out, repetitive, "my power level beats yours --> no, my power level beats yours --> surprise, my power level...", and poorly animated.

Just skip to Thousand Year Blood War after those. If you know the main characters and the Soul Society captains you're really not missing much since it utilizes virtually nothing from the rest of the series.
 

NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

Biggest Trails Stan
Bleach got boring for me after it went the usual shounen route of turning from an interesting anime/manga with interesting characters and world, straight into a neverending fighting tournament where people inexplicably decide to pair off and see who's strongest for 3-4 seasons. I enjoyed it with DBZ, but I don't need it to happen every time.

Did it ever make it past this and are they fighting a greater evil yet? What's the new season about?

I always prefered Naruto manga more but the Soul Society Arc and The Thousand Year Blood War Arc were both fantastic, just wish the rest of the story arcs were on par with those two in the Bleach manga. I just find lot of the stuff to be forgettable for me

These new seasons adapt the last story arc of the manga. I'm waiting till all the episodes have aired since I heard they are doing a fantastic job. It's four seasons with thirteen episodes each. It's on the third season. And they been taking their time to make sure the quality is good with each episode
 
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They kept the whole English dub cast for TYBW by the way in case thats how you prefer watching. I actually like the dub more since the animation is so beautiful for this final arc that I don’t want to spend time looking at the subtitles.
Well, to be honest. Back in the 2000's or even the 90's I didn't really have a choice but to watch anime with anything other than the original voice acting. So I'm used to Sub. Unless I'm watching Cowboy Bebop or GitSl then I tolerate dubs.
 

Nankatsu

Member
Bleach became so peak again, it's insane.

Plus, it never ceases to amaze me how menacing Aizen is everytime he gets screentime.

Such an impactful and well written villain.
 
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TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
I'm an outlier, I enjoyed the entire Bleach run, filler included. I thought the Bount arc was a legitimately cool and logical breather period and an homage to horror tropes (the endless maze, the creepy museum, the spoopy hospital with the haunted faucets) and then the introduction of the main villains in the arc ended up being this vampire/voodoo inspired rogues gallery of villains with no connection to the Canon- which means for once you don't know where the story is going, other than that it won't contradict manga canon and most of the filler characters will die/never appear again.

People say it's slow, but it's pretty distinctly split into three acts: the first third (admittedly useless) with the Mod Souls, the second third with the Bounts in Karakura Town, and the third...third where they go to the Soul Society and have an big showdown. It's pointless, yeah. It's filler. But it's essentially a reworked version of the arc directly prior to it, just replacing the Gotei 13 with a new anime exclusive group of opponents for Ichigo and Co. I never get (unless the character writing is shit) when people refute filler for the reason that it isn't canon. If the characters are written true to their canon versions, I don't see why anyone wouldn't enjoy more time with characters and settings they love.
 

Fbh

Member
I had somehow missed that entire second season was already out.

It's still pretty fun and I enjoy the overall style and directing but I'm also reminded of why in the manga my initial hype for this arc eventually dwindled and turned into disappointment.
There are some fun powers and it's nice seeing the reveal of multiple Bankais but the battles kinda suck. Almost all of them are:

- Character A uses special power and one shots a shocked looking Character B.
- Oh wait it turns out character B wasn't actually using their full power so they are actually ok and now they one shot a shocked looking character A.
- Oh wait actually turns out character A also wasn't using their full power so they are actually ok and now they one shot a shocked looking character B.
-Oh wait actually character B had yet another power up so they are actually ok and now they one shot a shocked looking character A.

These feel less like traditional Shonen fights and more like various character taking turns to go "this isn't even my final form". And it's fun for a while but when it's always the same chapter after chapter it starts to get old.
 

Rickyiez

Member
These feel less like traditional Shonen fights and more like various character taking turns to go "this isn't even my final form". And it's fun for a while but when it's always the same chapter after chapter it starts to get old.
Well isn't that how traditional shonen is like? Bleach draw alot of inspiration from DBZ which is also a traditional shonen and pretty much the originator of "this isn't even my final"
 
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Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Resubbed to Hulu and caught back up. Rewatched Season 2 via English dub and Season 3 subbed. The swingy fights remind of Hunter X Hunter. People can get absolutely killed in one or two techniques, there’s not too many back-and-forth DBZ fights. Only Ichigo really has DBZ-style fights since he doesn’t wanna kill his opponents, has a generic energy blast, and can fly fast. Its funny how he is consistently one of the least interesting characters in his own show.

Ukitake episode has the best directing and screenplay so far imo. Zero fighting, but awesome direction. Aizen return was kino. Also goddamn there’s too many waifus in this show now, Yoruichi, Soi Fon, Rukia, and the various mega milkers, yeesh.
 
Love how they're expanding things in the anime.

I'll still say Gerald Valkyrie is the best and strongest Quincy after Juha Bach and the Balance.
 

Boss Mog

Member
That was a weird one.
Kind of convenient that Pernida ends up against Mayuri, the one guy who can find a way to beat him (although I'm sure a few others could as well). Hopefully Kenpachi can get healed by Orihime cause it's sad to see him all fucked up.

I'll still say Gerald Valkyrie is the best and strongest Quincy after Juha Bach and the Balance.
Lille Barro is the leader of the Schutzstaffel though.

And don't forget Uryu, he's now 3-0 vs strong opponents. I think it's pretty clear that he will fight Haschwalt at some point. Haschwalt doesn't trust him, we always see cuts of him observing him.

I feel like Askin is probably pretty strong too since he's the only Sternritter other than Haschwalt to have been brought up to the royal palace. Yhwach didn't hesitate to sacrifice the others. He's also perceptive, he knew Auswählen was gonna happen and wondered early on if he was gonna be one of the chosen (to go with Yhwach). I gotta say, I enjoy his antics of running away and looking for easy wins:

 
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Paltheos

Member
Bleach continues to be good.

The Renji-Ishida fight in ep. 7 is just a sight, and Mayuri is always great at chewing the scenery so ep. 8 is also fun. The fears about Pernidas were... partly on point. I think some of the 3D modeling in distance shots look choppy and awkward but the closer ones fare better.
 

Boss Mog

Member
They uploaded the reverse ending to Youtube and one thing that stands out is that when played in reverse, at around the 38 second mark, it looks like Uryu is aiming at Yhwach and the camera quickly zooms in on Yhwach as if it was placed on the arrowhead hurling towards him, only for Haschwalt to intercept it in the following shot. A sign of things to come perhaps...

 
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Boss Mog

Member
I doubt Lille is dead, he's the supposedly the strongest Quincy aside from Yhwach. Would be lame if he was. But then again they did my boy Starrk dirty like that, was Shunsui then too... Although I read somewhere that in one of those data books that Starrk's status is "Unknown" where as dead guys have "Deceased" status listed. So who knows, maybe he's just chilling somewhere watching this whole shit go down.

DsOCeA5.jpeg
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
IMG-8347.jpg
God DAMN the gore in this ep. I know people liked the Renji fight but I think this is my favorite so far this season. Also Nemu is so hot.
 

Boss Mog

Member
Great episode! Mayuri is one of my favorite characters so I really enjoyed this one. We got so see a rare glimpse of his human side.
 

Boss Mog

Member
After Nemu saving Mayuri, looks like Saturday we'll get Nanao saving Shunsui judging from the end of the episode. When you watch this season's opening now, you realize it's nothing but spoilers the whole way through.
 
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Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Some people will consider Nanao’s sword to be complete deus ex machina bs. But honestly the bad guy in this fight had ridiculous regenerative and offensive capabilities too. His energy blasts were cutting through matter like warm butter.

Its a Modern Warfare 2 scenario where all the options are overpowered which oddly creates balance in its own way.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
I don't think much is worth watching after the Soul Society / Rukia Rescue arc in the original series. I've seen a lot of it but it's so drawn out, repetitive, "my power level beats yours --> no, my power level beats yours --> surprise, my power level...", and poorly animated.

Just skip to Thousand Year Blood War after those. If you know the main characters and the Soul Society captains you're really not missing much since it utilizes virtually nothing from the rest of the series.

The Arrancar Saga was murdered by pacing. It's one of those anime/manga arcs that flows MUCH BETTER in a binge watch/read session or three. It's not that the actual plotting gets better or anything, but not having to wait a week for another chapter or episode and having the option to omit filler episodes/arcs makes for the intended uninterrupted pacing.

Bleach had the same problem with filler that most of the big three (of any era) had/have. Plotlines that take up like a third of the total runtime of the story that are TIGHTLY locked into their own timeline. This means that when filler has to appear, it has to be either set in the narrative's past or in some magical AU where the characters have the same knowledge and skills as the current Arc, despite there being no feasible way that the location and timing would match up.

That said, narratively the Arrancar arc's first instigating action is the capture of Orihime, which Halfway through the Arc is revealed to be a big troll from Aizen, essentially, which serves to make the audience feel like fools who wasted their time on a Canon filler arc. Then there was a tease for Orihime's power and character development, implying she would become a mover for the plot. She still develops a bit, but the lion's share of her character growth is shown in the Fullbringer arc, as opposed to the story where she's the primary goal of both the good and bad side.

Like...there's really compelling MOMENTS in that arc. It's like someone threw a jigsaw puzzle made of gold onto the floor and refused to let you solve it. Really good components haphazardly arranged so that their good or even great individual parts lose their beauty and cohesion.
 

lifa-cobex

Member
The Arrancar Saga was murdered by pacing. It's one of those anime/manga arcs that flows MUCH BETTER in a binge watch/read session or three. It's not that the actual plotting gets better or anything, but not having to wait a week for another chapter or episode and having the option to omit filler episodes/arcs makes for the intended uninterrupted pacing.

Bleach had the same problem with filler that most of the big three (of any era) had/have. Plotlines that take up like a third of the total runtime of the story that are TIGHTLY locked into their own timeline. This means that when filler has to appear, it has to be either set in the narrative's past or in some magical AU where the characters have the same knowledge and skills as the current Arc, despite there being no feasible way that the location and timing would match up.

That said, narratively the Arrancar arc's first instigating action is the capture of Orihime, which Halfway through the Arc is revealed to be a big troll from Aizen, essentially, which serves to make the audience feel like fools who wasted their time on a Canon filler arc. Then there was a tease for Orihime's power and character development, implying she would become a mover for the plot. She still develops a bit, but the lion's share of her character growth is shown in the Fullbringer arc, as opposed to the story where she's the primary goal of both the good and bad side.

Like...there's really compelling MOMENTS in that arc. It's like someone threw a jigsaw puzzle made of gold onto the floor and refused to let you solve it. Really good components haphazardly arranged so that their good or even great individual parts lose their beauty and cohesion.
As you say. The Arrancar arch has a terrible pacing issue.
Aside from catching up with the book and having to inject filler and dragging out certain episodes. It has a lot of other problems.

The back ground setting is extremely boring. Their are a good amount of episodes of running through a dessert at night. Filler making it even longer.
Then hallways. Then dessert during the day.

The character designs are also rather dull. Mostly speaking about the Arrancar.
Soul Reapers dress in black so Arrancar dress in white?

It was also around this time that it switched to HD visuals and it made it look really lazy to me.

The story picks up again when Ichigo fights Batman Arrancar. But it's a long while into that.
I'd stopped watching when they were fighting the first Arrancar in the hallway. The one with the yoyo that also makes an appearance in this.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
As you say. The Arrancar arch has a terrible pacing issue.
Aside from catching up with the book and having to inject filler and dragging out certain episodes. It has a lot of other problems.

The back ground setting is extremely boring. Their are a good amount of episodes of running through a dessert at night. Filler making it even longer.
Then hallways. Then dessert during the day.

The character designs are also rather dull. Mostly speaking about the Arrancar.
Soul Reapers dress in black so Arrancar dress in white?

It was also around this time that it switched to HD visuals and it made it look really lazy to me.

The story picks up again when Ichigo fights Batman Arrancar. But it's a long while into that.
I'd stopped watching when they were fighting the first Arrancar in the hallway. The one with the yoyo that also makes an appearance in this.

Yeah, I'll agree on the aspect ratio change and especially the one-off fillers about like kendo tournaments and ghost chefs and shit just make it feel totally disjointed.

Some of the Arrancar designs were definitely out there, too. The Privaron Espada and some of the Fracciones have either really dull no-shit-sherlock powers or they look like plate armor armadillos. But when Kubo hits on a design or concept, he tends to HIT. Ulquiorra, Nnoitra, Grimmjow, Baraggan. All fantastic designs.

Setting is kinda up to the interpreter. I'm a little sixteen year old goth fuck at heart, so the aesthetic of an endless desert with white sand, quartz trees, and an eternal night lit only by an ever present moon was sorta eye candy for me, simple as it was. As for Las Noches and the fake sky, I think it was put there because of contrast. Stark difference to the outside of the Palace. Like You mentioned with Soul Reapers and Arrancar being primarily in black and white coloring. Bleach is all about contrast, opposites, convergence, and balance.
 

killatopak

Gold Member
Just caught up with the latest epi.

Quick question!?
Did Shunsui fuck his bankai spirit in order to create his other sword to then hide the priest sword?
I mean if you watch it, it's just his main sword spirit's eye. The face is just a shadow from which a sword is pulled out from. The only substantial thing on her was the eye which the main sword spirit is missing.

It does bring an interesting question. Is his sword a singular entity before he hid the family sword?
 

lifa-cobex

Member
I mean if you watch it, it's just his main sword spirit's eye. The face is just a shadow from which a sword is pulled out from. The only substantial thing on her was the eye which the main sword spirit is missing.

It does bring an interesting question. Is his sword a singular entity before he hid the family sword?
I see what you mean about the eye thing. so yea you can say he split it's power.
But it's main ability is children's games which i would guess is the child's spirit.
The bankai is the play which obviously comes from the woman.

This leads me to think they are two separate entities.
So maybe he has another bankai in time or even another shiki?

But that other spirit has a full body. Which takes me back to my original question.
His bankai spirit was pissed he was wearing another woman's kimono. They were awfully close.

He seems the sort to fuck a bankai spirit.
Just sayin.
 
The best anime along with One Punch Man for the manga side. Bleach is the more serious while OPM is more on the comedy side.

Lillie Barro was a absolute beast in the episode, he has the strongest attack so far and is probably the strongest villain right now with the exception of Almighty mode Bach. But I bet the Trompete could destroy Bach if he wasn't on guard with the Almighty. Hopefully Gerald Valkyrie would be even stronger and that Kudo buff him.
 

Fbh

Member
Well isn't that how traditional shonen is like? Bleach draw alot of inspiration from DBZ which is also a traditional shonen and pretty much the originator of "this isn't even my final"
Somehow missed this reply, so sorry for the late answer.

I mean yeah the whole power up thing and "this isn't even my final form" is a pretty standard shonen trope. My problem here is that there aren't really any interesting dynamics during fights or any sort of balanced back and forth, it's basically characters taking turns to completely dominate the fight.

Though to be fair I don't thin it's an issue with late Bleach specifically but rather a common side effects of Shonen that keeps on going for too long. Eventually the powers and abilities become so over the top and convoluted that it becomes hard to keep the fights balanced.
Like I think one of the best fights this season, one that actually had that balance and "back and forth" I'm looking for, was Ichigo vs Ishida. And I think it's mostly because they have pretty simple and straightforward powers.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
So nice to see so much color this episode. What a pretty little vignette that didn’t have to drag into next week’s ep. This arc is peak Saturday morning cartoon goodness, lads.
 
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