After almost a year Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood war anime is back on the air! I would be lying if I wrote I hadn't been expecting it to come last month (September) because the second cour started to appear back then. But it's a good thing the cour 3 finally started!
Despite that, I think the first episode was a bit mid. The sole reason is the fact almost half of the episode was a recap of last cour's two last fights. Don't get me wrong, I still think Senjumaru's fight against the Quincies was epic, and seeing her Bankai was wonderful. Ichibe going against Yhwach was also something to be mesmerized about, but because those fights were so epic...at least I could remember those as clearly as if I had just yesterday finished watching cour 2's last episodes. Even so, while I found it a bit puzzling why there was such a recap, I could somehow understand it. It'll give the animators (hopefully) a budget for other epic scenes yet to come and once the anime finally truly picked itself, it felt just a natural continuation. Even so...it made me question 'what if they had cut out that recap and used that time for something else?'
But moving on. The third cour only kicked on after that recap and just like every manga reader would know, it was this time the quincies turn to win. The manga never showed us how, so seeing how Yhwach and Uryuu brought down both Ichibe and Senjumaru was interesting.
I really liked Uryuu's comeback against Senjumaru. I believe we haven't really seen Uryuu going so strongly against anyone except at the very beginning of the Bleach Mayuri. Which Senjumaru made the comparison. It almost made me laugh when she made that comment. It was like her breaking indirectly the fourth wall!
Yhwach vs. Ichibe was epic. The fact Ichibe broke down to that poem-ish singing middle of the fight to bring a new side of his Bankai (as youngsters these days would call it [talk about Ichibe and Senjumaru slaying things with their witty choice of words]) was epic. The animation was also epic. It felt very unique and refreshing, despite the fact there was some 3D here and there, but the makers still made it work. Too bad, Yhwach had seen that all and claimed his victory just like Uryuu who ended up playing Senjumaru like back with Mayuri, but hopefully this time without as big a cost as with Mayuri. Truly. Uryuu vs. Senjumaru felt like a parallel to Uryuu vs. Mayuri. But with that twist, this time Uryuu was the bad guy -at least from a certain perspective.
I also felt a strong parallel when Ichibe asked Ichigo to stop Yhwach. I don't know, but that parallel felt like a parallel to Kisuke? I can't now remember (it has been quite a long time) if Kisuke ever asked Ichigo to protect Soul Society or sort of, but the way Ichibe talked, his behavior, and the fact 'you don't have to kill the Quincy King (Yhwach) to protect Soul King, just stop him' just gave me massive Kisuke vibes asking things from Ichigo. I know many other shinigami have asked Ichigo to protect Soul Society when they haven't or sort of, but this...just like déja vu. I feel like this episode as a whole had lots of parallels. It was...interesting from that perspective.
Yhwach thrusting his blade to Soul King felt very ominous at the end. That and paired with the next episode's title, we can expect something epic next time!
Plus, the hint of Kyoraku going to see Aizen? I can't wait to see Aizen joining the fryer, since it won't just be your usual social visit Kyoraku will do.
Lastly, the opening of this cour is just epic. I really love the aesthetic of a monochrome setting with hints of color. It capture's viewer's sight of certain things while making the viewer somewhat 'blind' to other things that might occur. The ending made me giggle as the music sounds so upbeat and happy-happy, even though the words aren't that happy-go-lucky nor are the animations. But the beat being like that after things end with an ominous note? Yeah, talk about the contrast between things. In fact, the ending felt like playing with contrasts as Uryuu was on the side of the 'darkness' while Ichigo was on the side of 'light', yet in the end...they felt like just two opposites of the same coin, meeting somewhere in-between. The midnight sun was something that caught my attention when I watched the ending and read the lyrics of the song. It was obviously a figure of speech, but somehow...it felt a significant one. Also, once again, the fact the ending song's name was 'MONOCHROME' while the opening was almost fully monochrome felt like a huge parallel between the two things. In fact, the whole episode felt like it had lots of parallels... |