The new flashback was really interesting. None of that was in the manga, and it hinted at stuff that were only revealed in the sequel novels by Narita. We're probably going to get the Soul King's full backstory at some point.

Ichibe doesn't have the multiple pupil powers, he was using the left arm of the Soul King (if you recall his appearance, all of the SK's limbs were missing) to seal Yhwach's powers. It's not like it was his own arm, so he doesn't care. This of course only made Yhwach more disgusted by Ichibe.

This also means Yhwach was nerfed when he faced Yamamoto a thousand years ago.

We pretty much entered new territory even for anime watchers here. Yhwach escaping the cage now and with this method to boot is a major change. Depending on how things go next week, cour 3 and 4 could be very different from the manga.

I wonder if the anime is going to reveal the Soul King's deal considering all the extra information we're getting compared to rhe manga.

Nianzol didn't last 2 minutes but his power wasn't a joke. He practically couldn't be defeated by physical fighters.

Hey, it's kind of nice to see Urahara and Hiyori reunited after so long...minus Hiyori's concern that they sent Ichigo and Co. up to die to buy time for whatever the Visored were able to put together. Oh, and Yoruichi has a brother :twitch:!?

Ichibe vs Yhwach! With Ichibe trying to prove that the brush is mightier than the sword! And the hand! Though we also see what Yhwach is able to do to himself just to keep in the fight :eyespin:.

Lucky Uryu getting to fight Senjumaru...not that he does much good against her :eyebrow:.

Jugram has a shield! Though it's not very effective against Tenjuro. So THAT's where he keeps his Zanpakuto :nod:.

I knew they were giving Askin too much screentime to not be important, turns out he's The Death Dealer and can turn someone's blood into poison against them. Which would be an instant-kill if not for Oh-Etsu being willing to release his own blood and Tenjuro supplying him enough to keep him going. But A for effort :smile:!

Jeez, poor Bambi. Giselle is basically just a vampire that sucks out her zombies in the most sexual way possible. Even if Bambi is a corpse at this point, she doesn't deserve this. Especially when Gigi abuses her and then acts like she's in love with her. Meanwhile Lilitotto is just taking all this nonsense in stride :meh:.

How is Yhwach going to turn things around? Why by doing his favorite tactic...sacrificing his own subodinates! Because it turns out the big plan wasn't to destroy the Soul Society but to use Auschwalen to absorb the souls and powers of the defeated or weakened Quincies to power up Yhwach and the Royal Guard for round 2 with Squad Zero. I almost feel bad for the Sternritter, though Bazz-B and Lilitotto aren't taking it lying down :twitch:.

Oh hey, Ukitake! Count on him to still be optimistic despite how desperate the battle is :blush:.

Couldn't go without using Rina Sato for the next episode preview, huh ;).

The Royal Guard may have recovered both their power and confidence, but Squad Zero isn't going to just sit around and let them win! We've even got Kirio making a makeshift battle arena for some cool match-ups :nod:!

Lille now has the ability to shoot through anything and avoid shooting what he doesn't want to! Perfect against Oh-Etsu! Kirio gets transformed into her waifu form, but Pernida consumes everything she throws at them! Gerard is so invulnerable that even Senjumaru piercing his heart can't kill him! And Askin is to crafty and tricky for Tenjuro :eyespin:!

I was wondering about their Bankai's. Turns out Squad Zero is SO powerful that they have to basically kill 3/4 of them to unleash their full power and use just one of their Bankai's. And it's so powerful even the Seiretei and Isshin and Ryuken in the world of the living can sense it. We got to see Senjumaru in this episode, but I can only imagine how OP the rest are :twitch:.

Senjumaru just waxing lyrical in a woven patterned deathrap world where she seemingly kills everybody off, including Uryu. At least they died beautifully :T_T:.

Ichibe is unleashing an ancient version of Bankai against Yhwach who isn't too concerned...until Ichibe drains so much black that he utterly covers Black Ant's existence and then boots him through the Royal Palace like the bug he's become. Weaponized blackness is so Bleach. Also, show's over folks :eek:!?

Oh, and NOW they bring back Kon and the Illustrated Guide to Soul Reapers for some completely random and out-of-place comedy? They didn't even animate these, they just used heads. What a legend you are, Bleach :eyespin:.

Those two episodes were amazing overall. Most of it was completely new content, showcasing the power of Squad Zero instead of having them lose off-panel after the Aushwalhen like in the manga. The four of them having their bankai sealed unless three of them die seems like bad design (and honestly, feels like an excuse for Kubo to not have to come up with four new bankais), but Senjumaru's bankai was immensely powerful even if I have no clue how it works. Looks like it can figure out their weaknesses and wipe up something on the spot to take advantage of them? Or is it all just illusions? If it's the latter, it's too similar to Rose's bankai. Another reason Squad Zero is smart: Senjumaru didn't bother explaining her ability and just coldly killed them all.

It was a very weird place to end the season. I mean, the cliffhanger is the good guys winning? Whaaat?

But then after seeing what came after the credits, it became obvious this wasn't the planned ending and they came across production issues. The title of the final episode being changed at the last minute is further evidence.

I think Nimaiya just plain misunderstood how his power works. He said it shoots through anything between him and his target, not that it shoots through anything endlessly. Nimaiya was the target, so the "shot" ends with him being pierced. I don't know, it's just plain logic.

Honestly, it was embarrassing. Just talking stickers acting out scenes that were cut in the first season. At least make it a slide-show or something... but I guess their issues were really that big.

It's not so much related to Bleach as it is to the studio itself. Apparently they delayed plenty of other stuff. I don't expect Bleach to come back until next Summer instead of Spring. If they can get their shit in order, that is.

Seeing the chapters, I'm glad that Squad 0 is putting up more of a fight, which is why Yhwach had to take power away from most of his subordinates to give them to his Elite, and Senjomaru had to use his Bankai (hopefully we can also see the Bankai of the other members of Squad 0) and Ichibe seems to have defeated Yhwach, although I don't think it's that simple..., and at the end of the chapter Kon appeared..., I'm not sure it was the best way to close the season but hey, I guess it was good, let's wait for the next season in 2024!.

Part 2 - Visually impressive, and equally narratively and characteristically unimpressive. I like Bleach with more light hearted gags, and fights with fewer gotcha moments.

6/10

My takeaway was her garment world creates a fabric dimension that basically becomes the weakness of whatever it's target is and kills them appropriately.

I was actually expecting they'd have Yhwach interrupt the ED rather than leave off on that cliffhanger.
It reminds me of all the sudden and inopportune filler interruption of the old show :heh:.

I wouldn't say that it wasn't a planned ending, but rather they didn't have much to add probably to extend Episode 13, as they had already extended the plot by adding Bankai for Senjumaru, which wasn't there in the Manga.

Probably, the remaining plot was too much for just Episode 12, but too little for both Episode 12-13.
So, they added the extra Bankai to extend it somewhat but still didn't manage much.

The original title for episode 13 was "A". If you've read the manga, you know what that means. That's where they were planning to end this cour. Leaving fights unfinished isn't a problem, and it's exactly what happened anyway... I don't think anime onlies are so naive as to think the bad guys have all been defeated when we're right in the middle of the story. Incidenatelly, still wondering how they're going to fill two cours when they're already 2/3 into the arc and 90% of it is fighting.

Weird spot to end things ,but I guess they wanted to include as much of the Soul Palace fight as they could while still adding new content like letting the other members of Squad 0 put up more of a fight.

Senjumaru's bankai looks pretty cool, though I wonder the effects are actually happening or an illusion.

I'm half-wondering if some of the animation that was in the trailer for cour 3 was supposed to be in the finale.

This was literally the only instance where they didn't bother to explain their powers lol. Every other time they fall under this trope. Heck, you have Ichibe explaining his ability in the same episode.

Episodes were ok. But really, Shutara's Bankai was the highlight. Mechanics aside, it was visually stunning.

And yeah, it was weird place to stop. They could at least focus on Royal Guard vs Schutzstaffel, and keep Ichibe vs Yhw to minimum (leave Auswählen, which also looked great btw), jumping back and forth between the two was really dizzying for me.

New trailer

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Still just "2024".

Heading into uncharted territory here a bit :eyespin:.

I'm assuming it'll hit in Summer. I just hope they have better timing for this cour.

Starting to wonder if it won't be Fall. I mean obviously it's early enough that they could still announce it to arrive in Summer. But I'm starting to wonder.

I also wonder how absolutely insane part 3 is going to be? Taking a whole year between the starts of part 2 and 3 is already crazy. Could be a whole year from the end of part 2 also. Of course not like the studio isn't doing anything.

Either way...I really can't wait :heh:.

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This October.

Looks they're going to expand on some fights as expected, but they will also get pretty far. The 4th cour will most likely have a lot of new material.