(L) Bleach - Thousand-Year Blood War Arc - anime episode discussion

[Huh...?]

Originally Posted by Frontier

If that's not love, I don't know what is !

Wouldn't it be more accurate to call it as Caring? (caring is different from love, even-though both seem same).

Originally Posted by Frontier

Masaki graduates from high school and leaves the Ishida's, she and Isshin find themselves drawn to each other and fall deeper in love, and Isshin realizes that Masaki truly is the sun around which he orbits and covets.

Well, Isshin & Masaki in a way had an informal arranged marriage situation, were she was bound to Isshin in order to stay alive. So, she was dependent on Isshin, thus forming a relationship of trust and eventually love (probably post marriage).

Originally Posted by Frontier

It's kind of sad seeing how caring and devoted Ryuken is toward Masaki, knowing his feelings will never be returned and her destiny was to be with a Soul Reaper, of all guys, but he really wanted the best for her.

It's true that Ryūken cared for Masaki, but whether it was out of love or just simply him being a caring type of person is unclear.
But personally i don't think he loved Masaki as a woman, but rather cared for her as a friend.

Originally Posted by Frontier

Well, it turns out that that legend of Yhwach's rebirth wasn't just a legend, and as part of the process he drained the power of "unworthy" Quincies for himself, leaving Masaki helpless and even Katagiri unable to take care of herself.

Well, Katagiri was supposedly born weak, so she couldn't withstand Auswählen (probably most of her Quincy powers was directed by her to give strength to herself to fight off her weakness she had since birth).

Originally Posted by Frontier

(But what about Bishonen Zangetsu that taught him the Final Getsuga Tensho? That was them fused together? Wasn't that the True Zangetsu? Or was that just situational ?)

Even during that time, Old Man gave full control to the Hollow Soul.
The fusion was probably done to allow Hollow Soul to access some of Ichigo's powers which was suppressed by Old Man.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by MAX_COLA_POWER!

Not gonna lie, I always thought Isshin’s time as a captain happened around the TBTP arc because when they showed a color spread in the manga of the Gotei of that time, the squad 10 barracks were missing (quick side bar the bearded man that Kenpachi introduced himself as the Kenpachi from Zaraki a few episodes back was the Kenpachi from said flashback mini arc, Kenpachi Kiganjou). Anyone else wanna bet somewhere out there some folks will call this episode the worse cour ending ever just because of the alterations that were made to the scenes of Isshin rescuing Masaki’s soul? I overall enjoyed this first part of the adaptation, not perfect, but many miles better than the original animé.

If you want the fanservice, read the manga .

Originally Posted by Huh...?

Wouldn't it be more accurate to call it as Caring? (caring is different from love, even-though both seem same).

Seemed pretty romantic to me .

Well, Isshin & Masaki in a way had an informal arranged marriage situation, were she was bound to Isshin in order to stay alive. So, she was dependent on Isshin, thus forming a relationship of trust and eventually love (probably post marriage).

It didn't seem like she had to keep visiting him like she was, so I think that helped .

It's true that Ryūken cared for Masaki, but whether it was out of love or just simply him being a caring type of person is unclear.
But personally i don't think he loved Masaki as a woman, but rather cared for her as a friend.

His reaction to Isshin and his connection to Masaki gave me different vibes...

Well, Katagiri was supposedly born weak, so she couldn't withstand Auswählen (probably most of her Quincy powers was directed by her to give strength to herself to fight off her weakness she had since birth).

Doesn't make Yhwach any less responsible .

Even during that time, Old Man gave full control to the Hollow Soul.
The fusion was probably done to allow Hollow Soul to access some of Ichigo's powers which was suppressed by Old Man.

I guess that makes sense.

[Kanon]

Them cutting Masaki's nudity was expected, but adding in an anime original shot of Asauchi Zangetsu's bare ass when Rukia's has been cut was just hilarious
They were definitely screwing around here.

It never hit me when reading the manga, but Isshin taking on the last name "Kurosaki" long before he even started dating Masaki is a bit odd. It would have made more sense for him to take on her name after they got married. Or better: for Kurosaki to be a name he came up with for himself and Masaki to have a completely different maiden name. I don't think that would have affected the plot in any way. In fact, it would have explained why Uryu never reacted to the name "Kurosaki", a family that was close to his (Masaki was in fact Ryuken's cousin). I know it was before he was born, but he did a lot of research on Quincies prior to the beginning of the series. I've always found it weird that Souken never showed up in that flashback by the way.

Hisagi telling Kensei he has no right to badmouth Tousen was very funny. Dude, Tousen backstabbed him, resulting in him getting turned half hollow and being considered as a target for elimination by Soul Society for a hundred years. Not too surprising he wouldn't hold the man in high regard.

I figured Yhwach having the same voice actor as Old Man Zangetsu would have tipped anime only off on them being the same person (kind of), but then again it's not like there aren't other voice actors playing different characters in Bleach. When flashbacks to 1000 years ago were shown in the anime, I said they may have created an inconsistency, and it was because he was shown looking exactly the same as in the present when he was supposed to look like Old Man Zangetsu. Fun fact: Yhwach's mustache in the manga started off pretty small and grew bigger over the course of the series.
A bit of a shame they removed the lines form the flashbacks meant to frame past events as foreshadowing this. They even used the wrong flashback at some point: when Ichigo said OMZ used a Quincy's blood to help him, it was supposed to be when he suppressed Ichigo's bleeding during the fight again Kenpachi. No lies in Hollow Ichigo's words referred to him insisting he was Zangetsu during the training with the Vizards. It's obvious the reveal wasn't planned by Kubo from the start unlike what he may claim, but he pieced things together so it works pretty well.
It's never talked about but Dangai Ichigo obviously had access to his full power, except with a fake zanpakuto created by OMZ. That means current Ichigo should be as strong he was back then, probably stronger now that he has a proper zanpakuto(s).

The forging of Zangetsu was incredibly well done. IMO this was the peak of Bleach. It's all downhill from there, though there are still some really good parts here and there I'm looking forward to. That's why I'm not too bummed about the six months break rather than three. Let them take their time.

[Gerard07]

Seen the chapters; Ichigo found out his origins from him, the Captains are training for the next fight, Ichigo got his Zangetsu (I liked that they put that theme song), and Ishida met Yhwach, things got interesting.
To be honest, this season's Bleach anime brought me back my taste for the series, hopefully the next parts of the anime in the future will be good too, wait for more Bleach news.
Questions that aren't really that important:
-Rukia is over 150 years old, she didn't recognize Isshin as a former Captain?
-Urahara couldn't use the Hogyoku to help Masaki?
-Muramasa (the villain of the anime filler) shouldn't have recognized the Hollow as the true Zangetsu? (although I think that's not canon right?).

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Kanon

It never hit me when reading the manga, but Isshin taking on the last name "Kurosaki" long before he even started dating Masaki is a bit odd. It would have made more sense for him to take on her name after they got married. Or better: for Kurosaki to be a name he came up with for himself and Masaki to have a completely different maiden name. I don't think that would have affected the plot in any way. In fact, it would have explained why Uryu never reacted to the name "Kurosaki", a family that was close to his (Masaki was in fact Ryuken's cousin). I know it was before he was born, but he did a lot of research on Quincies prior to the beginning of the series. I've always found it weird that Souken never showed up in that flashback by the way.

I just find it amusing that two of the leads of the Big Three ended up using their moms' maiden names .

Hisagi telling Kensei he has no right to badmouth Tousen was very funny. Dude, Tousen backstabbed him, resulting in him getting turned half hollow and being considered as a target for elimination by Soul Society for a hundred years. Not too surprising he wouldn't hold the man in high regard.

That and he probably knows it's enough to rile up Hisagi up .

Originally Posted by Gerard07

Seen the chapters; Ichigo found out his origins from him, the Captains are training for the next fight, Ichigo got his Zangetsu (I liked that they put that theme song), and Ishida met Yhwach, things got interesting.
To be honest, this season's Bleach anime brought me back my taste for the series, hopefully the next parts of the anime in the future will be good too, wait for more Bleach news.
Questions that aren't really that important:
-Rukia is over 150 years old, she didn't recognize Isshin as a former Captain?
-Urahara couldn't use the Hogyoku to help Masaki?
-Muramasa (the villain of the anime filler) shouldn't have recognized the Hollow as the true Zangetsu? (although I think that's not canon right?).

Maybe not the actual arc but Muramasa and I think the Zanpakuto Spirit designs are.

[FlareKnight]

Honestly this was pretty darn good. The conclusion to things with Ichigo's parents was good and honestly this made me understand Ryuken more than ever. I feel bad for the guy. He obviously really cared about Masaki. And it had to hurt deeply that he couldn't do anything for her. He didn't have a choice to make. No matter what he couldn't do anything but let others decide what would happen. That honestly hurts.

It makes me wonder about the actual relationship he ended up having with Uryu's mother. It's going to sound awful...but it feels like he had a kid with her just to get her off his back. She obviously knew that he cared about Masaki and yet she was obviously deeply in love with him. It just feels like he went along with her feelings because he simply didn't care anymore. He gave up on being a Quincy and maybe did so just to stick it to his family. Especially to his mother who cared as much about the Quincy bloodline as her son if not slightly less. I'm sure she cared about him, but Ryuken feels like the type to hold a grudge.

The whole forging thing unfolded really nicely. Loved the bits with Ichigo quickly determining which would become his sword and the emotional sequence that came after that. It was definitely a good time to have that kind of discussion with Zangetsu. And I like how it did turn out. That even if that was the representation of Ichigo's Quincy powers that they did end up caring about Ichigo and wanting to support his decision. It reflects pretty well with the whole "True Getsuga Tensho" bit. Now everything is on the table.

Also it works out really well. Ichigo and Uryu now have someone they can target for the death's of their mothers. Can speculate on Uryu siding with Yhwach, but at least this gives a nice target. Grand Fisher was fine in the very early start of the show, but he never was used much past that point. Isshin cleaned that up anyways. Yhwach works well and it'll be fun seeing Ichigo take this guy down later.

I respect Hisagi caring about Tousen even now. But...yeah. Even if Kensei wasn't obviously doing it to fire up Hisagi he'd be justified in saying it. Tousen was a traitor. He literally stabbed many of his comrades in the back and caused untold suffering under Aizen's orders and due to his grudge. It's nice that Hisagi and Komamura found peace with it in the end. But even if they were particularly betrayed...they weren't the only ones that were. Again though, obviously Kensei is just riling him up. It just so happens that he gets to be 100% honest while doing so .

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

It makes me wonder about the actual relationship he ended up having with Uryu's mother. It's going to sound awful...but it feels like he had a kid with her just to get her off his back. She obviously knew that he cared about Masaki and yet she was obviously deeply in love with him. It just feels like he went along with her feelings because he simply didn't care anymore. He gave up on being a Quincy and maybe did so just to stick it to his family. Especially to his mother who cared as much about the Quincy bloodline as her son if not slightly less. I'm sure she cared about him, but Ryuken feels like the type to hold a grudge.

Honestly given the picture of Katagiri with a young Uryu, I don't get the sense that they had a loveless marriage. Also the fact that he seemed fairly receptive to her after she poured her heart out to him.

I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason Ryuken soured so much on Quincies is because it stole his wife from him.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I don't think that would have affected the plot in any way. In fact, it would have explained why Uryu never reacted to the name "Kurosaki", a family that was close to his (Masaki was in fact Ryuken's cousin). I know it was before he was born, but he did a lot of research on Quincies prior to the beginning of the series.

Kubo explained this as Ryuken taking all the geneological information the Ishida family has and locking it away where Uryu won't see it.

I've always found it weird that Souken never showed up in that flashback by the way.

To me, it's a way of explaining Ryuken's disdain of his father, seeing how he put Quincy training above his own family and caused his mother pain.

Hisagi telling Kensei he has no right to badmouth Tousen was very funny. Dude, Tousen backstabbed him, resulting in him getting turned half hollow and being considered as a target for elimination by Soul Society for a hundred years. Not too surprising he wouldn't hold the man in high regard.

Regarding this, if Kensei had insulted Tousen generally, Hisagi would likely have let it past, but what Kensei insulted was Tousen as Hisagi's mentor, which is why he felt he had to say something.

[Huh...?]

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[Huh...?]

Originally Posted by Gerard07

Questions that aren't really that important:
-Rukia is over 150 years old, she didn't recognize Isshin as a former Captain?
-Urahara couldn't use the Hogyoku to help Masaki?

- Rukia was a lower level Shinigami in a different Division (lower level staff rarely interact with higher position people). Plus, even if she is 150 years old, we don't really know when she joined Seireitei and became a Shinigami.

- That because Hōgyoku is meant to connect Shinigami with Hollow or Hollow with Shinigami. It doesn't work on Quincies, as Hollow spiritual power doesn't mix well with Quincy powers.

[GDB]

What was up with that one shot of them zooming in on Ryuken's mother's leg? It looked like it was burned or something, but I don't recall that ever really being a plot point so no idea what they were aiming for with that.

[Huh...?]

Originally Posted by GDB

What was up with that one shot of them zooming in on Ryuken's mother's leg? It looked like it was burned or something, but I don't recall that ever really being a plot point so no idea what they were aiming for with that.

Even the Manga also showcased that, but never properly explained.

Though it's not confirmed, but given the situation that scar came into the scene.
My guess is that Ryuken's Mother,

- might have been attacked and injured by a Hollow in the past and had gotten infected by that Hollow's Spiritual energy, which would make her an Impure Quincy (maybe that's the reason why Ryuken doesn't seem to have any other sibling and his Father is always away from home).

- or, she was injured by a co-worker Quincy who lost control of themselves after getting infected by Hollow Spiritual energy (which is why she was warning Ryuken to stay away from Masaki since it's supposedly dangerous).

[Frontier]

I assume it was a Hollow wound and maybe why she projects so much on Masaki because she can't carry on as a Quincy any more because of her injury.

And poor woman has no idea where her husband is .

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I assume it was a Hollow wound and maybe why she projects so much on Masaki because she can't carry on as a Quincy any more because of her injury.

And poor woman has no idea where her husband is .

She knows where he is. He just never comes home.

[alex_drian]

So I take it we all are in the same page about how Ichigo powers works?

[Alchemist007]

Well, Bleach just has too many characters to go in on without breaking the bank, I'm guessing a lot of them are just designs Kubo wanted to put on paper.

The budget shined pretty well this cour. As for the plot, well it's the same old Bleach. It was definitely a bit weird to go from the penultimate episode where Yuhabaha was indirectly to blame for getting Masaki killed, to the next where he's meeting the Zangetsu form with the same face and accepting him .

I don't remember 100% of the details since its been forever since I finished the manga, so the rest of it will continue to be my memory getting exercised.

7/10

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Honestly given the picture of Katagiri with a young Uryu, I don't get the sense that they had a loveless marriage. Also the fact that he seemed fairly receptive to her after she poured her heart out to him.

I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason Ryuken soured so much on Quincies is because it stole his wife from him.

I'm curious if we'll get more from that side of it.

Honestly I could see it going either way. Either he was already soured on the Quincy because of the Masaki incident or he did so after Katagiri died. Personally I'm still leaning on it being the former. He has a million reasons to be sick and tired of the Quincy well before Katagiri died. I don't know if he was being receptive to her feelings or just exhausted from the emotional toll that day had been. Just heading back with her was easier than fighting her on going back first.

Keeping the picture could mean there was something there. But maybe he felt it was the respectable thing to do for someone that he basically grew up with. Whether or not he ever fell in love with her, she was still effectively a childhood friend. And either way, talk about one last kick to a guy that had already dealt with too much.

[Mad Pierrot]

So Ichigo's new powers were the ones Jump Force shown. Still, they didn't show the new design as the preview shows Ichigo with a Piccolo cosplay instead.

[FlareKnight]

I do respect how they are taking their time with this. Part of me expected the show back in Spring to keep a fairly brisk pace going with taking just a season off per part. But coming back in the Summer is fine. And if they can keep up this level of quality then it'll be absolutely worth it.

Just means we'll have a lot of great Bleach to enjoy over the next couple years.

[Mad Pierrot]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I do respect how they are taking their time with this. Part of me expected the show back in Spring to keep a fairly brisk pace going with taking just a season off per part. But coming back in the Summer is fine. And if they can keep up this level of quality then it'll be absolutely worth it.

Just means we'll have a lot of great Bleach to enjoy over the next couple years.

I think the big reason for this big hiatus is because the Taguchi is directing a Digimon movie known as The Beginning.

Still, the whole Unohana Kenpachi relationship has to be one of the dumbest twists in Bleach or manga history. It's basically what Fox did to Seymour Skinner when it was reveald he was a fake but the writers were aware of how stupid was that idea so ended the episode with the most random way to reject this story from the rest of the episodes. It also destroy the little or lack of character Unohana had by changing so much her personality almost as if Kenshin had two personalities that the writers couldn't write properly. The ultimate kick in the crotch this story gets is how this results in Unohana getting killed just to give Kenpachi a power up and never being brought up again with any sort of respect. Almost the Killing Joke level of treatment to Unohana