Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Season 2

Episodes 14-15

First off, some housekeeping: If you're new to these reviews, please note that I'm only going to be talking about material that has been portrayed in the anime so far. I've read all of the manga, but for the sake of anime-onlies and treating this adaptation as its creation, I won't be discussing future material. I politely request that folks continue this approach in the comments and take the time to tag any discussions of future events. Thank you very much.

It's funny. The first episode of this new season started pretty slowly. There was no action to speak of, and it mostly focused on catching up with the series' extended cast. Yet, I found it riveting thanks to the foreboding direction, stark use of colors, and the generally smart adaptive choices it made with the material it covered. It built a wave of dread that crested perfectly with the start of the second invasion, making the whole experience remarkable. Episode two, by comparison, is far more eventful and action-packed. Yet, it leaves a much smaller impact than the setup that preceded it.

That's disappointing because we start with the series doing something I'd long hoped for – forcing our heroes to fight outside the box. Since Bankai was first introduced, many of Bleach's fights have been determined by who could pull out a more powerful transformation at the most dramatic moment. That had a habit of making the early portions of a fight feel like a preamble, waiting for one or both parties to stop holding back. So taking that option away from the Soul Reapers seemed like a great way to restore tension to this fight. Now, if they want to defeat the Quincy invaders, our heroes will need to find new ways of fighting. Maybe they could team up to combine their Shikai powers in interesting ways or make greater use of Kido and other non-Zanpakuto-related powers that are rarely utilized. With Ywach instructing his soldiers to defeat the Bankai-less captains with their powers, maybe the Reapers could use their intimate knowledge of their weakness to pull turnabouts.

To the episode's credit, we do get a bit of that. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto have a pretty clever trick to create vacuum ice, upping the durability of the captain's Shikai form. It's dragged down by them taking the time to explain how it works to Bazz-B when there's nothing to be gained from that, but it's still a clever move that could be the foundation for an intriguing match where our heroes have to fight dirty and outsmart their more confident opponents. Soi Fon, meanwhile, gets the best moment in the whole episode when she arrives sporting her newly mastered Shunkou form. Not only is that a great character moment, calling back to her relationship with Yoruichi, but it's just a cool moment of turning the tides against BG9. Heck, going against a robot (Why's he a robot? Who knows!) means her Shikai is nullified, so seeing her pull out a new, atypical skill is even more necessary.

Unfortunately, those foundations don't amount to much because their opponents just brute force their way through those new tactics instantly. That can't help but feel like a regression, as if the writing decided to toy with some new ways of constructing its fights, only to lose interest and reassert the old way of doing things after a few minutes. With Urahara having figured out a way to return everyone's Bankai – and presumably nullify the threat of them being stolen again – the whole exercise feels like a cul-de-sac, included solely to add some tension and stretch out this invasion.

That's a rough start because everything points to this season being built entirely around rubber matches and new bouts. I hope that, with the stolen Bankai thing soon to be resolved, the show can at least lean into its established habits. If we're going to have battles defined and decided by who has the coolest second form or secret power, then those forms and powers better be really goddamn cool to leave an impact. The adaptation is certainly up to the task. Whether it's the blood-red skies perfectly capturing the despair descending upon our heroes or the pale blue glow of the Quincy architecture, everything about the environment and direction leaves an impression that complements the dire nature the writing is trying to evoke. I still wish the series was willing to try new things, but if we're back to fundamentals, I can at least hope they're delivered with flair to spare.

I don't want to start this season too negatively, so I'll also say that outside of upcoming battles, there are some larger plot reveals and confrontations to look forward to. Uryu probably won't be doing much until Ichigo and the others make it back from their training arcs, but his presence is an effective time bomb for when he's forced to confront his former comrades. I'd love it if he got a rematch against Mayuri, seeing as the guy, you know, murdered his beloved grandfather and is a morally repugnant monster, even if everyone treats him like a wacky joke now. There's also some potentially meaningful anime-original material with Ichigo, as we see snippets of his training with Ichibe that were never shown in the manga. Even within the strictures Bleach has built for itself over the years, there's plenty of room to deliver a meaningful story for its myriad characters, and I hope it can do just that.

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Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Season 2 is currently streaming on Hulu.