Forum - View topicBleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (TV) (w/ index).
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Main Series: Bleach (TV) (discussed here) Movie 01: Bleach: Memories of Nobody (movie) Movie 02: Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion (movie) Movie 03: Bleach: Fade to Black (movie) Movie 04: Bleach: Hell Verse (movie) Final Arc (Season 01): Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (TV) Final Arc (Season 02): Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War -The Separation- (TV 2) Final Arc (Season 03): Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War -The Conflict- (TV 3) Source: Manga (completed @ 74 volumes, by Tite Kubo) Demographic: Shounen Animation Studio: Pierrot Genres: action, comedy, drama, psychological, supernatural, thriller Themes: demi-humans, factions, ghosts, gore, martial arts, revenge, shinigami, spirits, superpowers, swordplay, tragedy, war Plot Summary: The final arc of Bleach concluding the Thousand-Year war between the Shinigami and Quincies. Main Series: FUNimation, Hulu T-YBW Season 01: October 10, 2022 (Monday) Available on: Hulu (U.S.), Disney+ (International outside of Asia) T-YBW Season 02: July 8, 2023 (Saturday) Available on: Hulu (U.S.), Disney+ (International outside of Asia) T-YBW Season 03: October 5, 2024 (Saturday) Available on: Hulu (U.S.), Disney+ (International outside of Asia) Episode Count / Runtime: Season 01: 13 episodes Season 02: 13 episodes Season 03: Pending Total: 26 episodes ---------------------------------- EPISODE INDEX (Clicking on the episode will take you to my post that has a summary, comments, and screen-caps) - Season 01 (The Blood Warfare) Episode 367 (S01E01) (01): The Blood Warfare Episode 368 (S01E02) (02): Foundation Stones Episode 369 (S01E03) (03): March of the StarCross Episode 370 (S01E04) (04): Kill the Shadow Episode 371 (S01E05) (05): Wrath as a Lightning Episode 372 (S01E06) (06): The Fire Episode 373 (S01E07) (07): Born in the Dark Episode 374 (S01E08) (08): The Shooting Star Project (Zero Mix) Episode 375 (S01E09) (09): The Drop Episode 376 (S01E10) (10): The Battle Episode 377 (S01E11) (11): Everything But the Rain Episode 378 (S01E12) (12): Everything But the Rain "June Truth" Episode 379 (S01E13) (13): The Blade is Me OP1 (w/ Lyrics): "Scar" by Tatsuya Kitani ED2 (w/ Lyrics): "The Farthest Reaches" by SennaRin ---------------------------------- - Season 02 (The Separation) Episode 380 (S02E01) (14): The Last 9 Days Episode 381 (S02E02) (15): Peace from Shadows Episode 382 (S02E03) (16): The Fundamental Virulence Episode 383 (S02E04) (17): Heart of Wolf Episode 384 (S02E05) (18): Rages at Ringside Episode 385 (S02E06) (19): The White Haze Episode 386 (S02E07) (20): I Am the Edge Episode 387 (S02E08) (21): The Headless Star Episode 388 (S02E09) (22): Marching Out the Zombies Episode 389 (S02E10) (23): Marching Out the Zombies 2 Episode 390 (S02E11) (24): Too Late to Win, Too Early to Know Episode 391 (S02E12) (25): The Master Episode 392 (S02E13) (26): Black OP2 (w/ Lyrics): "Stars" by w.o.d. ED2 (w/ Lyrics): "Endroll" by Yoh Kamiyama ---------------------------------- - Season 03 (The Conflict) Episode 393 (S03E01): Episode 394 (S03E02): Episode 395 (S03E03): Episode 396 (S03E04): Episode 397 (S03E05): Episode 398 (S03E06): Episode 399 (S03E07): Episode 400 (S03E08): Episode 401 (S03E09): Episode 402 (S03E10): Episode 403 (S03E11): Episode 404 (S03E12): Episode 405 (S03E13): ---------------------------------- Decided to split T-YBD from the main series thread for a couple of reasons: 1) I feel T-YBD is a completely different beast on the production side of things and should not be lumped together with that aged and obsolete fossil of a main series. 2) Since there was a such a long gap between the two shows, I think the fresher-looking take that is T-YBD will be easier to view/discuss based on its own merits in its own thread. I don't think it makes sense to continue a discussion from roughly 10-12 years ago about a title that has clearly advanced so much farther than its predecessor. With how great T-YBD looks and sounds, now, I would even call it a kind of soft reboot, rather than a continuation. I feel it's that freakin' good. Last edited by Tony K. on Wed Sep 25, 2024 5:53 pm; edited 38 times in total |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I have under 100 episodes left, and I've got the perfect analogy for what filler does to this show.
Say you're about to get intimate with somebody. You're really into that person, your technique is great, you're really enjoying the sensation. Things are going really well. Both of you are getting to the good part. But then you decide to stop right in the middle of it before a good climax and start working on your taxes. You decide you're gonna' put the whole good-feeling sexy stuff on hold and, instead, decide to wait months for your W-2s or other equivalent tax paperwork to arrive at the beginning of the following year. You've finished your paperwork, submitted everything to the proper establishments, and are awaiting your refund check. Only when it's all said and done and you finally decide to pick up the hot sex you were having months ago, recapturing the great, proper technique y'all had going, the intimate and all-encompassing passion for one another, and the buildup before that big climax... (Not really a spoiler) spoiler[All your tax papers are canon and a part of your sexual experience and all other sexy times moving forward, now.] Filler sucks. And not in a good way. |
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peno
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And of course Disney lied when they said Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War will be available on Disney+ internationally outside of Asia. The last time I checked, my country, Czechia, is not in Asia and yet, it's not available here. Why am I surprised, though? It's not the first time we were left behind and disappointed by Disney with Disney+ and the service is not even here for that long, only since 14th June. But it's still disappointing to see this.
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 367 (S01E01) (01): The Blood Warfare
---------------------------------- Summary: When Hollow signals begin to pop up like crazy on Soul Society's radar, they send people out to investigate various locations. Ichigo and company rescue some lower-ranked Shinigami, only to have a mysterious man instigate a fight with him. Meanwhile, Seireitei is attacked, leaving them with some casualties, as they try to determine who exactly their enemy is. ---------------------------------- Comments: Yaaay! After slogging through old and obsolete SD digital animation techniques, the stylish actioner that is Bleach finally looks good. Great, even! My bar is set pretty low for Studio Pierrot, these days, but it looks a shit-ton better than the old series! I've always thought Bleach was akin to the likes of DBZ: not a whole lot of interesting characters with huge power gaps between everyone, but really epic battles, and action that's cool, high-octane, and fun to watch. Kubo's art in the manga is a big part of why I like it, and I'm happy the style in this looks much closer to his. And those colors! Man, this has a nice color scheme. Night time actually looks like night time and not like it's full of crappy greys and blues to simulate it like in the old series. I seriously hope T-YBW generates enough money and interest that they re-do the previous material, someday. This updated style looks freakin' gorgeous. Even Orihime's boobs are disproportionately accurate! As soon as I heard the musical cue for Number One, I felt like it was 2005 all over, again. What an entrance. It captured so much nostalgia, but looked way prettier. Shiro Sagisu has some great compositions for this new season, as well. I feel like he's going more symphonic and less rock-a-synth, like it used to be, which I'm totally okay with, as I feel symphonic is more his style, anyway. And best of all, this is bloody! Before I started reading the manga, I had no idea just how violent it was supposed to be. And during my re-watch of the old series, it irked me a bit that most people were bleeding and spurting, what looked like, oil. Not anymore! It only took 18 years, but Bleach is finally getting some semblance of rightful animation justice for itself. Very much lookin' forward to more! ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 368 (S01E02) (02): Foundation Stones
---------------------------------- Summary: After Ichigo returns from his encounter with the mysterious man, the group receives word about the attack on Seireitei and their casualties. The next day, Ichigo decides to roam on guard duty when Nel falls from the sky (crashing into him) with more bad news about Hueco Mundo being overtaken. ---------------------------------- Comments: The show is still looking and sounding great, and it's not even at the actual big fights, yet. We get the major, albeit obvious, reveal about who the enemy really is, which shouldn't be a surprise, given the name of the arc itself. At any rate, with the manga still fresh in my head, I can't get enough of how pretty and well-animated the show looks compared to the main series. Having also finally finished Jujutsu Kaisen for the first time this past weekend (all the TV series and the movie), it (JJK) got me to thinking about how to better categorize certain shounen titles. I think with JJK, Demon Slayer, and eventually T-YBW, I would categorize these three as "flashy action with lots of characters and unexplained lore" titles. JJK and KnY (Kimetsu no Yaiba, Demon Slayer's more common abbreviation) have obscenely high production values and some masterfully-choreographed action sequences. They also have a good amount of characters, a lot of lore, and a bunch of implied backstories that never quite get fleshed out, but are understood to a certain degree, giving both franchises a cool and stylish mystique. I feel with the way T-YBD is going, it can eventually get to the level of the other two. I'm not even gonna' worry about how or if Kubo can flesh out the story better for the end of this thing. The production value has already super-mega-greatly exceeded my expectations, and I can't wait to see some of those conceited, pretentious a-hole Quincies get their butts handed to them in grand fashion. The only icing on the cake would be Yhwach getting a more detailed and rightful smackdown like he deserves. ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
Last edited by Tony K. on Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:31 pm; edited 9 times in total |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 369 (S01E03) (03): March of the StarCross
---------------------------------- Summary: Ichigo fights Quilge Opie, while Uryū is surprised by the re-appearance of the Quncies, thinking he was the last of their kind, then decides to investigate further. And in the midst of General Yamamoto preparing to wage a full-frontal assault on the Quincies, Ywach surprises Seireitei with his own preemptive counter-assault. ---------------------------------- Comments: Got three different subplots going in this episode: a show of power between Ichigo and one of the higher-ranked Quincies, Uryū looking into the mystery of how the heck there are so many Quincies left, and then Ywach attacking with a very one-sided offensive. Much like how the Hueco Mundo arc highlighted the sheer amount of power differential between Shinigami and Arrancar, this episode further illustrates the gap between the Arrancar and Stern Nazis (it's actually Ritter, but I like to call them Nazis, because they pretty much are). Ichigo is holding is own because he's the main character, but also because there's a secret yet to be revealed. And, again, that's what I like about Bleach: the enemies are so arrogant and pompous and tooting their horns about how powerful they are, and then the main character or some other badass finds a way to stick it to 'em. Also, yay for more blood and dismemberment. This whole franchise runs on action embellishment. The characters look cool, the powers sound cool, and all of it needs to be presented in such a way that it gets to JJK levels cool. As happy as I was to see the big jump in quality from Pierrot for Kingdom season 3 and beyond, I am totally cool with them taking a 14-month break from animating more of that, if it means Bleach can continue to look this great. ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 370 (S01E04) (04): Kill the Shadow
---------------------------------- Summary: As Ichigo continues to fight Quigle Opie, the rest of the Quincies carry out their assault on Seireitei. Shinigami Captains enter the battle, but soon discover a frightening technique that counteracts their Bankai. ---------------------------------- Comments: Here's where we start to develop some borderline contrivances in the plot. It seems overpowering that Quincies can literally steal a Bankai. But I guess it wouldn't be as dramatic if the Captains were so easily steamrolling their enemy. Like I mentioned for the last episode, the more arrogant and obnoxious the character, the greater the vindication. Some of the Shinigami Captains were like that during the Soul Society arc. After that, I thought some of the Hueco Mundo baddies were pretty annoying. But the Stern Nazis were even worse, and I can't wait to see them get their butts kicked. Four episodes in, and I'm happy production quality is still high, with the action staying bloody. Whatever it takes for Pierrot keep it looking good, I'm all for it. They can take a year off from Kingdom to let the manga go a little further and put the most minimal efforts into Boruto, for all I care. One thing I'll say is that the three-minute recap at the beginning of the episode is genius. I know a lot of long shounen series do recap prologues to save a little energy on animating more stuff. And while it may seem lazy, I personally believe it's a really good production technique to keep the viewer's memory fresh, while also helping out the poor, under-paid animators from having to do so much work. It's like load management for athletes. And hopefully this will help production stay nice and consistent. ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
Last edited by Tony K. on Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:33 pm; edited 6 times in total |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 371 (S01E05) (05): Wrath as a Lightning
---------------------------------- Summary: Ichigo is trapped in the portal from Hueco Mundo to Seireitei, while the Bankai-less Captains try to hold their own until backup arrives. ---------------------------------- Comments: What an Engrish-y sounding episode title.. Anyway, as one-sided as it was starting to feel with Quincies being able to steal Bankai, I forgot how back-and-forth the momentum swayed between the heroes and villains. There's always a trick up somebody's sleeve to one-up the other. We get a tiny bit of psychological warfare from Äs Nödt to Byakuya. Again, it's mostly about the Quincies showing off their superiority and having the upper hand for the majority of this arc, but I suppose it makes the story a little less boring when the heroes can get beat up, too. I forgot how badass Kenpachi is. His wanton thirst for battle and overall crazy attitude towards fighting strong opponents always made me smirk. And it helps a ton that Fumihiko Tachiki is phenomenal at playing him. Too bad he was the first one to encounter Ywach and get his ass handed to him, but they gotta' show how strong Quincy Hitler is. Yamamoto seemed rightfully pissed off, and I like how he slaughtered Driscoll to avenge Sasakibe. That's some of the vindication I'm talkin' about: a one-hit kill-shot. The coloring on the flames are pretty spectacular. I'm looking forward to more fluidly animated and fabulously colored destruction. More blood! ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
Last edited by Tony K. on Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:33 pm; edited 6 times in total |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 372 (S01E06) (06): The Fire
---------------------------------- Summary: Yamamoto activates his Bankai, but unknowingly defeats a fake replica called Stern Ritter "Y- Yourself" Royd Lloyd. Yhwach destroys the Division 1 barracks and kills Royd for his failure, then reveals he was busy meeting with Aizen in his underground prison. ---------------------------------- Comments: The heat effect from Yamamoto's Bankai was a nice, subtle touch. It made the art blurry and not-so-great for capping, but it added a lot of gravitas to the awesomeness of his power. I'm was peeved with the writing when got taken out so easily in the manga, and am still disappointed they didn't really make it any better in the anime. But if he's that strong, I guess it's okay to take him out as early as possible just to make things harder for the remaining Shinigami and whatever training they need to actually get stronger. I'd have preferred he, at least, gotten to kill someone more important, though. Then again, maybe this was just attesting to how much of a tactical genius Yhwach was in planning this whole thing out. If the Quincies managed to stay quite for all these years, then suddenly show up and wipe out a majority of Soul Society forces, the emotional reaction from Yamamoto led to his own undoing because he decided to go all-out from the very start, and didn't even consider the trickery behind it. That's actually a pretty good move on Yhwach's part. Get your enemy really angry, blind him with so much rage that he doesn't think straight, send a decoy out to make him waste all his energy and ammo, then sneak up behind him when he's exhausted and take him out. ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 373 (S01E07) (07): Born in the Dark
---------------------------------- Summary: Yhwach destroys Yamamoto's remains. Ichigo breaks free, finds Yhwach, and battles him, but is defeated. When Yhwach attempts to stab Ichigo, he is countered by a defensive Quincy technique called Blut Vene, which makes him deduce that Ichigo doesn't know the truth about himself or his mother. Ichigo tries to charge at Yhwach, but his Zanpakutō is destroyed. ---------------------------------- Comments: I was thoroughly surprised by this when reading the manga. It didn't even occur to me that Ichigo could be part Quincy, because that sort of thing is usually revealed way earlier in stories to be used as a kind of fallback. But like I mentioned about this final arc having lots of contrivances, the logical course of action is that overpowered-ness can only be countered by something even more overpowered, hence, Ichigo's pedigree of being half Shinigami, half Quincy. The Zanpakutō being broken was expected. I feel like pretty much every battle shounen title that has some kind of weaponry involved will always reach a point where the weapon breaks, at least once, if not multiple times, until its "final form" is achieved, and the protagonist can just stop worrying about it. Not a whole lot to of awesome art to cap like in previous episodes, since this one has a bunch of rain and intentionally dark scenes. Although, I'll say it does make the mood more somber and fitting to Ichigo getting his butt kicked. He's always solved a majority of his conflicts with hot-headed charging. But it looks like he'll have to take a breather, get his sword fixed, and maybe learn a thing or two about his newly-discovered Quincy heritage. ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 374 (S01E08) (08): The Shooting Star Project (Zero Mix)
---------------------------------- Summary: Mayuri informs Ichigo, since his Zanpakutō was destroyed in its Bankai state, it cannot be repaired. The captains mourn Yamamoto, then meet with Squad Zero who take Ichigo, Byakuya, Renji, and Rukia to the Royal Palace to speed up their healing and reforge Zangetsu. ---------------------------------- Comments: I suppose instead of looking at some of these plot elements as "contrived," I should approach them as "obscene power scaling." That seems to happen more often in franchises with especially large character rosters. I still feel that DBZ is the architect of this. But I'd even say JoJo's has mastered it and feels much more accomplished due to the fact that it manages to spread the whole thing out in different periods and, essentially, with new characters, each time. My favorite RPGs are actually the ones that have really big character rosters as well. Then again, there's dozens to hundreds of hours of potential gameplay and all the grinding you can do versus, at most, a few dozen hours of a long shounen anime, which may or may not have filler, and of which may or may not be a great watch. Thankfully, Squad Zero isn't too huge. Although, I did find Nimaiya (the swordsmith) a bit obnoxious because I thought he was a total rip-off of Duck King from Fatal Fury. Hopefully, he won't come off as annoying to hear as he was to read in the manga. ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 375 (S01E09) (09): The Drop
---------------------------------- Summary: After being healed, Ichigo and Renji are fed mountains of food filled with spiritual energy prepared by Kirio. Kyōraku is promoted to head captain, and Zaraki is forced to fight Unohana in the infinite underground prison, where her criminal past and original identity as the first Kenpachi of Squad 11 are revealed. ---------------------------------- Comments: A bit of a transition episode to show the changing in ranks, some character recovery, and an eventual big progression for Zaraki. When I first read this in the manga, it was a pretty big surprise to learn sweet ol' Unohana was actually a fearsome warrior, and a criminal, even! I feel it adds this cool little Jekyll and Hyde duality to her character. It always struck me as ironic that for how strong Zaraki is, he kept inadvertently holding himself back, somehow. And the whole infinity chamber thing seems right up his alley, in terms of his training regimen. Actually, the more I think about it, the more Dragon Ball-esque I feel this arc is becoming. They're essentially using Bleach'd versions of Senzu beans and the Room of Time and Spirit. I continue to be amazed at the production quality. Even for an episode that has mostly exposition, the presentation is day and night versus the main series. I used to say Pierrot's quality had gotten so bad, at one point, they literally had a bunch of clowns running the everything because of how low-budget things felt since about the late '90s to early 2010s. But they've definitely redeemed themselves. ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 376 (S01E10) (10): The Battle
---------------------------------- Summary: After dying and being resurrected hundreds of times, Zaraki has grows strong enough to kill Unohana. And in his grief, he's able to finally speak to his Zanpakutō and forge a formal bond with it. Meanwhile, Ichigo and Renji arrive at Nimaiya's palace and are tasked with fighting Asauchi, base-level Zanpakutō spirits, in hopes of gaining their own new ones. However, Ichigo fails and is sent back to the Human World in an effort to help re-discover his roots. ---------------------------------- Comments: Pretty sad end for Unohana. But desperate times call for desperate measures. At least we get to see and understand a little of why Zaraki was always holding back. I wish they would've explored the mentorship from Unohana a little more. When we first met Zaraki in the Soul Society arc, I figured he was just a fight addict, and almost a bit punkish. Seeing the end result of the deathmatch(es) and brief flashback with Unohana, however, I think the whole self-limitation thing was more about him not wanting to lose the one "affectionate" thing in his life, if you even wanna' call their relationship that. After, a few hundred years, or however long they've known each other, and in this especially dire time, it was time to let her go. But in the process, Zaraki made a huge gain, and probably has the potential for, at least, a few more level climbs. Ichigo failing the Asauchi fight was kind of a surprise, but also not. Well, I should say it was a surprise the first time I read it, but after they reveal a little more of his roots. It made more sense, which the next two episodes will cover. ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 377 (S01E11) (11): Everything But the Rain
---------------------------------- Summary: Nimaiya explains to Renji that he created every Zanpakutō for the last several thousand years, but that Ichigo's was an Asauchi not made by him, hence why the training was doomed from the start. In a flashback, it is revealed that Ichigo's mother, Masaki, was a Quincy adopted by the Ishida family, after hers had been killed. And she met Ichigo's father, Isshin, when he was investigating a series of mysterious Shinigami deaths. ---------------------------------- Comments: Another twist I didn't see coming. While the characterizations and plot in Bleach isn't as intricate as other shounen franchises, the writing does, at least, have a fair amount of decent cureveballs here and there. It actually makes me wonder how often some of these manga-ka write themselves in to and out of certain corners. If I were a writer, I'd probably plan out a general outline with a beginning, middle, and end. I also wonder how much of these longer shounen franchises are actually just planned or spontaneously made up as they keep going? With that said, I guess it gives Ichigo's affinity for spiritual power a more plausible scenario. Even though he lost his shinigami powers after the Arrancar arc and "gained" them back in the Lost Agent arc, it doesn't seem quite as contrived, now, since we know has, both, Shinigami and Quincy blood flowing through him. Throw in the occasional Hollowfication, and he's basically the ultimate spiritual being. I wonder with Kubo being more involved with the production of this series if he'll add some re-writes to compliment the original story. Ichigo gaining Hollow powers was neat bit of exposition. I wouldn't mind seeing a little of the same for his Quincy heritage. Another thing to point out. I briefly mentioned this at the beginning of the series, but the anime feels so much more fan service-y, now, with today's higher quality production values. They don't even give a lot of screen time to the female characters in this arc. But pretty much every time they do show one, there seems to be an emphasis on showing a little side-boob/cleavage, highlighting their proportions and/ body frame, or teasing short skirts. Oddly, I don't find it that distracting. But I think a lot of that has to do with the style-over-substance approach the whole franchise takes. I can't get over how stylish everything keeps looking! 
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Episode 378 (S01E12) (12): Everything But the Rain "June Truth"
---------------------------------- Summary: In the continued flashback, Isshin reports back to Yamamoto, but leaves Masaki out of the report. Later, it turns out Masaki is infected with darkness by a Hollow soul that attached to her. Urahara, who had met with Masaki once before, offers to help, but saying he would need a Shinigami's power to counter the Hollow energy inside her. Isshin agrees to do so, and more secrets are revealed in the aftermath. ---------------------------------- Comments: Lots of drama and exposition in this one, and deservedly so. Sworn enemies commingling in way or another, a Shinigami Captain helping a Quincy damsel in distress, then they end up together and have a family? Oh, the controversy! And then you have the heartbreak several years later, thanks to Yhwack. I'd even say this is a good opportunity to turn the story into a bit of a revenge arc; not just for all the mayhem and destruction of Seiretei and the Shinigami ranks, but especially for how Yhwack ultimately killed Masaki. The Arrancar arc had some flashbacks as well, which I actually felt threw the pacing off on occasion. But I actually wouldn't mind more (new?) flashbacks in this arc to fill in certain historical gaps between or flesh out some characters. In particular, I'd like a little more backstory or extra details on the tensions between the Shinigami and Quincies. Because at this point, the Quincies come off as evil, through and through. They get no sympathy from me, and all I want is to see their destructive deeds returned a thousandfold. But they can't all be bad, because Masaki obviously wasn't. So I hope Kubo expands on their lore. The background depth was very good in this episode. Caps 1, 3, 5, and 6 have all kinds of great detail in them. I wonder if Pierrot was able to poach better animators and artists, or if they tapped into some kind of secret fund for exponentially upping the quality of their shows. Heck, Kingdom had some huge freakin' jumps in quality between each season, and they were even able to eventually afford a composer like Hiroyuki Sawano. Maybe Pierrot is finally ready be top-tier, again. ---------------------------------- Screen Caps:  
 
 
 
 
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