With Orihime’s powerful sacrifice to stop Yhwach in episode 45 leaving the fandom guessing what will happen next due to the anime steering away from manga content, episode 46, titled ‘The End’, and episode 47, titled ‘The End 2’, continued to heighten the despair for our heroes.
Due to Orihime vs Yhwach in episode 45 delivering one of the best anime episodes ever, I think it was safe to assume that both characters weren’t necessarily dead. And after what transpired in ‘The End’ and ‘The End 2’, it’s safe to say that while the anime team is all about adding cool moments, the main narrative will, ultimately, tie itself to the manga content. And you know what? I’m fine with that. I continue to be hyped about Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War adapting the manga’s story in a (let’s be honest) much better way than what Tite Kubo managed to do under time constraints.
‘The End’ opened with Ichigo and his crew trying to make sense of what Orihime had just done. Her sacrifice had indeed erased Yhwach. However, the Three Worlds were still in danger due to the absence of the Soul King. I liked how Ichigo didn’t think twice about accepting his position as the next Soul King. Not only would that help protect the Three Worlds, but in a sense, for Ichigo, you can also say that he wasn’t keen on living in a reality where Orihime wasn’t around. While it was telegraphed in Bleach from the beginning that Ichigo and Orihime were endgame, I appreciate the anime taking the time during the current final batch of episodes to flesh out their relationship.
I understand the concept behind fan ships. I have a bunch of them as well. However, it’s kind of sad to me when stans of certain fan ships deliberately refuse to see the canon connection between two characters just so they can prop up their fan ship. The anime wasn’t successful at bringing everyone on board with Ichigo and Orihime, but hey, at least the anime writers tried and, when it comes down to it, gave Ichigo/Orihime fans a lot to sink their teeth into.
Before Ichigo could become the new Soul King, the fan theory of Yhwach having acquired the Almighty during Ishida vs Haschwalth indeed came true. So, even though OP Orihime had rejected Yhwach’s existence, he had been given the chance to select a future where that never happened. Hence, Ichigo was prevented from becoming the Soul King due to Yhwach reappearing in the throne room. And yes, Orihime, while exhausted, was brought back too.
Of course, Yhwach decided to explain the true nature of the Almighty to Ichigo. From what I could tell, the Almighty showed Yhwach numerous possible futures, which he compared to grains of sand, allowing him to pick the future he preferred. From preventing his erasure by Orihime to proceeding to breaking Ichigo’s Bankai, there was nothing Yhwach couldn’t control to create the future he wanted.
The animators and the voice actors did an amazing job of highlighting the despair experienced by our heroes as Yhwach made quick work of everyone in the throne room. Yhwach slicing off Renji’s limbs… amazing! Ichigo’s scream of desperation after running out of options… awesome!
However, as I mentioned in the beginning, no matter the danger, the narrative was progressing toward the manga’s timeline. And that meant that other factors were in play that could still help turn the tables on Yhwach.
‘The End’ also continued with Ishida vs Haschwalth, with both characters revealing their Schrifts. Possessing the letter B or Balance, Haschwalth could take away an opponent’s good fortune and swap it out with bad luck. This essentially meant that Haschwalth could heal from his injuries while inflicting a whole lot of pain on Ishida. A good superpower to have indeed. However, Ishida possessed the letter A, standing for Antithesis, allowing Ishida to swap conditions between two targets. This meant that Ishida and Haschwalth were stuck in a loop because of how they were using their Schfrits during battle.
Haschwalth’s conversation with Ishida was interesting. Even though he realized he was going to die due to Yhwach absorbing his Quincy powers, Haschwalth still believed in Yhwach’s dream. As far as Haschwalth was concerned, he was glad he could be of service to the Quincy King even if it meant dying to achieve it. While Haschwalth said he regretted nothing, I do think he did regret losing his friendship with Bazz-B. And I feel that is what led Haschwalth to ask Ishida to transfer his injuries onto Haschwalth so Ishida could go be with his friends before the destruction of the world. In Haschwalth’s mind, Ishida wasn’t going to win against Yhwach, but allowing him to be with Ichigo and the rest could serve as a way to make up for Haschwalth not being there for Bazz-B.
With Ishida still on the board, even more characters appeared to stand against Yhwach in ‘The End 2’ as the Three Worlds continued to risk destruction. All was not lost because the anime made it clear that Ukitake’s sacrifice won’t be in vain.
Focused on giving certain characters more to do, ‘The End 2’ had Ishida team up with Shunsui, Nanao, Nel, Harribel, Dondochakka, and Pesche to enact his plan that was linked to the research from Ishida’s grandfather, Soken.
Apparantly, Soken knew about Yhwach’s Seed of Destruction but had been unable to stop it, as forcing it to blow would release uncontainable energy. As a way to counteract that, Ishida planned to have the ever-growing distortion collide with the Seed of Destruction. From there, Ishida would use all of his power to contain the giant blast of energy. And of course, Yhwach needed to be trapped inside the blast to defeat him.
You could tell that the plan wasn’t going to work as expected. But, narratively, it was nice to see a Quincy, Soul Reapers, and Arrancars teaming up to save the Three Worlds. Also, narratively, yay to minor and supporting characters getting their time to shine and not every battle having to involve Ichigo.
‘The End 2’ gave Ishida a much-deserved power-up, similar to Orihime, as he faced Yhwach while his teammates aided in dropping the throne room (housing the Seed of Destruction) onto the distortion. It’s revealed that Ishida could swap futures between himself and Yhwach, essentially disrupting the Almighty, even for just a bit. Such an OP ability for Ishida to have. Nice!
Again, Nel and Harribel weren’t capable of harming Yhwach, but it was nice to see them participate. As for Dondochakka and Pesche, they used Bawabawa to rescue Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Chad, and Ganju from the falling throne room. The scene of Ishida using Anthithesis to swap his teammates and placing Yhwach next to the Seed of Destruction made for a cool shot.
As mentioned, even with a whole lot of enjoyable anime-only content, we are still moving toward the manga’s conclusion.
Talking about how powerful Yhwach still was, he had managed to absorb Ichigo’s Quincy (mixed with Hollow) powers after using the final Auswählen, resulting in the deaths of Gerard and Lille. Gerard’s demise was as anticlimactic as it was in the manga, but then again, I can’t hold that against the rest of the enjoyable episode, because Gerard had to die sooner or later.
The final Auswählen also absorbed Mimihagi, which Ukitake had managed to bestow on Shunsui. And for fans who remember that Mimihagi governed stillness and stagnation, well, let’s just say that one of those Almighty eyes might be an imposter that could come to aid our heroes down the line.
Yhwach will be defeated. But I’m excited to see the anime-only content that is still left to make Yhwach’s death feel more impactful than the manga version.
On a side note, what an unfortunate experience for the residents of the Rukon District after Akon decided to release a sea of Hollows and use it as a sacrificial ground while trying to save the Three Worlds. Even though the Soul Reapers work with Ichigo, Bleach still finds moments to show how the sociopolitical systems governing Soul Society were layered with darkness while trying to maintain their concept of “balance”.
What did you think of Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War anime season 1 episodes 46 and 47?
Let us know.
Author: Farid-ul-Haq
Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.
Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.
Copyright © The Geekiary
Do not copy our content in whole to other websites. If you are reading this anywhere besides TheGeekiary.com, it has been stolen.
Read our before commenting. Be kind to each other.