Bleach Final Arc Review — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:03] finally reached its anime conclusion. The manga, of course, ended quite some time ago. I started watching this anime when I was in middle school. I've also talked about this before. I had a separate channel from a long time ago

[00:17] where I used to make AMVs for Bleach and Naruto. I made a couple for Bleach in particular, especially during the Saving Rukia arc, which was one of my favorites at the time. I had a banger cooked up for uh Ringi verse verse Byakia where it

[00:35] anywhere in the world. I wish I still had access to some of those AMVs I made back then. But point is Bleach was a show that I loved when I was growing up. But I kind of fell out of love with it and eventually kind of dropped it. And

[00:51] then it was around like I think 7 years ago now, maybe a little less, I ago now, maybe a little less, I rewatched Bleach from beginning to at Fullbrer arc, which is when it went on its hiatus. It's been about 10 years

[01:05] its hiatus. It's been about 10 years now. And re-watching it, I still think a lot of it held up in the beginning half, especially like in the Saving Rukia. Of there and rose tinted glasses and like revisiting that was very uh, you know,

[01:19] help but appreciate a lot of it, but I really do think a lot of it is still kind of timeless. However, getting into the Iran car arc, which I remember I had overall I thought it was really cool, really hype, especially like Grim and

[01:33] like about it. Going back and re-watching it, I was very harsh on a re-watching it, I was very harsh on a lot of like Bleach, especially because mistake of watching the entire Bount arc, which is I nearly had to go into

[01:47] [ __ ] therapy for that, man. That is one of the worst arcs of any show I've ever watched. And I I went into it unknowingly that it unknowing that it was filler cuz when I was a kid, I don't think I

[01:59] watched the Bount arc or if I did, it didn't leave a lasting impression on me. [ __ ] full grown adult, I felt insulted. But anyway, I'm getting wrapped up here. Point is, I used to love Bleach and then kind of fell out of

[02:14] love with it as I got older. And when I went back and rewatched it, while there was still a lot to like about it, there was a lot that I just don't think really stood the test of time. And thus, when I've talked about Bleach in the past,

[02:28] before Thousand-Year Blood War, I had been very harsh on it. Like, there's great fights and I think it has incredible characters. I think Eizen is an amazing villain and I think that there are some other characters that

[02:41] don't get enough attention for how great they are, how deep they were like Gene. I think Gene is an amazing character that unfortunately their final act

[02:53] didn't amount to much. But even that is kind of a very interesting thing to play with for a character that did as much as Guin. And I think they execute the huge

[03:05] twist with that character really well. So, there are a lot of things about So, there are a lot of things about Bleach that I like a lot. It's just when I rewatched it, there were a ton of things that didn't go over super well

[03:18] anymore for me. But with Thousand-Year Blood War, I was pretty excited to see how they would adapt the finale to this series. I didn't love the ending in the manga. That's another thing I talked about. I didn't love how the manga

[03:32] handled the ending of Bleach, and I was somewhat optimistic that Thousand-Year Bloodbor would take some creative liberties to change certain things, and it did. Not entirely, but for the most part, the things they add here, I

[03:46] thought were really good and helped flesh out some problems from the manga. Specifically, like it gives Oraheime some more shine, especially in this War. I think it also does a better job with Uru. Like I think there are a lot

[03:59] of things here that it actually improves upon from the source material. I think it makes the final fight with Yahaba much better. So there I think your blood yapping a lot here, but this is a pretty big deal to see a show that's run for

[04:13] a 10-year hiatus and yes, the manga manga's been done for a while, but to come back around here and finally deliver on the ending, it's a big deal. And I've said from the beginning when Thousand-Year Blood War Part One started

[04:27] that I was very impressed with the animation. And I'm happy to say I am still very impressed with the animation. I think Thousand-Year Blood War is a beautiful looking show. And I think the fights are extraordinary. I think it is

[04:39] visually stunning and I think there are amazing fights here. Some of the best in this series. Like I really do believe that. I still don't love the stealing you know we get we're introduced to the new big bads here. The Quincies come in,

[04:55] that because now you're just nerfing characters that we like to see at full power. It doesn't make the new villains seem super strong and super scary when they have to rely on that gimmick. It makes them feel like cowards that are

[05:08] relying on this stick to nerf characters that we've come to know and love. So, I temporary. It's ephemereral. doesn't last super long, but that was just one thing that I never really loved the direction of. But even still, it's

[05:21] beautiful looking and I want to make it abundantly clear. I really like Thousand-Year Blood War. I I I want to make sure that comes across like right in your [ __ ] tits here because I do like it a lot. It has plenty of

[05:36] shortcomings, unfortunately. A lot of it does tie back into the source material that it's adapting, but it's not like that, you know, fixes it in the manga. It's like, well, yeah, but you did still have a chance to try and

[05:50] change that. They add a lot to it that I think helps improve some of these things, giving it a little extra makeup, a little extra shine, but at the core, some of these issues that I had with the manga are still present here. But for

[06:02] manga are still present here. But for the most part, I still really liked it a lot. I think there is a lot to like about it and I think it's a really great sendoff for this series. Almost every character that you know and love from

[06:15] the series gets their time to shine. They get their moment. They go up against these extremely powerful foes that feel like the odds are insurmountable and they all get their time to show what they can do. And you

[06:28] get to see the best version of them and the most beautiful version of them in Thousand-Year Blood War. It's not every character. There's a few characters that got scraps, got some [ __ ] morsels. They everyone else got the pizza. They

[06:42] didn't even get the crust. But with the huge cast of characters, that's going to happen. But I'd say overall they do a great job of all the characters that you care about do get their time to do big things and do get to showcase new

[06:55] abilities and square off against the Stern Ritter which are these new powerful opponents to the likes of which we've never seen before that have abilities that are unbelievably powerful and extremely wacky some of them like

[07:09] some of them feel outrageously overpowered and I mean like some of these I haven't seen and many other anime. The Stern Ritter here have some very cool [ __ ] But some of them are so powerful that the

[07:23] only way they can lose is if the plot necessitates them being temporarily lobbomized. Basically, some of these are so powerful that the only possible way of a sudden get hit by the orbit confusion, like concentrated stupid

[07:38] beam, and then all of a sudden they lose. So, a lot of ass pull moments. And I know this was a criticism and has been for a long time and it is that is something that is not really changed here but at least it's beautiful looking

[07:50] for me. The example that I always go to is Grimmie. Grimmie has a shrift that allows his imagination to become reality. How could you possibly lose, right? Like yes, there are some limitations like he

[08:05] can't imagine something that his body can't like handle or something to that effect. I can't recall all the uh nuance to it, but fundamentally whatever he can to it, but fundamentally whatever he can fantasize will be made real. That is so

[08:19] powerful. And he fights against Kimpachi Zaraki. It's a great fight, a great matchup, but how the [ __ ] can you possibly win against that because with a power of that magnitude, all he has to do is imagine that Kimpachi's heart is

[08:34] uh a donut. There's like a million ways just off the top of my noodle here that just off the top of my noodle here that I could imagine a victory here. Uh can I could imagine a victory here. Uh can can Patchi's nut sack fills with a

[08:47] neurotoxin and then he blows up? Like there's so many ways to instantly win that fight, but Grimmie doesn't. and he eventually loses because Kimbachi Zaraki

[08:59] is able to overwhelm him with just brutal relentless like violence and strength that eventually breaks Grimmiey's confidence and he can no longer imagine possibly beating him. So if he can't imagine it, it can't happen.

[09:15] also just could have ended it on the spot. We've seen him do that already where he just imagines an instant death and basically an instant victory for himself. He could have easily done that before he showed him all those wild

[09:29] imagining like visually cool things, you know, like missiles and whatever, but I that's a fight that he shouldn't lose really ever. And so, like, there's moments like that and especially with Yahaba, with the Almighty, the Almighty

[09:44] is unbelievably powerful, so extraordinarily powerful where he can choose futures. even like in a future like if he dies he just choose a choose a different future. He can choose a future where his opponent

[09:56] is just dead. Like there's so many ways of him utilizing the almighty to win. And yet in the most crucial moment he disregards a future that was shared with him about his demise, writing it off as just like a dream, like a nightmare.

[10:09] happen. And then whoop, it happened. I guess that was like a future. Maybe I what the [ __ ] Like I get one of his big things is being overconfident, but like that's to an absurd level. Like he wants total despair. That is something they

[10:23] something that makes him so good and so intimidating. I think everything about him as a villain is really cool, really hyped. And it is constant clashing with the soul reapers and with everybody else in the cast and I love that. It's

[10:36] great villain for that. He wants to dismantle the status quo and rebuild everything without the fear of death. So that way, you know, there is nothing to fear any longer. And as he's like on the cusp of victory,

[10:52] And as he's like on the cusp of victory, he does lose. And how he loses, he did foresee. It was a combination of basically a aspole super arrow head that Uru's father and Ichigo's father collaboratively teamed up and then

[11:07] them again, by the way. They just kind of vanish. I guess they went off and had or something, but they didn't participate in the final act, like the actual fight, but gave him the chemical X here to, you know, in this. And so, it

[11:24] Ichigo delivering the final blow. But again, that just shouldn't happen because he could have easily just chosen a future where that arrow doesn't pierce him. like the arrow turns off his power

[11:36] temporarily and that makes sense that once it lands he'd be very like in a pickle about fixing the future choosing a different one in that moment. So that never even had to get to that point because he even says to Uru, I already

[11:51] saw that referring to the arrow coming his way. Why let it hit? Just choose a different future. Again, we'd seen him do this countless times but he chooses not to when he's on the cusp of victory at the most important moment. That's

[12:03] right with me. But I will say the final fight with Yahaba in the animation in improvement over the manga. I think it is much more visually appealing. There's lot of new elements that weren't in the manga that does make it feel larger in

[12:18] scale and like a really big final urra for the good guys. It was hype. But like some of the source material things that didn't land for me in the manga. And even though they fleshed out more here in Thousand-Year Blood War, it

[12:31] still doesn't fully rectify some of my issues. But it's not the biggest deal in yapping about a few things I didn't like, but I want to make it clear overall, I really liked Thousand-Year Blood War. I think this is a really,

[12:44] really great conclusion to Bleach. And I think it sends it off on such a home run like for this series. Like even though there are things that I don't think land overly well, it's exactly what you would want from Bleach. Great

[13:00] fights, great animation, great music. Like it is still so hype and super fun that some of its shortcomings I can kind of excuse cuz

[13:12] again it is still going off the source material and they didn't they didn't want to depart super fully from that and I get it. I would have liked a few changes personally, but that's okay. The

[13:25] things they add here were enough. I really liked it. I am still uh very happy with how Thousand-Year Blood War went. I am going to mention one more thing because this was something I was convinced was going to be changed in the

[13:40] uh the anime over the manga. Eizen, Eizen is brought back into the fold here and he is poised to square off against Yuahaba. He is even designated as a like

[13:52] special threat to him. And the clash is about to happen. In the manga, it's extremely underwhelming how it goes there. Not a lot happens. It's pretty there. Not a lot happens. It's pretty quick. And I thought given how much like

[14:05] glaze and how much attention the anime had been paying to like so many of these characters, I thought they would flesh that out to make it a bigger ordeal and more going on and show more of Eizen verse this new powerful opponent that

[14:21] makes him look like a [ __ ] chump. I thought it would be a big clash, but it's really quick again. He is almost immediately disposed of. He gets one move in there that kind of surprises Yuahaba and then he's like, "Ha, didn't

[14:38] expect that until I did." So, I rewrote the future and then that's the end that you and then that's the end of Eyes and he just gets hit once and that's it. It's like, oh no, why though? Didn't have to be like that.

[14:52] You You could have had more there. Like, this is a Clash that could have a lot more meat on the bones. Again, I get the source material, but [ __ ] me. Like, this was a really good opportunity to make it more of a spectacle. Doesn't have to be

[15:06] maybe just a little bit more. This like something he gets freed from this [ __ ] chair finally unleashed, uncircumcised. Like, come on. Like, let's see something crazy. But no, that's one that they stuck pretty

[15:21] closely to how it was, which is a little disappointing, especially because again, like I keep mentioning Oraheime. I think out of every new uh new thing introduced throughout Thousand-Year Blood War, what they did with Oraheime was the best and

[15:36] it suited the character the best and gave her a lot more that added a lot. And I'm just kind of surprised that there wasn't any of that treatment to like Eisen, but again, it's not like the biggest deal in the world, I suppose. I

[15:49] up on that for no reason. And another thing I was really hoping would change thing I was really hoping would change was uh Chad becoming a fighter. the the most famous fighter. I don't know, man. I never liked that in the manga and I

[16:02] the direction at the very end here, but it still is. Like, I still like the happily ever after that they reach. It's just throughout Thousand-Year Blood War, Chad is one of the characters that gets [ __ ] nothing. And then him turning

[16:16] into a fighter, I don't know. I feel like it really isn't in line with how Chad had been building for a long time. At least to me personally, I wouldn't have I wouldn't have predicted that. And I don't think it overly fits super well

[16:31] when one of Chad's core things is about protection and now he's fighting for money and fame. And you don't even really get to hear from Chad much in not at the end, you don't even hear from him. It's just you get to watch his

[16:46] of a fighter he is like boxing. It's like, oh man, that's a little sad. But again, not the biggest deal in the world. Like some of the things I didn't really like about it were things that

[16:58] were in the manga. And you know, the anime isn't going to go wildly off the very like specific things that I'm talking about. Broadly speaking, I think as a complete package, this is mostly a slam dunk. I think Thousand-Year Blood

[17:14] War is great. I I don't want to keep blabbering on about it for too much longer here, but I really enjoyed it. And to see this show conclude after what 21 years, 20 22 years, somewhere in that ballpark. I know I was like 10 or 11

[17:30] I started watching it when I was like in middle school. So somewhere in there to see a show like this end is just I don't know, man. It's always such a weird feeling. I think this is a good

[17:46] satisfying conclusion. it. It's very clear they put a lot of passion, love, and time into animating this, and it's beautiful. So, yeah, I liked it and uh beautiful. So, yeah, I liked it and uh yeah, that's really about it. Tip.