©久保帯人/集英社・テレビ東京・dentsu・ぴえろ
Is it really a long-running shōnen series if there’s not at least one major betrayal? If we never see our protagonist yelling out the name of their Judas, as they callously look on—determined that they’re right? And it’s in this long, illustrious tradition of top 10 anime betrayals that we have this episode: Ichigo and Uryu come face to face with one another after Uryu’s decision to side with the Quincies and fight. And ultimately, Uryu—who can now use Quincy Voll Stern Dich—emerges victorious.
Well, we don’t get this scene right away. We get it after about two minutes of recapping the last episode—incidentally, have the recaps always been as long as they have been this season? No matter. Anyway, after the recap and some time spent with Ichigo and Co. trying to get in Yhwach’s way, Uryu shows up, and the episode really starts to take off.
First off, as always, the animation is spectacular. Of course, the fights are the main attraction, but even little things like the twisting of Yoruichi’s arm—which lasted maybe all of three seconds—looked excellent. I had high hopes for Uzumaki and the second season of Blue Lock, but at this point, I feel pretty comfortable saying that I think the third season of Thousand-Year Blood War has turned out to be the overall best-looking show this season. And not to be outdone, the soundtrack also helped emphasize this episode’s drama. Bleach has always had a good soundtrack, but episodes like this one really help to emphasize that production knows how to utilize that soundtrack to its fullest potential.
In any case, Uryu and Ichigo yell back and forth at each other about their allegiances. In some ways, the whole thing feels like a quintessential shōnen anime betrayal moment. And I say “in some ways” because it does depart from tradition in at least one pretty noticeable iteration. Thinking back to many other similar anime betrayals, a common theme is that most of them tend to happen pretty suddenly. Sure, there might be a breadcrumb trail telling the audience that something like this could happen—that Sasuke’s lust for power, for example, is so intense that it might lead him down any of a number of dark paths if they’re only made available to him—but the betrayals themselves usually happen pretty quickly, with either a confrontation or when the protagonist has a long and dramatic soliloquy where they vow to bring back their friend.
We haven’t had any moments like that in Thousand-Year Blood War so far; both Ichigo and Uryu have had other matters to attend to, so this confrontation almost feels like it was on the back burner. Alternatively, you could call it something closer to a slow burn—one that feels slower still if you’ve been watching this series as it airs. We, the audience, have known that Uryu has been helping Yhwach for some time now—depending on how you want to measure it, several episodes or well over a year. Technically, Ichigo has known for a bit now, too. He just hasn’t had that moment of confrontation with Uryu yet. So now that it’s happening, we, the audience, have had plenty of time to marinate. And the pay-off has been wonderful. This episode’s absolutely able to cash in on that, letting their fight and Uryu’s victory really shine.
So now, Ichigo has been defeated (I don’t doubt he’ll get up again at some point, but still, he seems out of the picture for the time being), the forbidden jolly rancher is now completely compromised, and the idea that Aizen can—and probably will—return is now looming overhead. Story-wise, this is a really cool place for Bleach to be, and it has me interested in seeing what happens next. Obviously, I hope it’s Aizen. I’m always hoping for Aizen’s return—especially since I think there could be something cool (and a bit funny) about seeing a battle (either of swords or wits) between one guy who can see the future and another guy who’s such a master manipulator that he may as well be able to see the future. But even without Aizen, we’re at a point where a lot of things could happen. …But really, I do hope it’s Aizen.
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Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict is currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+.