What they say:
Ichigo arrives at the scene in Hueco Mundo where Quilge has battled the Tres Bestia. Meanwhile, the other Quincies begin to make their move. Ishida looks for answers while the Quincy King begins mobilization of the other Stern Ritter, and the Soul Society braces for impact.
Content (Please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The first major battle of the Thousand Year Blood War arc is here. Ichigo faces off against Stern Ritter “J,” Quilge in an amazing spectacle. The fighting itself is cool but there’s some interesting dialogue that happens here as well. Ichigo mentions that Quilge’s attacks are stronger than Ishida’s which surprises Quilge, saying that’s not possible. It seems as though Ishida has some latent potential that isn’t known yet to the audience or even Ishida himself, although others are aware of it. Digging through his father’s archives, Ishida catches wind of the Wandenreich and realizes that the Soul Reapers are fighting the Quincies. In the Soul Society, the sixth seat of squad 13 explains to the newbie Soul Reapers the reasoning. Ishida hinted at this at the beginning of the series, but this is a good refresher.
The Soul Reapers exist to purify Hollows. Doing so allows the number of souls circulating between the Soul Society and the land of the living to be at balance. The Quincies, however, destroy Hollows outright, completely extinguishing the souls from existence. The Soul Reapers continually invited the Quincies to discuss this but they would not listen. Ultimately, 200 years ago, the Soul Reapers faces no other option than to exterminate the Quincies, and now some of them have returned for revenge. There’s no sugarcoating it. What happened was genocide of the Quincies, and he goes on to explain there’s no real determining who was right and wrong here. He says war happens because both sides are just, that is to say, fighting in self-defense. I find this logic to be a bit dubious but I get the core intent. The point is that neither side is particularly right or wrong. The fact is that this is happening because the Soul Reapers annihilated the Quincies and the survivors are hungry for vengeance. On top of that, that’s still only the Soul Reaper spin on it. We don’t know how the Quincies might have been 200 years ago. Although the ruthlessness of the Quincy King suggests they could have been a fierce batch of soldiers.
Now that Ishida knows all this, we’re a step closer to seeing where he’ll end up, and based on what his father and Quilge have said, it will be an important decision. Ryuken (Ishida’s father) says this has nothing to do with Ishida, which really means it has everything to do with him and his father is trying to keep him away from whatever is going on. There is definitely some deeper history with Ishida and I’m eager to see why he in particular is so special among the Quincies. Ryuken himself is also an interesting puzzle piece. If he, too, has Quincy power, why is he not joining the Wandenreich? I know early on in the series he mentioned there was no profit incentive to kill Hollows so he gave up being a Quincy. But that sounds so superficial, and if he doesn’t display any loyalty to the Quincy King, I suspect something else is going on and I want to know what it is. I’m told this discussion between Ishida and Ryuken did not occur in the manga, so it seems like Tite Kubo, the creator of Bleach, is making use of the anime to fill in some gaps like this. Hopefully, we get an answer because anyone at odds with their own side can always offer compelling storytelling.
In another revelation, Mayuri of Squad 12 reveals himself as the cause of the missing residents of Rukon. His doing so was to keep the number of souls between the world of the living and the Soul Society in balance. As the Quincies killed Hollows indiscriminately, they needed to act fast and Mayuri doing this was his way of doing it. He suspected something like this may happen the moment Ishida arrived in the Soul Society early on in the series and as Yamamoto attempts to berate Mayuri, Mayuri snaps back saying it’s because Yamamoto couldn’t kill “that man,” who is supposedly the Quincy King. I also really love the lighting in this shot with the sharp divide in the light and dark. The nature of these two characters being so black and white juxtaposed with the morally vague positions of the Soul Reapers and Quincies being discussed is a nice touch.
Back in Hueco Mundo, Ichigo is up against a tough opponent in Quilge. Right off the bat, Quilge begins using his full force to attack Ichigo since the Quincy King determined Ichigo to be a “special threat.” I wonder what is special about Ichigo that separates him from other Soul Reapers. We have some guesses since we’ve followed him as the main character of the series. His inner Hollow, his lineage as a half-human, half Soul Reaper and his enormous spiritual pressure are all suspects. Which one of those things it ends up being if not something else remains to be seen. This is where Quilge starts shooting out a multitude of German terms at the audience so it’s a lot to take in at once. I actually had to go through the episode a few times to get them all so it will take a while to get them all down. The fight looks beautiful but I can’t help but feel it’s being sped up with all these powerups with German-esque names. Quilge immediately goes into his Letz Steil state, the second release for a Quincy. More properly named “Quincy Voll Stern Dich.” This is the same technique Ishida used against Mayuri during their encounter in the Soul Society arc from the beginning of the series (which cost Ishida his Quincy powers for a time). Except this is a far more advanced form of it. Something Ichigo will have to contend with is that he’s never encountered a Quincy other than Ishida. The techniques used may be similar but these Quincies have far more experience and have to potential to be much tougher in a fight, which proves the case when Quilge becomes a menacing foe for Ichigo. The Tres Bestia resurrect the Ayon being from the Arrancar arc in the battle of fake Karakura Town which briefly gets the upper hand against Quilge. However, Quilge has the ability to absorb Reishi as a Quincy and manages to consume Ayon into his Letz Steil form. Ichigo goes straight for Bankai but even that may not be enough at the moment. All of this does get me thinking, though. If Quilge is supposed to be this powerful, why does he say Ishida should be even stronger? The episode continues to tease.
This episode, like the previous one, ends on a major cliffhanger. The Wandenreich suddenly appear in the Soul Society with the Stern Ritter making a grand entrance through pillars of Reishi flame, and Kira of Squad 3 is fatally hit right off the bat. If nothing else, this episode delivered on the hype. The animation is gorgeous and paired with the sharp direction retains a cinematic feel. I particularly enjoyed the soundtrack this time as well. Aside from the vocal, German-inspired themes of the Quincies, there are remixes featured for two Bleach songs from the previous series, “On the Precipice of Defeat,” and “Hollowed.” I’m consistently impressed by the production valuea of this series. The series feels like something new yet often makes homage to the original series. It’s the best kind of upgrade. Of course, the story is still just beginning and now that the other Soul Reapers are finally involved, I can’t wait to see how the beginning of the war plays out.
In summary:
This episode brought on the hype factor up to more extreme levels but much of the focus is placed on creating questions and interesting ideas about the overall narrative and the plot. This episode didn’t have the same blend of potent emotion, comedy, and action the previous episode did, but much of that is made up for in the excitement, especially with the classic OST tracks remixed. The fight with Quilge is fun and stunning to watch even if it does feel like it’s moving at a fast pace. I thought the last episode was a tease but this was something else. The other Soul Reaper captains and Lieutenants have finally appeared and nothing is more exciting than the prospect of more battles involving all the Soul Reapers and other Stern Ritter. It may be a while before we get the answers to the questions posed in this episode, but there’s no escaping the Wandenreich at the moment.
Grade: A-
Streamed by: Hulu (US), Disney+ (International)
