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The BLEACH Anime Is OVER | TYBW Cour 4 Complete Review — Transcript

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0:00It is the end of an era. The
0:01Thousand-Year Blood War arc is over.
0:03Cour 4 of Bleach just wrapped up with
0:05episodes 49 and 50 releasing over the
0:07last 2 weeks, and I don't think that any
0:09of us were quite ready for what we got.
0:11Episode 49 took eight pages worth of
0:14manga, and it transformed it into one of
0:16the best episodes of Bleach that I've
0:18seen. And then a week later, episode 50
0:20took us all the way back to where it
0:22began with Ichigo and Rukia reminiscing
0:25over the first time that they met. I
0:26won't lie, there was a point after the
0:28manga ended in 2016 where I didn't think
0:30that we'd ever get here. Bleach felt
0:32like it was done, and now every chapter
0:35from chapter 1 all the way through to
0:37chapter 686 has been animated in its
0:40entirety. In this video, I want to talk
0:42about the fourth and final part of the
0:44Thousand-Year Blood War arc anime in its
0:45entirety. I'll be going over each
0:48episode from episode 41 to 50, talking
0:50about what went well, what could have
0:52been done better, and how the anime
0:54reworked the ending of the manga. Do
0:56stick around until the very end of the
0:58video because I'll be giving my final
1:00verdict on Cour 4, ranking the episodes
1:02of the calamity, and talking about where
1:04Bleach goes from here. So, without
1:06further delay, here is my complete
1:08review of Cour 4 of Bleach's
1:10Thousand-Year Blood War arc anime. The
1:12final part of the Thousand-Year Blood
1:14War arc anime adapts the final 25 and
1:161/2 chapters of the Bleach manga into 10
1:18episodes. It spans from the midpoint of
1:21chapter 661 all the way through to
1:23chapter 686,
1:25the final chapter of Bleach. This
1:27averages at roughly 2 and 1/2 chapters
1:30adapted per episode. This is the slowest
1:32pacing of the entire anime as Cour 3
1:35averaged just under four chapters per
1:37episode, and Cours 1 and 2 were adapting
1:40around five chapters per episode. So,
1:42this final season had more room to
1:44breathe than anything that came before
1:46it. Kubo said at Anime Expo 2025 that
1:49the supervision that he has done for
1:50Cour 4 alone was about the same as
1:53everything that he has done across Cours
1:551 to 3. And series director Hikaru
1:57Murata picked bankai as the key word for
2:00this call. You can see it in the
2:03episodes too with Urahara's Bankai,
2:05Kenpachi's Bankai, Hitsugaya's all new
2:07adult transformation, Ichigo's new blood
2:10chains Bankai form, and the true form of
2:12Tensa Zangetsu to cap everything off.
2:14And heck, we even got a cameo of Rukia's
2:17Bankai which she momentarily used
2:19against Yhwach. Call 4 followed a
2:21pattern as well. Episodes 41 to 44 had
2:24mixed manga material with a new subplot
2:27about the three worlds collapsing and an
2:29entirely reworked Uryu versus Haschwalth
2:31fight. Episodes 45 to 47 went almost for
2:34the anime original, 48 went back to a
2:37near one-to-one anime adaptation, and
2:39then the finale which was split across
2:41two episodes had episode 49 for the war
2:44against Yhwach being wrapped up, episode
2:4650 for the 10-year epilogue. So, let's
2:48begin by looking back at how Call 4
2:50kicked off with the release of episode
2:5241. So, we begin with episode 41 titled
2:56God of Thunder. Call 4 opens with a
2:58dream. As Yhwach is asleep on his
3:00throne, he watches Ichigo approach him
3:03in his original Shinigami Shihakusho.
3:05You'll notice this is the outfit that
3:07Ichigo dons during the Soul Society arc
3:09or after his Shattered Shaft training
3:11with Urahara. He wields the very first
3:14version of Zangetsu as he cuts down
3:17Yhwach. The Quincy emperor refers to
3:19this as a wonderful dream because
3:21there's nothing better than a nightmare.
3:23This cold open is content from chapter
3:25672 pulled forward. It is a near mirror
3:29of the actual killing blow that Ichigo
3:31lands on Yhwach from chapter 684. Yhwach
3:35opens seven eyes across the darkness on
3:37his head and he reviews the state of the
3:39battlefield. And we get a full 3D CG
3:42panel across Wahrwelt. The Visoreds
3:44preparing to face Gerard, Yoruichi
3:47against Askin, Bazz-B lying motionless
3:50in his own blood at the foot of Silbern.
3:52Uryu stays behind to hold off Haschwalth
3:54while promising Ichigo that these won't
3:56be his last words. And Chad and Ganju
3:58end up carving out a path through a hall
4:01of animated statues so that Ichigo and
4:03Orihime can keep climbing up towards
4:05Yhwach. Then the episode gives us its
4:07first major swing as we have a fully
4:10anime original Uryu versus Haschwalth
4:12fight which spans for roughly five
4:14straight minutes. Haschwalth toys with
4:16him as he utilizes the Almighty as he
4:18then lays out the plan that the manga
4:20only really implied within fragments.
4:23The mass extermination of Hollows, the
4:25deaths of Yamamoto and the Royal Guard
4:27and the Soul King being absorbed into
4:29Yhwach. Each of these events has
4:31shattered the balance of souls so a rift
4:33is opening beneath Wahrwelt and the goal
4:35is the annihilation of the three realms
4:37so a Quincy monarchy can be built on the
4:40wreckage of reality. At the same time
4:42over in Karakura Town Jinta, Ururu and
4:45Tatsuki watch a Hollow get swallowed by
4:47a distortion in the sky. Now this one
4:49scene launches a four episode subplot
4:52about the three worlds which are
4:53collapsing which simply doesn't exist in
4:55the manga. The second half of the
4:57episode belongs to Yoruichi as Askin has
4:59a a death stall with a hybrid gift ball.
5:02Thankfully Urahara arrives as he injects
5:05her with a rushed immunizing agent that
5:07buys five minutes worth of time. He
5:09flips over a card that reads you're
5:11going to transform after this flips and
5:13he triggers Shunko Raiju Senkei Shinryu
5:16Kokubyo Senkei. Yoruichi becomes a
5:19lightning beast whose reatsu alters 48
5:22times every second. She's effectively
5:24faster than the rate that Askin's
5:26immunity is able to adapt. She proceeds
5:28to maul him across the battlefield while
5:30occasionally stopping mid-fight to groom
5:32herself. Urahara loads her back with
5:35Yoru Neb a form of catnip as the episode
5:37ends on the counter with Askin
5:40descending in his Vollstandig Krieger
5:42Haschlein as he wraps everything in the
5:45largest gift ball that he is able to
5:47produce. This was a solid opening
5:49episode and it gets the car ready for
5:52the biggest new idea which is the
5:54disruption of the balance of souls from
5:56the very first minute. Episode 42 Son of
5:58Darkness opens with
6:02>> Orihime and Tatsuki are at a school
6:04greenhouse. Orihime compares A Gloriosa
6:07flower to Ichigo's heart. It's the same
6:09flower that's been woven through the
6:11opening of call one and its ending. Kubo
6:14has said outright in interviews that
6:16Orihime's additions across this call
6:18exist so that first-time viewers
6:20understand why she ends up at Ichigo's
6:22side. The Askin fight resolves within
6:24this episode and it's truly a chess
6:26match. Haschwalth counters the 48
6:29changes trick because if Askin survives
6:311 second of contact, he is able to
6:33sample every single variation at once.
6:36He fires a gift ring that destroys
6:38Urahara's eyes one after the other and
6:40with no other option left, Urahara
6:42finally reveals his bankai that he has
6:44not once used in front of anyone. It's
6:46Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame, a giant
6:49unsettling Benihime that restructures
6:52whatever she touches. It restores
6:54Urahara's eyes and leaves stitching
6:56across his face. While Urahara rides her
6:58threads through the air like rails, the
7:01killing blow against Askin is landed by
7:03Grimmjow who punches through his chest
7:05and crushes his heart. This is because
7:07Urahara had healed Grimmjow on the way
7:09over knowing that an Arrancar's reishi
7:11completely changes to that of an Hollow
7:14when they are in their resurrección. So,
7:16it renders all of Askin's accumulated
7:18immunity data worthless and this sums up
7:21Urahara. He takes a thousand precautions
7:23so that even one will succeed. And in
7:25death, Askin still nearly wins because
7:28with nobody moderating it, the Gift Ball
7:30Deluxe now intensifies into a lethal
7:32dome. Nel watches from the outside as
7:34she counts four reishi signatures within
7:36the Gift Ball Deluxe. As she works out
7:38that she'll need two round trips to
7:40rescue them. Meanwhile, Ichigo and
7:42Orihime reach the throne room as Yhwach
7:44greets him as his son of darkness. We
7:47then get an exchange which is the
7:48emotional spine of this confrontation.
7:51Yhwach dismisses Isshin as a standing
7:53father as Ichigo rejects Yhwach entirely
7:57calling him the man who killed his
7:58mother. The first clash against this all
8:01new Yhwach with the Soul King's reishi
8:03absorbed goes about as well as you'd
8:05expect. Haschwalth activates an all new
8:08Soul King absorbed Almighty form as
8:10black reatsu pours out from his eyes.
8:13Three blue irises appear within his eyes
8:15as we have multiple Almighty eyes
8:17appearing across his shoulders as he
8:19says the line "Despair begins now." This
8:22transformation was created and designed
8:24by Kubo himself as the anime staff
8:27wanted Haschwalth to have a new
8:29transformation which would be able to
8:31stand toe-to-toe against Uryu's new
8:33anime exclusive Vollstandig. Episode 43
8:36titled "Blood for My Bone" begins with
8:38Kenpachi waking up inside of Mayuri's
8:40preservation vat and solving the problem
8:43of a locked door by kicking it several
8:45meters across the battlefield. This
8:47episode features a 2-minute anime
8:49exclusive standoff between Orihime and
8:52Yhwach as Yhwach explains that the same
8:54power that flows through him flows
8:56through Ichigo. So on some unconscious
8:58level Orihime accepts his attacks, but
9:00she pushes back his reatsu with shiten
9:02koshun anyway as her arms get shredded.
9:05She refuses to move as Ichigo then
9:07debuts the Getsuga Jūjishō. We then get
9:10some new lore additions within the
9:12episode as we see Ichibei stood before
9:15the blood oath seals. He paints a black
9:18salamander made of ink as he drinks the
9:20black liquid that the salamander is made
9:22of of and he apologizes. In parallel to
9:25this Haschwalth and Yhwach narrate
9:27exactly what he's apologizing for.
9:29Ichibei took Ichigo in and gave him the
9:32Soul King's memories in order to judge
9:34his worthiness. When he was walking down
9:36the path of Era Zushando. This is
9:38because Ichibei's true plan was to
9:40install Ichigo as the next Soul King.
9:42Yhwach describes this a fate worse than
9:45death as black is the color of chaos and
9:47chaos belongs to the Soul King's power
9:50and the one who controls that black is
9:52Ichibei. It's very chilling and both
9:54Ichigo and Uryu in completely separate
9:56battles give the exact same answer as
9:59they say "So what?" Ichibei's plan being
10:01put on screen stems from the Can't Fear
10:03Your Own World light novels. So it's
10:05great to finally have this lore
10:07officially animated. The rest of the
10:09episode focuses on Gerard as all of the
10:11Visoreds face off against him and their
10:13attacks converge into a combined rainbow
10:16of cero fire. Gerard walks out of the
10:18smoke and lariats all eight Visored into
10:21eight separate buildings. Hitsugaya then
10:24arrives as he holds Gerard's arm in ice.
10:27This is material from chapters 658 and
10:30659 that Cour 3 skipped over. So, it's
10:33been rearranged and placed here.
10:35Kenpachi then crashes the party as he
10:37severs Gerard's arm and releases
10:39Nozarashi against Hoffnung. Now, this is
10:41where the fight's cruel gimmick reveals
10:43itself. Gerard Valkyrie's body is
10:45inflated by the fears of people. His
10:47sword is forged from their hopes and
10:49every chip that you put into that blade
10:51carves a matching wound of despair into
10:54your own body. Byakuya, Hitsugaya, and
10:56Kenpachi each chip Gerard's sword as it
10:58results in them all being injured. This
11:01was the final episode that was included
11:03within the Cour 4 the Calamity cinema
11:05screenings in June. Episode 44, The
11:08Perfect Crimson, takes us into the
11:10Hidden Lab of the Research and
11:11Development Institute. Here we learn
11:13that the border intensity between the
11:15worlds has hit plus 1.02. The power of
11:18Mimihagi that Ukitake is releasing
11:20appears to be weakening. Akon states
11:23that if this continues, then the three
11:25realms will cease to exist. We then cut
11:27to a raven landing in a puddle within
11:30Karakura Town and reflected on the
11:32puddle is the Seireitei, which appears
11:34upside down within the sky of the world
11:37of the living. The anime is doing an
11:39excellent job of selling this
11:41apocalyptic vibe via these anime
11:43exclusive additions. We then see
11:45Kenpachi lying in rubble as Nozarashi
11:48appears before him. She takes the form
11:50of Yachiru, his lieutenant, telling him
11:53there's nobody that he cannot cut and
11:55handing him the power of bankai.
11:57Kenpachi's skin then turns red as horns
12:00sprout from his skull as he intercepts
12:02Gerard's punch with his teeth before
12:04biting clean through and ripping
12:06Gerard's arm off. He carves through his
12:08shield and cuts through the hand holding
12:10it and eventually cuts Gerard vertically
12:12in half with one swing. A Quincy cross
12:14then rises from the corpse building a
12:17beating heart out of Gerard's own blood
12:19as it stitches him back together in his
12:21full Wallstandig. Then Kenpachi's Bankai
12:23gets too much to handle as Nozarashi
12:25admits that she released more power than
12:28Kenpachi's body could handle as his arm
12:30shears off at the elbow. Then the last
12:32of Hitsugaya's ice petals shatter and
12:35instead of his Bankai collapsing it
12:37transforms into a completed state as it
12:40ages him into his adult form. What
12:42follows is an incredible sequence as a
12:45flash frozen Hoffnung is split in two
12:47with no despair wound because frozen
12:50matter ceases to function. Shikoku Ketsu
12:52locks Gerard solid as Gerard breaks out
12:55anyway and he roars that he cannot be
12:57bound by the mere elements of this
12:59world. Then a one-armed Kenpachi anchors
13:02Gerard's ankle as Byakuya unveils Senkei
13:05and finishes off with Ikkasenjinka to
13:07take Gerard's head off while he is
13:09frozen. But even then Golden Reshi
13:12rebuilds Gerard one more time as he
13:14appears in gleaming new armor as the
13:16fight then suddenly grounds to a halt.
13:19Renji and Rukia also return to the
13:21battlefield after being healed as they
13:23assume that Hitsugaya in his adult form
13:25is Hitsugaya's older brother. This
13:27episode also features Ichigo activating
13:29his Horn of Salvation form as he fires
13:32off the Grand Rey Cero Getsuga. This
13:34episode featured Kenpachi's Bankai,
13:36Hitsugaya's adult form along with the
13:39Horn of Salvation reveal. With about six
13:41and a half chapters worth of content
13:42adapted into episode 44. Episode 45
13:45titled Defend You has been the most
13:48iconic episode of the entire
13:50Thousand-Year Blood War arc anime. This
13:52episode adapts three pages from chapter
13:54677
13:56and it ran for about 27 minutes and it
13:58had no ending song and no next episode
14:01preview. So the vast majority of this
14:03episode was anime original content that
14:06was made under Kubo's supervision. The
14:08first half of the episode sees Yhwach
14:10impaling Ichigo. Then Orihime heals him
14:13as Yhwach starts impaling her instead
14:15over and over, watching with genuine
14:17curiosity to see how many times she can
14:19drag herself back up with Soten Kisshun
14:22before her power runs dry. Rukia then
14:24arrives on the battlefield with Soden no
14:26Shirayuki freezing Yhwach's darkness
14:28mid-strike. Yhwach thanks Rukia as the
14:30Shinigami whose actions awakened
14:32Ichigo's powers in the first place. Then
14:35Ichigo activates his Bankai as he
14:37releases an all new form called Blood
14:40Chains Ichigo. This was designed and
14:42named by Kubo and it's a transformation
14:44that we've never seen in any other form
14:46of Bleach media. We see a second horn
14:49appear on Ichigo's head. He has crimson
14:51skin as chains of red reishi form around
14:53his neck, wrists, and ankles. With this
14:56new transformation, Ichigo can create
14:58reishi clones that let him attack from
15:00six directions at once. He also has an
15:02all new ultimate Getsuga which hangs in
15:05the sky as an enormous black crescent
15:07moon that's visible across all of
15:09Wahrwelt. Rukia identifies this as the
15:12power of the true Zangetsu. Despite
15:14Ichigo's best efforts, Yhwach refuses to
15:16die as he explains that he has to
15:18understand Ichigo completely in order to
15:21devour him. Now, alongside all of this,
15:23we have Uryu's checkmate as Haschwalth
15:25gleefully announces that he's foreseen
15:27Uryu's last resort, which is the Sanrei
15:29Glove. What he hasn't foreseen is where
15:32it's going. Uryu exploits the
15:34three-second blind spot between each of
15:36Haschwalth's uses of the Almighty. This
15:39allows him to use the Antithesis to swap
15:41the Sanrei Glove from his hand onto
15:43Haschwalth's own hand. Then the final
15:45moments of the episode play as Orihime
15:47watches Ichigo pinned under Yhwach's
15:49boot. She stops wishing that she could
15:51protect him and she starts to act as the
15:54six Shun Shun Rikka leave her hairpins.
15:57Blood traces upwards through the air. A
15:59spinning halo then unfolds into a
16:02six-petaled flower and Rokkaku Shishun
16:05erases both Orihime and Yhwach from
16:08existence, leaving nothing behind but
16:10red petals that fall around Ichigo and
16:13Rukia. Episode 46 titled The End sees
16:16Tatsuki wake up in Karakura Town crying
16:19without knowing why. In Wahrwelt, a
16:21single eye opens in the darkness above
16:23the throne room as Yhwach returns with
16:25Orihime floating unconscious beside him
16:28as the version of the future where she
16:30erased him simply never existed. Yhwach
16:33states that the Almighty is not the
16:34power to see the future. It is the power
16:36to alter the future. Every possible
16:38future is a grain of sand and Yhwach is
16:41able to pick whichever one he wants to
16:43bring to the present. Meanwhile,
16:45Haschwalth explains that his powers and
16:46Yhwach swapped back seconds before Uryu
16:49fired the Sanrei Glove. So, Uryu burned
16:52his trump card destroying nothing.
16:54Haschwalth then activates the Balance in
16:56full as his shield absorbs every
16:58misfortune aimed at him and redirects it
17:01onto the fortunate, which means every
17:03wound that Uryu inflicts comes back
17:05doubled. Uryu then uses his Schrift The
17:07Antithesis seriously as this is the
17:09power to designate two points and
17:11reverse everything that happens between
17:13them. The anime then shows us Uryu using
17:16The Antithesis inside of Kirio's Cage of
17:18Life and during the glove swap. The
17:21episode also builds upon the Ichibei
17:24subplot. During the beginning of the
17:25episode, the ground splits open and the
17:27Soul King's ceremonial chamber rises as
17:30Ichigo walks towards it with Renji
17:32recognizing that this is Ichibei's
17:34handywork. Rukia refers to him as a fool
17:37as Ichigo's pretty much accepted his
17:39fate as the new Soul King. All of this
17:42happens before Yhwach returns with
17:44Orihime. Within this episode, Ichigo
17:46activates the manga-accurate true bankai
17:49as the two blades merge into one and
17:51Yhwach snaps it in his grip explaining
17:53that he broke it in the future so it
17:55arrives already broken. He tears off
17:57Ichigo's horn and tells Renji that he
17:59likes the word bankai because it lets
18:01shinigami stand up one last time before
18:03he crushes them. He then cuts
18:06and Renji himself into pieces. He breaks
18:09Rukia's arm and impales Chad and Ganju.
18:12It's pretty much an execution sequence
18:15that wasn't in the manga. Now, a
18:17significant change that occurs here is
18:18that before Yhwach breaks Ichigo's
18:21Bankai, he actually casts the Aschwalden
18:23on Haschwalth. As Yhwach states that he
18:26needs his son for this moment as he
18:28takes back all of Haschwalth's power.
18:30And immediately after this, Ichigo's
18:32Bankai is broken. Haschwalth here
18:33realizes that Yhwach's no longer acting
18:36for the best interest of the Quincy
18:38race. Here, he asks Uryu to transfer his
18:40wounds onto him so that he could join
18:43Ichigo and use his powers to stop the
18:45Quincy emperor. Haschwalth dies as we
18:47see Bazz-B's childhood emblem engraved
18:50onto the hilt of his blade. Then we have
18:52episode 47 titled The End 2. In the
18:56manga, Yhwach rips Mimihagi out of
18:58Ukitake. This occurs back in chapters
19:01619 and 620, and Ukitake dies in core
19:053's time frame. The anime deliberately
19:07didn't adapt those pages and kept
19:09Ukitake and Mimihagi around. In the
19:12opening moments of this episode, we see
19:13Shunsui unconscious as he's pulled
19:16beneath the water into Mimihagi's realm.
19:18He finds a young Ukitake waiting for
19:21him. Ukitake wants to bet the last of
19:23his life on Shunsui, and when he asks
19:25what the odds of winning actually are,
19:27he grins and says they're about the same
19:29as Shunsui asking Unohana out on a date,
19:32which Shunsui naturally takes as a fair
19:34chance. This moment ends with adult
19:37Ukitake's voice saying he's counting on
19:39the head captain. Later in the episode,
19:41as Yhwach's final black Aschwalden tears
19:44the stolen Quincy power out of the
19:46remaining Quincy, Shunsui's arm opens
19:48Mimihagi's eye, and he deliberately
19:51fires the god of stillness into Yhwach's
19:54final Aschwalden. While doing this,
19:56Ukitake appears to die smiling within
19:58the Research and Development Institute.
20:00Now, this episode focuses on an alliance
20:03which the manga never showed as Uryu,
20:05Shunsui, Nanao, Harribel, Nell, Pesche,
20:08and Dondochakka stand around the chamber
20:11holding the Seed of Destruction with
20:13Soken Ishida's journal revealing the
20:15truth that Uryu's own grandfather's
20:17research into fusing different species
20:19of souls had become the engine that
20:21Yhwach is using to collapse the three
20:24realms and that the only way to destroy
20:26the seed of destruction is to collide it
20:28with one of the major distortions that
20:31are occurring at the boundary of the
20:33realms. So, Uryu's plan is in effect as
20:35the Shinigami, Quincy, and Hollow work
20:37together for the first time. Uryu handed
20:40to each of them a collapse chip. They
20:42had to place this on the inner wall of
20:44the bridge leading out from the central
20:46tower. The plan is to drop the central
20:48tower where the seed of destruction is
20:50to the massive distortion that's
20:52immediately below Baro Weld. So, all of
20:54the other platforms remain suspended in
20:57the air while the central tower falls.
20:59Halibel, Sung-Sun, and Apacci expose the
21:02seed of destruction as Nelliel Tu
21:04Odelschwanck spins up and Uryu utilizes
21:07the Antithesis as he swaps his arrow
21:10with the lance in order to sever
21:11Yhwach's arm. He swaps a destroyed
21:14future for one where the arrow never
21:16broke and he swaps two buttons for
21:18Halibel and Nelliel in order to extract
21:20them to safety as he finally swaps
21:22Yhwach himself with Nelliel's bangle in
21:25order to trap him within the falling
21:27central tower. This is so that Yhwach is
21:29caught within the epicenter of the huge
21:32explosion that will result from the seed
21:34of destruction colliding with the
21:36distortion. So, Ken Ishida stated that
21:38the explosion between the seed and the
21:40distortion will be realm-destroying. So,
21:43Uryu needs to contain this world-ending
21:46explosion as he uses tens of thousands
21:49of interwoven flechette arrows as he
21:51burns his own hand and face in the
21:53process as he wraps these arrows around
21:55the explosion in order to contain it.
21:58Before Yhwach confronts Uryu, Nelliel,
22:00and Halibel, he actually casted the
22:02final Auswählen which takes Ichigo's
22:05Hollow and Quincy powers. As he also
22:07reduces Gerard down to a skeleton and he
22:10takes back all of the power from those
22:12Lil Barro flamingo birds within the
22:14Seretei. Now, after Uryu's plan, we see
22:17the menacing Yhwach laughing in the sky.
22:20He states that every Schrift has been
22:22sublimated into his Almighty. This, in
22:24my opinion, was yet another incredible
22:27episode of Cour 3. I'd say it's my
22:29second favorite of the entire Cour. We
22:31had tons of anime original content. We
22:33had the payoff, the story beats that
22:35were left unexplained from the manga.
22:37And this takes us directly into episode
22:4048 titled The End 2 World, the most
22:43controversial episode from the
22:44Thousand-Year Blood War arc anime.
22:46Episode 48 adapts a considerable amount
22:49of manga material as we have page 10
22:52from chapter 681 adapted through to page
22:559 of chapter 684. The episode stops
22:58exactly one page before Uryu fires the
23:01still silver arrowhead through Yhwach's
23:03chest. So, it's literally one page away
23:05from the sequence that ends up killing
23:07the Quincy emperor. This episode sees
23:09Nanao healing Ichigo and Renji as
23:12Orihime tearfully discovers that she
23:14cannot repair Tenso Zangetsu as Rukia
23:16works out that something broken in the
23:18future has always been broken. There is
23:20no past state to restore. That is until
23:23the members of Xcution walk in.
23:25Tsukishima drives Book of the End
23:27through Ichigo's shoulder and inserts
23:29himself into Ichigo's history as he
23:31creates an unaffected past where the
23:33blade was never broken. This allows
23:35Orihime's rejection powers something to
23:37latch onto as Ginjo, Riruka, and Yukio
23:40bicker about whose idea this was.
23:42Ichigo's inner world shows a black moon
23:45and a white moon silently merging and
23:47Tenso Zangetsu is reborn. Ginjo states
23:50that their debt is now repaid.
23:52Elsewhere, Komamura dreams of Yamamoto
23:55as he wakes up in his wolf form and gets
23:57to action walking towards where Yhwach
23:59is as he realizes that he still has a
24:01duty to protect. Renji delivers his
24:04portal speech straight from the manga as
24:06he states that he'll carry Ichigo
24:07forward for the rest of time because
24:09Ichigo is the reason that he and Rukia
24:11found their way back to each other. And
24:13for the first time since episode 40, the
24:15finale of Cour 3, we see Ryuken and
24:18Isshin reappear as Ryuken personally
24:21hands over to Uryu the still silver
24:23arrowhead. We learn that this is created
24:25from the silver of stillness, a clot
24:27that forms within the heart of every
24:29single Quincy that was killed by Asch
24:32Schwanen. We then see a anime exclusive
24:34image of young Uryu at the grave of his
24:36mother. Yhwach then descends upon the
24:38Seretei as he sweeps his hand and
24:40pillars of blue flame begin to destroy
24:42everything. Out of the smoke, Aizen
24:44states, "I never expected to see you in
24:46the Seretei again." as he formally
24:48welcomes Yhwach to his Soul Society. The
24:51entire Aizen versus Yhwach confrontation
24:53which follows is essentially one-to-one
24:56adapted from the manga. Everything from
24:58Aizen's ultimate gaming chair, chairsama
25:00being destroyed as Aizen clarifies that
25:02he isn't fighting for the Soul Society,
25:04but he's fighting to crush anything that
25:06tries to control him. Hadou 99 Goryu
25:09Tenmetsu erupts on the earth as Yhwach
25:11points out that Kyoka Suigetsu's blade
25:13is already broken. While Yhwach is
25:15certain that he's seen through the
25:17hypnosis, he then impales Ichigo in
25:19front of him as Aizen drops the line,
25:21"So I appear to you as Ichigo Kurosaki."
25:24The fact is that Aizen had released
25:26Kyoka Suigetsu before Ichigo and Renji
25:28arrived onto the battlefield. So Yhwach
25:31was battling against illusions of Ichigo
25:33and Renji when in fact he was only
25:35facing off against Aizen the entire
25:37time. This confirms that Kyoka Suigetsu
25:40is able to corrupt even the futures that
25:42The Almighty shows to Yhwach. And
25:44because Aizen never showed the release
25:46of his zanpakuto to Ichigo, he was
25:48immune to everything that Yhwach was
25:50witnessing. He takes advantage of the
25:52situation and runs Yhwach through from
25:54behind with a golden getsuga fired from
25:57inside his body. This cuts Yhwach in
25:59half and then The Almighty does what it
26:01does as it rewrites the future in which
26:03he dies. Yhwach reforms from a puddle of
26:06eyes, he severs Aizen's arm mid-sentence
26:09while he's speaking to Ichigo, and he
26:11swallows him into darkness. We cut to
26:13the ending song and after it we have a
26:15four and a half minute entirely new
26:18post-credit scene. Yhwach splits into
26:20three and domes of darkness aligned with
26:22countless eyes that seal off Karakura
26:24Town, Hueco Mundo, and the Seretei at
26:27the same time. In Karakura Town, Yuki
26:29and Shino, the pair from episode 44's
26:31post-credit scene, are the first to
26:33stand up to Yuhabach before Shunsui,
26:36Byakuya, Hitsugaya, and Soifon arrive.
26:38With Shunsui declaring that anyone who
26:40falls behind is committing a capital
26:42offense. In Hueco Mundo, Harribel and
26:45Nell are joined by Grimmjow, who
26:46announces that he'll be killing Yuhabach
26:48before he kills Ichigo. In the Soul
26:50Society, Uryu pulls Ichigo out of the
26:53darkness, and he hands him back Tensa
26:55Zangetsu, and he apologizes for the
26:57wait. Now, a three-front war against
26:59Yuhabach is going to occur across the
27:01three realms as we have an all-new
27:04finale to the Thousand-Year Blood War
27:06arc anime that will be unfolding across
27:08episodes 49 and 50. So, why in Earth did
27:11this episode in particular get so review
27:14bombed on IMDb? People are upset due to
27:16the expectation of wanting anime
27:19original content for Sosuke Aizen. This
27:21was after we had tons of new material
27:24for Ichigo, Orihime, Uryu, and Ukitake.
27:27People really wanted an expansion for
27:29Aizen's role within the story. But, when
27:31it was delivered one-to-one from the
27:33manga, and combine this with episode 48
27:35having average animation, nothing
27:37exceptional like episode 45, then you
27:40can see how things easily blew out of
27:42proportion with people sending death
27:43threats to animators all because their
27:45expectation of Aizen revealing his
27:47bankai within episode 48 wasn't met. And
27:50in hindsight, after watching episode 48
27:52back, I don't think it was as bad as the
27:54backlash made it out to be online. In
27:57general, people just don't like filler
27:58episodes. They just want balls to the
28:00walls all of the time. But, in order for
28:02those major episodes to pay off, we do
28:05need episodes that set things up. This
28:07brings us to the finale as episode 49
28:09titled The Blade released on the 19th of
28:11October after the last two episodes were
28:14pushed back by a month in order to
28:16improve their quality. In my opinion, I
28:18think that the wait was well worth it.
28:19Episode 49 adapts pages 10 to 17 of
28:23chapter 684. So, just eight pages of
28:26manga across a 27-minute or so episode
28:29as the anime takes a defeat that was
28:31over in a handful of manga panels and it
28:34builds an entirely new final battle
28:36around it playing across the Soul
28:38Society, Karakura Town, and Hueco Mundo
28:41at the same time. My highlight for this
28:43episode comes pretty early on when Uryu
28:45asks Ichigo to hit him with his
28:47strongest Getsuga Tensho and fires it
28:49back out as one giant arrow. This is a
28:52callback to the two of them taking down
28:54the Menos Grande in the Substitute
28:56Shinigami Arc. Then the episode had me
28:58convinced that they had all lost with
29:00Byakuya and Grimmjow getting impaled and
29:03the Research and Development Institute
29:04watching the darkness creep up to 99%.
29:08As it seems like all of reality was
29:09going to collapse and merge into one
29:11realm. The comeback is where the episode
29:13goes to another level as Ganju forces
29:15the hole open with Seppa, Nel gets
29:18launched up to plug it with a head,
29:20Komamura bites through Yhwach's darkness
29:22as Iba also makes an appearance to plug
29:25one of the holes. Soi-Fon's bankai
29:27finally pays off as she sends Shunsui
29:29flying towards Yhwach. Then all three
29:32worlds hit Yhwach at once. Uryu with the
29:35Still Silver Arrowhead going through
29:36Yhwach's heart, Shunsui awakening
29:38Mimihagi and telling Yhwach it's their
29:41right arm now, Ryunosuke coming out of
29:43Kageroza and striking Yhwach, and
29:45Grimmjow who was my MVP in this episode
29:48biting into Yhwach with Pesche and
29:50Dondochakka coming in with the assist
29:52pushing Grimmjow's sword straight
29:54through Yhwach. While this is going on,
29:56the white outer shell of Tensa Zangetsu
29:59shatters as it reveals the original
30:01Zangetsu with Number One playing in the
30:03background. In terms of production, this
30:05was easily one of the best looking
30:07episodes of the Thousand-Year Blood War
30:09Arc anime with Tomohisa Taguchi writing
30:11and storyboarding it alongside Satoshi
30:13Sakai. Taguchi, Daddy Chan, and Shintaro
30:16Matsui on episode direction, Michio
30:18Hasegawa as chief animation director,
30:20and Sakai on action animation. While
30:22Taguchi even drew some of the key
30:24animation himself. My only issue is that
30:27Aizen, Isshin, and Ryuken were nowhere
30:29to be seen here and we never find out
30:31exactly what Urahara did to Grimmjow.
30:34Episode 49 currently sits at 9.3 on IMDb
30:37and for me it's a massive improvement
30:39upon the eight pages of the manga. As
30:42Yoruichi gets a proper defeat with
30:44absolutely everyone involved. A week
30:46later on the 26th of October the final
30:49episode of the Bleach anime released.
30:51Episode 50 is titled Death and
30:53Strawberry. It's the same title as both
30:55the very first chapter and the very last
30:58and it adapts chapters 685 and 686
31:02across a 23 minute episode covering the
31:05entire 10-year time skip. The first half
31:08is very faithful to chapter 685
31:11opening with Ichigo and Rukia reading
31:13the volume 74 poem before Shunsui visits
31:16Ukitake's grave and from there Kubo's
31:18time skip gags all make it into the
31:20anime from Squad 11's lap around the
31:23Seireitei to Iba's cliff jump and the
31:25jokes about Shuhei's bankai. All of this
31:27builds up to Rukia becoming captain of
31:30Squad 13. We also get some nice anime
31:32only additions like Rose and Kira
31:35turning up with a guitar and stage
31:36lights before Nanao sends them packing.
31:39But my highlight of the first half of
31:41the episode was definitely Rangiku as
31:43she got a brief anime only scene as
31:45Hitsugaya comments on the last 10 years
31:47of peace and how they haven't had to use
31:49their bankai. Rangiku has a somber
31:51expression on her face as the sunlight
31:53through the trees starts to look like
31:55falling snow and it's only for a few
31:57seconds but you can tell that she's
31:59thinking about Gin Ichimaru in this
32:01moment. The second half brings us back
32:03to Karakura Town with Kazui leaving a
32:05flower for a lonely spirit just like
32:07Ichigo did at the start of the anime. We
32:10also catch up with Uryu who is watching
32:12Chad's boxing match on the rooftop of
32:13Karakura General Hospital. There's also
32:16a great anime exclusive video call where
32:19Uryu gets to see everybody just having
32:21fun and he smiles and says it's good
32:23like this and Ichigo even comments on
32:26Uryu smiling saying what are you smiling
32:28for as he too is happy as they are both
32:30enjoying the times of peace. Now Kubo
32:33and the anime staff did tease a
32:35mysterious character who would be
32:36revealed. This character was going to be
32:38designed for Kubo for the finale of the
32:40anime. Well, this turned out to be
32:42Chad's trainer and his opponent. Now, I
32:44can't lie, this was very disappointing,
32:47especially when all of us had
32:48expectations of individuals like
32:50Tokinada may appear, Azashiro may
32:53appear. We may get characters tied to
32:55the Hell Arc teasing a continuation, but
32:57no, none of that happened. But moving on
32:59to some more positives, Rukia looks up
33:01at Ichigo's old bedroom window as we get
33:04an incredibly nostalgic moment where the
33:06anime recreates that first meeting from
33:08chapter one. And this ties in to how
33:11Kubo had always envisioned the ending of
33:13Bleach. Bleach started with Ichigo and
33:15Rukia meeting. We got a reminder of that
33:18via this amazing reanimated sequence,
33:20and the story ends with their children
33:22meeting, giving us a glimpse into the
33:24next generation of Bleach. Before Ichigo
33:27and Kazui meet, Kazui erases the last of
33:30Yhwach's power. Aizen then delivers his
33:33speech on courage, which is delivered
33:34masterfully within the anime, and Ichigo
33:37meets Kazui before the title card hits.
33:39This is followed by a special ending
33:42which has the iconic and very nostalgic
33:45red, white, and blue Bleach coloring
33:47with a remix of number one playing. The
33:50episode then concludes with like a 10 to
33:5215 second shot of where the words
33:55despair, which are carved into the
33:56ground, are stepped on and they then
33:58transform into the word brave. In terms
34:01of production, series director Hikaru
34:03Murata storyboarded and directed this
34:05episode himself with Masashi Kudou,
34:07Kiyoshi Komatsubara, and Kumiko
34:09Takayanagi as chief animation directors.
34:12And Murata's music choices made every
34:14emotional beat in this episode truly
34:16land. If I had a single criticism, it's
34:19that we didn't get to see Urahara and
34:21Yoruichi, and we don't get to see Isshin
34:23and Ryuken at all. But again, we didn't
34:25really see them for the majority of the
34:27Thousand-Year Blood War Arc anyway.
34:28Currently, episode 50 sits at 9.0 on
34:32IMDb. So, this was cour four, and with
34:34it the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc is
34:36complete. From the 10th of October 2022
34:39to the 26th of October 2026, the anime
34:43adapted all 207 chapters of the
34:45Thousand-Year Blood War Arc into 50
34:47episodes. It averages at just over four
34:50chapters per episode, and Cour 4 slows
34:52this pacing down by giving us plenty of
34:55breathing room, which was a major
34:57criticism that fans had for a long time
34:59with the ending of the Bleach manga.
35:01Kubo explained that the Japanese
35:03subtitle for this Cour, Kakashintan,
35:05shares a kanji with Ryoka, the name that
35:09the Soul Society gave Ichigo and his
35:11friends when they broke in to save
35:12Rukia, because this is the story of
35:15those kids stepping into something new.
35:17And that's what the finale ended up
35:19being, with Uryu firing the arrowhead,
35:21Chad protecting the Research and
35:23Development Institute, Ichigo landing
35:25the final blow, Orihime even sacrificing
35:28herself within this finale, Ganju
35:30playing a part by plugging that hole. We
35:32saw multiple examples of bravery, how
35:35all of these characters, no matter what
35:37race they came from, demonstrated that
35:39they were able to transform despair into
35:41courage. And I cannot lie, it really
35:44emotionally resonated with me in episode
35:4650 when Rukia reminisced and she took us
35:48back to the night where it all started.
35:50In terms of ranking the episodes of Cour
35:534, without a doubt, episode 45 is the
35:55best episode of this season. Then in
35:57second place, I really enjoyed episode
35:5949. Episodes 47 and 43 also sit in a top
36:03tier, too, with episode 50 right there
36:05with them, as it's one of the most
36:07emotional episodes in the anime.
36:09Episodes 41, 42, and 44 sit in the
36:12middle range, while 46 and 48 are
36:15definitely the weaker episodes of Cour
36:174. That said, after watching episode 49,
36:20I do look at 46 to 48 a bit differently
36:22now, because those episodes were clearly
36:25set up for the finale, as the staff were
36:27saving their best for last. I mean, as
36:29with everything that you love, there's
36:31always praise and criticism. I think
36:33it's fair to say that through the
36:35anime-exclusive scenes that we got
36:36across Cours 1 to 3, there was an
36:38expectation that Cour 4 was going to be
36:41building upon some of these hinted story
36:43beats. I was definitely expecting a Soul
36:45King flashback. I wanted to learn more
36:47about the backstory of Yuhabach. I
36:50wanted a bit more elaboration upon his
36:52motives. And as for just the fanboy in
36:55me, I did want to see more Aizen scenes.
36:57I would have loved if he had more lines
36:59of dialogue with Yuhabach. Heck, I'm
37:01sure that there was room for an anime
37:02exclusive battle sequence with Yuhabach
37:05for at least a couple of minutes. And
37:07then what about the unanswered
37:08questions? I really do think back to
37:10that anime exclusive scene in episode 40
37:12of Cour 3, where we saw the Auswählen
37:15hit and Uryu collapses on the floor.
37:17He's clearly suffering from it, but his
37:19mother, Kanae Katagiri, is fine and
37:21well. How on earth did Uryu survive the
37:23Auswählen? Again, story beats like this
37:26are now left for us to interpret and to
37:28come up with theories from the clues
37:30that Kubo has sprinkled into the story.
37:32And my major criticism is Isshin and
37:35Ryuken. I really was expecting those
37:37characters to do more. And in general,
37:39there's a bit of inconsistency within
37:41Cour 4. Like we literally saw Renji get
37:44shish kebabbed, but then in the next
37:46episode he's been put back together
37:47again. And I guess I've come up with my
37:49own theories and speculation as to the
37:51modification that Urahara did on
37:53Grimmjow. I believe that he inserted a
37:55piece of Mimihagi into Grimmjow,
37:57incorporating it with his Resurrección.
38:00When Grimmjow bit Yuhabach, his
38:02Resurrección appeared to have
38:03deactivated. I feel like that
38:05deactivation delivered that Mimihagi
38:07payload into Yuhabach, neutralizing him.
38:10But again, that's me inferring details
38:12from all of the plot and analyzing the
38:14episodes. It wasn't explicitly told to
38:16us what Urahara did. And then as for
38:18Urahara and Yoruichi, where were they in
38:20the epilogue? Two incredibly important
38:23characters. It would have been great
38:24just to see a glimpse of them or a
38:26single shot within episode 50. I think
38:28all of this comes down to a single
38:31point. We were expecting Cour 4 to be 13
38:33episodes. Why on earth it ended up being
38:3610 episodes, I don't really know. Even
38:38when the Thousand-Year Blood War arc was
38:39first announced, they said it was going
38:41to be 52 episodes. So at the very least,
38:44we were shortchanged by two episodes. I
38:46feel like that runtime that we didn't
38:48get could have been sufficient for all
38:50of these leftover plot beats. When
38:52Bleach moved over to Pierrot Films, they
38:54said that time and money would no longer
38:56be an issue. But for some reason,
38:58something happened. The runtime of Cour
39:004 got cut down. And while yes, I
39:03absolutely loved and enjoyed my time
39:05with the final season of the anime, and
39:07it might be selfish of me to say, but I
39:09do feel like it could have been so much
39:11more. I love all of the hard work and
39:12effort that Kubo and the staff have put
39:15in. You have to really admire a manga
39:17author who comes back knowing that his
39:20fans have been waiting for 10 years for
39:21this anime version, and he himself gets
39:24involved as a general supervisor. And
39:26the amount of work that Kubo did for the
39:28anime, I don't think I've ever seen any
39:30other mangaka do for an anime
39:32adaptation. It's clear Kubo really does
39:35care about his fans. And while it might
39:36be frustrating for us now to have a lot
39:39of like left-open story beats, an
39:41open-ended finale like that, God knows
39:43what's taking away in Kubo's mind. God
39:46knows what the Bleach Production
39:47Committee is thinking, what projects
39:49they have lined up for the future. We
39:50might be on the cusp of a manga
39:52continuation. We might have a Bleach
39:54movie that's in the works. Why do I say
39:56all of this? Well, because if you saw
39:58the state of Bleach after 2016, the IP
40:01was dormant. It was to the point where I
40:03felt like companies like Shueisha,
40:05Studio Pierrot, and the Production
40:06Committee of Bleach wanted to see if
40:08there was a genuine demand left for
40:10Bleach. We had several marketing
40:12campaigns like I'm still Bleach. We had
40:14merchandise that they were testing. And
40:16each and every time they released
40:18anything to do with Bleach, fans always
40:20supported the franchise. This is what
40:22ultimately led to the anime coming back.
40:24And some of the voice actors have even
40:26said that fans supporting Bleach: Brave
40:28Souls was one of the contributing
40:30reasons as to why the anime returned.
40:32And now that Bleach has had this massive
40:35revival, I do not think that the powers
40:37that be are going to let the IP be
40:39dormant once again. This is why I'm
40:41looking towards the future. What's next?
40:43We have no new anime that's been
40:45announced. We have rumors of a Bleach
40:47manga arc. But as for the facts, Bleach
40:49definitely has a stage at Jump Festa
40:512027, which is happening on the 20th of
40:53December. There's also a one-of-a-kind
40:56Bleach Fest event, which is happening in
40:58February of 2027 in order to celebrate
41:01the ending of the Bleach anime. Kazui's
41:03voice actor stated that she was truly
41:06honored to watch the finale in real time
41:08and be a part of the story. And I think
41:10that's how a lot of us feel right now.
41:12I'm still holding out hope for a Hell
41:14arc manga continuation. For even the
41:16Hell arc one-shot being animated. Okubo
41:19coming back with more Bleach just at his
41:21own pace. We've been here before where
41:23everyone thought that Bleach was over
41:26and it came back stronger than ever. Uh
41:27right now, fans do have Bleach Mirrors
41:30High to tide them over. So no, I'm not
41:32treating this as a goodbye. It's a
41:34temporary farewell until we meet again.
41:36Again, I've said this before, but I want
41:38to give a massive thank you to Kubo, to
41:40Taguchi, Murata, and the rest of the
41:42anime team at Studio Pierrot and Pierrot
41:44Films for these 50 episodes. And I want
41:46to thank each and every one of you who's
41:48been tuning in to my videos week in and
41:51week out. I'm just a Bleach fan like the
41:53rest of you, but knowing that my
41:54coverage of the series like has
41:56resonated with other Bleach fans, it
41:58means the world. And talking about the
42:00Thousand-Year Blood War arc anime has
42:02definitely been one of the most
42:03incredible journeys that I've ever been
42:05on. So this was my complete overview of
42:07Cour 4 of the Thousand-Year Blood War
42:08arc anime. I want to hand over the
42:10discussion to all of you. What were your
42:12thoughts about episodes 41 to 50? Did
42:14you enjoy these 10 episodes as much as I
42:16did? What were the anime exclusive
42:18additions that you enjoyed the most? Who
42:21was your MVP of the final battle against
42:23Yhwach? Were there any aspects of Cour 4
42:25that you disliked and want the anime
42:27staff to improve upon for the Blu-ray
42:29release? And now that it's all over, how
42:31would you rank all of the episodes of
42:33Cour 4? I really look forward to reading
42:35all of your thoughts in the comments.
42:37And lastly, thank you for sticking with
42:38me until the very end. And I look
42:40forward to seeing you all in my next
42:42video. A massive thank you goes out to
42:45all of my amazing Patreon supporters for
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