Thousand-Year Blood War — Against the Judgment

The following contains spoilers for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3, Episode 5, “Against the Judgment”, available on Hulu and Disney+.

Key Takeaways

• Aizen returns with immense power, showcasing his strength with familiar techniques like Kurohitsugi.
• A shift in alliances as surviving Quincies join forces with the Shinigami against a common enemy.
• Despite missed opportunities, the episode sets the stage for upcoming events in a cinematic quality.

The fifth episode of the third cours of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War served mostly as a setup for the main event of the season, but it saw the cameos of various characters that we haven’t seen in a long time, as well as the first display of Aizen’s devastating combat power for the first time since his dramatic battle against Ichigo many years ago. While not nearly as exciting as the episodes before it, episode 5 still bore the series’ characteristic cinematic quality, and gave the return of fan-favourite Grimmjow Jaegerjacquez the flair it deserved.

With the worst-case scenario now a reality, the Shinigami find themselves having to band together with former officers of the Gotei 13, Hollows and even Quincies to put a stop to a common enemy.

An Eerie Flood

Torrents of Creepy Eyeball Monsters Ravage the Seireitei

With Yhwach having assimilated the Soul King, torrents of his power come raining down from the Soul King’s Palace through the hole in the Shakonmaku. The shadowy, gooey monstrosities take on the shape of creepy eyeball monsters that latch onto anything that moves with teeth reminiscent of lampreys. We see various Shinigami struggle against the creatures as they swarm every corner of the Seireitei. Seated officers like 11th Squad’s Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, and 9th Squad Lieutenant Shūhei Hisagi manage to fight them off, but with the sheer number of monsters, it’s only a matter of time until they are overwhelmed. Luckily, 6th Squad Captain Byakuya Kuchiki uses his Senbonzakura to deal with the swathes of eyeball monsters, giving the three a chance to catch their breath and regroup with himself, Rukia, Renji and Soi-Fon. More of the shadowy gooey mess comes flooding in, but a powerful spiritual presence arrives: Sōsuke Aizen, still bound to the chair on which he was serving his 20 000-year sentence in the Muken.

Still Got It

He May Have Gotten Stronger in Jail

Aizen quips that creatures such as these aren’t the kind of thing at which one raises their sword, but that which must be crushed by the power of one’s spiritual pressure. Rukia and the others are shocked to see Aizen out of his prison, and prepare to engage, but Kyōraku is there to explain that he’s the one who let him out. Naturally, they all have a lot to say about having to team up with the individual who has done immense damage to Soul Society and irrevocably altered the lives of many Shinigami unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with him, but Kyōraku tells them that he doesn’t think it’s wrong to fight evil with evil. As more of the creatures enter the Seireitei, Aizen fires off his favourite Kidō, #90, Kurohitsugi (“Black Coffin”), which has had a dazzling makeover for the Thousand-Year Blood War arc.

Arcs of purple-black electricity appear, which signal Kyōraku to tell everyone to take cover before the giant black box appears, patching up the hole in the Shakonmaku before unleashing a vicious destructive impact that essentially clears the area of the eyeballs. This moment is carried by the impact frame in the animation, which does a stellar job of communicating Aizen’s incomprehensible power despite being imprisoned for the best part of two years. Despite the awesome display of power, the restraints used to subdue Aizen are indeed proving to be a hindrance to him, and you can see the first genuine change in his facial expression since he started appearing in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc. Kurotsuchi arrives with Nemu and gloats about how something made by him couldn’t possibly be broken by Aizen’s power, which clearly bothered the former 5th Squad Captain because he offered a challenge. “We’ll see which will come out on top, your technology or my spiritual pressure”.

Frenemies?

Surviving Quincies Lend the Shinigami a Hand

Aizen and Kurotsuchi’s verbal exchange is interrupted when the former is hit by a wave of energy coming from Sternritter U – The Underbelly, NaNaNa Najahkoop, who believes he has Aizen’s spiritual pressure all figured out. He fires a deadly beam that slams into Aizen’s head and appears to have killed him (everybody but Najahkoop was aware that it didn’t). Najahkoop is joined by Bazz-B, G – The Glutton Liltotto Lamperd and Z – The Zombie Giselle Gewelle, who initially appear to be helping Najahkoop but Bazz-B blasts a hole in his chest. Unlike Najahkoop, who remained loyal to Yhwach even after being abandoned, Bazz-B and the others didn’t take kindly to being tossed aside and decided to help the Shinigami as they now have a common goal.

With that, Kyoraku sends an order across the Seireitei for any officers who can still move to head to the 12th Squad barracks, where their spiritual pressure is needed to help power a gate that will lead directly to the Soul King’s Palace. The preparations for this gate see the cameos of a number of characters that we haven’t seen in quite some time, including Visoreds Hiyori Sarugaki, Love Aikawa, Lisa Yadomaru, Hachigen and many others, but there’s also a brief glimpse at a silhouette who walks up to a Garganta – a tease of the return of Grimmjow Jaegerjacquez which is how the episode ends.

The Missed Opportunity

Last Episode’s Dramatic Finish Ultimately Meant Nothing

While there were some epic moments here and there, there was a missed opportunity in BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 episode 5, which was picking up from the dramatic conclusion to Ichigo’s battle against Uryū, an encounter that ended with severe injuries for the former. We don’t see either for the entirety of the episode until the very end, and after the emotional rollercoaster of the previous episode, simply cutting to the part where Ichigo is okay again means offscreening the aftermath of the battle, but given the fact that we know the awesomeness of Orihime’s powers, it can also be seen as pointless to see this aftermath if the consequences of the battle themselves have been negated by Orihime’s ability to reject phenomena. As a bridge to what’s to come, this episode did what it needed to do and continues the series’ incredible run even if it wasn’t quite as intense as previous episodes.

BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 is available on Hulu and Disney+.