Thousand-Year Blood War — The Holy Newborn

The following contains spoilers for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3, Episode 6, “The Holy Newborn”, available on Hulu and Disney+.

In the 6th episode of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3, the Shinigami, Quincies, Fullbringers, and even Hollows are banding together to enact a plan that will enable forces to reach the Soul King’s Palace; however, with his newfound power, Yhwach has rebuilt it in a similar fashion to how he took over Las Noches in Hueco Mundo.

Grimmjow Jaegerjacquez and Nelliel Tu Odelschwank, alongside a few other familiar faces, make a full return and join Ichigo and his friends in an episode that was as dramatic as the ones before it but made some space for humour.

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We Knew All Along

Ichigo Is Pleasantly Surprised To See Some Old Acquaintances

Kicking off from where the previous episode left off, Urahara has distributed Kukaku’s reiatsu orbs to the forces on the ground in order to power the gate that will enable entry to the Soul King’s Palace, courtesy of the teamwork and quick thinking of Urahara and Yoruichi Shihōin. Closer to the scene of the crime, Ichigo and his friends are met by Grimmjow Jaegerjacquez, who immediately tries to engage Ichigo in combat (imagine that, a scenario in which Ichigo is the level-headed one), but Nelliel also emerges from the open maw of the Garganta, knocking Grimmjow off-balance as she happily tackles Ichigo to the ground, which humorously causes Orihime to feel a little jealous, especially considering that Nel will be in her adult form until further notice because of tech made by Urahara.

While Ichigo is quite shocked to see the Arrancar, he is even more shocked when former Xcution members Riruka Dokugamine and Yukio Hans Vorarlberna also appear in the Garganta, together with one of the former’s signature “dollhouses” given an interesting twist through the latter’s power.

Their combo enables them to safely traverse the treacherous Precipice World between realms to reach the Soul King’s Palace. When Ichigo asks why his friends are so cool with being around Grimmjow, they tell him that they’ve known about his involvement since they were in Hueco Mundo during the events of the first cours of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War. Inside Riruka’s dollhouse, Yoruichi briefs them on the journey they’re about to make, and despite coming all the way, Yukio says he won’t be coming with them, rarely lifting his gaze from the screen of his “PSP”.

Ichigo makes the decision that the lover of all things cute, Riruka, should probably stay behind as well, which treats us to a range of very animated facial expressions from one of the series’ top tsundere as she blushes (she has nothing on early Byakuya), serving as another dose of comic relief from this crop of characters.

Biblically Accurate Yhwach Does Some Redecorating

The Quincy King’s First Display of Ultimate Power

With the Soul King’s power assimilated, Yhwach has taken on a rather unsettling, otherworldly appearance, with a gooey veil of shadow of similar substance to the creepy eyeball monsters that made up the torrent of the Soul King’s Power from the previous episode covering where his usual eyes would be. The veil is perforated with various eyes that ebb and ooze in a way that even freaks out his Schutzstaffel, but he hits them with a “Be not afraid” before completely ripping apart what was left of the Soul King’s Palace to recreate it into the shape of the Wandenreich’s five-pointed star.

The result is a castle similar to the Silbern that they erected in Hueco Mundo, but far grander in its presentation. The European architecture complete with a “frosted over” look gives the new palace, Welt, a very eerie feeling which is augmented by the fact that the Quincies have a monopoly over the reishi in the area, which will complicate the final battle even further.

The Shinigami on the ground trying to open a gate to the palace don’t have nearly enough reiatsu for the endeavor, but of course, Kurotsuchi has a solution, a reiatsu amplifier. A giant gate appears, and a team is sent through, but they arrive somewhere completely different to where Ichigo’s advance team ended up. They’re shocked to see how different it looks, and even wonder if there’s been some mistake that led them to a Quincy town somewhere, but Yoruichi encounters one of the pegs she left behind during the earlier encounter with Yhwach, leading her to the realization that this place is in fact the Soul King’s Palace. When Kyōraku and the others arrive, a big castle emerges in a grand fashion, almost beckoning them to come closer. This episode is likely the last “setup” episode we will be getting from the series until the very end, and like the episode before it, wasn’t quite as exciting as some of the best episodes we’ve seen from BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, but does enough as an episode that is effectively just the calm before the storm.

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

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War