Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 Is The Best One Yet

With the Winter 2025 anime season now well underway, there has been enough time passed since the airing of the final episode of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict to look back on the series and fully digest it. The third cours of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc went from strength to strength with each episode, and presented so many great new elements, never-before-seen battles, and that incredible visual fidelity that has become a hallmark of the revival of the anime adaptation of Tite Kubo’s manga.

The direction, pacing, battles and overall experience of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 were all top-tier, brilliant enough for it to be valid to wonder if this is the best cours of the final arc of BLEACH yet. Here’s what made Part 3 so incredible.

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The Various Major Revelations of Part 3

Origins of The BLEACH Universe, The Soul King’s Name, Character Relationships

One of the best things about the final arc of BLEACH is how it delves into the relationships of characters that have long been introduced, showing the various ties that bind not just the Shinigami, but the Quincies as well. The arc’s exposure of the truth behind various aspects of the series’ lore amidst the cataclysmic war waged by Yhwach is the perfect backdrop to show the depth of the various Captain and Lieutenant relationships in the Seireitei, as well as learn more about the characters themselves.

Ukitake is one of the third part’s most important revelations, as it turns out that he was the vessel of a deity called Mimihagi, which happens to be the Right Arm of the Soul King. Sacrificing himself, Ukitake postponed the destruction of the partitioning of the worlds by giving up his body to Mimihagi so that it may rejoin with the Soul King, whom at that point had been bifurcated by Ichigo, who had been manipulated by Yhwach’s Reiatsu.

The third cours revealed the truth behind the creation of the BLEACH universe as we know it, and the Shinigami’s original sin: the murder and mutilation of the Soul King in order to use him as the linchpin to maintain the separation between realms that he created, thus bringing into effect the cycle of life, death and reincarnation central to the series’ plot. Yhwach manages to destroy the Soul King, whose name is actually revealed to be Adnyeus, and remodel his palace to his liking, creating the Quincy castle city of Welt, which serves as the stage for battles between his Schutzstaffel and the remaining Shinigami forces. Each of these battles was impeccable, and were brilliant explorations of various themes and highly moving completions of character arcs.

Atmosphere and Character Relationships and Thematic Battles Bolstered By Soundtrack and Direction

Part 3’s Exploration of Character Relationships Was The Best So Far

Like in the parts before it, Part 3 also had remixed versions of soundtracks from the classic series, like Here To Stay, which played during Nemu’s emotional death in the fight against Pernida Parnkgjas. During this cours, we learn about Kyōraku’s relationship to Nanao, who is actually his niece, why Uryū joined the Sternritter, Bazz-B’s childhood friendship with Jugram Haschwalth and his grudge against Yhwach, among several other impactful revelations.

Kyōraku’s massive burden was revealed to be the Shinken Hakkyōken, the sacred ceremonial sword passed down the matrilineal Ise Clan that his sister-in-law entrusted him to hide because she believed it was the cause of the curse plaguing the family, a curse that killed off any man who married into it. Nanao, a character who never fought any enemies over the course of the series, found herself engaged in battle against a divine foe who had bested Kyōraku and his theatre-themed Bankai, defeating Lille Barro by way of a deus ex machina.

Kyoraku’s Bankai episode, “To Chase a Shadow” is now the highest-rated episode of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc on IMDB, with a rating of 9.7/10, with episodes “Baby Hold Your Hand 2”, “Shadows Gone” and “friEND” not far behind with 9.5. In total, five episodes from Part 3 are in the top 10 highest rated episodes of the arc so far. Kurotsuchi had one of the most emotional moments of the third part during his battle against Pernida, as we learned the truth behind the creation of Nemu, who was the seventh iteration of the Nemuri Project, a project to create a fully artificial soul; Kurotsuchi’s magnum opus, which he described as “a dream he is experiencing while awake”.

Uryū Ishida, thought to have betrayed his friends, turned out to have joined the Sternritter to get closer to Yhwach and kill him in order to avenge his mother, who died after Yhwach performed the Auswählen on June 17, nine years ago: the day Ichigo’s mother died. Uryū’s parallel to Ichigo is brought to the fore over the course of this arc, and a special interaction shared between them at school also delves into the reasons for Uryū’s strained relationship with his father.

The Anime-Only Fights Were All Very Exciting

Uryū’s Quincy: Vollständig is Revealed and Put to the Test in Multiple Incredible Battles

Part 3 may have had the greatest number of battles that weren’t included in the original manga; from Uryū’s dramatic fight against Ichigo at the Soul King’s Palace, which was a masterclass in animation and fight choreography, not to mention one of the most dramatic conclusions to a battle in the series yet, to Uryū’s battle against Renji after Yhwach created Welt. In the BLEACH manga, Uryū’s Quincy: Vollständig was never revealed, but in Part 3, we finally get to see it in action in the aforementioned battles, and in battles that are both standouts in the third cours, but also the arc as a whole.

Each battle in BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 was exceptional, from the continuation of Yhwach vs Ichibē Hyōsube and Shutara Senjumaru vs the Schutzstaffel, to the anime-only battles, to Kyōraku vs Lille Barro and Kurotsuchi vs Pernida, every single one of the battles in the third part was intense, epic and beautifully animated (even that time Pernida looked strange), and the direction taken in how each new revelation was brought out elevated the source material. It was a stellar adaptation, and a major success in the story of one of anime’s greatest comebacks.

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War