Uryu’s Vollstandig STOMPS Senjumaru’s Bankai!! Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Arc Episode 27 Review

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War returns with Cour 3, another 13 episodes to the journey towards the end of Bleach.

As the anime adds more content from Bleach author Tite Kubo’s storyboards and inputs, we take a look at the new canon expanded upon.

Episode 27 of Bleach TYBW is titled, “A”.

The episode adapts Chapter 609 until Chapter 611, along with the cover of Chapter 617.

Warning: There will be manga spoilers ahead

NEW CANON: The Almighty’s FULL Powers IMMEDIATELY Presented

Although we begin with a (sort of) recap from the last episode lasting 9 minutes, “Black”, the episode does not stop being good.

This way, viewers who waited a year or need help catching up know the exact flow of events.

In fact, the 9 minute timer feels planned, as in the Kaiser Gesang hymn of Quincy folklore, Yhwach regains his full powers after 9 years upon regaining his intellect.

After Ichibei strips Yhwach of his name, becoming “Black Ant”, he is propelled down.

This time, we see the full scene play out as Yhwach explains how he could never imagine that he would see so much with closed eyes.

This represents Yhwach’s eyes having been sealed for a thousand years and the subsequent sealing upon being defeated by Yamamoto.

It seems that even as he only had been silent for a hundred years after sealing, Yhwach might have witnessed the decline of the Quincy race while in hiding.

This line could also represent how far he has come to reach the Palace.

Upon activating the Almighty, Yhwach seemingly frees every Sternritter trapped in Senjumaru’s Bankai, which could foreshadow his sovereignty over all powers in his gaze.

The approach to visualize the Almighty’s effect is quite brilliant as we see negative colors every activation.

To the anime viewer, it seems like he was able to predict moves, his sight locking on a future outcome.

But if you look carefully, the screen freezes to that shot and then we cut away to a NEW outcome, which is Yhwach’s position being different from the intended spot he would have been on without moving.

Futen Taisatsuryō

This was previously teased in the Bleach: Krew BeInside event on September 8, 2024, as we witnessed the excellent use of CGI to portray the depth of skulls that Ichibe would stand upon.

We finally hear the full chant as a somewhat jovial song while Ichibe consumes his ink and surrounds Yhwach in darkness, which would even cancel reincarnation.

For anyone who has seen Jujutsu Kaisen, this shrine looks quite familiar.

In the end, Yhwach overcomes the Black and crushes Ichibei into pieces, just like the Soul King he serves.

NEW CANON: More Senjumaru Bankai Flexing

Shutara Senjumaru’s Bankai: Shatatsu Karagara Shigarami no Tsuji (Crossing of Sahā’s Gate, Kāla’s Corpse and Piercing Entanglements) was already proven to be an incredible power with its ability to imprison enemies in tapestries revealing and trapping them in their fate.

In order, we see:

• Lille Barro: His bullets are deflected against the Bankai’s cloth, causing his body to be covered in holes. In Chapter 653, he will be defeated by seeing his own divine light, his power deflected by the Ise Clan’s solo Zanpakuto,  Shinken Hakkyōken. (Unravel One Hank: Eyes of Many Branches)
• Askin Naak le Vaar: His body is wrapped in clothing that works like an iron maiden stabbing his body. This fate is quite interesting. He does get stabbed through the heart in Grimmjow in Chapter 666, and his body but considering that the manga did not show what happened to Kisuke after the Gift Ball Bereich’s implosion, we might see an entirely different fate play out in the anime. (Unravel Two Hanks: Armor of Blade Metal)
• Pernida Parnkgjas: He is buried in cloth resembling Black Sand or in Japanese, “Kurotsuchi”, as in the surname of his opponents, Mayuri and Nemu. Consuming Nemu is the reason for his final defeat at Mayuri’s hands in Chapter 643. (Unravel Three Hanks: Bowels of Black Sand)
• Gerard Valkyrie: He is covered in blue cloth that freezes him completely and renders his sword useless, which does happen to him because of Toshiro Hitsugaya’s true Bankai. However, considering that Gerard escapes this fate in Chapter 672, it could be a manifestation of his Miracle power that alters that fate. It might also be possible that the Shinigami might succeed in destroying his seemingly indestructible weak spot: his blood Quincy Cross, in the anime. (Unravel Four Hanks: Freezing Bed Linens)
• Jugram Haschwalth: His fate is to be surrounded by flames, which is what he will encounter and seemingly overcome in his upcoming battle with Bazz-B in Chapter 634. However, this could also represent how Haschwalth will be betrayed by Yhwach in Chapter 680 when his power will be consumed by Auswahlen. (Unravel Five Hanks: Burning Field)
• Uryu Ishida: Dark-blue cloth with the Wandenreich Cross absorbs spirit particles to itself, symbolizing the Aushwahlen. This was Uryu’s original fate as an “impure” Quincy child that he somehow avoided, the “Last Quincy”. This could also represent the Antithesis, the very power he might have had but not fully recognized until Yhwach gave him his Schrift. (Unravel Six Hanks: Star of the Dark Night)

In the current episode, we also see Senjumaru’s Bankai be used freely to not only release elements but even create Hollows out of cloth, which is quite a reveal of the darkness of Senjumaru and Squad Zero as a whole.

Seemingly going beyond the described power of a Greek Fate, Senjumaru warps reality through her cloth within the confines of her domain.

Those Hollows form traps made from cloth to bind targets, which is how Uryu is stopped for the meantime.

NEW CANON: Uryu’s Quincy Vollstandig

Throughout the fight with Senjumaru, Uryu experiences flickers of spirit energy that cover his body.

As it turns out, these were manifestations of his Quincy: Vollstandig, the advanced form the Sternritter take but unlike the others, this would be his first time and we now see what happens to a newly-awakened Vollstandig as Uryu leaks out his Reiatsu all over the place.

His eyes also release electric shocks or reishi sparks that indicate the activation of his Schrift with his Vollstandig.

Uryu having a Vollstandig at all was actually first brought up in the 2017 “Bleach: Can’t Fear Your Own World” novel by Ryogo Narita (Baccano!! and Durarara!! light novel author) and co-written by Tite Kubo himself.

There is a parallel here between Yhwach proclaiming his name upon reversing the tide against Ichibe and Uryu using his Vollstandig-enhanced Antithesis to allow him to swap control over Senjumaru’s Bankai.

Uryu declares that he will kill Senjumaru in his Quincy honor and so shoots through her body, ending her Bankai’s dominance.

Return of the God

Briefly, we also see Shunsui Kyoraku enter the dark Muken prison, which stores Sosuke Aizen, with the shot of Aizen resembling the cover of Chapter 617: Return of the God.

This was a wise decision from Pierrot to tell the audience right away that Aizen, the former main villain of Bleach, will play a key role in the events to come.

Something to keep up for future episodes is that in Episode 6, Yhwach visited Aizen and had to talk to him to try and convince him to join forces.

Two of the keys were used, which implied that Yhwach either able to acquire them or he had a means to open them himself, at least to allow Aizen’s left eye and mouth to move.

This is important because as of Cour 2 and this point, Aizen’s whole body is fully sealed in spite of Yhwach’s visit.

But knowing Aizen and the circumstances of Shunsui’s meetup, Kyoka Suigetsu could be working its magic.

KILL THE KING

Once Yhwach dispatches of Ichibei, the other Schutzstaffel come forward and kneel before him as they declare that their one-thousand year prayer has been fulfilled, which in the anime is not just Yhwach’s full resurrection but the end of the Soul King.

As Yhwach marches forward, the pillars that surround the Soul King Palace are converted into reishi footholds that lead directly to the Soul King’s chambers.

The camera work was impressive, rotating throughout the area to capture the significance of Yhwach’s ascension to the vacant throne.

THIS ANIMATION IS PEAK 🔥#BLEACH_anime pic.twitter.com/mOqnsQ5D9B

— Luffy D. King 👑 (@VastoLorde56) October 5, 2024

As he walks, Yhwach imagines his birth and his connection to every Quincy soul that he has nourished and absorbed through a thousand year blood war.

Now he will lay justice upon the cause of the Quincy race’s humiliation.

This is where we formally end the episode.

However, the post-credits continue as Ichigo and the gang arrive too late to see the mutilated Ichibei.

Oh, the irony how Ichibei himself is mutilated, the same state the Soul King was put in.

However, his voice could be picked up by Ichigo and him alone.

Does Ichibe choose who to invoke his name or does it also have to do with Ichigo being a Soul King candidate?

Either way, Ichibe is restored, and in the anime, it is by reforming as black ink, showing Ichibei’s nature is beyond even a Shinigami soul.

The fact that Ichibe’s spirit can still linger long enough to whisper to Ichigo in order to restore himself shows how different he is from the other Reapers.

Ichibe reveals that anyone who says his name will have their power taken by him and even a little of it is enough to trigger the High Monk’s restoration.

Oddly, he asks Ichigo not to kill Yhwach but to stop him and to save the Soul King, otherwise the three worlds will collapse.

Even then, they were already too late as Yhwach comes towards the Soul King and stabs him with his sword, turning the blue crystal shell around him red, a stylistic choice for the anime to reflect the King’s new state.

From the pre-screening leaks and comments of some online users, it is suggested that we will eventually learn more about the Soul King in the next episode, even his true name.

Episode Poem

We see a panel of what appears to be a young Yhwach, covered in red, like the color of the Soul King upon death or of the blood that flows in every Quincy.

In the very first poem of the Thousand Year Blood War Arc, Yhwach talks about the universe as “drenched in a sea of blood”.

Here, he says:

“The bell will continue to toll.

Until you fall to the earth.

Struck by the sword.”

Bleach TYBW Episode 28 is titled, “KILL THE KING”, the title of Chapter 614, and will be released on October 12, 2024 at 23:00 Japan Time.

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