Yoruichi, God of Thunder! Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Episodes 39 and 40 Review!

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Cour 3 ends on two episodes, both incredible culminations of the growth Pierrot Films has shown in animating the Bleach story, both great pieces of storytelling that bring the entire season to a proper close while setting up the exciting finale.

After this point, Bleach will only have 24 manga chapters to adapt and the promise of a modified finale sets the fandom ablaze with anticipation.

Episode 39: The Visible Answer

Episode 39 adapts the start of Chapter 615: “All is Lost”, a portion of Chapter 647: “The Theater Suicide”, the end of Chapter 654: “Deadman Standing”, Chapter 655: “The Miracle”, Chapter 656: “God of Thunder”, Chapter 657: “God of Thunder 2”, the start of Chapter 658: “Fatal Matters are Cold”, the middle of Chapter 659: “There Will Be Frost” onwards, and the start of Chapter 660, which the episode is named after.

The episode is quite dense, so let’s go over the many changes and how they alter the Bleach finale in the coming year(s).

NEW: Mimihagi Carries the Dying World

A shadowy Atlas still holds the Bleach verse together.

Mimihagi is still alive, with its lengthy shadowy arm turning into an infinite amount of branches, almost like the World Tree Yggdrasil that maintains the Nine Realms of Norse myth.

Now Mimihagi is the Tree of the Three Worlds.

This makes Jushiro Ukitake’s sacrifice even more impactful and emotional.

Imagine for a minute that Mimihagi is the only reason Ukitake is STILL alive and right now, even as a vegetable

However, it seems that Mimihagi has long since dissipated.

This scene would be a nice and more elaborate explanation of why Yhwach chose now to take his nap.

It is likely that Mimihagi was still fighting Yhwach even after its absorption.

Just as the Torrents of the Soul King’s Power remained even after Wahrwelt’s creation, Mimihagi still remained to cling to the bond between the

The manga implies that the reason the Three Worlds have not yet collapsed was because Yhwach did not will the world’s end and was, by definition, the Soul King that is the linchpin of reality.

However, the anime seems to suggest that Mimihagi is STILL the Soul King or at least holding back the Torrents of the Soul King’s power so that Yhwach does not drown the world in black.

This is where we see the supposedly cut scene of a frightened Yuzu spilling her juice while hugging her twin Karin, who is playing video games in the middle of a potentially hour-long earthquake after the death of Adnyeus the Soul King.

God of Thunder Yoruichi Shihoin

In the manga, Askin talks to Ichigo after Gerard activates the Miracle.

In the anime, it comes only after Gerard’s arrival to face the Gotei 13.

Here, Askin talks about his fellow Schuzstaffel or Royal Guards a bit, just like in the manga.

By the way, compliments to the art team at Pierrot Films because the Gift Bad looks really bad but in a good way.

The Poison Bath does not emit the usual bright purple of Gift Ball but instead the sickly green and blue color often associated with vomit or with unnatural water colors.

This leads into Yoruichi’s intervention, freeing Ichigo and the rest so they can proceed to face Yhwach.

Now we get to the glorious Shunko transformation, which strips Yoruichi of her orange jacket and pants.

#BLEACH #BLEACH_anime
Yoruichi’s Shunko “Raijin Senkei” is absolute incredible in the anime. Atsushi Wakabayashi’s Action/Effects AD & Masaaki Endo’s impact frames are amazing in this sequence🔥 pic.twitter.com/WoPX5vv1Fz

— 𝙕𝝙𝗞𝝞🥷🏽 (@Zakiabjr) December 28, 2024

It is so iconic that it plays twice in the special, the second time being in Askin’s memories.

The best part about the initial fight against Askin is the animation for Shunko: “Raijin Senkei”.

Yoruichi’s impact frames are an entire art collection

Those Yoruichi’s impact frames were so great pic.twitter.com/crAtqGNe0Y

— ʜᴇᴀᴛʜᴇɴ (@h_eathen) December 28, 2024

Later in the fight, Yushiro intervenes and the anime removes some of the bickering.

This is a good cut as the anime now makes Yoruichi a bit of a kinder sister, although they did keep one of the funniest moments between the Shihoin siblings, where Yoruichi forgot that she should not use sarcasm in front of her affectionate, attention-seeking brother.

Yushiro gets to show off why he is the current head of the clan with his explosive Shunko: “Bakuen Musō”

Fire and lightning Shunkos are on display in this episode and Yushiro’s punches do feel quite hard.

Gerard Valkyrie: The Miracle 

Gerard Valkyrie finally gets his fight and is immediately taken down by a returning Renji.

In a flashback, we see what the more independent Vizards were doing, namely with Hachi using his unique time-space Barrier Kido to heal Renji quickly, hence how he is back to the manga scene where he and Byakuya take down Gerard and brutally I might add.

🗣️🗣️ Soul King’s Heart aka GERARD VALKYRIE my favourite sternritter is here

The MIRACLE MAN #BLEACH #BLEACH_anime #BLEACH千年血戦篇pic.twitter.com/J5hF2GdPSi

— AIZEN SŌSUKE (@AIZZEEN_SOSUKE) December 28, 2024

However, this was a huge mistake as the power of the Miracle converts all the damage Gerard sustained into a Godly Size and Gerard remarks that this is the first time he has ever grown this gargantuan.

The anime really sells how frightening Gerard is, not only with his eerie glowing yellow eyes and booming voice but also the new score from Sagisu, who has been killing it this cour.

Gerard and Askin being the final Royal Guards works so well and the anime deepens their connection with Askin’s opening narration about the Schutzstaffel

The anime does not change the basics of this scene much but we do have two really juicy additions.

NEW: Rangiku’s Secret Confirmed?

In an interview in Repeat&Reboot in early 2012, Kubo mentioned his plans for the final arc and among the unfulfilled items had to do with Rangiku’s secret.

Another secret outside of her past with Gin?

This could be in relation to Rangiku once possessing one of the Fragments of the Soul King, given her nonchalant reaction to, in contrast to Hanataro’s panic over seeing Gerard as soon as he grew giant.

This is all in the anime, so it could lead into some “Can’t Fear Your Own World” canonization, since it is there that we learn that the Hogyoku could grant wishes or make Aizen into a hybrid and transcendent being was because it had a piece of the Soul King.

NEW: Squad 5 are Kido Specialists

In the manga, Shinji and hnd lieutenant Momo Hinamori were never seen again after Gerard pressed them with his giant hand.

In the anime. we finally witness Shinji and Hinamori work together as a proper Squad.

We see Shinji use a chantless Hado No. 91: Senju Kōten Taihō, the spell Kisuke Urahara used against Hogyoku Aizen in the Fake Karakura Town Arc while Hinamori used Bakudō #37. Tsuriboshi, which is orange this time instead of blue and she uses a fireball to launch herself above Gerard’s head.

This spell actually made Godly Size Gerard feel pain, which also made him open his mouth to give Hinamori the opening she needed to throw a fireball into it.

Although this did not do any lasting damage, we at least demonstrated Squad 5’s speciality as Kido experts, as confirmed in the most recent Klub Outside Q&A

FAQ TITE KUBO

Q: J’adore les relations entre l’ancienne et la nouvelle 5e division, de l’arc passé à l’époque actuelle, alors j’aimerais poser une question ! Hinamori est qualifiée de maître en kido, et Aizen pouvait utiliser des sorts de kido de niveau 90 sans incantation (bien… pic.twitter.com/OGdVQ22ZhN

— Karia (@Karia13_) December 23, 2024

Squad 5 has a “Spiritual Energy Recovery Room” for Kido users to recharge, essentially and some members can use Kaido or Healing Kido like Momo.

Shinji himself is revealed to quite proficient with Kido, as shown with how he was one of the few to notice and unveil Aizen while hiding using “Noren Mekuri” during the Turn Back the Pendulum Arc.

Soi-Fon also tries to use her Bankai: Jakuhō Raikōben but just like against the Torrents of the Soul King’s Power, it was useless as Gerard swatted everyone like flies.

Cut: Sanrei Glove Chips

Jugram Haschwalth spots Uryu inside the castle’s portal chamber, which could be the Gate of the Sun for the Human World.

In the manga, Jugram actually went around to pick up chips made from the now defunct-Sanrei Glove Uryu used from the Soul Society Arc.

In the anime, he never left the castle and Uryu noticed something off about him, which is not at first due to the Almighty but because Jugram was definitely saddened about killing his friend, even as he hid his feelings very well.

When Jugram reveals he has the Almighty, he uses this power to make Uryu confess to his treason, rather than show the Sanrei Glove chips.

This cut is quite harmful for this section of the story as even in the next episode, we do not know exactly how Uryu plans to bring down Wahrwelt.

In the post-credits scene of Episode 36: “Baby, Hold Your Hand 2 – Never Ending My Dream”, we see Jugram ordering Soldat around because Uryu left his post of Zwei Ast (Second Branch) and moved to Eins Ast (First Branch).

In the manga, he was never assigned any post and was spotted in Zwei Ast instead. The anime fixes the issue of Uryu’s actual role among the Royal Guards through the anime but now we are left wondering what exactly Uryu did in the First Branch.

Perhaps we will get that resolved in Cour 4 since Uryu was unable to tell Ichigo the specifics of his plan.

Episode 39 Poem: Uryu Ishida

The final episode poem is from Uryu Ishida

“If my words had a form

They wouldn’t reach you standing in the dark”

This poem is taken from Volume 72: “My Last Words”, which had Uryu on the cover.

Episode 40: My Last Words

Episode 40 is titled, “My Last Words”, shown in a glorious title card at the proper end of the episode at the 15 minute mark.

This covers the first part of Chapter 635: “Hooded Enigma”,  the middle of Chapter 654, some of Chapter 657 and Chapter 658, the rest of Chapter 660, Chapter 661, where the episode name is from, and the end of Chapter 674: “Father 2”.

While following the 22 minute, 36 second average of an episode, the actual story content is around 17 minutes long due to the last 5 minutes covering a lengthy Quincy Encyclopedia section.

After this point, Bleach will only have 24 chapters left to adapt.

BEST ADDITION YET: Uryu Ishida’s Entire Arc in One Flashback

We begin the episode with one of the best additions to the entire adaptation, where one flashback wraps up Uryu’s arc for the Thousand Year Blood War.

Soken narrates in his diary how Emperor Yhwach is a tyrant and that he used Auswahlen to take the powers and lives of the Quincy of the Human World.

Using his title here is a subtle way to show that Soken used to be part of Wandenreich.

As such, it is the duty of the Human World Quincy to oppose him.

This diary was definitely written after Kanae Katagiri’s death as we have yet to know of other worldwide Auswahlen usages prior to this but considering that Soken was an exile from Wandenreich, this could just be part of Quincy lore that has come true, the Kaiser Gesang.

In a way, Soken’s diary was a call heeded too little too late, as now Uryu and Ryuken were the only Quincy left alive.

Yhwach was responsible for the genocide of his remaining people in the Human World.

If you notice, Uryu fell on a field of edelweiss flowers.

Uryu’s flower edelweiss in cour 1 extended ending saihate

Edelweiss pirates were a youth anti nazi group pic.twitter.com/3RaUggYZPq

— Tandrin (@Wind_ofDeath) December 28, 2024

In Ending 1 of Bleach TYBW, Uryu’s flower is the edelweiss and the edelweiss was the symbol of the anti-Nazi youths in Germany known as the “Edelweiss Pirates”.

These are all hints of Uryu’s true allegiance set at the start of the story.

Many Implications of the Auswahlen Scene

We see the Auswahlen ring rain above Karakura Town, how Masaki’s Blut Vene was erased and later, the death of Kanae Katagiri, Uryu’s mother.

We notice that Kanae’s maid died immediately while Kanae still remained alive.

This is a surprising change from the established idea that Kanae was a helpless victim but it seems to indicate that Kanae had a special trait to her.

We see a mysterious Reishi form above Kanae’s head, which led to her death.

This might actually be the first subconscious use of Antithesis by Uryu.

Remember that Schrifts are just the names given to the inherent power a being has, much like how Zanpakuto are individual spirits based on their masters and the Schrift or Letter awakens that hidden power to its fullest.

We also notice that Uryu himself fell down and was ill from the effects of the rain.

This means that Uryu did struggle under the oppressive rain of the Auswahlen and the effect was not immediate.

This confirms one truth from the manga: the first Auswahlen did not IMMEDIATELY kill off every Gemscht (impure) Quincy.

Masaki and Izumi (Ryuken’s mother), two Echt (pure) Quincies were circumstantially impure as in both the anime and manga, Izumi was shown to have a wound on her leg, an infection from a Hollow attack, which is a correlation to Masaki’s more unique condition with the Asauchi-Hollow White.

This leads into a neat theory: that Uryu was not the only survivor of Auswahlen.

One of them could be As Nodt, The Fear, whose flashabck showed him in a modern hospital and being visited by Yhwach.

Tite Kubo confirmed in Klub Outside Q&A No. that Uryu is special because of his “resistance to erosion by Hollow Reiatsu”, the same phenomenon that Masaki and Izumi experienced in different ways.

As Nodt could be even more sickly than the other Quincies.

Keep in mind that the Quincy take blood purity seriously but what if the blood purity is the reason why the Sternritters were suspectible to Hollow Reiatsu to begin with?

Now this erosion factor does not quite explain the connection between As Nodt and the Auswahlen but it could be a good theory or headcanon regarding how Quincy purity is a setup.

Mixed bloods might be an actual threat to Yhwach

As confirmed in Klub Outside Q&A No. 689, the Auswahlen’s target order is based on blood impurity and age and it does not kill immediately, only taking majority of the power rather than all of it.

Bazz-B and the Bambies survived and retained most of their powers, although their performance might suggest that they were much weaker than during the first and second Quincy invasions.

Kanae was already young and strong while Uryu could not really awaken his powers, so this could be why she was not dealt the same hand as her weaker maid.

Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu seem to be protected due to their Quincy genes not awakening but in Ichigo’s case, his inner Hollow that counterbalances his Quincy side has been oppressed for most of his life anyways.

NEW: Uryu Vollstandig and Seele Schneider?

Uryu finally uses Seele Schneider, although it is not as useful as Uryu does not produce any trap like his Sprenger.

We also see a parallel of Ichigo using his smaller left-hand blade, the Old man Zangetsu blade, as a projectile, and this is the blade that initiates Getsuga Jujisho, which seemingly reflects his Quincy side.

Throughout the episode, we see the battle move around thanks to the 3D environment of Wahrwelt, which Pierrot Films has taken full advantage of with this season finale.

Stretching from the fight with Ichigo on top of Silbern through Yoruichi’s brief skirmish against Askin, all the way to Gerard’s POV as a giant. All these were continuous shots of Pierrot Films flexing their new technology.

Askin is Lightspeed?

While this short portion is not found in the manga, we at least the Flash Goddess at work but somehow it seems even Askin was able to keep up, if not blitz her by the end of the cut there.

Either Askin is a master of Hirenkyaku or Yoruichi was not in her A-game when her brother got shot by arrows last episode.

CHANGED: VIZARDS, MASK ON!

One of the most welcome changes in this Cour is the continued involvement of the much involved Vizards, a faction in Bleach that has only incurred loss after loss as soon as Shinji used his illusion Shikai, Sakanade, on the illusion master, his own ex-lieutenant Sosuke Aizen.

Gerard becomes a truly frightening foe as he searches around his section of Warhwelt for the rest of the Gotei 13.

We see through an aerial point of view how Godly Size Gerard looks at his smaller world.

Just when Momo thought she was safe, Gerard’s glowing eye peers through the building and he smashes it.

However, Shinji rescues his current lieutenant and takes off his captain’s coat, revealing that he and the other Vizards have put on their masks.

NEW: Xcution Reunion

While Yukio and Riruka are waiting inside the Modified Valley of Screams, Riruka gets worried about not being able to help out Ichigo and the rest in spite of her promise to Ichigo to keep Yukio safe.

However, Yukio is already way ahead of her

In the manga, we do not see this event at all and the Fullbringers just pop into the story since we only needed one glimpse of them from over 150 chapters prior.

Now, we are seeing Riruka and Yukio appear one more time for this cour and entering the Shiba residence to pick up their offscreen fellow Fullbringers: Kugo Ginjo, Giriko Kutsuzawa, and Shu Tsukishima.

Cour 4 has plenty of space for them to be involved, beyond their one-time manga involvement, which somewhat disappointed fans as only Tsukishima’s overpowered Fullbring was used.

This scene also leads into “Deadman Standing” as the two Fullbringers witness the descent of Lille Barro.

TRIMMED: Deadman Standing

The fragments of Lille Barro’s deflected power now fall on an undefended, ruined Seiretei, turning into nerfed versons of Lille’s second Vollstandig form.

Chapter 654: “Deadman Standing” is iconic for the return of Izuru Kira to the story after over 170 chapters out of commission when he was shot by Bazz-B.

The scene is trimmed as Lille Barro’s clones barely speak or turn out annoying enough for Izuru’s remark about them being screeching birds.

Still Silver Redeemed?

The post-credits of the previous episode showed them in the cemetery where Ryuken visits Kanae’s grave.

The scene’s lightning was gorgeous as we see Isshin in his Shinigami form ask Ryuken if the time for them to act is now, which means that Isshin had some involvement in the creation of the Still Silver arrow.

The silver medallion that was used to bring the fathers here is apparently an old passcode that still works, an object from Soken’s time in Wandenreich.

Some things never changed.

Even without the flashback, with Soken’s diary that was set up since Cour 1 in 2022, we can already have a clear picture of the old man’s history, more than the manga did.

With Cour 4 having more anime-original content on the horizon, how will Isshin and Ryuken be of aid outside of being an Uber delivery system for Uryu?

CHANGED: Jugram Haschwalth’s Incomplete Almighty? Or The True Form?

In the manga, we do not see the Almighty fluctuate in color since Yhwach’s eyes are red by default.

With the anime and how Jugram obtained the Almighty from Yhwach’s power-swapping nap, we are seeing that the Almighty is fluctuating between eye colors, which is timed to Uryu’s statement about how he is able to change fate, since Jugram noticed how completely different he was when Ichigo showed up and Yhwach was asleep, seeing the best chance to get rid of the Quincy Emperor once and for all.

This is in contrast to Jugram’s choice to surrender to Yhwach due to how inevitable and inescapable that fate is.

We have seen this phenomenon in Episode 27: “A”, when Yhwach’s awakening of the Almighty seemingly awakened the Antithesis in Uryu or perhaps of a deeper power as his right hand showed what resembled the mark of Mimihagi.

In any case, the anime is visualizing how Jugram sees things with the Almighty, as shown when we see the reflection of Uryu’s Vollstandig form in his eyes.

CHANGED: Yhwach The Balance

The anime is continuing the trend of making its characters a lot smarter in their planning.

Liltotto and Giselle’s zombie Bambies enter Yhwach’s throne room after dispatching the Soldats made from the Torrents of the Soul King’s power (the blob creatures)

It is great that the anime changed the scene from: “let’s kill Yhwach in his absolute prime because we are angry at betrayal” to “let’s wait a few minutes since we know his nap time and that when he sleeps, he’s weak.”

However, like in the manga, they fail to do anything.

In the manga, Yhwach was only interrupted from his nap and went back to sleep right away.

In the anime, he was asleep the entire time and either his black Reiatsu or the Balance took care of Liltotto and Giselle and her zombies.

And we zoom out of the frame as the entire throne room is occupied by Yhwach’s black Reiatsu, the Torrents of the Soul King’s power. and see the entire world of Warhwelt and cut back to the Ending 3 shot, showing us how we got to this point.

Warhwelt is clean and white while the rest of the world, the Seireitei in particular, is dying in red.

Quincy Encyclopedia? Nope.

And like Cour 2, we end on some omakes but this seems a little bit more interesting.

A revival of Ryuken’s segment, Quincy Encyclopedia, Quincy Daten is a 5 minute show by Askin Nakk Le Vaar to waste the audience’s time with some light exploratons of his personality and one 4th-wall break about him needing to waste time as ordered by the producer.

This time around, it is not as insulting as Cour 2’s since we do get relevant information in the form of the name of the original Schutzstaffel (the four Quincies with Yhwach during the invasion of Bazz-B’s village) and how the Bambies and Askin interact.

This wraps up Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Cour 3.

Looking forward to the final season.

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