What To Expect in Bleach Thousand Year Blood War Cour 3

The opening song, titled, “Without Any Words” by Six Lounge, was fully released on October 4, 2024 and it showed us the events to look forward in the Thousand Year Blood War Cour 3: The Conflict.

Warning: Manga spoilers ahead

Senjumaru’s Defeat

With an incredibly overpowered Bankai unleashed, there is bound to a surprising or humiliating defeat for arguably one of the strongest beings in the Bleach universe.

After the other members of the Royal Guards, minus Ichibei, killed themselves to break the Blood Oath Seal, Senjumaru’s Reiatsu increased beyond her sealed state, allowing her to use her Bankai: Shatatsu Karagara Shigarami no Tsuji.

To simplify, Senjumaru’s Bankai traps her opponents in seemingly inescapable tapestries depicting or realizing their fates, almost a precursor to Yhwach’s Almighty but in thread form, just like the Greek Fates.

Uryu’s fate is the Auswahlen, which he escaped as a child for some reason.

This moment is a better explanation for why Squad Zero was killed off instead of doing it offscreen like in the manga.

The question is how will she be defeated and by who? 

Most likely, it will be Uryu since his tapestry shows his original fate of being

We have actually seen Uryu’s Schrift A in action, so we could see it without revealing exactly what it means.

Manga fans will know how the Antithesis works and perhaps that can reverse fate, with Senjumaru becoming a victim of the fate of her tapestries, possibly even the Bankai working against her.

We will likely see this in the first episode of Cour 3, titled “A”, which would be fitting because there are two Quincies with the “A” Schrift, Uryu’s “The Antithesis” that swaps positions and states of being, and Yhwach’s “The Almighty”, which can perceive the future…and even go beyond perception.

Expanded Uryu vs Ichigo Battle 

The opening also shows Uryu and Ichigo seemingly battling in the sky, which is actually tied to Chapter 620: “Where Do You Stand?” , where Uryu shoots down Ichigo and the others so they do not return to the Soul King Palace and stop Yhwach from absorbing the Soul King.

The opening also shows Uryu seeing an array of reishi reflected on his glasses, which references Chapter 659: “There Will Be Frost” that expose his true intentions that have been kept veiled.

Cour 1 shows Uryu in a crisis of his beliefs, which is much needed a bridge so that Uryu does not seem shoehorned into a narrative about his own people yet if anything, that addition makes the seeming betrayal from him taste bitter, especially after over 300 episodes and 400 chapters of being with him as a character and as Ichigo’s ally.

We could see Uryu’s plan better rationalized because of how we see the beginnings of his change from ally to betrayer.

More Sternritter Lore in Bazz B’s Flashback

If Cour 1 gave us the original Gotei 13, the criminals who protected the Ordinary Peace, Cour 3 might give us the original Sternritter that intend to destroy that unforgivable peace.

The opening shows brief glimpses of Jugram Haschwalth and a younger Bazz B from a thousand years ago. Bazz’s button and Jugram’s sword hilt being given special focus.

This could also indicate that Cour 3 will make Bazz B an actual POV character and thus given more spotlight.

Jugram Haschwalth was the very first Sternritter appointed by Yhwach and through his and Bazz B’s backstory, we see the origins of the Sternritter, as well as how the friendship between the two Quincies was destroyed by Yhwach’s emergence.

In TYBW Episode 24: “Too Early to Win, Too Late to Know”, we see Yhwach’s past with Ichibei prior to Lichtwelt’s invasion of Soul Society a thousand years ago. 

By this point, there were already Sternritter and the development of stronger Quincy weapons and abilities.

More Soul King Revelations

Some leaks or hints from those who watched the pre-screening of the first few episodes of Cour 3 suggested that the Soul King’s full history will be revealed soon.

Previously at the first episode of Cour 2, we learn of a place called Irazusando, a place where potential Soul King candidates are tested and Ichigo is tested here, albeit without being told of its purpose.

We are also only given vague hints but enough to extrapolate what the place is meant for.

In the same episode “THE LAST 9DAYS”, Kyoraku gave Ichigo’s human friends tickets to the Soul Society for visits because “Ichigo will not be the same”.

Manga fans who read the chapter of the same name assume it is because of Ichigo acquiring his true Zanpakuto and Soul Reaper heritage but we have already seen Ichigo’s potential even with a restrained Shinigami power, so the anime makes the revelation of Ichibei’s plans in the coming Cour 3 easier to process.

Considering the placement of the episodes, we will likely see that in the second episode of the Cour.

It can be done through a change of dialogue, where Yhwach, having defeated Ichibei Hyosube, the Monk who Calls the True Name, finally speaks the name of the Soul King or a complete flashback, maybe an explanation from Haschwalth about how Yhwach awakens the Almighty.

The full meaning of the Sealed King’s Song can be expressed through the moment Yhwach gains his wicked eyes back and destroys the leader of Squad Zero, which can lead into a more complete explanation of Yhwach’s origins that was cut off in Episode 18 and 19 (Rages at Ringside and The White Haze).

Gotei 13 vs Yhwach’s Elite Guard

We could see all the four Schutzstaffel in focus. 

Askin is chased after by Grimmjow, his eye marks glowing in color to distinguish himself. 

Pernida faces off against Mayuri and Nemu.

Lille clashes against Shunsui Kyoraku and we see a demonstration of Nanao’s Shinken Hakkyōken, which takes in Lille’s light to deflect it against the opponent.

Notably, Gerard Valkyrie vs the Gotei 13 and the Vizards is missing, although Gerard himself is featured, indicating that he will fight.

Gerard’s main fight comes around the end but the first portion, where he makes a huge jump towards the invading Gotei 13 and extends his cape as a wall behind him, is mostly offscreen.

This portion might be expanded in the anime but it is possible we could see the Miracle unfold, though the opening does not give that many hints towards it.

Renji Spotlight?

The opening shows Renji performing a move, being highlighted alongside Ichigo, who performs his Getsuga Jujisho that is likely aimed at Yhwach.

The Renji shot seems to resemble his pose in Volume 73: Battlefield Burning that covers Chapters 664 to 674, which covers the battles against Askin and Gerard and begins Round 1 of Ichigo vs Yhwach.

The new BLEACH TYBW opening has a scene of Renji that references Tite Kubo's cover art for Volume 73 of the manga. 🔥

🔗 Watch the new OP here: https://t.co/RnbTCPzAaC#BLEACH #BLEACH_anime #ジャンプ #BLEACHTYBW #BLEACH千年血戦篇 #manga #anime pic.twitter.com/UTJ2rbeA3G

— Daily BLEACH Scans (@bleachscans) October 4, 2024

However, in that volume, Renji is barely present and in the final volume, he only acts more like a glorified taxi to Ichigo as they head from the Soul King Palace to Soul Society for the final battle, which can indicate a few possibilities.

One is that we will have a revision of the flow of the final battles, either both rounds of Ichigo vs Yhwach or possibly Renji’s involvement in the battle against Gerard Valkyrie.

Based on his appearance in the opening, facing what appears to be a burning battlefield (just like the Volume 73 title), Renji might become important in the arc, maybe even showing off a new move from his true Bankai: Soo Zabimaru.

This could even be the inspiration Kubo had when making the volume.

More Aizen scenes

In the opening, we see Shunsui in Muken, facing the locks to Sosuke Aizen, as well as a shot of the seated Aizen himself and covered by Hado 90: Kurohitsugi.

Each cour of Bleach TYBW featured an extra scene from our favorite hypnotist.

In Cour 1, we finally see the conversation between Yhwach and Aizen and with Aizen’s mouth open, it is implied that Yhwach had unsealed enough of Aizen that he might be almost free.

This change explains something that will eventually be important in Cour 3.

In Cour 2, we only see a glimpse of Aizen’s back and hair as Yhwach flies up to the Soul King’s Palace, which matters because it was Aizen’s goal to reach the Palace.

The previews show Aizen’s chair, which could be the staff’s awareness of the fandom’s meme culture.

Aizen’s role in the final arc is quite interesting as he is a wild card.

Will Cour 3 and Cour 4 expand on Aizen’s role?

Considering that he already does a lot in the arc even as a late player, there might be more ways to connect to Aizen’s ambition to reach the Palace, as he did express frustration that Ichigo got there before he did, and the Cour 2 preview says as much.

Aizen will likely not reach the Palace but he could provide more commentary, since his greatest gift outside his overwhelming Reiatsu is his silver tongue.

We Have Seen the Cour’s Ending? 

A Vision within a Vision within a Vision

The final shots of the opening seem to reveal the whole point of the visual sequence: that everything happening is part of Yhwach’s vision of the Almighty, possibly even some of his interventions. More on that later.

How the whole sequence plays out is incredible.

At the beginning, we see Yhwach with his Almighty, the mysterious eyes first shown in his flashback in Episode 24 of Cour 2, but this time Yhwach is seated on a different room, the one in Wahrwelt in Chapter 672.

Later, we see Ichigo stare down at Yhwach from a distance, his own brown eyes colored (most of the character’s eyes are monochrome like the rest of the visuals).

Most of the opening plays around perspective, such as how both Ichigo’s possessed right hand and Mimihagi, the Right Arm of the Soul King, meld together, or when during the battle between Mayuri and Perida, two hands are outstretched, the first one being the Left Arm of the Soul King (Pernida) and the smaller one being Nemu’s hand, trying to reach out to her captain and creator, just as the shadow of Pernida’s hand-like body covers her.

Eventually, we see Ichigo’s Getsuga Jujisho fired from the sky as we cut to the eyes of the Soul King and the Soul King’s chrysalis shrinking in perspective as it is taken by none other than Yhwach, revealing that this was what happened at the start of the opening.

However, this time, Yhwach’s whole face is covered in a black blob with many eyes, representing the overwhelming power of the Soul King and he smiles as he gazes at that vision.

This indicates that Cour 3’s ending will capitalize on Yhwach’s goal on giving the Shinigami, who have ruled the cosmic order for a million years, the despair that he sees they rightfully deserve.

This includes Ichigo himself, who comes to stop him

Some have even noticed that the opening harks back to Opening 13: Ranbu no Melody’s first scene, where the Hogyoku is picked up the same way the Soul King is treated, which ties to the correlation between the nature of the Hogyoku as an almighty reality warper and the Soul King’s ability to create the three worlds.

God the callback to ranbu no melody.
Hogyoku-Reio is so GOOD #BLEACH pic.twitter.com/XVzO9CWF7c

— Tandrin (@Wind_ofDeath) October 4, 2024

This could mean that Cour 3 will end in Chapter 672: “Father”, the start of Round 1 of Soul King Yhwach vs Ichigo

Chapter 672 cliffhanger ending? 👀 pic.twitter.com/M5oxndFjBV

— Tandrin (@Wind_ofDeath) October 4, 2024

BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict is coming this October 5, 2024 at 23:00 Japan time and will be available on Hulu and Disney+!

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