GRIMMJOW RETURNS AFTER 16 YEARS! Bleach Thousand Year Blood War Episode 31 Review!

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Episode 31 is titled “Against the Judgment”

Episode 31 adapts Chapter 617: “Return of the God” and Chapter 621: “The Dark Curtain” to Chapter 624: “The Fang”.

The title is taken from Volume 69, which in turn is from Chapter 623.

The episode is mostly faithful to the manga but it reworks and redesigns certain objects and events to make the storytelling more thorough and detailed, as we will see.

Anime Change: Soul King Reiatsu Blobs

We start immediately with the Soul King’s black Reiatsu shooting down from the Palace.

The anime changes this from a deliberate action by Yhwach, who points down on the floor to shoot the Reiatsu in the manga, to just being a part of the process of absorption.

As we will see later, this change allows for a clear transition towards the events of the next episode.

The Soul King’s Reiatsu transforms into a mass of small blob-like creatures.

In the manga, they only have eyes and small limbs, with very few showings of their teeth.

In the anime, they have rows of teeth that are sharp and we have a prolonged scene of Hisagi holding up one of them to emphasize how horrifying it is for a mass of these blobs to latch on to anyone.

While the scenes of Soi-Fon, Byakuya, Hisagi, Ikkaku and Yumichika attacking the blobs with their Zanpakutos remain the scene, the characters are notable for doing so

Noticeably, the anime skips the panic felt by Lille and Askin or even the mention that the Soul King’s Reiatsu is unable to harm Quincy or that the Soul King’s real enemy is the Shinigami that put power restraints (the Coffin of Adnyeus) on him.

That is because of a more subtle piece of dialogue in past episodes, which come from the manga, where Yhwach expressed confusion at why

Although it would have added more insight into the Soul King, we were already informed of how the Soul King was the progenitor of all races and had a nature akin to a Quincy and that the Shinigami were implied to be the ones to seal him in the Palace to maintain the Three Worlds.

The anime also expands on the scale of the Reiatsu spreading across the Seiretei as a black flood covering the whole area instead of just targeting the lab like it seemed in the manga.

Aizen’s Kurohitsugi

Mocking the Shinigami for trying to stomp the blobs with just swords instead of their Reiatsu, Aizen emerges from the dark and crushes many of the blobs with his overpowering Reiatsu.

This is the first time TYBW has used the classic Reiatsu effect, which involved distortion and constant vibrations and shaking.

The original reiatsu effect is finally back in BLEACH 🔥
There’s only a single reiatsu God none other than Aizen a special threat.#BLEACH_anime pic.twitter.com/kxD0Hwmwi7

— AIZEN SŌSUKE (@AIZZEEN_SOSUKE) November 6, 2024

The TYBW anime has foregone the use of the effect and instead used colorful auras to express Reiatsu.

Everyone is shocked by this until Kyouraku appears and holds himself responsible for this dishonorable act.

Purple shocks appear on the ground and Kyouraku immediately tells everyone to hide in the lab as Aizen unleashes his Kurohitsugi.

In spite of the concerns with the “underwhelming” music track, the anime delivers on the power of the Kurohitsugi.

The others finally ask how they will get to the Palace, a question that was addressed 10 chapters ago but never so in the anime until now.

Just like the case with Yushiro’s Shiho’in treasure weapons in Episode 29: “The Dark Arm”, something else interrupts Urahara’s attempt at an explanation as Aizen later expresses how he intends to bring down the Palace.

Unlike the manga, we see Aizen flex on his massive volumes of Reiatsu in a spectacular show of lights and colors, the best display of Reiatsu outside of Ichigo’s hybrid Reiatsu show.

Aizen’s intro was done soo much justice IMO, he really got Reiatsu struggling for it’s life😂

Anyways Aizen trying to shoot down the Reio’s palace is kinda the best Reiatsu have ever looked in TYBW so far#BLEACH #BLEACH_anime pic.twitter.com/MSiFphQf5F

— Abarai (@GlazingZangetsu) November 2, 2024

However, this would be halted by Mayuri pressing a button, showing how Chair-sama is the representation and pinnacle of Soul Society’s technology and its ability.

Major Anime Change: The Gate Subplot Reworked

Manga readers may be wondering how the anime is handling the subplot regarding the Senkaimon to the Soul King Palace.

It actually starts in this episode and we are seeing it handled differently, primarily through the inclusion of the entire Gotei 13, rather than just the Captains and Lieutenants.

We do not see the Reishi amplifier in this episode but instead witness Mayuri lift up some parts of the laboratory as an expanded platform to fit in multiple people, as we will see.

Major Anime Change: EVERY Shinigami Helps Build the Senkaimon

Another display of how much better Kyouraku is as a leader is his initiative to include everyone’s input.

Although the episode allows every character to criticize Kyouraku’s decision and Kyouraku himself is willing to be held accountable for releasing Aizen, the episode also reminds us why Kyouraku’s approach is necessary.

Without worrying about honor or perception, Kyouraku puts his focus on maximizing the power of the ENTIRE Gotei.

Not just empowering Kenpachi or improving the management of Squad 1 with two lieutenants or even using the most evil criminal Sosuke Aizen’s power to save Society.

He includes every regular, non-Seated officer to contribute to the power

It is also a reminder that ordinary Shinigami do have power.

All Souls have Spiritual Power but only Shinigami in Soul Society possess Reiatsu, which requires them to eat food to maintain their existence and supply of spiritual energy.

This means that the thousands of regular Shinigami in the Seireitei who are treated as forgettable fodder are now relevant to the plot of Bleach as among those who will help the Gotei 13 save the whole universe from Yhwach.

This scene replaces the use of the Reishi amplifier that Mayuri brought in Chapter 617: “Return of God” to help build the Gate.

This was the solution for the initial failure of opening the gate after the death of Ukitake.

Now the gate storyline has been heavily reworked and reordered so its focus happens after the failure of Mimihagi, which would confuse the manga readers but might likely help anime viewers have focus on this subplot that explains how the Gotei 13 reach the Soul King Palace.

Anime Addition: Shunsui Kyoraku’s Speech

Kyouraku’s speech was a welcome addition to the episode, on top of how well-done some of his shots in the episode are.

First, his speech about how honor cannot save the world and that using evil to defeat evil is not wrong was well-shot.

We have more moments of Kyouraku shining as the Head Captain, being the more direct and empathic leader that views every part of the Gotei as a family, rather than a traditional, distant patriarchy under Yamamoto.

Although Kyouraku’s speech is simple, he motivates the Gotei 13 to work together to defend the world.

Grimmjow’s Return

As the Ichigo section starts, we see the inside of the Garganta and a familiar someone in white waiting for the Garganta to open since the Garganta pattern appears on the nail Yoruichi planted.

Ichigo wakes up and finds that he and everyone else have already been healed by an exhausted and hungry Orihime

This does skip muscular Kon’s full involvement but he is still involved in the story as the one who cushioned Ichigo’s fall.

Yoruichi then calls for the Garganta to open and we finally meet the mystery man in Hueco Mundo that has been teased since Episode 5: “Wrath as a Lightning” in Cour 1.

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez is back!!!

His last appearance was in Episode 190 “Hueco Mundo Chapter, Restart!” that aired on October 14, 2008.

Therefore, 16 years have passed since the episode aired and we get to see the rivals reunite after all this time.

Anime Change: The New World

In the post-credits scene, we see that Yhwach has fully absorbed the Soul King, with all the Schutstaffel watching the entire time rather than waiting in the Soul King Palace lounge.

Then we see the blobs come together floating and taking in the remains and buildings of the merged Seiretei and Silbern, unlike in the manga where the chunks of buildings are just floating in mid-air.

Look at how the episode is so well-directed

The episode begins with Aizen saying “it’s been a while, Rukia Kuchiki” and the two characters have not seen each other since the end of the Soul Society arc while Grimmjow greets Ichigo, whom he has not seen since his defeat in Hueco Mundo.

The episode even gives more purpose the Soul King Reiatsu blobs as they fell immediately as the episode began and then return up as they merge with the infrastructure of the Seiretei

Next Episode Poem: The Holy Newborn

The poem for the episode comes from Grimmjow

“My claws will tear you apart.”

This poem’s simplicity mirrors Grimmjow’s first poem in Volume 24: “IMMANENT GOD BLUES”

“Doesn’t matter who it is

I’ll fucking crush anybody”

Episode 32 will be titled, “The Holy Newborn”, the title of Chapter 626 and will be released on November 9, 2024.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE ANIME EXPLAINED WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT NOW!