Drinking In Some New Bleach: Episodes 393-395

I can't tell you how excited I was when the newest episode of Bleach came out! I was swamped with work as usual, but I kept this episode on my mind! I definitely wasn't at a loss for choosing this week's topic on the Izzy Insider!

Or at least, that's what I would have said when the first episode came out.

But alas, life has to be so complicated for two weeks straight. First, there was work, then there was my mental health... let's just say I've had it rough these past weeks.

But now, I'm back! And this time, nothing's stopping me from getting caught up on some Bleach; no, not the laundry product, but the anime! The hype that I've had for these newest episodes has been unreal!

So that's what I'll be talking about this week! Who's fired up? Are you fired up? I know I'm fired up! I've been waiting two weeks for this, so let's get started!

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Episode 393: A

Ah, it truly was a pleasant surprise seeing Senjumaru's Bankai again! I know that was done for recap purposes.

But seeing it in action again still takes my breath away, especially seeing how helpless each Schutzstaffel looks as they're being sealed in their respective tapestries.

But that leads to my favorite part of this episode: the first appearance of Uryu's The Antithesis. I'm glad it debuted in this fight instead of later; that way, it doesn't seem like a contrivance. But as much as that was my favorite part of the episode, I still felt sorry for Senjumaru. She had such a beautiful yet commanding presence, and I wanted to see more of her.

Combine that with Ichibei being utterly obliterated by Yhwach in the end, and this was a real pulse-pounder. Though Ichibei came back at the end, he seemed to have lost the will to fight anymore. At first, I thought he was under Yhwach's control for a second, but (as cool as that might have been) that didn't seem to be the case next episode.

But now that Ichibei and the other Squad Zero members have been defeated, I'm left with one persistent question: who's going to replace the other four members? Given how the anime has already revealed so much never-before-seen material, I would be surprised if they revealed that near the end of the cour.

But for now, I'll wrap this up by saying this episode got me fired up!

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Episode 394: Kill The King

Fun fact: this episode's title reminds me of a verse from the Rolling Stones song Street Fighting Man, namely the lyrics: "I'll shout and scream, I'll kill the king, I'll rail at all his servants."

I find it funny because that's about what Yhwach did to the Royal Palace.

Anyway, we pick up where we left off: with Yhwach finally killing the Soul King. Of course, this is not before we see a flashback of the Soul King, or rather, Adyneus (with all his limbs intact) dividing Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the World of the Living into three distinct realms.

It was quite a nice touch, especially considering how up until now, the Soul King was just... there. It was also cool to know that he had additional limbs.

It makes me wonder, though: we already know about the Soul King's arms and heart, but what about his other limbs like, for example, his legs? Do they have special powers as well? Do they have any hosts, living or otherwise? I can't help but speculate now that I know the Soul King had more limbs along with a proper name.

But enough of my speculation, as it's time to move on to the effects the Soul King's death has on the three main worlds. Obviously, these effects are far more expanded upon here than in the manga, with several more characters being featured here.

But the reactions that truly caught my attention were those of Ichigo's friends from Karakura Town: Keigo, Mizuiro, and Tatsuki. are they going to use those passes Kyoraku gave them after all?

Easily the biggest highlight for me, though, was Ichigo's rematch with Yhwach. Not only was the action pretty nice and fast, but just seeing all the buildings of Royal Palace getting destroyed, especially the domains of each of the Squad Zero members, just gave it an air of finality, like everything in this arc had come full circle.

Of course, when Ichigo is tricked into killing Adyneus, that air of finality just got a whole lot more real for me.

Overall... I was a little underwhelmed, but I can't fault the episode for that since it was pretty lore-heavy. I need more stimulation when it comes to stuff like this.

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Episode 395: The Dark Arm

I have a slight pet peeve with this episode: it starts with Ukitake immediately declaring he'll take the Soul King's place, which was too rushed. I would have preferred if the episode had started with the flashback of Ukitake's parents praying for his life, a moment I've been dying to see animated ever since I read it in the manga.

Other than that, my favorite part was the montage of Ukitake's life, from his early life to his first meeting with Kyoraku to his mourning of Kaien's death to his bidding farewell to Unohana. It's a great reminder of how wonderful a guy he is, making his Kamikake all the more bittersweet, especially with that callback to the two kinds of battles he told Rukia about the night Kaien was killed.

Seriously, when I heard that, I was completely floored. We shall truly never see someone like him again.

But you know who we do see again? That's right, Aizen!

For someone who's been sealed away for at least 17 months, he's still very charismatic and calculating. There's not too much I can say about this since all that's depicted is Aizen being unsealed, but it does make me excited for the episodes to come, where we'll most likely see more of him.

But overall, this episode punched me right in the feels! It's episodes like this that make me so glad I got into Bleach in the first place!

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Epilogue

So there you have my thoughts on the first three Bleach episodes of the Thousand-Year Blood War's Cour 3. I've been wanting to do a post like this ever since Episode 393 came out, but like I mentioned before, I was... indisposed with stuff relating to work and my mental health.

But despite everything, I'm still super-hyped for the rest of Cour 3! A lot of my favorite moments happen in this cour, so I really hope the anime will do them justice!

But now that I've talked about the first three episodes of the new Thousand-Year Blood War batch, I want to hear from the rest of you, dear readers! What was your favorite episode out of these three? What were your favorite moments from these episodes? And what moments are you looking forward to soon?

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But once again, dear readers, thank you for tuning in to the Izzy Insider! Until next week, over and out!