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Warning: Contains spoilers for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode #28 & Bleach volume #74.One of the best parts ofBleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warhas been the original content that wasn’t in the original manga, and that’s especially true of the original fights. The anime has done things like greatly extending Kenpachi and Unohana’s fight or completely reworking the battle between the Royal Guard and the Schutzstaffel, and between their animation and the additional character work, they’ve all been great to see.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warwas another episode with an original fight, this time between Ichigo and Yhwach. The manga skipped right to Ichigo unconsciously killing the Soul King, so not only did the fight do a much better job of expanding on their conflict compared to the manga, butIchigo and Yhwach’s original fight in theBleach: Thousand-Year Blood Waranimemade a definitive statement on how strong Ichigo is supposed to be. In some respects, Ichigo is even stronger in the anime than in the manga, and that has big implications for where the story is expected to go.
Ichigo Is Officially On Par With Bleach’s Strongest Characters
Most ofBleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warepisode #28 was spent on an original fight between Ichigo and Yhwach, and it wasn’t as one-sided as one would expect. WhileYhwach the Quincy Kingwas as powerful as ever, Ichigo’s new power was more than enough to overwhelm him, and he even broke through his Sankt Zwinger, the ultimate defensive technique for Quincies. That led to Ichigo dealing a massive blow with his Getsuga Jujisho and forcing Yhwach to use The Almighty, meaning thatIchigo is officially strong enough to hold his own against Yhwach in his base form.
Naturally, once Yhwach started using The Almighty, Ichigo couldn’t touch him and was quickly beaten, but everything before that is still worth highlighting. The only other characters who could definitively hold their own against Yhwach when he wasn’t using The Almighty were Yamamoto and Ichibei, two of the strongest characters inBleach, so if Ichigo could do the same, then that meansIchigo’s fight with Yhwach officially makes him one of the strongest characters inBleach. The manga never did anything to suggest Ichigo was on that level, so seeing the anime do that is nothing but great.
Bleach’s New Fight Justifies The Manga’s Biggest Plot Twist
Something that’s also noteworthy about the new fight between Ichigo and Yhwach is how it can justify one of the biggest twists from the end of the manga. Yhwach infamously used The Almighty to destroy Ichigo’s new Bankai because it was powerful enough to threaten him, all of which felt hard to buy with how much Yhwach had been dominating their fight. However,Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warhas a much better justification for Yhwach destroying Ichigo’s Bankai due to how well Ichigo fought Yhwach in his base form, so it wouldn’t be as disappointing a turn as in the manga.
Will Ichigo & Yhwach’s Final Battle In Bleach Be The Same In The Anime?
How Bleach Might Change The Final Battle
Thanks to the new fight, Ichigo is fighting at a much higher level than in the manga, and the anime is also placing far more emphasis on Ichigo’s training in the Irazusando, something that was even brought up in episode #28. With those factors combined,Ichigo and Yhwach’s final fightinBleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warwill likely be far different from the manga thanks to Ichigo’s new power and status as a potential Soul King, all of which will likely lead to it being far more even than the original fight.
As to how it would be different, the most obvious point of divergence would be with Ichigo’s Bankai. With how much stronger Ichigo appears to be compared to the manga, in addition to how he’s been involved with the expanded lore,Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warmight have Ichigo temporarily resist The Almighty and use his Bankai against Yhwach before it’s destroyed, as that would do a better job of tying into the boost in power the anime’s given him. Ichigo never using his new Bankai has always been controversial, and that would be a great way of amending the issue.
Conversely, the anime might take something of a middle-ground approach to giving Ichigo a better showing. A lot of The Almighty is based around precognition, with Yhwach seeing the future and altering it to fit his needs, soBleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warcould simply show the audience Yhwach’s vision of Ichigo’s Bankai before it’s unceremoniously destroyed, which could show off Ichigo’s power while still keeping the story the same. Whatever the case, everythingBleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warhas done with Ichigo’s new power has been great to see, and ideally, it will lead to even greater things from the anime.
Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War
Cast
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is a sequel series to the popular anime from creator Tite Kubo. This anime follows Ichigo and his friends as they investigate why people are disappearing while trouble arises in the Soul Society. The first season was released in 2022 and has been critically acclaimed since its beginning.
