Bleach – Thousand-Year Blood War 1×38 Review: “Friend”

Continuing the trend of featuring a whole lot of flashbacks during intense confrontations between characters, Bleach Thousand Year Blood War episode 38, titled ‘Friend’, focused on Bazzard “Bazz-B” Black and Jugram “Jugo” Haschwalth’s inevitable battle.

When Bazz-B decided to go and kill Yhwach by himself and happened upon Jugo, it was clear he wasn’t coming out of said battle alive. So, even though ‘Friend’ concluded as expected, I still liked how the creative team added layers to the relationship between the two Quincy to make the fight have some emotional impact.

It’s revealed that Bazz-B and Jugo grew up in the same territory. Bazz-B was the son of some Lord while an orphaned Jugo lived with his uncle somewhere in the forest. Bazz-B was shown to be quite the genius, being able to create the Quincy Bow at a young age while Jugo was still incapable of even collecting Reishi or Spiritual Energy. Jugo’s lack of skill made him dependent on traditional weapons. For example, he used a traditional bow and arrow to hunt for food instead of simply shooting rabbits with a Quincy Arrow.

Bazz-B immediately took a liking to Jugo, wanting to make Jugo his student. Apparently, Bazz-B was going to teach Jugo to be better at honing his skills as a Quincy. The personalities of the two boys couldn’t be more different, with Bazz-B being cocky and Jugo maintaining a timid demeanor. Also, from what I could tell, it’s insinuated that Jugo’s uncle was physically abusive. I would have liked the episode to spend a bit more time developing that particular side of Jugo’s childhood.

With Bazz-B and Jugo becoming closer as friends over the years, their lives got disrupted when Yhwach’s forces attacked the area, killing their families in the process. Having lost everything, Bazz-B promised to kill Yhwach and he wanted Jugo to help him do it. So, yeah, turns out Bazz-B wanting to kill Yhwach in the present after feeling betrayed by the All Mighty leader wasn’t a new thing. He’s been wanting to kill Yhwach ever since he was a child and Jugo was aware of said fact.

The two young Quincy continued training and surviving together. Bazz-B became more skilled at using his Quincy powers while Jugo showed promise using his family sword. I did like the moment where Bazz-B contemplated leaving Jugo behind when he realized his friend was simply incapable of collecting Reishi. Bazz-B didn’t want such deadweight to hinder his mission to kill Yhwach. However, seeing Jugo’s determination to keep practicing and growing stronger in his own way made Bazz-B stay with him.

According to Bleach lore, a Quincy such as Jugo was born once every couple of centuries. Such Quincy were unable to collect Reishi and thus, they were ignored by society due to being deemed useless. However, the truth about Jugo’s “condition” was soon revealed when Yhwach paid a visit to a town after a young Bazz-B demanded to fight a somewhat high ranking Quincy looking to recruit new members for Yhwach’s army.

Being the only one who didn’t succumb to Yhwach’s immense Spiritual Pressure, Jugo’s told by the Father of all Quincy that he’s His Majesty’s other half. Turns out that Jugo and Yhwach shared the same ability. Both Quincy were unable to absorb Reishi. Instead, they were capable of giving Reishi to others and then taking it back. The truth about Bazz-B becoming powerful over the years was explained as an unaware Jugo providing Bazz-B with Reishi during their time together.

I liked how the animators handled Bazz-B’s expressions when he realized Yhwach had chosen Jugo to be his advisor and that being around Jugo was the reason he had grown stronger.

Bazz’B was able to be recruited into Yhwach’s army down the line and continued to pester Jugo to fight with him. It was kind of sad to see how their friendship had deteriorated over the centuries with Bazz-B feeling betrayed over Jugo going back on his promise to help him kill Yhwach.

In the present, Jugo’s supposed to contain Yhwach’s powers when His Majesty fell asleep again. Bazz-B planned to kill Jugo and then get rid of Yhwach (when he’s asleep, from what I could understand).

Even though they weren’t close anymore, Jugo clearly held back during their fight in the present. Jugo could have ended the battle in an instant but he kept giving Bazz-B chance after chance to surrender until he just couldn’t allow his old friend to proceed any further.

Sigh! Like I said, it was clear that Bazz-B wasn’t going to make it out alive even though he went all out. The fight between the two was a way to showcase how strong Jugo was without having him confront one of the good guys.

As for the state of their bond, I do feel that young Jugo thought of Bazz-B as more of a friend than he did. Bazz-B was jealous when Jugo was selected by Yhwach. Jugo noticed the jealousy in Bazz-B’s eyes. And yet even then Jugo tried to make Yhwach see that choosing Bazz-B would have been a better option than selecting someone as unskilled as him. However, even Jugo standing up to his friend in such a manner didn’t change the look Bazz-B had on his face.

Bazz-B and Jugo’s friendship was toxic in the sense that Bazz-B always considered himself better than Jugo. Bazz-B was the son of a Quincy Lord while Jugo came from nothing. And Bazz-B preferred it that way.

In my opinion, Jugo felt betrayed the moment Bazz-B didn’t feel happy for him even after Jugo pleaded his case in front of Yhwach and the onlookers. I think that’s why Jugo was willing to switch sides to stand with Yhwach because His Majesty showed him respect. Also, back to what I mentioned about Jugo’s dynamic with his uncle. I do feel that spending some more time on their dynamic would have helped explain more of Jugo’s reasoning. Yhwach was more than willing to be the father figure that Jugo lacked.

While I’m sad that Bleach TYBW Cour 3 is ending soon, I’m excited about what’s next. A bunch of players have been removed from the chessboard and the battles coming up are going to be epic! I need that scene featuring Orihime to be pumped directly into my bloodstream!

What did you think of Bleach TYBW episode 38 ‘Friend’?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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