Bleach – Thousand-Year Blood War 1×31 and 1×32 Review: “Against the Judgement” and “The Holy Newborn”

Bleach Thousand Year Blood War episode 31 ‘Against the Judgement’ and episode 32 ‘The Holy Newborn’ were about the good guys doing their best to mount a counterattack against an immensely powerful enemy.

With Ishida having injured Ichigo during the previous episode, ‘Against the Judgement’ showed him regaining consciousness after being healed by Orihime. Following their defeat by Yhwach and his minions, Orihime had spent her energy healing everyone to prepare them for the counterattack. Also, even though I’m jumping ahead to a scene in ‘The Holy Newborn’ for a quick second, I think that particular scene made it clear that Ishida knew Ichigo would be okay. No matter the severity of the injury he gave Ichigo, he knew Orihime would take care of it. So, yeah, you just know Ishida’s waiting to betray Yhwach soon.

Due to Yhwach having finally absorbed the Soul King, the ordeal’s a bit too much for him to control at first. The overwhelming power boost led to his body releasing one-eyed parasites that rained on Soul Society. The Shinigami had a hard time trying to face the countless little beings until Aizen arrived on the scene and was shown to be capable of squishing the creatures with his Spiritual Pressure alone.

I continue to like how the writers are treating Aizen. Even though Aizen was imprisoned, he’s obviously grown a lot stronger from the version of him that fought Ichigo a couple of years ago. He’s also always a few steps ahead of those around him and it’s apparent that he’s got something up his sleeves. There’s no way he’s going to literally keep sitting in his prison chair and let Yhwach do whatever he pleases.

With the Shinigami running out of time as the worlds crumbled around them, it made sense for them to become proactive and decide to take the fight directly to Yhwach. However, the task was easier said than done. It’s revealed that a gate could be created to transport a bunch of Shinigami to the Soul Palace. But said task required immense Spiritual Energy.

The big twist in ‘Against the Judgement’ was Bazz-B, Liltotto, and Giselle betraying Yhwach and wanting to go to the Royal Palace with the Shinigami. Their reasoning had to do with Yhwach breaking their trust and their need for revenge over such betrayal. I think it was telegraphed that things wouldn’t end well for those three if they went against such a powerful foe. But hey, I understood where they were coming from. Having the leader of your cult (for lack of a better term) ignore you in such a manner would hurt quite badly. And because the Shinigami needed as much help as possible, they allowed Bazz-B, Liltotto, and Giselle to team up with them.

Episode 32 of Bleach TYBW was about Yhwach managing to control the Soul King’s power and changing the world around him. The animators did a good job of showcasing how he took pieces from the Quincy dimension Wandenreich to reconstruct the Soul King’s Palace to his liking. Yhwach named the new Quincy city Wahrwelt. And being Yhwach he made certain to create a stronghold in a manner that would taunt the Shinigami. He wanted them to know where he was and dared them to come get him.

Due to Wahrwelt being Yhwach’s domain, it’s revealed that Shinigami would face difficulty using their Spiritual Pressure to create footholds in the air. They would also face difficulty trying to sense each other’s Spiritual Pressures. Such drawbacks meant they needed to be extra careful transversing the battleground.

With the Shinigami entering Wahrwelt through the newly constructed Spiritual Gate, Ichigo and crew entered the area around the same time with help from Riruka Dokugamine and Yukio Hans Vorarlberna. It was nice to see those two characters after so long. But Ichigio benched them ASAP and with good reason. Riruka and Yukio were no match for Yhwach and his Royal Guards. So, both were told to be ready to serve as a quick escape route if need be.

However, the two characters who were allowed to tag along with Ichigo and his crew were Grimmjow (a fan favorite) and Nelliel.

The scene involving Chad trying to reason with Orihime about Urahara creating a bracelet that allowed Nelliel to switch between her child and adult forms at will was funny.

Another funny scene was during Ichigo’s trip to the Soul Palace with Ichigo growing frustrated because of Yoruichi not wanting to repeat the plans she created along with Urahara and other characters. Turns out, Ichigo was the only one who didn’t know about Grummjow, Nelliel, Riruka, and Yukio popping up in such a manner.

Now that the setup episodes are out of the way and our heroes have entered enemy territory to make their last stand, I’m incredibly excited about the confrontations coming up. Let the battles begin!

What did you think of Bleach TYBW anime episodes 31 and 32?

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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