Bleach – Thousand-Year Blood War 1×39 and 1×40 Review: “The Visible Answer” and “My Last Words”

Bleach Thousand Year Blood War Cour 3 came to an end with episode 39, ‘The Visible Answer’, and episode 40, ‘My Last Words’. The events set things up for a couple of major confrontations in the upcoming Cour 4, which will be released sometime in 2025.

Episode 39, ‘The Visible Answer’, was about Askin easily taking down Ichigo, Chad, and Orihime, with Yoruichi needing to step in to save her teammates. The narrative also had Jugo confront Ishida about his true intentions.

The animation team did an awesome job of visualizing Yoruichi’s skillset featuring a lot of lightning, blinding lights, and super speed. And even though Yoruichi fought wearing a sexy bodysuit, I can’t fault Kubo. If you have been keeping up with my Bleach and Naruto/Boruto coverage, you would already know that I’m okay with Kubo oversexualizing his female characters because he makes up for the fan service by giving them awesome fight sequences and more character development than just making them simple damsels in distress or love interests for the protagonist.

Compare that to what Kishimoto has done with female characters in Naruto and continues to do in Boruto… Sigh! I have no idea why Kishimoto isn’t growing better at writing female characters when Kubo delivered in that department decades ago.

Anyway, back to Yoruichi vs Askin. One of the things that made the confrontation enjoyable was Askin’s personality. He’s very dangerous. But he’s not a straightforward fighter like some of the other Quincy. He likes to talk a lot, and his ideal scenario would involve taking down an opponent through stealth instead of facing them head-on. And yes, Yoruichi’s younger brother Yushiro showing up added to the comedy and gave Askin a chance to further explain his powers that involved increasing the lethal dose of any substance. 

Askin was able to make Ichigo, Chad, and Orihime drop to the ground by increasing the lethal dose of Reishi and he defeated Yushiro by making himself immune to the young lad’s Spiritual Energy. The immunity also allowed Askin to heal his injuries. 

With how things progressed, Yoruichi vs Askin will continue into Cour 4.

As for the rest of the Shinigami, they got challenged by Gerard to a ‘Solo Quincy vs Bunch of Shinigami’ battle. I liked how Byakuya didn’t waste time to ensure Gerard was killed. That particular moment offered a breath of fresh air compared to ones where the good guys allow villains a moment to heal or use a trump card. Gerard didn’t die, but still, that scene showed that Byakuya was serious about killing any Quincy he came across ASAP. This was war!

According to what Askin shared, while Lille was the first Quincy on the team to gain powers from Yhwach, the case was a bit different for Pernida and Gerard. Apparently, those two already had powers and Yhwach gave them boosts related to said powers. The rumors whispered about Pernida being the Soul King’s Arm and Gerard being the Soul King’s Heart. 

All of the fatal injuries Gerard received from the Shinigami activated his ‘The Miracle’ Schrift. This particular Schrift allowed Gerard to exchange his wounds to increase his size. The two-episode conclusion left us with a giant Gerard trying to pulverize the Shinigami. Yet another fight that will continue into Cour 4.

The major moment during ‘The Visible Answer’ and ‘My Last Words’ dealt with Jugo’s inevitable confrontation with Ishida and asking him to battle Ichigo, Chad, and Orihime right in front of him to prove Ishida was loyal to Yhwach and worthy of being Yhwach’s successor. The previous episode talked about how Jugo and Yhwach had the same ability and that Jugo was a vessel for Yhwach’s power while he slept. The latest two episodes showed Jugo’s eyes possessing the activated All Mighty, making him capable of seeing the future and knowing about Ishida’s betrayal.

Frankly, Jugo didn’t need the All Mighty to figure that out. Even though Ishida leaving Ichigo and the rest to side with Yhwach provided the narrative with an added layer of tension and made things personal for our heroes, Ishida never thinking about betraying his friends even for a second was obvious from the start. Following his grandfather’s teachings, Ishida was going to kill Yhwach for using numerous Quincy (including Ishida’s mother) to heal himself and then deciding to destroy the world. I do think the creative team could have done a bit more to make the mystery surrounding Ishida’s intentions more believable.

With the poorly planned “double agent” storyline coming to the surface, Ishida asked Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad to keep moving toward Yhwach while he stayed behind to defeat Jugo. According to Ishida, it would be easy to attack a sleeping Yhwach while Jugo possessed the All Mighty. But of course, we know that won’t be the case because ‘My Last Word’ showed that Yhwach wasn’t actually asleep.

As for a weakness concerning the All Mighty, as showcased before, even though the person can see the future, certain factors could come into play to change said future. The biggest factor seemed to be the element of surprise. Jugo knew Ishida was going to betray Yhwach, but what he didn’t predict was Ishida’s sense of hope which surprised Jugo.

Not only that but due to the earthquakes returning to all of the existing planes due to Yhwach getting accustomed to his powers, Ishida and Ichigo’s fathers also decided to enter the battlefield. So, that’s yet another factor that can change the course of the future going into Cour 4.

Another surprise, but more so for the audience, was Lille’s remains falling onto Soul Society and transforming into numerous bird-like creatures with owl heads. Lille was not joking when he said he was different from the other Quincy because Yhwach gave him powers first. The energy clones were challenged to a fight by… drumroll… Izuru Kira. Turns out, he survived Bazz-B’s attack thanks to Mayuri. Having Izura Kira battle bird-like monsters does make sense considering the character’s history. The manga didn’t expand on this particular confrontation. So, it will be interesting to see if the anime will add new scenes or not when Cour 4 rolls up.

So, yeah, I’m very excited about Cour 4. We are in the endgame now and the battles along with some character beats are going to be awesome! There are still a bunch of twists waiting their turn.  

What did you think of Bleach TYBW episodes 39 and 40?

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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