Bleach – Thousand-Year Blood War 1×42 Review: “Son of Darkness”

Bleach Thousand Year Blood War anime season 1 episode 42, titled ‘Son of Darkness’, continued a bunch of ongoing battles. It also gave me the Orihime-centric scene I had been waiting for. And yet, said scene left me conflicted.

‘Son of Darkness’ surprisingly opened with an anime original scene showing Orihime looking at a fire lily and thinking about how it reminded her of Ichigo. According to Orihime, the flower matched Ichigo’s inner fire in protecting everyone around him with unwavering passion. Going by my Google Search, the fire lily is supposed to denote passion, pride, and resilience. So, yeah, I can see where Orihime was coming from. And now Orihime was ready to stand alongside Ichigo to protect him in any way she could.

Was such a scene necessary? Not really. But then again, it gave some insight into Orihime’s mental state as she followed Ichigo up the stairs to Yhwach’s throne room. In a way, Orihime was trying to be like a fire lily/Ichigo herself. And you know what? Her determination made sense. Orihime could also be described as having a fire lily-esque personality. Orihime’s passion to protect others had helped unlock her ability to heal people by not simply treating wounds but by rewriting reality as if the wound never happened in the first place. Her resolve had also led to her shields being almost unbreakable. Similar to Ichigo, Orihime’s been through her set of challenges, and now it was time for her to give it her all during the final battle.

Okay, fine. I guess that fire lily scene was necessary if you wanted to dig deep. It helped compare both Ichigo and Orihime as characters, portraying how similar they were to each other.

Before I get to Orihime and Ichigo’s fate upon entering Yhwach’s throne room, the majority of ‘Son of Darkness’ focused on Kisuke’s battle with Askin. Having been trapped inside a giant Gift Ball once Askin tapped into his Vollstandig Form in the previous episode, Kisuke was rapidly running out of time to not only defeat Askin but also ensure Yoruichi’s survival.

I liked how talkative Askin was during their confrontation. Due to both opponents being scientists, it made sense for Askin to be curious about Kisuke’s opinion on Yhwach wanting to destroy the Three Worlds to create a new reality. As far as Askin was concerned, while he wasn’t the most loyal minion out there, he was very interested in what Yhwach would create. Hence, Askin was willing to follow Yhwach’s orders.

On the contrary, Kisuke couldn’t care less. Being a scientist, Kisuke was naturally curious. However, he was the kind of scientist who would rather create something himself instead of sitting back to witness someone else do all of the work. So, yeah, Kisuke wasn’t interested in witnessing whatever new world Yhwach had planned to make. I also liked how Kisuke brought up fellow scientist Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Mayuri might be unhinged, but even he wouldn’t be into letting Yhwach destroy the Three Worlds.

I could be wrong, but I think that Kisuke’s opinions likely made Askin feel that Kisuke was calling him lazy for willingly acting as a spectator.

With Askin pushing Kisuke into a corner by deciding to destroy Kisuke’s organs one at a time, the Bleach fandom got the moment they had been waiting decades for. Kisuke finally called upon his Bankai, and it immediately turned the tables on Askin.

Named Kannon-Biraki Benihime Aratame, Kisuke’s Bankai resembled a giant female puppet. Her ability allowed Kisuke to instantly reconstruct physical matter. The fast reconstruction allowed Kisuke to counter Askin’s poisonous surroundings and land some good blows. However, Askin wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and Kisuke’s reconstruction ability could only help for so long while being stuck inside the giant Gift Ball.

Kisuke figuring out a way to allow Grimmjow to unleash a fatal surprise attack on Askin served as yet another example of why Kisuke was considered a threat by Yhwach. As Kisuke put it, war meant thinking of thousands of possibilities and planning for each one. Of course, Kisuke had done just that.

My only gripe would be how the creative team handled Kisuke losing hope of survival after Askin’s death. Kisuke came across as a man who had failed to predict such a move from Askin. However, that particular moment didn’t feel impactful to me because immediately after we got to see Nelliel getting ready to break into the giant Gift Ball to rescue Kisuke, Grimmjow, Yoruichi, and Yoruichi’s sibling.

I would have left out the Nelliel scene from episode 2 to use as a flashback when Kisuke showed up again later in the anime and explained how he and the other characters survived their battle with Askin. But oh well.

Ishida’s struggle against Haschwalth continued, with Haschwalth making Ishida realize that Yhwach was still more than a match for Ichigo without having access to the All-Mighty. Also, the fact that Ishida’s still alive against an All-Mighty buffed Haschwalth… impressive!

Coming to Ichigo and Orihime walking into the throne room, Ichigo was going to focus on fighting while leaving defense to Orihime. It was a good plan. I was excited to see if the anime would expand on the fight from the manga.

The anime did give Orihime more to do. She created a shield to stop two of Yhwach’s attacks from hitting Ichigo. She also used her shield as a flying platform for Ichigo to dodge Yhwach’s attacks. So, to be fair, Anime Orihime was a better active participant than Manga Orihime, where a single panel showed her blocking Yhwach’s attack.

And yet, that single panel from the manga felt more impactful to me than the bunch of stuff Orihime did in the anime. The manga allowed the reader to only focus on said single panel and really absorb the implication of such a feat from Orihime. A young human woman had managed to block an attack from a God-like being without her shield even cracking. I still remember how such a moment had Orihime fans rejoice and helped boost her stats during fandom discussions. Basically, a majority of Bleach characters weren’t seeing her in battle. That single panel had boosted Orihime’s reflexes, reaction time, and shield durability off the charts.

But I felt no such emotion from the anime adaptation. There was no surprised reaction from Yhwach, Ichigo, or even Orihime to underline the impact of her ability to keep up with and block Yhwach’s attacks. I was expecting a moment of pause to recreate the feeling from the manga panel. But nopes. The anime team had other plans. Sigh!

Anyway, the episode title ‘Son of Darkness’ was related to Yhwach’s name for Ichigo. No matter how much Ichigo refused it during their battle, as far as Yhwach was concerned, he had created Ichigo. In Yhwach’s eyes, Ichigo was a miracle that personified the perfect balance between being a Shinigami, Quincy, Hollow, and Fullbringer. And whether Ichigo liked it or not, sooner or later, Yhwach planned to take back Ichigo’s powers because Yhwach had originated them.

Did you watch Bleach Thousand Year Blood War anime season 1 episode 42? What did you think of it?

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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