Bleach – Thousand-Year Blood War 1×43 Review: “Blood for My Bone”

Bleach Thousand Year Blood War season 1 episode 43, titled ‘Blood for My Bone’, more than delivered when it came to handling Orihime against Yhwach after the somewhat disappointing treatment in the previous chapter.

Though last week’s episode did have Orihime use her shield to support Ichigo as well as block Yhwach’s incoming attacks, I mentioned in my review how her power-up didn’t feel as impactful as it did in the manga, even though the anime gave her more screen time compared to Manga Orihime. However, ‘Blood for My Bone’ succeeded is turning my disappointment to exciement as a fan of Orihime. Yay to the anime creative team for shinning the spotlight on Orihime in a surprising yet welcome manner.

A defining trait of Orihime’s ability is instantly creating an almost unbreakable shield. Due to everything she has been through, no matter how powerful an attack might be, Orihime’s shield isn’t going to shatter. The manga made sure to point that out when Orihime blocked Yhwach’s attack head-on. And yet, the anime team decided to show the shield shatter while blocking Yhwach’s barrage of hits. That particular moment didn’t feel nice as a fan of Orihime, but in my mind, I thought it was a way for the creative team to show just how powerful Yhwach was and that the fight would be handled differently compared to the manga. I mean, if there was one being who could somehow overpower Orihime’s shield, it would be the current God-like foe.

Fortunately, ‘Blood for My Bone’ explained the reason behind the shield breaking. Turns out, Orihime was subconsciously accepting Yhwach’s attacks because his Spiritual Pressue was the same as Ichigo’s Spiritual Pressure. And if Orihime didn’t put a stop to that, she wouldn’t be able to fully protect Ichigo.

I liked how the anime team worked with such an anime-only weakness and allowed Orihime to surpass it in realtime. After realizing what side of her willpower Yhwach was exploiting, Orihime focused her resolve to ensure she kept her shield durable in front of Yhwach.

The anime-only sequence of Orihime and Ichigo being pinned to the ground by Yhwach’s OP Spiritual Pressure only for Orihime to muster the strength to get back on her feet. Wow! Not only was she healing Ichigo under such duress, but she literally decided to reject Yhwach’s Spiritual Pressure on both of them.

I mean, if this particular scene was part of the manga back then, young me would have fainted reading it.

I couldn’t help but laugh when Orihime rejected Yhwach’s Spiritual Pressure and sent it back at him. That dude was quick to stop babbling and commenting on Orihime in a condescending manner real quick. Yes, she was a mere human who had overstepped her bounds by participating in such a battle. But at the end of the day, Orihime had the resolve to back her presence. It didn’t matter if her enemy was a God-like being merged with the Soul King. No one was getting to Ichigo while she was alive.

Another moment that took me by surprise was the anime deciding to still depict that iconic Orihime manga panel of her creating a huge shield. The camera even paused on the moment for a bit. However, after everything Orihime had done up to that moment, I still feel that moment worked a lot better in the manga than it did in the anime.

Anyway, the point is that Orihime has cemented herself as one of the most powerful beings to ever exist in the Bleach IP and heck, even in the broader scope of anime content out there for fans who are intersted in pitting characters from various IPs against each other.

Along with Ichigo and Orihime working together as a team, ‘Blood for My Blood’ also had a scene showing just how much Orihime understood Ichigo’s resolve to protect others. Ichigo’s attack pattern would come across as brash to an outsider. But Orihime realized that Ichigo had a plan after sharing a quick look. She needed to trust his decision. And she did.

A similar moment was shown through Ishida’s conversation with Haschwalth during their ongoing battle. Even though Haschwalth warned Ishida that killing Yhwach would destroy the Three Worlds as Yhwach had placed himself in the role of the Soul King, Ishida knew Ichigo well enough to know that Ichigo would still keep attacking Yhwach. It didn’t matter if the Three Worlds would be destroyed in the process. What mattered was doing the right thing and putting a stop to Yhwach because allowing Yhwach to win was going to usher in the destruction of the Three Worlds anyway. Basically, the heroic characters of Bleach would rather accept death than see life continue in a reality created by Yhwach.

A major reveal was Ichibe’s plan to make Ichigo the new Soul King after Yhwach’s defeat to ensure the Three Worlds continued to exist, with Soul Society having the most power. I liked how petty Ichigo kept being in front of Yhwach even after Yhwach stating how becoming the new Soul King would mean the end of Ichigo’s life. Again, as far as Ichigo was concerned, the only thing that mattered right now was defeating Yhwach.

Ichigo and Orihime vs Yhwach paused with Ichigo having gained the necessary Quincy power to unlock his Demi-Hollowfied or (as the fans call it) the Horn of Salvation form. Let’s see what this fan-anticipated form can do against Yhwach.

Talking about the other major fight sequence, we got to see gigantic Gerard make quick work of the Visoreds. However, the odds slightly switched in favor of the good guys with Hitsugaya, Byakuya, and Kenpachi working together to defeat Gerard.

It’s not going to be easy to fight a foe that grew bigger and stronger after every injury while wielding a sword that automatically injured our heroes upon getting chipped. There was also the issue of ensuring Gerard didn’t fall down from the platform and destroy Soul Society. I didn’t like Gerard as a foe in the manga. And I don’t like him in the anime. He’s too much of a nuisance. But then again, he’s the perfect type of enemy to keep the Squad Captains busy while Ichigo and Orihime handle Yhwach.

Did you watch Bleach Thousand Year Blood War anime season 1 ‘The Calamity’ episode 43? 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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