Bleach – Thousand-Year Blood War 1×44 and 1×45 Review: “The Perfect Crimson” and “Defend You”

Bleach Thousand Year Blood War anime season 1 episode 44, titled ‘The Perfect Crimson’, and episode 45, titled ‘Defend You’, intensified the battle against Yhwach and his forces as Orihime stepped up in a major way.

Even though Ichigo tapped into his Horn of Salvation form in episode 43, a majority of ‘The Perfect Crimson’ focused on Gerard’s fight with Kenpachi, Byakuya, and Hitsugaya. Fans had been waiting to see Kenpachi’s Bankai in action. And I think the anime delivered. It didn’t last long, which was fair, because it didn’t in the manga either. However, it was still cool to see the immense power boost Kenpachi gained after activating his Bankai and transforming into a devil-like being out for blood.

One of the things I have enjoyed about Bleach is that even though Bankai is supposed to be a trump card, it doesn’t always guarantee victory against a foe. Just like any other weapon, a Bankai also required time to be mastered by the wielder. Rukia experienced that when she activated her powerful icy Bankai. And in episode 44, we got to see Kenpachi struggling to maintain control over his devilish appearance and keep his physical body together while housing so much power before burning out. Yes, Kenpachi got some very good hits on Gerard, but Gerard was a very bad match for someone like Kenpachi due to Gerard’s OP regenerative abilities. Even after being sliced in half by Kenpachi, Gerard reconstructed himself into a much stronger form.

Another fan-anticipated moment was Hitsugaya revealing the full potential of his Bankai, which required him to unlock his adult form. I remember the hype the manga fandom felt when they saw Hitsugaya’s adult form for the first time. I think the anime-only fans also experienced something similar, especially with how good-looking adult Hitsugaya was.

Hitsugaya’s Bankai served as a nice counter to Gerard’s weapons, specifically his sword immediately injuring attackers when chipped. However, again, Gerard was such a mismatch for the current good guys that whatever they did, Gerard refused to accept defeat. Again, Gerard’s one of those annoying foes meant to keep the supporting cast busy. And he’s quite successful at that.

As for the status of the Human World and Soul Society, the merging of the Three Worlds had led to countless Hollows entering the Human World to wreak havoc. We got a nice little scene of the Shinigami in Soul Society heading out to protect the humans. Again, a way for the narrative to show how everyone was busy doing what they could while the main battle with Yhwach continued.

Jumping to Ichigo, I liked how ‘The Perfect Crimson’ had Ichigo reassure Orihime that he was indeed in control of his Hollow-esque form. The poor girl was likely experiencing PTSD from the Ulquiorra arc. Back then, Orihime felt so helpless not being able to protect Ichigo from losing control.

Of course, Yhwach was impressed by Ichigo unlocking a new form that personified Ichigo’s hybrid nature. But even though Ichigo released his Getsugatenshō-Gran Rey Cero attack at Yhwach, it was still not enough to defeat such a God-like being.

‘Defend You’ was all about focusing on Yhwach vs Ichigo and surprising manga readers by delivering anime-only content. With how things concluded, both anime and manga Bleach fans are in the dark about what might happen next. There is a theory floating around, which I will get to in a bit.

Due to Orihime doing a lot during episode 42, I thought she would take a backseat and allow Yhwach vs Ichigo to play out, as a way for the creative team to showcase the true power of Ichigo’s Horn of Salvation Form. But nopes. The creative team had other ideas, and offered up (what most are calling) one of the best episodes of Bleach anime ever!

Even while in his Horn of Salvation Form, Ichigo’s power level couldn’t match Yhwach’s strength, which led to him being thrown around and injured. This allowed Orihime to showcase her tremendous willpower as she continued to not only heal Ichigo but herself against Yhwach’s barrage of attacks. Orihime knew she wasn’t strong enough to defeat someone like Yhwach, but her refusal to give up is what made the sequence so impactful. It was clear that Orihime was going to defend Ichigo till her last breath. And in a twisted manner, Yhwach wanted to see just how far Orihime was willing to go. Considering her a pest, Yhwach kept attacking her and Ichigo until Orihime was exhausted.

Rukia’s appearance in the nick of time made for another exciting moment. Manga fans were disappointed to see Rukia not part of such a major battle, so yay to the anime rectifying that. I mean, sure Rukia wasn’t strong enough to take down Yhwach, but narratively she should have been standing alongside Ichigo. Seeing both Rukia and Ichigo use their Bankai to team up against Yhwach… the animators knocked it out of the park!

While I wasn’t a fan of how Ichigo’s Bankai in his Horn of Salvation Form looked, I have to say that the visual effect of his attack creating a giant crescent moon was incredibly pleasing.

But still, Ichigo and Rukia were not enough to defeat Yhwach.

And that’s where Orihime took things into her own hands.

During Yhwach vs Ichigo and Rukia, Orihime was shown cursing at her weakness. She kept thinking about how she could have been useful if she had been a lot stronger. Even though she could heal Ichigo and Rukia, her actions were still inconsequential because Yhwach would keep attacking.

Orihime wished she could envelope the entire world in her power and “reject” war, pain, and any type of unnecessary struggle. And I think that’s exactly what happened. From my understanding, Orihime rejected her own weakness to tap into a well of willpower strong enough to face Yhwach. In order for the current battle to end, Orihime needed to reject Yhwach.

Back in the earlier days of Bleach, Aizen mentioned how Orihime had the power to reject God. However, in the decades that followed, Orihime’s character wasn’t given the opportunity to showcase what she could do, with most of her screentime focused on healing people and not participating in fights due to her timid nature.

So, yay, to Tite Kubo and the rest of the creative team for going back to what Aizen had said and having Orihime reject Yhwach aka God.

From the score to the visuals of Orihime walking toward Yhwach as she wished for more power, directly questioning the fairies that made her Shun Shun Rikka… incredible stuff! I had to take a couple of minutes to gather my thoughts once the end credits rolled.

Yhwach had been boasting about how using power only to protect others was a weakness. True power, in Yhwach’s opinion, was supposed to sculpt worlds. So, it was ironic how his downfall came from someone like Orihime, who was more than willing to put her life on the line to protect others.

Even though Orihime vs Yhwach was amazing and served as an emotional gut punch, let’s go back to the theory of what could happen next to connect the events of the anime to what transpired in the manga.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the events of episode 45 were a glimpse of a possible future that Yhwach received. This would allow Yhwach to use the All-Mighty to rewrite reality and select a present where Orihime didn’t reach the potential to defeat him. Doing so will keep Orihime’s contribution while also not derailing from how the manga’s supposed to go. This theory holds weight with how ‘Defend You’ showed the All-Mighty return to Yhwach after Ishida put the Sanrei Glove on Haschwalth to take away Haschwalth’s abilities.

So, yeah, even if Yhwach managed to rewrite reality via All-Mighty in the next episode, it wouldn’t take away from what Orihime’s capable of doing when pushed to the brink. Also, having Yhwach be forced to rewrite reality because he’s afraid of what Orihime can do to him will serve a lot to cement Orihime as a force to be reckoned with in the Bleach IP and beyond.

Did you watch Bleach Thousand Year Blood War anime season 1 episodes 44 and 45? What did you think of the ending?

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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