Spoilers for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War
Summary
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warhas been an incredible adaptation of the manga so far, adding scenes and improving on the original in almost every way. However, there’s one big problem that the anime may need to deal with, and that’s the overwhelmingly powerful villain, Yhwach.
Thousand-Year Blood Warfocuses on the battle between the Soul Reapers of the Soul Society and the Quincy of Yhwach’s Wandenreich, a battle whose outcome could have universe-wide repercussions thanks to Yhwach’s grand ambitions. Yhwach is introduced as a fantastically powerful being who was once defeated nearly a thousand years in the past byHead Captain Yamamoto, and his existence was what prompted the founding of the 13 Court Guard Squads in the first place.
Of course, Yhwach’s initial defeat wasn’t a permanent one, and now the villain is back with a vengeance, laying waste to the Soul Society in his quest to reach the Soul King and become the new god ofBleach.
Yhwach’s Powers Make Him Almost Unstoppable
Part of what makes Yhwach such a problem, narratively speaking, is the phenomenal number of powers that he has at his disposal, in addition to their potency. Yhwach possessesthe typical abilities of a Quincy, able to gather Reishi (spirit particles) from his environment for his own use, creating weapons and powering his other abilities. However, his true greatest power is his capacity to distribute portions of his soul to others, empowering them and allowing them to develop new abilities, which he then reclaims for himself at a later time.
This is mostly seen in Yhwach’s ability to grant “Schrifts,” special powers associated with a letter that is engraved directly upon one’s soul. Yhwach is able to call back the portions of his soul that he shared at any time, powering him up immensely at the expense of likely killing the person who once held the Schrift. Absorbing their souls helps him to heal and keeps him active even under dire circumstances. Yhwach’s Schrift is known as “The Almighty,” which grants him the ability to foresee any future event and circumvent it.
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While that’s a problem in and of itself, that isn’t all that The Almighty is capable of.He’s also capable of altering the futures that he sees, including futures which would result in his death, effectively making it impossible to actually kill him.It also allows him to absorb the bodies, powers, and abilities of anyone he should come into physical contact with, even if that person is a divine being.
Yhwach is also considered to be “one” with his lieutenant, Haschwalth, who gains The Almighty abilities when Yhwach sleeps, which places him in a shadow dimension where he’s completely unreachable. He can also use these shadows to teleport around and summon others, making him an extremely slippery opponent in darkened areas. And that, of course, is without getting intoYhwach’s immense physical and spiritual power, incredible skill with Quincy weaponry, and legion of powerful, fanatical followers.
How Can Thousand-Year Blood War Defeat Yhwach in a Satisfying Way?
One of the common complaints aboutThousand-Year Blood War’s original manga storyline is that Yhwach simply feels unstoppable, and that Ichigo’s ultimate victory against him doesn’t feel properly earned. This is in part because the storyline in the manga was rushed to completion,leading to an unsatisfying ending toBleach. But Yhwach’s incredible power presents a logical conundrum for the writers, even if the final battle is given more room to breathe.
So long as Yhwach is capable of seeing the future and changing it, defeating him in a meaningful way is impossible. It is established that the Soul King and aspects of it (such as Mimihagi and Pernidas) cannot be foreseen by Yhwach’s ability, meaning that the story does have a built-in way to circumvent the most dangerous part of Yhwach’s abilities, but little is done with this in the story, as Yhwach merely absorbs them and steals their powers. Similarly, it’s established that if Haschwalth is somehow killed while in possession of The Almighty, that Yhwach would lose The Almighty for good, but that never happens, either.
Bleach Finally Explains Yhwach’s Past In New Original Anime Flashback
A new flashback created for the anime offers viewers a tantalizing look at Yhwach’s true motives and past, which were mostly unexplored in the manga.
So, why give Yhwach these weaknesses if the story isn’t going to take advantage of them? Trying to change the story to incorporate these weaknesses being used might be too big of a divergence from the manga, so using them to defeat Yhwach, or even weaken him, might be off the table.There is one weakness which Yhwach has that is utilized, however: Still Silver. Still Silver is a substance created whenYhwach performs his Auswhalen technique, taking power from Quincyand gathering it for himself. If exposed to Yhwach’s blood, the Still Silver can render him momentarily vulnerable.
Uryu is provided with an arrow made of Still Silver by his father, which is what’s ultimately used to bring Yhwach down. However, this happens in literally the second-to-last chapter of the manga, and Uryu only receives the Still Silver a few chapters earlier than that, meaning that it’s not really built up or expanded upon much before it’s used in action. One thing that theThousand-Year Blood Waranime could do is alter the circumstances around how Uryu receives the Still Silver, providing more foreshadowing and offering an earlier glimmer of hope as to how to defeat Yhwach.
Thousand-Year Blood War Has Already Made Some Big Changes That Could Affect the Ending
Aside from adding entirely new action scenes, such as Senjumaru’s Bankai, the series has also added in a special scene ofIchigo undergoing a trial on a path labeled “Irazusando”, which seems to foreshadow Ichigo gaining some sort of divine power himself, something that didn’t really happen in the original manga. Giving Ichigo, even temporarily, the power of a god would at least put him on an even footing with Yhwach, and perhaps explain how he’s ultimately able to defeat the Quincy emperor.
Many fans have speculated that the Irazusando trial was a test to see if Ichigo was a compatible vessel for the Soul King. Since it’s established that Yhwach can’t foresee the actions of the Soul King, lending Ichigo even a bit of the Soul King’s power might make it impossible for Yhwach to foresee and cancel out Ichigo’s attacks. That would certainly be an improvement over how Yhwach is defeated in the manga, although how much of an improvement is debatable.
Regardless of how exactly it happens, it’s clear that theThousand-Year Blood Waranime intends to make some big changes, as evidenced by Tite Kubo’s close involvement with its production. If the anime can fix the manga’s problems with Yhwach and the series' ending, it could become the definitive version ofBleach’s finale, supplanting the manga version entirely.
Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War
Cast
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is a sequel series to the popular anime from creator Tite Kubo. This anime follows Ichigo and his friends as they investigate why people are disappearing while trouble arises in the Soul Society. The first season was released in 2022 and has been critically acclaimed since its beginning.
