Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – Part 3 Episode 7 Review

It’s Saturday, and that means we kick our weekend off with another episode of Bleach. To say that this season of Bleach has left me feeling conflicted is an understatement. At times, I’ve let myself be swept up in the chaos that this season has had to offer, and blindly enjoy the explosive action that the show throws my way, while other times, I’ve taken a more cynical approach, and dared to ask the question – ‘what exactly is the show trying to say at this point?’

Luckily, this week I was feeling more in the mood for the former, and leaned fully into the experience that Bleach was offering, and I had a very good time getting lost in the action. While my worries still linger in the back of my mind, this week marked a strong point for the Thousand-Year Blood War. There’s plenty to discuss, so read on for our review of the Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 Episode 7 – spoilers ahead!

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The Review

Image by Pierrot

The episode kicked off with the Sternritters who we very recently allied ourselves with announcing that the alliance is no more, and they’re going to make their own way from this point forward. While I consider this decision insurmountably foolish, it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. This is not intended as an insult to Bleach’s writing, but the characters in the series have never felt very committed to intelligent battle strategy. I believe that a victory against Yhwach would need all of these characters to work together, but as is often the case with this show, arrogance prevails, and we split up. Let’s see how well that goes.

From one frustrating scene to another, we then see Kenpachi and Mayuri butt heads for a moment, before cooling off for the sake of the greater good. Look, there’s some charm to the constant bickering that goes on between the Bleach cast, and it’s always been made clear that Soul Reapers are not friends by any means. They’re simply bound together by a shared duty to protect the Soul Society. However, seeing these sort of internal spats has always sparked a little frustration in me. Sure, it adds to each character’s sense of individuality, but it would be nice to feel like a team for once, especially in the face of such an incredible threat.

On the topic of teamwork, and the lack of it, it doesn’t make much sense to me that all of these characters are split up across the Royal Palace. I do my best to suspend disbelief with this series a lot, but let’s be honest – the characters are this split up from each other so that each of their individual fights can be drawn out and have their own arenas. I’m sure the fights will be incredible, so this complaint will be nullified, but I can’t help but notice the tactical incompetency of it all – the protagonists far outnumber the antagonists here! Perhaps I’m being too harsh though – this issue is far from unique to Bleach, so let’s gracefully move on (with the knowledge that this is lingering in the back of my mind).

Image by Pierrot

Speaking of battle tactics, Askin and Lille show off their approach to this war in the episode’s subsequent scenes, and to be honest, as cowardly as they may be, these tactics are an absolutely valid approach. Sure, it’s incredibly cowardly of Askin to sprint away from his opponent, and Lille sitting high above the battleground, sniping away his enemies, feels like a cop-out, but there’s no room for pride and boasting in this war. As much as I dislike the villains of this arc, it’s refreshing to see them play it safe and smart when it comes to protecting the Royal Palace.

After these scenes, we then reach the battlefield where the bulk of the episode takes place, the arena for the battle between Ishida and Renji, the former of which I’m seeing far too much of in this arc. Not to rehash the same point over and over again, but I passionately dislike Ishida’s character, and his arc. The less said about him the better. Seeing Renji take centre stage was a nice surprise though. The character hasn’t exactly been a success story throughout the series, and has often drawn the ire of fans for being…less than useful.

He proved himself in many ways this week though, putting up a great fight against the undeniably strong Ishida. The animation in this battle was stellar as always. One thing I could never fault is Pierrot’s animation for this series – it’s always top-notch. The animation played a huge role this week too, given how much of the episode was taken up by this fight. When a battle consumes such a huge chunk of an episode’s runtime, and it’s incredibly animated, there’s little to complain about in the grand scheme of things.

Image by Pierrot

On the topic of Renji, he has a whole new moveset now, which is showcased in all it’s glory against Ishida, who’s style has gotten old since he pulled it all out a few weeks back. The new moveset is absolutely an upgrade for Renji, adding new personality to his sword style, and making him come across as a genuinely formidable fighter – well, as much as Renji can come across as a formidable fighter. Ultimately, Renji was the star of this week’s episode, which is a prediction I never could have made, and the biggest plot twist of the series so far.

That being said, the episode does end with his supposed death, which of course, I’m not sure I believe just yet. There wasn’t enough finality to the scene for me to genuinely believe Renji is dead, though if this was his final stand, it was a battle worthy of killing off the character. He got to show off some new moves, stand strong against Ishida, and redeem himself in the eyes of many fans. Again, I don’t think he’s dead, but if he were to be, it wouldn’t be the worst ending for this long-running character.

We’re about halfway through this part of the Thousand-Year Blood War, and things are starting to take shape as a Bleach season usually does. I’d imagine there’ll be plenty of battles to go over in the coming weeks, with Renji and Ishida’s showdown only the tip of the iceberg of the fights that are about to cover the Royal Palace. What did you think of this week’s episode? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

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Where to Watch Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War?

Image by Pierrot

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War airs weekly on Disney Plus, every Saturday. You can also catch all previous episodes of the Thousand-Year Blood War on the platform, as well as the original run of Bleach from 2004. Happy watching!

See also: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – Part 3 Episode 6 Review

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