Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – Part 3 Episode 9 Review

Let’s cut to the chase. Last week’s episode of Bleach was a little rough – or, at least, it was rough compared to the series’ usual standard. As far as typical shonen anime episodes go, it was far from the worst thing in the world, but when a show is as consistently strong as Bleach has been since its 2022 return, episodes like last week’s stick out like a sore thumb. The benefit of that episode, though, was that things could only look up for the future of the show.

This week’s episode, though, was not only an improvement on last week’s outing, but also one of the most enjoyable episodes of the series so far, with spectacular art direction, beautiful soundtracking, and one of the most stunning, albeit over-the-top, showcases of power we’ve seen in the show to date. Without further ado, let’s get into our review of Episode 9 of the Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – spoilers ahead!

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The Review

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My heart sunk as this week’s episode kicked off with Mayuri – surely we couldn’t be getting two back-to-back episodes of this fight? However, the opening scene only served to tell us that the fight between Mayuri and Pernida is far from over, which is somewhat of a relief. Were that to be the whole fight that we saw last week, that battle would undoubtedly have been the weakest of the Thousand-Year Blood War so far. Hopefully the fight can redeem itself in its next instalment, which – spoiler alert – is going to be next week based on Episode 10’s title.

Let’s put that horrendous fight to the side for now though, and turn to better things – this week, we’re getting a Shunsui episode! After he is promptly blasted through the chest by one of Lille’s bullets, Shunsui reveals that, of course, the bullet did not actually hit him. Then, he takes some time to explain his power which, admittedly, is a very creative one. Shunsui’s power being based on children’s games is certainly unique, but it does add to my belief that I would never want to be in a fight in the Bleach universe. How you could wrap your head around these abilities, on the offensive or the defensive, is beyond me, but it does speak to Kubo’s inventiveness as an author.

Shinji convinces his fellow Soul Reapers to leave Shunsui to his business with Lille, and the stage is set for a showdown between the Head Captain of the Soul Reapers, and one of Yhwach’s Chosen Ones. As baffling as it may seem in any other show, Shinji’s decision to leave Shunsui to his devices is honestly a well-informed one. It seems like Bleach characters can only truly excel when they’re in one-on-one showdowns. I can’t recall the last time a team fight went well for anyone in this universe, and given the nature of Shunsui’s power, the more people around him, the more difficult it is to execute.

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Beyond the visual stylishness of Shunsui’s power is a fairly interesting conversation surrounding the intelligence of choosing children’s games as a means of entrapment. As Shunsui explains, once a child takes you by the hand into a game of their imagination, you play until you ‘die’, whether metaphorically or genuinely. As different as their powers may be, the whole situation made me think back on Gremmy Thoumeaux, and his short-lived stint as a user of imagination in combat. It seemed like a fairly unconquerable power that was, ultimately, mishandled by Gremmy – seeing Shunsui use it effectively is quite satisfying in contrast.

With that being said though, Shunsui still manages to get a few holes put in him by Lille. This opens up a greater conversation surrounding fights in this show. Here’s the thing – I know that the Quincies are meant to be insanely powerful. Still though, I do wish the Soul Reapers were a little less weak. Sure, Mayuri is strong, as we saw last week, but overall, it feels like Ichigo is the only one viewers are meant to have faith in winning his battles. Ultimately, Shunsui is the Head Captain – I wish he felt a little more unstoppable. The strength of the Quincies does up the stakes, but it sometimes comes at the cost of downplaying how strong the Soul Reapers are meant to be.

After Shunsui teases the use of his Bankai, there’s a very abrupt cut to Ichigo vs. Askin, which is a fight that I, admittedly, completely forgot was a thing. In my mind, Grimmjow was still running around after Askin – it completely slipped my mind that Ichigo stepped into this chase. It does feel like a remarkably low-stakes battle for the main character to find himself involved in – maybe that’s Kubo’s way of telling us that Ichigo is but one of the many soldiers on the field, and he doesn’t need to be the centre of attention. If this was his thought process though, I do wish he would make the other Soul Reapers that little bit stronger. Let me root for them!

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We then see the grand reveal of Shunsui’s Bankai, and it is absolutely bonkers. Before I get into how cool the whole thing was, I do want to say that I don’t believe these characters can actively use these moves. Like, surely Shunsui doesn’t think of this as just one of his moves. How did he even come up with this? How do you fight against it? The Thousand-Year Blood War has shown off some incredibly creative Bankais, and from a spectacle perspective, I love it. From a plot perspective though, I do wonder how these work in regards to story continuity. Kubo surely never intended to show us these moves more than once, but did the characters themselves ever intend to use them more than once?

The Bankai marks the closing moments of the episode, so let’s talk about it a little. The Bankai plays out like a play, with acts, wherein each act’s descriptor enacts damage on Shunsui’s opponent. All the while, he’s accompanied by Ohana, the manifestation of Shunsui’s Zanpakutō. Interestingly, this character first appeared way back in original Bleach, in an anime-only filler arc, titled the ‘Zanpakutō Rebellion’. Bleach reached into the Boruto bag of tricks a little here, by pulling something from anime filler into manga canon. I do really enjoy anytime we get to see a Zanpakutō manifestation, so Ohana’s presence was fun. It did lead to a really blunt, strange cliffhanger though. It was so blunt, in fact, that it’s about to make the end of my review blunt. The screen cuts to black in the middle of a sentence, and Episode 9 ends.

This week was a real creative triumph for Bleach, particularly in the shadow of that bizarre series of events in Episode 8. What did you think of this week’s episode? Did you love seeing Shunsui’s power on full display? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

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Where to Watch Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War?

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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 8 Review

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