Bleach TYBW Defend You Episode Review – WHAT THE F***???

Article at a glance:

• Ichigo’s True Bankai gets a stunning new showcase, with some incredible animation and unexpected additions.
• The Throne Room battle and Uryu vs. Haschwalth both get major developments, pushing the story into completely uncharted territory.
• An absolutely insane, unpredictable episode that makes it impossible to guess what the remaining TYBW episodes have in store.

Okay, I am sorry, what in THE fuck did I just watch?? Dude, everyone expected that Horn of Salvation and Ichigo’s True Bankai would get more screen time. WE all knew the Throne Room fight would be expanded. But I don’t think anyone expected THIS. Mind you, the most amount of anime original content we’ve gotten so far has been like 10-12 minutes at most. But this entire episode was completely anime-original. So yeah, welcome to my Bleach TYBW Defend You Episode Review. And I don’t even know what the fuck is going to happen in the anime anymore.

MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILER WARNING. PLEASE WATCH THE EPISODE BEFORE CONTINUING. With that said, let’s get started.

Ichigo’s True Bankai Just Got Even More Insane

I feel like the trailers just straight up lied about what they were going to show with Ichigo’s True Bankai. We did NOT see this updated design ANYWHERE in the trailers, and rightfully so. It was an amazing surprise. I LOVE how they play on the chain imagery of Ichigo’s Bankai, with manipulating burning Reiishi chains being a core power of this new Bankai. The appearance is also phenomenal. Very clear homages to the Vasto Lorde Ichigo, with the burning tassels on his hands and both Hollow horns. But he is in complete control this time around.

I LOVE how well they sell the speed of the Bankai. Ichigo can straight up make clones now, on top of being incredibly fast. And then came the Getsuga Tenshou. My god, Getsuga has NEVER looked better. The golden Getsugas from the True Shikai were cool, and all but the True Bankai Getsuga creates a whole ass black crescent moon, visible throughout the Wahrwelt. I can’t. The visuals, the music, the presentation, the feeling that Ichigo actually had a chance…

But then…

I Have So Many Questions After This Episode

And then Inoue fucking DIED. YEAH. Kubo gave her a sketch and everything, like he typically does for dead characters. Now, this doesn’t mean that she’s dead, properly. Because if you recall, Squad Zero got their sketches, but they’re all technically still alive. I don’t think she’s dead, for good.

But man, the whole episode kept emphasizing how helpless Inoue felt throughout the fight. She was just constantly thinking about how much more she could help if she were stronger. Then she saw Ichigo and Rukia get stabbed by Yhwach, and something inside her broke. I don’t know what she did with her powers, but she sacrificed herself while taking out Yhwach?? Like he was just GONE with her at the end of the episode.

Look, I have no clue what the fuck just happened, okay? I am just as lost as you are. All I know is that this is THE best Bleach episode EVER, without exaggeration. They didn’t even play the ending theme; there was no poem or title drop for the next episode. They just ended the episode in complete silence, giving us time to process what the fuck just happened. MAN. This completely destroys whatever expectations I had of the anime, in a good way. I don’t know what to even expect from the remaining 5 episodes at this point.

I need to cool off… And maybe rewatch the Episode 10 More Times…

So yeah, that is all for now. I will hear no debate on this. TYBW The Calamity Episode 5 is the BEST Bleach episode so far. I am a huge Aizen fan; I still like Aizen more than Yhwach. But even then. This is by far the best Bleach episode so far. The animations were amazing from start to finish- movie-quality shit; the music was awesome; Shiro Sagisu cooked again; and the “new additions,” as always, were amazing.

So yeah, that concludes my Bleach TYBW Defend You Episode Review. I am going to rewatch the episode right now. See ya.

And yeah, check out my coverage of last week’s episode here.