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Once again, BLEACH: The Millennium Blood War, Part 2: Separation took the original source material and raised it to a level I never saw coming. This week’s episode, like the previous one, features incredible voice acting and a display of power that we’ve never seen before. Also similar to previous episodes is Quincy with its seemingly insurmountable and borderline power cheat code — but this time it’s up against perhaps the worst possible enemy. Rukia’s fight and the fight in this volume seem to intentionally put people who share certain traits together. In the former case, it’s two people who are yearning for someone’s approval and struggling to make sure they get it. This episode focuses on the clash between two people that can certainly be considered the “strongest”.
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Spoiler ahead of BLEACH: The Thousand Years of Blood War, Part 2: Separation episode 7 I’m the leader
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Power of Mind
Yachiru’s first encounter yielded excellent results that shape key elements of the rest of the battle in the episode. Gremmy’s creation, Guenael Lee, begins the fight by demonstrating the ability to disappear and completely erase his presence, even from his opponent’s mind. This goes beyond the standard shounen meaning of this skill. He didn’t just move silently or slip into the shadows. Instead, he literally disappeared from someone’s mind. Yachiru, quite hilariously, just attacks him several times out of pure instinct and tries to hit him several times even before unleashing his Shikai ability. Guenael’s ability, and therefore Gremmy’s by extension, required them to think and form ideas in their heads. Instinctive action replaces thinking that slows down reaction, meaning this battle is really more of a contest of responsiveness than anything else.
This is a great opportunity to see Yachiru fight (she never actually did, even in the original BLEACH anime) and an excellent staging for a reformed Zaraki. Zaraki had previously subconsciously restrained himself to prolong the war and keep himself from getting bored by the solitude of the supreme power. Gremmy has never fought anyone because (supposedly) it is clear that he is the strongest. On the surface, his use of power is relatively limited. He can imagine anything, including his opponent’s bones as cookies or the space around them as the vacuum of space. This power will allow him to do something powerful like imagining someone doesn’t exist, imagining them as a pebble or imagining them dying instantly. But that’s what makes this fight so great. Zaraki is so madly addicted to fighting that he awakens a similar passion in Gremmy to the point where he is determined to overwhelm his powers with his imagination. All of his abilities are used to either strengthen his own abilities or alter Zaraki’s surroundings, causing the two to meet. Almost ironically, Zaraki’s daring attack style after learning not to weaken himself has caused the strongest enemy in the series so far to weaken himself. The vocal elements of this episode show a great contrast between Zaraki’s level of excitement in earlier parts of the fight as he overcomes impossible obstacles and how resigned he seems to be in end. Neither of them got the results they could appreciate.
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The Original BLEACH Juggernaut Evolves
Fortunately for us, however, the match that led to disappointment for both fighters was worth watching. The manga version of this fight features more fight scenes, with other Quincys commenting on Gremmy’s meteors with displeasure and other Shinigami giving more general shock lines during the fight. The BLEACH anime cuts through the frills in the most amazing way, making Gremmy’s actions a lot more fluid and expansive and showing just how incredible Zaraki has become. His sword awakening is something many have been waiting years to see and it suits him perfectly. No frills, no wild abilities, just a bigger blade that cuts things better. Cutting a meteor isn’t really a big deal in terms of BLEACH cosmic power (Ichigo in his fight against Aizen happened to cut off the peaks). What’s impressive is slicing a meteor with a single blow with enough force to completely shatter the meteor into pieces that aren’t large enough to cause significant damage to the infrastructure beneath them.
This episode is just as great as Zaraki, we know he can reach a greater level of power. Bankai usually has a 10x multiplier for minimal power. Hopefully his bankai will be out soon. Whatever the case, he’s sure to bring us incredible battles in the coming weeks.
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Featured images and screenshots via Hulu.
© TITE KUBO/SHUEISHA, TOKYO TV, dentsu, Pierrot
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