A Thousand Years of Blood War – Against Justice

The following contains spoilers for BLEACH: The Thousand Year Blood War Part 3, Episode 5, “Against Justice”, available on Hulu and Disney+.

Key takeaways

• Aizen returns with immense power, displaying his power with familiar techniques such as Kurohitsugi.
• Alliances shift as the surviving Quincy join forces with the Shinigami against a common enemy.
• Despite the missed opportunities, the episode sets the stage for upcoming shows in movie quality.

The fifth episode of the third course Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Mainly served as a setup for the main event of the season, but it also saw cameos from various characters we haven't seen in a long time, as well as the first display of Aizen's devastating fighting power for the first time since his debut. War against Ichigo many years ago. While not as exciting as previous episodes, Episode 5 still carried the series' signature cinematic quality, and gave fan-favorite Grimmjow Jaegerjakz back the flair he deserves.

With the worst-case scenario now a reality, the Shinigami find themselves forced to band together with ex-officers of the Gotei 13, Hollows and Quincies to stop a common enemy.

A terrible flood

Torrents of terrifying eyeball demons ravage Seireiti

After Yowach has absorbed the Spirit King, streams of his power descend from the Spirit King's palace through Shakonmaku's hole. The shadowy, gooey monstrosities take the form of terrifying eyeball monsters that latch onto anything that moves with teeth reminiscent of lampreys. We see the struggle against the various Shinigami creatures as they hang out in every corner of the Seireitei. Seated officers such as Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa of the 11th Squad and Lieutenant Shuhei Hisagi of the 9th Squad manage to fight them off, but with the sheer numbers of the monsters, it is only a matter of time until they are turned back. Fortunately, Sixth Squad Captain Byakuya Kuchiki uses his Senbonzakura to deal with a swarm of eyeball monsters, giving the trio a chance to catch their breath and regroup with himself, Rukia, Renji, and Soi-Fon. More shadowy gooey messes flood in, but a powerful spiritual presence arrives: Sousuke Aizen, still tied to the chair in which he served his 20,000-year sentence in Muken.

Still got it

He might have gotten stronger in prison

Aizen joked that creatures like these were not something that one would raise one's sword to, but that must be crushed by the power of one's spiritual pressure. Rukia and the others are surprised to see Aizen out of his prison, and prepare to engage, but Kyoraku is there to explain that he's the one to break him out. Naturally, they all talk a lot about teaming up with someone who has caused great damage to the Spirit Society and irrevocably changed the lives of many Shinigami who are unfortunate enough to cross paths with him, but Kyoraku tells them that he won't. Don't think it's wrong to fight evil with evil. As more creatures enter the Seireitei, Aizen uses his favorite Kido, #90, Kurohitsugi (“Black Coffin”), for which there has been a fascinating transformation A Thousand Years of Blood War pressure

Arcs of purple-black electricity appear, prompting Kyoraku to tell everyone to cover before a giant black box appears, patching a hole in the Shakonmaku before unleashing a vicious destructive effect that essentially clears the eye area. The moment is carried into the animation by an impact frame, which does a great job of communicating Aizen's unfathomable strength despite being imprisoned for the better part of two years. Despite the amazing display of power, the barriers used to subdue Aizen are really proving to be a hindrance for him, and you can see the first real change in his facial expression since he first appeared. A Thousand Years of Blood War Arc Kurotsuchi arrives with Nemu and rants about how Aizen's power can't break anything he's made, which clearly upsets the former 5th Squad captain as he offers a challenge. “We'll see which comes out on top, your technique or my spiritual pressure.”

Frenemies?

The surviving Quincys lend a hand to the Shinigami

Aizen and Kurotsuchi's verbal exchange is interrupted when the former is struck by a wave of energy from Sternritter U – The Underbelly, Nanana Najahkoop, who believes she has Aizen's spiritual pressure. He fires a deadly beam that hits Aizen in the head and appears to kill him (everyone except Najahkoop knew it didn't). Najahkoop is accompanied by Bazz-B, G – The Glutton Liltotto Lamperd and Z – The Zombie Giselle Gewelle, who at first appears to be helping Najahkoop but Bazz-B punches a hole in his chest. Unlike Najahkoop, who remained loyal to Yowatch even after being abandoned, Bazz-B and the others did not take kindly to being dumped and decided to help the Shinigami as they now had a common goal.

With that, Kyoraku sends orders throughout the Seireitei for any officers who may still be able to make their way to the 12th Squad Barracks, where their spiritual pressure is needed to help power the gate that leads directly to the Spirit King's palace. In preparation for this gate we see cameos from several characters we haven't seen in a while, including Visoreds Hiyori Sarugaki, Love Akawa, Lisa Yadomaru, Hachigen, and more, but there's also a brief glimpse in silhouette. Walks up to Garganta – a tease of the return of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez that ends this episode.

A missed opportunity

The dramatic ending of the last episode ultimately made no sense

While there were some epic moments here and there, there was one missed opportunity Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Part 3 Episode 5, which was moving from the dramatic finale to Ichigo's battle against Uryū, an encounter that ended with the former being seriously injured. We don't see either until the end for the entirety of the episode, and after the emotional rollercoaster of the previous episode, only cutting to the part where Ichigo is okay is to offscreen the outcome of the battle, but given the fact. We know the awesomeness of Orihime's power, if the outcome of the fight itself is negated by Orihime's ability to deny the event itself then it can be seen as pointless to look at the aftermath. As a bridge to what's to come, this episode did what it needed to do and continued the series' incredible run, even if it wasn't as intense as previous episodes.

BLEACH: A Thousand Year Blood War Part 3 is available on Hulu and Disney+.