The Thousand Year Blood War saga continues after a break and it starts slow which is like a calm before the storm. This part is titled “The Separation” and it’s most likely to fosuc on Ichigo and Uryuu’s rivalry.
The episode starts with some visual hints of Yhwach’s origin as the Quincy king. Then the new OP “STARS” by “w.o.d.” plays out which is pretty fun to watch. All the characters are given the modern-day design doing casual stuff and how they are perfectly depicted in that setting. In the end Ichigo picks up a double guitar and Uryuu a violin to square off against one another. I love when they do playful stuff like this and speaks Tite Kubo’s name all over it.
We then move on to Ichigo and the gang where they were left off. We also see some insights on the Quincy and there are some quirky characters as well. Some may even come as revolting. They clearly put a contrast between the Soul Reapers. Later, we get to see the older characters: Ichigo’s human friends and the Visored who seems to have certain roles this time. There are some ominous things happening behind the curtain that have yet to come to light. That did well enough to set up an intriguing plot. Then finally the storm begins. I think this first episode served well as a prologue to story of this arc.
The new ED “Endroll” by “Yoh Kamiyama” is a bit meak with the linearts of the characters are just scrolling through. The songs are always awesome as Bleach never fell short of great OST. And the staff at studio Pierrot are doing an awesome job delivering the anime this time. I love how different aspects are visually represented with interesting editing and animation. With the manga author’s supervision, Bleach is finally getting the justice it deserves.
