A Thousand Years of Blood War — Against Judgment

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

Key things

• Aizen returns with immense power, displaying his power with familiar techniques such as the Kurohitsugi.
• A shift in alliances as the surviving Quincie join forces with the Shinigami against a common enemy.
• Despite the missed opportunities, the episode sets the stage for movie-quality events to come.

The fifth episode of the third course BLEACH: The Thousand Year Blood War served mostly as a set-up for the main event of the season, but saw cameos from various characters we haven't seen in a while, as well as the first display of Aizen's devastating fighting power since his dramatic battle against Ichigo many years ago. While not nearly as exciting as the episodes before it, episode 5 still carried the series' signature cinematic quality and gave the return of the popular Grimmjow Jaegerjacquez the twist it deserved.

With the worst possible scenario now a reality, the Shinigami find themselves having to team up with former Gotei 13 officers, Hollows, and even Quincies to stop a common enemy.

Terrible flood

Torrents of haunting eye monsters ravage the Seireitei

When Yhwach assimilated the Soul King, streams of his power rain down from the Soul King's palace through a hole in Shakonmak. The shadowy, gooey monsters take the form of creepy eye monsters that latch onto anything that moves with lamprey-like teeth. We see various Shinigami fighting the creatures as they swarm every corner of the Seireitei. Seated officers such as Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa of the 11th Squad and 9th Squad Lieutenant Shūhei Hisagi are able to fight them, but with the sheer number of monsters it is only a matter of time before they are overwhelmed. Fortunately, 6th Squad Captain Byakuya Kuchiki uses his Senbonzakura to deal with the eye monster belts, giving all three a chance to catch their breath and regroup with him, Rukia, Renji, and Soi-Fon. Another shadowy gooey mess arrives, but a powerful spiritual presence arrives: Sōsuke Aizen, still chained to the chair he served his 20,000 year sentence in Muken.

I'm still getting it

Maybe he got stronger in prison

Aizen quips that creatures like this aren't things one raises a sword at, but something they have to crush with the power of spiritual pressure. Rukia and the others are shocked to see Aizen leave his prison and prepare to face off, but Kyōraku is there to explain that he is the one who let him out. Naturally, they all have a lot to say about having to team up with an individual who has done immense damage to Soul Society and irrevocably changed the lives of many Shinigami who were unfortunate enough to cross paths with him, but Kyōraku tells them that No. I don't think it's wrong to fight evil with evil. As more creatures enter the Seireitei, Aizen fires his favorite Kido, #90, Kurohitsugi (“The Black Coffin”), which has undergone a dazzling makeover The Thousand Year Blood War arc.

Arcs of purple-black electricity appear, signaling Kyōraku to tell everyone to take cover before a giant black box appears, sealing the hole in the Shakonmaku before unleashing a vicious devastating impact that essentially clears the eyeball area. This moment carries an impactful frame in the animation that perfectly conveys Aizen's incomprehensible strength despite being imprisoned for the better part of two years. Despite his amazing display of strength, the restraints used to subdue Aizen really proved to be a hindrance to him and you can see the first real change in his facial expression since he started appearing in The Thousand Year Blood War arc. Kurotsuchi arrives with Nemu and chuckles about how something he created couldn't be broken by Aizen's power, which clearly bothered the former 5th Squad captain as he offered a challenge. “We'll see what comes first, your technology or my spiritual pressure.

Frenemies?

The quince survivors shake hands with the shinigami

Aizen and Kurotsuchi's exchange is interrupted when the former is hit by a wave of energy coming from Sternritter U – The Underbelly, NaNaNa Najahkoop, who believes he has a clear understanding of Aizen's spiritual pressure. He fires a death beam that hits Aizen's head and appears to kill him (everyone except Najahkoop was aware that it didn't). Najahkoop is joined by Bazz-B, G – The Glutton Liltotto Lamperd, and Z – The Zombie Giselle Gewelle, who initially appear to help Najahkoop, but Bazz-B shoots a hole through his chest. Unlike Najahkoop, who remained loyal to Yhwach even after he was abandoned, Bazz-B and the others did not take kindly to being cast aside and decided to help the Shinigami as they now had a common goal.

With that, Kyoraku sends an order through the Seireitei for any officers who can still move to head to the 12th Squad barracks where their spirit pressure is needed to help power the gate that will lead directly to the Soul King's Palace. The build-up to this gate includes cameos from a number of characters we haven't seen in a while, including Visoreds Hiyori Sarugaki, Love Aikawa, Lisa Yadomaru, Hachigen and many more, but there's also a brief glimpse of a silhouette approaching Gargant – a joke about Grimmjow's return Jaegerjacquez, ending the episode.

A missed opportunity

The dramatic ending of the last episode meant nothing in the end

While there were some epic moments here and there, there was a missed opportunity BLEACH: A Thousand Years of Blood War, Part 3 episode 5, which followed the dramatic conclusion of Ichigo's battle against Uryū, an encounter that ended with the former severely injured. We don't see either for the entire duration of the episode until the very end, and after the emotional rollercoaster of the previous episode, simply cutting to the part where Ichigo is okay again means avoiding the aftermath of the battle, but knowing how amazing Orihime's powers are, she can also be seen as pointless to see these consequences if the consequences of the battle itself were negated by Orihime's ability to reject phenomena. As a bridge to what's to come, this episode did what it needed to do and continue the series' incredible run, even if it wasn't as intense as previous episodes.

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