Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War is this long-running anime’s final story arc, and it will greatly expand upon the lore, history and combat system of the anime in the Fall 2022 season. Longtime Bleach anime fans know why the traitorous Sosuke Aizen and the Soul Reapers went to war, but this new war with the Quincy empire is totally different.
So far, the Wandenreich’s top officials have openly declared war on the Soul Reapers, but they didn’t explain why, which confused Ryunosuke, a rookie Soul Reaper. Anime-only fans might also wonder why this war is happening at all, so a Soul Reaper named Kajomaru will explain, and it’ll become clear how this final anime arc got its name.
The Truth of the Soul Reaper/Quincy Feud in Bleach
The Thousand-Year Blood War story arc moves at a quick pace while adapting Tite Kubo’s original manga, offering relatively little exposition for any fans who are behind on the lore. This new Bleach arc presumes that all viewers are fully caught up on the lore, but even longtime fans might be missing some key pieces of it, so recent Bleach episodes provided a much-needed explanation. The enigmatic Wandenreich, the Quincy empire, is mysterious to both the characters and viewers by design, but now it’s time to explain everything. Ryonosuke wondered aloud why this Soul Reaper/Quincy war is even happening, and a new character, Kajomaru of Squad 13, lays it all down.
Soul Reapers and Quincy are both Hollow-hunting groups, but not in the same way. Soul Reapers use their zanpakuto to defeat and purify Hollows, sending those cleansed souls to the Soul Society as part of the greater soul cycle between the world of the living and the Soul Society. In return, souls are regularly reborn in the Soul Society, and the cycle begins again. Quincy archers, however, completely obliterate Hollows with their attacks, eliminating souls from the cycle and lowering the mortal plane’s population of souls. If that keeps up, the Soul Society will have far more souls than the world of the living, causing those two worlds to crash into each other and both suffer disaster.
The Soul Reapers tried in vain to change the Quincy tribe’s ways, as Kajomaru further explained, but the Quincy refused, so out of desperation, the Soul Reapers nearly wiped the Quincy out to protect the natural cycle of souls. The surviving Quincy retreated to the Wandenreich, the hidden empire, and plotted their revenge. One thousand years ago, Yamamoto fought but failed to kill the Quincy king, and 200 years ago, the Soul Reapers waged war on the Quincy. Now the Quincy want payback — and at this rate, they’ll get it.
The Expanding Scope of Bleach’s Lore & Narrative
Kajomaru’s exposition may have been blunt in Bleach’s anime, and it’s usually better to show rather than tell these things. That said, the information was vital for fans to appreciate why this Quincy invasion is happening, and Kajomaru’s timing was perfect since the Sternritter attacked mere minutes after his lecture. Now the largest-scale battle in Bleach is beginning, and the entire universe is at stake. The Soul Society, the desert world Hueco Mundo and even the world of the living are in peril, meaning Bleach’s heroes have more to lose than ever before. That’s perfect for a climactic final arc like this one to help the Bleach anime end with a bang. Similarly, My Hero Academia’s final arc with the Paranormal Liberation Front war puts all of Japan at peril, and Naruto’s final arc was to decide the fate of the entire world against Madara Uchiha’s wicked plans. Now it’s Bleach’s turn to go big.
This also sets Bleach’s final conflict apart from the others. Most of Bleach’s earlier fights were more intimate and personal in scale, such as Ichigo invading the Soul Society to rescue Rukia or Ichigo’s long-standing rivalry with Grimmjow. Now, with three worlds at stake and the massive cycle of souls being threatened, Bleach has gone from a story of personal quests to an epic campaign for the fate of the universe. It’s a total shift in Bleach’s style, and here in the final arc, it’s ideal. This is no time for petty personal feuds; it’s time to shake the entire world with war.
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