Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen - Soukoku-tan

الحلقة كانت ممتازة بحق وتستحق العلامة الكاملة بكل تأكيد، حلقة بليتش حرب الـ 1000 عام الدموية "ضد الحكم" حسنت كثيراً على ما كان معروض في المادة الأصلية للمانغا،

خصوصاً في مسألة تطور الشخصيات بالذات بطل القصة ايتشيغو أتوقع أن أغلب من شاهد الحلقة لاحظ هذه النقطة خصوصاً متابعي المانغا،

وهذه الحلقة حتى من الناحية الإخراجية والانتاجية أظهرت أن الاستديو الجديد بيروت فيلمز اسم على مسمى حيث أبدعوا جداً في الأخراج والانتاج على حد سواء بحيث فعلاً جعلوا حلقات هذه الموسم تستحق ان تشبه بما يعرض في أفلام الأنمي خصوصاً في جودة الرسم القريب والبعيد وحركات الشخصيات المتقنة لكل مشهد.

التقييم: 10\10

The episode was really excellent and definitely deserves ... full score. The Bleach episode, the 1000-year blood war "Against the judge", improved a lot on what was shown in the original manga material, especially in the matter of character development, especially the story's protagonist, Ichigo. I expect that most of those who watched the episode noticed this point, especially manga readers. This episode, even from a directing and production standpoint, showed that the new studio, Pierrot Films, lives up to its name, as they were very creative in directing and producing alike, to the point that they really made the episodes of this season worthy of being similar to what is shown in anime movies, especially in the quality of the close-up and distant drawing and the character movements that are perfect for each scene.

rating: 10/10

TLDR: The review still in progress as the anime is still airing

Story 9/10
The Quincies has arrived at the Soul King's palace. Squad zero is at a desperate measure to defend the soul king from the Quincies aggression. While at the Soul society the Soul Reapers is trying to find a way to save the world from below. Meanwhile, Ichigo and his friends are rushing toward the Quincy King to prevent him from destroying the world. So far the story is great. It fixed a lot of its pacing issues from part 1 and 2 however, it's fight is a bit underwhelming compared to the enormous ... success of part 1. Especially squad zero's fight. It was underwhelming as we only got to see one Bankai instead of all 4 of them. The most disappointing part is Ichibei's bankai ability. I have pointed this out in my previous review on Bleach where the characters has good showcase of their abilities but it is not enough in which that you would want to see more. Ichibei's Futen Taisatsuryō is cool and all but it doesn't show the destruction of it, it only shows the aesthetic so most viewers would be wondering what does his ability do because we only see the aesthetic but not the usage of it.

Characters 8/10
The characters is quite good. as the pacing have been fixed it gave a lot of depth to the character's story. It gave us more depth into the relationship between Ukitake, Shunsui, and how Ukitake is related to one of the important Key element towards the story. It also gave us more intention on what the Quincy King wants. There is extra screen time from the previous characters that died such as Unohana and Yamamoto in which added more emotional moments to the characters. Shunsui knows that they are in a desperate situation and this character is portrayed beautifully in a passive-aggressive way. He knows that they have to sacrifice one of their own to achieve victory and at the same time is also very emotional when Yamamoto died. However, he knows that being emotional at a critical time would cause severe morale issues within the soul reapers. That's why Shunsui acted confident in front of his peers while deep inside he is very emotional. So far the dialogue between Ichigo and Ishida is badly written mostly in Ichigo's side. Most of the time Ichigo keeps saying that Ywhach is about to destroy the world and do bad things to Ishida. However, let's be for real all the people in the world knows that Ishida joined the Wandenreich with a specific reason and Ichigo should be finding out or at least asking him why he joins the Quincies instead of explaining on what is going on. Ichigo's narrative mostly focuses on the what and does not give enough deficit such as the why, when, and how. It would be more compelling to add more into the story such as what about the past struggle they have been together or understanding both of their family heritage that would draw closer to both characters relationship.

Animation 8/10
It is a slight downgrade compared to the rest of the season. Sure it still looks good and a movie-quality type of animation but most of the fight scenes aren't as well animated compared to season 1.

Conclusion
As of right now is still too early to give a final verdict. However, they did improved a lot on story and pacing as well by giving us more history of the characters and screen time from the previous characters that died such as Unohana. However, it came at a cost of sacrificing the fight scene which is a lot more underwhelming compared to the well crafted fight scene from season 1 which this also impacted on the animation depending on how you view it.

It is damn near painful seeing so much undeserved glazing over the final arc of bleach getting animated. I don't know if it's just the nostalgia speaking, the production quality, or both, but there's only so much lipstick you can put on the proverbial pig to gloss over all the ugliness underneath.

Even if you believe the art/animation, sound, direction, and enjoyment are all god tier 10/10 masterpieces how in the hell can everyone still ignore how godawful the character writing and story is?

For however unique and beautiful the character designs are we get a corresponding lack of any growth or realistic responses to events taking ... place. Characters stand around doing nothing when bad events happen, watch fights unfold against allies without intervening, and behave incredibly stupidly when necessary to suit the plot. Villains monologuing their powers? Check. Convenient powerups when needed? Check. Character motivations that are, at best, ambiguous and, at worst, stupid? Check!

It's just nonstop asspull deus ex machina bullshit for a story that doesn't make any sense. Why did the Soul Society not KILL Ywach when they fought 1,000 years ago after "sealing" him? Why are zero squad members, all significantly stronger than the CAPTAIN COMMANDER, getting easily destroyed against opponents that Shinigami WEAKER THAN HIM SOMEHOW BEAT LATER? Why the hell are Orihime, and ESPECIALLY Sado, and GANJU of all people not immediately dead upon confronting these ultra powerhouses? The anime even managed to create it's OWN PLOT HOLE THAT DIDN'T EXIST IN THE MANGA!!! HOW IN THE HELL DOES A 1,000 YEAR OLD PLOT TO KILL THE SOUL KING HINGE ON THE COINCIDENCE OF THE BIRTH OF 1 SOUL REAPER/QUINCY HYBRID APPEARING WHEN CONVENIENTLY NEEDED?!?!?!?

This list of plot holes is far from exhaustive either! If possible, Swiss cheese would go green with envy over how many more holes exist in the plot of the entire Bleach series.

I'm sorry folks, but characters this stupid and a story this asinine is nowhere close to a "masterpiece". Production values can only carry a series so far, but for whatever reason people have decided to ignore that in favor of overrating this anime by a ton.

If you are a Bleach fan and you're interested in watching the last arc getting animated, watch the show. That's why I'm watching, in spite of how much I physically cringe over how stupid the characters and plot are.

If you have never read/watched Bleach before and you are wondering if the hype for the last arc makes it worth getting into, I would caution further investigation before investing your time into it. Most people would honestly be better off just reading the manga before watching this final arc if they are interested in starting Bleach. It will save you a lot of time wasted on fillers and glacially slow pacing from the original anime.

Art/Animation 9/10
Music/OP/ED 9/10
Enjoyment 5/10
Characters 3/10
Story 2/10 (Direction itself is 10/10)

Overall 6/10

Thank you for reading.