Line #26 Recap/BleachTheThousandYearBloodWarArc


1	!! Short Summary
2	The final StoryArc of the series, set up as the culmination of the MythArc and the GrandFinale. This marks the return of the Quincies, debuting as members of the [[PuttingOnTheReich Wandenreich]] and followers of [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Emperor Yhwach]]. They make their appearance known by conquering Hueco Mundo and launching an assault on the Seireitei, setting up the second WarArc of the series.
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4	!! Main Summary
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7
8	!!''The Thousand Year Blood War Arc'' has the following tropes:
9	* AdaptationalBadass:
10	** The anime reveals Sasakibe of all characters played a role in Yhwach's downfall about a thousand years ago, where he stabbed the Quincy King InTheBack just in time to give Yamamoto the chance to deliver a finishing blow to the Lichtreich's emperor. Sasakibe's Bankai also has the chance to be fleshed out and the part where he injured Yamamoto and gave him his second scar is shown, while in the manga the event is simply mentioned.
11	** During his first confrontation with Yhwach, Ichigo barely exchanges blows with him outside a single Getsuga Tensho, and he's surpassed easily by the Quincy. The anime made this into a full blown fight where Ichigo gives Yhwach more of a fight despite still being unable to seriously injure him and even forces him to use a Quincy spell only seen in the anime (called "Qualkreis"), which also gives Yhwach more combat features.
12	** The anime has Isshin note that White -- the Hollow that became Ichigo's EnemyWithin -- grows stronger the more it fights, kills, and devours; an observation not in the manga.
13	** In the anime, the female Stern Ritter get an upgraded version of their Voll Stern Dichs during their battle with Ichigo after using Sklave Rei and show new techniques and strategies against him, while in the manga only Candice showcased her power beyond the basic usage. In addition, this also made Ichigo look more competent, as he still just as easily deals with them in the anime as he did in the manga despite their upgrades.
14	** In a similar vein to the above, Robert Accutrone gets to have his fight with Byakuya shown in the anime and also gets to power up his Vollstandig with Sklaverai before being defeated, unlike in the manga where he was beaten off-screen with no warning after being shown as one of the most remarkable Sternritters.
15	** Ichibē is shown to have possessed the Soul King's left arm--which Yhwach later obtained and turned into Pernida Parnkgjas--1,000 years ago; using it to attempt to assassinate Yhwach, then to seal his ability to use the Almighty.
16	** In the anime, Kirio Hikifune, Senjumaru Shutara, Tenjirō Kirinji, and Ōetsu Nimaiya are revealed to have been fighting the Schutzstaffel with only a fraction of their full power and their Bankai sealed away. To break the seal, three of them must die to enable the fourth to unleash their full power, and doing so causes earthquake-like tremors across not only Soul Society but the Human World and Hueco Mundo as well.
17	* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance:
18	** Several Sternritter are first seen much earlier in the anime compared with the manga.
19	** Shinji Hirako's Bankai, Sakashima Yokoshima Happōfusagari, debuted in the ''Can't Fear Your Own World'' light novels, but in the anime he uses it to get a squadron of Soldat to kill each other and laments not being able to use it on Bambietta and her squad before settling for just using his Shikai.
20	* AdaptationDyeJob: The anime adaptation undoes the color changes the original anime made to Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho, coloring his Shikai version yellow and his Bankai version black as in the manga. The episode where he attains his true Shikai includes a brief nod to the original anime's colors, which his larger sword emitting red reiatsu and his smaller sword emitting blue reiatsu before both change to yellow.
21	* AdaptationExpansion:
22	** In the manga, Uryu joining the Wandenreich was a WhamShot, with it being left ambiguous as to how long he'd been a member. In the anime, Uryu is shown searching the Ishida mansion for answers as to the identity of the mysterious evil Quincies only to come across the truth in his grandfather's journal, with his father coldly telling him he has no right to know anything. The anime also inserts certain extra scenes of him discovering more of the history of the Quincies, such as one where he finds out Yamamoto's status as the main enemy of his race and another where Haschwalth approaches him in the rain with the intention to recruit him to the Wandenreich.
23	** The fights against the Stern Ritter in the first invasion before Sui-Feng, Byakuya, Komamura and Hitsugaya have their Bankai stolen are noticeably expanded in the anime as a way to hint at certain abilities of the Quincies (such as Bambietta's [[HavingABlast The Explode]] or Cang Du's [[SuperToughness The Iron]]) and show why the captains are forced to use their Bankai despite knowing the risk of summoning it after their attempts to take out the Stern Ritters with their Shikai and the aid of their lieutenants fail.
24	** While they're not fleshed out in the manga aside from Yamamoto and Yachiru, the full appearances of the original 13 Court Guard captains are shown off in Episode 7 of the anime.
25	** In Season 2 Episode 1, Ichibē is shown personally training Ichigo to transcend being a Soul Reaper, sending him to a divine pocket dimension as a test to see if he is worthy of such power -- a scene completely absent from the manga. In Season 2 Episode 3, Ichigo begins to have visions of the Soul King's past, which wasn't revealed until the ''Can't Fear Your Own World'' light novels.
26	** Ichigo's fight with the female Stern Ritter is expanded upon so that rather than just facing off with Candice Catnipp he also throws down with Liltotto Lamperd, Meninas [=McAllon=], and Giselle Gewelle -- all of whom power up with their Voll Stern Dich and Sklave Rei.
27	** Season 2 Episode 11 shows a flashback to more than 1,000 years ago, where Ichibē Hyōsube meets with Yhwach to arrange a nonaggression pact between Soul Society and the Licht Reich. However, Yhwach bluntly declines, angered over Soul Society imposing the separation of life and death through the Soul King, and thus the suffering of those who fear death.
28	** The fight between Squad Zero and the Schutzstaffel delves a bit more into the former's powers, with Senjumaru Shutara using her Bankai to defeat them.
29	* AllThereInTheManual: The names of the original Thirteen Court Guard Squad captains aside from Yamamoto and Unohana -- Chika Shihōin (Squad 2), Kinroku Izuhara (Squad 3), Chigiri Shijima (Squad 4), Danjirō Obana (Squad 5), Furōfushi Saitō (Squad 6), Nobutsuna Shigyō (Squad 7), Batsu'unsai Katori (Squad 8), Entetsu Kumoi (Squad 9), Furuoki Ōtogawa (Squad 10), Uhin Zenjōji (Squad 12), and Saizō Sakahone (Squad 13) -- were revealed in a 2022 issue of ''Shōnen Jump'' outside the ''Bleach'' manga and anime.
30	* AmbiguousSituation:
31	** When Ichigo arrives in the devastated Soul Society and sees that Rukia and Renji have been critically injured, he uses a FlashStep to appear before Byakuya. In the anime, the sound effect and that the Stern Ritter lose track of his location imply that in his anger Ichigo was tapping into his Hollow powers to use Sonído rather than a Soul Reaper's Shunpo, but it's never outright stated which technique he used.
32	** Yhwach calls Uryū Ishida the last surviving Quincy, implying that he and the other Wandenreich members are Quincy Souls; which may or may not be supported by some of them being old enough to have been around during the Lichtreich and not appearing to have aged in the 1000 years since its downfall. When fighting Royd Lloyd disguised as Yhwach, Yamamoto and Yhwach further imply that the Wandenreich are Quincy Souls, with the former calling them an army of the dead and the latter scoffing that the 13 Court Guard Squads died alongside the Quincy of the Lichtreich 1000 years prior, though Mayuri's statement that Yamamoto failed to kill Yhwach 1000 years prior calls into question how literal these statements are.
33	* AnachronismStew: Both Soul Society and the Licht Reich are shown possessing technology that should not have existed 1,000-plus years in the past -- ranging from eyeglasses to machine guns.
34	* AnyoneCanDie: Previous arcs saw few characters dying overall, let alone non-antagonist ones. In this final arc, however, notable characters start getting killed, such as Sasakibe, Yamamoto, Unohana, Nemu(ri Nanagou) and Ukitake.
35	* ArcNumber:
36	** Yhwach is very heavily associated with the number 9. There's even a folklore legend about him that repeatedly focuses on the number 9. Even one of his Stern Ritter is a cyborg called [=BG9=].
37	** Number 5 is now attributed towards groups of considerable power. We have the five members of Squad Zero, whose combined power is greater than the Gotei 13; we have the Special War Powers, five characters that Yhwach wants under his wing; the Sword Five, female Zanpakuto who forge other Zanpakuto; and the five female Stern Ritter.
38	* ArrangedMarriage: Quincy pure-bloods are expected to settle into carefully arranged marriages that are designed to protect the future of the Quincies by ensuring the pure-blood lineages never become impure. Flashbacks reveal that the Ishida family made arrangements for Ryuuken to enter into one when he was still a teenager.
39	* AwesomeAnachronisticApparel: The Licht Reich soldiers are shown sporting 20th century-style military uniforms 1,000 years before the present.
40	* BandageMummy: Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya are shown mummified in bandages after the Wandenreich's second attack on Soul Society, having been severely injured. In the anime, Rukia is still mummified in bandages even when soaking in Tenjirō Kirinji's HealingSpring, while in the manga she was naked.
41	* BigBad: The arc villain responsible for the entire mess that plagues Soul Society (and the world) is [[TheEmperor Emperor Yhwach]], the god-king of the Quincies.
42	* BlindIdiotTranslation: The names of the Quincy techniques are [[GratuitousGerman supposed to be German words]], but the English localization phonetically transcribes several of them in ways that botch the spelling. The Quincies' SuperMode is transcribed from the Japanese pronunciation as "Vollsterndich" in the manga or "Voll Stern Dich" in the anime, rather than the proper German "Vollständig"--an adjective meaning perfect or complete. Similarly, the Quincy technique for absorbing ambient spiritual matter to power up is transcribed as two words--"Sklave Rei"--in the [=Disney+=] subtitles rather than use the proper German "sklaverei", which is literally the German word for slavery.
43	* BlindedByRage:
44	** When Yhwach smugly confirms he's the one who left Soul Society in ruins, Ichigo erupts in a crimson BattleAura and attacks him, though Yhwach is able to subdue him [[CurbStompCushion with relative ease]].
45	** Yumichika Ayasegawa and Charlotte Chuhlhourne misgendering Giselle Gewelle--who was confirmed in Kubo's Klub Online Q&A to be transgender--enrages her into recklessly attacking them.
46	* BloodierAndGorier: Kubo artistically depicts graphic detail of grotesque acts of violence. Flesh is melted or burned off the bone, leaving specks of skin and blood clinging to bones and skulls; decapitation or bifurcation that displays broken bones, muscles and blood; close-up shots of impalement through the face or neck by weapons or even fingernails; after a [[NauseaFuel vicious]] NightmareFace courstesy of his PrimalFear, Byakuya is pinned to a wall and ripped to shreds, exposing his torso to the ribcage (and the villain graphically jokes about it later); Sasakibe is ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice and Kubo focusses on his struggle to breathe.
47	* BookEnds: The series ends with Ichigo's son and Rukia's daughter meeting each other in Ichigo's room in more or less the same way their parents met at the start of the series. The only difference? Ichigo's son has Soul Reaper powers and cheerfully reveals this to the shock of Rukia's daughter, who mistook him for a normal human -- similarly how Rukia was shocked that Ichigo could see her.
48	* {{Bowdlerise}}:
49	** The scene where Tenjirō Kirinji teases Ichigo over seeing Rukia naked is left out of the anime adaptation.
50	** The scene where Zaraki says that fighting Unohana turns him on is cut from their {{duel to the death}} in Episode 10.
51	** In Episode 12, Masaki's soul is shown as a glowing silhouette with only her head visible and the scene where Isshin gets flustered over her being naked in her mental world is cut.
52	** The scene where Yumichika Ayasegawa misgenders Giselle Gewelle to provoke her into attacking, he doesn't say that she smells of semen or accuse her of getting a hard-on in the English subtitles or dub, simply accusing her of being a guy and calling her a pervert.
53	** The scene where Yoruichi sticks her hand between Orihime's breasts while berating Ichigo over not complementing her outfit was cut from the anime adaptation.
54	* CallForward: Isshin Shiba's battle against White contains numerous shot-for-shot parallels to Ulquiorra's battle with Hollow Ichigo -- such as White starting the battle by roaring before attacking; and attempting to kill Isshin with a point-blank Cero charged between its horns. In the anime, some of White's roars and growls are even recycled from Hollow Ichigo's fight with Ulquiorra.
55	* CommissarCap: The Stern Ritter women wear these types of military hats, as do the rank-and-file soldiers when they're attending the ceremony where Yhwach names Uryu his successor.
56	* CompressedAdaptation: The anime adaptation leaves out some of the material from the manga, which Kon complains about in his "Shinigami Zukan" segment in Season 2 Episode 13.
57	** The scene where Mayuri explains the minutia of how Zanpakutō are repaired is compressed, leaving out his revelation that Renji's Bankai is missing several segments that have been broken.
58	** Tenjirō Kirinji's explanation of how his hot-springs work is shortened in the anime, omitting that the healing hot-spring in Urahara and Yoruichi's hidden training arena was based on the White Bone Hell.
59	** The scene where Rukia and Renji recall being ordered to strip naked by Senjumaru Shutara, who threatens to castrate Renji when he refuses to completely undress, is reduced to a segment in Season 2 Episode 13's "Shinigami Zukan".
60	* ContinuityNod: While Ichigo is examining his reforged Zanpakutō, the sword embodying his Quincy powers emits blue spiritual energy and the sword embodying his Hollowfied Soul Reaper powers emits red spiritual energy -- their colors in the original run of the anime and ''VideoGame/BleachBraveSouls'' -- before both turn yellow as Ichigo accepts them as part of himself.
61	* CurbStompBattle: The start of the arc sees the Soul Reapers really take a beating from the Wandenreich both in the initial invasion and the second one that follows after as they try to recover.
62	** While Lüdaas Friegen and the six other masked Stern Ritter confront Yamamoto, Driscoll Berci slaughters all 116 members of Squad 1 in only 182 seconds, stealing Lieutenant Chōjirō Sasakibe's bankai in the process.
63	** Shown in flashback, the Wandenreich steamrolled Las Noches, with Yhwach effortlessly defeating Queen Tier Halibel despite her using her Resurrección. The Arrancar were only able to flee in terror as the Wandenreich massacred them, capturing only a handful of survivors.
64	** After being left in charge of recruiting the captured Arrancar following the Wandenreich's conquest of Hueco Mundo, Quilge Opie effortlessly defeats Menoly Mallia, Loly Aivirrne, and the Tres Bestias when they attack him.
65	** During the Wandenreich's first invasion, the rank-and-file Soldat troops ZergRush the rank-and-file Soul Reapers, completely overwhelming and mercilessly slaughtering them; while the Stern Ritter seek out Captains, steal their Bankai, and attempt to crush them as utterly as possible -- with a standout being Äs Nödt effortlessly withstanding Byakuya Kuchiki's attacks and all-but eviscerating him with Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, and Yhwach effortlessly stealing Yamamoto's bankai and cutting him down with a single attack.
66	** When Yhwach arrives in the Royal Realm and summons the Schutzstaffel, Nimaya pulls out Sayafushi -- a Zanpakutō too sharp to have a scabbard, rendering it incomplete -- and effortlessly cuts them down one by one.
67	* CurbStompCushion:
68	** In the anime, Ichigo manages to fight evenly with Yhwach for a short period despite having exhausted himself escaping The Jail... until Yhwach decides to stop toying with him.
69	** In the "Everything but the Rain" flashback arc, Squad 10 Captain Isshin Shiba puts up a defensive battle against White and even manages to cut off one of its arm-blades with his Shikai -- and it's noted that he probably could have killed the artificial Menos if he'd used his Bankai -- but White still overpowers him and is seconds away from vaporizing him with a point-blank Cero when Masaki Kurosaki arrives.
70	** After discarding her Retsu persona and returning to being Yachiru, Unohana cuts down Zaraki dozens of times, resurrecting him each time and repeating the process until he breaks through the subconscious limiters he placed on his power and kills her.
71	** During their second battle, Ichigo manages to fight relatively evenly against Soul King Yhwach, who is forced to unleash his full power when Ichigo injures him with a Gran Rey Cero-infused Getsuga Tenshō while in his Hollowfied Shikai. When Ichigo uses his Bankai in an attempt to end Yhwach with his full power, Yhwach counters by shattering Ichigo's Zanpakutō with the Almighty to prevent him from using it, mockingly reveals the true nature of his powers to Ichigo while easily overpowering him, steals Ichigo's Quincy and Hollow powers to further empower himself, and then leaves to destroy Soul Society.
72	* CutShort:
73	** The anime initially ended after the Lost Agent Arc in 2012. The Thousand-Year Blood War would only see its adaptation in 2022.
74	** The manga likewise was forced to rush through its final chapters due to Kubo's frail health.
75	* DarkerAndEdgier: Established characters die gruesomely; Mayuri is once more an amoral MadScientist instead of comic relief; the villains [[CombatPragmatist ignore the Shounen rules of war]] so that Soul Reapers struggle to [[TalkingIsAFreeAction name their attacks]]; Yhwach is much more brutal and dangerous than even Aizen and is confirmed to commit [[ThePurge genocide]]; the Seireitei falls apart; flashbacks reveal Ichigo and Uryuu's parents have an extremely grim shared backstory.
76	* DeathGlare: When Yhwach confirms he is the one who destroyed most of Soul Society, Ichigo's reiatsu erupts into a crimson and black BattleAura while he levels a murderous glare at the Quincy emperor.
77	* DieOrFly:
78	** Ichigo's Blut Vene activates (seemingly) for the first time when Yhwach tries to give him an ImpromptuTracheotomy, the Quincy King theorizing that Quincy spiritual energy from Quilge Opie's The Jail must have seeped into Ichigo's soul while he was trying to break free and awakened the power he inherited from his mother.
79	** Zaraki's "Zanjutsu training" involves him dueling Unohana to the death to awaken his true power... which consists of her killing and resurrecting him dozens of times until he breaks free of the subconscious limiters he placed on himself and kills her.
80	** The training Ichibē Hyōsube subjects Ichigo Kurosaki to in order to make him powerful enough to defeat Yhwach will either imbue him with the power of the Soul King or kill him if his body cannot handle it. Ichigo almost succumbs, but manages to pull through in Season 2 Episode 4.
81	* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the manga, Robert Accutrone is StrippedToTheBone by Yhwach's Auswählen while desperately trying to warn Liltotto about what's happening. In the anime, he's cut down by Byakuya and is dead, dying, or at least unconscious when the Auswählen consumes him.
82	* DistantFinale: The arc (and by extension, the series) ends a decade after Yhwach's defeat. Ichigo and Orihime marry each other, as do Rukia and Renji. Uryuu has taken over his father's hospital as head director and Chad has gone on to having a career in boxing. Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia and Renji are meeting up at the Kurosaki household to see Chad's match (Uryuu is watching it via streaming on his smartphone due to work). Their offspring, Kazui Kurosaki (Ichigo and Orihimie's son) and Ichika Abarai (Rukia and Renji's daughter) meet each other for the first time in Ichigo's room, just as their father and mother respectively had done years ago.
83	* EnhancedOnDVD: The Bluray release of Season 1 fixed {{Series Continuity Error}}s regarding Yhwach's moustache and Komamura's missing helmet in flashback scenes, and touched up various scenes to improve the animation -- such as adjusting the volume of smoke, giving each Quincy uniquely-colored spiritual energy, and coloring some of the slashes in Ichigo's duel with Yhwach red instead of all of them being blue.
84	* EndlessCorridor: Irazusando, the sacred realm that Ichibē sends Ichigo to in order to train him, is a narrow rain-soaked stone path lined by vegetation and massive ''shide''. Those who face the test must traverse the path and cross the threshold of a ''torii'' gate while enduring ever-increasing heaviness that will kill them if they are deemed unworthy. As Ichigo draws near the gate that marks the exit, however, the path increases in length out until he's back at the beginning. Ichigo only manages to cross the threshold once he's been filled to the brim with the Soul King's power.
85	* EndOfAnAge: The Thousand-Year Blood War tears down the original foundations of the Soul Society, far more than the previous arcs ever did. The original Gotei 13 is dead, and the new Gotei 13 starts to operate differently by acting against the Central 46 during emergencies instead of following blindly after several blunders on both of their parts. Cooperation between the three worlds is far more intimate when their separation was enforced harshly otherwise. Lastly, [[spoiler:the Soul King is dead]], but while it got quickly replaced with [[spoiler:Yhwach]], yet it is said that [[spoiler:the crimes of Squad Zero, responsible for sealing him and his father away in the first place]] [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty will no longer remained unpunished]].
86	* EnemyMine:
87	** Downplayed. Against Opie, Ichigo gets help from previous antagonists Apacci, Sung-Sun and Mila Rose, but they never even met beforehand; they could only be considered "enemies" by default via their being on opposite sides during the Winter War.
88	** After Grimmjow kills Quilge Opie, Urahara, Orihime, Chad, and Nelliel negotiate an alliance with the former Sixth Espada that results in him joining forces with them to stop the Wandenreich. Grimmjow insists he's only doing so in order to have a rematch with Ichigo in Hueco Mundo.
89	** After being made the Captain of Squad 1, Shunsui Kyōraku approaches Aizen and offers to temporarily free him -- at least partially -- to help protect Soul Society from the Wandenreich. Aizen agrees, but only because ''he'' wants to be the one to conquer Soul Society and usurp the Soul King; even battling Yhwach alongside Ichigo and Renji in the final battle.
90	** After Yhwach uses the Auswählen on the Stern Ritter, killing most of them outright and stripping those who survive of the ability to use Voll Stern Dich and Skalve Rei, the survivors agree to a temporary alliance with the Soul Reapers to kill Yhwach.
91	** Tsukishima uses his [[{{Retconjuration}} Book of the End]] to help Orihime repair Tensa Zangetsu after it's destroyed by Soul King Yhwach, and when asked why he scoffs at the idea of having joined the good guys and says he's only doing it because Ginjo told him to.
92	* {{Flashback}}:
93	** After killing Yamamoto, Yhwach has a flashback to the Wandenreich's battle against the original 13 Court Guard captains, who he says were little more than a group of AxCrazy and BloodKnight sociopaths willing to do whatever it took to win a fight, and thus were far superior to their current successors.
94	** While duelling Zaraki, Unohana has a flashback to her first encounter with him when he was just a child and she was still the First Kenpachi and Captain of Squad 11.
95	** The mini-arc titled ''Everything but the Rain'' details how Isshin met Masaki, Ryuken and Urahara, and where Ichigo's Inner Hollow came from.
96	%% * {{Foreshadowing}}: ''Hurricanes'' of it, some even going as far back as the ''first'' arc. There's so much of it that Bleach's entry on the trope itself actually doesn't cover ''half'' of it.
97	* GasMaskMooks: The Soldats -- the rank-and-file Quincy soldiers -- are the only beings in the series that wear gas masks while fighting.
98	* GetOut: Ōetsu Nimaiya pits Ichigo and Renji against dozens of manifested Asauchi, saying they want revenge for how they've treated their Zanpakutō. Renji passes the test and bonds to one of the Asauchi, but Ichigo is defeated. While Ichigo insists he can still fight, Nimaiya bluntly calls him a fake Soul Reaper, tells him to never return to Soul Society, and unceremoniously teleports him back to the World of the Living. This turns out to be a SecretTestOfCharacter so that Ichigo can learn about his origins and temper his resolve.
99	* GroundhogDayLoop: Mayuri infects the zombified Hitsugaya with a drug that resets time each time Hitsugaya kills him, reactivating Hitsugaya's brain in the process. After ten loops, the drug leaves Hitsugaya painfully incapacitated while Mayuri cheerfully explains exactly what is happening to him.
100	* HadesShaded: When turned into TechnicallyLivingZombie[=s=] by Giselle, Hitsugaya, Kensei, Rose, and Rangiku all develop a dark red tint to their skin, making them appear to be tanned.
101	* HealingSpring: Tenjirō Kirinji's kingdom consists of two giant hotsprings, the seemingly normal White Bone Hell (which forms the template of the hotspring in Urahara's training grounds) and the Blood Pond Hell -- which looks like a pool of boiling blood. However, it's revealed that soaking in the waters for too long can prove fatal, and Tenjirō is left amazed by how Ichigo and Renji can withstand it like it's nothing.
102	* HenshinHero: Urahara engineers a device that allows Nelliel to transform from her SleepModeSize to her full-power adult form at-will.
103	* HopeSpot: When Yamamoto enters the fray, it seems like the tables have turned and his very presence inspires the rest of the Soul Reapers in the battle against the Stern Ritters. He even uses his Bankai and defeats Yhwach with minimal effort... or so he thought. It turns out this Yhwach was an imposter while the ''real'' Yhwach tended to matters involving an imprisoned Aizen. When he arrives to battle, he takes Yamamoto's Bankai and kills him without any effort at all, dealing a devastating blow to the Soul Society.
104	* HotterAndSexier: While the previous arcs had some mild {{ecchi}} humor, this arc shows Masaki Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki naked -- albeit the former with BarbieDollAnatomy and the latter only from behind while she's floating face-down in a hot spring -- and crams Orihime into an outfit designed to show off her massive bust.
105	* {{Hypocrite}}: Both Giselle Gewelle and Mayuri Kurotsuchi deny being sadists... while absolutely delighting in torturing their opponents.
106	* IAmAMonster: When a young Shunsui Kyōraku sneaks into Yamamoto's office to examine a painting of a flame-shrouded figure in Yamamoto's office, Yamamoto solemnly says it's a painting of a monster that appeared when Soul Society was undergoing a crisis only to make things even worse. The painting in question depicts Yamamoto himself using his bankai during the Lichtreich's invasion.
107	* InconsistentTranslation: The official English localization of several terms and names varies between the manga and the anime, the latter of which seems to draw on the localizations used in ''VideoGame/BleachBraveSouls'':
108	** The Quincy Empire is variously spelled "Vandenreich" and "Wandenreich", with the manga using the former and the anime the latter.
109	** The anime adaptation's subtitles spell Ichigo's SwordBeam as "Getsugatensho" rather than "Getsuga Tensho" as in the manga.
110	** Much like in older fan-translations, the anime's subtitles spell Sui-Feng's name as Soi Fon.
111	* ItIsDehumanizing: After Masaki's infection by White becomes apparent, Izumi Ishida refers to her as "that thing" -- further enraging her son Ryūken, who already disapproved of her stern treatment of Masaki.
112	* JustToyingWithThem: In Season 2 Episode 8, Ichigo effortlessly dodges, parries, counters, or tanks Candice Catnipp, Liltotto Lamperd, Meninas [=McAllon=], and Giselle Gewelle hitting him with just about everything they've got -- smirking all the while. The only time he loses his smirk is to yell at Candice to dodge when he fires a Getsuga Jujishō to counter her Voll Stern Dich and Sklave Rei-amped Electrocution attack, and when Bazz B, [=NaNaNa=] Najahkoop, [=PePe=] Waccabrada, and Robert Accutrone join the fray in an attempt to overwhelm him through sheer numbers.
113	* KilledMidSentence: Upon escaping Quilge's Jail, Ichigo immediately kills Shaz Domino with a point-blank Getsuga Tensho before he can finish introducing himself. The light novels reveal Shaz resurrected and escaped thanks to his Schift.
114	* LastRequest: On death's doorstep after having been thoroughly shredded by his own Bankai, Byakuya apologizes to Ichigo for having failed to fulfill his duty to protect Soul Society as a Captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, and for having the "terrible audacity" to ask Ichigo -- a human who should't even be involved -- to protect the Soul Society as his final request.
115	* ManOfKryptonite: Quincies are revealed to eradicate Hollows from a survival instinct due to having an innate vulnerability to Hollow taint. It can weaken their powers and has the potential to destroy their very souls.
116	* ManiacTongue: In the anime, it's revealed that Furōfushi Saitō -- the original Captain of Squad 6 -- had a habit of lolling out her tongue, accentuating her BloodKnight personality.
117	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Masaki Kurosaki, Ichigo's mother, is revealed to be a Quincy meant to carry on the bloodline. By saving Soul Reaper Isshin Shiba, Ichigo's father, from a mysterious Hollow, she was tainted and slowly becoming a Hollow herself. Isshin was able to save her through a procedure thanks to Urahara, but they both could no longer return to their respective homes. Then, years after Ichigo was born, Masaki has her Quincy powers taken away by Yhwach as punishment, leading to her fateful death by the Grand Fisher Hollow.
118	* NoSell:
119	** The Wandenreich possess medallions that can "medallise" a Bankai the moment a Soul Reaper summons it, thereby stealing the Bankai and being able to use it themselves. Ichigo proves immune to this process due to his Zanpakutō Spirit being part Hollow, and Urahara is able to engineer a serum based on this that temporarily Hollowfies the Soul Reapers to enable them to regain their stolen Bankai.
120	** Through a combination of his Oken clothes and sheer overwhelming spiritual pressure, Ichigo effortlessly tanks Candice Catnipp's attempts to fry him with her lightning attacks, countering her Galvano Javelin with a casual Getsuga Tenshō and overpowering her Electrocution attack with a Getsuga Jujishō.
121	* OhCrap:
122	** When Bambietta sees that Komamura has ripped out his own heart for a shot at avenging Yamamoto, even the MadBomber Quincy is [[EvenEvilHasStandards horrified and calls him out on throwing his life away]].
123	** When [=PePe=] sees Liltotto survived his attempt to kill her, he immediately starts panicking and stammers that he's relieved she's okay while scrambling to get as far away from her as possible.
124	* OlderThanTheyLook: Several members of the Wandenreich -- such as Jugram Haschwalth and Bazz-B -- were alive during Yhwach's original reign over 1000 years ago despite only appearing to be in their 20s or 30s, leaving it ambiguous as to whether they are still alive or are souls. That Yhwach calls Uryu the last living Quincy implies the latter.
125	* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Sajin Komamura is revealed to come from a clan of werewolves who were exiled to the Buddhist Animal Realm for their sins, but returned to Soul Society to atone... or at least live in the shadows while being persecuted for their BeastMan appearance. Sajin's grandfather reveals the existence of a technique that can break the chains of their curse and temporarily grant them an undying human form... at the cost of the user being permanently transformed into a wolf once it wears off.
126	* PocketDimension:
127	** Schatten Bereich is a pocket dimension hidden in Soul Society's shadows, which the Wandenreich use as their headquarters, the Silbern. During the Wandenreich's third attack on Soul Society, the Quincy King explains that after the attempted genocide of the Quincies, most of the survivors escaped to Soul Society and created the Schatten Bereich to hide under the Soul Reapers' noses, plotting revenge.
128	** In the anime, Ichibē sends Ichigo to a sacred realm called Irazusando, consisting of a rainy path leading to a ''torii'' gate, lined with vegetation and ''shide'', and tasks him with crossing the gate's threshold. Irazusando turns out to be an EndlessCorridor, with Ichibē recites a poem that explains that those who enter are like empty vessels being filled up by the rain, and that those who are unworthy will perish and be reduced to dust by the downpour.
129	* PowerParasite: The Wandenreich disable Soul Reapers by taking away their Bankai and then using it on the Soul Reapers. There is also a Quincy ability called Sklaverei that sucks up the reishi from everything to empower them, be it the ground, air, buildings, powers or even people.
130	* PowerUpFood: The food made by Kirio Hikifune greatly augments the Spiritual Power of those who consume it, leading to Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, and Byakuya becoming exponentially stronger from eating it.
131	* ProperlyParanoid: Yhwach shatters Ichigo's bankai the moment he activates it out of fear that it could defeat him even in his Soul King-empowered form, then steals Ichigo's Quincy and Hollow powers to further empower himself and deprive his opponent of the use of them should he choose to continue to fight. Yhwach's concern about Ichigo's bankai proves valid, as Ichigo is able to one-shot him with a Getsuga Tenshō even in his 2/3 depowered state -- though Yhwach promptly uses the Almighty to resurrect himself.
132	* PuttingOnTheReich: The typical Wandenreich uniform consists of military uniform and cloaked overlay that possess clear allusions to those worn by UsefulNotes/NaziGermany.
133	* RageBreakingPoint: In the anime, when Yhwach smugly confirms that he is the one who destroyed Soul Society, Ichigo's rage literally erupts around him in a massive BattleAura of crimson spiritual energy -- his pupils flickering yellow -- before he hurls himself at the Quincy King.
134	* ReforgedIntoAMinion:
135	** After Yhwach defeats and seemingly fatally wounds Ichigo in their first fight, he tells Haschwalth to take him to the Wandenrich's castle so that he can be revived under Yhwach's command. Ichigo having instinctually activated his Blut Vene puts a quirk in that plan, as Yhwach runs out of time trying to subdue him and is forced to retreat to the Schatten Bereich.
136	** Giselle Gewelle's Shrift allows her to resurrect slain opponents as undead minions loyal to her, and she's not opposed to using it on defeated allies -- as a badly-wounded Bambietta discovers to her horror.
137	* TheRemnant: The Wandenreich is the remnant of Yhwach's original Quincy Kingdom of Lichtreich, which waged war on Soul Society 1000 years in the past.
138	* TheReveal: The final arc begins to reveal some of the Chekhov's Guns that were laid in earlier parts of the story. It also begins revealing the mysterious pasts of those characters who have backgrounds that tie into the events unfolding in the main storylines. Some of the reveals are genuine shocks to the fandom.
139	* RightUnderTheirNoses: The Wandenreich's second attack traps the Seireitei and everyone in it, revealing that they are in a spatial dimension parallel to the Soul Society from the start.
140	* RougeAnglesOfSatin: The midcard for the anime's "Marching Out the Zombies" misspells "cannon" as "canon".
141	* SerialEscalation: While previous arcs gave previews as to how powerful ''Bleach'' characters can be, the Thousand Year Blood War Arc started to erase all prior conceptions of the power scale and set the bar to new heights.
142	* SeriesContinuityError:
143	** In the broadcast version of the anime's flashback scenes to 1000 years ago, Yhwach is depicted with the same full moustache he has in the present, rather than the stubble sported by the Old Man. This animation error is corrected by the Bluray release.
144	** In episode 12 of the anime, Sajin Komamura is depicted with his head exposed when at the time he'd been hiding his lupine visage under a basket helmet. This continuity error is fixed in the Bluray release.
145	* SpecialEditionTitle: The first six episodes have a mournful song sung from the perspective of the Zanpakuto Spirits, with the credits showing off all the main Zanpakuto. Episode 7 changes things up by spotlighting the original Court Guard captains instead.
146	* SpoilerOpening: The anime's Season 1 opening shows White Zangetsu manifested as an Asauchi, and Ichigo's reforged Shikai.
147	* SuperToughness: After sending Ichigo and Renji on their way, Tenjirō Kirinji's attendants Kazuo and Kazuhiro note that the two Soul Reapers are scarily tough for being able to soak in the White Bone Hell naked -- having had to wear special protective suits to prevent [[HarmfulHealing the hot-spring's waters from killing them]]. This presumably also pertains to Rukia and Byakuya, who also soaked in the waters for a prolonged period of time.
148	* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Unohana trains Zaraki to unlock his true potential in this arc following the first Wandenreich attack. However, this involves a DuelToTheDeath, with the reason being that only one person is allowed to officially hold the title of "Kenpachi" at a time. By the end of the battle, Zaraki mortally wounds Unohana to officially become "Kenpachi".
149	* TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential: After the brutal beatdown delivered by the Wandenreich's initial assault on Soul Society, all of the Captains and Lieutenants undergo intense training to grow stronger.
150	** Kenpachi Zaraki undergoes "Zanjutsu training" at the hands of Yachiru "Retsu" Unohana, unlocking the power he'd subconsciously suppressed and attaining his Shikai. However, this involves killing Unohana to officially become the one and only Kenpachi.
151	** Toshiro Hitsugaya masters his Bankai, letting him transform into an OlderAlterEgo with the ability to freeze anything.
152	** Shūhei Hisagi trains to attain his Bankai... though he's never shown using it.
153	** Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, and Byakuya recover from their injuries in the Royal Realm, resulting in them gaining an exponential increase in power. Ichigo obtains a reforged Zanpakuto in the form of two swords embodying his Hollowfied Soul Reaper and Quincy powers, and is imbued with the Soul King's power to make him able to stand against Yhwach; Renji also obtain a reforged Zanpakuto, as well as learning the true name of his Bankai; while Rukia learns the true power of her Shikai and attains her Bankai.
154	* TombstoneTeeth:
155	** A one-eyed spider-like Huge Hollow encountered by Ryūnosuke Yuki has a mask with huge rectangular teeth, which it more-than happily uses to try to eat him.
156	** In the anime, it's revealed that Entetsu Kumoi -- the original Captain of Squad 9 -- had six blockish golden teeth where his lips should have been, giving him a disturbing appearance.
157	** When Ōetsu Nimaiya makes his debut in the anime, he's shown sporting a vertically-wide grin exposing several too-long block-shaped teeth, emphasizing his zany nature compared to the other members of Squad Zero.
158	* TooLongDidntDub: The anime's midcards contain supplementary information and can be rather text-heavy, but the dubs leave them completely untranslated -- leaving their contents a mystery for viewers who can't read Japanese.
159	* TorsoWithAView: One of the Huge Hollows that attack Ryūnosuke Yuki and Shino Madarame at the beginning of the arc has three Hollow Holes arranged vertically, making it stand out as every other Hollow seen in the series -- aside from Aizen's monstrous form -- has just one.
160	* TrainingFromHell: The Squad Zero put Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, and Byakuya through a form of this to ensure they'll be powerful enough to stand against the Wandenreich. Tenjirō Kirinji notes that even after just soaking in his White Bone Hell hot-spring, which [[HarmfulHealing can kill those who soak in it for too long]], Ichigo has become fast enough to instinctively react to his SuperSpeed -- which is even faster than Sui-Feng and Yoruichi's FlashStep -- and break his wrist. Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia then undergo further training under Ichibē Hyōsube that elevates them to new heights -- Ichigo awakening his true potential as a Soul King candidate and Rukia and Renji unlocking their Zanpakutō's full powers.
161	* TranquilFury: In the anime, as Byakuya delivers his dying request to Ichigo the rain falling on the latter evaporates into steam as his anger builds, though he remains outwardly calm despite the Stern Ritter experiencing a MassOhCrap. When Yhwach smugly confirms he was the one who destroyed the Seireitei, Ichigo hits his RageBreakingPoint and explodes -- the blood-red and black reiatsu blazing around him and his pupils glowing yellow implying that his Hollow side is leaking out -- but doesn't lose the cold glare.
162	* TransferableMemory: When being imbued with the Soul King's power in Season 2, Ichigo has visions of how the first Soul Reapers betrayed and sealed him.
163	* TruerToTheText: The anime retains much of the more violent content from the manga, also undoing several characters' {{adaptation dye job}}s from the original anime.
164	* TheUnReveal: During the lull between the Wandenreich's second and third attacks on Soul Society, Kensei Muguruma and Mashiro Kuna train Shūhei Hisagi to attain his bankai... which he is never shown using on-screen. While Hisagi claims to have attained his Bankai but never had an opportunity to use it, Kensei teases him by claiming he failed to do so.
165	* WarArc: This arc is focused on the culmination of a thousand year history of war between the Quincys and the Soul Reapers.
166	* WhamEpisode: In his journey to reforge his Zanpakuto, Ichigo learns the full truth about his mother and her death. He also learns that "Zangetsu", the Old Man he's been interacting with from the start was never his Zanpakuto Spirit to begin with, but rather the embodiment of the Quincy powers he inherited from his mother that manifested as a younger Yhwach, while the Inner Hollow he'd seen as his EnemyWithin was the true Zangetsu. The Old Man tried to keep Ichigo from becoming a Soul Reaper, lest he'd have to kill him, but admits he eventually accepted and now acknowledges Ichigo's strength; relinquishing his hold on Ichigo's power.
167	* WhamShot: Yhwach tries to deliver a crushing blow on Ichigo, only to see him protected by Blut Vene, a ''Quincy'' ability.
168	* TheWorfEffect: The Wandenreich make themselves known as a force to be reckoned with, possessing more power than the Arrancars and Soul Reapers combined, especially when they can take the latter's Bankai. The group completely decimates the Soul Society in their first attack, leading to the surviving forces training up to prepare for the next one.
169	* YouCantThwartStageOne: Yhwach considers Ichigo to be a bigger threat than Yamamoto, so it would imply to be a major hinderence if he interferes. He tasks one of his subordinates, Quilge, to keep Ichigo pinned down while he brings his Stern Ritters to attack the Soul Society. Ichigo manages to escape Quilge's trap but is eventually too worn down to fight effectively against Yhwach. By then, Yhwach and the others leave with much of the Soul Society and its inhabitants ravaged.
170	* ZergRush: The Soldats make their debut by plowing through the Seireitei, wiping out dozens of {{Red Shirt}}s along the way.

Context Recap / BleachTheThousandYearBloodWarArc