The anime world is buzzing, and Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Calamity ‒ Episode 5 has become the centre of attention. With fans across the globe debating every detail, this latest update is one that no otaku will want to miss.
The Story So Far
Let's just get this out of the way: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Episodes like this encapsulate what people love about a good battle shonen. The uncontainable hype, the raw emotions, and of course, the absolute over-the-top spectacle.
This installment really checked off all the boxes, and as I understand it, nobody was more impressed than those who already read the manga—from which this installment pretty substantially diverged. Now seems like as good a time as ever to remind all of you that as far as Bleach goes, I've been perfectly content being anime-only.
Nothing against the manga, just there's only so much time in the day. I have, however, done some looking into it, and my understanding is that all the Orihime stuff and Ichigo's newest form are totally fresh. Obviously Bleach would hardly be the first anime to diverge from its source material, but at least off the top of my head, I can't think of any other battle shonen which diverged so heavily, and at such a pivotal moment.
Be sure to let me know if you can, though. All the same, I'm very curious about, in the years following Thousand-Year Blood War, what the general consensus will be with regards to canonity. But that's later, let's get back to the now.
Starting with Orihime, the absolute GOAT. I said in a previous week that I really appreciated the moments in Thousand-Year Blood War, even if they're only short moments, where Orihime got to be the focus. Well, needless to say, this installment had the Orihime admirers like myself absolutely feasting: an installment highlighting and emphasizing the strength and power we all know she has.
Especially in battle shonen titles of Bleach's era, women often took the backseat, so that makes it extra poignant having an installment like this that really goes out of its way to scream at the viewers that Orihime is important, and also, a badass. Incidentally, she also might be dead? I don't think even Thousand-Year Blood War has the guts to kill her, but also, it's obviously deviating from the source material, so it can't be ruled out.
Still, I know I mentioned that I've been anime only for Bleach, but that doesn't mean I've heard no spoilers at all. In particular, yes, I know what couples end up together in the manga. Skip the next paragraph to avoid manga spoilers for that, because one thought immediately came to mind with regards to all this: Like I said, I doubt Orihime is dead.
But, what if she is though? Is that not The Thing with Thousand-Year Blood War, that colloquially, this is the arc where a tremendous slice of the cast just dies? Who's to say Orihime can't die?
Certainly if she was going to die, this would be the way to do it. So if Orihime is dead, does that mean we're going to get an Ichigo and Rukia ending? Or maybe the series will go super left field and give the people what they crave: Ichigo with Renji, Ichigo with Uryu, or Ichigo with Chad?
Alternatively, we've already seen this anime…
Whether this marks the beginning of something bigger or a standalone moment remains to be seen. What is clear is that the entertainment world is watching closely — and so are we. Follow TeraMovies for complete coverage.
