The strongest Soul Reaper takes on the strongest Sternritter in a new action-packed Bleach episode. 

With the newest season of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War rolling out, Ichigo and his allies have returned to the small screens of television to take the fight to the evil Yhwach and his army of Sternritters. In the latest episode, one of these Sternritters, Gremmy Thoumeaux, fights Kenpachi Zaraki, the strongest Soul Reaper, in a climatic, show-stopping, meteor-cutting fight. 

But let’s hold our horses a little bit. Who is Kenpachi Zaraki? What sort of events led up to this moment of the story? Let’s take a step back into the history of Kenpachi Zaraki, and how this battle is important to his character arc. 

(Shown here: Kenpachi Zaraki) 

Bleach is a story about Ichigo Kurosaki, a 15-year-old high school student who takes on the role of a substitute Soul Reaper when a mysterious girl named Rukia Kuchiki enters his life, guiding him throughout his journey.  

When Rukia was abducted by these Soul Reapers to be sentenced to execution at the Soul Society (the place where all the Soul Reapers reside), Ichigo and his friends invade the place, hoping to rescue her.  

Of the many foes the group encounters, none gave Ichigo more trouble than Kenpachi Zaraki (“Kenpachi” is a title passed down to the strongest active Reaper). Ever since his introduction, Zaraki has been an iconic character known mostly for his insatiable crave for battle. He fights many foes, from Ichigo, to the formidable Nnoitra Gilga, to Retsu Unohana, the woman who inspired Zaraki as a child to become Kenpachi. However, none come as more deadly than his latest foe, Gremmy Thoumeaux.  

(Shown here: Gremmy Thoumeaux) 

The bout began with Kenpachi interrupting Gremmy as he was about to attack Yachiru, a little girl with pink hair that always follows Kenpachi. In retaliation, Gremmy created a giant stone platform to set a stage for his and Zaraki’s fight. He introduces himself as Gremmy Thoumeaux, a Quincy with a power designated as V – The Visionary. This power allows him to manifest anything he imagines into reality. Truly, a powerful ability for a powerful foe.

(Shown here is Kenpachi attempting to slash Gremmy’s shoulder, but failing due to him imagining his body to be harder than the strongest steel.) 

As the battle rages on, Kenpachi is able to thwart and overpower everything Gremmy can imagine with his mind. From being trapped in water, to being crushed by stone, to being blasted by a variety of guns and explosives, it seems as though Kenpachi is winning this fight handily. 

(Shown here: Gremmy summoning dozens of heavy weapons to shoot Kenpachi, and Kenpachi appearing unscathed from the aftermath)   

 However, The Visionary has a hidden trick up his sleeve… A meteor! 

(Shown here: Gremmy creating a massive meteor with just his mind.)  

 Gremmy creates a massive meteor that he uses with the intent of destroying Kenpachi along with the rest of the Soul Society. It is at this point that Kenpachi unveils his zanpaukuto (A Soul Reaper’s weapon) for the very first time in the series. This weapon is known as Nozarashi. It takes the form of a massive meat cleaver looking axe that possesses tremendous cutting and destructive power.  

Using his newfound ability, Kenpachi charges headfirst into the meteor, cutting it into shreds in one of the most spectacular looking and satisfying moments in the history of Bleach.

(Shown here: Kenpachi with his new sword, Nozarashi. This is after destroying the meteor) 

Now in a panic, Gremmy attempts to kill Zaraki by trapping him in outer space. However, even the void of space is no match for Kenpachi, as he shatters the dimension and hacks at Gremmy. The bout ends when Gremmy tries to imagine himself as monstrous as Kenpachi, unfortunately tearing apart when his body can’t handle it.  

The episode ends with Kenpachi silently watching Gremmy in his last moments, acknowledging the power of Zaraki, and being fearful of what lies ahead in death.  

(Shown here: Kenpachi hacking at Gremmy from the void of space.) 

Now that we’ve summarized this episode, I can get to voicing my thoughts. This episode was epic in so many ways. From a writing standpoint, it displays the pinnacle of Kenpachi. The Kenpachi who has truly inherited the title and trained to take on any enemy. One could see Gremmy as a metaphor for the younger Kenpachi, who played around too much and was childish with his immense power. From a visual viewpoint, this episode faithfully adapted the sheer insanity of the battle between these two titans. Keeping a detailed character like Kenpachi on-model is no joke, and the animators still managed to make him look consistently awesome in each frame. The choice of music was stellar, as well, with special remixes of previously used music in Bleach as well as new, original scenes. 

(Shown here: The defeat of Gremmy. It is revealed here that Gremmy was really just a brain, and his body was a product of his imagination.) 

But alas, this isn’t even the climax! We still have several episodes left. If this is just one episode, imagine how the climatic finale will look like. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10 for amazing animation, good writing, and bombastic music and compositing.