Score: A

They are just letting everything happen now! The fights against everyone that isn’t Yhwach is just about wrapped up. Well I say that, but it feels like the hell for the Captains against Gerard is going to drag out for a while longer. But as a whole everything is turning in the direction of needing to bring down Yhwach and I’m loving that.

This was great!

I’m just starting with the end since that was awesome! Nice to get Ichigo’s classic theme song kicking in before he just unleashes hell on Yhwach. It was honestly some of the best hits that Ichigo has gotten in on Yhwach in a long time! It was purely fun seeing Ichigo looking so confident. He used Yhwach’s power to give his hollow side a jump start and was ready the moment that happened. This isn’t like the fight against Ulquiorra. Ichigo is in full control of that power. Which makes him just as dangerous as that time since he can deploy more tactics in this case. Also appreciate him putting away the second sword since that hollow power really is just one of his blades. And it’s refreshing to see Ichigo back just using one sword for a little bit.

His speed was taken to another level. It somewhat felt like back when he first reached Bankai and was just terrorizing Byakuya with his speed. He doesn’t let Yhwach get the comfort of smugly looking down on him. He blitzed him hard and then went straight to a massive blast when that first strike wasn’t enough. It was another reminder of the fighting in Hueco Mundo. Ichigo was pushed to really find ways to improve/creatively use hit Getsugatensho. And combining it with a Gran Rey Cero which was basically exclusive to Espada is just downright terrifying!

Totally ridiculous!

The only downside is that the Ichigo fight only really got started near the end! But I do think the fight against Gerard was great as well. He’s one of the last major walls between the heroes and the finish line. This guy is absolutely broken and a huge pain to defeat though. No matter what he just keeps getting back up! Maybe there’s a chance that nuking him and crushing his Quincy emblem is the way to go…but who knows. Just about everything was something he could pick himself back up from and some of it was rather insane.

Don’t mess with Zaraki!

And they certainly threw the kitchen sink at Gerard. Zaraki started the craziness with of course reaching Bankai. It was an emotional moment since they confirmed what could safely be guessed in that Yachiru was his sword spirit. The moment he finally tapped into his shikai we simply didn’t see her. The bigger thing was that Zaraki realized that. She’s been there with him the whole time. It’s kind of funny how they talked about Zaraki and his sword back when he was first introduced. Because his sword had no issues with how Zaraki was handling things. He didn’t want to lean on her power and she was happy to watch from the audience. Does make me wonder if she’ll ever re-appear in a physical form again. Girl was a beloved vice-captain of the squad.

The highlight of course was the Bankai itself. Would you expect anything less from Zaraki Kenpachi? The man himself was the Bankai. Turned into a war god that would bite or do anything needed to win! He blasted Gerard apart and beat him to a level that if he had lost then it wouldn’t have been a disappointment! Gerard was utterly rattled by how absurd Kenpachi was. His only problem was that his body couldn’t quite handle it for too long. There’s still a ways to go before Zaraki can use that Bankai without limit.

Worth the wait

Naturally have to talk about Hitsugaya. Making the flower petals be a countdown to his transformation into an older form worked. His enemies are lucky that fights never lasted long enough for that. Love how this arc has really played with the idea of the power of the ice type abilities. For Rukia it killed her body so that fear couldn’t easily affect her. Now for Hitsugaya he used ice to shut down the detrimental effect of that sword so there wouldn’t be consequences for damaging it. Hitsugaya couldn’t get the win, but it was fun seeing him get those freezes in on Gerard. It wasn’t just Zaraki frustrating Gerard. Hitsugaya made him struggle as well. The older form looked great, I respected the choice to give him a different actor, and there’s no doubt how insanely powerful Hitsugaya is going to get with just the natural passage of time.

That’s some focus fire!

I’ll give an honorable nod to Byakuya. He was playing more of a supporting role in this fight. But he still got some great hits in. Gerard was completely focused on Hitsugaya once he started to really freeze him up and that let Byakuya smoothly get into position and hit the guy with everything he had. The attack that blasted Gerard’s head off should’ve been enough for the win! It wasn’t, but it was a great attack. I also respect him telling Renji and Rukia to get moving. Their hearts are with their friend and that’s where they should go. Not like another hand or two is going to matter. Gerard is just too annoying and maybe more fighters will make him more difficult anyways. Rukia’s Bankai is also a one-shot kind of thing and against Gerard that’s not as helpful. Hopefully they can back up Ichigo.

Go and get the win Ichigo!

This was another great episode. I enjoy these Captain team-ups. This was one of the better ones anyway since it was such a difficult opponent. I’m not sure how much more of this fight will get our attention since there aren’t many new cards for the Captains to play. The only question is whether they can find a way to finish Gerard off for good. The main focus should be shifting to Ichigo and Inoue vs Yhwach. Well that and Ishida’s fight. Those fights alone have enough going on to take up the rest of the runtime of this series!