Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Episode 06, The Fire, is the episode I have been dreading. I have always loved Genryusai Yamamoto, he’s stern, disciplined, powerful, and sometimes cruel head of the Gotei 13. He plays no games and doesn’t waste time with his opponents. On top of that his abilities were just cool. So when we finally got to see him fight fully and reveal his Bankai, I was excited. It was worth the wait until the end of the fight. I’ve mentioned this before and anyone that has watched anime or read manga knows that the main character must defeat the main villain. So Yamamoto could never actually kill Yhwach, in fact no one but Ichigo can. 

Knowing this can undermine one’s enjoyment of a fight. You’re anticipating the moment the villain pulls something that saves them from defeat. Furthermore, Yamamoto is too strong to be challenged by anyone but Yhwach so he must be taken off the board. This leads to the unsatisfying end of this fight. Granted Yamamoto had exhausted  most of his powers, Yhwach so effortlessly defeats him it feels almost disrespectful. This problem appears again later in this arc. I don’t have a solution to this problem by the way. If Yamamoto did defeat Yhwach would that actually be better? 

I was both dreading this episode and anticipating it. Despite the ending, the fight itself didn’t disappoint. Seeing it animated was exciting. The way the flames surrounded Yamamoto was epic and I loved the fluid movement. You could get a sense of his Bankai’s power through how its effect was represented throughout Soul Society. I’ll be rewatching this fight for years even if I hate how it ended. So how did you feel about this episode? Did you like the fight between Yhwach (fake) and Yamamoto? Is there a better way to use powerful secondary characters? 

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