BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 34 Review — A Faithful Adaptation
BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 3: The Conflict Episode 34 was a faithful adaptation of one of the most interesting fights of the entire arc, Mayuri facing off against Pernida Parnkgjas. This was also a milestone for the series; this episode marked the 400th episode overall of BLEACH.
Last week, the series focused primarily on the early stages of the invasion of Wahr Welt by the Soul Reapers, Quincy who survived the Auschwahlen, and the Arrancar of Ichigo’s camp. It treated us to an entirely new battle that didn’t exist even in the slightest in the manga, that being Renji and his new Bankai vs Uryu and his new Quincy abilities.
That battle set the tone for the remaining fights in this arc; Renji and Uryu both made use of a variety of new and unique abilities back to back as they tried to best each other. While the number of named attacks was unlikely to surpass the seemingly endless ones from Renji, this fight between Pernida and Mayuri is one that I was looking forward to seeing animated, primarily because of how entertaining it is to see characters like Mayuri fight.
While he’ll never be as cool as Urahara in my eyes, Mayuri similarly fits that anime (specifically shonen) anime niche of the scientist with wacky gadgets and a seemingly endless number of countermeasures. Against an opponent like Pernida, who prior to this episode had an entirely unexplained but powerful ability, this made for a good matchup in my opinion. And the episode delivered. The fight itself was paced well, with not much fluff at all added to what came from the manga. Looks wise, things were pretty good, with even the CGI portions of the animation not looking too jarring and everything else being the standard good quality we’ve been getting from BLEACH as of late. Overall, this was a solid start to this battle and an episode with a satisfying quantity of action.
Weird vs Weirder
Pernida is a personal favorite amongst the Quincy. As a part of the Soul King, its actions always have some interesting lore implications, especially alongside what we’ve seen involving the right arm of the Soul King. Its abilities are unique, and I always like powers like The Compulsory that allow a user to control other things like the bodies of enemies or inorganic matter.
However, I do think it was unfortunate that Zaraki basically got fodderized and used as a test dummy for Pernida’s powers so that Mayuri could go into battle better informed. Admittedly, the way the battle went matched both of their personalities (an enemy with that tricky of a power is a horrible match up for Zaraki), but I do wish Zaraki had a chance to be a bit more effective. What stuck out to me most about his portion of the fight was sound; this episode did a fantastic job with gross, fleshy, squelchy sounds and really communicated how raw and physical Pernida’s abilities render things.
What I’m sure will be a bit controversial is how much CGI was used for Pernida specifically. Personally, I’m not one of the people who thinks that CGI completely ruins animation quality, especially when its use is limited to things like backgrounds, when it’s blended well with 2D animation, or when studios like Orange just go above and beyond in terms of the general quality of the CG. I think this falls squarely into the second category.
Plus, for large presences on screen like Pernida, I think using it making alien things seem more alien can actually be a good thing, something the director of AND DA AND first exposed me to thinking about back during Anime Expo. Personally, I’m just glad I finally know how to for sure pronounce this thing’s name.
That aside, I appreciated how much this fight made use of the terrain and had Mayuri hopping and flinging all around the cityscape while avoiding touching the ground near where any of Pernida’s nerves were. Mayuri making use of Hirenkyaku and instantly performing surgery on his own arm (seems like an animator went especially hard on that sequence) both looked great. Similarly, Ashisogijizo was excellent in this episode, with its altered Bankai looking creepy as ever and particularly good in this new art style. His explanations of things came off as organic and helpful rather than feeling shoehorned in, almost like he was crafting a narrative for the fight as he slowly increased his understanding of Pernida’s abilities until he ultimately hard countered them with his Bankai.
Overall, I liked this episode. It’s rare to see BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 3: The Conflict adapt something pretty faithfully without adding any new scenes, but this fight was a good one to keep more or less as it was. Both in the manga and in the anime, this portion of the fight was entertaining, had plenty of action and movement, and serves as a solid entry in the arc. Looking forward to even more of the same as we go into next week.
© TITE KUBO / SHUEISHA, TV TOKYO, dentsu, Pierrot
