Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 1 opens with the Soul Society in chaos as several Hollows rapidly disappear and are nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Squad 13 officers Shino Madarame and Ryunosuke Yuki are sent to Karakura Town to watch out for Hollows. Ryunosuke is clearly uncertain about being sent to a place with a high volume of Hollows and believes they should leave it to a powerful Substitute Soul Reaper. However, Shino sends him to patrol the south side of the town while she checks on the north. This is a bad idea as Ryunosuke is immediately attacked by a large Hollow. He escapes and rushes back to Shino for aid but discovers that she has also been attacked by more Hollows. Wounded by the Hollow that followed him, Ryunosuke fears his death but is saved by Team Ichigo.
The arrival of Team Ichigo is an action-packed sequence that reintroduces the members by showing off their abilities as even more Hollows arrive. We get to see Orihime Inoue, Yasutora Sado, and Uryu Ishida take on the Hollows before Ichigo Kurosaki displays his trademark moves. Needless to say, the return of Team Ichigo was epic and fans are already celebrating the final season’s premiere episode.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is the anime’s final season and is set to adapt the last story arc of Tite Kubo’s manga. The final season will consist of 52 episodes and will be split across four cours with short breaks in between. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 2 will premiere on Monday, October 17, 2022.
