The Fire

This has to be the most perfect episode of anime I've watched in my life. Bleach definitely reached "Peak Fiction" with this episode. The writing, animation, music and sound effects are on a different level. 11/10. The build-up to this episode had been quick paced and no-nonsense. It is quite evident that Kubo has taken a hands-on approach and I love it! It deviates from the manga slightly and adds in some new material, which is quite important to the events down the line. There are very few episodes of anime out there that can surpass its manga, but this episode managed to do that. Absolutely insane!

But we all know why it dropped below that 9.9 rating suddenly, and we all see through the rabid and comical botting campaign against this episode along with the rest of this anime arising out of envy. And we all know it will never change the fact that this episode along with multiple others from this anime are now already considered some of the best offered by this medium. The Fire broke the internet as the pinnacle of the battle shounen genre and beyond merely just that, some of the best storytelling moments in general. The Fire & Born in the Dark, The Drop & The Battle, Everything But The Rain, June Truth & The Blade Is Me; these duos and trios of episodes are all Episode of the Year contenders for what is Anime of the Year.

The Fire is the emotional cultivation of all the previous episodes of this anime, the climax of the Quincy invasion they had all been building towards.

I have been watching anime for years, including all of the big 3 and others. Bleach has always been one of my favorites because Tite takes so much care in writing the characters and storylines. He structures them brilliantly and ties everything together in a creative way. I watched the original Bleach years ago and began watching this Arc and it was worth the wait. This season, especially this episode proved that. The anime style was always good but it has grown and is even more refined than it was previously. You can see scene after scene how much care and precision was taken into creating this episode. Just *chefs kiss*

Bleach Thousand year blood war, episode 6 is in my opinion the best episode this shonen has ever produced till date, period.

Some of us who have read the manga knows whats coming, but this episode was on an entire different level. From the second the episode started till the end, my eyes were glued to the screen. The artwork and animation is the best this anime has seen since it's inception, it was quite evident that the studio has put its utmost attention to make this episode. All those years of waiting for the manga to be animated was worthwhile.

I just hope. Studio Pierrot animates not just this arc, but No breathes from hell arc too.

The animation team did an awesome job of visualizing the tremendous power emanating from an angry Yamamoto. His Bankai, the Zanka no Tachi, is a force to be reckoned with. The flames that Yamamoto was controlling were so intense that every drop of moisture evaporated from Soul Society. The double-edged nature of wielding such incredible power meant that he needed to finish the fight quickly or else risk destroying the entirety of Soul Society.

A major twist was involved during Yhwach vs Yamamoto. Truth be told, for some reason, I had completely forgotten about said twist from the manga. Which, in a sense, was a good thing, because I was genuinely surprised when it happened during the anime adaptation.

The battle between Yhwach and Yama was fantastic and showcased the best of Bleach's new art style. The flames from Yama's Bankai contrasted extremely well with Yhwach's blue Quincy powers, and the dark aesthetic fit as the backdrop for both of them. As mentioned, Yama had multiple different powers, and all of them were animated very well, from the CGI skeletons to the earth-shattering tip. This episode was a win from the production side and had a fantastic build-up. Now, let's see if the plot was worth everything that went well so far.