THE BLADE IS ME • Ichigo's True Zanpakuto | BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War | VIZ 

The anime really did this scene justice 😭🙌🏽🔥

Number One will always be Bleach´s most iconic soundtrack

I love how White is smiling like a proud parent.

Seriously big shoutout to the director, animators , voice actors, editors and Kubo sensei for bringing such a masterpiece to life

The smile on Hollow Zangetsu's face in this scene looks really genuinely happy, as if to say, "Hey, you've finally accepted me. That's all I've ever wanted."

This was done so freaking well. Ichigo no longer rejecting white and accepting him, understanding his parents story and how he came to be. Knowing he has Quincy powers and that the manifestation of them saw him grow and learn in battle. How white was saving him all the time and that the manifestation just wanted to protect him. They both trust ichigo now and he trusts them. He no longer has to talk to them because they are him. He doesn’t have to rely on them because they are him. They are his blades. The blade is him. I just wonder how overpowered ichigo is now with all this.

From "The Blade and Me" during the Substitute Soul Reaper Arc, to "The Blade is Me" now Edit1: for those who didn't read the manga and only watched the anime, "The Blade and Me" were the titles for both the 66th chapter and the 8th volume. This is around the time Ichigo trains with Kisuke and first releases Zangetsu at the time. Edit2: replaced Soul Society Arc with Substitute Shinigami Arc

“You are both Zangetsu to me” 😭😭😭❤️ love this part

It’s so crazy how Aizen’s initial plan of Hollowfication wound up saving the Soul Society. No wonder Aizen was mocking Yhwach. He knew all along that Ichigo’s abilities wasn’t that of a Soul Reaper. Amazing how much continuity is in this series! It all comes back full circle!

Ichigo picking his asauchi is one of the best scenes so far. just that little expansion of ichigo walking through all the asauchi backing away and kneeling to him really gives a feel to just how strong ichigos true power is

I absolutely love the imagery of Ichigo's inner world. When Ichigo realized that Zangetsu was young Yhwach, it started raining due to the betrayal and sadness that Ichigo felt, leading to his inner world being submerged in water because of his despair. Ichigo leaving the water symbolizes him overcoming the despair and sadness.

Two cool bits, kubo always wanted ichigo's reiatsu to be golden so having the blue from his quincy side and the red from his hollow side turn golden was epic. Secondly the lake evaporating is also a metaphor for his inner world no longer being flooded, it's some parallel genius writing there.

Everything in this scene was AWESOME! WELL DONE PIERROT!

Zangetsu isn't Ichigo's tool. Zangetsu isn't Ichigo's partner. Zangetsu is Ichigo. *_The Blade is Me._*

Best bleach scene OAT imo. The strongest surge of emotions were felt when watching this, shed a tear of joy.

The frame of hollow Ichigo/white in this new art style after a long time without his appearence was the peak for me. I just couldn't hold back the huge smile of joy in my face.

This scene will go down as one of the greatest and most iconic scenes in anime history, fortunate that I got to see it.

I still can't get over the fact that Kubo told us from the BEGINNING that white was really Zangetsu, and none of us believed him. The best part is that there weren't any plot holes created or retcons needed to make this work. White and Zangetsu work well as two separate powers, AND as two halves of the same.

This scene honestly almost made me cry, I love Bleach.

honestly it's phenomenal the music, the pacing, animation, symbolism. everything is just everything you could've asked for the return of bleach. Sheer perfection.

The best part about this entire scene is that Kubo had hollow Ichigo lay it out in plain sight in SS that he's zangetsu but no one picked up on it at the time.

When the "This is what you waited for part" kicked in simultaneously when Ichigo grabbed both his blades..perfection

That face makes me think Zangetsu was the one playing “Number One” the whole time whenever Ichigo does something he’s proud of.

Seeing White smiling for that one moment was just epic. He looks so great.

Easily the best anime this fall

Ichigo stopped letting the Hollow and the Old Man dictate what his powers were about and claimed it for his own. Finally creating the real Zangetsu.

I wish we could've gotten more scenes of white ichigo again. 😭 He was so cool and he helped ichigo alot. Ichigo misunderstood his hollow, but now he finally understands him. Amazing work everyone who worked on this. ❤️

Funny part is, White even said it in one of the training episodes that he was Zangetsu and questioned Ichigo on why he kept looking for the other one 🤯

All this time Ichigo was nerfed 💀 Imagine this Ichigo invading Soul society

i get goosebumps every time when chan - ichi pulls out his zanpakutou. The song starts playing and oh etsu screams temeno zanpakuto da

One of the best moments in all of Bleach. This arc has been absolutely incredible.

A few years ago, I wrote a 30-page piece analyzing Ichigo's relationship with Zangetsu as independent study work. I went straight for the Jungian analysis (I was doing it from a literary perspective, before a certain clinical psychologist made it cool to do it from a psychological perspective) and all I had seen was the anime. I hadn't read the manga. In fact, I rewatched the entire anime (no filler) just for that paper. In it, I argued that Zangetsu was Ichigo's shadow, every part of him that he thought of as either untrue about himself, or that he disliked about himself and wanted to shut away, and that his ultimate moment of growth would be in bringing those disparate parts of his being into union with his living consciousness. As part of the analytical context for the piece, I cited a line from Jospeh Campbell's _The Hero with a Thousand Faces_ : "The mighty hero of extraordinary powers, able to lift Mount Govardhan on a finger, and to fill himself with the terrible glory of the universe, is each of us: not the physical self visible in the mirror, but the King within." As tends to happen with these things, I was right.

It's so safisfying to see Ichigo accepting his both sides!! Specially after watching him struggling with White for years and how shaken he was after Zangetsu reveal.

I can say for a fact that I cried tears of happiness when this was animated from the manga, seeing Ichigo holding his true zanpakuto truly made me happy.

So to be clear, that means that every story arc before this, Ichigo has been fighting everyone with one arm tied behind his back

He literally just said ‘Let bygones, be bygones’ And be the power that I always claimed as mine to be what is needed

Shout out to Oetsu's VA when he said: this is your zanpakuto gives me chills each time

I love how Nimaiya is just as hype as everyone that ever watched this episode😂

Seeing this clip have over 1M views put so much joy in my heart. Hundreds of thousands of people collectively agreeing that The Blade Is Me was peak 🙏

Yuji Nunokawa, THANK YOU for bringing back Bleach, my favorite anime after 10 years, the runs of Naruto and Yu Yu Hakusho, and all that you and your company Studio Pierrot did in your lifetime. Your impact on my life and millions of other people will be felt for years to come. May you rest peacefully and fulfilled.

Can anyone else believe its been 3 months already? I'm so ready for the next part

They adapted this scene to perfectly. It was perfect, perfect. Everything down to the last minute details

This moment was the equivalent of Yusuke achieving his own blend of Sacred Energy. Both amazing moments that are beautifully representative of the character’s growth.

0:10 bro's still a menace

Gotta love the progress from "the blade and me" to "the blade is me" Though I think only manga readers get to appreciate that sort of details

The reveal about White makes his King and Horse speech less about "Be strong or Ill take over" and more of "If your in trouble I'm gonna bail you out even if you don't want me to"

0:10 I don't know why, and maybe it's just me, but there's something legitimately wholesome about seeing White appear proud of Ichigo after so many taunts and abuse over the years before...

Zangetsu is just smiling there irritably. "Oh NOW you get the memo. Fine, I'll share."

Loved this scene so much, such a mix of emotions. It was so badass seeing Ichigo finally get his true zanpakuto. Also couldn’t help crying from him having to say bye to the zangetsu he knew and reaching his self-acceptance

Who ever wrote the number one song must be proud wish there was a live Performance of it

Guys this 1k blood war has been everything we could of hoped for so far. AMAZING animation with a little more gore, the OG cast putting in some of their best, and the new version of this song was SUCH a improvement, like bravo to everyone involved.

When Ichigo first meets the spirit of "Old Man Zangetsu," the latter tries to tell Ichigo his name, but it's blurred out. In the manga (chapter 63), this plays out differently in a subtle way. The speech bubble Old Man Zangetsu uses for saying his name is cracked, and has the vertical space for dialogue (in the Japanese release) blacked out. "Zangetsu" is written as "斬月" in kanji, whereas "Yhwach" is written "ユーハバッハ" as Yuha-Baha in katakana. The blackened out space is too large for the kanji of "Zangetsu," but fits the katakana of "Yhwach." The first time Ichigo meets "White" or Hollow Ichigo, the latter says that he is Zangetsu, over and over again, and Ichigo is copying all of his moves. "White" is teaching Ichigo, albeit in an antagonistic way that zanpakuto spirits sometimes do. You're led to think that the hollow within Ichigo is coming out at an opportune time to seize control, to become "king," but it's acting in a way to protect him when a dangerous, seemingly unbeatable foe is present. I have some issues with how Tite Kubo has written Bleach, some which I know is from rushing and contraints due to publisher pressure and illness. But the White / Old Man Zangetsu / True Zangetsu part of the TYBW story was extremely satisfying.

This is my favorite moment in the entire TYBW arc.

This was my favorite show of 2022. This show not only came back a decade later and delivered it set a new standard. I am so glad I made this far but the show is not over and the next exciting part is next year.

Made the 10 year wait worthwhile. Thank you for this masterpiece

Bleach deserves really to be the best anime ever , with all my respects to the other amazing animes.

Title: Ichigo's True Zanpakuto Video: Cuts off before Ichigo's true Zanpakuto is shown

I loved this moment. The sudden truth reveal for Ichigo, caused it to rain and his inner mind to start breaking down. He felt despair like Tensa Zangetsu told him in the Fullbring arc. But the moment he understood himself, his power, he knew what he had to do. Thus he gained his true Zanpakuto which was amazing. No matter what he is, Zangetsu will be Zangetsu to him. A part of him like White. Such a great finale, Can't wait till cour 2 in July

A great way of ending the four with his true Zangetsu! I can't wait for the next one!!

very cool the real zangetsu looking at ichigo with pride

I love Bleach anime with all its qualities, drama, comedy, courage, strength, and everything is beautiful in Bleach anime, and someone comes and says Bleach anime is not beautiful.

Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War is my anime of the year. Thank you to Studio Pierrot, Shiro Sagisu, and all of the VAs for knocking it out of the park.

"The Blade And Me" "The Blade Is Me" Kubo's a genius man

Definitely some PEAK story telling, animation, storyboarding and music. We won Blech fans!!

I always thought that old man zangetsus clothes looked like Yhwach with his all-mighty ability (I only saw like 1 drawing of it) and now IT ALL MAKES SENSE!!

Kinda sad we didn't get a dialogue with White, dude lowkey may be one of the most interesting characters in the series

Studio Pierrot really did their best for Thousand-Year Blood War and it really shows. I've enjoyed pretty much every second of it and I can't wait for the continuation!

This hit just as hard as the Naruto/Kurama goodbye 😭😭

Just one word can describe this. PERFECTION

The ‘you are me’ at the end was just perfect.

Remember when Ichigo trying to tame his hollow power and Hollow Ichigo say I'm Zangetsu Years later turn out he telling the truth all along .

Crazy, Nimaiya not only reforged Zangetsu, he brought back Number One! Goated

This was by far my favorite anime moment from 2022

"Now. Pull it out, Go-Ichi." 😶

Kubo's foreshadowing low key underrated

You have no idea how much I've needed and waited this scene... Other than the pain for waiting another 7 months, thanks for this animation, voice act, script writers, editors and the man - Tite Kubo himself! Honestly, this inspires me to write too!

Bleach had the best intros, best music and best anime ever!!!!

Having Number 1 play was an unexpected surprise but it works so well! Honestly one of the most hyped moments of Anime in 2022. I’m so ready for Cour 2

This was the best anime experience I ever had, loved every second of it.

Proud Hichigo face is Life! It puts a smile to my face. And a tear to my eye.

Step child telling his step parent and parent they love them both

The voice acting, the visuals, the narration, everything in this episode was just epic !

This scene became iconic instantly. They did it justice

Studio Pierrot and Tite Kubo-sensei, thank you for this masterpiece

The greatest moment of da first season , ichigo true bankai scene always looks so majestic ahh 😭 fr

White stays smug even though he's satisfied. Gigachad😌🔥

The angles in the inner work were awesome, I rarely get chills but here I definitely did, amazing job Also, a moments respect for the Studio Peirrot founder who just passed away

old man Zangestu was logic and white was INSTINCT now ichigo fight with both logic and INSTINCT

Bro White's jawline is insane

Isn't this the soundtrack once stopped by Aizen's finger? Was nice having it back.

In the real world, Yuwach represents ones inner strength locked behind the guise of another (belief in deities, idols, luck), while white represents the inner demons that one refuse to acknowledge as their own (addiction, anger issue). Blade is me is literally an acceptance of ones best and worst qualities, thus gaining agency over one's own being

This is one of the best scenes in whole anime!

I was getting tears in my eyes with goosebumps all over my body... Thats one of the best and epic anime scenes the world has ever delivered to fans !!!

Who is hype for season 2?

White has that expression of "You finally *get it."*

Anime of the year without a doubt!!! Consistent all the time, no episode was below 8/10, and a lot of peak moments, one of the BIG 3!!

Hearing Johnny’s voice in the dub of this episode was so captivating ❤

I feel so lucky to relive these scenes animated with all of you!

First and foremost, Rest in piece to the bleach fans who couldn’t witness this first hand and secondly we will finish this series with you.

Ichigo finally accepting that he and Zangetsu are one and the same