Let me preface this by saying that I’ve read the entire manga during release, and own the volumes. I’m a huge BLEACH fan that has played pretty much every game, read all LNs, watched interviews and closely followed Kubo-sensei. In my opinion, this season’s finale undermines severely the structure and message of the series, in particular the final arc.
I don’t even know where to start listing what I dislike about it, so here are some scattered thoughts:
- The 0th squad was supposed to be defeated quickly, narratively. It established the Schutzstaffel as formidable foes while simultaneously saving face (they were defeated by surprise) and avoids potential nonsense with their Bankais. Now we get some absurd stuff about “their powers being too great to release”, yet Ichibe is fighting with Bankai just fine, and later on Ichigo’s bankai doesn’t destroy all of existence, despite being by far the strongest thing to ever exist, after the original Soul King.
- To add all of this filler in their tight 52 episode schedule, they had to cut out a bunch of great moments of silence where the audience gets to really think things through and understand the characters and their motivations. As a result, pacing gets demolished. If the filler was simply expanding on what was already there in the manga I wouldn’t mind as much, but they’re adding stuff that makes no sense in-universe.
- WHY CUT OUT THE BIG REVEAL FROM THE SEASON FINALE? Worse still, what was originally a “oh shit, this might actually be unwinnable” moment in the manga was relegated to flashback in this arc.
Anyway, there are a bunch of other negative things I have to say about this adaptation, but overall I’m still enjoying it, bar some moments of real annoyance. I just wish they were more faithful to Kubo-sensei’s original work.
The chapter limitation only came about after Ichigo vs Yhwach part 2. This is quite noticeable, in fact - anyone with a good understanding of Kubo’s writing style can tell things start moving a bit too fast after the halfway point.
Due to Kubo-sensei’s health complications, you mean? He was using a fucked up arm to draw large, complex panels.
Hirako’s Bankai was never intended to be used in TYBW, yet it was added as fanservice. Offscreen fights are a hallmark of Kubo’s writing style, as well. Having that in mind, I doubt the additions are simply “things he didn’t have the time to put in the manga”. Most importantly, however, is the bad pacing this adaptation has been set into, which completely contradicts Kubo’s style - he often lingers for a looong time on important scenes and melancholic moments to allow readers to feel the intended emotions, but the adaptation has simply been jumping from fight to fight.
None of this doesnt contradict that Kubo has overwatch on the project. He went out of way last season to get the As Nodt vs Byakuya fight correct. If something was completely off of what he wouldnt have done, he would go out of his way and ask to change it. Due to it being in, its far more likely he approved it, rather than play the games of saying they added it behind his back.