Warning: Contains spoilers for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, part 3, episode #6.Of all the bows in BleachThe Lost Agent arc, better known as the Fullbringer arc, remains the most controversial arc in the series, well over a decade since it was first released. Anything that had to follow everything with Aizen would always be looked at with scrutiny, and aside from some strong character writing for Ichigo, it is widely seen as a step backwards for Bleachas a whole.
The Lost Agent arc is the most controversial arc of all Bleachand that, of course, includes its villains. Xcution, often referred to simply as Fullbringers, were widely hated by fans both for meta reasons and because of how they were written into the story, and surprisingly, Xcution, Bleachof the most controversial villains, finally returned in Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War part 3, episode #6. As controversial as they are, this is a perfect opportunity for their reputation to improve, especially if the anime tries to also tie in some future story developments involving them.
Bleach’s Fullbringers officially return as heroes in the thousand-year bloody war
In Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War episode #32, when Ichigo was shocked by the sudden reappearance of Grimmjow and Nel, especially since it should be impossible to freely travel to the Royal Palace, he was shocked once again by Riruka and Yukio, two of the surviving members of Xcution. Riruka and Yukio used their Fullbrings’ space and matter manipulation abilities to help Ichigo and his allies travel through pocket dimensions called the Valley of Screams. and continue the fight with Yhwach, then they officially completed their character arcs and became genuinely heroic characters for Bleachfinal arc.
What makes Riruka and Yukio’s return even better is how it makes up for a currently unexplained moment from part 1. When Ichigo left to train at the Royal Palace, Ganju left to do his own training, and surprisingly, Ginjo, Tsukishima, and Giriko, the three Xcution members who died in the Lost Agent arc joined him to train. Riruka and Yukio’s appearance in Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War confirms that Ginjo and the rest of Xcution will all be on Ichigo’s side in the final battle against Yhwachand that will add a lot Bleachthe story as a whole.
Why the Fullbringers are still so controversial on Bleach more than a decade since their debut
While much can be made of Xcution’s return, it doesn’t erase the reasons they were controversial to begin with. To begin with, not only was it very sudden for Bleach to introduce a new superpower with Fullbrings, but the Fullbrings themselves were far removed from how the powers in Bleach usually worked, with them feeling more like Nen’s abilities than Hunter X Hunter or stands JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The Fullbringers were controversial in part because of how different his powers were from other powers in Bleachand that opinion has never truly changed after more than a decade.
The Fullbringers’ strangeness was only made worse by their actual threat level, or lack thereof. Although Xcution initially seemed quite threatening, once Ichigo regained his Soul Reaper powers and other Soul Reapers joined the fight against them, Xcution was defeated by Ichigo and his friends with little to no difficulty, even after Xcution used Ichigo to increase his own power.. The fact that Xcution was defeated so easily made it feel like all the time spent on them was a waste, and this made it even harder for people to feel attached to them.
The biggest reason why Xcution is so controversial, however, stems from the meta-reasoning behind why BleachThe Lost Agent arc is so controversial. After spending about a decade on the Aizen saga, the Lost Agent arc opted for a more small-scale, character-driven story, and between that and a multitude of arcs with little or no payoff, BleachThe Fullbringers have become controversial because they represent what many consider to be the lowest point in the Bleachfranchise. Opinions on the Lost Agent arc have declined in recent years, but not to the point where it has become universally praised, and Xcution is no exception.
Bleach: Bloody Thousand-Year War Needs to Set Up Its Sequel Story’s Big Twist
Bleach’s Huge Fullbringer Twist Explained
If anything can be done to justify the return of Xcution in Bleach: Thousand Year Blood Warwould be to use them to provoke Bleachthe story of the sequel, Can’t fear your own world. In Can’t fear your own worldit was revealed that Fullbringers were born from fragments of the Soul King within their bodies. Xcution has now joined the fight against people who would be familiar with the Soul King’s story, so Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War can provoke Can’t fear your own worldthe story of referencing the connection between Fullbringers and the Soul King.
The best part of the anime using the Fullbringers to tease Can’t fear your own world is already doing something like this. Everything involving the extensive tradition surrounding the King of Souls has its roots in Can’t fear your own worldthen Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War teasing Fullbringer’s big twist Can’t fear your own world is justified by everything that has already been done with the Soul King in the anime. This would go a long way toward improving the Fullbringers’ reputation, so hopefully Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War will do all this and more.
Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War releases new episodes on Saturdays on Hulu.