After roughly 10 years on hiatus, Ichigo Kurosaki is choosing up his giant-ass sword as soon as once more, returning for his ultimate bout in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. The expectations for its return on Hulu are stacked excessive; the unique is a staple amongst anime followers in every single place, and is commonly grouped along with One Piece and Naruto as being a part of the “big three.” And after watching an episode, everybody lastly seems as cool as they need to in Thousand-Year Blood War.

Made by Pierrot, the identical studio that animated the sequence’ authentic run from 2004 to 2012, the brand new present doesn’t miss a single beat when choosing again up. The first episode covers roughly the primary 5 chapters of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, and matches them fairly intently. And from the primary frames of the brand new present, it’s clear these new to Bleach received’t discover a complete lot to go by, and longtime followers might discover themselves catching up as nicely. It seems Pierrot is simply confidently hell-bent on choosing up and ending the sequence as if there was no break — and it instantly pulls you again into the world. We see a deep darkish lab within the Seireitei in chaos, with just about no clarification of what’s occurring. Characters casually point out series-specific phrases like Gigai, Bankai, and Soul Reaper. Moments, like the truth that military-clad fighter Asguiaro Ebern is a Quincy, could have extra oomph for many who know the characters and their significance within the bigger world.

Image: Pierrot/Viz Media

Most importantly: Before we see the unique gang again collectively of their full glory, we see their powers. This seems like a blade of sunshine, blue vitality raining down, or small paper plane-like arrows darting throughout the display screen. Each corresponds to a member of the principle gang: Ichigo Kurosaki, Orihime Inoue, Yasutora Sado (Chad), and Uryu Ishida. When we see the 4 once more, they save two Soul Reapers simply within the nick of time. Seeing the 4 for the primary time in so lengthy is jarring; for a second I really feel like I lose management of any coherent ideas and astral challenge again right into a 15-year-old model of myself that screamed about these characters on Tumblr. That’s partially as a result of I’m excited to see them again, but additionally as a result of everybody simply seems so dang good.

Seriously, let’s simply discuss how fucking cool Ichigo seems in Thousand-Year Blood War. As an older anime, we didn’t get to see Ichigo and the remainder of the forged age into extra up to date animation like we now have with One Piece. Old, semi-stagnant battle scenes have been changed with operatic high-flying antics that focus much more on the motion and really feel like way more choreographed battle scenes to entertain, reasonably than filler to take up time in an episode. Nods to basic anime intros — every of the 4 important characters will get a splashy title card as they’re launched — mix previous anime tropes with a extra up to date model.

It’s a flip that feels befitting of its star. Ichigo Kurosaki has at all times been one of many coolest shonen protagonists. Unlike characters like My Hero Academia’s nerdy Deku or One Piece’s goofy Luffy, Ichigo has at all times felt somewhat bit cooler and extra assured than the remaining. And now it seems like he lastly will get an animation that feels trendy sufficient for him and his ultimate journey.

New episodes of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War simulcast on Hulu each Monday at 8:30 a.m.