Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Cliffhanger Hits Ichigo With His Biggest Loss Yet

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has ended the first major fight between the Soul Reapers and the Quincies, and the final moments of the newest episode of the series dealt Ichigo Kurosaki with his biggest loss yet. Things have been rough for the Soul Society ever since the new anime kicked off the final arc from Tite Kubo's original manga as the Quincies have returned and sparked a massive invasion. The Soul Reapers had been caught off guard after finding out just how strong these new opponents really are, and Ichigo has been kept in the middle of many of those surprises. 

After being trapped in the space between Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society after his fight with Quilge Opie a few episodes back, Ichigo was finally able to break free from the trap and make his way to help the others. Seeing the massacre that took place, he's so angered that he challenges the Sternritter leader, Yhwach, directly and figures out that he's also not as ready to take on this villain than he originally thought.Though he put up his best effort, it still wasn't enough. 

Why Did Ichigo Lose? 

Episode 7 of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War sees Ichigo fighting Yhwach directly, and much like Yamamoto, he finds himself underestimating just how strong the enemy leader really is. Without expending much effort to do so, Yhwach ends up soundly defeating Ichigo. In fact, Ichigo only managed to survive some of the fatal hits he took thanks to awakening a new power that he himself had no idea he had access to. But when the fight ends, Ichigo gets dealt a much heavier loss. 

READ MORE: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Reveals Ichigo's Surprising New Power | Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Goes for Broke With Ichigo vs. Yhwach: Watch

As Yhwach prepares to leave the Seireitei thanks to them hitting the limits of how long they could stay in the Soul Society, Ichigo tries to attack the leader one more time but he's soon cut off completely by an attack from Yhwach's right hand man. It's here that after Ichigo's Zanpakuto took lots of nicks and cuts throughout the fight, it ends up breaking completely as Ichigo loses all of his faith in his power and spirit. It's a complete and total loss. 

How do you feel about Ichigo's fight against Yhwach? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!