Bleach TYBW Episode 50 “Death and Strawberry” Reaction: Kubo Is Literally the Greatest

That’s it. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 50, “Death and Strawberry,” is the final episode of Bleach, and I know it’s supposed to be bittersweet, and it is, but this is one of the most exciting endings I’ve ever gotten to watch. This is hundreds of episodes and we got through it. That’s monumental. My goat Kubo spent his time cooking, and now his watch has ended.

Hundreds of episodes and we finished it

There’s franchises that are massive and you complete them, and that hits different than a 12-episode show. How much bonding can you really have in 12 episodes? This is the same feeling as finishing Naruto. One day, if I live to see it, I’ll say the same thing about One Piece. And if I don’t, my grandchildren will. Somebody in the bloodline is going to tell you about the end.

And yeah, I’d been defending Kubo for a whole week on the timeline. Some people were really out here talking about how it’s not goated. All right, man.

Ten years later: Rukia’s big day and the next generation

We get a 10-year skip, which for a Soul Reaper is a drop in the bucket. It took us a minute to figure out why today was the important day, and then it clicked: new captain of the 13th Division, and it’s Rukia. Rukia grown up. I was asking if Renji was going to be her second, and it would’ve been funny if it was Ichigo, but I knew that wasn’t happening.

I also had a moment running through the captains like, wait, where’s the wolf homie? Komamura not being up there caught me off guard. I was like, yo, who we lost? Who we lost?

Then the kids. Ichigo and Orihime’s son, Renji and Rukia’s daughter, and these two running around with that Goten and Trunks at a young age energy. Ichigo’s sister came a long way too, and Ishida out here being an actual doctor at a whole other hospital. And the parenting? Ichigo telling them they have to go find their kid? Terrible parents. Soul Reapers have never been the greatest parents from what I’ve seen.

Kid Ichigo handled the last piece of Yhwach

When that spiritual pressure showed up, I was like, oh no. Then a little remnant of Yhwach is in Ichigo’s son, and he just casually turns into a Soul Reaper and wipes it out. One little cell left, and gone. At first a leftover piece of Yhwach showing up ten years later felt incongruous to me, because I’m like, there’s no way we jump 10 years and there’s going to be a remnant. But of course he had to try something. “I’m going to let these people chill, unleash one part, and mess everything up.” Little did he know Kid Ichigo was going to be there.

Is the remnant that weak, or is Kid Ichigo that strong? Both. When Yhwach got hit with Ishida’s arrow, got sliced, and got stabbed in all three worlds, that was truly the end. He was at his one time most vulnerable and he got hit with the ultimate attack. And the way that kid snuck it? That’s Orihime’s personality. He’s his mother’s son.

Death as a feature, not a bug

This is where we went deep on the reaction. What Aizen said is basically the formula for life: without death, it wouldn’t be a fun experience. Think about it like souls building a game. First round, no death, and that game was boring. So what do you add? Death as a feature. The concept that you know you can be destroyed, so you have to work to avoid it. Any real game needs consequences.

Yhwach’s whole plan was one life, nobody has to fear death, and that would have upset the balance. Either we’re all alive forever or we’re all dead, because that’s how that ends. And even then, is there really a natural order, or is it an order the Soul King made that Yhwach thought was lame because he watched a whole bunch of people suffer? Either way, he was taking the fear of death away from people who never asked him to. The fear of death is part of this experience. Don’t take that away from me.

Yhwach looked at everybody like a 5-year-old saying what they want. You can’t let a 5-year-old say, “I’m not going to school because I’m going to be the world’s greatest basketball player.” No, you still got to go to school. That’s exactly how he was looking at everybody while he was fighting: I’ve seen it all, y’all don’t know what you want.

That’s the thing about Bleach. It doesn’t always tell you the answer, it leaves you to ponder it. So if you don’t get it, or you come to the wrong conclusion, then you say the episode was lame. That’s the beauty of it.

My final verdict on TYBW

This is satisfactory. We got some of the best battles in the franchise, period. Could the Yhwach fight have had a little more epicness? Maybe. But I got plenty of it. I got every way of beating Yhwach: one shot, we all jumped him, we jumped him again, and in the end he got beaten philosophically. All it took was courage. Our courage triumphs over his fear of death. It showed me who I wanted to see, everybody’s grown, they got kids. It was a fitting close.

Watch our Episode 50 reaction

More Bleach on the Bleach TYBW show page, plus the one right before the finale: Bleach TYBW Episode 49 “The Blade”: Uryu and Ichigo needed each other.

Watching along? Grab the Bleach manga box sets or Blu-rays on Amazon when you are ready. Amazon Associates tag yaboyrocklee_-20 helps keep the reaction machine running.

Bleach TYBW Episode 50 FAQ

Is Episode 50 the last episode of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War?

Yes. Episode 50, “Death and Strawberry” (Episode 416 overall), is the finale of the Thousand-Year Blood War anime and closes out the Bleach story.

What happens in Bleach TYBW Episode 50?

The story jumps 10 years after Yhwach’s defeat. Rukia becomes captain of the 13th Division, the next generation shows up with Ichigo and Orihime’s son and Renji and Rukia’s daughter, and one last remnant of Yhwach gets handled by Ichigo’s son.

Where can I watch the YaBoyRockLee Episode 50 reaction?

Right here in the embed above, or on the main YaBoyRockLee Reactions YouTube channel.

So did Kubo stick the landing for you? Was the 10-year skip the right way to end it, or did you want one more fight? Let us know in the comments.