ishida the antithesis

Bleach: Uryu Ishida Is a LOT Stronger Than You Think

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10 Ways The Bleach Anime Has Aged Poorly

10 shonen tropes bleach thankfully doesn't copy, 10 best isekai anime for fans of mushoku tensei.

The Quincies in Bleach are some of the most fearsome foes that have been ever introduced in the series. In the  Bleach  manga, fans got more of a chance to see just how powerful they are, and among them, Uryu Ishida is easily one of the strongest of them all.

When Uryu was first introduced in  Bleach , he was without a doubt a spectacular character. But it was made clear as the series rolled along that he wasn't as strong as others in the franchise. While he did have some impressive moments, such as taking down the Captain of Squad 12 , Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Uryu otherwise regressed as a character from his first appearance. Fans of the show and manga got to see Ichigo's frightening potential continue to skyrocket while Uryu seemed to fall further by the wayside. It wasn't long before he became an afterthought -- a sidekick at best for some of the most intense battles in the  Bleach  universe.

Related: Bleach: The Quincy, 'Monks of Destruction', Explained

Uryu has, without a doubt, shown himself to be a valuable and useful ally, but unfortunately, his value is placed more on his intelligence and not strength, which is too easy to overlook. But Mangaka Tite Kubo gave fans hope that Uryu would once again return and become an integral, action-oriented part of  Bleach  again when the Quincy finally regained his lost powers just in time for the "Hueco Mundo" Arc . He fought valiantly, defeating the powerful Arrancar, Ciruci Sanderwicci before being bested by the more skilled 8th Espada, Szayelaporro Granz. These two battles revealed that Uryu had indeed gotten much stronger -- but it also proved that he had a long way to go before he could be considered one of the strongest fighters in the anime.

In his next major appearance, Uryu was reduced to playing caretaker for Orihime while Ichigo fought to the death against the 4th Espada, Ulquiorra Cipher. While he did have some cool moments, such as momentarily taking down Yammy Llargo  -- who was considered to be one of Aizen's strongest Espada -- Uryu was once again proven to be mere cannon fodder. This cycle would continue on for some time as Uryu's true potential continued to be hidden from both the viewers and readers of  Bleach . In an almost annoying fashion, it seemed that battle after battle, Uryu was destined to forever play the role of scapegoat for the stronger and more important characters. That was, until the " Thousand-Year Blood War " arc.

Related: Bleach: The Powers & Symbolism of the Arrancar, Explained

With the arrival of the Quincies, fans saw a shift in Uryu's character. One of his fellow Quincies, Quilge Opie, even remarked to Ichigo that it was impossible for even his powerful Quincy abilities to even come close to Uryu's. This revealed that either Uryu had been holding back, or he didn't have access to his full abilities during the course of the anime. What is even more impressive is the fact that Quilge was able to lay waste to multiple powerful Arrancar while also almost successfully detaining Ichigo. Furthermore, when Uryu makes the decision to officially join the Quincies in their war against Soul Society, there are even more secrets about his strength that are revealed.

When the Quincy king, Yhwach finally made his return after centuries, he specifically chose Uryu as his successor. It was revealed that Uryu was a half-blood Quincy who survived Ywach's attempt on his life as a baby. This was so that the Quincy king could regain his powers, but Uryu was the lone half-blood Quincy that was unaffected, making him a very unique case, even amongst full-blood Quincies.

Uryu was the only Quincy in existence to ever be able to resist the king's immense power. This skill is known as Antithesis -- a dangerous ability that allows Uryu to reverse something that has already happened between two targets. The ability was so powerful that even Yhwach himself stated that Uryu's powers would one day evolve and surpass his own. The best example of Antithesis being used is when Uryu was mortally wounded by the king's Grandmaster, Haschwalth, where he was able to use his powers to reverse the damage and heal himself while transferring his grievous wounds onto his enemy. It is a terrifying feat to have at someone's disposal; one that essentially makes Uryu one of the most dangerous and powerful characters in all of  Bleach.

Uryu Ishida's character path in  Bleach  took many twists and turns, even the loss of his powers completely at one point. But though he has been vastly underpowered at some points in the series, he ended up becoming far more than just Ichigo's underappreciated sidekick by the manga's end.

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Does Uryu Ishida Actually Turn Evil and Join Yhwach?

One of the most shocking events or twists that take place in the last arc of Bleach i.e. The Thousand Year Blood War Arc is the decision that Ichigo’s Quincy friend Uryu Ishida makes, where he decides to join the forces of Yhwach and his Wandenreich family, which seems more likely what a Quincy should be doing.

After doing his own research about the gruesome Quincy past and their everlasting battle with the Shinigami, he found out that there was much more history that was hidden and not mentioned by anyone, leaving a much bitter taste in his mouth.

Uryu Ishida decides to follow his fate and joins forces with Yhwach, the latter going as far as offering him a Schrift and proclaiming Uryu Ishida as his successor. It seemed as if Yhwach knew about him returning to his ‘true’ side and following his fate. What exactly does Uryu Ishida want? Does he actually turn evil after he joins Yhwach? What more did he learn from his research? Let’s find out.

Warning: Major story spoilers from the Bleach Manga, so proceed at your own risk!

So, does Uryu Ishida turn evil?

In simple words, Yes. He joins the enemy forces with Yhwach and is given a Schrift.

After Yhwach invades the Soul Society and kills captain commander Yamamoto, Ichigo returns from his training with Squad zero and as he was about to attack Yhwach, Uryu shows up by firing a Heilig Pfeil , defending his newly recognized master.

As Ichigo is baffled by this strange alliance, Uryu Ishida suggests him to leave and without displaying any form of emotion, Uryu leaves with Yhwach.

Uryu Ishida’s ambitions start to take a wild ride as he learns more about the Quincy past. After learning that the Wandenreich was invading Hueco Mundo and attacking Hollows and Shinigami, he decided to go through his family archives to research more about this particular topic.

While he fails to find the exact information that he was looking for, he is discovered by Ryuken, who chastises him for accessing the archives without consent. Uryu then questions his father about how the Quincies could be invading Soul Society and Hueco Mundo but his father shuts him down by saying that it had nothing to do with them.

A disappointed Uryu Ishida decides to go to his father’s office and there he finds a journal with a insignia of the Wandenreich printed on it. As he tries to go through it, Ryuken confronts him for the second time. Uryu asks him whether he had knowledge about Yhwach and the Wandenreich, to which his father agains shuts him down by saying that they had nothing to do with them but this time Uryu Ishida runs out of the room from frustration.

As he goes through the journal, he is surprised to learn about a secret that was never known to him before; that being another Quincy extermination that took place a 1000 years ago.

He discovers that the Quincy empire of 1000 years ago known as the Lichtreich attacked the Soul Society. The motivation of the war was similar as always: an opposition of eliminating all hollows which the Soul Society would never accept, to maintain balance.

The known Quincy Extermination that took place 200 years ago, was infact a planned event organized by the Shinigami to eradicate their arch nemesis once and for all. This revelation left Uryu with conflicted emotions.

Uryu is then greeted by the Wandenreich commander and Yhwach’s second-in-command, Jugram Haschwalth who offers him to join Yhwach. Uryu Ishida accepts and is greeted by Yhwach who names the former as his successor who will lead the Quincy Empire.

As Uryu is taken aback by the declaration, he asks Yhwach why did he chose to do so. After acknowledging the fact that some of his followers don’t just blindly listen to their leader, he explains that even though Uryu was a Gemischt Quincy , he somehow survived after Yhwach used Auschwahlen to absorb all of their power 9 years ago, while Uryu lost his mother. This meant that there was something special in Uryu about how did he survive Auschwahlen?

What is a Gemischt Quincy Or Non Royal Quincy?

There are two main races in the Quincy bloodline, which is based on the heritage of families:  Echt Quincy i.e. the Royal Blood Quincy and Gemischt Quincy i.e. The Mixed Blood quincy.

Echt Quincy are considered ‘real’ because they are pure-blooded and have a long Quincy bloodline. As Gemischt Quincy are deemed inferior due to their mixed blood, Gemischt Quincy devote their lives to protecting Echt Quincy.

Kanae Katagiri, Uryu Ishida’s mother, served the Echt Ishida family.

So when Auschwalen was performed by Yhwach, Uryu Ishida’s mother Kanae died and ideally Uryu should have died as well. However, he survived due to some innate ability in him. Furthermore, unlike other sternritter/schutzstaffel, Uryu Ishida didn’t even lose his powers.

It is to be noted, Yhwach can absorb powers and life force of all quincies and add it to his own against their will. So Uryu deflecting such an ability is what got Yhwach interested in Uryu.

Hence Yhwach named Uryu Ishida as his successor of the Quincy Army and gave him the schrift and alphabet A which is same as his schrift and alphabet A.

So What does Uryu Ishida’s Schrift ‘A’ stand for and what are its powers?

As for his Schrift, he is given the power of A – Antithesis , in which he can reverse the events between any two points. Uryu can choose any two targets and completely reverse everything that has happened, anything ranging from cuts and wounds.

Uryu Ishida is severely injured while fighting an opponent, he can reverse what happened between himself and his opponent, healing himself while severely wounding his opponent.

The fact that Uryu also received the letter A as his schrift does rise interesting questions though, how different is his power from Yhwach’s Almighty?

The Almighty’s fundamental power is to change the future according to Yhwach’s liking . Upon fully awakening his powers after a thousand years, Yhwach can easily foresee the future and change it according to his liking. This is prevalent when Yhwach used this newly awakened power to defeat Ichibei Hyosube by blasting his torso.

The power of Antithesis also manipulates time but in the other way around, i.e. it changes the past and reverses it with any entity. As mentioned before, Uryu Ishida can reverse the physical conditions of his body with anyone who is fine, hence curing himself with ease.

We can see a pattern here, as both powers are deadly not on paper but also in practice and both have a similar foundation of power.

Although Uryu is deemed as Yhwach’s successor, the Quincies did not favor this decision as they thought the position of the leader deserved to the current second-in-command Jugram Haschwalth.

As the Quincies point out their discrepancies, Jugram infact disagrees to this notion due to his loyalty towards Yhwach but this does not prevent him from being skeptical of Uryu Ishida’s allegiance.

Uryu later attempts to enter Yhwach’s room while he is sleeping. However, he is stopped from entering by Haschwalth. When Haschwalth questions Uryu Ishida about his intentions, he says he does not have to tell him about what he’s going to ask Yhwach.

Uryu then notices that Haschwalth is different from how he appeared during the day, provoking the Sternritter Second-in-command to affirm that he and Yhwach are opposite sides of the same coin, and that when Yhwach becomes the Quincy’s father, Haschwalth is given the ruler’s mask. This would allow Yhwach to stay omnipotent.

But what is Uryu Ishida upto? Can he be a double agent of sorts, trying to gain information?

It is very much possible that he is a double agent of sorts as he is seen trying to seek out as much information as he can and also put on a flustered face all the time. He basically seems to give off a nervous look at times and he is also caught by Jugram sneaking into Yhwach’s room.

So, does Uryu Ishida actually really betray Ichigo?

Although he made the decision to join the Quincy king and his supposed ‘true’ heritage, Uryu’s intentions never changed from the beginning. Even though he goes far as attacking Ichigo and his friends, he did it to allow himself to prove his allegiance to Yhwach.

He knew he had a good chance of infiltrating the enemy base moreover from the fact that Auswahlen was deemed useless to Uryu Ishida. He knew this was best chance he had and he took full advantage of it.

Uryu’s main goal was always on finding a way to kill Yhwach.

He understood the reality of the situation that Yhwach is not an enemy who can be defeated just by using Bankai or Vollstandig. He was a much greater threat, in fact the strongest foe that they had to face. After going through the true history of the Quincy race and the ever lasting conflict between them and the Shinigami, he decided to take up matters in his own hands and infiltrate the Wandenreich.

One of his ambitions to kill the Quincy king was to take revenge for killing not only his mother Kanae, but also Ichigo’s mother, Masaki Kurosaki.

Read about how Yhwach is responsible for Ichigo’s mother’s death by clicking the link below :

RELATED: How Did Ichigo’s Mother Die In Bleach? Who Killed Her?

Uryu’s mother and Ichigo’s mother both lost their lives directly/indirectly due to Yhwach and this is what angered Uryu the most.

However as Uryu takes on Jugram, after a long fought battle, even the second in command to Yhwach became a victim of his emperor’s Aushwahlen. His power to distribute misfortune to the one who are in good fortune seemed to have all accumulated in him.

Uryu ascends to the Soul King Palace when he senses a presence. Suddenly, a Heilig Pfeil is fired in front of him. Isshin Kurosaki and Ryuken Ishida stand on a building above Uryu, who began to wonder what they are doing here.

Ryuken orders Uryu to take the arrowhead he shot in front of him. Ryuken reveals that this arrow is made of the silver that clots a Quincy’s heart when Auswahlen is used on them and tells Uryu to shoot Yhwach with it.

The silver blood clot actually came from Uryu’s mother’s heart and the when the silver formed in the heart reacts with the power of Aushwahlen, it can briefly stop Yhwach’s power.

In the final stages of the war, as multiple big players such as Aizen and Ichigo were fighting Yhwach, Uryu came in to help and shot the the arrowhead right into Yhwach’s heart. Although Yhwach was stunned for the slightest of moments, Ichigo managed to cut him down by dealing the final blow.

Uryu, after a shocking revelation where he learnt about the dark past of the Quincy which talks about not one but two extermination events, is left with conflicting ideas. His father was reluctant to share any kind of information with him and he decided to join the ranks of Yhwach after Jugram Haschwalth came to pick him up.

After reaching Yhwach, Uryu was granted a seat in his Wandenreich empire alongside a Shcrift. Not only that but he was deemed as the successor of the Quincy King as the latter saw something special in Uryu, who was unaffected by Auswahlen at all.

Uryu gained the power of A – The Antithesis which gave him the power to reflect any kind of condition between two points. As he ventured alongside Yhwach for his conquest of the Royal Palace, he learnt more about the Almighty.

He infact was acting as a double agent to find a way to kill Yhwach as he wanted to take revenge for the lives that he had snatched from him and Ichigo. Although Uryu attacks Ichigo and his friends, Jugram never accepted his self proclaimed allegiance.

As Uryu and Jugram fought, Uryu was badly wounded but as a result of the power of Antithesis, he reversed all of his wounds which meant that they were now inflicted to Jugram as a result who eventually lost his life to Yhwach’s Aushwahlen.

As Uryu makes his way to the top, he is met by his father Ryuken who gives him a special arrowhead which was made from the silver blood clot of Uryu’s mother’s heart which had the power to briefly stop the effects of Aushwahlen and he used it to do, while Ichigo dealt the final blow.

What are your thoughts on Uryu’s supposed betrayal? Do you think he could have found a better way? Do you think if Ryuken and Masaki were to marry, would things have been way different in Bleach ? Share your thoughts down in the comments below.

Subhamoy Das

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Theories on Uryu's Anti-Thesis.

According to definition he can reverse anything that happened between two targets. We do know that it is not so much of a reverse exactly. It could be only one way as it was shown between Jugaram and Uryu. As when he first used it, he transferred his wounds but never recieved anything visible in return.

The second time Uryu was able to project his wound upon Jugaram on his deathbed but never recieved the lingering effect of Yhwach's light thing in return. Which leads me to two possibilities, one that Uryu can make the transfer one way without recieving anything in return. The second is that exchanges do not have to equivalent. Which means that Uryu can transfer his mortal wounds and only receive a paper cut in return.

Another thing to note is that it was never specified if the targets have to be organic or not. Which means that he could in theory even transfer the events occured between a human and a rock.

Now to my main point, I was kinda thinking how Jugaram said that Anti-thesis can even overcome Almighty. Then I thought how could transfer of damage defeat Yhwach who can just regenerate?

Then I realized that it doesn't necessarily have to be damage that gets reversed as it was stated to the reversal of anything that occured between two targets. Could that mean even the effects of a technique such as Almighty can be reversed? I think so.

Imo, this is how it would work,

Yhwach: Sees future.

Ishida: Doesn't see the future.

Anti-thesis happens,

Yhwach: Doesn't see the future.

Ishida: Sees future.

These are my theories what do you guys think?

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