ishida antithesis

Bleach: Uryu's Betrayal and the Reason Behind it, Explained

Uryu Ishida's betrayal in Bleach is shocking, but it's not as complicated as the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc makes it out to be.

The following contains spoilers from the Bleach manga's "Thousand-Year Blood War" arc by Tite Kubo, now available in English from Viz media.

As the mysteries of Bleach 's "Thousand-Year Blood War" arc continue to unravel, the story grows more complicated. Fans are left with a lot of questions about Uryu Ishida's shocking decision to join the deadly Yhwach and become a Sternritter. Of Ichigo Kurosaki's many friends, Uryu is among the most powerful and the most intriguing. The series shows his tremendous growth in every arc, making him all the more likable. In terms of strength, Uryu is Ichigo's only friend who can regularly fight side-by-side with him.

However, Uryu's apparent betrayal in the recent anime suggests he will become Ichigo's enemy. As a Sternritter, Uryu has gained an extraordinary ability and is now stronger than ever. It would only add to the protagonist's problems if such a close ally were to turn against him. Here's a full explanation of Uryu's true intentions — and whether he achieves what he's aiming for.

Updated on August 30, 2023, by Ajay Aravind: Shonen anime like Bleach consistently center around a single male protagonist, although the main character's friends are just as important. In fact, each of Bleach 's four overarching storylines revolves around one of Ichigo Kurosaki's pals.The Thousand-Year Blood War arc is about the Quincy and has everything to do with Uryu Ishida, which leaves fans wondering if Ishida betrays Ichigo.

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Ishida's Betrayal in Bleach Was Neither Random Nor Unexpected

Uryu Ishida begins acting uncharacteristically right at the start of the "Thousand-Year Blood War" arc, and Bleach drops a few hints that something will happen between him and Ichigo. Orihime, for example, points out that she's glad Ichigo and Uryu are close friends now. During his battle with one of the Quincy, Ichigo himself remarks that he hasn't been attacked with Uryu's arrow for a long time, setting the possibility for a future clash between the two. However, Uryu suddenly declines to go to Hueco Mundo to help Dondochakka, saying that the Quincy exist to defeat hollows.

Considering Uryu didn't hesitate to work with Hollows in the past, this rejection seemingly comes out of nowhere. He'd also previously fought alongside Pesche, Dondochakka, and Nel to save Orihime. Despite how much he loathed the Soul Reapers in the "Soul Society" arc, Uryu was genuinely worried about Nemu being mistreated by Mayuri Kurotsuchi. The young Quincy has always tried to help those in a weaker position, therefore it was all the more confusing to see him refuse to help a former comrade.

Uryu never previously distinguished among races and, despite being rather aloof, always did his best to help those in need. This time, however, the rest of the team left him behind and went to Hueco Mundo, separating from him for a long time. The next time they meet Uryu is when they're on opposing sides. Whether intentional or not, Bleach had never once portrayed Uryu as evil. After joining the Sternritter , however, his true intentions soon became clear.

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Why Uryu Ishida Betrays His Friends in Bleach

After his separation from the group, Uryu insists on learning about the history of the Quincy — despite his father's countless efforts to stop him. His research turns up a rather shocking piece of information regarding his mother's death. Though she supposedly died from some sort of illness, she actually passed away because of Yhwach's Auswählen (Holy Selection). Incredibly, Ichigo and Uryu both lost their mother on the same day because Yhwach decided to steal their powers for himself.

As a result, Masaki Kurosaki died from a lack of power in her fight with Grand Fisher. Kanae Katagiri, who always had a weak body, died from her sudden loss of energy. Therefore, Uryu joined the Sternritter and even became Yhwach's successor in a plot to infiltrate the Wandenreich Empire and act as a double agent for the Soul Society.

To prove he really was on Yhwach's side, Uryu attacked his "former" friends head-on, declaring he would deal with them before Yhwach woke up. In truth, Uryu had deduced a key weakness in Yhwach and learned the villain is not invincible as everyone had believed. As long as Yhwach shares his Almighty ability with Jugram, he could potentially be defeated. Through this discovery, Uryu did achieve the initial goal behind his supposed betrayal.

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Why Yhwach Chose Uryu as His Successor

Yhwach choosing Uryu as his successor was even more surprising to Bleach fans than the latter joining him in the first place. The mighty villain is a shrewd character who thinks of his subordinates as mere tools, never trusting anyone except his right-hand man Jugram Haschwalth . By many counts, Jugram — the strongest Sternritter and the one who shares Yhwach's ultimate power — should be the successor. Yhwach is impressed by Uryu as well, however, especially considering he's the only "impure" Quincy to have survived the Holy Selection nine years prior.

Therefore, Yhwach declares Uryu as his successor in front of his entire army and even bestows the letter "A" on him, giving immeasurable powers to the young Quincy. The letter stands for "Antithesis," which literally translates to "Perfect Anti-Setup". With this power, Uryu can reverse anything that happens between any two targets. For example, if he is injured by an opponent in battle, he can easily transfer his condition to that person, simultaneously healing himself.

Though Yhwach never outright explains why he chose Uryu as his successor, Jugram is perceptive enough to see his intentions. He explains that Uryu only received the honor so he'd be in a position where everyone else could keep an eye on him. Yhwach is by no means a gullible individual, so he probably saw through Uryu's "betrayal" from the start. Instead of directly killing his descendant, however, Yhwach decides to put him on a pedestal and give his subordinate Jugram a chance to deal with him. In the end, however, Uryu didn't betray Ichigo.

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Uryu's new schrift power is one of bleach's most broken abilities.

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Bleach's Final Villain is So Powerful He Creates a Big Problem for Thousand-Year Blood War

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• Uryu's new power in Bleach's Thousand-Year Blood War makes him extremely overpowered and a serious threat to the plot.
• Uryu's "A" Schrift power, Antithesis, allows him to reverse outcomes, making him nearly unbeatable in battle.
• Uryu's abilities, combined with his Vollstandig and other Quincy powers, make him one of the most formidable characters in Bleach's Soul Society.

Warning: Spoilers for Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War 's second part wasted no time getting down to the plot, with its opening scenes promoting Uryu to a position of prominence in the Quincy organization, as well as granting him a new power. It's the nature of this new power, however, that just might make Uryu too overpowered for the plot.

In Thousand-Year Blood War , Quincy leader Yhwach gives his subordinates a special power, known as a "schrift," which each corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. These powers can be quite strong, as seen with Bleach's Stern Ritter Y , who disguised himself as Yhwach and was able to fight at an incredible level while in that state. While most other Stern Ritter and their schrift abilities have yet to be demonstrated on screen, they're all enough to make their wielders a serious threat, and that goes for Uryu, too. There is one noteworthy aspect to Uryu receiving his schrift, though, and that's the fact that Yhwach says it is the same as his own.

Uryu's "A" Schrift Is One Of Bleach 's Strongest Powers

Uryu was given the "A" Schrift, which in the manga is said to stand for "Antithesis." The Antithesis ability allows its wielder to take what has happened and reverse the outcome. If Uryu were losing and taking a lot of damage, for example, he could use the Antithesis ability to transfer all the damage he had taken to his opponent, while whatever had been dealt to his opponent would be transferred to him. Uryu isn't just limited to using this on himself, or even just on injuries; any two objects that have interacted are eligible for this reversal.

It's not hard to see how this ability could become story-breaking very soon. In some ways, it's similar to Orihime's ability to "reject" the occurrence of events, but the ability to not only undo, but reflect it back at one's opponent makes it far more powerful. While Uryu has yet to use this ability on screen in the Thousand-Year Blood War anime, his first opportunity to do so will soon arrive, as the Quincy launch their final war on Bleach's Soul Society . While the ability in Uryu's hands is scary enough, the thought that Yhwach has a similar ability makes him go from nearly impossible to completely unbeatable, barring the development of an even more overpowered technique.

How Uryu's Schrift Power Stacks Up Against Ichigo

Of course, fans are very much looking forward to the inevitable moment when Uryu clashes with Ichigo. Antithesis is very powerful, and it's especially useful in the hands of someone as intelligent as Uryu. Ichigo, however, has gotten some major power-ups of his own since they last spoke, reforging his Zanpakuto and undergoing some brutal training in the Soul King's Palace. Ichigo's upgraded Bankai has yet to be used on-screen, so it's impossible to say just how powerful he has become, and whether it will be enough to defeat Uryu. One can't forget, however, that Uryu has access to Vollstandig and other Quincy powers in addition to his schrift, and that combination of powers makes him extremely formidable.

Uryu Gets One Of The Many Broken Powers That Appear In Thousand-Year Blood War

As manga readers know, many of the abilities shown by the Sternitters in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc are absolutely broken, or sometimes not explained enough - as is the case with Yhwach's powers that will be showcased later. Uryu has often struggled to keep up with power creep in Bleach , but with this ability at his disposal, that certainly won't be a problem any further. As Yhwach's successor and wielding the Antithesis ability, Uryu has gone from a run-of-the-mill Quincy to one of the Soul Society's greatest threats in all of Bleach .

• Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (2022)