The following contains spoilers for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 2, "Foundation Stones," now streaming on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ internationally.
Bleach's new anime is a real standout in the Fall 2022 season, and just two episodes in, it's clear that the "Thousand-Year Blood War" arc will be the series' most brutal, exciting and suspenseful of all. The stakes are already high and climbing rapidly, and Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends don't even understand the enemy they're fighting just yet.
Episode 1 introduced two low-ranked Arrancars, Asguiaro Ebern and Luders Friegen, who fought for the hidden Quincy empire -- but they were just warmups. Episode 2 introduces one of the Sternritter, an elite Quincy warrior named Quilge Opie, who lays waste to Hueco Mundo without mercy. The threat is so dire that Ichigo and his friends are now fighting to save Aizen's old minions.
Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 2 Unveils the Merciless Quilge Opie
Episode 2 of the Bleach anime's final arc picks up right where Episode 1 left off, and the mysterious Quincy empire makes its next move. Asguiaro and Luders might have been a threat to Ichigo and his team, but the Quincy king executes both Arrancars, making room for a brand-new villain. Ichigo learns of this when his old friends Nelliel and Pesche arrive in a reverse-isekai sequence, warning their ally of a Quincy invasion of the Hollow world, Hueco Mundo. While Ichigo is no friend of the Arrancars, he is sympathetic to Nelliel, so he agrees to visit that world with everyone but Uryu in tow. Upon arrival, Ichigo and the others witness a scene of bloody carnage, with slain Arrancars everywhere.
Then viewers meet the one responsible for all this. A powerful new Quincy warrior introduced as Quilge Opie, one of the Sternritter, makes his debut seated on a chair as a handful of captured Arrancars line up against the wall to await their fate. Quilge gives his captives a false promise of salvation, then executes half of them before two of the Arrancars, Loly Aivirrne and Menoly Mallia, fight back.
Quilge quickly defeats them, only for Tier Harribel's three fracciones to arrive in release mode to fight Quilge and his squad of Quincy soldiers. This fight makes it evident that Asguiaro and Luders had been the exception by agreeing to fight for the Quincy empire. Most other Arrancars are hostile to the Quincy, fighting to defend their world and whatever honor they have left. Ichigo most likely won't cross swords with any Arrancars in this story arc, given their powerful -- and detestable -- mutual enemy.
Bleach's New Quincy/Arrancar Alliance Is Tenuous at Best
Apacci, Sung-Sun and Mila Rose fight well and wipe out most of Quilge's troops, but as a Sternritter, Quilge himself is a different matter. He defeats the Tres Bestias almost as easily as he did Loly and Menoly, which is no mean feat. Ichigo and his team can only watch from a distance for now, but perhaps he will intervene on behalf of the hapless Arrancars in Episode 3. It seems inevitable that Ichigo will fight Quilge and any other Sternritter anyway, so he might as well ambush Quilge here in Hueco Mundo and try to get the upper hand. With Quilge having his hands full with uncooperative Arrancars, this is Ichigo's best and perhaps only chance to take him down.
Episode 2 also makes it grimly clear how the Quincy troops view the surviving Arrancars. On one hand, the fallen Sosuke Aizen had shaped most Arrancars into fine fighters -- complete with zanpakuto -- but Quilge and the Quincy king don't seem impressed. They merely treat the Arrancars as cheap hounds of war to throw at the enemy while the real Quincy troops can keep their hands clean.
Yhwach's casual attitude about Asguiaro and Luders is just the start; Quilge Opie sees fit to execute most Arrancars as a matter of course, and even when he intends to recruit Arrancars, he has his men beat them half to death first. Bleach's bizarre Quincy/Arrancar alliance is already falling apart, but even without Arrancars fighting for him, Quilge will prove a formidable foe. Ichigo must be ready.