| BABY, HOLD YOUR HAND 2 [Never Ending My Dream] | |
| |
| Quote |  "Shared memories, unspoken... the mirror transmits, from the shadows." |
| TYBW Episode # | 36 |
| Overall Episode # | 402 |
| Manga Chapters | Chapter 630 (pages 6-9), Chapter 640, Chapter 641, Chapter 642, Chapter 643, Chapter 644 (pages 1-9) |
| Arc | Thousand-Year Blood War arc |
| Chronology | |
|---|---|
| Previous Episode | DON’T CHASE A SHADOW |
| Next Episode | SHADOWS GONE |
| Airdate | |
| Japanese | December 7, 2024 |
| English | January 4, 2025 |
| Theme Music | |
| Opening | Kotoba ni Sezu Tomo |
| Ending | Monochrome |
| Episode 402 Screenshots | |
For the similarly named chapters, see BABY, HOLD YOUR HAND 2 and BABY, HOLD YOUR HAND 7 [Never Ending My Dream].
BABY, HOLD YOUR HAND 2 [Never Ending My Dream] is the thirty-sixth episode of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War and the four hundred and second episode of the Bleach anime overall.
12th Division Lieutenant Nemu Kurotsuchi reveals she has developed agency by intervening in Sternritter "C" Pernida Parnkgjas's battle against her captain, Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
Summary[]
Several areas of the modified Ashisogi Jizō bulge outward and deflate after it eats Pernida.
Cackling maniacally at the sight of his modified Ashisogi Jizō devouring Sternritter "C" Pernida Parnkgjas and its clones, 12th Division Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi stops abruptly and inquires about how the stomach of the Ashisogi Jizō is doing since it swallowed Pernida and its clones whole, which will make digestion take some time, though he muses that birthing the Ashisogi Jizō without teeth was the right move because it would not have survived if Pernida was able to continue duplicating itself. Suddenly, dozens of areas of the Ashisogi Jizō rapidly bulge outward and deflate as firing sounds are heard from within.
Pernida bursts out of the remains of the Ashisogi Jizō with its Heilig Bogen.
The Ashisogi Jizō screams in agony before vomiting up its insides and exploding, leaving chunks of its organs lying on the ground before a startled Mayuri. From within the stomach, a massive Heilig Pfeil punches through the meat and hurtles toward Mayuri, who narrowly evades it before it destroys a tower behind him. As it laughs gleefully, Pernida stands with an equally large Heilig Bogen formed between its fingers and admits it is mimicking Mayuri's laughter prior to reminding him that it is a Quincy who can kill enemies with a bow and arrow, only for a smiling Mayuri to claim that he did not forget this.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi is left perturbed by Pernida's vocabulary unexpectedly improving.
With Mayuri declaring that he simply did not expect the left arm of the Soul King to shamelessly proclaim itself to be a Quincy, Pernida questions how this is shameless and regrows its missing fingers while its voice deepens and it asserts that it has always been a Quincy. While its voice returns to normal, Pernida tells a perturbed Mayuri that it is tired of his endless badmouthing of Quincy, leading Mayuri to internally pick up on its voice changing momentarily and note that its vocabulary has been steadily improving since the start of the battle, though he is uncertain if it is regaining its memory as the Soul King or somehow evolving.
Pernida begins rapidly firing Heilig Pfeil that have individual nerves attached to the end.
Straightening up, Pernida creates five Heilig Bogens on the tips of its fingers and begins rapidly firing Heilig Pfeil at Mayuri, who begins dodging between them and is alarmed to see that each has a nerve attached to the end. When one of the Heilig Pfeil pierces through his left arm as he moves back, Mayuri immediately detonates it at the shoulder before the rest of his body can be infiltrated, but the Heilig Pfeil bends before it can touch the ground behind him and turns in midair to hurtle back toward him, prompting Mayuri to realize that Pernida's nerves in the ground can redirect the Heilig Pfeil.
Nemu Kurotsuchi saves Mayuri from being struck by the nerve-infused Heilig Pfeil.
However, before Mayuri can be struck by the Heilig Pfeil that he does not believe he can evade, his lieutenant, Nemu Kurotsuchi, leaps into the air, grabs the Heilig Pfeil with her right arm, and cuts off her arm with her left hand before her body can be infiltrated, leaving her and her severed limb to fall to the ground below while Pernida's nerves encroach beneath. After briefly landing on the ground, Mayuri lunges toward Nemu and pulls her away from the nerves prior to dropping her on a building and berating her for intervening without being ordered to, as she was risking being reduced to a lump of meat by the nerves on the ground.
Mayuri is nonplussed to learn that Nemu made a decision to assist without him.
In response to Nemu asserting that she judged he was in need of a shield during this battle, Mayuri counters that he does not recall ever teaching her to assist him at her own discretion, and when Nemu confirms this, Mayuri inquires if she is saying that she learned on her own without him teaching her, though Nemu admits that she does not know. Turning away, Mayuri addresses Nemu as Nanagō Nemuri, to her surprise, and recounts how she has been through many battles and learned too many things since Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends first showed up before asking her if she understands the toll it will take on him to develop the next her to this level.
Mayuri regenerates his missing arm with a Hojiku-Zai that Nemu gives him.
With Nemu affirming that she does not, a yelling Mayuri demands that she not act on her own judgement if she does not understand this because she does not have the freedom to die by her own judgement and will die only when he tells her to die, which Nemu accepts as she remembers waking up and being addressed as "Number 7" by Mayuri for the first time, which she loved very much. Seconds later, Nemu hands Mayuri a Hojiku-Zai, which she reveals is what she intervened to give him, and Mayuri uses it to regenerate his missing left arm while inferring that Nemu noticed he failed to bring it with him from the start of the Wahrwelt incursion.
Mayuri prepares to face Pernida and its clones alongside Nemu after their injuries are healed.
Confirming this, Nemu takes the Hojiku-Zai back from Mayuri and uses it to regenerate her missing right arm as she explains how Mayuri did not go through the medicine cabinet as he always does ahead of a battle when this conflict began, which Mayuri calls a creepy attention to detail while staring at Pernida alongside Nemu, who apologizes. After a pause, Mayuri jumps off the roof and presses a button on his Hirenkyaku Shoes to initiate a more powerful jet burst from them so he can begin evading hundreds of Heilig Pfeil fired by Pernida and its clones, who surround him with individual Heilig Bogens formed on their fingertips.
Mayuri dodges hundreds of Heilig Pfeil fired by Pernida and its clones while releasing anesthetic.
After flying around for several seconds and narrowly dodging the Heilig Pfeil, Mayuri contacts Nemu, who is running down the side of the building they were standing on, and details how he is releasing a highly concentrated anesthetic across the area because he measured the nerve density of the Heilig Pfeil during his last encounter with Pernida and is certain that this concentration is high enough to neutralize them. Admitting that Pernida and its clones will have an unknown reaction to the anesthetic and it is high enough to slightly affect him as well, Mayuri dismisses this as unavoidable while Nemu leaps off another building.
Mayuri reveals that the Nerve-Freezing Agent will forcibly stop Pernida's organs.
Mayuri informs Nemu that her job is to inject his Nerve-Freezing Agent directly into one of the nullified Heilig Pfeil, and as he rushes along the ground to avoid a burst of Heilig Pfeil from one of Pernida's clones, Mayuri notes that this does not weaken nerves by obstructing transmission like an anesthetic does, but instead freezes those transmissions and forcibly stops all organs connected to the nerves in the state they were in when the Nerve-Freezing Agent reached them, meaning that open eyelids cannot close, contracted hearts will not expand, and open mouths cannot close, which he ecstatically shouts about.
Pernida and one of its clones are stopped in place by the Nerve-Freezing Agent.
After reprimanding Nemu for telling him that he is being too loud, Mayuri recalls confirming that Pernida has blood even though he cannot tell what organs are in its body and announces that the Nerve-Freezing Agent will kill it by coagulating the blood in its body. With Nemu running across the ground that Pernida's nerves are embedded in, Mayuri assures her that his anesthetic has neutralized them, making the ground safe to step on, and orders her to inject the Nerve-Freezing Agent into a Heilig Pfeil before Pernida retracts its nerves from it, which Nemu does, causing Pernida and one of its clones to be frozen.
The remaining clone of Pernida severs its thumb and reveals that it has evolved further.
However, though Pernida and the one clone turn dark purple and Mayuri proclaims that it is over, the remaining clone severs its thumb before the coagulation can spread beyond it, to Mayuri's astonishment, and demands to know if he thinks he can kill it with this while addressing him by his last name. In turn, Mayuri notices that it is speaking like 11th Division Captain Kenpachi Zaraki and deduces that it evolves by absorbing data from everything its nerves touch, leaving him nervous since Nemu's reaction speed will not be sufficient if its nerves have evolved to Kenpachi's level and leading him to tell Nemu to get back.
Pernida uses the ability of the modified Ashisogi Jizō to overcome the agent.
Suddenly, Pernida sheds the dark purple layer of skin and shreds the remnants of its coats as it overcomes the Nerve-Freezing Agent, which a shocked Mayuri identifies as the layered skin ability of the modified Ashisogi Jizō he created earlier. With Pernida arching over Mayuri, Nemu glares at it from the ground and expresses concern for Mayuri. In the past, 12th Division 3rd Seat Akon is confused by a young Nemu informing him that Mayuri will not address her by her name, and when Nemu states that he has been calling her Nemu instead, Akon points out that this is her name, only for Nemu to remind him that it is Nanagō Nemuri.
Niko Kuna accidentally discovers the remnants of Mayuri's Nemuri project.
In the present, Niko Kuna is startled in the returned Shinigami Research and Development Institute in the Seireitei below when she inadvertently raises three vials containing small clumps of flesh, which she claims did not happen because of anything she did. Walking over to them, Akon reminds Kuna that they are supposed to get the SRDI running again before the captains returns, but is surprised by what he sees and identifies the vials as early relics from the Artificial Soul Project: Nemuri, which he has not seen in a long time. With Kuna making the connection between Nemuri and Nemu, Akon identifies the vials as the first three iterations.
Akon recounts the history of the Artificial Soul Project: Nemuri to Kuna and Bungarō.
Kuna is shocked to learn that the flesh clumps are essentially corpses as Akon explains how the beginning of the project only produced failures and reveals that the fourth iteration finally resulted in a brain, which Bungarō infers led to the technology that fixed his bandaged head. Affirming this, Akon elaborates that the fifth iteration reached the fetus stage and let Mayuri modify his Zanpakutō, resulting in his promotion to captain, which Kuna admits makes sense, while the sixth lived to be two years old until it died from its cell division ceasing, as that is the natural lifespan for artificial Souls' cells.
Akon discusses Mayuri's modified name for Nemu with her during the latter's youth.
While Akon reveals that Mayuri was overjoyed when Nemu survived past the two-year mark, Nemu crouches prior to launching herself toward Mayuri with enough force to shatter the ground. In the past, Akon walks through a hallway with a young Nemu and questions why she is asking him about Mayuri's reason for calling her Nemu instead of Mayuri himself, leading Nemu to state that she does not think Mayuri will give her an answer even if she asks, to which Akon retorts that she should know he will not know either if she knows this about Mayuri. When Akon deduces that it is most likely embarrassment on Mayuri's part, Nemu asserts that he is unlikely to feel this emotion.
Akon asserts that Nemu growing up and learning is the culmination of Mayuri's dream.
Expressing bemusement at this, Akon recounts Mayuri's words about creating an artificial Shinigami from nothing being the dream of all Shinigami and deciding to call the project Nemuri since it is ridiculous to dream while awake, which he attributes to Mayuri's sense of sarcasm, and admits that he will be speaking speculatively here before theorizing that this is Mayuri's personal dream rather than that of all Shinigami, with Nemu eating, sleeping, breathing, learning something, and growing every day being what Mayuri has dreamed about. Once Akon concludes that Mayuri was probably embarrassed she would notice this, Nemu admits she had not noticed.
Nemu rescues Mayuri and smashes through the original Pernida with tremendous force.
As they continue walking, Akon states that even he could tell Nemu would one day figure this out due to her rate of growth, and when Nemu inquires if Mayuri would have continued to call her Nanagō if she had not noticed this, a smiling Akon denies this informs Nemu that there is no way she would not evolve because she is Mayuri's greatest creation. In the present, Nemu grabs Mayuri and smashes through Pernida, leaving a massive hole in the center of its palm while a bewildered Mayuri demands to know where she got this power. In response, Nemu reveals that this is the power Mayuri gave her by bestowing Nemu with the body of a Shinigami.
Mayuri is astonished to see Nemu taking initiative and disobeying his orders to protect him.
Nemu details how she has enhanced its power to 0.8% below the threshold where it would break down and responds to Mayuri's shock by assuring him that she can last for another 400 seconds, but Mayuri angrily declares that this is not what he is mad about because he did not give Nemu the order to do this. When Nemu clarifies that it is her mission to protect him, Mayuri counters that her mission is to continue to grow, only for Nemu to assert that she can show her growth by protecting him. After Nemu places him on a rooftop and departs, Mayuri wonders where she learned to talk back like this and admits that he never thought he could leave a battle to her.
Nemu destroys the clone of Pernida by firing 6% of her Soul as Gikon Jūrinjū.
With a disheveled Mayuri calling this humiliating, Nemu hurtles toward Pernida's remaining clone and gathers energy around her right palm as she internally notes that she is shaving off 6% of her Soul to fire it at the clone in the form of Gikon Jūrinjū, which takes the form of a golden energy blast that warps the clone's flesh around itself and creates a circular hole while passing through it with enough force to destroy several buildings behind it and rip apart the clone. In the aftermath, Nemu falls through the air with the pieces of the split clone scattered around her and looks fondly at Mayuri, who watches her descend in awe.
Nemu is ripped to pieces by the pieces of the clone after they gain sentience.
Suddenly, the pieces of the clone sprout individual eyes, extend their nerves into a shocked Nemu's body, and cause her flesh to swell up before she explodes in a shower of blood and organs, which splatter on the ground around a stunned Mayuri as her severed hand is left to spin through the air. While Mayuri numbly expresses his disbelief at this, the scattered pieces of the clone begin reforming into their original shape, and as Mayuri hunches over, a kneeling hallucination of Szayelaporro Granz questions if Mayuri just felt grief or despair over this. Assuming he misheard this, Szayelaporro asks to get a better look at Mayuri's face.
A hallucination of Szayelaporro Granz mocks Mayuri for grieving Nemu's death.
Szayelaporro sarcastically refuses to believe this since Mayuri is the one who lectured him about what it means to be a scientist and reminds him that he has no reason to be sad about his modified life form dying because he believes perfection has no meaning to scientists and abhors it. Proclaiming that this means Mayuri should celebrate Nemu's death because it means she was not perfect and has left room for him to create something better, Szayelaporro admits that this is what he thought Mayuri would say and mockingly infers that he was beginning to believe Nemu was perfect, which he stands up to look down upon Mayuri for thinking.
Mayuri dispels the hallucination of Szayelaporro and admits that it was right about him.
With the clone of Pernida continuing to regrow behind him, Szayelaporro claims that Mayuri should thank it because it crushed his arrogance and negligence by killing Nemu and reminds him that he is now alone despite his efforts with what he thought was perfect destroyed, which Szayelaporro concludes is something he could only laugh about if he were in Mayuri's situation. However, a further disheveled Mayuri crushes and dispels the hallucination with his hand and concurs that it was right before asserting that it is utterly comical for him to have needed a false scientist like Szayelaporro to remind him of his own negligence.
Mayuri retrieves Nemu's brain before the clone of Pernida can consume it along with her flesh.
Slamming down onto the rooftop where Mayuri is standing, the clone of Pernida reveals a tongue with a large eyeball sprouting from its palm, leading Mayuri to deduce that it has come to feast on Nemu's flesh and encourages it to do so until the last scrap of skin is gone. However, upon seeing the clone scooping up a chunk of Nemu's flesh with her brain on it, Mayuri plugs a cord into his ear, reaches into the clone's mouth, and snatches back the brain to keep from it. When the clone attempts to reach for him, electricity crackles around Mayuri, forcing the screaming clone back while Mayuri asks it if it if feels numb after experiencing this.
The Pernida clone's flesh begins swelling and distorting after failing to consume Nemu's brain.
Mayuri insists that the clone finish eating Nemu because it will quickly die otherwise, and with the clone convulsing in pain and demanding to know what this is, Mayuri explains that Nemu's pituitary gland, which the clone ate, contained an Involuntary Cell Division Acceleration Organ designed to surpass an artificial Soul's cell division threshold. As the clone's flesh begins drastically swelling and bulging outward, Mayuri elaborates that the organ functions at all times to allow cells to continuously grow beyond their theoretical limit and is regulated by the parietal lobe via a connection to the basal ganglia.
Pernida's clone self-destructs due to its cells rapidly multiplying out of control.
Deciding to rephrase it so even an idiot like the Pernida clone can understand, Mayuri clarifies that the organ alone being ingested without Nemu's brain will cause the consuming organism to grow out of control and self-destruct just before the screaming clone explodes, splattering its flesh and blood across the nearby buildings. In the aftermath of the clone's remaining body collapsing, Mayuri walks away with Nemu's brain, only to collapse and realize that a surviving nerve mutilated his legs at the last second, which he observes makes him no different from Kenpachi, just before 11th Division 3rd Seat Ikkaku Madarame and 5th Seat Yumichika Ayasegawa approach him.
Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Rangiku Matsumoto are released after being fully restored.
Surprised that Ikkaku and Yumichika have not fled yet, Mayuri calls them stupid beyond belief, only to commend them for not interfering with the battle. Moments later, Ikkaku and Yumichika carry Mayuri through the streets with his arms over their shoulders as he directs them to body preservation pods hidden in ruins down the street that contain 10th Division Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto, now cured of their zombification. Instructing Ikkaku and Yumichika to go on with them, Mayuri admits that their lifespans were greatly reduced and assumes they will not hold it against him for saving their lives.
Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa thank Mayuri for saving Kenpachi Zaraki.
With Hitsugaya departing alongside Rangiku and thanking him, a scoffing Mayuri has Ikkaku and Yumichika place him into one of the pods and allows them to place Kenpachi in the other one. After promising to see Kenpachi soon, Ikkaku and Yumichika close the pod over him, kneel before Mayuri, and thank him for saving Kenpachi before running off. Bemused by how much he is getting thanked today and calling it disgusting, Mayuri dismisses this as irrelevant because he has finally created a Soul that evolves on its own from nothing and looks down at Nemu's brain, which is secured in his haori, as he revels in having surpassed Kisuke Urahara.
Mayuri envisions Nemu floating above him as he falls unconscious in the pod.
Regenerative fluid fills the pod while Mayuri decides to wait to see the look of envy on Urahara's face in person since he cannot picture it right now and promises to show him how much distance now lies between them alongside Nemu, whom he envisions floating above him in the pod. Meanwhile, Sternritter "G" Liltotto Lamperd and "Z" Giselle Gewelle stand inside an arena in Silbern, which Giselle is surprised to see Yhwach brought up with the rest of the Wandenreich city prior to the two of them being confronted by dozens of Soldat. With Liltotto musing that Yhwach is giving them a warm welcome, Giselle calls out the rest of the Bambies.
Giselle Gewelle assembles the zombified Bambies alongside herself and Liltotto Lamperd.
Once the zombified Sternritter "E" Bambietta Basterbine, "P" Meninas McAllon, and "T" Candice Catnipp land around them, with Meninas and Candice having partial Quincy: Vollständigs, Liltotto admits to being impressed at Giselle having them stay in the city while it was being transported for this purpose, and after affirming this, Giselle encourages the Bambies to attack now that they are all together, leading Bambietta to blow up dozens of Soldat with explosive projectiles, Meninas to punch through several more, Candice to electrocute others with bolts of electricity from her Heilig Bogen, and Liltotto to devour several at once with a single bite of her enlarged mouth.
Bazz-B confronts Jugram Haschwalth after killing the Soldat he was commanding.
However, the fallen Soldat have their heads covered in dark liquid and eyes akin to Yhwach's, unnerving Giselle and Liltotto while they stand back up again. Simultaneously, in an outdoor corridor, Haschwalth wonders why Uryū Ishida is at Eins Ast and orders the four Soldat kneeling behind him to follow Uryū, but is interrupted when Sternritter "H" Bazz-B rapidly shoots all four in the head from behind a nearby pillar and wonders if Uryū really bothers Haschwalth that much. When Haschwalth questions what he is doing, a grinning Bazz-B counters that he should be asking about how Bazz-B is alive.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Mayuri Kurotsuchi
- Pernida Parnkgjas
- Nemu Kurotsuchi
- Akon
- Hiyosu
- Niko Kuna
- Bungarō
- Szayelaporro Granz (hallucinated)
- Ikkaku Madarame
- Yumichika Ayasegawa
- Tōshirō Hitsugaya
- Rangiku Matsumoto
- Kenpachi Zaraki
- Liltotto Lamperd
- Giselle Gewelle
- Bambietta Basterbine
- Meninas McAllon
- Candice Catnipp
- Jugram Haschwalth
- Bazz-B
Fights & Events[]
Powers and Techniques Used[]
Quincy Techniques:
- Heilig Pfeil (
神聖滅矢 , Hairihhi Pufairu; German for "Holy Arrow", Japanese for "Sacred Destruction Arrows") - Quincy: Vollständig (
滅却師完聖体 , Kuinshī Forushutendihhi; German for "Quincy: Complete", Japanese for "Destroyer: Complete Holy Form")
- Pornipora (
神の力 , Pōnipora; Japanese for "Power of God") - Barbarriel (
神の雷霆 , Barubarieru; Japanese for "Thunder of God")
- Pornipora (
Other Techniques:
- Konpaku Sessaku (魂魄切削, Soul Cutting)
- Gikon Jūrinjū (義魂重輪銃, Artificial Soul Heavy Circle Cannon)
Zanpakutō released:
Bankai:
- Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō: Matai Fukuin Shōtai (金色疋殺地蔵・魔胎伏印症体, Golden Leg-Cutting Jizō: Demonic Womb Covering Seal Symptomatic Body)
- The Compulsory (
強制執行 , Za Konparusorī; Japanese for "Compulsory Execution") - The Zombie (
死者 , Za Zonbi; Japanese for "Deceased") - The Explode (
爆撃 , Ji Ekusupurōdo; Japanese for "Bombing Raid") - The Power (
力 , Za Pawā; Japanese for "Power") - The Thunderbolt (
雷霆 , Za Sandāboruto; Japanese for "Thunder") - The Glutton (
食いしんぼう , Za Guratan; Japanese for "Gluttonous")
Resurrección released:
- Fornicarás (
邪淫妃 , Forunikarasu; Spanish for "You Will Fornicate", Japanese for "Consort of Lewdness") (flashback)
Items:
- Hojiku-Zai (補肉剤, Flesh-mending Drug)
- Hirenkyaku Shoes
- Nerve-Freezing Agent (神経凝固剤, Shinkei Gyōko-zai)
Music[]
| Timestamp | Track Listing |
| 00:40 | No Official Release |
| 02:55 | No Official Release |
| 06:43 | No Official Release |
| 10:05 | No Official Release |
| 14:24 | SHIRO'S SONGBOOK BLEACH Bankai! - Track 9 - Here to Stay - you're here to stay |
| 17:00 | No Official Release |
| 19:05 | No Official Release |
| 22:31 | No Official Release |
| 23:46 | Bleach: The Blood Warfare OST 1 - Track 13 - Dark 2211 TYBW full orchestra |
Anime Notes[]
- Jugram Haschwalth learning that the Schutzstaffel have been dispatched in five directions to engage the enemy and deducing that Uryū Ishida is included in their number before ruminating on his carelessness in letting Uryū go off alone, as there are now no Sternritter to keep an eye on him and he can easily be trusted with a mission by himself.
[]
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