During a recent interview, Bleach author Tite Kubo revealed that Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 2 would feature an anime original fight.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 2/Cour 2 is officially titled Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Separation. The Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Season 2 release date is in July 2023, the Summer 2023 anime season.
The second part of the anime was first announced during the 13th and final episode of Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen (Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War)
An interview of Tite Kubo and Masakazu Morita (Ichigo Kurosaki’s Japanese voice actor) was hosted on the Bleach anime website on January 1, 2023.
In the interview, the interviewer asks them what the most exciting part of the second cour is for them. And Kubo replies that in the second cour, there is a new battle that is not in the original manga.
The battle between a “certain character” and “another character” could not be drawn in the original manga. The anime production team wanted Kubo to recreate this fight that he could not draw in the manga for the anime series.
You can check out the full interview here.
Which battle is Kubo talking about?
MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD
Kubo did not specify which characters he was referring to for this particular battle. And there are quite a few possibilities as to what this anime-only fight might be.
If I have to guess, one fight that makes the most sense to me is Shunsui Kyoraku vs Jugram Haschwalth. During the invasion Quincy invasion, Haschwalth confronts Kyoraku, but before the fight can begin, he receives orders from Yhwach to retreat.
Another possibility is Askin Nakk le Vaar vs Mayuri Kurotsuchi. They also came across each other but did not fight.
Or maybe this is someone who was never even hinted at. Who knows? But I’m glad the anime is not rushing through things and showing us the fight.
More about Bleach
The Bleach anime is an adaptation of the manga series of the same name, written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. The manga was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 2001 to 2016, with the individual chapters collected into 74 tankobon volumes.
The anime originally aired from October 2004 to March 2012, spanning 366 episodes.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is a sequel series covering the manga’s final story arc. Tomohisa Taguchi is directing the final arc at Studio Pierrot. He is also handling the series composition alongside Masaki Hiramatsu. Masashi Kudou is returning to design the characters, while Shirou Sagisu is composing the music.
For more information on the series, check out the official Bleach anime website.