Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 2: The Separation is coming our way.
According to two Twitter posts, one by VIZ Media and the other by the official Bleach anime account, the second part of the wildly popular sequel series will debut in July 2023. Beyond the exciting news, the posts also featured a teaser visual that sees protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki duel-wielding massive swords with the tagline, “The Blade is Me.”
Thousand-Year Blood War Adapts the Manga’s Final Arc
Thousand-Year Blood War premiered back in October and continues the story of the original Bleach anime, which first aired from October 2004 to March 2016, producing 366 episodes. Adapting the story arc of the same name from Tite Kubo’s best-selling manga, the plot depicts an intense and bloody feud between the Soul Society and the Wandenreich, a secret Quincy empire. The conflict has massive negative consequences for several fan-favorite characters, like Fourth Division Captain Retsu Unohana as well as Sixth Division Captain Byakuya Kuchika.
Many members of the cast for the original Bleach anime have reprised their iconic roles for Thousand-Year Blood War. In terms of the English dub of the series, Johnny Yong Bosch (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) once again stars as Ichigo alongside Michelle Ruff (Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld) as Rukia Kuchiki, Dan Woren (Fist of the North Star) as Byakuya, Kate Higgins (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion) as Unohana and Quinton Flynn (Naruto) as Kon.
Bleach Fans’ Excitement
Confirming the second part of Thousand-Year Blood War will undoubtedly excite Bleach fans, who are already celebrating the sequel’s success. Many have created impressive fan-made content to share their excitement and joy over the new anime, particularly cosplay. Recently, popular cosplayer Kaggi Cos took a swing at bringing Ichigo to life with an incredibly accurate costume that perfectly captures the orange-haired protagonist’s spiky style. Similarly, costume-maker master Izanamitan posted pictures of their terrifying interpretation of Unohana.
However, not everything about Thousand-Year Blood War has excited longtime Bleach fans. Most notably, many were understandably disappointed when VIZ Media did not reach out to voice actor David Lodge about returning as the bloodthirsty Zaraki Kenpachi, despite the actor’s interest in the part. Lodge took to Twitter to share his disappointment, writing, “So sad…for the fans. I was willing…for low pay…to return to just make fans of Bleach happy!” Patrick Seitz (Attack on Titan) now voices Kenpachi.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is available exclusively on Hulu.
Source: Twitter
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