Bleach Animator Revisits Soifon in New Sketch

Tite Kubo's Bleach may have come to an end several years ago, but the spirit of the series has [...]

By Nick Valdez

Tite Kubo's Bleach may have come to an end several years ago, but the spirit of the series has been kept alive through fans. Fans of the series include even those who worked on the official anime for the series itself! Character designer for the anime Masashi Kudo has often shared sketches of fan-favorite characters from the series to Twitter, and this is the first new glance fans have gotten for many of these characters for quite a while.

Kudo's latest work honors a rare fan-favorite, Captain of the 2nd Division and commander-in-chief of the Soul Society's Stealth Force, Soifon. Check out the fierce new sketch below!

Soifon was one of the most popular characters in Bleach, and grew in popularity when her ties to Yoruichi were revealed. The Stealth Force provided a much different kind of Shinigami in Soul Society, and fans only wanted to see more of this mysterious shadow group. Soifon showed off her fierceness in full during the Fake Karakura Town arc, and is definitely one of the characters fans want to see if the series ever does make a return.

Masashi Kudo has been pretty popular with fans as of late as the character designer has been sharing all sorts of new illustrations of the fan-favorite Bleach characters such as Harribel, Rangiku, Yoruichi, and many more. Kudo is particular popular fans when he shares new sketches of Orihime, since he tends to highlight a manga exclusive look for the character fans want to see make the jump to anime. Though the series may never return, at least Kudo and fans are keeping the series alive through art.

Bleach was first created by Tite Kubo for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump, running from 2001 to 2016. The series follows the young delinquent Ichigo Kurosaki, who has the ability to see spirits. He soon obtains the power of a Soul Reaper - one meant to usher lost souls to the afterlife - and now has the duty to defend the living world from monstrous dark spirits known as Hollows.

It has been adapted into English thanks to VIZ Media, and has sold over 900 million copies in Japan. The series was later adapted into an anime by Studio Pierrot from 2004 to 2012, and has four feature-length animations, rock musicals, video games, and a ton of other merchandise. You can currently find the series now streaming on Hulu. There's also a live-action adaptation on Netflix. You can find ComicBook.com's review of the film here.

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