Bleach Anniversary Event Confirms Rukia Surprise

It’s been a long time since Tite Kubo’s Bleach ran in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump as one of its top three titles, but soon it will be celebrating its massive 20th Anniversary. We haven’t seen much new material from Kubo beyond a brief one-shot release and character designs for the newest Sakura Wars game, so it was exciting to find out that Shonen Jump was planning a mysterious 20th Anniversary project for the series. New information about this project will be coming our way during AnimeJapan 2020 on March 21st, and now it’s been confirmed that another mainstay from the anime will be in attendance!

As Shueisha revealed on Twitter, voice actress for Rukia Kuchiki, Fumiko Orikasa, will be in attendance during the special Bleach stage presentation at AnimeJapan 2020. She’ll be joining the previously confirmed appearances from Ichigo Kurosaki voice actor, Masakazu Morita, and Byakuya Kuchiki actor Ryotaro Okiayu, along with Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief Hiroyuki Nakano.

Details about this mysterious project have been kept tightly under wraps, so unfortunately we don’t know what to expect. It’s been confirmed that Kubo will give us a first glimpse at a brand new project he’s working on, but no telling what new Bleach materials we’ll see. Kubo’s shared his excitement for the reveal with a celebratory sketch of Ichigo, so now our minds have been running wild as to what these new reveals could be.

Fans have been wanting to see more of the anime (especially in HD quality) ever since it came to its truncated end, so a new anime project would be the most exciting announcement for sure. Seeing so many of the original voice actors in attendance is a good sign for this, but there’s still a chance it could be something else too. But what do you think? What are you hoping to see from Bleach’s 20th Anniversary event? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!

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. You can currently find the series now streaming on Hulu. There’s also a live-action adaptation on Netflix, and you can find ComicBook.com’s review of the film here.