Bleach Creator Tributes Kenpachi’s Best Friend in New Art

Bleach’s Thousand-Year Blood War recently brought back one of the Soul Society’s strongest soldiers in Kenpachi. While the eye-patch-wearing Shinigami was able to do some serious damage to the Wandenreich in its first episodes, but hit the wall that is Yhwach in his rage. Following a life-or-death fight with the first Kenpachi, Unohana, the latest bearer of the name has unlocked his Shikai in the anime adaptation and Bleach creator Tite Kubo has shared new art to celebrate the brawler’s comeback.

Throughout Kenpachi’s career in the Bleach anime series, he’s been routinely accompanied by the young Soul Reaper known as Yachiru, who despite her appearance, has quite some power backing her up. In the latest installment of the Blood War’s anime, we were able to briefly witness how brutal the girl could be even when Kenapchi wasn’t around, destroying a member of the Sternritter that was aiming to eliminate Soul Society captains. Unfortunately, the man behind Yachiru’s opponent, Gremmy Thourneaux, was like no opponent that the pink-haired Shinigami had faced before as he could make his thoughts into reality. After turning her bones into “cookies”, Kenpachi arrived just in time to both save her life and give Gremmy his most powerful opponent to date.

Bleach’s Yachiru Becomes Kenpachi

Tite Kubo might not be actively working on Bleach’s manga, but he has taken a hands-on approach to the Thousand-Year Blood War’s anime adaptation. To help in celebrating the latest installment, the mangaka responsible for the Soul Society shared a new take on Yachiru that imagines what she might look like if she took on the name of Kenpachi. Thanks to her love of bloodshed like her mentor, Yachiru is definitely in the running to take on the title of Kenpachi in the future.

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Kenpachi was able to defeat Gemmy thanks to releasing his Shikai for the first time, and while he didn’t show off his Bankai, fans of the Soul Reaper might be happy with what the future holds for him in this regard when it comes to the Blood War. While Yhwach’s forces might be pushing the Soul Society to the brink, Ichigo has yet to rejoin the fight and the substitute Soul Reaper might tip the scales in this earth-shattering brawl.

Do you think Yachiru will one day take the mantle of Kenpachi? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Soul Society.