‘Bleach’ Animator Releases Busty New Matsumoto Sketch

Tite Kubo’s Bleach was one of the major pillars of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump during its run for its blend of action along with its great art. This naturally includes the characters drawn for maximum fan-service effect.

The biggest example of this was Rangiku Matsumoto, who just received an alluring new sketch from Bleach anime character designer Masashi Kudo.

Kudo’s newest sketch of Matsumoto is quite alluring, and makes sure to highlight the major reasons fans were drawn to her character design in the first place. Both series creator Kubo and character designer Kudo aren’t shy in their fan-service, with Kudo sharing this Rangiku Matsumoto sketch just a short time after celebrating Orihime’s birthday with an equally saucy sketch of her.

But the better aspect of Matsumoto is in her character, as she’s risen to much more than a character designed to titillate. As lieutenant of the tenth division under Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya, she was first introduced as a “slacker” who would openly talk about her body in order to get her way. It’s why fans loved her dynamic with Hitsugaya, who would often overlook her saucy nature.

Throughout the series, however, Matsumoto revealed how integral she is to the Gotei 13 squads but flipping a switch, in a sense, when she becomes serious. With her Zanpakuto, she’s managed to outsmart and defeat several major enemies throughout the series and got fans to look beyond her slacker personality. These moments revealed she often puts up a front, and also why Hitsugaya placed so much trust in her as fans began to put their trust in her as well.

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.