Bleach: Masaki's Voice Actor Reacts to Coming Back to the Anime After Nearly 20 Years

By Nick Valdez

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has kicked off the final arc of its first cour with the latest episode of the series, and the voice star behind Ichigo Kurosaki's mother Masaki shared their reaction to coming back to the anime after a nearly 20 year absence! Fans have been waiting for the anime to properly adapt the final arc of Tite Kubo's original manga series for over a decade at this point, but it's been a much longer wait for some of those who were actually involved in the original anime production waiting for their big time to shine.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 11 leads into the hour long finale coming next by kicking off the "Everything But the Rain" arc, a special flashback that looks into how Ichigo's parents actually first met. This means that for the first time in 17 years, Masaki has made her full appearance in the anime and the voice behind the character, Sayaka Ohara, took to Twitter to celebrate how much her own life has changed since she first joined the franchise all those years ago. 

Masaki Kurosaki's Voice Star Reacts to Returning to Bleach

Not only has Ohara returned to the role of Masaki since her first appearance in the anime back in 2004 or so, but she's returning as a new and younger version of the character with this flashback. It's here that Ohara really felt the most impact as she states, "I am very happy and moved to be able to live as Masaki for the first time in 17 years (!). She was even more relatable as a young woman than she was as a mother, and I am overflowing with love for her."

READ MORE: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Shows Why Ichigo's Mom is a Beast: Watch | Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Reveals How Ichigo's Parents First Met

Thankfully there's still much more of Masaki left to explore in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War as it will be bringing this arc and its first cour to an end next week with a special hour long episode that will fully explore and answer some of the questions fans had about the missing pieces of Ichigo's past. It's what he needs to recover and get stronger for the fight ahead. 

How are you liking Masaki's big return to Bleach's anime for the final arc so far? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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