Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Cliffhanger Questions Ichigo’s Mom

Ichigo Kurosaki has exhibited more supernatural abilities over Bleach’s history than we can shake a stick at, with his status as a substitute Soul Reaper allowing him to tap in to far more abilities than your typical captain that makes up the Shinigami ranks. With the arrival of the anime adaptation following the Thousand Year Blood War Arc, it seems that Ichigo is about to get another wild power boost thanks to the mysterious past of his mother and her ties to the Quincy Clan.

Since the earliest days of Bleach, Ichigo’s mother was thought to have been killed by a random Hollow, linking the Shonen protagonist to the supernatural long before he had become a substitute Soul Reaper. However, it seems that Masaki’s past was more than meets the eye, as Yhwach spills the beans that he was linked to her during her life. While remaining somewhat mysterious on how the head of the Sternritter knew Ichigo’s mother, it would appear that she has ties to the Quincy family, potentially meaning that the current substitute Shinigami might himself also be a Quincy. Considering that Ichigo has the powers of both a Soul Reaper and an Arrancar, this would make him one of the most “Swiss Army Knife” anime characters of all time should he continue to exhibit abilities specific to the Quincy family.

Wanden Ichigo

As fans of Bleach know, Ichigo was connected to the afterlife not just thanks to the loss of his mother, but thanks to his father’s occupation as Isshin Kurosaki was a Soul Reaper himself and held the position of captain within the 10th Divison of the Soul Society. Even when Ichigo became a member of the Soul Society, albeit a substitute, he wouldn’t come to discover his father’s secret life until after the Shonen hero had saved Rukia from her brother and her fellow Shinigami in one of the series’ biggest and earliest arcs. 

With Isshin still alive and kicking in the Shonen series at present, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he’ll have a role to play in the future of the Thousand Year Blood War and will surely have plenty of revelations to share with Ichigo when the two come face-to-face once again.

Do you think that Ichigo’s mother will be revealed to be a Quincy? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Soul Society.