Can Bleach Season 17 Mend The Bad Manga Ending?
Bleach’s original manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo was serialized in Shonen Jump for 16 years from 2001 and was considered one of the generation’s “big three” alongside Naruto and One Piece. However, the manga ending was messy and rushed, which was the worst possible climax to an otherwise engaging plot.
Meanwhile, the Bleach anime series hasn’t been completed yet. Since the last season aired in 2012 9 years back, we didn’t receive any updates on Season 17, something which fans found very hard to digest.
Read this: Bleach: 3 Quirky Aspects of Orihime Inoue’s Character We Bet You Don’t Know
The new Bleach anime cover the manga’s Thousand-Year Blood War arc after being off the air since 2012. This arc will cover how the Soul society faces its biggest threat from the Quincies, who were massacred in large numbers a long time back.
Many fans consider this a chance to reimagine the original Bleach manga’s ending and bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. Or the creative team of Bleach Season 17 could get lazy and go with the rushed original ending.
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Why Was The Bleach Manga Ending So Rushed And Unsatisfactory?
When the manga was about to come to an end, Tite Kubo started having a lot of health-related complications, due to which he had trouble with the ending. He wasn’t in the right physical and mental state to even continue with the manga and bring it to an end steadily.
By then, only two chapters were left to complete, and thus, it couldn’t cover the fates of many of the characters that either fans loved or were instrumental in the series. In the end, Ichigo and Uryu Ishida finally defeated Yhwach in one of the most epic battles ever but a lot of potent questions remained unanswered.
Forgotten Characters and “Objectionable” Pairings!
While many fans found the romance between Ichigo and Orihime a little too unrealistic to be believable because Ichigo had beautiful chemistry with Rukia, some people were unhappy to see that we’re left in the dark about the fates of super-hot characters like Grimmjow and cute ones like Nelliel.
Read this: Bleach : Everything To Know About Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue
While I personally found the RukiaXIchigo pairing more heartwarming due to their shared childhood in Rukongai, that’s a never-ending debate. On another note, it’s quite disappointing that after all the drama and violence, the creator didn’t explore the peaceful lives that our protagonists were leading. Uryu and Chad were shown briefly.
Nothing is revealed about how Ichigo and Orihime found solace and love in one another. The only thing that’s revealed is how they started a new family with their son Kazui. The story and hardships of how Rukia became the captain of the 13th squad if shown, could’ve lent greater depth to the story.
We don’t get to see Uryu try to repair his broken relationship with his dad. These are only small instances of this myopia. In fact, considering that Bleach has a massive number of characters, we do deserve to see their lives after the war is over.
What Parts Of The Manga Can Bleach Season 17 Alter?
The anime can make some changes and bridge some gaps here and there towards the end. However, that doesn’t mean it tries to cover the lives of all the Bleach characters. That goal would be rather impractical but that doesn’t mean we can’t try appeasing fans who’ve formed a strong emotional bond with the characters, story, and magical abilities!
The climactic battle between Ichigo and Yhwach deserves a little more attention, and the ramifications of Yhwach’s defeat on the Wandenreich can be depicted in greater depth.
Read this: All The Bleach Captains Who Died in The Thousand-Year Blood War Arc
More crucially, the new Bleach anime will be able to bridge the gap between Yhwach’s defeat and the manga’s epilogue scenes, and it won’t take long.
The new anime, on the other hand, can only dedicate one or two episodes on Ichigo’s postwar life and how he formalized his romantic relationship with Orihime. Major characters like Uryu, Rukia, Chad, Renji, and even Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihoin might be treated in the same way.
Uryu’s retirement from being a practicing Quincy and his new view on the world as a medical student could be shown in these scenes. The new Bleach anime will also feature Rukia replacing Ukitake as the 13th Squad Captain within the Soul Society, as well as the Soul Reapers’ efforts to develop bridges with the living world.
After all, the new Bleach one-shot depicts a new generation of Soul Reapers that are fascinated by mortal lifestyles and fashion, such as smartphones and gyaru.
