Bleach Brave Souls, one of the most popular Bleach mobile games, has announced a brand new form of playable Ichigo Kurosaki character for the game's eighth anniversary at the Bankai Livestream. Ichigo's new character design in the game sees him wielding two blades, just like he did in the Thousand Year Blood War arc.
In the Bankai Livestream held on July 18, 2023, on YouTube, the Bleach Brave Souls game finally revealed the two characters that will be released on July 23, 2023, which is also the eighth-anniversary date of the game.
Along with a brand new form of Ichigo Kurosaki, the Livestream also exhibited the character White. These characters will be available for summoning from July 23, 2023, in the Bleach Brave Souls game.
New Ichigo and White characters are revealed for the eighth anniversary of Bleach Brave Souls Game
On July 18, 2023, much to the anticipation of Bleach fans, the famous Bleach mobile hack-and-slash game, Bleach Brave Souls, unveiled the two characters for the upcoming eighth anniversary of the game (July 23, 2023), at the Bankai Livestream held on YouTube.
In a short trailer, Ichigo Kurosaki, wielding his two Zanpakutos and wearing a torn Shihakusho, was revealed. Apart from Ichigo, the trailer also revealed that White will officially be playable on the BBS game starting from July 23, 2023.
The Bankai Live event of Bleach Brave Souls was attended by Masakazu Morita, the voice actor of Ichigo Kurosaki, Yuki Matsuoka, the voice actor of Orihime Inoue, Aizen's VA, Show Hayami, and Byakuya Kuchiki's VA, Ryotaro Okiyaku.
Apart from the breathtaking trailer that showed the special attacks of both Ichigo Kurosaki and White, a short gameplay was also teased. The new Ichigo in Bleach Brave Souls will be a Power attribute ranged strong attack character with weaken and drain effects on all of his strong attacks and normal attacks.
Furthermore, the new White is going to be a Mind Meele strong attack character, with Lacerate and drain on all of his attacks, including the special. While it's not yet confirmed, being an eighth-anniversary character, Ichigo Kurosaki will most certainly have some new game mechanics.
The new form of Ichigo Kurosaki, as shown in the Bleach Brave Souls Bankai Livestream, presents his avatar wielding two Zangetsus. Therefore, it's safe to say that the revealed form of Ichigo is the representation of the new powers that he gains in the Bleach TYBW arc.
Ichigo confronts the truth of his birth and finds out that his mother, Masaki, was a Quincy in Bleach TYBW episode 12, titled Everything But The Rain June Truth. In the same episode, White, an artificial hollow created by Aizen Sosuke from the souls of the soul reapers he killed throughout the course of his research, was shown to be fighting Isshin Kurosaki and Masaki.
Even though Masaki could land the death blow, she was bitten by the hollow. This hollow, eventually, became a part of Ichigo's powers. Therefore, to have these two characters featuring in the eighth anniversary of the Bleach Brave Souls Game is monumental news for all Bleach fans.
The status of Bleach manga and anime
Tite Kubo's manga, Bleach, is considered one of the greatest Shounen Manga series. It was first published on August 7, 2001, in Shuheisha's Weekly Shonen Jump, and it ran till August 22, 2016, comprising a total of 686 chapters. Even though the manga is finished, Tite Kubo released a one-shot named Bleach: No Breaths From Hell. It remains to be seen whether Tite Kubo will work on this and continue the story of Bleach or not.
On the other hand, the anime adaptation of Bleach TYBW finally ended the 10 years of waiting since the last Bleach episode was released. The first part of Bleach TYBW was released on October 11, 2022, and aired 13 episodes. At present, Bleach TYBW is in its second season, titled Bleach TYBW Part Two: Separation.
So far, two episodes of the second season have been released. It's available to watch on Hulu for the US audience, Disney+ for some selected international countries, and also on Netflix, for several regions. Additionally, the TYBW arc anime adaptation is also available to stream on Ani-One Asia YouTube Channel.
Be sure to follow for more Bleach anime and manga news, and keep up with the latest Bleach TYBW episode highlights.