Who is Tsukishima to Ichigo in Bleach? Explained

Modified Jul 29, 2024 03:06 GMT

Bleach and who is Tsukishima to Ichigo (Image via Studio Pierrot). — Bleach and who is Tsukishima to Ichigo (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Bleach's Fullbring arc has always been divisive to many readers and viewers, but one key aspect to understanding this storyline is who Tsukishima is to Ichigo. That is because Fullbringer is a pivotal character in the arc and proves to be one of the most destructive antagonists in terms of the psychological damage he causes to the protagonist.

In that regard, there is an argument to be made that no other antagonist in Bleach managed to break Ichigo from a psychological perspective the way Tsukishima did. That is because of the character's Fullbring, Book of the End, which allows him to insert himself in people's past, thus giving him the chance to turn Ichigo's friends against him, making the arc feel a lot more personal.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a whole.

Who is Shukuro Tsukishima in Bleach?

Tsukishima after putting Orihime and Chad against Ichigo (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Shukuro Tsukishima is a Fullbringer who is an antagonist in the Fullbring arc and serves as the main villain for the bulk of that storyline. Ginjo Kugo describes him as a former member of Xcution who went rogue and started to take the lives of many of his friends, displaying noticeable psychopathic tendencies throughout the story.

In reality, Tsukishima was Ginjo's ally and made use of his Fullbring, Book of the End, to insert himself in people's past the way he wanted to. He altered Ginjo's memories of him to not slip the details to Ichigo and put the latter's friends against him to break him emotionally and psychologically, thus making it easier to steal his powers.

Once Ichigo recovers his powers and the Gotei 13 Shinigami show up to help the protagonist, Tsukishima goes up against Byakuya Kuchiki and is defeated by the latter, who has no issue taking his life despite being affected by Book of the End. Eventually, Tsukishima returns as a soul in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc to help fix Ichigo's Bankai as a way to compensate him for respecting Ginjo's corpse and giving him a proper burial in the human realm.

Ichigo and Tsukishima's relationship, explained

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Tsukishima is an enemy of Ichigo Kurosaki and has been presented as such since the moment the former was introduced in the series. The Fullbringer played a massive role in psychologically taunting Ichigo, going after his friends and family, eventually pitting them against him by the end of the arc.

There is a strong argument to be made that no other villain in Bleach broke Ichigo mentally the way Tsukishima did and that is because Book of the End allowed him to make the former's friends and family believe that he had been always there. That meant they thought Ichigo was going insane for trying to take down Tsukishima and sided with the latter, slowly making the character descend into despair.

Tsukishima was instrumental in Ginjo Kugo's plan as he was the target Ichigo needed to trust Xcution and train to get his powers back. It was also through his powers that he managed to leave the protagonist on his own, which was only stopped because Ichigo's father, Isshin, and Kisuke Urahara had a plan of their own.

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Edited by Ahana Mukhopadhyay