The Thousand-Year Blood War will go down as one of the best story arcs in Bleach, boasting stellar animation, incredible action, and giving many characters moments to shine. Most of these moments involved long-awaited transformations or Bankai releases. That said, several characters were completely abandoned in this pivotal arc.
Most of the characters in question do appear in the Thousand-Year Blood War, but they either have no significant role in the plot or simply make brief cameo appearances. Some of these characters are strong fighters, but they end up getting pummeled or becoming bystanders. One character in particular is a powerful Kido user who literally stands around doing nothing while the world is ending.
Ururu Tsumugiya and Jinta Hanakari Both Disappeared During the Thousand-Year Blood War
At first glance, Ururu and Jinta appear to be orphaned human children taken in by Kisuke Urahara, but they are actually Modified Souls created by Kisuke himself. They both helped Ichigo with his Soul Reaper training, and they wielded weapons that could destroy multiple Hollows at once. During the Arrancar arc, it became clear that they are stronger than they appear.
Kisuke created Ururu and Jinta for a reason, but it had nothing to do with the Thousand-Year Blood War, because they totally disappear during the arc. They can be seen looking at the sky at some point, but other than that brief cameo, they strangely do not appear at all.
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Tetsuzaemon Iba Was Non-Existent Even Though He Goes on to Become a Captain
Several of the Gotei 13 squads changed quite a bit after the war, and Squad 7 had some of the biggest changes. Tetsuzaemon had been Squad 7’s Lieutenant for the majority of Bleach‘s story, but he received very little screen time compared to other Lieutenants. His biggest contributions were fighting Ikkaku off-screen and setting up a seal in Fake Karakura Town.
He did fight during the war, but other than fighting some lowly Quincy Soldats, he was essentially non-existent. Tetsuzaemon becomes the next Captain of Squad 7 a few years after the war, which would be fine if he had shown off some of that power during the conflict. It literally made no difference whether Tetsuzaemon lived or died during the war because he had no impact on the story whatsoever. Given his future promotion, he could have at least defeated a Sternritter.
Kukaku Shiba Had One Job, and It Became Meaningless in the End
The Shiba Clan was once one of the Soul Society’s Five Great Noble Houses, and Kukaku is the clan’s current leader. She played a significant role in the Soul Society Arc when she helped Ichigo and his friends enter the Seireitei to rescue Rukia. She used this same expertise to send Ichigo and Squad Zero back to the Soul King’s Palace. Other than that, Kukaku tells Ganju to keep training the Fullbringers.
In terms of spiritual power, Kukaku is considered at least Lieutenant level, but her Kido skills border on Captain level. That said, she is cast aside after her brief appearance. Not only was it later revealed that there were other ways to reach the Soul King’s Palace, these methods also turned out to be much faster. Telling Ganju to train the Fullbringers may seem significant, but they would have intervened anyway. Kukaku may have appeared in the Thousand-Year Blood War, but in the end, her presence was pointless.
Yumichika Ayasegawa Did Nothing Except Provide Comic Relief
Yumichika was the 5th Seat of Squad 11 during the Thousand-Year Blood War, but he would have been a Lieutenant with any other Squad. He may have appeared on the battlefield, but he did not really contribute anything to the war effort. In fact, the last time Yumichika did anything of note was when he beat Charlotte Chuhlhourne in Fake Karakura Town.
Yumichika may have severed a zombified Bambietta’s arm while she was fighting Ikkaku, but the attack would have never killed him. He was easily pummeled by Mask de Masculine, and a zombified Toshiro takes him down just as easily. Other than having a comedic moment with Giselle where he questions her gender, Yumichika does nothing. He spends the rest of the war watching as Kenpachi Zaraki and Mayuri Kurotsuchi fight Pernida, and then watches the Gerard Valkyrie fight from afar.
Ikkaku Madarame Became a Bystander Instead of a High-Caliber Fighter
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Image via Studio Pierrot -
Image via Studio Pierrot -
Image via Studio Pierrot
Ikkaku is one of the Soul Society’s best melee fighters, but he became nothing more than a bystander after being treated like a punching bag. Mask de Masculine of the Sternritter beat him as if he were a novice, and a zombified Toshiro would have cut him into pieces in humiliating fashion if Mayuri had not intervened. He did attack the creatures that Yhwach spawned in the Seireitei, but that was a meaningless fight because Aizen one-shot them all.
It is true that Ikkaku’s Shikai is pretty useless, but his Bankai would have been a big help against the Sternritter. Some would argue that his Bankai was broken, but given the dire state of the Soul Society, Oestsu Nimaya of Squad 0 should have reforged it. Instead of Ikkaku being a prominent fighter in the final stages of the war, he just sat back and watched as others did the fighting.
Ryuken Became a Delivery System and Does Nothing to Avenge His Wife’s Death
Ryuken is Uryu’s father and one of the last pure-blooded Quincy in existence. He is a master archer whose power rivals that of a Soul Reaper Captain’s, and if he were on Yhwach’s side, he would have been a high-ranking Sternritter. Ryuken’s wife was killed by Yhwach’s Auswahlen, giving him a clear motive to join the war and stop Yhwach.
Not only did Ryuken not join the war until the end, but he also did not even try to fight Yhwach even though his wife’s memory and the fate of the world were at stake. Ryuken got some screen time in a flashback, but during the actual war, he was nothing more than a delivery service. He delivers the Still Silver Arrowhead to Uryu, which turns out to be the key to defeating Yhwach. However, instead of helping, he decides to stand back and watch.
Tessai Tsukabishi Might Be the Strongest Kido Master Alive and He Does Nothing During the Thousand-Year Blood War
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Image via studio Pierrot. -
Image via Studio Pierrot -
Image via Studio Pierrot
Tessai is an employee of the Urahara Shop, and at first, he seemed like a spiritually aware human like Chad, but he is actually one of the strongest Kido users in history. More than a century ago, Tessai was the Captain of the Soul Society’s Kido Corps, meaning he could use the most powerful Kido spells without reciting their incantations. Other than helping to train Ichigo, and the flashback that revealed his previous position, Tessai barely appears in the story.
The only time Tessai appears in the Thousand-Year Blood War is when distortions pop up in the Human World, and he simply stares at them in silence. Tessai had the power to immobilize and destroy a few Sternritter, and his defensive Kido would have been very helpful in the Soul King’s Palace. He could have helped defeat Askin Nakk Le Varr with his childhood friends Kisuke and Yoruichi, but instead, he sat and did nothing.
- Release Date
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2004 – 2012-00-00
- Network
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TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC, BS TV Tokyo
- Showrunner
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Tite Kubo
- Directors
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Mitsutaka Noshitani, Junya Koshida, Hodaka Kuramoto, Yasuto Nishikata, Hiroaki Nishimura, Kazunori Mizuno, Akira Shimizu, Rokou Ogiwara, Kazunobu Shimizu, Akane Inoue, Hikaru Murata, Tomoko Hiramuki, Kazuo Nogami, Taiji Kawanishi, Shigeki Hatakeyama, Eiko Nishi, Takushi Kimura, Koji Aritomi, Ogura Shirakawa, Kiyomu Fukuda, Yukio Okazaki, Mitsue Yamazaki, Yasuhiro Matsumura, Eitarou Ano
- Writers
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Masahiro Okubo, Masashi Sogo, Kenta Shimoyama, Genki Yoshimura, Kazuyuki Fudeyasu, Rika Nakase, Michiko Yokote, Natsuko Takahashi, Kento Shimoyama
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Masakazu Morita
Ichigo Kurosaki (voice)
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Fumiko Orikasa
Rukia Kuchiki
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
