Warning: Contains spoilers for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War.Thanks to new art from Bleach creator Tite Kubo, a big theory about the series just became much more likely. Bleach recently started a new arc, the Echoing Jaws of Hell arc, and the premise revolves around Ichigo and his friends having to fight the denizens of Hell as they begin to escape it due to an imbalance of power. Ukitake and Szayelapporo appeared in the first chapter of the arc, which made it clear that the enemies in the arc will be both allies and enemies of the heroes alike.
There are a lot of characters who could appear in the new Bleach arc, and new art from Tite Kubo released in Shonen Jump suggests a big theory of who that will include could be true. Kubo recently drew art of the founders of the Thirteen Court Guard Companies, marking the first time they’ve ever been drawn aside from Yamamoto and Unohana. The fact that Kubo would decide to create eleven unique character designs likely means that something is going to be done with them, and the most likely idea is that they’ll appear in the Echoing Jaws of Hell arc since the premise provides a perfect reason for the original captains to appear.
Bleach’s Original Soul Reaper Captains Compared To The Current Captains
If the original Soul Reaper captains are going to appear in the new Bleach arc, a question that needs to be addressed is how strong they are compared to the current Soul Reaper captains. It’s been stated that the first generation of the Thirteen Court Guard Companies was the strongest generation, so just from that, it’s easy enough to conclude that they’ll greatly outclass the current generation. However, the strength level of the current Soul Reaper captains hasn’t been fully explored at this time, so even if they can’t surpass the original captains, it should be possible for them to at least put up a fight against them.
Bleach’s New Arc Can Finally Deal With Soul Society’s Biggest Problems
Another benefit of the original Soul Reaper captains possibly appearing in Bleach is that it would allow for the big problems surrounding Soul Society to finally be dealt with. Soul Society has always been depicted as a setting filled with corruption and twisted morality, but throughout the original Bleach manga, Ichigo and his friends never did anything about it. Since the original Soul Reaper captains were stated to be ruthless killers, with Unohana even being the deadliest criminal in all of Soul Society, their involvement in the new arc could allow for the darker aspects of Soul Society to be explored and finally be challenged in a meaningful way.
It’s still unknown when Bleach’s Echoing Jaws of Hell arc will continue, but Tite Kubo’s new art makes it highly likely that the founders of the Thirteen Court Guard Companies will be involved in it. Characters like them would be more than powerful enough to challenge Ichigo and his friends, and with what’s known about their history, their inclusion could allow for the darker aspects of the setting to be better explored. Bleach’s Echoing Jaws of Hell arc is bound to be its biggest one yet, and this could go a long way to sell that idea.