Summary
There is a whole demographic of anime fans who haveBleachas their gateway anime, the show that brought them into the community. Bleach has returned to the limelight with the anime for the thousand year blood arc which has been a smashing success so far.
With a large cast of characters,Bleachhas a lot of stories to tell, unfortunately, this also means that some characters get left behind and do not receive astory arcwhich helps fans get to know them better. It should be noted that this list will focus on the anime, as this is material a lot more people might be familiar with.
Location
Karakura Town
Don Kanonji appeared in the earlier days of Bleach when Ichigo’s hollow killings were mostly confined to Karakura town as a mostly harmless spirit medium. He would ‘exorcise’ spirits, but unknown to him, his exorcisms were actually creating hollows.
All that is known about Don Kanonji is that he studied abroad and came back to become a celebrity. He can see spirits, but no one really knows why. It would have been nice if his character was explored a bit more, but it seems fans will never get the privilege.
Gotei 13 (previously)
Hueco Mundo
Many might not even remember the name Ashido Kanō. He was a shinigami who while fighting hollows, followed them into Hueco Mundo and was trapped there along with his compatriots while continually fighting hollows.
Ashido was a lot of help to Rukia and when she heard his story, she promised to come back for him, but never did. Also, there was no dedicated arc for a character who was very interesting and would have enriched the mythos around Soul Society and the inner workings of the mysterious world.
Soul Society
Fans were blown away when they discovered the true identity of Unohana Retsu. The captain of the 4th squad of the Gotei 13 had always been seen as a fragile and kindly lady who only healed those hurt. However, she was actually a bloodthirsty fighter who was the first to hold the title ‘Kenpachi’.
Little is known about her beyond this and that’s abit of a letdown, especially with how cool she really is. While the incident in which she meets the current Kenpachi is shown and people get a glimpse of her former personality, there could have been much more done.
Tatsuki Arisawa is another of the characters that viewers are introduced to in the early days of Bleach. It is shown that she is achildhood friend of Ichigowho has been a supporter of the substitute soul reaper for many years.
While there was a little of her backstory shown in connection to Ichigo’s story, she never really gets an arc of her own. In fact, she is somewhat forgotten in the story, only coming up once in a while if there are events going on in Karakura town.
Chōjirō Sasakibe is the lieutenant to Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, and was a powerful Shinigami strong enough to lead his own team but never did. This was due to his devotion to Yamamoto. With how great a character he was, it was a shame he never got his own arc.
Watching him die at the hands of theKing of the Quincieswas difficult and the anger of the Captain Commander was understandable. It was also the little glimpse anyone got of Sasakibe’s past and it was revealed that he always wanted to serve Yamamoto. But that was all anyone got, it could have been more.
The Shiba clan were one of the noble families in Soul Society before a scandal saw them lose their favor in the community. Their leader, Kukaku, has shown herself a capable leader and even though she doesn’t appear much in the anime, plays a significant role in the story.
The tale of her brother, Kaien, who was taken over by hollow powers and died, was told along with what everyone knows about Ukitake. But Kukaku, who had lost a brother and had to lead a family that had lost status is never really talked about, and that’s sad.
Ryuken Ishida is the stoic, powerful father of Uryu and a Quincy of great repute. He is the owner of Karakura General Hospital and a rival to Isshin Kurosaki. His son, Uryu is well-developed and he got his moments to shine especially an incredible victory over Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
Ryuken, on the other hand, was simply used to tell the story ofIsshin and Masaki. While that was a compelling story, it would also have been really nice to know more about Ryuken and how he felt about his family and their suffocating ways.
Shinji is thedefacto leader of the Visored, a group of Shinigami that can also utilize the powers of hollows. They were very instrumental in helping Ichigo come to terms with his hollow powers.
They are all colorful characters with potentially great stories, but little is known beyond the fact that a handful of them used to be captains in Gotei 13. Shinji in particular seemed like a miss as he is immensely powerful and could have done with his own dedicated arc.
One of Bleach’s most impactful moments was the death of the Captain Commander at the hands of the Quincy King. His display of power was a moment of brilliance in the Bleach anime and one of the highlights of an already brilliant season.
After the death of Sasakibe, there’s a flashback sequence in which a little of Genryūsai’s history is shown including how he got his iconic scar, but watchers would have wanted much more. Why was the Gotei 13 really established? Why was Genryūsai so initially ruthless? How did he become as powerful as he is? All this remains a mystery, one that could have been solved with a story arc.
While thetop 3 Espada; Cascada, Baraggan, and Starrk are certainly eye-catching, a lot of people were also enamored with the perpetually glum Ulquiorra. The self-proclaimed nihilist was always fascinating to watch.
Unfortunately, he never got his own story arc, while the manga gave a little backstory, it was never explored in the anime. For a character who had such strong convictions, it was a shame that fans never got to see why he became that way.
