Summary
The 686th and final chapter of Tite Kubo’sBLEACHshows theaftermath of theThousand-Year Blood Wararc, and is set 10 years after the climactic battle against Yhwach and the Quincies. In this final chapter, we are introduced to a young Shinigami with a spiky ponytail that is a familiar shade of red, and she tells us herself that she is Ichika Abarai – the daughter of Rukia Kuchiki and Renji Abarai.
During this chapter, we are also shown a familiar encounter between Ichika and the son of Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue, Kazui Kurosaki, one that paralleled and was even named after Ichigo’s first encounter with Rukia – Death and the Strawberry. Just what do we know about Ichika Abarai?
The Daughter of Rukia and Renji
A Shinigami Through and Through
Ichika Abarai is a Shinigami apprentice in the 13th Squad of the Gotei 13, where in the same chapter she is introduced, Rukia is being inducted as the Captain of the 13th Squad, so Ichika is in the same unit as her mother, where she was assigned as a young Shinigami herself around two centuries back. Her appearance, like her soon-to-be friend Kazui Kurosaki, is a melding of the designs of both her parents that plays up on a particular commonality between the two. She has Rukia’s big, confident facial expression and eyes, with Renji’s long hair and bright red hair colour that is unmistakably her father’s.
Ichika has her hair tied up with a white ribbon like Renji does, and the resulting ponytail is spiky in a way that is reminiscent of a pineapple like her father’s. Her confidence is perhaps the most emphasized element in her character design, and this is something that reflects Rukia in her youth. She is also prone to getting into fights, most likely because of a strong sense of justice. Like Kazui, Ichika also has a tendency to wander off without her parents' knowledge. She wears a standard Shinigami Shihakushō (Garment of Dead Souls) and hasa Zanpakutō with a hilt shaped like a lightning bolt.
About Ichika’s Design and Character Traits
Memories of Somebody
While she is in the 13th Squad, she is an apprentice of the 11th Squad third seat Ikkaku Madarame, which is again something that connects her to her father, who was in the 11th Squad before becoming Lieutenant to Byakuya Kuchiki in the 6th Squad. As such, Ichika has a solid foundation of Zanjutsu, the Shinigami’s brand of physical combat. Her attachment to her father is one of the aspects laid out on her character sheet, and in contrast to Kazui, who dislikes nothing, Ichika has a firm dislike of monsters.During the Hell Arc one-shot, Ichika’s confidence is seen dissipated when she is targeted by Szayel-Apporo Grantz, freshly escaped from Hell.
When Ichika and Kazui first meet, it is a parallel to Rukia and Ichigo’s meeting, but their roles are reversed: Ichika is the Strawberry, while Kazui is the Death, because Ichika is shocked to learn that this random child she met is also a Shinigami. Design-wise, fans have noted a similarity between Ichika and Senna from the firstBLEACHmovie,Memories of Nobody. Kubo designed Senna to be something like Rukia and Renji’s daughter from an alternate universe, so Ichika’s appearance is deliberately similar to that of Senna. Ichika’s name is supposedly a homage to Ichigo Kurosaki, dear friend to both her parents and the human boy her mother met in the beginning of the story. The meeting of Ichika and Kazui shows that things have come full circle, and once again, the blade of fate has swung.
Bleach
Cast
Based on Tite Kubo’s battle shonen manga, Bleach centers around Ichigo, a high school student who is dragged into the world of Soul Reapers. The original anime ended in 2012, but it was revived in 2022.
