As the final act of the concluding story arc, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War — The Calamity is expected to bring iconic moments from the manga to life. Among them is the complete Bankai form of 10th Division Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya, who made his debut in Episode 44 — and to much fanfare.
But the build isn’t the only difference. While Romi Park continues to portray the fan favourite in the original Japanese dub, famed voice actor Yuki Kaji has been tapped for this specific version of the character, marking a notable shift for the series. To the team’s credit, the transition between both vocal performances was seamless, even if it drew eyebrow-raising responses from fans who believe that Park, the voice of Hitsugaya since his introduction, could still pull off the role.
Those in the anime community would be more than familiar with Kaji, best known for his heavyweight roles as Eren Jaeger in Attack on Titan, Shoto Todoroki in My Hero Academia, Kenma Kozuma in Haikyu!!, and more. Despite his extensive list of credits, he has never officially starred in Bleach, which features its fair share of high-profile names across all of the seasons, including Jun Fukuyama as Yumichika Ayase, Junichi Suwabe as Grimmjow Jaegerjacques, and Daisuke Namikawa as Ulquiorra Cifer.
Pierrot Films returns to helm the animation for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War — The Calamity. The fourth and final season premiered on 25 July and will introduce more original content than the previous parts, with jo0ji and 9Lana performing the opening and theme songs, respectively. The original anime adaptation ran from 2004 to 2012 and spawned four theatrical films. Tite Kubo created the series, which concluded with 74 manga volumes in 2016 and has exceeded 130 million copies in circulation worldwide.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
