Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Subtly Hints Its Sequel Is Canon With a Clever Detail

Warning: Contains spoilers for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3, Episode #13.For almost a decade, one of the biggest debates in the Bleach fandom has been the canonicity of its sequel story, Can’t Fear Your Own World. The sequel trilogy of novels was written not by series creator Tite Kubo, but by Ryogo Narita of Baccano! and Durarara!! fame, and because of that, many people feel like it shouldn’t count as an official Bleach sequel story.

There has always been over the canonicity of Can’t Fear Your Own World, but Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has been taking steps to rectify that. The part 3 finale, as with many other episodes, included new material to better reference the wider lore of the franchise, and surprisingly, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 3’s finale included an original scene that all but confirms Can’t Fear Your Own World as canon. That’s great for any fans of the novels, and it promises a lot of great things for Bleach, as a whole.

How Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War References Its Sequel Story

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In Can’t Fear Your Own World, it was revealed that Aizen attacked Rangiku when she was a child because she had inherited a fragment of the Soul King, with said fragment being used to construct his Hogyoku. That’s relevant because the Thousand-Year Blood War anime created a new scene of Rangiku giving a strange look toward Gerard Valkyrie, the heart of the Soul King, so the new scene with Rangiku in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 3’s finale seems to hint that Can’t Fear Your Own World is canon by referencing Rangiku and Gerard’s shared connection to the Soul King.

This isn’t the first time Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has referenced the novels, of course. Not only was Shinji’s Bankai identical to how it was depicted in Can’t Fear Your Own World, but Ichigo’s training in the Irazusando repeatedly referenced the new lore surrounding the Soul King, most notably in how Ichibei was molding Ichigo to be a replacement Soul King. The scene of Rangiku looking at Gerard is the latest instance of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War referencing Can’t Fear Your Own World, and with how much more explicit it is, it’s even harder to deny the novels are canon.

Is Bleach's Sequel Story Going To Get An Anime?

Has Bleach Already Revealed Its Next Anime?

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4 is confirmed to be the final season of the anime, but with Bleach being the biggest it has been in years, it would make sense to expect more from the franchise. The manga will continue at some point with the Echoing Jaws of Hell arc, and as for the anime, it would make perfect sense for all the teases to Can’t Fear Your Own World to be setting up an anime adaptation following Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War.

Between the incredible lore reveals and the great character work provided for Hisagi and Ginjo, Can’t Fear Your Own World is an excellent addition to the Bleach franchise that perfectly rounds out the original story, and an anime would do wonders to help it reach a wider audience. It’s unknown if Rangiku’s scenes and others are truly setting up something like that, but the fact that Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War references Can’t Fear Your Own World at all is still great to see.