WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the "Thousand Year Blood War" arc of Bleach.
The surprise news that the Bleach anime is coming back next year to adapt the final arc of Tite Kubo's legendary series took fans completely by surprise. While details about the revival are still scarce, fans are still already anticipating what the apocalyptic battles between the Soul Reapers and the Wandenreich will look like.
But there's another opportunity the new anime has. While it's a slim chance, it's possible it will correct Kubo's biggest misstep and finally get Ichigo and Rukia together -- as they deserve to be.
It's easy to forget in light of how sprawling Bleach got but the whole crazy saga began when Ichigo -- then a hot-headed teen who could see ghosts -- saw Rukia as she crossed through his bedroom while tracking a Hollow; soon later, he inadvertently absorbed all of her Soul Reaper power and, from there, embarked on several epic journeys and learned the hidden depths of his strength.
The first test of strength -- Ichigo and friends invading Soul Society and him achieving Bankai in three days under Yoruichi -- was activated by Ichigo wanting to rescue Rukia. He went above what was even considered possible of him, not to mention expected, all the way up to nearly dying twice while fighting Tenpachi and Byakuya. All because he felt deep in his heart that he had to save Rukia from execution.
That went the other way, too, of course. After Ichigo saved her life, and they dealt with the consequences of Aizen's rebellion, Rukia chose to stay behind to help rebuild the shattered Soul Society. But, after the Arrancar began appearing, and Ichigo failed to prevent Chad and Orihime from getting seriously hurt, Rukia came back to Katakura Town alongside the volunteer deployment of Hitsugaya, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Renji and Rangiku. She didn't have to, but she came because she knew Ichigo needed to be snapped out of his funk.
She accomplished that by snapping him into his Soul Reaper form and dragging him to fight a simple Hollow.
Shocked and annoyed at how much he was struggling with his guilt and the revelation he had a Hollow fighting to control him, Rukia admonished Ichigo and spurred him on, saying, "If you're afraid to lose, then get stronger. If you want to protect those you love, then do what you have to do to protect them. If the Hollow inside is so terrible, then get strong enough to crush it. Even if no one in the world believes in you, stick out your chest and scream in defiance! The Ichogo I know is that kind of man!"
The anime adaptation of that scene took it one step further, with Rukia declaring, "That is the kind of man you are in my heart!" Pretty damn unambiguous, eh? And that's just for starters. Time and again, Ichigo and Rukia proved they knew each other best, could rally each other to go above and beyond.
Yet, when the final chapter of Bleach was released in August 2016, with another time skip showing where everyone ended up, Ichigo was revealed to have married Orihime and had a son, Kazui; Rukia, meanwhile, married her childhood friend Renji and had a daughter, Ichika.
While there's certainly merit to these pairings -- Rukia and Renji are fiercely devoted to each other and it was long established that Orihime was in love with Ichigo -- and Kazui and Ichika are certainly cute and fun in the glimpses fans got in the final chapter, it can't be ignored that Ichigo and Rukia have a much stronger, fiercer relationship that could only solidify into love, especially after all they went through.
While, again, it's highly unlikely that Shueisha, Weekly Shonen Jump and Kubo would allow the new anime to deviate from the original ending, doing so would not only keep things fresh and enforce that the anime isn't just a 1:1 adaptation of the manga, it also would be more consistent with the way Kubo wrote Ichigo and Rukia and how they related to each other.
Plus, considering Rukia and Renji's daughter in canon is literally named with a portmanteau of her and Ichigo's names ... like, come on.
The Bleach anime will return in 2021 in honor of the manga's 20th anniversary.