The hit Bleach anime is returning at long last after going off the air over a decade ago. The original Bleach manga finished the story with the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, and now anime-only fans can catch up and join Ichigo and his many friends on a brand-new anime adventure. But let's not forget what came before.

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It's probably been a long time since anime fans last watched Bleach, and while it's easy to remember big moments like Ichigo's final battle with Captain Baykuya Kuchiki, all the smaller details have been forgotten from the first season and even the beloved Soul Society story arc. Those little details are what help bring these arcs to life and entertain fans in between the major battles, and can even flesh out the lore.

10 Ichigo's Team Almost Got Killed Before Arriving In The Soul Society

kototsu bleach

Ichigo's journey to the Soul Society was like a temporary isekai adventure, and Ichigo didn't even have to die or meet Truck-kun to enter that fantasy realm. Instead, he and his friends were chased by the terrifying kototsu, a train-like entity that sweeps the dangai region for loose debris or lost souls.

Ichigo didn't stroll into the Soul Society, he sprinted there in a frenzied dash to save his life. The kototsu almost overwhelmed him, but some last-minute ingenuity held off the kototsu, and the day was saved. But the adventure was just beginning.

9 Chad Met The Parakeet Boy, Yuichi, Once Again

chad with yuichi riding piggyback in the soul society

In Bleach's first season, Ichigo's good friend Chad met the soul of a dead boy named Yuichi who was trapped in a live parakeet's body, the villainous Hollow named Shrieker threatened to kill Yuichi. Ichigo, Rukia, and Chad saved Yuichi and let his soul move on, but that goodbye was not so permanent after all.

By sheer chance, Chad met Yuichi's soul in the Soul Society story arc, and they were delighted to be reunited. Yuichi now resided in the peaceful Rukongai District, where he made some new friends and lived happily. No Hollows can threaten Yuichi here.

8 Ichigo Struggled With Kido Training

Ichigo with training ball

Bleach fans probably remember the kido specialist Kukaku Shiba offering to use her spirit cannon to launch Ichigo's team of ryoka into the Seiteitei after all the gates were closed, and they likely remember Ganju Shiba being there, too. But they might not remember Ichigo trying his hand at kido.

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Kido spells are like magic, and Ichigo and his friends practiced using semi-kido techniques to envelop themselves in hardened bubbles of spirit energy. Uryu the Quincy found this easy, but Ichigo struggled and barely made a kido sphere in time for the launch. He nearly jeopardized the mission by botching that training.

7 Kenpachi & Mayuri Clashed At First

The Soul Society story arc introduced all of the Captain-class Soul Reapers, some of whom really didn't like each other. In fact, the brutal Captain Kenpachi Zaraki and the wicked scientist Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi often argued early in this story arc and got on each other's nerves.

They largely avoided each other in later story arcs, so their arguments soon stopped. But it is odd to rewatch the Soul Society arc and watch those two Captains get in each other's faces, which drove the other Captains to intervene and keep the peace. It's a peculiar drama, unique to the Soul Society arc.

6 Captain Zaraki Got Horribly Lost

zaraki kenpachi

There's a running joke in One Piece that the elite pirate swordsman Roronoa Zoro gets horribly lost all the time, and there are Internet memes to match. But he's not the only anime warrior who can't find his way. In the Soul Society arc, Captain Zaraki had a pretty tough time finding Ichigo and got totally lost.

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Kenpachi wanted so badly to find the powerful Ichigo and fight him, but he couldn't navigate the maze-like streets and alleys of the Seireitei, leading to much frustration. His Lieutenant, the pink-haired Yachiru, gave him some directions, only for them to get even more lost than before.

5 Captain Tosen Used A Unique Blade Attack With Shikai

Kaname Tosen fighting in the Bleach anime.

Every Bleach fan remembers Captain Kaname Tosen's remarkble bankai, the one that can shut down the opponent's senses and trap them in a black dome-like arena. It's also easy to remember Tosen's bizarre Hollow form in the Fake Karakura Town arc. But Kaname has another trick.

Kaname once used his shikai's second attack, Flying Locust, during his and Sajin's battle against Kenpachi. Kaname's shikai could create dozens of huge blades in midair and send them at his foe, and any opponent except Kenpachi would be overwhelmed by such an assault. But that's the only time he ever did it.

4 Ichigo's Hollow Mask Patterns Changed

yoruichi with mask

The Soul Society arc marked the debut of Ichigo's Hollow mask, a plot twist that any Bleach fan will remember. Ichigo himself didn't really understand this mask until he trained with the eight Visoreds in the next story arc, but there's more to it than that, including the mask's aesthetics.

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Ichigo's mask has always had the same shape, but not the same markings. In the Soul Society story arc, the mask had only three red lines on the left side of the forehead, and was otherwise plain. Only later did the mask get more lines on the left side, and its pattern changed again after that. The soul Society-era mask looks different than some fans might remember.

3 Yachiru Made Up Nicknames For Absolutely Everyone

Yachiru greets the passersby in Bleach.

No Bleach fan could ever forget the little troublemaker Yachiru Kusajishi, the squad 11's Lieutenant. She played a minor role in the Soul Society story arc, to say the least, but she did amuse and exasperate all the other characters with her funny nicknames.

Yachiru made up a goofy nickname for everyone around her, friend and foe alike, and she insisted on using those nicknames even if the people in question objected. She might even name squad 11 Soul Reapers after their funny facial hair, for example.

2 Spiritual Pressure Could Immobilize People

Bleach Gin

Spiritual pressure is created when a powerful spirit warrior uses their spirit energy to create an aura around them. This happens all throughout Bleach, but the Soul Society story arc put much more emphasis on spiritual pressure and used it in a way that casual fans might have forgotten about.

In the SS arc, a character could immobilize or even knock out a weaker foe just by activating their spiritual pressure. If a Captain activated their spiritual pressure, they could end a fight before it even began, and Captains Aizen and Ichimaru often did this. Gin, in particular, brought Ganju to his knees with pressure alone.

1 Jidanbo Explained Basic Etiquette Rules

jidanbo facing ichigo

The towering Jidanbo is the noxious Jirobo Ikkanzaka's big brother of squad 7, and Jidanbo is by far the nicer of the two, even if he is also brutal at times. He appeared early in the Soul Society arc as a gate guardian, and he fought Ichigo with his two axes. But he's not just a fighter.

Bleach fans may have forgotten that while most Rukongai citizens dislike the Soul Reapers, they did like Jidanbo and viewed him as a gentle giant friend. What is more, Jidanbo comically told Ichigo the three basic etiquette rules of the Rukongai District to Ichigo before they fought, a great example of the whimsical humor in Bleach's earlier arcs. It's tough to remember Jidanbo's three rules without going back and rewatching that episode.

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