In an interview that was published on the official website of Bleach Thousand Year Blood War anime, the manga’s author Tite Kubo revealed that the second cour of the adaptation will have an anime original battle.

Kubo had wanted to include this battle in the manga, but for some reason he could not. However, the production staff of the anime asked him if he wanted to include it in the anime and the author agreed to it.

Kubo, however, did not divulge the names of the characters who will be involved in this fight.

“In the second cour, there is a new battle that is not in the original work. I couldn’t draw the battle between one character and another in the original work, and the anime production team asked me if I wanted to have this character fight in this area, so I gave them the ideas I couldn’t draw, drawing pictures and giving names to the characters,” Kubo said in the interview.

By drawing pictures, the author meant that he drew the characters “moving like this, changing like this, fighting like this, and so on, on about five or six sheets of paper”, instead of drawing them in a manga-like style.

Kubo feels that the battle would leave a good impression on the fans.

This anime original battle is in line with what Kubo had revealed in an earlier interview, where he expressed his desire to include battle scenes in the anime that were excluded from the manga.

The second cour of the Bleach Thousand Year Blood War will start airing in July 2023. Check out the promo video of the same below.

The first cour of the anime ended on Dec 26, 2022, with a one-hour long special episode, combining episodes 12 and 13 of the anime.

It was previously revealed that Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War anime will be split into four cours, with breaks in between.

The anime started airing in Japan on Oct 10, 2022.

Noriyuki Abe is directing the series at Studio Pierrot. He also scripted the series along with Masaki Hiramatsu.

Additional staff includes:

• Chief Animation Directors: Michio Hasegawa Sei Komatsubara, Kumiko Takayanagi
• Action Effects Animation Directors: Satoshi Sakai, Yoshihiro Kanno, Yong Hoon Chong
• Art Director: Yoshio Tanioka
• Art Design: Toshiki Amada
• Color Design: Saori Goda
• Editing: Akinori Mishima
• Director of Photography: Kazuhiro Yamada
• CG Directors: Toshihiro Sasaki, Kazushi Goto
• Sound Director: Yukio Nagasaki
• Sound Production: Zack Promotion
• Character Designer: Masashi Kudo
• Music Composition: Shiro Sagisu

VIZ Media describes the plot of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War as:

Was it all just a coincidence, or was it inevitable?

Ichigo Kurosaki gained the powers of a Soul Reaper through a chance encounter. As a Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo became caught in the turmoil of the Soul Society, a place where deceased souls gather. But with help from his friends, Ichigo overcame every challenge to become even stronger.

When new Soul Reapers and a new enemy appear in his hometown of Karakura, Ichigo jumps back into the battlefield with his Zanpakuto to help those in need. Meanwhile, the Soul Society is observing a sudden surge in the number of Hollows being destroyed in the World of the Living. They also receive separate reports of residents in the Rukon District having gone missing. Finally, the Seireitei, home of the Soul Reapers, comes under attack by a group calling themselves the Wandenreich.

Led by Yhwach, the father of all Quincies, the Wandenreich declare war against the Soul Reapers with the following message: “Five days from now, the Soul Society will be annihilated by the Wandenreich.”

The history and truth kept hidden by the Soul Reapers for a thousand long years is finally brought to light.

All things must come to an end—as Ichigo Kurosaki’s final battle begins!

Source: Official website