Warning: Spoilers for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, part 3, Episode #10!Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warhas just seen the Soul Reapers lose yet another of their own kind, and the circumstances of this particular death are among the goriest and most disgusting in the entire series. Even more unfortunate is that this particular Soul Reaper was criminally underrated, and will no longer get a chance to show off the abilities that made her unique.
Nemu Kurotsuchi is the Lieutenant of squad 12, serving under Mayuri Kurotsuchi, her creator. Nemu is actually an artificial Soul Reaper, created using the same technologies that led to Mod Souls, or the Gigai used by Soul Reapers when entering the world of the living. A fairly mysterious character who mostly gets used as a tool by Mayuri, Nemu is interesting for exhibiting her own personality, despite attempts to prevent her from developing independence. Nemu has a myriad of abilities, including containing poisons and medicines for Mayuri to use, but many of them have never been seen on screen.
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Nemu’s Final Battle Made Her A Worthy Lieutenant
While battling against Pernida, Mayuri had to be saved by Nemu after one of Pernida’s nerves made contact with Mayuri’s arm, forcing him to lop it off. Nemu managed to deliver to him a medicine that helped him to regrow his arm quickly, although he was unhappy with her decision to interfere, since he didn’t explicitly ask for it.Mayuri entrusts Nemu with a coagulating agent, with which he hopes he’ll be able to shut down Pernida’s biological systems.
Nemu bravely crossed the dangerous battlefield and injected Pernida as ordered, but it isn’t enough to fully defeat Pernida. Nemu thentakes to defending Mayuri, enhancing her own abilities at the cost of increased cell degradation. While Mayuri argues with her that she’s not meant to protect him, Nemu delivers a powerful strike using part of her soul, which blows a hole in Pernida. However, Pernida isn’t defeated, and launches nerves at Nemu, making contact and instantly causing her to explode in a rain of gore.
Nemu proved that she had evolved beyond her capacities, just like Mayuri always wanted; however, her evolution eventually drove her to actions that would lead to her death. Mayuri is left mourning, although he doesn’t fully understand the feeling.
Is Death Really The End for Mayuri’s Greatest Creation?
Nemu Was the Latest in a Line of Experiments
Nemu was also known as Nemuri Nanago, marking her as experiment #7 in Mayuri’s Nemuri Project. The only attempt at an artificial Soul Reaper to live beyond the expected age of two, Nemu was an incredible creation who was never as valued by Mayuri as perhaps she should’ve been.While Nemu dies during the battle with Pernida, Mayuri is able to save her brain, suggesting that perhaps all isn’t lost for his greatest creation. If the medical pod which Mayuri entered is capable of keeping the brain alive, it may be possible to revive Nemu in some way.
At the very least,Mayuri has all the notes and experiment datafrom Project Nemuri, with which he could create a new Nemu. He knows now how to conquer the cell division problem, which was what led to the failures of Nemuri #1 through #6. Mayuri will have to raise a new Nemuri the long way, though, as he doesn’t seem to have a safe way to age her up rapidly to the age which Nemu was. It’s hard to imagine someone like Mayuri giving up on creating the ultimate artificial life form, though, so getting back to work on a new Nemu after this war comes to an end seems like exactly the thing he’d do.
10 Best Cut Moments from Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has proven to be a fantastic adaptation of its source material, but there were still some scenes that got cut.
Nemu was a critically underused character in the end, one who didn’t get the respect thatmost other Soul Reaper captainsand lieutenants received. She possessed very interesting circumstances which stood to make her a potentially exciting character to watch, but so rarely got to deliver on her abilities that this final fight shows off more of what she’s capable of than perhaps any other. Able to modify herself and her parameters on the fly, Nemu had access to superhuman strength and speed that would’ve come in handy in past confrontations.
While it’s tragic that Nemu was lost under such disturbing circumstances, at least the Soul Reaper got to die in a way that led to her killer’s defeat, which is about the best one can hope for inBleach: Thousand-Year Blood War.
Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War
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Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is a sequel series to the popular anime from creator Tite Kubo. This anime follows Ichigo and his friends as they investigate why people are disappearing while trouble arises in the Soul Society. The first season was released in 2022 and has been critically acclaimed since its beginning.
