Bleach: Are Niko and Mashiro Kuna Related? Relationship Explained!

Bleach has a lot of characters, and from time to time, you notice that some of them could be related to one another. And while there aren’t that many relatives in Bleach, some are present and even quite important. Now, not all relationships have been established in the original manga, and in this article, we are going to discuss one such relationship. In the article, you are going to find out whether Niko Kuna and Mashiro Kuna are related or not.

Niko Kuna and Mashiro Kuna are sisters in Bleach. Niko was initially introduced as a member of the Research and Development Institute, but her last name wasn’t revealed until Can’t Fear Your Own World when it was officially confirmed that her last name is Kuna and that she is Mashiro Kuna’s younger sister. The two of them don’t really have much in common, as seen in the light novel, and that is probably why Kubo never established the relationship in the manga, as it wasn’t an overly important one when you look at the overall idea.

The rest of this article will explore the relationship between Niko and Mashiro Kuna while focusing, in particular, on the nature of their relationship and whether they are related by blood or not, which is also the principal question of this article. If you’re not fully up-to-date with the events of Bleach, this article might contain some important spoilers, especially since this has yet to be revealed in the anime series (it might not even be revealed since neither Mashiro nor Niko featured heavily in the Quincy Blood War), but we have to state that no new information will be presented here for manga readers, as we will focus on old and well-known facts about the two of them from the light novel.

Yes, Niko and Mashiro Kuna are sisters, but this was established in the light novel

Both Niko and Mashiro Kuna are relatively well-known characters from Bleach, with the latter being more famous among Bleach fans. So, in order to explain why this topic is so specific and why it actually deserves a separate article, we are going to introduce the two girls first.

So, Niko Kuna was initially introduced as simply Niko. She is a Shinigami who is a member of the 12th Division and is employed in Mayuri’s Research and Development Institute; she has been there from its inception and has worked under both Kisuke Urahara and Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

She is a small, dark-haired girl with large glasses; she was once shown with a chain around her head, but that isn’t her trademark attire, as she was seen without it on numerous occasions. She seems to be somewhat timid and a lot calmer than her Mashiro and more rational, but she can also show emotions and be cheerful, although not as Mashiro. She also doesn’t seem to be spoiled or stubborn. Her role in the story is not grand.

She was first seen when she was put in charge of bringing Rukia’s Gigai to the Institute, not long after Rukia had been arrested in the World of the Living. When she brought the Gigai, Hiyosu, and Akon immediately arrived to examine it, showing that her role in analyzing it wasn’t big. She was seen briefly in the Arrancar saga and during the Quincy Blood War; during the latter, Niko actually discovered the remnants of the Nemuri Project, one of Mayuri’s personal projects, which then prompted Akon to explain that that project was to Niko.

She is also seen in the Can’t Fear Your Own World light novel, although, in a smaller capacity, the light novel confirms that she survived the Quincy war and that she is alive and well.

Mashito Kuna is a green-haired girl who often behaves like a stubborn, spoiled child. She is one of the Visored and is most often seen with Kensei Muguruma, whom she often annoys. The Turn Back the Pendulum mini-arc revealed that Mashiro Kuna was Muguruma’s former Lieutenant while he was the Captain of the 9th Division more than a century ago.

Both were victims of Aizen’s Hollowfication experiments, so they were banished from Soul Society and became Visored. Masihro might look like a silly girl, but she is exceptionally powerful and uses traditional fighting, like Muguruma, rather than sword-fighting; she was also strong enough to help Hisagi activate his Bankai between the two invasions of the Wandenreich.

Although she landed a position at Gotei 13 at the time, she doesn’t behave accordingly. Mashiro seems to be the most childlike of the Visored, and she’s also quite goofy and doesn’t seem to pay attention to what’s going on around her. She also tends to fuss over unimportant things, such as Orihime Inoue befriending Hachigen Ushoda or when her commander, Kensei, insists on following his subordinates into battle.

She also has the extraordinary ability to infuriate her former commander, Kensei Muguruma, even when she is asleep. In combat, on the one hand, she behaves seriously, but on the other hand, she pounces on her opponent like a superhero and acts like one even after she wins.

Mashiro had a relatively important role in Fake Karakura, where she fought Aizen, his Hollows, and the other Visored. She defeated several Menos Grande with ease, and she also defeated the gigantic Hollow known as Hooleer without any trouble. She was, however, surprised by Wonderweiss, and she lost the battle because her mask started breaking.

Later, she helped, as we’ve said, Hisagi during his Bankai training, something that Muguruma made him do; before they started, Muguruma told Hisagi that Mashiro would certainly kill him if he did not try, and knowing Mashiro, she was definitely ready to do it. Sadly, we did not see much of her during the Quincy Blood War, which is probably because Kubo had to rush the story, and he did not have enough time to give Mashiro a proper fight as well.

So, now that we have introduced Niko and Mashiro to you, you can see that they aren’t really that similar, are they? Well, they’re not. Nikol is much calmer and more rational, while Mashiro is often a spoiled, annoying brat. And initially, when Niko was known as just Niko, no one even suspected that they could be related, as Kubo never even hinted at Mashiro having a relative. But, the light novel introduced Niko as Niko Kuna and soon confirmed that Niko was Mashiro’s younger sister.

The two of them even shared a brief scene, which showed just how different they are and how Niko wasn’t really too proud of the way her sister often behaved. But yes, the two of them are sisters, which is a canon confirmation, and since that fact was revealed only in the light novel, we thought it would be essential to let you know about it as well. And that is why this article was written.