Bleach: Does Bambietta Die? What Happens to Her?

As far as Bambietta Basterbine, the Sternritter E (“The Explosion”) is concerned, she was a very interesting character in Bleach and, surprisingly enough (as she is a villain), one of the most popular as far as the new season of the anime is concerned. She really managed to stand out among the many cool Sternritter, not just because of her enormous powers but also because she had a great story. We have already talked about the clash between Bambietta and Shinji, but after her loss to Komamura, it was said that her Spiritual Pressure completely disappeared. Does that mean that Bambietta is dead? Keep reading to find out!

Technically, Bambietta is not dead, but she is not alive either. Namely, after surviving the fight against Shinji Hirako, she was beaten and fatally wounded by Sajin Komamura in his human form; Komamura’s assault on her was so strong that she was on the verge of dying when her fellow female Sternritter found her. Giselle Gewelle then arrived and approached the dying Bambietta, telling her that they wouldn’t let her die; she then used her power, despite Bambietta’s objections, and turned her into a zombie, making her, technically, undead. She has remained a zombie even after Yhwach’s downfall, as Giselle Gewelle was among the few Sternritter that actually survived.

The remainder of this article will give you a detailed overview of Bambietta Basterbine’s fate in the Bleach series, especially in light of her recent defeat at the hands of Captain Komamura. You already know what happened and how it happened, so we will just bring you the details so you know the whole context. Be careful, though, as the article will contain many spoilers, so if you don’t know all the details, be careful how you approach the text.

Bambietta Basterbine is not dead, but she is not alive either

Bambietta was first shown during the first invasion of the Seireitei, when she fought Sajin Komamura and was able to steal his Bankai, although she could not kill him. Later, during the second invasion, she went with her fellow female Sternritter to find Komamura once again, but after the four of them abandoned her, she found Komamura, who was now sporting a new armor.

He said he did not have time for her as he had to kill Yhwach, and not long after that, Captain Shinji Hirako, who had just used his Bankai to kill several Soldaten, appeared to “greet” her and told Komamura that he could go on, as he would take care of her; Komamura thanked him and left.

And while Bambietta underestimated Shinji, he activated his Shikai, Sakanade, and completely confused her. Bambietta did not know that Shinji had one of the most powerful illusion-type Zanpakutō in the series. Shinji’s Zanpakuto, Sakanade, can create an illusion in which all directions are reversed. As you can imagine, Bambietta was completely confused.

Her senses were destroyed; whenever she thought she saw Shinji, he disappeared and appeared at another location. She fired shots at him, but none hit the target as Shinji played with her. In the end, he said that he hated the fact that he would have to kill a girl, but he still sliced her.

But, before she died, something happened. Namely, Yhwach, from his throne in Silbern, decided to grant his Sternritter additional power, and several of them activated their Quincy: Vollständig, which gave Bambietta a lot of additional energy, and while it seemed that she would die by Shinji’s hand, she now seemingly had the upper position in the battle. Shinja remarked how she was still unable to fight, but Bambietta replied that she would now simply destroy everything around her, which secured at least one sure hit for her.

And, as she hit Shinji and wanted to kill him, Komamura, seeing what had happened, returned to help his comrade and, soon, Momo Hinamori, who also came to protect Shinji.

Komamura then took it upon himself to fight Bambietta, and although she attacked him expecting to kill him, she was surprised to see that Komamura was not a “doggy” anymore. Namely, Komamura had activated the Humanization Technique and transformed into a human at the cost of his own heart, which he had ripped out and offered as a sacrifice. This created a human, but a human who was not a truly living being, but rather just a shell that made Komamura invulnerable for a certain period of time.

It also enabled him to activate his true Bankai, and once he did, being immune to Bambietta’s attacks, Komamura was able to counter one of her bombs and send it back to her before it exploded, effectively defeating the Sternritter “E.”

As she was dying, Bambietta was angry at herself for losing and being the first to die, but the other female Sternritter arrived before she could die. Giselle Gewelle, the Sternritter “Z” (“The Zombie”), then told her that they would help her as they did not want her to die, and as she approached Bambietta, she heard her pleas not to do whatever she was planning on doing. Not much later, Yumichika and Ikkaku commented on the disappearance of her Spiritual Pressure.

So, did Bambietta die at that moment? Technically, she would have and is as good as dead, but she is not really dead. Giselle used her ability and soaked Bambietta in her blood, turning her into a zombie. Later, when she and her zombies face Mayuri, Giselle explains that Bambietta was not fully dead when the transformation occurred, which is why she can use her powers. During this period, Giselle seems to be quite cruel towards Bambietta, declining her pleas to release her from this form, bullying her, and hurting her so she could gain more energy.

She also seemingly killed her again, and while it was implied that this was permanent, it was revealed to be different.

Her ultimate fate is seen in the Can’t Fear Your Own World sequel light novel, in which we found out that Giselle and Liltoto survived, despite being beaten by Yhwach himself. Giselle kept Bambietta with them and, turning her into a zombie slave, kept feeding her blood to maintain the zombification. Bambietta was used as their primary weapon in several fights in the light novel, and we can, thus, confirm that Bambietta technically does live, but she is undead, so she is neither dead nor alive in Bleach.

Could she be revived? Well, yes. Mayuri Kurotsuchi knows a way how to reverse zombification (he did it with Toshiro, Rangiku, Kensei, and Otoribashi), but it is unlikely that he will actually do that to an enemy, so she may, for the foreseeable future, remain a zombie and that is what we can finally report about her fate in the series.

We promised you that Bambietta had a great story, and we think that we’ve kept our promise, as this text reveals why hers is one of the most interesting stories in the whole series.