Bleach: Is Rangiku Matsumoto Dead?

Regarding Bleach characters, Rangiku Matsumoto is, sadly, one of those characters whose physical appearance overshadowed her actual story; okay, to be fair, it’s not like we cannot blame Rangiku for that as well, but despite being arguably the most attractive character in the series, Rangiku Matsumoto had a truly great personality, and despite her frivolous behavior, she was shown to be a strong character, as well as a deeply caring and protective character. On top of that, she had some amazing skills, as Haineko was initially one of the most interesting Zanpakuto we’ve seen in the series. Rangiku Matsumoto is definitely an interesting character, and with everything that has happened to her in the series recently, it is only natural that you might wonder what happened to her. In this article, we will tell you whether Rangiku Matsumoto died in Bleach or not and what happened to her in the story.

Rangiku Matsumoto is alive and well in Bleach. She had, undoubtedly, been in several sticky situations – Ayon severely hurt her, she survived an encounter with Aizen and Gin, she was severely injured by Cang Du, and was even turned into a zombie by Giselle Gewelle – but she survived all of these situations and is currently alive and well. She was seen in the epilogue of the main story and was also present in the sequel stories that took place after Yhwach’s downfall.

The remainder of this article will give you a detailed overview of Rangiku Matsumoto’s fate in the Bleach series. 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.

Rangiku Matsumoto had several near-death encounters, but she survived all of them

Rangiku Matsumoto’s story starts many years before the present timeline when she was injured and in a near-death state, observed by a young Gin Ichimaru next to Aizen, who was collecting souls for his own Hogyoku. Seeing the beaten-up Rangiku, Gin swore he would avenge her (as he liked her) and promised to become a Shinigami to get closer to Aizen and kill him.

Gin later took care of Rangiku, and they became very close friends. She was also later seen defending a young Toshiro Hitsugaya from a foul merchant and was also the one who motivated him by telling him that his abilities were hurting his grandma and praising them for joining the Shinigami Academy and becoming a Shinigami.

Interestingly enough, the two of them would later work with Captain Isshin Shiba in the 10th Division, with Toshiro succeeding Captain Shiba as the youngest Captain in history and Matsumoto becoming his Lieutenant.

In the main timeline, she first shows up at the Lieutenants’ meeting because of the Ryoka. Then, when Sōsuke Aizen is apparently killed, and Momo Hinamori and Kira Izuru fight briefly, Tōshirō shows up and orders Rangiku and the remaining Lieutenants to take Momo and Kira into custody. Later she stops Gin’s blade because he almost killed Momo, which makes Rangiku very sad. After all, she has actually known Gin since she was little.

When she and her Captain then go to Central 46, they discover all the killed members there and follow Kira Izuru. Then she and Kira fight, but she manages to defeat him because her blade in the Shikai is made of ash, and Kira can’t use the ability of his Zanpakuto, Wabisuke, which makes everything it comes into contact with heavier.

At the end of the saga, Kira comes to apologize, but Rangiku only says that he should forget everything and gets drunk with him; she has a habit of getting drunk with Kira, as well as Hisagi, and she seemingly had that same habit with Captain Isshin Shiba.

In the Bount Arc, which is an anime filler arc, Rangiku battles Sawatari with Sado Yasutora, Nova, and Ururu Tsumugiya. As Rangiku and Nova combine their Reiatsu, they manage to find Watari and can force him to retreat. She is later captured by Ugaki’s doll in the Bount’s hideout.

She shows up with the other Captains in Fake Karakura Town and battles Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun, Haribell’s Fracciónes. However, after a while, it seems like Rangiku is losing, and Momo Hinamori rushes to her aid, and the two fight the three female Arrancar; Matsumoto is worried that Momo is still not over Aizen, but Momo shows her determination in fighting the Arrancar and identifying Aizen as the enemy.

The Arrancar are then forced to activate their Resurrección and summon the beast named Ayon, which immediately rips out Rangiku’s right rib and brutally knocks Momo away. Rangiku, whose injuries are undoubtedly fatal, is treated by Kira Izuru as he used to be a member of the 4th Division; at the same time, Captain-Commander Yamamoto took care of Ayon and the Tres Bestias, while Captain Komamura came to protect Kira, while he was healing the wounded.

As Ichigo and Gin fight with each other, she gets up despite the unfinished treatment and rushes after Gin. However, the fight between Ichigo and Gin quickly ends, and Gin disappears along with Aizen through a gate into Soul Society, where they both enter the real Karakura. A little later, just as Aizen is about to finish off Tatsuki, Don Kanonji appears and launches a suicidal attack on Aizen. But at the right time, Rangiku finally arrives and stops Don Kanonji’s plans.

She previously appeared in this saga conversing with Gin, who threatened to kill her for “being in the way.” But, as it turned out, he never intended to do this. He used the “technique” Hakufuku.

Apparently, its purpose was to hide her Reiatsu so that someone like Aizen couldn’t discover it. She then passed out on him again, and he left her on a rooftop while he went back to Aizen. When she woke up, she felt that Gin was in danger, so she rushed to him. She yelled for him not to die, but Gin didn’t reply, probably because he couldn’t from the wounds he sustained in the fight against Aizen, which was short but ended in Gin’s death.

When Ichigo appeared, she and Gin saw him. Nothing further has been heard from Rangiku. She also seemed to have mourned after Aizen’s death, but after seeing Toshiro train, she realized that she needed to get stronger and trained from there.

When the Sternritter launched the first invasion of Soul Society, she was seen with her Captain fighting Cang Du; when Cang Du stole Toshiro’s Bankai, Matsumoto was the one who used Tanteikura to warn the other Captains about it, but it had already been late for Byakuya, Komamura, and Soifon.

She later trained with her Captain and formed a new approach to battle the Sternritter without the Bankai, which she dubbed Operation Millefeuille. And while Bazz-B was ultimately too strong for Toshiro, Rangiku was challenged and defeated by Cang Du, who fatally wounded her. After Toshiro regained his Bankai and defeated Cang Du, their dying bodies were found by Giselle Gewelle, who turned both of them into zombies.

Ultimately, Zombie Matsumoto was defeated by Mayuri, who also put her and Toshiro into a special capsule that healed them completely, although at the cost of a lot of their life expectancy. Still, Rangiku Matsumoto, thus, survived the war against Yhwach and was seen – alive and well – in all the subsequent scenes.