Bleach is undoubtedly one of the best animes and mangas of all time, or at least it was supposed to be. Its success is due to the harmony present in the fascinating and dark story it presents to its viewers and readers.
This article may – and will – contain spoilers about the series, so if you are one of those who likes surprises or enjoys venturing into a new fantasy story, it’s better to be careful. But I warn you that, indeed, what I have to tell you are curiosities and a summary of the work that will please you.
Like most animes, Bleach appeared as a manga on August 20, 2001. The series was written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Its first appearance was in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump.
Unfortunately, the story was paused in 2016, on August 18. Just two days before the 15th anniversary of the saga. Despite being concluded, the manga broke sales records and became one of the few stories with over 100 million sales.
There were 686 chapters very well distributed over seventy-four volumes. The fame and recognition of Mr. Kubo’s work gained prominence until Bleach managed to get an anime adaptation.
Table of Contents
The Story of the Bleach Anime
The story, of shonen genre, whose target audience is young males between 12 and 18 years old, was promoted by the Pierrot studio and distributed by Televix Entertainment.
The first episode was released on October 5, 2004, and concluded on March 27, 2012. A very short time compared to the manga, which continued for another six years. Over these eight years of anime, 366 episodes were released.
Not only did Tite Kubo’s saga live on through animated episodes and manga, but it also had OVAs, animated films, rock music, and many games across various platforms and consoles. The released films were:
- Bleach: Memories of Nobody was the first of the films, released in 2005;
- The Diamond Dust Rebellion in 2007;
- Fade to Black (2008) and Jigoku-hen (2010) with supervision from Tite;
The most recent news from the Bleach saga was the live-action film produced by Warner Bros. You can find the production on Netflix. In the East, its premiere took place on July 20, 2018 – very recent.
In addition to these cinematic productions, the anime has a striking soundtrack that leaves fans – and newcomers – enchanted by the music. Several albums were released for the audience, each containing around 20 to 30 tracks.
Summary and Spoilers of Bleach
Ichigo Kurosaki’s life transforms suddenly; the then 15-year-old high school student possesses a skill different from other young people his age. He can see and communicate with spirits and people who have passed on to a better place.
The dark touch of the plot begins one night. Young Ichigo encounters a shinigami, a supernatural entity found in Japanese culture and mythology. Shinigamis have the duty to invite or influence people to death, provoking suicides in those who do not accept the invitation right away.
The goddess of death, a common term for shinigamis, is astonished to see that the boy can see her and communicate with her. The dialogue between the two is interrupted when Rukia Kuchiki senses the presence of a powerful Hollow – a supernatural entity that devours the spirit of human beings.
The two engage in a battle, in which Rukia is injured while trying to protect the young man. The only way to save him is by transferring her soul reaper powers to the boy. And that is precisely what happens!
By transferring her powers, Ichigo becomes a soul reaper and easily defeats the Hollow. Impressed, Rukia loses her powers and ceases to be a reaper, and due to her human interaction – transferring her powers to a human, she tells the Soul Society that she will take a long time to return to the afterlife.
In one arc of the series, Ichigo takes on Rukia’s role: defeating several Hollows, many of which are powerful. He also discovers that his school friends also have the ability to see spirits and communicate with the dead.
Uryu Ushida is a Quincy. Quincies can use spiritual particles and, like Shinigamis, hunt Hollows. However, they are just humans who hunt the shadowy beings.
Orihime Inoue has a group of spirits housed in her hairpins, given to her by her brother; they are known as Shun Shun Rikka. Inoue is also Ichigo’s crush and, later… Little secret!
Finally, Yasutora Sado, or “Chad”, is a young man in Ichigo’s class at Karakura High School. He is a Fullbringer, humans who have the ability to manipulate spirits residing in physical objects and materials in general. The character has Mexican influence.
The first saga of the plot consists of Ichigo and his friends trying to free Rukia from her death sentence. Due to the transfer of powers to Kurosaki – an illegal act among soul reapers – she was sentenced to death and taken to the Soul Society.
However, this entire plan to take Ichigo and company to the Soul Society was orchestrated by a captain of the shinigamis who, until then, was considered dead.
Aizen was responsible for all of this, with his Machiavellian plan to take over the city of Karakura. The battles fought led Ichigo to lose his soul reaper powers to finally deal with Aizen once and for all.
Some time later, approximately two years, Chad reveals that he found a group of people with powers similar to his: the Xcution. All were Fullbringers.
What was not known at the time of Aizen was that a Fullbringer can abdicate their powers to restore those of a soul reaper. Thus, the group plans to do the same with Ichigo.
After losing his powers – donated by Rukia – Ichigo begins intense training and gains the powers of a Fullbringer. The protagonist is one of the few who has experienced all the powers in the Bleach universe.
This arc of the series focuses on the again evil plan of the leader of the Xcution to take Ichigo’s powers once more. But with the help of his friends and allies from Xcution who disagreed with the attempted theft, Kugo Ginjo was eliminated by them. Ichigo regains his soul reaper powers and protects – once again – the city of Karakura.
Until the series’ conclusion, several arcs are presented to the viewers and show various races and powers that exist in the world. With many references to Japanese folklore – and some mixtures from others – the saga ends with our heroes much older, married, and with children.
Ichigo has a daughter. With whom? That’s right, Inoue. The young man – now twenty-seven years old – shows the girl the powers of a soul reaper. The city of Karakura still has a hero from the lineage of Ichigo Kurosaki.
Curiosities about Bleach
– Although it was one of the mangas that reached the mark of over 100 million copies sold, the anime was canceled due to low demand for the manga. There was only one arc left for the end of the anime, but no, Tite Kubo preferred to finish the anime – which was already causing losses for the studios – and continue with the manga.
– The author of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama, was responsible for the existence of Bleach. Without him, Tite Kubo would have given up on publishing the manga, as it was rejected by Shounen Jump magazine. This is one of the most famous manga publication magazines in Japan – if not number one. Mr. Kubo reports that they even laughed at him when he submitted the work for evaluation. A sad mistake.
– One of the characters – who became central much later – appeared on the cover of the first edition of the manga. However, Tite could not find a way to fit him in as he wanted at the beginning. Thus, Hirako Shinji only appeared 183 chapters later.
– The mythology surrounding Bleach is certainly a trademark of Tite Kubo. However, the author not only created a well-explored folklore but also added languages from our real universe into his series. Throughout the unfolding of the plot, it can be seen that some words related to the Hollow are of Spanish origin. Another example is the Bount, which when referenced, are words in German.
– Everything Tite Kubo went through to publish his masterpiece was very stressful. But when he could, he let the pencil and creativity flow on paper to shape the universe of Bleach. What troubled the author was that at certain moments there was a need for him to reformulate some scripts. For those who are not in the field, one can only imagine that it is a small headache to redo a work that is already finished. But for Tite, it evolved into a tremendous stomachache!
– Censorship is quite common in animes, as the overwhelming majority of its audience is children. Thus, in some scenes of the manga, where an arm is torn off and broken in two – oh, that hurts – in the anime it was replaced only by cuts. The arm remained intact.
List of Bleach Filler Episodes
The following episodes are of original content from the anime, which you should skip if you are not interested in watching Fillers. Some of the other episodes include original elements or events referencing filler episodes, but these do not impact the long-term story so you can safely ignore them. The ones based on manga omake are noted as such.
In summary, the fillers are: 33, 50, 64-109, 128-137, 147-149, 168-189, 204-205, 213-214, 227-266, 287, 298-299, 303-305, 311-342, 355.
- Episode 33 Miracle! The Mysterious New Hero (Omake 1);
- Episode 50 The Reviving Lion (Omake 2);
- Episodes 64-109 Bount Arc;
- Episodes 128-137 Stolen Hogyoku Arc;
- Episodes 147-149 Forest of Menos Subarc;
- Episodes 168-189 Captain Shuusuke Amagai Arc;
- Episode 204 Ichigo’s Stomach-cutting Persuasion Strategy
- Episode 205 Thump! A Kemari Tournament Filled with Hollows
- Episodes 213-214 Karakuraizer Mini-arc (based on volume 29)
- Episode 227 Wonderful Error (Omake 8)
- Episode 228 Summer! Sea! Swimsuit Festival!! (Omake BLEACH on the BEACH!!)
- Episode 229 Cry of the Soul? The Rug Shinigami is Born!
- Episodes 230-265 Zanpakutou Unknown Tales arc
- Episode 266 Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra (Summary of episodes)
- Episode 287 Side Story…Ichigo and the Magic Lamp
- Episode 298 Film! Festival! Shinigami Film Festival!
- Episode 299 Theatre Opening Commemoration! The Hell Verse: Prologue (Omake)
- Episode 303 Real World and Shinigami! The New Year Special!
- Episode 304 Another Side Story! This Time’s Enemy Is a Monster!?
- Episode 305 Delusion Roars! Hisagi, Towards the Hot Springs Inn!
- Episodes 311-316 Other Fillers with the author’s support
- Episodes 317-342 Gotei 13 Arc
- Episode 355 Shinigami at War!
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