Bleach (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese anime television series based on the manga series Bleach by Tite Kubo. It was produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Noriyuki Abe. The series aired on TV Tokyo and its TXN affiliates from October 2004 to March 2012, spanning 366 episodes. The story follows the adventures of the teenage Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper—a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from a Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki. His newfound powers allow him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits called "Hollows" and guiding departed souls to the afterlife. In addition to adapting the manga series it is based on, the anime includes original self-contained storylines and characters not found in the source material.
Viz Media obtained foreign television and home video distribution rights to the Bleach anime in March 2006. Bleach was broadcast in the United States on Adult Swim from September 2006 to November 2014.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, a direct sequel series covering the manga's final story arc, also animated by Studio Pierrot (Studio Pierrot proper for its first two parts and Pierrot Films for its last two parts) and directed by Tomohisa Taguchi and Hikaru Murata, aired its first 13-episode cours on TV Tokyo and its TXN affiliates from October to December 2022. The second 13-episode cours aired from July to September 2023. The third 14-episode cours aired from October to December 2024. The fourth and final cours premiered in July 2026.
Plot
The series adapts Kubo's manga with the main story arcs and introduces anime-exclusive ones. In Karakura Town, high school student Ichigo Kurosaki becomes a substitute , when Rukia Kuchiki puts her life at risk to protect him from a Hollow who attacks Ichigo's twin younger sisters. Although initially reluctant to accept his responsibility, he takes her place, and during this time they discover that a few classmates are spiritually aware and have their own powers: Quincy survivor Uryū Ishida uses spiritual particles, Orihime Inoue has a group of protective spirits called Shun Shun Rikka and Yasutora Sado ("Chad") has strength equal to the Hollows encased in his arm.
When Rukia is sentenced to death for transgressions in the human world and sent to the Soul Society, Ichigo meets Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihōin, the duo of exiled Soul Reapers. They allow him and his friends to save Rukia. After this, it is revealed that ex-squad captain Sousuke Aizen framed Rukia for the crime and has been illegally experimenting on Soul Reapers and Hollows. Aizen plans to conquer the Soul Society by using the Hōgyoku, a legendary powerful substance turning Hollows into half Soul Reapers. After faking his death and his reappearance caused a fight with some people, Aizen escapes into Hueco Mundo, the realm of Hollow, and later kidnaps Orihime as she is instrumental in creating the Oken, a power that will allow him to kill the Soul King, the ruler of the Soul Society.
After being trained by the Vizards, other Hollowfied Soul Reapers and the victims of Aizen's experiment, Ichigo and his friends travel into Hueco Mundo. Facing a group of Arrancar, who are Hollows given Soul Reaper abilities, led by an elite group known as the Espada, which are composed of ten Arrancars with exemplary strength. Espadas serve as commanders in Aizen's army and each has the factions of weaker Arrancars. Along with Aizen, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen, the Espada as a group possess comparable strength to Soul Reaper captains. After Ichigo rescuing Orihime, Aizen reveals her kidnapping was a distraction to allow him to take Karakura Town, as its spiritual energy is what is needed for the Oken. After being trained by his father Isshin, another exiled Soul Reaper, Ichigo sacrifices his Soul Reaper power to seal Aizen away when the Hōgyoku rejects its master, and the Soul Reapers defeat the Espadas.
Months later, Chad and the members reveal themselves as Fullbringers in a group called Xcution. They can give up their powers to restore other ones and they plan on doing so for Ichigo, who uses the power of Fullbringer. However, it is all a ruse by their leader Kugo Ginjo, a Fullbringer and former Substitute Soul Reaper, to extract his powers and empower all of them. Ichigo has his Soul Reaper powers restored, when he gains his trust from the Soul Society. After helping other Soul Reapers defeat Ginjo's team, Ichigo resumes his duty as an official Substitute Soul Reaper.
Several anime exclusive story arcs are introduced during the series. The first arc focuses on the Bount, a group of spiritual humans who are immortal longer by stealing souls. Their leader, Jin Kariya, seeks to destroy the Soul Society in revenge. However, Ichigo and his allies defeat them. The second arc focuses on Shūsuke Amagai, a Soul Reaper captain replacing Ichimaru. Amagai seeks revenge against Captain Yamamoto for the death of his father and uses the clan's forbidden experiment. However, Amagai realizes his mistake and kills himself. The third arc features the evil Zanpakutō spirit Muramasa, who turns itself and other ones into spiritual beings to take revenge on the Soul Society for imprisoning its master Kōga Kuchiki. After succeeding, he is double-crossed and transforms into a monstrous creature that Ichigo defeats, but after Muramasa reveals the intention was to have Soul Reapers and Zanpakutō communicate on equal terms. The fourth and final arc features an event in which Kagerōza Inaba creates modified copies of all Soul Reapers in Reigai bodies. He attempts to fuse with Nozomi Kujō into an original being Ōko Yushima. However, Nozomi sacrifices herself to defeat Inaba and Ichigo loses his power.
Voice cast and characters
Character Japanese English Ichigo Kurosaki Masakazu Morita Johnny Yong Bosch Rukia Kuchiki Fumiko Orikasa Michelle Ruff Orihime Inoue Yuki Matsuoka Stephanie Sheh Uryū Ishida Noriaki Sugiyama Derek Stephen Prince Yasutora "Chad" Sado Hiroki Yasumoto Marc Worden (until 85)Jamieson Price Kon Mitsuaki Madono Quinton Flynn Kisuke Urahara Shin-ichiro Miki Michael Lindsay (until 214)Doug Erholtz Yoruichi Shihōin Satsuki YukinoShirō Saitō (cat form) Wendee LeeTerrence Stone (cat form) Renji Abarai Kentarō ItōReiko Kiuchi (young) Wally WingertYuri Lowenthal (young) Byakuya Kuchiki Ryōtarō Okiayu Daniel WorenYuri Lowenthal (young) Shunsui Kyōraku Akio Otsuka Steve Kramer Tōshirō Hitsugaya Romi Park Steve Staley Rangiku Matsumoto Megan Hollingshead Shūhei Hisagi Katsuyuki Konishi Steve Staley Kenpachi Zaraki Fumihiko Tachiki David Lodge Yachiru Kusajishi Dina Sherman Ikkaku Madarame Nobuyuki Hiyama Vic MignognaMichael Sinterniklass (stand-in) Yumichika Ayasegawa Jun Fukuyama Brian Beacock Jūshirō Ukitake Hideo Ishikawa Liam O'BrienKim Strauss (stand-in) Sajin Komamura Tetsu Inada Kim Strauss (first voice)JB Blanc Gin Ichimaru Kōji Yusa Doug Erholtz Mayuri Kurotsuchi Ryūsei Nakao Terrence Stone Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto Masaaki Tsukada Neil Kaplan Ulquiorra Cifer Daisuke Namikawa Tony Oliver Isshin Kurosaki Toshiyuki Morikawa Patrick Seitz Karin Kurosaki Rie Kugimiya Kate Higgins Yuzu Kurosaki Janice Kawaye Kūgo Ginjō Hiroki Tōchi Travis Willingham Sousuke Aizen Show Hayami Kyle Hebert
Casting Japanese Ichigo's voice actor, Masakazu Morita, tried to re-create the mood that he felt when he read the manga and imagined hearing the dialogue. In an interview with Elicia O'Reilly of the Japan Foundation, Morita said that to get into character, he would say a line that epitomizes that character.
English Studio City, Los Angeles-based Studiopolis was hired to dub the anime. The English-language cast was assembled from experienced industry actors that have dozens of roles in other anime series, films and video games. Originally, Johnny Yong Bosch, Ichigo's English voice actor, found pronouncing the names of the characters to be difficult and tried to emulate the deep gruff voice of Ichigo. Bosch acknowledges that the directorial control was loosened as the work progressed; stating around episode 10, as he was guided into the role of Ichigo and the growth of the character. Bosch noted that the long scenes of screaming and panting—in particular, the scene in episode 18—have nearly made him pass out. Stephanie Sheh noticed the difference in the tone of her Orihime voice in the English adaptation and described it as being higher-pitched and "innocent-sounding". The English dub producers wanted to make Orihime sound tough and comedic, but not "ditzy". She relates to her character's unusual creations for food. Derek Stephen Prince likes to play Uryu because he is the black sheep of the cast and he is a complex character. Throughout the production, Prince acknowledges his role as the English voice actor of Shino Aburame from Naruto and sets them apart by taking a Clint Eastwood tone for Uryu.
For the voicework, one of the challenges was stating Japanese phrases while maintaining pronunciation and inflection. The duality of the story was hard to keep up with, and the cast had to juggle the challenges of performing under the different lifestyles of the characters. The voice actors often made suggestions for the scenes that differ from the approved script and results in rewriting and additional takes that were put into the dub.
Production Noriyuki Abe was chosen as director of the series while acted as head writer for episodes 1–212. Tsuyoshi Kida was the head writer for episodes 230–265. Kento Shimoyama held the title of head writer for episodes 17–366. Masashi Kudō provided the character designs, occasionally providing key animation or acting as an animation supervisor himself.
The music of Bleach was composed by Shirō Sagisu. His musical score for the television series was released in four-CD sets. Four additional CDs were released for the music composed for the four Bleach animated films.
During the production and broadcast of the first 167 episodes, the screen size was in 4:3; episodes 168 through 366 were produced and broadcast in 16:9 widescreen.
In a 2009 interview, Kubo and Kudō discussed the original story for the anime adaptation, Zanpakutō: The Alternate Tale, with Kubo expressing that he desired to borrow events and concepts within it for the manga. Kubo also revealed that his art style varied in the production of the work and only became cemented after the airing of the anime. He acknowledged that his art style has changed as a result of his work and gave an example that he no longer draws hair growing from behind the ears of characters.
On October 5, 2024, Aniplex released an animated video to celebrate the anime series' 20th anniversary. The video features climactic scenes from the series, animated in the new Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime style.
Music
The soundtrack of Bleach, composed by Shirō Sagisu, was released in four volumes and an anniversary box set. A series of character song albums, the "Bleach Beat Collection" albums, and best-of albums composed of the theme songs were released, all by Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
Five volumes of Bleach Soundtracks have been released. Bleach Original Soundtrack 1 has twenty five songs, released on May 18, 2005. Bleach Original Soundtrack 2 has twenty three songs covering up to episode 64 of the Bount Arc and was released on August 8, 2006. Bleach Original Soundtrack 3 has twenty seven songs and was released on November 5, 2008. Bleach Original Soundtrack 4 was the fourth and final album that has thirty songs, and was released on December 16, 2009. The fifth anniversary box set was released on July 29, 2009, with a CD including 21 previously unreleased songs.