Bleach is undoubtedly one of the best anime and manga of all time, at least it was meant to be. Its success is due to the harmony present in the fascinating and dark history to its viewers and readers.
EThis article may – and will – contain spoilers about the series, so if you are someone who enjoys surprises or likes to venture into a new fantasy story, it's best to be cautious. But I must warn you that what I have to share are indeed curiosities and a summary of the work that will please you.
Like most anime, Bleach debuted 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 the year 2016 on the 18th of August. Just two days before the saga's 15th anniversary. Despite being closed, the manga broke sales records and became one of the few stories with more than 100 million sales.
There were 686 chapters very well distributed across seventy-four volumes. The fame and recognition of Mr. Kubo's work gained prominence, until Bleach was able to get an anime version.
Table of Contents
The history of Bleach Anime
The story, from the shonen genre, which targets young males between the ages of 12 and 18, was promoted by Studio Pierrot and distributed by Televix Entertainment.
The first episode was released on October 5, 2004, and finished 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 animated episodes and manga lived the saga of Tite Kubo, there were OVAs, animated films, rock music and many games from different platforms and consoles. The released films were:
- Bleach: Memories of Nobody was the first of the movies, released in 2005;
- The Diamond Dust Rebellion in the year 2007;
- Fade to Black (2008) and Jigoku-hen (2010) supervised by Tite;
The latest news from the Bleach saga is 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 new.
In addition to these cinematic productions, the anime has a remarkable soundtrack that leaves fans - and newcomers - bewitched by the songs. There were several albums released to the public, each one had around 20 to 30 tracks allocated in the media.
Bleach Summary and Spoilers
Ichigo Kurosaki's life changes suddenly, the then 15-year-old high school student has a different skill than other young people his age. He can see and communicate with spirits and people who have already left this for the better.
The dark twist of the plot begins in one night. Young Ichigo comes across a shinigami, a supernatural entity found in Japanese culture and mythology. Shinigami have a 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 shinigami, is amazed 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 fight a battle, in which Rukia is injured while trying to protect the young man. The only way to save him is to transfer her soul reaper powers to the boy. And that's exactly what happens!
Transferring his powers, Ichigo becomes a soul reaper, defeating the Hollow easily. Impressed, Rukia ceases to have her powers and ceases to be a reaper and, due to her human interaction - transferring her powers to a human, tells Soul Society that it will take time to return to the afterlife world.
In one arc of the series, it focuses on Ichigo playing the role of Rukia: 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 are capable of utilizing spirit particles and, like Shinigami, hunt Hollows. However, it is only humans who hunt the dark beings.
Orihime Inoue has a group of spirits housed in her hairpins, given by her brother, these are known by the name of Shun Shun Rikka. Inoue is also the ion of Ichigo and, later... Little secret!
Finally, Yasutora Sado, or "Chad", is a young man who is in Ichigo's class at Karakura High School. He is a Fullbringer, humans who have the ability to manipulate spirits that reside in objects and physical materials in general. The character has Mexican influence.
The first saga of the plot consists of Ichigo and his colleagues 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, being taken to Soul Society.
However, this whole plan to take Ichigo and company to Soul Society was orchestrated by a captain of the shinigami who, until then, was considered dead.
Aizen was responsible for all of this, with his Machiavellian plan to take Karakura City. The battles fought led to Ichigo losing his reaper powers to finish off Aizen for good.
Sometime later, approximately two years later, Chad reveals that he has encountered a group of people who have similar power to his own: the Xcution. All were Fullbringers.
Something not known at the time of Aizen was that a Fullbringer can give up their powers to restore those of a reaper of souls. Soon, the group plans the same thing with Ichigo.
Ichigo, after losing his powers – donated by Rukia – the boy begins an intense training and gains the powers of a Fullbringer. The protagonist is one of the few who has experienced all the powers in the universe of Bleach.
This series arc focuses on the leader of the Xcution leader's evil plan to take Ichigo's powers again. But with the help of his friends and Xcution allies who didn't agree with the theft attempt, Kugo Ginjo was eliminated by them. Ichigo regains his soul reaper powers and protects - once again - Karakura City.
Until the end of the series, several arcs are presented to viewers and show different races and powers that exist in the world. With many references to Japanese folklore – and some mixtures of others – the saga ends with our heroes much older, married and with children.
Ichigo has a daughter. With whom? That's right, Inoue. The boy – now twenty-seven years old – shows the young woman the powers of a soul reaper. Karakura City still has a hero from the lineage of Ichigo Kurosaki.
Bleach facts
– Despite being one of the manga that reached the mark of more than 100 million copies sold, the anime was canceled due to low demand for the manga. Since 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 damage to 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 the publication of the manga, as it was rejected by the Shounen Jump magazine. This is one of the most famous manga publication magazines in Japan – if not the number one. Mr. Kubo reports that they even laughed in his face when he sent the work for evaluation. Sad misunderstanding.
– One of the characters – who became central much later – appeared on the cover of the first issue of the manga. However, Tite couldn't find a way to fit him as he wanted at first. Soon, Hirako Shinji only appeared 183 chapters later.
- The mythology surrounding Bleach is, without a doubt, a trademark of Tite Kubo. However, the author not only created a well-explored folklore, he also added the languages of our real universe into his series. Throughout the unfolding of the plot, it can be noticed that some words related to the Hollow are of Spanish origin. Another example is the Bount, which, when referenced, are words in German.
- Everything that Tite Kubo went through to publish his masterpiece was very stressful. But when he could, he let his pencil and creativity flow on the 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 project that is already finished. But for Tite, it evolved into a tremendous stomachache!
– Censorship is very common in anime, because the overwhelming majority of its audience are children. So, in some scenes in the manga, where an arm is ripped off and broken in two – what a pain – in the anime it was only replaced by cuts. The arm remained intact.
List of Bleach Fillers Episodes
The following episodes are original content from the anime, which you should skip if you're not interested in watching Fillers. Some of the other episodes include original elements or reference events from 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.
Briefly 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);
- Episódio 50 O Leão Renascente (Omake 2);
- Episodes 64-109 Bount Arc;
- Episodes 128-137 Stolen Hogyoku Arc;
- Episodes 147-149 Menosの森 Subarc;
- Episodes 168-189 キャプテン・シュースケ・アマガイ・アーク;
- Episode 204 Ichigoの腹切り説得戦略
- エピソード 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 Verão! Mar! Festival de Maiôs!! (Omake BLEACH on the BEACH!!)
- Episode 229 魂の叫び？ラグ死神の誕生！
- Episodes 230-265 ザンパクートウ Unknown Tales arc
- Episode 266 Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra (Episode Summary)
- Episode 287 サイドストーリー...Ichigo and the Magic Lamp
- Episode 298 Film! Festival! 死神 Film Festival!
- Episode 299 Teatro Inauguração Comemoração! The Hell Verse: Prologue (Omake)
- エピソード 303 Real World and Shinigami! The New Year Special!
- Episode 304 Another Side Story! This Time's Enemy Is a モンスター!?
- Episode 305 妄想が轟く！ヒサギ、温泉宿へ向かう！
- Episodes 311-316 Other Fillers with from the author
- Episodes 317-342 Gotei 13 アーク
- Episode 355 戦争中の死神!
