Bleach

Bleach is a manga series authored by Tite Kubo that appeared in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from August 2001 until August 2016.

The manga series has been adapted into an animated television series, two OVAs, four animated feature films, a rock musical, numerous video games and a Trading Card Game. A live action movie adaptation was announced in the 22nd August 2016 edition of WSJ, coinciding with the release of the manga's final chapter. A compilation of volumes of the manga have sold over 50 million copies in Japan, and have reached the top of manga sales charts in the United States. The manga received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 2005, and the anime has been nominated for several American Anime Awards.

Manga

Bleach, written and illustrated by Tite Kubo, was serialized for fifteen years in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from August 7, 2001, to August 22, 2016. Its 698 individual chapters were collected in seventy-four tankōbon volumes.

Bleach is published by Shueisha in Japan, Viz Media in United States, Manga Entertainment in UK and Crew in the Czech Republic.

Anime

The anime adaptation of Tite Kubo's Bleach manga was produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Noriyuki Abe, featuring music arranged by Shirō Sagisu. It began broadcasting in Japan on October 5, 2004, on TV Tokyo. It ceased broadcasting on March 27, 2012; a total of 366 episodes were aired before the anime concluded. However, it was announced on March 20th 2020 that the final arc of the manga would finally be animated and will begin airing in October 2022.

Setting

The planes of existence in the Bleach universe broadly correspond to the life and afterlife of Human belief systems. The living Humans of Bleach reside in a world resembling present-day Japan; buried souls live in a kind of afterlife called Soul Society. All Bleach characters are "souls". There are two types of souls: Wholes and Hollows. Whole is a regular spirit of a deceased person. Hollows are corrupt spirits with supernatural powers which devour the souls of both living and deceased Humans.

Hollow

There are also special souls called Shinigami (Soul Reapers). They are souls with inner spiritual power, recruited from the ranks of the residents and nobility of Soul Society. Like all spirits, they cannot be detected by normal Humans. Shinigami use their Zanpakutō, supernatural swords that are the manifestation of their owners' power, to guide lost souls to Soul Society. Shinigami also use Zanpakutō and magic known as Kidō to fight their arch-rivals, the Hollows.

Shinigami

Plot

The story opens with the sudden appearance of Shinigami Rukia Kuchiki in Ichigo Kurosaki's bedroom. She is surprised at his ability to see her, but their conversation is shortly interrupted by the appearance of a "Hollow", an evil spirit. After Rukia is severely wounded while trying to protect Ichigo, she attempts to transfer half her powers to Ichigo in order to let him face the Hollow on equal footing. Ichigo instead unintentionally absorbs almost all her energy, allowing him to defeat the Hollow with ease. The next day Rukia appears in Ichigo's classroom as a seemingly normal Human, and informs Ichigo that his absorption of her powers has left her stranded in the Human World until she recovers her strength. In the meantime Ichigo shelters Rukia in his home and takes over her job as a Shinigami, battling Hollows and guiding lost souls to Soul Society.

Ichigo as a Shinigami

After a few months of this arrangement, in the sixth volume of the series, Rukia's Shinigami superiors interpret her disappearance as desertion, send a detachment to arrest her, and sentence her to death. Ichigo is unable to stop Rukia's capture, but with the help of several of his classmates who also possess spiritual abilities and ex-Shinigami Kisuke Urahara, he sets off for the Shinigami base, located in the afterlife realm known as Soul Society. Once there, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Shinigami military, and are ultimately successful in halting Rukia's execution.

Shinigami Captain

It is then revealed that Rukia's execution and Ichigo's rescue attempt were both manipulated by Sōsuke Aizen, a high ranking Shinigami previously believed to be murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of Soul Society. Aizen betrays his fellow Shinigami and allies himself with the Hollows, becoming the main antagonist of the series, and Ichigo teams up with his former enemies in Soul Society after learning that the next step in Aizen's plan involves the destruction of his home town. The Gotei 13 unite to defeat Aizen and the Arrancar but are unable to stop Aizen in the Fake Karakura Town they created. Ichigo eventually defeats Aizen in Soul Society at the cost of his Shinigami powers.

Ichigo vs. Aizen