Bleach Creator Says Thousand-Year Blood War Anime Will Extend Manga’s Story
Bleach fans, gather around! New information has come to light regarding the upcoming anime revival for Bleach's Thousand-Year Blood War arc. Mangaka Tite Kubo, the original creator of the series, has recently revealed that the forthcoming anime revival will feature more content than the manga originally depicted. This means that fans who have already finished the series through the manga also have something to look forward to in the upcoming series.
The anime revival of Bleach is slated to air sometime in October 2022. Viz Media describes the start of the "Thousand-Year Blood War Arc," which is the 55th manga volume, as:
"The peace is suddenly broken when warning sirens blare through the Soul Society. Residents there are disappearing without a trace, and nobody knows who's behind it. Meanwhile, a dark shadow is also extending itself toward Ichigo and his friends in Karakura Town…"
Tite Kubo's Bleach was first published in 2001 and is still one of the most popular shonen manga series globally, with a circulation of over 120 million copies. The 2004 anime series is available for streaming on various platforms, including Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Funimation. You can read the manga chapters on Viz Media's official website or Shueisha's English manga portal Mangaplus.
Bleach Creator Reveals Anime Revival Will Feature New Content
According to Bleach Daily Scans, mangaka Tite Kubo has confirmed in a Q&A with his fan club that the upcoming 'Thousand-Year Blood War' arc will feature new content and pieces of the story previously left out of his manga. Specifically, Kubo expressed that the anime adaptation will delve further into the first Quincy invasion and reveal who attacked Rukia. While Kubo hasn't revealed any more information on what other changes will be made in the anime, it's safe to assume that the upcoming final season might not directly adapt the original finale to the series.
In addition to the anime revival of Bleach, in 2021, mangaka Tite Kubo also published a new chapter of the manga for the first time since 2016! The sequel chapter was titled "No Breaths from Hell" and was originally meant to be a one-shot stand-alone release celebrating the series' 20th anniversary. However, fans have since discovered that the chapter was a prologue for a new adventure starring Ichigo and the rest of the Soul Reapers.
While this news is exciting, Tite Kubo or publisher Shueisha has not expressed the possibility of further continuing the series. However, several fans believe that a sequel series is inevitable. The Bleach anime first aired in 2004 and ran for 366 episodes. Despite being one of the biggest anime series of its era, the show came to an unexpected end in 2012, four years before the manga wrapped up the story.
Fans have spent several years awaiting an animated adaptation for the remaining chapters of Kubo's supernatural shonen epic. However, their wishes were finally only granted in 2020 with the announcement of "Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War." The first trailer for Thousand-Year Blood War was finally shown in 2021 at the most recent Jump Festa convention.
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