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For other uses, see Bleach (disambiguation)
Bleach
ブリーチ
(Burīchi)
GenreAction, Bangsian fantasy
Anime television series
Directed byNoriyuki Abe
Written byMasashi Sogo
Music byShirō Sagisu
StudioStudio Pierrot
Licensed by
Original networkTV Tokyo
English network
Original run October 5, 2004 – March 27, 2012[2]
Episodes366 (List of episodes)

Bleach (ブリーチ, Burīchi) is a Japanese anime series based on the manga of the same name by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper (死神, Shinigami, literally, "Death God")—a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. His newfound powers force him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife. The anime adaptation includes original storylines not found in the manga; including repeated appearances and stories containing these original characters. Studio Pierrot produced the series from 2004 to 2012, consisting of 366 episodes. Viz Media obtained foreign television and home video distribution rights to the Bleach anime on March 15, 2006. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim began airing Bleach in the United States on September 9, 2006. The series international release extends through dozens of countries in several languages including Spanish, French, German, Portugese and Tagalog.

Plot

[edit]
See also: List of Bleach characters

Ichigo Kurosaki is a teenager in Karakura Town who is gifted with the ability to see spirits and has his life changed by the sudden appearance of a girl named Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia is a Soul Reaper—one of many entrusted with the preservation of flow of souls between the World of the Living and the Soul Society (尸魂界 (ソウル·ソサエティ), Sōru Sosaeti) from where she originates from by fighting Hollows, dangerous lost souls who consume other souls. When she is severely wounded defending Ichigo from a Hollow she is pursuing, Rukia transfers a part of her Spirit Pressure (霊圧, Reiatsu) energy to enable Ichigo to fight in her stead as a substitute Soul Reaper while she is forced to remain in the World of Living until she can recover her strength. As some time passes, she and Ichigo meet a Quincy named Uryū Ishida who attends the latter's school, Rukia finds herself being taken by her Soul Reaper superiors back to the Soul Society and sentenced to death for the illegal act of transferring her powers into a human.

Ichigo resolves to rescue her with the aid of Uryū and several of his other spiritually aware classmates Orihime Inoue and Yasutora (Chad) Sado. As Ichigo and friends break into Soul Society and fight to save Rukia, dissension occurs among the Soul Reaper captains over both the incident as well as Rukia's sentence and the death of a high-ranking Soul Reaper captain named Sōsuke Aizen. The conflict comes to a head with Aizen, having faked his own death, obtains an item called the Hōgyoku from Rukia leave for Hueco Mundo, the Hollow World, to enact his scheme by recruiting humanized Hollows called Arrancars to serve him.

An original storyline follows with Ichigo returning home and coming into a new conflict with a group of foes. The Bount, are a group of empowered humans that can live forever via absorbing souls and rebel against their Soul Society. With the help the modified souls Ririn, Kurōdo, and Noba help Ichigo and his friends detect and fight the Bount threat. Jin Kariya, leader of the Bount, invades Soul Society and obtains the power of a Jokai Crest, and plans on using it to detonate other Jokai Crests hidden underground all across the Soul Society in a chain reaction to destroy Soul Society. After a final battle, Ichigo defeats Kariya and saves Soul Society.

Ichigo obtains the power to control his Hollow form from a group known as the Visards, and invade Hueco Mundo to stop Aizen and defeat his elite Arrancar servants, the Espadas. Aizen's scheme involves creating Oken and use it to reach the Soul King and kill the Soul King. Aizen kidnaps Orihime, Ichigo and his friends pursue. However, through he lost a majority of his Espadas, Aizen reveals Orihime's abuction was a lure to cripple resistance from stopping him from turning the souls of Karakura's Town residents into an Oken.

In another anime original, the New Captain Shūsuke Amagai arc, follows the Kasumiōji Conspiracy in which Shūsuke Amagai engineers a plan that utilized the Kasumiōji Clan's Bakkōtō to get revenge on Yamamoto for killing his father. Ending in a duel with Amagai versus Ichigo, after the battle Amagai admits his shame for his actions and commits suicide.

The storyline returns to Hueco Mundo after Ichigo defeats Grimmjow and follows through a series of battles in which many of the Espada and Tosen are kill. Aizen reveals he absorbed the Hōgyoku and uses its power to transform and defeat the Soul Reaper captains. As Aizen enters Karakura Town after revealing that his tribulations were his doing, Ichigo undergoes intense training with his father Isshin, revealed to be former Soul Reaper, and becomes an equal to Aizen. Eventually, the battle ends with Aizen defeated and imprisoned after being weakened by Ichigo's final attack. But the attack has a side effect with Ichigo eventually becoming a normal human. However, seventeen months later, Ichigo regains his Soul Reaper powers after encountering Xcution, a group of humans possessing "Fullbring" powers like Chad who serve a former Substitute Soul Reaper named Kūgo Ginjō. Helping the Soul Society defeat Xcution, Ichigo then regains his title as the Substitute Soul Reaper.

Voice cast

[edit]
Characters Japanese version English version
Ichigo Kurosaki Masakazu Morita Johnny Yong Bosch
Rukia Kuchiki Fumiko Orikasa Michelle Ruff
Orihime Inoue Yuki Matsuoka Stephanie Sheh
Uryu Ishida Noriaki Sugiyama Derek Prince
Yasutora "Chad" Sado Hiroki Yasumoto Jamieson Price
Renji Abarai Kentaro Ito Wally Wingert
Sosuke Aizen Sho Hayami Kyle Hebert
Kisuke Urahara Shinichiro Miki Michael Lindsay and Doug Erholtz

For the addition of minor characters, some of the voice actors played multiple roles. For the English version Kate Higgins is the voice actor for Karin Kurosaki, Nanou Ise, Retsu Unohana, Lily Lilynette and the Arrancar Gingerback. Liam O'Brien is the voice actor for Soken Ishida and Sora Inoue as well as Baigon.

Production

[edit]

Noriyuki Abe was chosen was director of the anime and the script was done by Masashi Sogo.The animation and character designs were done by Masashi Kudo and supported by Satoshi Taniguchia nd a list of key animators including Hiroki Abe, Makoto Ito, Masami Tanaka, Natsuko Suzuki, Rie Hirakawa, Yuki Nakashima. The music of Bleach was done by Shiro Sagisu.


During the production and broadcast of the first 167 episodes the screen size was in 4:3; episodes 168 through 366 were made and broadcasted in 16:9 wide screen. In a 2009 interview, Tite Kubo and Masashi Kudo discussed the upcoming Zanpakutō: The Alternate Tale with Kubo wishing that he could draw the events into the manga. Kubo also revealed that his art style varies in the production of the work and only became cemented after the airring of the anime. Kubo has made art style changes, stopping drawing hair form behind the ears, after noticing Kudo's work.[3]

Music

[edit]

The opening and ending themes for the show take from a diverse group of bands including Orange Range, UVERworld, Mighty Color, Beat Crusaders, YUI, Aqua Timez, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Kelun, SCANDAL, Porno Graffitti, miwa, SID, ViViD, Rie Fu, HOME MADE KAZOKU, Younha, Skoop on Somebody, SunSet Swish, Ikimono-gakari, Takacha, JUNE, Mai Hoshimura, Ore Ska Band, chatmonchy, Atari Kousuke, Real Street Project, MIE&AILA, pe'zmoku, Stereopony, Tsuji Shion, Sambomaster, Kenichi Asai, DIGGY-MO', universe, SPYAIR, ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D, fumika, UNLIMITS and aimer. Aqua Timez in particular was used for numerous theme songs throughout the course of the production.

Episodes

[edit]
Main article: List of Bleach episodes

Bleach is divided into sixteen seasons that includes numerous original plot lines.

Season and name Episodes Anime original
Season 1: The Substitute (2004–2005) 20 No
Season 2: The Entry (2005) 21 No
Season 3: Soul Society: The Rescue (2005) 22 No
Season 4: The Bount (2006) 28 Yes
Season 5: The Assault (2006–2007) 18 Yes
Season 6: The Arrancar (2007) 22 No
Season 7: The Arrancar Part 2: The Hueco Mundo Sneak Entry (2007) 20 No
Season 8: The Arrancar Part 3: The Fierce Fight (2007–2008) 16 No
Season 9: The New Captain Shūsuke Amagai (2008) 22 Yes
Season 10: The Arrancar Part 4: Arrancar vs Shinigami (2008–2009) No 16
Season 11: The Past (2009) 7 Yes
Season 12: The Arrancar Part 5: Battle in Karakura (2009) 17 No
Season 13: Zanpakutō: The Alternate Tale (2009–2010) 36 Yes
Season 14: The Arrancar Part 6: Fall of the Arrancar (2010–2011) 51 No
Season 15: Gotei 13 Invading Army (2011) 26 No
Season 16: The Lost Agent (2011–2012) 24 No

Release

[edit]

The Bleach anime series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo's Tuesday 6pm timeslot from October 5, 2004,[4] to March 27, 2012,[2] excluding holidays. The series was directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu, and Studio Pierrot.[5]

Viz Media obtained the foreign television, home video, and merchandising rights to the Bleach anime from TV Tokyo Corporation and Shueisha on March 15, 2006.[6] Viz Media has later licensed its individual Bleach merchandising rights to several different companies.[7]

The adaptation of the Bleach anime premiered on Canada's YTV channel in the Bionix programming block on September 8, 2006.[citation needed] Cartoon Network's Adult Swim began airing Bleach in the United States the following evening.[8] Adult Swim stopped broadcasting new episodes of the English adaptation on October 13, 2007 after airing the first 52 episodes of the series.[citation needed] It was replaced with another Viz Media series, Death Note, to provide Studiopolis more time to dub additional episodes of Bleach. The series began airing again on March 2, 2008,[9] but went back on hiatus on November 21, 2009, after the airing of its 167th episode. Adult Swim is now airing new episodes at 12am on Saturday in their animated programing block Toonami.

In the United Kingdom, Bleach premiered on Anime Central on September 13, 2007, with new episodes airing weekly.[citation needed] The English dubbed version of Bleach premiered on Animax Asia on 18 December 2009 with the first 52 episodes and season 2 premiered on 18 March 2011 this time with the original Japanese audio with English subtitles.

As of January 2012, 76 DVD compilations have been released by Aniplex in Japan.[10] Viz Media has released 32 DVD compilations of the English adaptation of the anime,[11][12] along with seven season boxsets that contain the first seven seasons of the anime.[13][14][15] On July 29, 2009, Aniplex released a "TV Animation Bleach 5th Anniversary Box" that includes 15 DVDs and three bonus discs.[16] Episode 366, which aired March 27, 2012 was the last episode of Bleach to air on TV Tokyo.[17][18][19]

International releases

[edit]

The Spanish dub of the anime is done in two different versions, one in Mexico for transmission in the rest of Latin America and one in Spain. The dubbing in Spain is made ​​in the studies CYO STUDIOS, and by Sound Art in Mexico. Broadcasting in Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia is done by Buzz. Broadcasting and Brazil and Latin America is done by Animax.

In Russia, the anime is distributed by "Mega-anime" (Мега-Аниме), which announced the acquisition of licenses October 12, 2007.[20] Production was planned to begin in in the autumn of 2008.[21] The broadcast first airing was on December 21, 2010 on 2x2.[22] In Singapore, Odex is the licensor of Bleach.[23]

Reception

[edit]

The anime has been featured various times in the top ten from the Japanese TV Ranking.[24][25][26] DVDs have also had good sales having commonly appeared in the Japanese DVD Ranking.[27][28] The anime was nominated in the 2007 America Anime Awards in the fields of "best manga", "best actor", "best DVD package design", and "best theme", but failed to win any awards.[29][30] In a 2006 Internet poll by TV Asahi, Bleach was ranked as Japan's seventh-favorite anime program.[31] The previous year, it was ranked as the twenty-seventh favorite program.[32] During February 2009, Bleach ranked as the 9th most viewed animated show from Hulu.[33]

Anime News Network's Carlos Santos praised the anime adaptation, describing it as "...one incredibly entertaining anime that will grab you and refuse to let go."[34] Animefringe's Maria Lin liked the varied and distinct characters, and how well they handle the responsibilities increasing powers give them. She also complimented the series for its attention to details, well paced script, and balance of seriousness and comedy. In summary, she notes "Bleach the anime deserves its popularity. It has something for everyone: the supernatural, comedy, action and a little bit of romance, all tied together with excellent animation and a very enthusiastic sounding bunch of voice actors."[35] Adam Arseneau of DVD Verdict, felt Bleach was a "show that only gets better with age" and was "surprisingly well-rounded and appealing" with well-developed characters and pacing.[36] Active Anime's Holly Ellingwood praising the anime for perfectly capturing "the excitement, the caustic humour and supernatural intrigue" of the original manga.[37] She felt that the series "does a wonderful job of building on its continuity to provide increasingly tense and layered episodes involving not only Ichigo and Rukia, but the secondary characters as well".[38] She also praised the series for its striking visual effects, intriguing plot and its "brilliant blend of action, off the wall comedy."[39][40] In reviewing the series for DVD Talk, Don Houston felt the characters surpassed the usual shōnen anime stereotypes and liked "the mixture of darker material with the comedic".[41] Another Fellow reviewer John Sinnott felt series starts out as a boring "monster-of-the-week program" that becomes more epic as the stories build and the characters are fleshed out.[42] Otaku USA''s Joseph Luster wrote that "the storylines are consistently dramatic without hammering it home too heavily, the characters manage comic relief that's not as eye rolling as one would expect, and the action (in classic fighting series form) has only gotten more ridiculous over the years; in a good way, of course".[43] Mania.com's Bryce Coulter praised the series for its plot twists and "the quirky and amusing characters".[44][45] In comparing the series with Naruto, Mania.com's Chris Beveridge felt Bleach was less childish and "simply comes together surprisingly well in its style and execution of what is fairly standard material".[46]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ [1],
  2. ^ a b "Bleach TV Anime Ending on March 27". Anime News Network.
  3. ^ Akamaru Jump Interview, Golden Week 2009
  4. ^ "List of Bleach episode titles (1-13)" (in Japanese). TV Tokyo. Archived from the original on March 6, 2009. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
  5. ^ "ぴえろ BLEACH =ブリーチ=" (in Japanese). Studio Pierrot. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  6. ^ "Viz Media named master licensor for hit Japanese action manga Shōnen Jump's Bleach" (Press release). Viz Media. Archived from the original on May 4, 2007. Retrieved April 1, 2007.
  7. ^ "Viz Announces Bleach Merchandise Licenses". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 24, 2007.
  8. ^ "Swim Picks up Bleach". Anime News Network. March 30, 2006. Retrieved April 12, 2009.
  9. ^ "Adult Swim to Run 52 More Episodes of Bleach". Anime News Network. January 28, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  10. ^ "Bleach: Season 14 DVDs Arrancar: Downfall" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
  11. ^ "Bleach, Vol. 1 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved January 17, 2009.
  12. ^ "Bleach, Vol. 20 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  13. ^ "Bleach Uncut Season 1 Box Set (Standard Edition)". Amazon. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
  14. ^ "Bleach Uncut Season 2 Box Set". Amazon. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
  15. ^ "Bleach Uncut Season 3 Box Set: The Rescue". Amazon. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  16. ^ "TV Animation Bleach 5th Anniversary Box Limited Release". CD Japan. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
  17. ^ "Bleach TV Anime Ending on March 27". animenewsnetwork.com. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  18. ^ "How to Watch Bleach Without Filler". animenewsnetwork.com. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  19. ^ "Bleach to go on a 5-week hiatus to prepare for "Final Battle"". sgcafe.com. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  20. ^ "Форум Mega-Anime". Мега-Аниме. Archived from the original on 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  21. ^ "Bleach (Official forum discussion from Mega Anime)". Mega Anime. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  22. ^ "Блич". 2x2. Archived from the original on 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  23. ^ "Singapore Anime Licensor Pursues Illegal Downloaders". Anime News Network. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  24. ^ "Japanese Anime TV Ranking, April 16–22". Anime News Network. April 27, 2007. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  25. ^ "Japanese Anime TV Ranking, April 25-May 1". Anime News Network. May 3, 2007. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  26. ^ "Japanese Animation DVD Ranking, June 20–July 17 (2007)". Anime News Network. 20 July 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  27. ^ "Japanese Animation DVD Ranking, February 27–March 4". Anime News Network. March 6, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  28. ^ "Japanese Anime DVD Ranking, April 25-May 1". Anime News Network. May 3, 2007. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  29. ^ "Finalists for the American Anime Awards". icv2.com. February 8, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  30. ^ "American Anime Award Winners". icv2.com. February 26, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
  31. ^ "Japan's Favorite TV Anime". Anime News Network. October 13, 2006. Retrieved December 14, 2006.
  32. ^ "TV Asahi Top 100 Anime Part 2". Anime News Network. September 23, 2005. Retrieved January 18, 2007.
  33. ^ "Naruto was #20 Show on Hulu, #1 on Joost in February". Anime News Network. September 23, 2005. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  34. ^ Santos, Carlo (August 21, 2005). "Bleach Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
  35. ^ Lin, Maria (April 2005). "Ghostbusters with Class". Animefringe. 2005 (4): 4. ISSN 1705-3692. Retrieved December 13, 2008.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  36. ^ Arseneau, Adam (September 4, 2007). "Bleach: Volume 5". DVD Verdict. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  37. ^ Ellingwood, Holly (January 23, 2007). "Bleach (Vol. 2) (Advance Review)". Active Anime. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  38. ^ Ellingwood, Holly (July 12, 2007). "Bleach (Vol. 5) (Advance Review)". Active Anime. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  39. ^ Ellingwood, Holly (March 15, 2007). "Bleach (Vol. 3) (Advance Review)". Active Anime. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  40. ^ Ellingwood, Holly (October 8, 2007). "Bleach Season One DVD Box Set (Advance Review)". Active Anime. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  41. ^ Houston, Don (November 28, 2006). "Bleach: The Substitute". DVD Talk. Retrieved December 11, 2008.
  42. ^ Sinnott, John (October 30, 2007). "Bleach — Season One Box Set". DVD Talk. Retrieved December 11, 2008.
  43. ^ Luster, Joseph (February 27, 2008). "Bleach, Volume 22 Review". Otaku USA. Sovereign Media. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
  44. ^ Coulter, Bryce (August 12, 2008). "Bleach Vol. #11". Mania.com. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  45. ^ Coulter, Bryce (December 11, 2008). "Bleach Vol. #12". Mania.com. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  46. ^ Beveridge, Chris (November 7, 2007). "Bleach Box Set 1". Mania.com. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
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