Bleach is a Japanese anime television series based on Tite Kubo's manga Bleach. It was directed by Noriyuki Abe, produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Studio Pierrot, and aired in Japan from October 5, 2004, to March 27, 2012, running for a total of 366 episodes. The series follows the adventures of high school student Ichigo Kurosaki who can see spirits and becomes a Soul Reaper, after assuming the duties of Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki.
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. Subsequently, Viz Media contracted Studiopolis to create the English adaptation of the anime, and has licensed its individual Bleach merchandising rights to several different companies. The English adaptation of the Bleach anime premiered on Canada's YTV in their Bionix programming block on September 9, 2006. Cartoon Network in the U.S. began airing Bleach the following evening on September 10 as part of Adult Swim.
Forty-five pieces of theme music are used for the episodes: Fifteen opening themes and thirty closing themes. Several CDs that contain the theme music and other tracks have been released by Studio Pierrot.
A direct sequel series that adapts the final story arc of the manga, titled Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, premiered on October 11, 2022. It is directed by Tomohisa Taguchi and Hikaru Murata and produced by the same companies as the original series but with the addition of the manga's publishing company, Shueisha.
Series overview Bleach (2004–2012)
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (2022–2026)
Episodes Bleach (2004–2012)
Season 1: The Substitute Soul Reaper (2004–2005)
Season 2: The Entry (2005)
Season 3: The Rescue (2005–2006)
Season 4: The Bount (2006)
Season 5: The Assault (2006–2007)
Season 6: Arrancar: The Appearance (2007)
Season 7: The Arrancar Part 2: The Hueco Mundo Sneak Entry (2007)
Season 8: The Arrancar Part 3: The Fierce Fight (2007–2008)
Season 9: The New Captain Shūsuke Amagai (2008)
Season 10: The Arrancar Part 4: Arrancar vs. Soul Reaper (2008–2009)
Season 11: Turn Back the Pendulum (2009)
Season 12: The Arrancar Part 5: Battle in Karakura (2009)
Season 13: Zanpakutō: The Alternate Tale (2009–2010)
Season 14: The Arrancar Part 6: Fall of the Espada (2010–2011)
Season 15: Gotei 13 Invading Army (2011)
Season 16: The Lost Agent (2011–2012)
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (2022–2026)
Part 1: The Blood Warfare
Part 2: The Separation
Part 3: The Conflict
Part 4: The Calamity
Specials SP# Title
DVD releases Japanese The 88 DVD compilations of the series are grouped by season and were released in Japan by Aniplex between February 2, 2005, and January 23, 2013.
+ Season 1 Volume Release date Episodes 1 February 2, 2005 1–4 2 March 2, 2005 5–8 3 April 13, 2005 9–12 4 May 11, 2005 13–16 5 June 1, 2005 17–20
+ Season 2 Volume Release date Episodes 1 July 27, 2005 21–24 2 August 24, 2005 25–28 3 September 28, 2005 29–32 4 October 26, 2005 33–36 5 November 23, 2005 37–41
+ Season 3 Volume Release date Episodes 1 December 21, 2005 42–45 2 January 25, 2006 46–49 3 February 22, 2006 50–53 4 March 29, 2006 54–58 5 April 26, 2006 59–63
+ Season 4 Volume Release date Episodes 1 May 24, 2006 64–67 2 June 28, 2006 68–71 3 July 26, 2006 72–75 4 August 23, 2006 76–79 5 October 25, 2006 80–83 6 November 22, 2006 84–87 7 December 20, 2006 88–91
+ Season 5 Volume Release date Episodes 1 January 24, 2007 92–95 2 February 28, 2007 96–99 3 March 28, 2007 100–104 4 April 25, 2007 105–109
+ Season 6 Volume Release date Episodes 1 June 27, 2007 110–113 2 July 25, 2007 114–117 3 August 22, 2007 118–121 4 September 25, 2007 122–126 5 October 24, 2007 127–131
+ Season 7 Volume Release date Episodes 1 December 19, 2007 132–135 2 January 23, 2008 136–139 3 February 27, 2008 140–143 4 March 26, 2008 144–147 5 April 23, 2008 148–151
+ Season 8 Volume Release date Episodes 1 May 28, 2008 152–155 2 June 25, 2008 156–159 3 July 23, 2008 160–163 4 August 27, 2008 164–167
+ Season 9 Volume Release date Episodes 1 November 26, 2008 168–171 2 December 17, 2008 172–175 3 January 28, 2009 176–179 4 February 25, 2009 180–184 5 March 25, 2009 185–189
+ Season 10 Volume Release date Episodes 1 May 27, 2009 190–193 2 June 24, 2009 194–197 3 July 22, 2009 198–201 4 August 26, 2009 202–205
+ Season 11 Volume Release date Episodes 1 November 25, 2009 206–208 2 December 16, 2009 209–212
+ Season 12 Volume Release date Episodes 1 January 27, 2010 213–216 2 February 24, 2010 217–220 3 March 25, 2010 221–224 4 April 25, 2010 225–229
+ Season 13 Volume Release date Episodes 1 May 26, 2010 230–233 2 June 23, 2010 234–237 3 July 21, 2010 238–241 4 August 25, 2010 242–245 5 September 22, 2010 246–249 6 October 27, 2010 250–253 7 November 24, 2010 254–257 8 December 15, 2010 258–261 9 January 26, 2011 262–265
+ Season 14 Volume Release date Episodes 1 February 23, 2011 266–270 2 March 23, 2011 271–274 3 April 27, 2011 275–278 4 May 25, 2011 279–282 5 June 22, 2011 283–286 6 July 16, 2011 287–291 7 August 24, 2011 292–295 8 September 21, 2011 296–299 9 October 26, 2011 300–303 10 November 23, 2011 304–307 11 December 14, 2011 308–311 12 January 25, 2012 312–316
+ Season 15 Volume Release date Episodes 1 February 22, 2012 317–321 2 March 21, 2012 322–325 3 April 25, 2012 326–329 4 May 23, 2012 330–333 5 June 27, 2012 334–337 6 July 25, 2012 338–342
+ Season 16 Volume Release date Episodes 1 August 22, 2012 343–346 2 September 26, 2012 347–350 3 October 24, 2012 351–354 4 November 21, 2012 355–358 5 December 19, 2012 359–362 6 January 23, 2013 363–366
English The first 32 DVD compilations have been released by Viz Media in the United States. 26 DVD collection box set of the series were released from June 10, 2008, to September 29, 2015. From July 19, 2016, to December 7, 2021, Viz released the series on Blu-Ray, with a total of 13 sets, half the number of DVD sets.
The series has been released in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment in half-season sets, then re-released into season sets.
+ Viz Media (Region 1) Volume Release date Season/Box Set Release date Episodes 1 November 28, 2006 1 June 10, 2008 1–4 2 January 30, 2007 5–8 3 March 27, 2007 9–12 4 May 29, 2007 13–16 5 July 31, 2007 17–20 6 September 25, 2007 2 August 19, 2008 21–24 7 November 17, 2007 25–28 8 January 15, 2008 29–32 9 March 18, 2008 33–36 10 May 20, 2008 37–41 11 July 22, 2008 3 July 7, 2009 42–45 12 September 23, 2008 46–49 13 November 18, 2008 50–53 14 January 20, 2009 54–58 15 March 17, 2009 59–63 16 May 13, 2009 4 Part 1 November 3, 2009 64–67 17 June 16, 2009 68–71 18 July 14, 2009 72–75 19 August 18, 2009 76–79 20 September 15, 2009 4 Part 2 February 16, 2010 80–83 21 October 20, 2009 84–87 22 November 17, 2009 88–91 23 December 15, 2009 5 June 8, 2010 92–95 24 January 19, 2010 96–99 25 February 23, 2010 100–104 26 March 23, 2010 105–109 27 April 20, 2010 6 September 28, 2010 110–113 28 May 25, 2010 114–117 29 June 22, 2010 118–121 30 July 20, 2010 7 December 21, 2010 122–126 122–133134–145 31 August 24, 2010 127–131 32 September 21, 2010 8 March 22, 2011 132–135 9 June 21, 2011 146–156 10 September 6, 2011 157–167 11 December 13, 2011 168–179 12 March 13, 2012 180–193 13 June 12, 2012 194–205 14 September 11, 2012 206–217 15 December 11, 2012 218–229 16 March 12, 2013 230–242 17 June 11, 2013 243–255 18 September 10, 2013 256–267 19 December 10, 2013 268–279 20 March 18, 2014 280–291 21 June 3, 2014 292–303 22 September 30, 2014 304–316 23 December 16, 2014 317–329 24 March 17, 2015 330–342 25 June 23, 2015 343–354 26 September 29, 2015 355–366
+ Manga Entertainment (Region 2) Series Release date Episodes Arc 1 November 5, 2007 (Part 1) May 5, 2008 (Complete) 1–12 The Substitute February 25, 2008 (Part 2) 13–20 2 June 30, 2008 (Part 1) December 29, 2008 (Complete) 21–32 The Entry November 3, 2008 (Part 2) 33–41 3 March 23, 2009 (Part 1) August 17, 2009 (Complete) 42–53 The Rescue June 15, 2009 (Part 2) 54–63 4 October 26, 2009 (Part 1) August 9, 2010 (Complete) 64–71 The Bount March 1, 2010 (Part 2) 72–79 June 7, 2010 (Part 3) 80–91 5 August 30, 2010 (Part 1) December 20, 2010 (Complete) 92–99 The Bount Assault November 1, 2010 (Part 2) 100–109 6 April 11, 2011 (Part 1) September 26, 2011 (Complete) 110–120 Arrancar: The Arrival June 13, 2011 (Part 2) 121–131 7 September 26, 2011 (Part 1) December 12, 2011 (Complete) 132–141 Arrancar: The Hueco Mundo October 17, 2011 (Part 2) 142–151 8 March 19, 2012 (Part 1) October 29, 2012 (Complete) 152–159 Arrancar: The Fierce Fight May 14, 2012 (Part 2) 160–167 9 June 25, 2012 (Part 1) December 31, 2012 (Complete) 168–178 The New Leader Shûsuke Amagai August 6, 2012 (Part 2) 179–189 10 January 14, 2013 (Part 1) May 20, 2013 (Complete) 190–201 Arrancar vs Shinigami & The Past March 11, 2013 (Part 2) 202–212 11 September 9, 2013 213–229 Battle in Karakura 12 October 28, 2013 (Part 1) July 7, 2014 (Complete) 230–241 Zanpakuto: The Alternate Tale December 23, 2013 (Part 2) 242–253 February 17, 2014 (Part 3) 254–265 13 April 7, 2014 (Part 1) December 15, 2014 (Complete) 266–278 Fall Of The Arrancar June 9, 2014 (Part 2) 279–291 14 September 22, 2014 (Part 1) September 21, 2015 (Complete) 292–303 Fall Of The Arrancar 2 April 6, 2015 (Part 2) 304–316 15 May 25, 2015 (Part 1) December 28, 2015 (Complete) 317–329 The Invading Army June 29, 2015 (Part 2) 330–342 16 July 20, 2015 (Part 1) February 6, 2017 (Complete) 343–354 The Lost Agent September 28, 2015 (Part 2) 355–366
+ Madman Entertainment (Region 4) Collection Release date Episodes 1 June 11, 2008 1–20 2 May 20, 2009 21–41 3 February 17, 2010 42–63 4 November 3, 2010 64–79 5 December 15, 2010 80–91 6 January 12, 2011 92–109 7 February 16, 2011 110–121 8 March 16, 2011 122–133 9 June 15, 2011 134–145 10 August 17, 2011 146–156 11 November 16, 2011 157–167 12 March 21, 2012 168–179 13 May 23, 2012 180–193 14 July 4, 2012 194–205 15 October 24, 2012 206–217 16 January 9, 2013 218–229 17 April 17, 2013 230–242 18 July 3, 2013 243–255 19 November 20, 2013 256–267 20 March 19, 2014 268–279 21 May 21, 2014 280–291 22 August 20, 2014 292–303 23 January 7, 2015 304–316 24 March 11, 2015 317–329 25 May 20, 2015 330–342 26 August 5, 2015 343–354 27 November 18, 2015 355–366
Bleach Bankai Box Set Release date Episodes 1 May 21, 2014 1–133 2 134–229 3 April 6, 2016 230–303 4 304–366
Blu-ray releases + Viz Media (Region A) Set Date Discs Episodes 1 July 19, 2016 4 1–27 2 January 31, 2017 28–55 3 October 24, 2017 56–83 4 May 15, 2018 84–111 5 December 3, 2019 112–139 6 March 10, 2020 140–167 7 June 30, 2020 168–195 8 September 29, 2020 196–223 9 December 8, 2020 224–251 10 May 4, 2021 252–279 11 June 29, 2021 280–308 12 September 7, 2021 309–337 13 December 7, 2021 338–366 14 March 26, 20242 367–379 15 October 22, 2024 380–392 16 January 13, 2026 393–406
Notes
References General
Specific