Bleach TYBW Is The Greatest Comeback in Anime

Now with part three finished, it is safe to say that Bleach Thousand Year Blood War is the greatest comeback story in the anime medium, from being the laughingstock of the anime community for 10 years, receiving hundreds of negative videos and posts online and a very damaged reputation due to bad actors, to now breaking audience and review records in the anime sphere.

Tite Kubo has reclaimed his position as one of the greatest manga artists of his time and his work is now being renowned as the Hall of Fame great it is. Let’s look at the hellish 10 years that Bleach went through all the way to the return of the King with a vengeance. Here’s why Bleach has the greatest comeback ever seen in anime.

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One of the Big 3

A Challenged Fact

In the mid-2000s, One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach were known in the West as the Big 3. This was a term coined because of their dominance and massive popularity in the Shōnen Jump magazine as well as the anime community at large. For more than a decade, these three manga dominated the magazine and the overall anime sphere, garnering millions of fans. These three series define what the anime community is now. Millions of teenagers grew up with either One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, or even all three, and are now adults who continue watching these series and even others. The Big 3 started what the anime and manga community is now. And at the same time, they directly influenced the famous manga that will come later. It is no secret that My Hero Academia, Black Clover, Jujutsu Kaisen, and more were heavily influenced by these three giants.

During the late 2000s and early 2010s, Bleach’s popularity started to slowly decline. While its sales completely eclipsed most other manga in Shōnen Jump, it started to fall behind its two brothers. This was paired with the decline of the anime, which started to use filler arcs more often and for longer durations. While One Piece and Naruto also had their fair share of filler arcs, Bleach’s Arrancar arc was constantly interrupted by filler. This started the belief in the western community that Bleach was falling behind and declining while its two brothers kept going strong.

Eventually, the Bleach anime was put on hiatus as the Fullbring arc had just finished adapting in the anime, but the following arc, the Thousand-Year Blood War, was just starting in the manga. Studio Pierrot opted to pause the anime production for an indefinite time rather than to keep producing filler arcs that damaged the ratings of the anime. At the same time, author Tite Kubo began suffering from physical ailments and his health was slowly declining. This led to many fans to believe that the anime was canceled instead of being put on hiatus. They referenced the decline in sales and the massive amounts of filler arcs in the anime as evidence that Bleach had “fallen off”.

The Thousand-Year Blood War arc continued in the manga, but it kept showing signs of decline. As it progressed, storylines were being rushed and characters were left behind, as well as the background art kept fading away as Kubo opted to use blank space instead. While the blank spaces were clarified to be an artistic choice by Kubo to further emphasize characters and their emotions, the other problems were most likely due to the author’s declining health. This perceived fall off in the manga and the end of the anime led many fans of One Piece and Naruto to begin the campaign, saying that Bleach was no longer a part of the Big 3 and that that spot was filled by Dragon Ball.

Eventually, a YouTuber named Super Eyepatch Wolf released a video titled The Fall of Bleach where he documented this seeming decline of the series and heavily criticized the anime and the manga. Super Eyepatch Wolf spread a lot of misinformation and myths about the Bleach series in that video and, because of his massive fan base and platform, that video became the face of the backlash against Bleach. That video was debunked and criticized by many Bleach Youtubers, who never stopped supporting the series and identified the false information and uneducated take on the series. But still, Super Eyepatch Wolf’s video was more than enough fuel for the fire that was the hate against Bleach that had already begun. Bleach’s reputation was damaged more and more because of other YouTubers and community heads criticizing the series, as well as the seeming decline of the manga and the absence of the anime. For years, both the series and its fans were constantly ridiculed online by the fans of other anime series, mainly the other Big 3.

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The Return of Bleach

A Fan Base is Vindicated

Around 2017 or 2018, rumors started spreading about a possible return of the Bleach anime. The Bleach manga had finished the year before in 2016 with mixed reviews. But several Bleach Youtubers with inside sources started talking about a possible return. This ignited the hopes of many Bleach fans around the world and the mobile Gacha game, Bleach Brave Souls, kept going strong with support and updates, signifying that the series still held a massive and dedicated fan base, as most mobile games don’t last nearly as long as Bleach Brave Souls has.

Then in March 2020, on the Bleach 20th anniversary project livestream, it was announced that the Thousand-Year Blood War arc would indeed receive an anime adaptation that would cover the entire arc. And with that, millions of Bleach fans cried out in joy and speculation began to go rampant. In December 2021, during Jump Festa 22, Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War showed off its first teaser trailer revealing the release date to be October 2022. It was done, Bleach was indeed coming back and, with its beautiful teaser trailer, it was shown to be looking better than ever. Millions of fans around the world were vindicated.

In subsequent events and interviews, fans received more and more information about this upcoming anime, including many members of the staff. Fans were excited to see dozens of industry veterans with an incredible résumé attached to the project. Director Tomohisa Taguchi was the head of the project, and author Tite Kubo was confirmed to be heavily involved with the production. During a fun event, Fumiko Orikasa, the voice actress of Rukia Kuchiki, confirmed that the Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War anime was greenlit for production in 2017, confirming the rumors around that time. And confirming that as soon as the manga ended, the anime was greenlit, proving to detractors that the anime was never canceled but rather put on hiatus to give Kubo time to finish the manga.

Further trailers released gave fans more and more hope for this adaptation to be the years-long dream that they had. Finally, on October 10, 2022, the first episode of Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War was released, and it was met with universal praise. Audiences were blown away by the impressive directing and animation. While the subsequent episodes made audiences worried about the future of the series due to an apparent decline in quality, episode six The Fire, showcased possibly one of the greatest fights in anime history. The moment that many fans were waiting for the epic battle between Head Captain Yamamoto and the Quincy king Yhwach blew fans away with breathtaking movie-like animation. And since then, it has been mostly smooth sailing for the anime.

Something fans noted was many new scenes that weren’t originally in the manga. This was clearly due to Kubo’s direct involvement with the anime production, as he was getting the opportunity to present the entire story that he wasn’t able to in the manga due to his poor health. Now audiences have more information on the war and all the storylines that they needed in the anime. Bleach Thousand Year Blood War Part One was a smash hit. While it mostly adapted the manga one to one. However, part two would see some very interesting changes.

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A Comeback Like No Other

The New Rise of Bleach

As soon as part one started making headlines, a lot more started happening behind the scenes. Tons of new merchandise were put out to the public with great quality. It was very common to see Ichigo or other Bleach imagery on billboards and buildings in Japan. Bleach started having much more presence in the overall cultural landscape with this new return. And with the release of the new anime, millions of people started to watch Bleach to catch up to the cultural phenomenon. Effectively gathering millions of brand-new fans.

Once Bleach Thousand Year Blood War Part two was released, fans were anxious to see how the Soul Reaper Squad Zero was going to be treated in the anime. Originally in the manga, Squad Zero were painted to be soul reapers of a completely different level, but this was never realized in the manga as they were defeated by the Quincy Royal guard offscreen. But as soon as that fight appeared in the anime, audiences were blown away to see that not only was the fight properly shown in the anime, but it was greatly extended and featured many new elements that weren’t present before. The entire conflict was effectively changed, this time showcasing Squad Zero battling the Royal Guard with all of their might, culminating in the breathtaking reveal of Senjumaru Shutara’s Bankai.

Senjumaru was effectively confirmed to be the strongest female warrior in the series thanks to this new addition. And hers wasn’t the only Bankai to be revealed in the anime that wasn’t originally in the manga. Shinji Hirako’s Bankai also made its debut in the anime, fascinating dedicated fans of the character and giving audiences more hope for the fate of the Visoreds. Another character that had a lot of love given to him was Ichigo’s best friend, Uryuu Ishida. Uryuu’s role and involvement in the war originally left fans disappointed, but he was getting tons of new scenes in the anime that gave them hope for better treatment for such a central character.

But things didn’t stay only in the anime, as in Anime Expo 2020,a new Bleach game for consoles and PC after 13 years was confirmed. Bleach Rebirth of Souls is a 3-D fighting game adapting the start of the series up to the end of the Arrancar Arc. While most anime arena fighters are usually lazy and disappointing for fans, Rebirth of Souls has captivated audiences with everything they have shown so far. The game showcases a much more complex and deep combat system as well as breathtaking graphics and style. The last Bleach console game was Soul Resurrección for the PS3, and since then, Bleach fans only had Bleach Brave Souls for mobile devices to quench their Bleach gaming thirst. As soon as a release date was announced and the game was up for pre-order on the PlayStation store, all three editions topped the charts for pre-orders on the same day, surpassing massively anticipated games like Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds. Bleach Rebirth of Souls is a true return to the gaming space for Bleach and has much anticipation from fans and content creators alike.

And the most recent development was, of course, the release of Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 3 The Conflict which adapted the first half of the Wahr Welt Arc. And immediately in the first few episodes, the anime solidified itself as the superior canon instead of the original manga as tons of new information, and new fight scenes were added that fully fleshed out the war between the soul reapers and the Quincy. Things like the name of the Soul King, the motivations of the main villain, and a proper fight between Ichigo and Uryuu, as well as Uryuu’s Quincy Vollständig, showed that this was the proper and more complete way to experience the arc.

Almost every episode of Bleach Thousand Year Blood War Part Three was received with a higher than nine out of 10 reviews on popular sites like IMDB. Showing that this adaptation wasn’t just fanfare, but it was an effectively well-made piece of media. The anime has come back better than ever with the involvement of the original author to fully flesh out his work. Merchandising has increased tenfold for the series. Millions of anime fans have been introduced to the story. And the new exciting console game is set to be released in March 2025. This is the comeback that most old anime dream of. Bleach Thousand Year Blood War is effectively the return of an anime giant greater and more powerful than ever. Validating the dedication of millions of fans who for 10 years proclaimed to still be Bleach.

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War