Bleach is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite"

Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a Soul
Reaper (死神, literally, "Death God") —a death personification similar to theGrim 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.

Bleach has been serialized in the Japanese manga anthology since August 2001, and has been
collected into 47volumes as of October 2010. Since its publication, Bleach has spawned
a media franchise that includes an ongoing animated television series that is produced
byStudio Pierrot in Japan, two original video animations, three animated feature films,
seven rock musicals, and numerous video games, as well as many types of Bleach-
related merchandise.

Viz Media obtained foreign television and home video distribution rights to the Bleach anime on
March 15, 2006. Cartoon Network began airing Bleach in the United States as part of its Adult
Swim block on September 9, 2006. Viz Media has licensed the manga for English-language
publication in the United States and Canada, and has released 32 bound volumes as of
September 2010 as well as published chapters of Bleach in its Shonen Jump magazine since
November 2007. Viz Media released the first Bleach film, Bleach: Memories of Nobody,
on DVD in North America on October 14, 2008. The second film, Bleach: The DiamondDust
Rebellion, was released on September 15, 2009.

Volumes of the manga have sold over 61 million copies in Japan, and have reached the top of
manga sales in the United States. The anime adaptation has been similarly received; it was
rated as the fourth most popular anime television series in Japan in 2006 and held a position
amongst the top ten anime in the United States from 2006 to 2008. The series received
the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen demographic in 2005, and is among the best-
selling manga properties in both Japan and the United

plot

Ichigo Kurosaki is a teenager gifted with the ability to see spirits. His life is drastically changed
by the sudden appearance of a Soul Reaper —one who governs the flow of souls between the
human world and the afterlife—named Rukia Kuchiki, who arrives in search of a Hollow, a
dangerous lost soul. When Rukia is severely wounded while trying to defeat the Hollow, she
attempts to transfer half of her reiatsu (霊圧"spiritual pressure") energy to Ichigo so that he can
defeat the Hollow. However, Ichigo takes almost all of her energy, transforming into a Soul
Reaper and allowing him to defeat the Hollow with ease. With her powers diminished, Rukia is
left stranded in the human world until she can recover her strength. In the meantime, Ichigo
must take over Rukia's role as a Soul Reaper, battling Hollows and guiding souls to the afterlife
realm known as the Soul Society.

As time passes and Rukia has yet to return to the Soul Society, her Soul Reaper superiors learn
about her whereabouts and actions and sentence her to death for performing the illegal act of
transferring her powers. Although he is unable to stop Rukia's departure to the Soul Society,
Ichigo resolves to rescue her with the aid of several of his spiritually aware classmates, Yoruichi
Shihōin, and ex-Soul Reaper Kisuke Urahara. Once at the Soul Society, Ichigo and company
battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military and strive to reach Rukia before her
execution.

It is revealed that both Rukia's execution and Ichigo's rescue attempt had both been
manipulated by Sōsuke Aizen, a high-ranking Soul Reaper previously believed to have been
murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of the Soul Society. Aizen betrays his
fellow Soul Reapers and allies himself with the strongest of the Hollows, the Espadas. Each
member of the Espadas has his or her own motives, ranging from malicious to benevolent from
his or her own perspective. Aizen thus becomes the main antagonist of the series and the Soul
Reapers form an alliance with Ichigo. At this point, Bleachchronicles the war between the Soul
Reapers, the, and Aizen, who intends to garner souls from Ichigo's hometown in order to create
the, a device able to open a portal to the location of the king of the Soul Society. Many third,
fourth, and fifth parties also become involved in the conflict. After each of their eventual
defeats, Ichigo undergoes intense training and becomes strong enough to battle Aizen alone.
When Aizen is weakened, a spell that Urahara had previously hidden within him activates and
seals him, thus ending the conflict and leaving the Soul Society to imprison him. As a result of
using all of his Soul Reaper powers to defeat Aizen, Ichigo loses his spiritual power and returns
to being a normal human again.

Production
Bleach was first conceived from a desire on Tite Kubo's part to draw Shinigami in kimono, which
formed the basis for the design of the Soul Reapers in the series and the conception of Rukia
Kuchiki.The original story concept was submitted to Weekly Shōnen Jump shortly after the
cancellation of Tite Kubo's previous manga,, but was rejected. Manga artist Akira Toriyama saw
the story and wrote a letter of encouragement to Kubo.Bleach was accepted for publication a
short time later in 2001, and was initially intended to be a shorter series, with a maximum
serialization length of five years.Early plans for the story did not include the hierarchical
structure of the Soul Society, but did include some characters and elements that were not
introduced into the plot until the Arrancar arc, such as Ichigo's Soul Reaper heritage.The series
was originally meant to be named "Black" due to the color of the Soul Reapers' clothes, but
Kubo thought the title was too generic. He later tried the name of "White," but came to like
"Bleach" more for its association with the color white and that he did not find it too obvious.

Tite Kubo has cited influences for elements of Bleach, ranging from other manga series to
music, foreign language, architecture, and film. He attributes his interest in drawing the
supernatural and monsters to Shigeru Mizuki's GeGeGe no Kitaro and Bleach's focus on
interesting weaponry and battle scenes to Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya, manga that Kubo
enjoyed as a boy.The action style and storytelling found in Bleach are inspired by cinema,
though Kubo has not revealed any specific movie as being an influence for fight scenes. When
pressed, he told interviewers that he likedSnatch but did not use it as a model.Kubo has also
stated that he wishes to make Bleach an experience that can only be found by reading manga,
and dismissed ideas of creating any live-action film adaptations of the series.

Bleach's creative process is focused around character design. When writing plotlines or having
difficulties generating new material, Kubo begins by thinking of new characters, often en
masse, and rereading previous volumes of Bleach.Kubo has said that he likes creating
characters that have outward appearances that do not match their true nature—an element
that can be found in manyBleach characters—as he is "attracted to people with that seeming
contradiction" and finds an "urge to draw people like that" when he works.The terminology
used in Bleach has a variety of inspirations, with each category of characters bearing a
different linguistic theme. Many of the names for swords and spells used by Soul Reapers were
inspired by ancient Japanese literature. Hollows and Arrancars are often associated with terms
because the language sounded "bewitching and mellow" to him.

Manga
Main article: List of Bleach chapters
The chapters of the Bleach manga are written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. In Japan, they have
been published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump since 2001,with individual chapters
collected in a series of tankōbon volumes, each of which includes a poem based on the cover
character. The first volume was released on January 5, 2002, and as of October 2010, 47
volumes have been released.

North American licensor Viz Media has been serializing the individual chapters in Shonen
Jump in North America since November 2007.As of September 2010, 32 volumes have been
released, the first of which was released on June 1, 2004.On August 5, 2008, the company
released a hardcover "collector's edition" of the first volume that came with a dust jacket,
followed by a box set that was released on September 2, 2008, containing the first 21 volumes,
a poster, and a booklet about the series.

Since Bleach's premiere, over 400 chapters have been released in Japan. Most chapter names
are written in English and have katakana above them to indicate how they are read in
Japanese, similar to the usage ofruby characters with advanced characters. In addition to the
main series chapters, some chapters are published with a negative chapter number. These
"negative" chapters are side stories that involve events that precede the main plot of the
series.

Anime
Main article: List of Bleach episodes

The episodes of the Bleach anime series are directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by TV
Tokyo, Dentsu, and Studio Pierrot.The episodes have aired on TV Tokyo in Japan since October
5, 2004.[17] 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,[citation
needed] and has since licensed its individual Bleach merchandising rights to several different
companies.

The English adaptation of the Bleach anime premiered on Canada's YTV channel in
the Bionix programming block on September 8, 2006. Cartoon Network began airing Bleach the
following evening as part of its Adult Swim block.Adult Swim stopped broadcasting new
episodes of the English adaptation on October 20, 2007 after airing the first 52 episodes of the
series. 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,but
went back on hiatus on November 21, 2009, after the airing of its 167th episode. The series
returned from hiatus on August 28, 2010, on Adult Swim. In the United
Kingdom, Bleach premiered on AnimeCentral on September 13, 2007, with new episodes airing
weekly.

As of August 2009, 49 DVD compilations have been released by Aniplex in Japan.Viz Media has
released 22 DVD compilations of the English adaptation of the anime,along with three DVD
collection boxes that contain the first, second, and third seasons of the anime, respectively.On
July 29, 2009, Aniplex released a "TV Animation Bleach 5th Anniversary Box" that includes 15
DVDs and three bonus discs.

CDs
Produced by Shirō Sagisu, 11 CD soundtracks have been released for the Bleach anime series
and movies. Bleach Original Soundtrack 1 was released on May 18, 2005 and contains 25
tracks, including the first opening and ending themes in their original television lengths.Bleach
Original Soundtrack 2 followed on August 2, 2006 with an additional 23 instrumental
tracks.Bleach Original Soundtrack 3 later followed on November 5, 2008 with 27 instrumental
tracks.Bleach Original Soundtrack 4 was released on December 16, 2009 with 30 instrumental
tracks.Bleach: Memories of Nobody Original Soundtrack was released with 25 tracks from
the Bleach: Memories of Nobody film. A soundtrack was also released for the Bleach: The
DiamondDust Rebellion film, with nearly 30 tracks from the movie, followed by a third one for
the Bleach: Fade to Black, I Call Your Name film, with 29 tracks.Bleach: The Best contains 12 of
the opening and ending themes from the series in their full length versions, later followed
by Bleach: Best Tunes, which contains 12 more opening and ending themes.

Three Radio DJCD Bleach 'B' Station season CD sets, each containing six volumes, have been
released in Japan.The third season is still ongoing in Japan.Eight drama CDs have been
produced for the series as well, featuring the original voice actors from the series; these drama
CDs have only been included as part of the DVD releases.

The Bleach Beat Collections is an ongoing set of CDs published by Sony Music featuring
recordings by the original Japanese voice actors that provide a look at the personalities of the
characters they play, as well as the voice actors themselves. The first CD was released on June
22, 2005, and as of March 2009, 21 volumes have been released across four named sets
called Sessions.

Films
There are three feature films based on the Bleach series, all of which are directed by Noriyuki
Abe, director of the Bleach anime series. The films have been released in December of each
year starting in 2006. Each movie features an original plotline along with original characters
designed by Tite Kubo, which is contrary to the normal practice for anime-based films, as the
original author usually has little creative involvement.

The first film, Bleach: Memories of Nobody, was released in Japan on December 16, 2006 and
had a limited release in American theaters in June 2008.The movie is centered around the
activities of the "Dark Ones," who were banished from the Soul Society and are subsequently
trying to destroy both the Soul Society and the World of the Living. Memories of Nobody was
released in North America on Region 1 DVD by Viz Media on October 14, 2008.

The second film, Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion, was released to Japanese theaters on
December 22, 2007.Its plot focuses on 10th Division captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya's efforts to clear
his name after an artifact belonging to Soul Society's king is stolen while under his care. The
DiamondDust Rebellion was released in North America on Region 1 DVD by Viz Media on
September 8, 2009.

The third film, Bleach: Fade to Black, I Call Your Name, was released in Japan on December 13,
2008. In the film, members of Soul Society are struck with amnesia, causing them to lose their
memories of Ichigo and Rukia. When he goes to the Soul Society to investigate, Ichigo
discovers that Rukia has not only forgotten him, but has forgotten her own identity as well.The
film was released on DVD on September 30, 2009.

The fourth movie, Bleach: Hell Chapter, is scheduled to be released on December 4, 2010.In a
teaser trailer, Ichigo is seen heading into the Gates of Hell, which is where Hollows who had
committed evil during their lives as humans are sent. Tite Kubo will be overseeing production of
the film.

In March 2010, Warner Bros. (USA/Canada/International) and Regency Enterprises confirmed

that it is in talks to create a live action movie adaptation of the series. Peter Segal, Arnon
Milchan and Michael Ewing have been lined up to produce the movie.
Musical
Bleach has been adapted into a series of rock musicals, jointly produced by Studio Pierrot and
Nelke Planning. There have been five musicals produced which covered portions of
the Substitute andSoul Society arcs, as well as three additional performances known as "Live
Bankai Shows" which did not follow the Bleach plotline. The initial performance run of
the Bleach musical was from August 17-28, 2005 at the Space Zero Tokyo center in Shinjuku.

The musicals are directed by Takuya Hiramitsu, with a script adaptation by Naoshi Okumura
and music composed by playwright Shoichi Tama. The songs are completely original and not
taken from the anime soundtrack. Key actors in the series include Tatsuya Isaka, who
plays Ichigo Kurosaki, Miki Satō, who plays Rukia Kuchiki, and Eiji Moriyama, who plays Renji
Abarai.

Trading card game

Main article: Bleach Trading Card Game

Two collectible card games (CCG) based on the Bleach series have been produced. Bleach Soul
Card Battle, produced by Bandai, was introduced in Japan in 2004.As of October 2008,
seventeen named sets have been released for the series.

Bleach TCG was introduced in the United States by Score Entertainment in May 2007,but
ceased publication April 2009, just before the planned launch of its seventh expansion, Bleach
Infiltration.This cancellation was attributed to the ongoing recession, which has heavily affected
TCG sales.Designed by Aik Tongtharadol, the TCG is a two-player game in which each player
starts with at least 61 cards: a "Guardian" card, a 60-card "main deck," and an optional 20-card
"side deck." A player loses if his or her power, as dictated by the Guardian card, is reduced to
zero, or if he or she is unable to draw or discard a card from his or her deck.The cards for the
game have been released in named sets with each set released in three formats: a 72-card pre-
constructed box set containing a starter deck and two booster packs, a 10-card booster pack,
and a 12-pack booster box. As of December 2008, six named sets have been released.

Video games
Main article: List of Bleach video games

The first video game to be released from the Bleach series was Bleach: Heat the Soul, which
debuted on March 24, 2005 for the Sony PlayStation Portable.Currently, the majority of the
games have only been released in Japan, though Sega has localized the first three Nintendo
DS games and the first Wii game for North America.So far, all dedicated Bleach games released
for Sony's consoles have been developed and published by SCEI, whereas the games
for Nintendo consoles are developed and published by Sega, and the Nintendo DS games are
developed by Treasure Co. Ltd.

Other
A single Bleach artbook, All Colour But The Black, has been released in Japan, the United
States, and Europe. The artbook compiles a selection of color spreads from the first 19 volumes
of the series, as well as some original art and author commentary.

Four databooks have also been released about the series. The first two, Bleach: Official
Character Book SOULs. and Bleach: Official Animation Book VIBEs., were released on February
3, 2006.Bleach: Official Character Book SOULs. was later released in English by Viz Media on
November 18, 2008.The third databook,, was released on August 3, 2007. In addition to
character guides and articles on other fictional aspects of the series, it compiles the various
short comics, Tedious Everyday Tales Colorful Bleach, that were published in V Jump.
The omake-style panels are similar to those included in the main series, but reveal more of the
daily lives of characters.The fourth book, Bleach: Official Character Book 2: MASKED, was
released on August 4, 2010.This book covers details about characters that appear 100 years
prior to the story, such as former captains and lieutenants, along with the Arrancars and
Visoreds. It should be noted that while it was released on the same day as Volume 46,Back
From Blind, the book only covers material up to Volume 37, Beauty Is So Solitary.

Tite Kubo and Makoto Matsubara have co-authored two novelizations of the Bleach series,
which were published by Shueisha under its Jump Books label. The first volume, BLEACH-letters
from the other side: The Death and The Strawberry, was published on December 15, 2004, and
the second, BLEACH: The Honey Dish Rhapsody, was published in October 30, 2006.

Reception
The manga series has sold over 1.2 million copies in North America, and the original Japanese
version of the manga series as a whole has sold over 50 million copies.In 2005, Bleach was
awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category.As of May 2007, the manga has
sold a total of 40 million copies, ranking as the 14th bestseller series from Weekly Shonen
Jump.During 2008, volume 34 of the manga sold 874,153 copies in Japan, becoming the 12th
best-seller comics from the year. Volumes 33 and 35 have also ranked 17 and 18,
respectively.In total the manga has sold 3,161,825 copies in Japan during 2008, becoming the
year's 5th best selling series.In the first half from 2009, Bleach ranked as the 2nd best-selling
manga in Japan, having sold 3.5 million copies.Having sold 927,610 copies, Volume 36 ranked
7th. Volume 37 was 8th with 907,714 sold copies, and volume 38 at 10th with 822,238
copies.North American sales of the manga have also been high, with Volume 16 placing in the
top 10 graphic novel sales in December 2006and Volume 17 being the best-selling manga
volume for the month of February 2007.In a 2010 interview, Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President of
Sales and Marketing for Viz, listed Bleach as one of six Viz titles that continue to exceed
expectations in spite of the harshening manga market.The English version of the manga was
nominated for the "best manga" and "best theme" awards at the 2006 and 2007 American
Anime Awards, but did not win either category.

Deb Aoki from About.com considered the series as the Best Continuing Shōnen Manga of 2007,
along with Eyeshield 21, praising the "compelling stories, dazzling action sequences and great
character development".She also placed the title on her list of "Top 10 Shōnen Manga Must-
Reads".The artwork and the character designs received positive response by IGN's A.E.
Sparrow. He also commented on the several storylines going on in the series at the same time
due to the large number of supporting character which make the manga appealing in response
to fans' claims about a "lack of a story" in Bleach.Leroy Douresseaux from ComicBookBin
agreed with Sparrow in the number of storylines, but also praised the fighting scenes finding
them comparable to the ones of popular films.On the other hand, Mania reviewer Jarred Pine
criticized the series as being plagued with stereotypes from the genre. He felt it was a rough
start for the series with unimpressive battles, overused gags, and a bad introduction for central
character Ichigo that causes him to come across "as a frowning punk" whose one good trait is
his desire to protect. Despite this, Pine notes that he loves the series, particularly its quirky,
lovable characters.

The anime has been featured various times in the top ten from the Japanese TV Ranking.DVDs
have also had good sales having commonly appeared in the Japanese DVD Ranking.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.In a 2006 Internet
poll by TV Asahi, Bleach was ranked as Japan's seventh-favorite anime program.The previous
year, it was ranked as the twenty-seventh favorite program. During February
2009, Bleachranked as the 9th most viewed animated show from Hulu.

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."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."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.Active Anime's Holly Ellingwood praising the anime for
perfectly capturing "the excitement, the caustic humour and supernatural intrigue" of the
original manga.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".She also praised the series for its striking visual effects,
intriguing plot and its "brilliant blend of action, off the wall comedy."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".Another Fellow reviewer John
Sinnott felt series starts out as a boring "monster-of-the-week program" that becomes more
engaging as the stories build and the characters are fleshed out.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".Mania.com's Bryce Coulter praised the series for its plot twists and "the quirky
and amusing characters".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".