Bleach

Bleach
Initial Run
Network	Adult Swim (Toonami)
Broadcast Run	May 26, 2012 - November 1, 2014 (original series)
Episodes	366 (List of Episodes) (original series)
Second Run
Network	Adult Swim (Toonami)
Broadcast Run	November 15, 2014 - January 31, 2015 (original series)
Third Run
Network	Adult Swim (Toonami)
Broadcast Run	May 17, 2025 - present (Thousand-Year Blood War)
Broadcast Time	12:30 AM

Bleach is a Japanese anime series based on the manga series of the same name. The original 366-episode series was produced by Studio Pierrot in Japan from 2004 to 2012, with the sequel, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War produced in 2022. It also spawned two original video animations and four animated feature films. 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 on September 9, 2006 as part of its Adult Swim Action block. On April 1, 2012, Bleach was the only Adult Swim regularly scheduled series that aired during the Toonami April Fools event.

Adult Swim began airing Bleach as part of the newly revived Toonami block on May 26, 2012 at midnight. After the November 1, 2014 broadcast of the original series finale, Bleach was removed from the Toonami lineup. However, after a two week break, reruns of the series returned to Toonami on November 15, 2014 but were again removed following the January 31, 2015 broadcast. The sequel, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War premiered on May 17, 2025. The series is rated TV-PG-DLV, TV-14-DLSV, and TV-MA-V on Adult Swim.

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 that absorbs energy from souls. When Rukia is severely wounded defending Ichigo from the Hollow, she attempts to transfer a part of her reiatsu ("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 some 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. This however had ended with two high ranking Soul Reapers (Shinigami) injuring Ichigo and taking Rukia to their world The Soul Society. These two soul reapers are Renji Abarai, Rukia's childhood friend, and captain Byakuya Kuchiki, Rukia's older brother. 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, Orihime Inoue, Yasutora (Chad) Sado, Uryū Ishida, and the ex-Soul Reapers Yoruichi Shihōin and Kisuke Urahara.

Characters

Ichigo Kurosaki — The primary protagonist of the series. An orange-haired high school student, who becomes a "substitute Shinigami (Soul Reaper)" after unintentionally absorbing most of Rukia Kuchiki's powers. His cynical nature at first makes him ill-disposed towards the duty, but, with the passage of time, he accepts and welcomes the strength his Soul Reaper powers give him. When Ichigo first becomes a Shinigami, his Zanpakutō was a standard-looking katana, but oversized. The large size is due to the unfocused but immense amount of Ichigo's spiritual power, which he did not know how to control.

Rukia Kuchiki — A Soul Reaper who is assigned hollow extermination duties in Ichigo's hometown (Karakura Town) and is the main heroine of the series (though her role is downplayed later on). Though her physical appearance is that of a teenage girl, in reality she is ten times older than Ichigo. At the opening of the story, Rukia is forced to transfer her powers to Ichigo and assume a temporary lifestyle as a regular human. She registers at the local high school and takes up residence in Ichigo's closet, while teaching him how to be a substitute Soul Reaper in her place. She is shown many times kicking Ichigo in the face and using similar, slightly comical tactics to "wake him up." Orihime stated once that Rukia seemed to be the only one that is able to cheer Ichigo up, as she seems to have a lot of faith in him.

Orihime Inoue — A long-time classmate of Ichigo Kurosaki who gains a crush on him later on in the series, linked to him by mutual friend Tatsuki Arisawa. She is effectively an orphan, as when she was 3, her older brother Sora left their abusive parents' home with Orihime and raised her on his own. Later on, when Orihime was in middle school, he died in an accident. Though initially devoid of spiritual powers, she develops spiritual awareness early in the series and later obtains the God-like ability to warp reality through rejecting past phenomena, which she often uses as a healing ability.

Yasutora (Chad) Sado — better known as Chad, he is one of Ichigo's friends at school. He is a biracial Japanese/Mexican student who towers over his classmates at 7 feet 2 inches. Despite his imposing appearance he is quite meek, and refuses to fight unless it is for the sake of another. Chad does not have awareness of ghosts at first, but this changes when he attempts to protect Ichigo's sister, Karin,and her friends from a hollow. He discovers a unique ability that strengthens and armors his right arm, enabling him to fight hollows.

Uryū Ishida — A Quincy, descendant of a line of priest-like hollow-hunting archers who were historical enemies of the Soul Reapers. He bears a deep grudge against all Soul Reapers, including Ichigo, and is an early antagonist in the series. He comes to view Ichigo differently over time, and eventually becomes a valuable ally and a friendly rival. Uryu's powers as a quincy are used by gatheing spirt particles called reshi. He uses them to create a beam or 'arrow', and shoots these beams with a bow.

Ichigo Kurosaki

Rukia Kuchiki

Orihime Inoue

Chad Sado

Uryu Ishida

Kisuke Urahara

Yoruichi Shihōin

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto

Shunsui Kyōraku

Jūshirō Ukitake

Byakuya Kuchiki

Renji Abarai

Mayuri Kurotsuchi

Nemu Kurotsuchi

Momo Hinamori

Kenpachi Zaraki

Tōshirō Hitsugaya

Rangiku Matsumoto

Suì-Fēng

Sajin Komamura

Gallery

Bleach - Toonami First Promo-0

Toonami Promo

Toonami - New Bleach Episodes Promo

"New Episodes" Toonami Promo

Bleach Finale Toonami Promo

"Final Episode" Toonami Promo

Bleach Toonami Intro

Toonami Intro 1

Bleach Toonami Intro 2

Toonami Intro 2

Bleach Toonami Intro 3

Toonami Intro 3

Bleach Toonami Intro 4

Toonami Intro 4

Bleach Toonami Intro 5

Toonami Intro 5

Bleach Toonami Intro 6

Toonami Intro 6

Bleach First Promo Adult Swim

1st Adult Swim Promo

Episodes

Color	Story Arc	Episodes	U.S. Season Premiere	U.S. Season Finale
	The Substitute	20	September 8, 2006	January 26, 2007
	Soul Society: The Entry	21	February 2, 2007	July 15, 2007
	Soul Society: The Rescue	22	July 21, 2007	May 11, 2008
	The Bount	28	May 18, 2008	December 6, 2008
	The Assault	18	December 13, 2008	April 11, 2009
	The Arrancar	22	April 18, 2009	July 11, 2009
	Arrancar Pt. 2: The Hueco Mundo Sneak Entry	20	July 11, 2009	September 26, 2009
	Arrancar Pt. 3: The Fierce Fight	16	September 26, 2009	November 21, 2009
	The New Captain Shūsuke Amagai	22	August 28, 2010	January 29, 2011
	Arrancar Pt. 4: Arrancar vs Shinigami	16	February 5, 2011	May 21, 2011
	The Past	07	May 28, 2011	July 9, 2011
	Arrancar Pt. 5: Battle in Karakura	17	July 16, 2011	November 5, 2011
	Zanpakutō: The Alternate Tale	36	November 12, 2011	August 4, 2012
	Arrancar Pt. 6: Fall of the Arrancar	51	August 12, 2012	September 28, 2013
	Gotei 13 Invading Army	26	October 5, 2013	April 26, 2014
	The Lost Agent	24	May 3, 2014	November 1, 2014
	Thousand-Year Blood War	TBA	May 17, 2025	TBA

Broadcast History

Bleach aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 5, 2004 to March 27, 2012. The sequel, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War aired on October 10, 2022, split into four cours with the first cour titled "The Blood Warfare" running from October 10, 2022 until December 26, 2022. The second cour titled "The Separation" ran from July 7, 2023 to September 29, 2023. The third cour titled "The Conflict" aired from October 4, 2024 to December 27, 2024. After the completion of the third cour, the fourth cour was announced with an unknown release date. In 2006, Viz Media obtained the North American television and home video rights to the series, and enlisted Studiopolis to produce an English dub, which premiered in Canada on YTV, as part of the Bionix programming block on September 8, 2006. In the United States, Adult Swim began airing Bleach on September 9, 2006, as part of the Adult Swim Action programming block. Adult Swim stopped broadcasting new episodes of the English adaptation on October 13, 2007, after airing the first 52 episodes of the series, replacing Bleach with another Viz Media series, Death Note, to provide Studiopolis more time to dub additional episodes. The series began airing again on March 1, 2008, but went back on hiatus on November 21, 2009, after airing episode 167. The series aired in reruns until new episodes returned on August 28, 2010. The original series last aired on Adult Swim on January 31, 2015. In the United Kingdom, Bleach aired on Anime Central beginning on September 13, 2007.

The sequel series, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War made its Toonami premiere on May 17, 2025, starting with the first cour.

• Japan (TV Tokyo) — October 5, 2004 - March 27, 2012; October 10, 2022 - December 26, 2022; July 7, 2023 - September 29, 2023; October 4, 2024 - December 27, 2022
• Canada (YTV) — September 8, 2006 - February 2010
• United States (Adult Swim) — September 9, 2006 - January 31, 2015; May 17, 2025 - present
• United Kingdom (Anime Central) — September 13, 2007

Toonami Broadcast History

Bleach premiered on Toonami at 12:00 AM on April 1, 2012, kicking off the April Fool's Day prank night. The episode that aired there was episode 247, "Deceived Shinigami! The World Collapse Crisis", following the order in which it was airing on the regular Adult Swim schedule. On May 26, 2012, the night Toonami was revived as a programming block on Adult Swim, Bleach continued airing at midnight. The first episode to air on the regular Toonami schedule was episode 255, "Final Chapter - Zanpakutō the Alternate Tale". The original series finale made its U.S. television premiere on November 1, 2014, and the series was subsequently removed from the lineup and replaced by Dragon Ball Z Kai. However, the series returned in reruns two weeks later, beginning with episode 282, on November 15, 2014, taking over the 2:30 AM time slot previously held by Hellsing Ultimate. The series was pre-empted by Toonami's month of movies during the month of December and returned in the 3:00 AM time slot on January 3, 2015. Three weeks later, on January 24, 2015, the series moved back into the 2:30 AM time slot. However, following the January 31, 2015 broadcast, Toonami lost the 11:30 PM - 12:00 AM time slot and the 3:30-5:00 AM time slots due to low ratings. As a result, Bleach was one of the series removed from the lineup.

The series returned for the first time in 10 years since January 31, 2015 with the sequel, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (first cour) premiering on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block beginning May 17, 2025 at 12:30 AM, replacing Common Side Effects. The series will be moved to the 1:15 AM timeslot on June 14, 2025 due to the extended length premiere of Dragon Ball Daima taking the former 12:30 AM timeslot. The following week, the series will begin airing at 1:00 AM.

• Toonami (United States) — April 1, 2012; May 26, 2012 - November 1, 2014; November 15, 2014 - January 31, 2015; May 17, 2025 - present

External Links

• Bleach Wiki
• Wikipedia

References

Toonami Series
Cartoon Network (1997-2008)
Adult Swim (2012-Present)