Viz Media has revealed a new key visual for part three of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, highlighting Uryuu Ishida’s role in “The Conflict” storyline. A new PV trailer was also released, revealing that the anime will return in 2024 and will stream on Hulu.
Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War is the first Bleach anime since the previous 2004 to 2012 TV series adaptation. The second cour, adapting “The Separation” storyline, began airing in Japan on July 8, 2023 and is streaming overseas on Hulu, Bilibili, iQIYI, and Prime Video. The first cour ran from October 11, 2022 to December 27, 2022.
The production staff for the anime includes Tomohisa Taguchi (Akudama Drive) as director and series screenwriter, Masashi Kudou (Bleach) as character designer, Yoshio Tanioka (Akudama Drive) as art director, Saori Gouda (Akudama Drive) as color designer, Kazuhiro Yamada (Akudama Drive) as photography director, and Shirou SAGISU (Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time) as music composer. Pierrot is in charge of the animation production for the series.
Tite Kubo’s original manga series ran from August 7, 2001 to August 22, 2016 in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump. A total of 74 total tankoubon volumes were released, along with a special one-shot in 2021.
Besides the anime, the series has also inspired several anime films, spin-offs, a live-action film, video games, a trading card game, and more. An anime film adaptation of Kubo’s BURN THE WITCH manga, which takes place in the same universe as Bleach, was released in 2020.
Viz releases the Bleach manga in English and describes the Thousand-Year Blood War arc as:
When new Soul Reapers and a new enemy appear in his hometown of Karakura, Ichigo jumps back into the battlefield with his Zanpakuto to help those in need. Meanwhile, the Soul Society is observing a sudden surge in the number of Hollows being destroyed in the World of the Living. They also receive separate reports of residents in the Rukon District having gone missing. Finally, the Seireitei, home of the Soul Reapers, comes under attack by a group calling themselves the Wandenreich.
Led by Yhwach, the father of all Quincies, the Wandenreich declare war against the Soul Reapers with the following message: “Five days from now, the Soul Society will be annihilated by the Wandenreich.”
Source: Viz Media Official Twitter, Aniplex Official Japanese YouTube Channel
