Home Comics & Toys After 15 years, Bleach is finally coming to an end

After 15 years, Bleach is finally coming to an end

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Bleach (3)

Around the early 2000s, anime and manga went big. Real big, thanks efforts to bring the Japanese pop culture to the west. Dragon Ball started that invasion, but it was the big three of the time that really had fans hooked: Bleach, One Piece and Naruto. But nothing lasts forever…unless it’s One Piece, which will outlive the cockroaches that will rule this planet long after humanity has nuked itself into extinction.

Naruto already wrapped up its core story this year, with a spin-off manga arriving a few months later, and now the end is nigh for Bleach. Created by Tite Kubo back in 2001, the series has been a weird mix of death, the afterlife and the worlds between that are patrolled by Soul Reapers who can wield incredible powers from the swords that happen to be forged from their own souls. Throw in a thousand year plot, demonic Hollows and lead character Ichigo Kurosaki caught in the middle of all this, and you have a basic plot.

Bleach (1)

And it’s a tale that is finally wrapping up in a few weeks. According to Anime News Network, Bleach will finish its story in its 74th volume that concludes a story arc which began in February 2012. That leaves just a few more issues to go in Weekly Shonen Jump over in Japan then, issues which are usually translated through less than legal means and put up online, or available through less dodgy official channels such as Viz Media.

Alternatively, there’s over 300 episodes available in the official anime series, even if half of them are downright dreadful filler that we don’t want to talk about it.

Bleach (2)

But man, it feels so weird to see a familiar face disappear again. There’s a certain void that pops up whenever a manga series ends or decides to take a break, that’s just so hard to fill back up. Fortunately, there’s a new generation of manga being published every week, with the superb My Hero Academia being one of those blockbuster titles that’s worth a read every week.

But here’s to Bleach, and the influence it had on manga fandom in the west.

Last Updated: July 28, 2016

13 Comments

  1. Pssssh dreadful? Bantou arc was one the best arcs 10/10 /s

    That said, I respect Bleach for the influence it had and what it did to help with the popularity of anime and manga but God…freaking damn…did this series need to end years ago. It was never cohesive and it felt like Kubo was making things up as he went along. R.I.P Bleach, you deserve the rest.

    Reply

    • Aries

      July 28, 2016 at 17:40

      For me the Hueco Mundo arc was the best with that build up and eventual fight between Ulquiorra(googled the name lol) and Ichigo was some of the best

      Reply

      • Umar

        July 28, 2016 at 17:48

        Was about to gove you props for spelling Ulquiorra’s name properly lol

        But man, that buildup was so good, and when Ichigo got his hollow mask..HOT DAMN.

        Reply

        • Aries

          July 28, 2016 at 18:26

          It was weird how much I I related to Ulquiorra, was sad when he died

          Reply

          • Deceased

            July 29, 2016 at 10:58

            ^ This…

            ( Suspect you don’t like / look down on humans as he did XD )

          • Aries

            July 29, 2016 at 13:31

            I actually do haha, not all though

    • The D

      July 28, 2016 at 17:55

      Nah, the manga stuff was great. That one anime arc? Those fuckers? Still makes me squirm.

      Reply

      • Deceased

        July 29, 2016 at 10:58

        lol

        Reply

      • HairyEwok

        July 29, 2016 at 11:02

        Pedo Bear, Fernando, Depro Bunny and Feminista Chick.

        Reply

  2. Aries

    July 28, 2016 at 17:35

    Bleach was what really got me into Anime and Manga, Dragon Ball doesnt really count for as that was a mix of everything awesome, but I want them to atleast finish the Anime of Bleach please, read most of them Manga and that filler in bleach was sickening never watched any of those filler really

    Reply

    • Zatara

      July 30, 2016 at 17:23

      Indeed, even with all the shit in Thousand Year Blood War Arc, Gremmy vs. Kenpachi seriously needs to be adapted, ffs.

      Reply

  3. Orwell

    July 29, 2016 at 15:48

    Some of the more credible sources and ones most hardcore fans are likely to bet on is that Bleach ends next week on Chapter 685.

    A Warning to anyone not caught up to the latest chapters of bleach at 684. *SPOILERS AHEAD*

    Even though Bleach has had such a tremendous impact on its fan base and the widespread popularity of Anime. Kubo’s writing in this final arc has been mediocre at best and going so far as to push the Lore into a tangibly different world than the one we started with. This is by no means a good thing, Ywach is an ostensibly badly written character who is obscenely powerful and seems to be Kubo’s way of trolling his fans (again) with someone even more ludicrous than Aizen.

    Instead of a Battle to rival the best duels in the series, we’ve been treated to a Villian who repeatedly has the upper hand with a future altering ability and renders the Hallowed and long awaited Power-up and unification of Ichigo’s powers to a dismally shit rating.

    Furthermore, Kubo’s idea of writing himself into a corner (he does this quite often) is to use what most writers should avoid using is a deus ex machina in the form of, what is essentially Kryptonite (Ishida’s silver arrow). This fantastical plot-device was conceived as a last ditch effort for Kubo to recover from his thoughtless journey into a Villain who serves to only subvert the journey we’ve had with Ichigo up until this point.

    685 Will no doubt, (if sources hold true) be the most disappointing end to a series that has shaped the teenage years of many a Manga reader over the last decade. The Thousand Year Arc is a volume of chapters in a plethora of wasted opportunities, and a standing example that Shonen Jump is fed up with a series that has long since forgotten its roots, and its fans.

    Reply

  4. SI PUNK

    August 6, 2016 at 18:12

    BRING BACK THE BLEACH ANIME ALREADY!!!!!!! DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

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