It seems that the mouse wants to take everything…
Viz Media has finally announced which streaming services will have Bleach: Thousand-Yead Blood War: Hulu will be in charge of broadcasting in the United States and Disney + internationally. Until recently, we had mentioned that it was possible for Disney to issue this new series and the suspicions have been confirmed. The first episode will be available October 10th.
The anime will run for four cours (a quarter of a year) with breaks in between. The show will premiere on October 10 at 12:00 p.m. (effectively October 11 at midnight) on TV Tokyo and its affiliates, and will stream on more than 20 services in Japan, including Hulu and Disney+. Viz Media will hold the North American premiere at New York Comic Con on October 8.. NYCC noted that the premiere event will take place before a “simulcast” of the anime.
BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War will be available on Hulu in the US and on Disney+ internationally. pic.twitter.com/bINykAUOZp
— VIZ (@VIZMedia) October 3, 2022
The anime will cover the rest of the original manga until its end, with some big changes or, at least, that is what its author has mentioned, it will not be the same as the original version. For now, we know that Tomohisa Taguchi ( Twin Star Exorcists , Kino’s Journey – The Beautiful World , Akudama Drive ) will replace Noriyuki Abe to direct the anime at Studio Pierrot. Masashi Kudo returns as character designer, and Shiro Sagisu returns to compose the music.
The voice cast of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War will bring back a host of actors and actresses from the original series:
- Masakazu Morita as Ichigo Kurosaki
- Fumiko Orikasa as Rukia Kuchiki
- Noriaki Sugiyama as Uryū Ishida
- Yuki Matsuoka as Orihime Inoue
- Hiroki Yasumoto as Yasutora Sado
- Kentaro Itō as Renji Abarai
- Shinichiro Miki as Kisuke Urahara
- Satsuki Yukino as Yoruichi Shihoin
- Binbin Takaoka (replacing Masaaki Tsukada) as Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto
- Houko Kuwashima as Suì-Fēng
- Shouto Kashii as Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi
- Aya Hisakawa as Retsu Unohana
- Masaya Onosaka as Shinji Hirako
- Ryotaro Okiayu as Byakuya Kuchiki
- Tetsu Inada as Sajin Komamura
- Akio Ohtsuka as Shunsui Kyoraku
Tatsuya Kitani, who performed themes and images for the “Bleach Ex” exhibition, is singing the opening theme “Scarwhile SennaRin is singing the ending theme “Saihate” (The Farthest Reaches).
Fans threaten to pirate the Bleach series
Bleach fans responded with outrage after realizing that Crunchyroll removed the series from their streaming platform and the fandom threatened to hack it. Fans of the series took to Twitter to voice their concerns about Bleach’s removal from Crunchyroll’s library. @StealthyN7’s tweet read: “Crunchyroll has completely removed Bleach from their site and YouTube channel.”
Crunchyroll has completely deleted Bleach from their site and YouTube channel. pic.twitter.com/w2OnvjB5G3
— Zack (@StealthyN7) October 1, 2022
Fans of this franchise responded with their farewell to the series, sharing their grief at the anime’s removal. Responses to this news threatened to take to the sea with a screenshot from the popular One Piece anime saying, “The world has truly entered a great pirate age!” some fans they went so far as to share tips on how their comrades could stream pirated versions of Bleach onlinewhile others requested that their fellow media pirates not share their secrets openly.
Welp you know what time it is https://t.co/E0GQB1Q2IK pic.twitter.com/jGcRSxLq1f
— SNNC 🇳🇬 (@NotoriousCLEM2) October 1, 2022
All of this was made worse by attention to a Reddit post claiming that Disney+ now owns the rights and that they will stream the original series as well as Thousand-Year Blood War. An announcement for the highly anticipated sequel was released in November 2021, followed by the release of visual content during Jump Festa ’22 on December 18, 2021. The series will cover the latest narrative arc of the manga of the same name and will air only on Disney+.
This arc closes the plot development of Tite Kubo’s work, although if you have read the manga, you can still enjoy several new features, according to its creator, unlike the original work, this time he will take the time to better develop his ideas and final anime scenes. Therefore, the only legal way to discover what Tite Kubo refers to, will be through Disney + exclusively.