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Bleach: How to watch the ghost-hunting anime in release and chronological order

Become an expert soul reaper with this Bleach watch guide

A still from the Bleach anime
Image credit: Viz
Latonya Pennington
Guides by Latonya Pennington, Contributing writer
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It took a decade, but anime franchise Bleach made a triumphant return in 2022 with a new series, titled The Thousand Year Blood War. Officially a sequel to the original anime that aired from 2004 through 2012, both the original and Thousand Year Blood War are adapted from Tite Kibo's beloved manga series, which ran from 2001 through 2016.

Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War part three is currently airing, with one more batch of episodes due out in 2025. Our Bleach watch order will help you get caught up before the epic conclusion to Ichigo's story finally arrives.

What is Bleach?

Bleach Thousand Year Blood War Part 3 Trailer Screenshot
Image credit: Studio Pierrot

Bleach tells the story of a teenager named Ichigo Kurasaki, who can see ghosts. After meeting a Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki, Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper himself. As a Soul Reaper, Ichigo is responsible for fighting evil spirits known as Hollows and guiding spirits to the afterlife. As he comes into his powers, he meets others with similar spiritual abilities and becomes embroiled in incidents involving the realm known as The Soul Society.

The new Thousand Year Blood War anime continues and will conclude the franchise, being an adaptation of the final arc of the original Bleach manga, which was originally published after the conclusion of the earlier Bleach anime.

As an anime franchise, Bleach is known as one of "the big three" alongside One Piece and Naruto, the most popular anime franchises targeted towards young boys and men. It's also known for its intense action scenes, dynamic soundtrack, and supernatural elements.

Where to watch the Bleach anime franchise

Bleach cropped promotional poster featuring five characters
Image credit: Studio Pierrot

Currently, you are only able to stream or physically purchase Bleach from the following websites:

While Bleach and its sequel The Thousand Year Blood War are available to stream on Hulu, Disney+ only has The Thousand Year Blood War. In addition, streaming is the most cost effective way to watch Bleach, as there are over 300 episodes collected across twelve DVD and Blu-ray sets that are available on Amazon. Finally, the Bleach anime movies are available to purchase physically and digitally from Amazon and digitally from Vudu, Google Play, iTunes.

How to watch Bleach in release order

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War
Image credit: VIZ Media

Currently, the anime franchise Bleach has sixteen seasons, one ongoing sequel series, and four anime movies. The watch order by release date for the anime series and movies is as follows:

How to watch Bleach in chronological order

Bleach promotional art featuring two characters
Image credit: Studio Pierrot

The chronological order and the release order for the Bleach anime series are the same. However, because the plot of the Bleach movies are unrelated to the series plot, you can also watch them separately (or not at all), as listed below, and the show will still make sense.

The watch order for the anime series is:

  • Season 1- The Substitute Soul Reaper
  • Season 2- The Entry
  • Season 3- The Rescue
  • Season 4- The Bounty
  • Season 5- The Assault
  • Season 6- Arrancar The Appearance
  • Season 7- The Arrancar Part 2
  • Season 8- The Arrancar Part 3
  • Season 9- The New Captain
  • Season 10- The Arrancar Part 4
  • Season 11- Turn Back The Pendulum
  • Season 12- The Arrancar Part 5
  • Season 13- Zanpakuto The Alternate Tale
  • Season 14- The Arrancar Part 6
  • Season 15- Gotei 13 Invading Army
  • Season 16- The Lost Agent
  • The Thousand Year Blood War Part 1
  • The Thousand Year Blood War Part 2: The Separation (Episodes 14-26)
  • The Thousand Year Blood War Part 3: The Conflict (Episodes 27-39)

The watch order for the anime movies is:

  • Bleach The Movie: Memories of Nobody
  • Bleach: Diamond Dust Rebellion
  • Bleach: Fade To Black
  • Bleach: Hell Verse

Do I need to watch the Bleach anime movies?

Three Bleach characters standing on a roof on a cloudy day
Image credit: Studio Pierrot

The Bleach anime movies feature original stories that are not important to the overall plot of the series. They are side-stories rather than part of the main plot, so it's not necessary to watch the movies unless you are a big fan of Bleach.

Do I need to read the Bleach manga before watching the Bleach anime?

Cropped Bleach promotional image featuring an orange haired characters holding a sword
Image credit: Studio Pierrot

The Bleach anime is an adaptation of the manga, though whether it is a faithful one is up to the viewer. There are some changes between the manga and the anime, especially in certain episodes of the sequel series The Thousand Year Blood War. However, it is not necessary to read the manga in order to enjoy and understand the story.

Why isn’t Bleach on Crunchyroll?

Orange Bleach Thousand Year War promotional poster
Image credit: Studio Pierrot

The world of anime streaming rights is complicated, but fans overseas have grown accustomed to turning to Crunchyroll for their anime fix. This made it something of a shock when Bleach left the streaming service back in 2022. That was when The Thousand-Year Blood War anime was first released and aired on Huly and Disney+. Either Crunchyroll opted not to pick up the new anime or they were simply outbid by Disney for the rights.

Do I need to watch Bleach before The Thousand Year Blood War?

Since The Thousand Year Blood War adapts the final chapter of the manga and picks up where the previous series left off, it is recommended that you watch the other seasons of Bleach first. If you don't, you'll be confused about the plot and the characters.

What genre is Bleach?

Cropped promotional image for Bleach featuring a character wearing a half mask
Image credit: Studio Pierrot

Bleach and its follow up The Thousand Year Blood War are supernatural action-adventure series. The supernatural elements come from the ghosts and spirits featured, as well as the Soul Reapers, which is a unique take on the Grim Reaper. Meanwhile, the action adventure can be seen in the intense fights between Soul Reapers and spirits, Soul Reapers fighting each other, and humans with high spiritual powers.

Which episodes of Bleach are filler?

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 trailer screenshot
Image credit: Aniplex

Like many Shonen anime of its day, Bleach’s year-round production schedule means that the anime occasionally had to make filler episodes to keep from overtaking the source material. It is a problem that only One Piece has managed to overcome, resulting in entire arcs of the Bleach anime that don’t adapt the original manga and can be considered filler.

If you’re wanting to skip any of the filler episodes of Bleach, here are the ones to look out for:

  • Bleach Episode 33
  • Bleach Episode 50
  • Bleach Episodes 64-108
  • Bleach Episodes 128-137
  • Bleach Episodes 147-149
  • Bleach Episodes 168-189
  • Bleach Episodes 204-205
  • Bleach Episodes 213-214
  • Bleach Episodes 228-266
  • Bleach Episode 287
  • Bleach Episodes 298-299
  • Bleach Episodes 303-305
  • Bleach Episodes 311-341
  • Bleach Episode 355

Other upcoming Bleach projects

After The Thousand Year Blood War Part Three finishes airing in the Fall 2024 anime season, there is still a bit more of the anime to come. The final batch of episodes are expected to air on Disney+ and Hulu sometime in 2025, though a specific release date hasn't been announced for them yet. There will be 13 episodes in Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War Part Three, so it should end sometime in late December or early January.

 

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

Latonya Pennington

Latonya Pennington: Latonya Pennington is a freelance pop culture contributor at Reed Pop. In addition to writing about anime and manga, they have also written about video games, American comics, and young adult fiction. Their writing can also be found at Fandom Games, Into More, Gayming Magazine, and Comics XF among others. When they aren't writing for work, they can be found streaming shows, playing video games, reading novels, or doing creative writing.

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