Both Bleach The anime and manga are both quite long, making it quite time-consuming to get into either genre, so many fans only experience one of the two. However, while the anime is fairly faithful to the manga aside from the spin-offs, there are still some major differences that are worth knowing about for fans who only read or watch the series in one format.
Most of these differences have a relatively minor impact on the overall story, but some can be more significant, impacting later story arcs in unexpected ways. Sometimes these are changes for the better, expanding on points that might have needed a little more time, while others are more harmful changes that waste time instead of using it productively. Others are simply changes that are a consequence of being in a new medium, neither good nor bad. Here are the 10 biggest differences between the Bleach anime and manga.
10 Anime That Downplay Ichigo's Father
Ichigo's father is less important in the Anime
Those who have experienced the entire Bleach story in both forms know that Ichigo's father, Isshin Kurosaki, is a pretty important character later on, and that's true in both the anime and the manga. However, Many of Isshin's early scenes were cut or changed in the anime.makes him seem like he's not really important at first. Probably because when the anime starts, there's no indication that Isshin will return and become that important, and so his scenes seem like they could be cut out the easiest.
The difference is usually just a few lines of dialogue in any given episode, but it makes Ichigo's father appear less frequently than necessary, making it easy to forget about him altogether, especially as the story moves away from the World of the Living.
9 Manga That Rarely Describe Context
Manga Artwork Emphasizes Characters Over Setting
One unique aspect of the Bleach manga that is not reflected in the anime is the lack of background art. Manga artist Tite Kubo likes to focus on characters to emphasize them as much as possible, resulting in minimalistic backgrounds that often look like nothing more than a blank white space.. Anime often fills these backgrounds with whatever makes sense, arguably changing the composition of the shot in the process.
Kubo believed that the setting “distracts the reader from what is going on inside the character”. This also explains why many locations tend to be relatively plain, such as Hueco Mundo; there is little to explore in the first place, so its absence is understandable.
8 Yuzu Could Originally See Spirits in the Manga
Ichigo's youngest sister can also see spirits.
Ichigo is not the only one in his family who can see spirits. His younger sister Karin can also see them in both the anime and manga, but for the youngest, Yuzu, it is different. In the manga, Yuzu claims she can also see spirits, although she says she can only see them as indistinct shapes.. She was even able to tell that there was a specific ghost haunting Ichigo in the first chapter. In the anime, Yuzu said that she could “sense” their presence, but could not see them.
This is actually a consequence of a retcon, as Yuzu's ability to see spirits was changed later in the manga, and the anime only fixed this mistake from the early manga when adapting these early chapters, removing her ability to see spirits entirely.
7 Anime Add Characters Mod Soul
Supporting Characters Still Appear in Bleach Anime
The Bleach anime introduces, in a side arc, three additional Mod Soul characters who have major roles in the subplot: Ririn, Kurodo, and Noba. Their purpose is to act as Bounts detectors, a type of enemy created for the anime's first major side arc. However, After the side story ends, Ririn, Kurodo, and Noba remain at Urahara's shop.and continue to appear even in normative documents where they really have no place.
For example, Ririn, Kurodo, and Noba clash with Grand Fisher in the Arrancar arc, but ultimately back off and let Ichigo's father deliver the finishing blow as in the manga. They are often used for laughs, much like Kon, and their presence often annoys manga purists, who feel they are an unnecessary distraction.
6 Bleach Anime Censors a Lot of Injury Scenes
Anime Alleviates Serious Injuries
One of the most notable differences between the Bleach manga and anime is the level of censorship that occurs in the anime, especially around gruesome injuries. Characters who are covered in blood in the manga will only have a few patches of blood on them in the anime. Deep cuts will be shown as bruises or minor scratches, generally making the wound appear much less severe than in the manga.. This is clearly done for ratings purposes, to keep Bleach relevant to the shonen readership.
A prime example of this is in the fight with Ulquiorra, Uryu loses his entire hand in the manga, but only loses the ability to use it in the anime. Uryu gets better in both versions, but the brutality is greatly reduced in the anime.
5 Anime That Dragged On Some Battles
Some battles are expanded in the Anime
The anime takes advantage of the adaptation by expanding some scenes, both fight scenes and character interactions, though usually the fight scenes. This can stretch out what would otherwise be a fairly quick fight in the manga into an episode or more, and it's debatable how valuable the fight's expansion is to the story.. One way to do this is to add flashbacks to the filler content, such as in episode 124, which is canon to the manga, but includes flashbacks to the Bount filler from the Bleach anime to help emphasize Ichigo's growth.
In some cases, extending fight scenes can give more side characters a bit more screen time, but it can easily be argued that extending these scenes is just a waste of time and budget, which could be better used on the main content.
4 Anime with long side arcs
Bleach anime is almost half filler
The anime Bleach is famous for having an excessive amount of filler content. Out of the 366 episodes, 163 episodes are considered to have at least some filler content, if not all of it. Nearly half of Bleach's episodes are filler content, meaning that those who just want to experience what's in the manga will have a lot of content they'll either need to skip or struggle to watch through. until the story returns to the original manga.
This is largely a result of the anime catching up to the manga; instead of pausing the anime, filler content was created to sustain the show until there was more manga content to adapt, and this continued throughout Bleach's run. Bleach isn't the only series to suffer from this problem (it's also common in One Piece, Naruto, and Dragon Ball), but Bleach is arguably the series that suffers the most from filler content.
3 Manga Handles Character Traits Better
Manga's approach creates stronger characters
This is a difficult question to determine with specific examples, but Fans often argue that manga is better at building the personalities of heroes and villains than anime.. One would think that, as an adaptation, there wouldn't be too many differences, but small moments or lines of dialogue that are cut or replaced can have a big impact on how the characters appear to the reader/viewer.
One specific example often cited is the relationship between Ichigo and Orihime, which is generally agreed to be handled better in the manga. This can also be a result of the large amount of filler content in the anime, dragging on and delaying character development for too long.
2 Anime Extended Scenes with Famous Characters
Characters like in Squad 11 have more screen time.
As part of the Bleach anime's extra content and highlights, it often focuses on characters that are popular, either with the anime's production staff or with fans in general, putting them in the spotlight. Squad 11 characters like Ikakku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, as well as Squad 10 Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto tend to benefit the most from this.If anyone considers giving screen time to sideshows a good thing.
For those who like these characters, it's possible to watch some sideshows to spend more time with them, but at the end of the day, sideshows are still sideshows, and even when focusing on fan-favorite characters, they can't help but be relatively low-quality and irrelevant.
1 Anime focuses more on the world of the living
Forgotten Manga Characters That Still Live in Anime
As the Bleach manga's storyline progressed, less and less time was spent in the World of the Living, instead using locations like Soul Society and Hueco Mundo for major storylines. This means that many real-world characters, such as Ichigo's sister Kon and Ichigo's classmates, almost completely disappear from the story for long periods of time.. Anime often places smaller side stories in the Living World, using these often forgotten characters.
Again, it's debatable whether this is a good thing or not, and it may depend on how much people like these characters when they appear more. Some, like Tatsuki, feel like they're underused in the main story, so it's nice to see them in a side story, but others, like Don Kanonji, just feel like an absolute waste of time. The continued relevance of the Human characters is easily one of the The Biggest Difference Between Bleach Anime and Manga.
