Tite Kubo, the author and illustrator of the original Bleach manga, has shared some important updates regarding the new Thousand-Year Blood War anime season. The latest update follows the recent confirmation that TYBW Season 3 will air this October.
Kubo made these announcements in an exclusive podcast available through his official fan club. He was joined by Masakazu Morita, the Japanese voice actor of Ichigo Kurosaki, and Noriaki Sugiyama, the Japanese voice actor of Uryu Ishida. Social media users @/IchigoTaicho9 and @/solcito93 on X (formerly Twitter) translated the statements from the podcast. Kubo praised the animation team for capturing the “intense” and “expansive” emotions he wanted to convey through the series’ final storyline in the latest Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Conflict trailer.
Tite Kubo says the Thousand Year Blood War is not just “the end of Bleach”
Morita joined Kubo in praising the animation of the upcoming new season of Bleach and admiring how the concept of “Bankai” is no longer reserved for just the main characters. “Akio-san's [Japanese voice actor Akio Otsuka] For banks [Shunsui] Kyoraku is something else entirely,” Morita said. “That’s not fair! His Bankai is impressive.” Kubo revealed that the anime production team often shows him trailers before they are released, and although they are still in the works, he can comment on the concept and tone of the trailer. He also revealed that the final epic storyline of the series was planned long ago in the first Bleach story arc.
“The final arc is something I’ve been building and working on for a long time,” Kubo said. “When I wrote the first arcs of Bleach, I had a vision of a thousand-year bloody war in my head. I wanted to create something epic, something that could show the true scale of the conflict and the impact it would have on the characters. The stakes were higher than ever, and that made every decision and every battle more meaningful. So this arc is very important to me because it’s not just the end of Bleach. It’s also the culmination of everything the Bleach characters have been through. I put a lot of heart and soul into this work and this arc, and I wanted to make sure that the readers and viewers could feel that. It was a challenge, but it was really rewarding when I saw everything come together.”
“Expect Some Surprises”: Bleach Creator Will Develop Some Unexpected Characters
While the final conflict affects the entire Bleach universe, not every character has had their time to shine in the anime so far. According to Kubo, that will change in Bleach: TYBW Season 3. “I would say… pay attention to characters who haven’t gotten much attention before. Some of them will play very important roles in this arc. I want to give and add depth to some characters who may not have had much development in previous arcs, so please expect some surprises.”
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Season 3—The Conflict will premiere on October 5, 2024. The original anime series is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Hulu. However, new and previous seasons of Bleach: TYBW are only available on Hulu/Disney+.
Source: Klub Outside, X (formerly Twitter)
