Despite having been released over 20 years ago,Bleachis one of the animes that managed to retain its popularity. This is evidenced by the franchise’s latest entry,Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, the sequel series to the original that still lures fans in to check out how the story of Ichigo Kurosaki (voiced byMasakazu Moritain the original Japanese andPower RangersalumJohnny Yong Boschin the English dub) will end. However, those fans have had to be patient with animation studio Pierrot, which took a decade to start adapting the final arc of the manga series into an anime. In a new documentary about the studio’s legacy,BleachproducerYoshihiro Tominagatalked about their rhythm and how they aim to make sure fans keep getting an excellent-quality product.
The documentary is part ofNHK World Japan’s series Anime Manga Explosion, a series that reveals the creative process behind world-famous anime and manga and tries to explainthe worldwide phenomenon. inThe Anime Studio: Pierrot, Tominaga explained that the studio’s subdivision Pierrot Films was created exclusively to produceBleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. And they excelled at it — theBleachsequel has been enormously praised for its animation quality. With the subdivision established, the producer admitted to the studio’s past shortcomings and that the idea now is to keep moving forward.
“To survive in animation nowadays, you must make high-quality series and be able to sell them globally. Pierrot was seen as not very skilled at that.”
Tominaga added that they are now fully committed to delivering anime projects that rival titles likeDemon SlayerandMy Hero Academia. Pierrot is also responsible for the massively popular anime seriesNaruto, and its sequel seriesBoruto,— and that, from now on there will be “no more excuses about time or money. This was our way of moving forward without looking back.”
Is ‘Bleach’ Getting a Reboot?
Along with the statement, the producer might have hinted that there’s moreBleachcoming our way. The fourth and last part of the new anime series, dubbed “The Calamity,” was alreadyteased back in December, so moreBleachcould mean a reboot. Despite its success, the originalBleachanime series was heavily criticized by fans due to its pacing and tendency todeliver filler episodes. A reboot could fix all of those problems, aside from matching the visuals of the rest of the series with the four-part finale.
Bleachis based on the immensely popularmanga seriescreated byTite Kubo. The manga is one of the best-selling in history, and the anime ran for 366 episodes spread across 16 seasons.Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warhad its three parts released in 2022, 2023, and 2024, which is why fans expect the last batch of episodes to debut later this year.
