IT'S OVER. The Bleach anime finished last night with the final episode of Thousand-Year Blood War: The Calamity, 22 years after it first aired in 2004. Ichigo, the Gotei 13, Yhwach, all of it, done! Spoilers for the finale go behind a warning, so newcomers stay safe. How did it hit you? Fight me if you think it wasn't the best ending of the year.
I watched it on Hulu with a blanket and I'm still not okay. Wait, so how did it make everyone else feel? Happy, sad, both?
Some context for the history books. The original series ran from 2004 to 2012 and stopped before the manga's final arc. Thousand-Year Blood War brought it back in October 2022 to adapt that arc, and Tite Kubo added original material along the way. Back in my day we waited on fansub tapes. Newcomers can stream the whole thing on Hulu and Disney+.
Finale spoiler: the episode is titled Death & Strawberry, the same name as chapter one of the manga, and it jumps ten years ahead. A clean bookend. Most studios would have rushed it. Pierrot didn't, and the delay to fix the quality shows. Grade: A-minus. Do not ask me what the minus is for.
Bright side for anyone feeling empty: Bleach: Mirrors High launches worldwide tomorrow, October 28, and Aizen is playable. Plus Brave Souls is still running. The Bleach fun isn't over!
If you finished the anime and want more, read the manga from volume 1. Kubo's paneling hits differently on the page. New readers welcome.
Okay, members, final ranking time: what's the best arc in all of Bleach, and what was your favorite moment from the finale? Soul Society Arc supremacy, disagree with me!
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