'Bleach' Fan-Video Animates 'Thousand Year Blood War' Trailer

Bleach was once seen as one of the main action pillars of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump, but the [...]

Bleach was once seen as one of the main action pillars of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump, but the series didn't end quite graciously. This was most egregious with the anime series, which was never able to adapt the manga's final arc.

But some fans have taken it upon themselves to animate Bleach's Thousand-Year Blood War arc and have crafted a trailer that would make any fan wish it was the real deal.

YouTube group Animix recently shared their take on the final story arc, and the animation and production quality of this four minute "trailer" for the story arc is quite impressive.

The level of detail is doubly impressive as Animix included voice acting, a soundtrack, and many notable scenes from the manga that were never given an official anime adaptation. With as great as this fan video turns out to be, it further twists the knife into the heart of Bleach fans who will have to replay this trailer over and over in order to get their fix.

There is also a live-action Bleach adaptation releasing July 20 in Japan, which has just released its first trailer. The film stars Sota Fukushi as Ichigo Kurosaki and Hana Sugisaki as Rukia Kuchiki. The film will adapt the first arc of the series, the "Substitute Shinigami" arc. There's little else known about the upcoming film, but series creator Tite Kubo shared his thoughts in an interview with TBS Japan.

He spoke about his excitement and confidence in the adaptation stating that, ""For the Japanese live-action version, I feel that we have come close to the original work...I am really looking forward to it."

Fans have a lot of faith in the film given the subject material and how well anime adaptations have fared in recent years, but this film will surely be looked at with very critical eyes. But at least early fan reaction to the film is positive.

For those unfamiliar with Tite Kubo's Bleach, the series follows the young delinquent Ichigo Kurosaki, who had the ability to see spirits. He soon obtains the power of a Soul Reaper - one meant to usher lost souls to the afterlife - and now has the duty to defend the living world from monstrous dark spirits known as Hollows.

The manga was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 2001 to 2016, and was collected into 74 volumes. It has been adapted into English thanks to VIZ Media, and has sold over 900 million copies in Japan. The series was adapted into an anime by Studio Pierrot from 2004 to 2012, and has four feature-length animations, rock musicals, video games, and a ton of other merchandise.

The English language broadcast premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block in 2006, and you currently find the Japanese and English language versions now streaming on Hulu.

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