‘Bleach’ Artist Shares First-Look At New Chapter

Are you ready for brand-new look at Bleach? Tite Kubo may have ended the series back in August 2016, but the franchise is coming back from the dead these days. Next month, the first live-action take on Bleach will hit theaters in Japan, and Kubo will release a new manga chapter to celebrate.

So, you can thank Masashi Kudo for giving fans an early peek at the one-shot over on Twitter.

Taking to social media, the anime’s character designer shows fans a glimpse at the new chapter’s cover. The artwork, which can be seen below, shows a large image of Ichigo with his Soul Reaper uniform on. With his Zanpakuto in hand, the cover calls this one-shot a “special comic” and has an inset photo of Ichigo’s live-action counterpart in the bottom-left corner.

Obviously, Kudo could not say too much about the hush-hush story, but the artist did tell fans a few things about the one-shot.

“It records a nostalgic story,” Kudo tweeted to one fan. “It is meant to help fans prepare for the movie.”

“It feels like a selective masterpiece I can review before watching the [live-action] movie.”

Last week, Shueisha also gave fans more information about the Bleach one-shot. The new manga installment will be published in Saikyou Jump‘s July issue. The extra comic will be comprised of three parts, and it appears to be a prequel of sorts.

“There will be 3 excerpts focusing and introducing the Shinigami appearing in the live-action movie. Furthermore, it will completely cover the latest information and other topics regarding the live-action movie,” the publisher announced.

So far, fans seem to think the comic will explain a bit more about Rukia’s life before she met Ichigo and siphoned her spiritual energy to him. By delving into the Soul Society’s pre-Bleach canon, fans are hoping to learn more about the Gotei 13, so this one-shot will be a must-read for fans.

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.

Are you excited for this special Bleach comeback? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!