‘Bleach’ Creator Reveals Why He’s Returning To Manga

The creator of Bleach may not be working on the fan-favorite series anymore, but Tite Kubo is busy anyways. After enjoying a nice break from manga, the artist made a return to Weekly Shonen Jump this year with a one-shot. Now, a new interview is breaking down the reason by Kubo’s return, and his motivation is a lot more depressing than you’d think.

Recently, an interview Kubo did with Shueisha went live in the a new Shonen Jump exhibit volume. Scans from the translated magazine have hit social media, and one of them houses a blurb from Kubo regarding his return to manga.

“I thought that I could finally take a break, but something was wrong. I went to the hospital, where it turned out I had a torn shoulder tendon and such, but I still felt like it was something different, and I just didn’t feel right,” the artist said, nodding to how his physical health took a hit from his work.

“I spent about a year of feeling like this without knowing the cause until I finally realized: ‘Oh, I feel lonely.’”

Continuing, Kubo said the end of Bleach took away a slew of his friends because its Soul Reapers were his constant companions. With them gone, the artist found himself lonely, and it was that realization that pushed him to tackle a new story for Shueisha.

“During the serialization [of Bleach], I’d always been thinking about dozens of characters. I’d been spending my days with all kinds of people inside my head. But one the serialization ended, I stopped thinking about them, and I didn’t know how to spend my time. Maybe I couldn’t settle down, or maybe I just anxious. But still, it wasn’t that my health was bad, but that I was lonely,” he said.

“Once I realized this, I wanted to draw manga again for the first time in a while.”

For his comeback, Kubo strayed away from his work with Soul Reapers for a different sort of fantasy. The artist published his one-shot Burn The Witch earlier this year, giving fans a look at his take on all things dragon and magic. However, towards the end, fans were teased with some Bleach tie-ins as the one-shot made reference to a western Soul Society and more. So, if audiences are lucky, Kubo might revive his iconic shonen series for a sequel down the line.

So, would you be interested in reading another Kubo title? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Bleach was first created by Tite Kubo for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump, running from 2001 to 2016. The series follows the young delinquent Ichigo Kurosaki, who has 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.