‘Bleach’ Live-Action Film Kickstarts New Theatrical Run

Tite Kubo’s Bleach is still a hugely popular anime and manga series despite both iterations coming to a truncated end, and the series even launched its first live-action adaptation last year. The film went on to critical and commercial success, and the film is still making a name for itself in foreign markets. It’s even kick off a new theatrical run outside of Japan.

The official Twitter account for the film announced that Bleach‘s live-action movie will be launching a new theatrical run in China. Starting on April 19th, the film will be released on 15,000 screens across China.

Directed by Shinsuke Sato, the live-action Bleach stars Sota Fukushi as Ichigo Kurosaki, Hana Sugisaki as Rukia Kuchiki, MIYAVI as Byakuya Kuchiki, Ryou Yoshizawa, as Uryuu Ishida, Taichi Saotome as Renji Abarai, Erina Mano as Orihime Inoue, Tomo Koyanagi as Chad Yasutora, Yosuke Egochi as Isshin Kurosaki, Masami Nagasawa as Masaki Kurosaki, and Seiichi Tanabe as Keisuke Urahara. If you don’t live in China, you can currently find the film streaming on Netflix.

You can check out ComicBook.com’s spoiler-free review of the film here, and here’s an excerpt to get you started:

“Bleach does what many other adaptations failed to do and that is keep the original series’ core intact. Sato’s vision take its liberties, but Bleach manages to bring Ichigo to life in a real way all the same. The self-contained take may not replicate all of the Bleach’s blockbuster moments, but its carefully crafted story gives a template to future live-action adaptations. So, if you can deal with its few changes, then Bleach better be on your radar.”

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. It has been adapted into English thanks to VIZ Media, and has sold over 900 million copies in Japan. The series was later 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. You can currently find the series now streaming on Hulu.

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