Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Panel: Live Blog

The time has come. After years off the air, Bleach is back and ready to become better than ever. The show plans to return to television in 2022 with an all-new series, and it will adapt the Thousand-Year Blood War arc. After years and years, Bleach is returning to the Main Events stage at Anime Expo to tout its comeback with special announcements and surprises. So if you want to keep up to date with everything, ComicBook has you covered below!

Bleach’s Creator Talks About the Comeback

Bleach series creator Tite Kubo is now here with a video. He loves the key visual and is very happy about it. He began doing TYBW arc right when the anime was said to end. So he said the final arc with no boundaries as it might be too much for television. But now he is confident the show can do the arc right.

His favorite arc was the Invasion Army in the anime. And for TYBW, he wants fans to appreciate the art and color. It will be different from before. There was a lot of back and forth. There are a lot of characters and battles that never made it into the manga. He is very excited to see the first Captain fight Yhwach. It will be an unbelievable sight. Also, the Bambies will get a new fight. Kubo sent all these ideas over.

Kubo is very involved in every step of the animation here. This time he feels he is taking jobs from animators. He wants fans to enjoy this the most and will do the work. Kubo believes the staff have a deep understanding of Bleach.

Staff Updates Fans on Anime’s Progress

Ruff comments on how she feels about taking on this final arc by dancing. As for Woren, he says he is delighted and excited and ready.

Morita returns with more notes on cosplay. Director Taguchi has notes with the producer on TYBW. The two feel is nerve wracking but ask fans to look foward. They are a bit behind on the show because of its high quality but that tends to happen on good shows. They would rather take time to meet our high hopes as fans. The staff is very motivated to create an excellent show for fans. The pair want to deliver something great to fans and the poster is here done by Masashi Kido.

More Bleach Stars Open Up About the Comeback

Michelle Ruff and Dan Woren, Rukia and Byakuya respectively, are now on stage. Ruff is very hyped for the show to return because they get to finish the story finally. And for Woren, he says the whole thing is due to fans.

As for what they are excited for, Woren is ready to see Byakuya return and spend time with his sister again. He compliments the fans for being so astounding. And for Ruff, she feels like Rukia was getting on her feet. She is going into girl power warrior mode.

And their favorite thing about their roles? Woren loves that Byakuya is a soft spoken badass. Ruff thinks Rukia was cut from the same cloth. She is a badass and warrior. That is the funnest thing about playing her.

Bleach’s Voice Actors Speak About Return

Masakazu Morita, the voice of Ichigo, chimes in. He says it has been a long time. He is very hyped for the show and has a message to share. The original anime ran eight years and it ended while the manga carried on. But after ten long years, the show is back. Congrats! He promises the visuals of this series will blow fans away. The technology has come so far.

Johnny Yong Bosch appears on video to give an English Bankai. Has he mastered it? The Japanese star wants to know…! And he has!

Uryu Voice Actor Speaks About Return

Panel begins with the voice of Uryu, Noriaki Sugiyama, who says he is glad to be meeting fans again after all this time. After ten years, the series is returning and Noriaki js excited. The actor says his fellow actors said they wanted to finish the story even back then. But they were still surprised to be asked back and are grateful to return.

When asked about Uryu, the actor says he is serious and good hearted but has moments where he can be silly with Ichigo. Bleach is light bearted ans Uryu provides some humor at wild moments. But in this final arc, he has some very serious moments.

Noriaki goes over his favorite scenes from the anime. He loves one from the beginning of the anime when Uryu teams up with Ichigo. He really wanted the scene to sound funny there. Uryu gets some sexy moments but loves sewing which makes him funny inherently. As a final message, Noriaki is excited to speak with fans again.