If you head over to social media, there is a good chance you will see Bleach trending. The anime just wrapped its second cour of Thousand-Year Blood War, but even still, the franchise has taken over social media. The chatter comes after the English dub of Bleach sparked a big debate online, and the controversy stems from a last-minute recasting.
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For those who aren’t familiar with the situation, let’s get you caught up. Over on X (Twitter), voice actress Anairis Quiñones had fans doing a double take after announcing she was no longer going to be the voice of Yoruichi. The rising anime actor was cast as Yoruichi by Studiopolis months ago, and fans were excited to see Quiñones tackle one of anime’s most famous women of color. But in a recent tweet, Quiñones shared the studio and the client chose to recast Yoruichi once again.
The update was certainly disheartening for fans as thousands upon thousands of fans sent love Quiñones’ way. The situation would have ended there, but debate began shortly after as netizens discovered troubling social media activity by Yoruichi’s original voice actress, Wendee Lee. As you can see above, the anime veteran was seen in Quiñones’ replies on X (Twitter), and you can be a judge of how Lee’s now-deleted responses reflect upon the ordeal.
As you can imagine, the Bleach fandom was thrust into the spotlight over this recasting situation, and the trending topic has now spread across other fandoms. After all, the anime fandom is a tight-knit place, and its growth over the past 10 years has made it more visible than ever. It is hardly surprising to see this sort of controversy go viral, and sadly, no good resolution can really come from it now.
What do you think about this Bleach debacle? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram.
