Bleach Creator Tite Kubo Reveals the Biggest Goal Shonen Jump Gave Him
The creator of the Soul Society recalls his early days in creating Bleach in Weekly Shonen Jump.
This fall, the Soul Society is set to face down the Sternritter once again as Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 will return to the small screen. Arriving this October specifically, Studio Pierrot is once again calling on the advice and input of the franchise's creator Tite Kubo for the anime adaptation. As anime fans witnessed in parts two and three, Kubo was more than willing to forge new scenes and battles that weren't a part of the original source material. In a new interview, Tite discusses his earlier days at Weekly Shonen Jump and what proved to be most difficult when it came to creating Ichigo Kurosaki's story.
In the recent interview, Kubo commented on the rigorous schedule required in forging a successful manga in Weekly Shonen Jump's pages, "The most challenging part was definitely the schedule during the first serialization meeting. When they decided to serialize, there's this meeting called the serialization meeting. I had to send my work from my family home in Hiroshima. So, I sent it, and once they reviewed it, I got the confirmation that it was accepted. But I wasn't fully ready yet. The work wasn't complete, and I didn't have Bleach set up properly at that time."
Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict
- Viz Media / Shueisha)The Harsher Side of Shonen Jump
Kubo then recalled a previous conversation with Shonen Jump's editor-in-chief and how making manga can be a tough business, "I remember writing something for the serialization meeting, and the then-editor-in-chief didn't like it. He said, "This won't do. Bring him in!" Looking back now, it's amazing that the editor took the time to call in a rookie like me. But when I got called in, he told me, "This isn't good enough. I want you to create a work that represents Jump!" I was scolded and ended up sulking and not writing for a while. I was still young and inexperienced, and it took about a year for me to get back to it. During that time, my editor said that the serialization meeting required three episodes. I had to write the first three episodes and present them, but he told me just to show them one episode to let them know I was still working."
Want to follow along with all the latest developments on the Blood War? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook for all the latest on the Soul Society.
