Bleach is back for one last anime foray with the latest season of Thousand-Year Blood War, with the fight between Ichigo Kurosaki and Yhwach set to come to a close this year. While the final chapter of the Studio Pierrot anime is worthy of celebration, the supernatural shonen series has another big event to honor this year. 2026 will mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the manga’s arrival in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump, as the Tite Kubo property is preparing to honor the Soul Society in more ways than one for the remainder of this year.
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To help celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Bleach’s manga arrival, which is officially taking place later this week on August 7th, the shonen franchise has something big in the works. One of which is a new art book, “Bleach: JET,” which will include new drawings that highlight the origins of the Soul Reapers and their various villains throughout the series. In 2027, the anime adaptation will house a “Bleach Exhibition” in Japan, offering anime fans the opportunity to see some of the classic artwork from the franchise for the first time. On top of these upcoming events, Bleach is also set to release a sequel to the wild spin-off, Don’t Bleach My Fist, which is a light novel that re-imagines Tite Kubo’s universe as a high school drama without the supernatural aspects. It’s a great time to be a Bleach fan, even if the Blood War is coming to an end.
The Future of The Soul Society
Since the Thousand-Year Blood War kicked off its anime adaptation in 2022, Studio Pierrot has been bringing to life the final major storyline of the Bleach series. For many years, countless shonen fans believed we would never see Ichigo Kurosaki’s fight against the Sternritter animated, though the production house proved us wrong. With the first episodes of “The Calamity” hitting theaters earlier this year, they are currently airing weekly on Hulu, with only a handful left to witness the conclusion of this confrontation.
Despite the runaway success of the Blood War, nothing has been confirmed for Bleach’s future, whether in the manga and/or anime worlds. In 2021, creator Tite Kubo did release a new one-shot special via Bleach: No Breaths From Hell, which imagined Ichigo and his fellow Shinigami years into the future. While this chapter does end on quite the cliffhanger, the manga artist hasn’t teased that the supernatural shonen series will continue. Rumors have been running rampant that Kubo might be making a comeback, though nothing has been set in stone. Even if the Blood War is the final foray for Bleach’s anime history, it was a welcome addition to the franchise that many never thought would see the light of day.
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