‘Bleach’ Manga Hits New Sales Milestone

As Bleach was considered one of the main pillars of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump, fans were highly dedicated to it during its original run. But there has definitely been a void left in their hearts after the series had ended its run.

But, despite being away for such a long time, the support for the manga is as strong as its ever been. In fact, the series just crossed a major sales milestone.

The official Twitter for the live-action Bleach film revealed that Tite Kubo’s Bleach officially has over 120 million copies in print across the world. The series originally launched as part of Weekly Shonen Jump in 2011, but officially came to an end in August 2016. Viz Media is currently released the English translations of the manga, with Volume 72 coming out later this March.

The live-action Bleach adaptation will release July 20 in Japan, and it stars Sota Fukushi as Ichigo Kurosaki and Hana Sugisaki as Rukia Kuchiki. The film will adapt the first arc of the series, the “Substitute Shinigami” arc. There’s little else known about the upcoming film, but series creator Tite Kubo shared his thoughts in an interview with TBS Japan.

He spoke about his excitement and confidence in the adaptation stating that, “”For the Japanese live-action version, I feel that we have come close to the original work…I am really looking forward to it.”

Fans have a lot of faith in the film given the subject material and how well anime adaptations have fared in recent years, but this film will surely be looked at with very critical eyes.

For those unfamiliar with Tite Kubo‘s Bleach, the series follows the young delinquent Ichigo Kurosaki, who had 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.

The manga was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump from 2001 to 2016, and was collected into 74 volumes. It has been adapted into English thanks to VIZ Media, and has sold over 900 million copies in Japan. The series was 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.

The English language broadcast premiered on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block in 2006, and you currently find the Japanese and English language versions now streaming on Hulu.