A 20th anniversary PV for the Bleach anime has been released.
Clocking in at around 50 seconds (ignoring the end credits), the video presents various key moments from the series, redone using the character designs and visual style of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. These include Ichigo’s battles with Kenpachi, Byakuya, Ulquiorra, and Aizen. There’s also a montage that shows Ichigo’s various appearances throughout the series, starting from his initial, basic Soul Reaper look and ending with his post-Royal Palace training outfit.
Tomohisa Taguchi, the director of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War‘s first two cours and the chief director of the third (and also Akudama Drive and The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes’ director and scriptwriter et al.) directed the anniversary PV. Takumi Ichikawa (Gridman Universe assistant unit director) is credited with the planning, unit direction, and editing. The Pierrot Films brand is credited with the animation production.
The first Bleach TV anime aired from 2004 to 2012. The final arc of the manga, which depicts the invasion of Soul Society by Quincy king Yhwach and his Wandenreich army, was not adapted until Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, which premiered in October 2022. The new anime is being released via multiple split cours — Cour 2 (Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Separation) debuted in July 2023, and Cour 3 (Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Conflict) started airing on October 5 JST.
The Bleach manga ran from 2001 to 2016 in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump and was collected into 74 tankoubon volumes. A special one-shot was released in 2021. T
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Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Conflict staff (reprising role unless marked with asterisk)
• Chief director* [previously director] and series composer: Tomohisa Taguchi (Akudama Drive, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes director and scriptwriter)
• Director* [Previously co-chief episode director]: Hikaru Murata
• Series composer: Masaki Hiramatsu (The Garden of Sinners scriptwriter)
• Character designer: Masashi Kudo (Bleach)
• Color designer: Saori Goda (Akudama Drive)
• Art director: Yoshio Tanioka (Akudama Drive)
• Compositing director: Kazuhiro Yamada (Akudama Drive)
• Music composer: Shiro Sagisu (Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, Bleach)
• Animation production*: [Previously credited to PIERROT] PIERROT FILMS
Source: Aniplex YouTube channel
