Bleach (manga)

Bleach (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. It follows teenager Ichigo Kurosaki, who obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper—a death personification similar to a Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. He uses his newfound powers to defend humans from evil spirits called Hollows and guide departed souls to the afterlife, which sets him on journeys to various ghostly realms. Bleach was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from August 2001 to August 2016, with its chapters collected in 74 tankōbon volumes. The series has spawned a media franchise that includes an anime television series adaptation produced by Pierrot from 2004 to 2012, two original video animations (OVAs), four animated feature films, ten stage musicals, and numerous video games, as well as various types of merchandise. A Japanese live-action film adaptation produced by Warner Bros. premiered in 2018. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, a sequel to the anime television series that adapts the manga's final story arc, premiered in 2022. In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by Viz Media in 2004. It has released the collected volumes and published its chapters in its Shonen Jump magazine from November 2007 until the magazine's final issue in April 2012. Bleach received the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category in 2005. The manga had over 130 million copies in circulation worldwide by 2022, making it one of the best-selling manga in history.