BLEACH ENDS: Anime Juggernaut Bows After 22-Year Run...

The anime adaptation of Bleach reaches its finale later this week, marking the end of a saga that began in 2004 but stalled for a decade. The original manga concluded in 2016 with an ending widely dismissed as rushed and disappointing, but creator Tite Kubo has overseen significant changes for this new animated version of the climactic Thousand-Year Blood War arc, giving fans hope for a more satisfying conclusion. For longtime viewers—some of whom discovered the series as children and built friendships around it—the finale carries emotional weight as a defining story of their adolescence.