Devoted fans have been anxiously awaitingBleach’sreturn for over a decade, but now that the countdown is drawing to an end, the apprehension is only intensifying. With only a few days left on the clock, the tension is building and many fans are still uncertain where to stream theThousand Year Blood War(andifit will even be available!) This Big Three member had a healthy run, from October 2004 to March 2012, before Tite Kobo halted the anime production but thankfully continued with the Manga.Bleach’spromotional team certainly knows how to build suspense, as they waited until virtually the last moment to give the fandom some insights about the latest season’s availability.
Whether or not the Substitute Shinigami’s story would be released outside of Japan also remained unconfirmed until the eleventh hour, as theBleach: Thousand Year Blood Warstreaming announcements were made less than two weeks before the main event. It’s tough to get excited about something if fans are unsure if they will even have access to the content, and since it can take up to two years for English viewers to get the opportunity to join in, their concern is warranted.
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Crunchyroll Cuts Ties
Crunchyrollwas considered by many to be the best choice for fans to continue enjoying Ichigo’s adventures, but suspicions began arising when the highly anticipatedThousand Year Blood Warwas inconspicuously absent fromtheir Fall 2022 release date reports.
On September 30, mere days away from theThousand-Year Blood War’sexpected release,Crunchyrollremoved all access toBleachepisodes from their site, withoutanywarning. Die-hard fans in the middle of rewatching their favorite moments and refreshing their memories, or newBleachadmirers who wanted to catch up on what they had missed, were suddenly abandoned without a single strand of strawberry-blonde hair in sight.
Streaming Options
RELATED:Fall 2022 Preview: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War
Amazon PrimeandDisney Pluswill also be joining in on the fun after outbidding the competition, withDisney Plusleading the pack with their substantially deep(er) pockets. In a surprising turn of events,Disneynow owns the rights to the entirety ofBleach’sarchives, which could very well mean that many expectant viewers will subsequently getleft out in the cold this Fall 2022 Season. With new episodes expected every Tuesday, the plan is to dish out some simulcast entertainment to keep everyone on the same page (and eliminate those messy leaks from the equation); however, whether or not that will be the case is debatable.
Neglecting the International Fandom
Disney Plusis known as the place where anime goes to die in what fans have appropriately nicknamed “Disney Jail” (and they aren’t exactly notorious for sharing either.) Prominent anime-focusedcontent creator, Jaymes Hanson,has reservations thatDisneywill offer simulcast viewing (which has allegedly been verified), what truly devastating news for die-hard fans! The theory is thatDisney Pluswill collect agood portion ofBleachepisodesbefore simultaneously dumping them all on viewers, completely eliminating the possibility of in-depth fandom discussions and analyses on a global level. What a way to kill the mood.
This series of unfortunate events has been eloquently summed up by@MIK25017165, who simply states:
“…. We lost”
And regrettably, they couldn’t be more accurate.
A Legendary Let Down
Being such an immensely popular anime undoubtedly raised the stakes inBleach’sbidding war, and so things have boiled down to financial gain having a greater impact than keeping the immense fandom happy. So it appears that if one does not reside in Japan or the US,staying up-to-date withBleachmay prove to be problematic. In this day and age, inclusivity is King and it is evident that the global interest in anime has increased significantly (particularly since COVID), so excluding entire nations from the party is not the smartest choice.Crunchyrollis one of the few services that shows no prejudice to its viewers and offers up its content to anyone who is interested, but sadly, this prominent forerunner in anime streaming has been excluded fromBleach’smonumentus event.
New episodes ofBleach: Thousand Year Blood Warare due to release on 10 or 02 June 2025 (depending on the time zone.)
Sources:Twitter/@BellaWink,Twitter/@JamesHanson, andYouTube/JaymesHanson
