After five years, Tite Kubo will return with a special "Bleach" one-shot to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary. Though the story of Ichigo Kurosaki has been on the sideline for a long while, the Soul Reaper will make his triumphant return.
Weekly Shonen Jump announced the coming of the new "Bleach" one-shot in Japan, helmed by Kubo himself.
" 'Bleach' will be receiving a new special chapter of 73 pages to commemorate its 20th Anniversary in Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #36/37," the announcement reads.
As expected, fans are now excited to see what will be the new tale about Ichigo. However, aside from the announcement details, nothing is known about the upcoming special.
According to Comicbook, additional information about the one-shot is under lock and key. So far, this is not the only project Kubo has been working on.
After he returned to Shonen Jump to do the short manga, titled "Burn the Witch," it, too, had an anime adaptation last year. Kubo revealed there is more to come to this supernatural title after it started in 2018.
"Bleach" debuted in 2001" and became one of the most bestselling manga titles. After 15 years, its story officially ended, ScreenRant noted.
Just like other fan-favorite manga series, it, too, was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump. Created and illustrated by Kubo himself, it told the story of Ichigo, who became a Soul Reaper.
He led souls to the afterlife and fought evil spirits. The manga has 74 volumes with 686 chapters. Now that a one-shot special is announced, Chapter 687 may be now on its way.
Just like "Bleach," "Burn the Witch" has the same setting as Kubo's original manga. It takes place in the same world Ichigo has.
Aside from these two, there is no known project Kubo has been working on. In addition to the special manga, a new anime adaptation is about to come also in celebration of its 20th anniversary.
It will be about the series' final arc, the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, which was never produced before. However, just like the one-shot, details about this new anime are yet to be revealed.
Anyhow, with the series that has successfully achieved high sales in Japan and both Eastern and Western countries, it has proven its popularity worldwide. Though it has already ended, it still gains a number of new fans here and there.
Now that it will make a return, fans are hoping it will give justice to its new story after the disappointing finale.
The "Bleach" one-shot special will be part of the Weekly Shonen Jump #36/37 issue and will be released Aug. 10.
