The 31st issue of Weekly Shonen Jump has announced that Tite Kubo’s long-running manga series Bleach is approaching its ending. The magazine teased the number of chapters before the manga’s end, but purposefully obscured the number.
In case you’re unaware, Bleach is the story about a teenage boy named Ichigo Kurosaki who’s able to see spirits. He encounters the Soul Reaper Rukia Kuhiki and gains her powers by becoming a Soul Reaper himself. Ichigo later goes on a rescue mission with his friends Chad, Uryu and Orihime to the Soul Society to save Rukia from execution. Then later the team heads to Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime from the Ex-Soul Reaper Captain Aizen and his army of Arrancar‘s. Now Bleach regulars are getting ready for one last adventure.
The Final Arc
The current and final arc is the Thousand Year Blood War Arc detailing the battle between the Soul Reapers and a group of Quincies called the Wandenreich, led by the thousand-year-old demi-god Yhwach who’s the progenitor of the Quincies and the son of the Soul King, ruler of Soul Society.
Kubo launched Bleach in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2001, and Shueisha published the manga’s 72nd volume on May 2. Viz Media published the manga in North America digitally in English as new chapters are being published in Japan. The company is also publishing the manga in print, and it reached the 66th volume on March 1. The manga has also inspired an anime adaptation that ran for 366 episodes from 2004 to 2012 though currently there are no plans for the Final Arc being adapted. The manga has inspired four anime films, a series of novels, and video games. Additionally, a series of stage musical adaptations launched in 2005, with the latest entry debuting in July.
The 73rd volume of the manga supposedly revealed that the 74th will be the last volume, though this last arc could always run a little longer. Until we know for sure, keep on checking Fandom for more updates.
