As Tom always says, "Hey, Toonami faithful."
Cartoon Network's Adult Swim's Saturday programming block, Toonami, made the announcement last night that the popular anime "Bleach," which has been airing in the U.S. since 2006, will air its final episode on the weekly (nearly) anime-exclusive lineup on Nov. 1 via Tom, the block's host.
"Bleach" all began with a young man named Ichigo Kurosaki, who, for some unexplained-at-the-time reason, has always been able to see dead souls. One night his family is attacked by a spectral beast, and he meets a shinigami (soul reaper) named Rukia. Through this fateful encounter with the female warrior from another dimension, Ichigo is hurled into the life a shinigami himself, thus changing his life, and subsequently the lives of his closest friends, forever.
"Bleach" was first aired on TV Tokyo in Japan on October 6, 2004, ending its long 16-season run on March 27, 2012 after 366 episodes. The anime also spawned two OVAs and four feature-length films.
"Bleach" aired in the U.S. on September 9, 2006 and continued to run until it was temporarily replaced by another popular anime known as "Death Note" so that Studiopolis, the studio that produces the English dub of the series, could have more time to dub more episodes. It has had more than one hiatus in its English airings for various reasons, and now, after eight years, "Bleach" will come to an end with the conclusion of the Fullbringer arc. Recent episodes can be viewed online here via Adult Swim's official website's video streaming service, featuring the epic battle between the captains and leiutenants of the Soul Society against the conniving organization of superpowered youths, Xcution.
The full series can be viewed on CrunchyRoll.
While the manga from which the anime is derived, created by Tite Kubo, features one additional story arc after the anime's final arc, the decision was made to end the anime, despite not bringing the final arc - the 1,000 Year War arc - to the small screen.
There are, however, rumors of a possible return of the anime following the conclusion of the manga in Japan sometime in 2015, the Examiner reported in late August. With the introduction of the manga's 1000 Year War arc - following the currently-airing Fullbringer arc - there was a great increase in demand from fans for anime-related news. It seems that news has now come to light.
Whether or not the rumored continuation of "Bleach" will be dubbed in English is completely unknown. Some anime have ended in Japanese without having their last season(s) dubbed in English.
At present, it may be too early to say for sure whether the continuation will happen or not, so the best "Bleach" fans can do for now is continue to support the franchise until manga's conclusion. Only then will things become more clear.
