Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (BLEACH 千年血戦篇, Burīchi: Sennen Kessen-hen), also known as Bleach: The Blood Warfare, is a Japanese anime television series based on Tite Kubo's manga series Bleach and a direct sequel to the original Bleach anime series. In March 2020, Weekly Shōnen Jump and "Bleach 20th Anniversary Project & Tite Kubo New Project Presentation" livestream announced that the manga's final story arc, the "Thousand-Year Blood War", would receive an anime project. In November 2020, it was confirmed that the anime project would be a television series adapting the entirety of the arc. The trailer and visual for the series were revealed at the Jump Festa in December 2021.
The anime series is directed by Tomohisa Taguchi and Hikaru Murata, with series composition by the former listed director and Masaki Hiramatsu. Unlike the original anime series, which was produced during the manga's ongoing publication, series author Tite Kubo now serves as general supervisor for the animated sequel adaptation. It premiered on TV Tokyo and its TXN affiliates on October 11, 2022. The series will run for four cours with off-season breaks in between. The first cours, subtitled The Blood Warfare, consists of 13 episodes and ended on December 27 of that same year. The second cours, subtitled The Separation (訣別譚, Ketsubetsu-tan), also consists of 13 episodes and was broadcast from July 8 to September 30, 2023. The third cours, subtitled The Conflict (相剋譚, Sōkoku-tan), consisting of 14 episodes, aired from October 5 to December 28, 2024. The fourth and final cours, subtitled The Calamity (禍進譚, Kashin-tan), consisting of 10 episodes, premiered on July 25, 2026.
For The Blood Warfare cours, the opening theme song is "Scar" (スカー, Sukā), performed by Tatsuya Kitani, while the ending theme song is "Saihate" (最果て; lit. 'The Farthest Reaches'), performed by SennaRin; in addition, Kitani also performed the special ending theme song for the first episode, "Rapport", which was previously used as the theme song for the series' 20th anniversary exhibition, Bleach EX. For The Separation cours, the opening theme song is "Stars", performed by w.o.d., while the ending theme song is "Endroll", performed by Yoh Kamiyama. For The Conflict cours, the opening theme song is "Kotoba ni Sezu Tomo" (言葉にせずとも; lit. 'Even Without Saying a Word'), performed by Six Lounge, while the ending theme song is "Monochrome", performed by Suisoh. For The Calamity cours, the opening theme song is "I-Bull", performed by Jo0ji, while the ending theme song is "Rasen" (螺旋; lit. 'Spiral'), performed by 9Lana.
In October 2022, Viz Media announced that the series would stream on Hulu in the United States and Disney+ internationally outside of Asia. The English dub of the series began streaming on Hulu in November of the same year. In April 2025, it was announced that the English dub would make its broadcast television premiere on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block beginning on May 18, 2025. The first three episodes of The Calamity were screened in US theaters, in Japanese with English subtitles and with the English dub, from June 25–29, 2026, ahead of its July premiere. The episodes were screened alongside an exclusive behind-the-scenes conversation with manga author Tite Kubo, chief series director Tomohisa Taguchi, and series director Hikaru Murata. In Australia, the first three episodes of The Calamity were screened at theaters through Sugoi Co at a special premiere event on June 22, 2026, prior to a nationwide theatrical release on June 25.
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Production
In March 2020, as part of the Bleach 20th Anniversary Project, it was announced that the remainder of Tite Kubo's Bleach manga, beginning with the "Thousand-Year Blood War" arc, would receive an anime adaptation. The first teaser trailer and key visual were unveiled at Jump Festa in December 2021, alongside the principal staff. Tomohisa Taguchi was appointed director and series composer, with Masashi Kudo returning as character designer, Shirō Sagisu returning to compose the music, and Studio Pierrot producing the animation. Kubo is credited on the series as the creator of the original work and general supervisor.
Series composition writer Masaki Hiramatsu described adapting the manga as a form of "translation", noting that the pacing of a weekly manga differs from that of a television episode. Major changes and material not depicted in the manga were discussed with Tite Kubo, who supervised revised and original scenes and could request changes of his own. Hiramatsu cited the sixth episode's meeting between Sōsuke Aizen and Yhwach as an example, with Kubo substantially rewriting the dialogue for the expanded anime scene.
The amount of anime-original material increased as production continued. For the second cours, the staff stated that original scenes were first proposed by the animation team and then submitted to Kubo, who sometimes returned rough manga-style storyboards to clarify his ideas. The additions ranged from extra dialogue and explanatory material to scenes not depicted in the manga. Kubo said that, for an original battle in the second cours that he had been unable to depict in the manga, he supplied the production staff with approximately five or six pages of illustrations showing the characters' movements, transitions and fighting sequence. By production of the second cours, Kubo was also attending most recording sessions in person and provided direction or clarification to the voice cast when necessary.
For the third cours, The Conflict, Taguchi became chief series director while Hikaru Murata became series director, with animation production credited to Pierrot Films. Taguchi supervised the overall scripts and storyboards, while Murata oversaw individual episode direction and production meetings. Taguchi stated that the staff's working relationship with Kubo had become closer over the first two cours, making it easier to consult him about newly created scenes. Murata said that The Conflict contained more anime-original material than the preceding cours, with the additional material produced under Kubo's supervision and designed to connect back into the manga's storyline. Taguchi and Murata retained their respective positions for the fourth and final cours, The Calamity, with Pierrot Films continuing as the animation studio.