Despite the anime of Bleach both ended up leaving us in the midst of history many years ago, it is undeniable that the franchise still remains a symbol of Japanese culture today. The manga, in fact, was one of the bulwarks of the golden age of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, when the work was released weekly together with Naruto and ONE PIECE.
Before being intimidated by the provocative title, we wanted to focus on what is a very hot and delicate point in the animation industry: that of remakes. The announcement of the return of a Bleach anime was at the center of several corridor rumors already several months before the entirely dedicated event last March. At the time, in fact, a debate had begun regarding the need for the television adaptation of the manga to go through a remake before facing a possible sequel.
The long first season, composed of 366 episodes, ended in 2012, just before the saga of the Millennial War began. Since then, 8 years have passed since the final episode and another one will probably pass before the release of season 2. The choice to go directly to the sequel will probably have been dictated by a series of needs, one above all uncertainty behind the franchise’s current popularity.
9 years, in fact, are not so few, and a substantial slice of the last generation has already gone beyond the epic of Tite Kubo. Already at the time of the manga, in fact, the volumes had gone through a long downward trend in terms of sales and popularity, decisions that forced the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump to cut the opera in the midst of events, leaving sensei little space to close too many doors ajar. Although a remake may seem the most appropriate decision to propose Bleach up to its natural conclusion (perhaps cutting the fillers and arranging the contents), a bit like Madhouse did with Hunter x Hunter, at the same time, the decision to restart Ichigo’s adventures from scratch could prove to be a counterproductive choice, despite the technical sector of the dated anime.
Bleach is not Dragon Ball and it does not have a remotely comparable popularity, for this reason it cannot be excluded that the new season may face a huge drop in interest during the production after an initial enthusiasm, especially since the readers who know the ending are now many. In conclusion, the choice of a sequel is the most obvious answer to try to flesh out the franchise, a process that has already started by calling up the name of Tite Kubo through the serialization and television adaptation of Burn the Witch.
Whether it will be a success or a flop is still to be seen, but we cannot deny being extremely curious to be able to admire the latest narrative arc of the manga in television, in the hope that it will go to put a piece on those narrative limits that the original work has never managed to overcome.
And you, on the other hand, what do you think of the return of the Bleach anime, would you have preferred a remake or are you happy with a second season? But above all, are you interested in the project or will you give the production only a few possibilities? Tell us your opinion about it, as usual, with a comment in the space provided below.
