Both theBleachanime and manga are quite long, making it a significant time investment to engage with either one, so many fans have only experienced one or the other. However, while the anime is relatively loyal to the manga outside of filler arcs, there are still some major differences that are worth knowing about for fans who’ve only read or watched the story in one format.
Most of these differences have a relatively small impact on the overall story, but some can be more substantial, impacting later arcs in unexpected ways. Sometimes these are changes for the better, expanding on points that could use a little more time, while others are more detrimental changes that wind up wasting time rather than using it well. Still others are just changes that are consequences of being in a new medium, neither good nor bad. Here are 10 of the biggest differences betweenBleach’s anime and manga.
10The Anime Downplays Ichigo’s Father
Ichigo’s Father is Less Important in the Anime
Those who’ve experienced the full story ofBleachin either form know thatIchigo’s father, Isshin Kurosaki, is a relatively important character later on, and that’s true in both the anime and the manga. However,many of Isshin’s early scenes are cut or altered in the anime, making him seem as if he’s not going to be terribly important at first. This is likely because when the anime began, there was no indication that Isshin would come back to be as important as he is, and so his scenes seemed like they could be cut down most easily.
The differences often amount to just a few lines of dialog in any given episode, but it adds up to have Ichigo’s father appearing less frequently in general than he should, making it easier to forget about him entirely, especially as the story moves away from the World of the Living.
9The Manga Rarely Portrays Backgrounds
Manga Artwork Emphasizes Characters Over Setting
One unique aspect ofBleach’s manga that’s not reflected in the anime is the lack of background artwork.Manga artist Tite Kubo prefers to focus on characters to emphasize them as much as possible, leading to minimalist backgrounds which often look like little more than a white void. The anime generally fills in these backgrounds with what should logically be there, arguably changing the composition of the shot in the process.
Kubo believes that backgrounds “distract the reader from what’s going on inside the character.” This also explains why many locations tend to be relatively featureless, such as Hueco Mundo; there’s little detail to draw from in the first place, so its absence is excused.
8Yuzu Can Initially See Spirits in the Manga
Ichigo’s Youngest Sister Could Also See Spirits
Ichigo isn’t the only one in his familyable to see spirits. His younger sister Karin can see them as well in both the anime and the manga, but as for the youngest, Yuzu, there’s a difference.In the manga, Yuzu insists she can see spirits also, although she says she can only see them as unclear shapes. She’s even able to tell that there’s a particular ghost haunting Ichigo in the first chapter. In the anime, Yuzu says she can “sense” their presence, but can’t see them.
This is actually a consequence of retcon, where Yuzu’s ability to see spirits was changed later on in the manga, and the anime just corrected this mistake from the early manga when it adapted these first few chapters, removing her ability to see spirits entirely.
7The Anime Adds Mod Soul Characters
Filler Characters Stick Around in Bleach’s Anime
TheBleachanime introduces, in a filler arc,three additional Mod Soul characterswho have a major role to play in the filler: Ririn, Kurodo, and Noba. Their purpose is to act as detectors for the Bounts, a type of enemy created for the anime’s first major filler arc. However,after the filler arc comes to an end, Ririn, Kurodo, and Noba stick around at Urahara’s shop, and continue to appear even in canonical material where they really have no business being.
For example, Ririn, Kurodo and Noba clash with the Grand Fisher during the Arrancar arc, but ultimately step back and allow Ichigo’s father to deliver the final blow as he did in the manga. They were frequently used for comedic relief, like Kon, and their presence often annoyed manga purists, who felt they were an unnecessary distraction.
6Bleach’s Anime Massively Censors Injuries
The Anime Downplays Severe Injuries
One of the most noticeable differences between the manga and anime ofBleachis the amount of censorship which occurs in the anime, particularly surrounding gruesome wounds. Characters who were completely covered in blood in the manga will have just a few patches of it on them in the anime.Deep cuts will be rendered as bruises or minor abrasions, generally making it look as if the injuries are far less severe than they were in the manga. This is obviously done for rating purposes, in order to keepBleachappropriate for its shonen demographic.
One strong example of this is duringthe fight against Ulquiorra, in which Uryu loses his hand entirely in the manga, but merely loses use of it in the anime. Uryu does get better in both versions, but the brutality is far toned down in the anime.
5The Anime Lengthens Some Fights
Certain Fights are Expanded in the Anime
The anime takes advantage of being an adaptation by expanding upon some scenes, both fight scenes and character interaction, although more often the former.This can draw out fights that were relatively quick in the manga to lasting an episode or more, and it’s debatable how much value the expansion of the fight adds to the story. One way this is accomplished is by including flashbacks to filler content, such as in episode 124, which is canonical material to the manga, but includes flashbacks to the Bount filler arc of theBleachanime to help underline Ichigo’s growth.
In some cases, expanding the fight scenes can give more minor characters a little more time in the spotlight, but it can just easily be argued that these expanded scenes are merely wasting time and budget that would be better spent on canon material.
4The Anime Has Many Long Filler Arcs
Bleach’s Anime is Nearly Half Filler
TheBleachanime is notorious for the sheer quantity of filler which it consists of. Of the 366 episodes, 163 are considered to be at least partially made up of filler content, if not entirely filler.That’s nearly half of allBleachepisodes being filler, meaning that those who only want to experience what comes from the manga have a lot of content that they need to either skip over or slog throughuntil the story returns to manga canon.
This is largely a consequence of the anime catching up to the manga; instead of putting the anime on hiatus, filler content was created to keep the show going until there was more manga material to adapt, and that just kept happening throughoutBleach’s run.Bleachis hardly the only series with this problem (it’s endemic toOne Piece,Naruto, andDragon Ballas well), butBleacharguably suffered the most from filler.
3The Manga Handles Characterization Better
The Manga’s Approach Creates Stronger Characters
This is a difficult one to qualify with specific examples, butfans generally consider the manga to be better at establishing the characterization of its heroes and villains than the anime does. One would think that, as an adaptation, there wouldn’t be too much difference, but small moments or lines of dialog that get cut or replaced can have a big impact on how characters come across to the reader/viewer.
One specific example often pointed to isIchigo and Orihime’s relationship, which is generally agreed to be handled better in the manga. This may also be a consequence of the extensive amount of filler that the anime has, dragging out and delaying character growth for far too long.
2The Anime Expands Scenes with Popular Characters
As part of the extensive filler and padding that theBleachanime has, it often focuses on characters who are popular, either with the anime staff or with the fans in general, putting them in the spotlight.Squad 11 characters like Ikakku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, as wellSquad 10’s Captain Toshiro Hitsugayaand his lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto tend to benefit from this the most, if one considers getting screentime in filler to be a good thing.
For those who enjoy these characters, it may be worthwhile to watch some of the filler to spend a little more time with them, but ultimately, filler is filler, and even focusing on fan-favorite characters can’t really save it from being relatively low-quality and irrelevant.
1The Anime Focuses on the World of the Living More
Characters Forgotten in the Manga Remain in the Anime
AsBleach’s manga’s plot moves on, it spends increasingly little time in the World of the Living, favoring locations like the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo for massive story arcs.This means that a lot of characters in the real world, like Ichigo’s sisters, Kon, and Ichigo’s school friends pretty much drop out of the story entirely for huge periods of time. The anime often sets its smaller filler stories in the World of the Living, making use of these characters who are otherwise forgotten about.
Again, it’s debatable as to whether this is a good thing or not, and is likely to depend on how much one enjoyed these characters when they were around more prominently. Some, like Tatsuki, do feel like they’re underutilized in the main story, so it can be nice to see them in filler, but others, like Don Kanonji, just feel like an absolute waste of time. The continued relevance of Human characters is easily one of thebiggest differences between theBleachanime and manga.
Bleach
Bleach is a multimedia franchise created by Tite Kubo. The franchise started as a Japanese manga series. Ichigo Kurosaki is the main protagonist who is granted the powers of a being called the Soul Reaper. The success of the manga led to two anime TV shows, four feature-length animations, and several video games.
