Our Bleach watch order is here to help you navigate one of the most popular anime of all time. With over 400 episodes across more than 20 years based on Tite Kubo’s manga, there is a lot to wrap your head around. However, we’ll get you ready to watch all of Bleach in order faster than you can say “Bankai.”

How to watch Bleach in release order

• Season 1: The Substitute Soul Reaper
• Season 2: The Entry
• Season 3: The Rescue
• Season 4: The Bounty
• Season 5: The Assault
• Bleach The Movie: Memories of Nobody
• Season 5: The Assault
• Season 6: Arrancar The Appearance 
• Season 7: The Arrancar Part 1
• Season 8: The Arrancar Part 2
• Bleach: Diamond Dust Rebellion
• Season 8: The Arrancar Part 3
• Season 9: The New Captain
• Season 10: The Arrancar Part 4 (Episodes 1-9)
• Bleach: Fade To Black
• Season 10: The Arrancar Part 4 (Episodes 10-16)
• Season 11: Turn Back The Pendulum
• Season 12: The Arrancar Part 5 
• Season 13: Zanpakuto The Alternate Tale 
• Season 14: The Arrancar Part 6 (Episodes 1-34)
• Bleach: Hell Verse
• Season 14: The Arrancar Part 6 (Episodes 36-51)
• Season 15: Gotei 13 Invading Army 
• Season 16: The Lost Agent
• Thousand Year Blood War Part 1
• Thousand Year Blood War Part 2: The Separation
• Thousand Year Blood War Part 3: The Conflict
• Thousand Year Blood War Part 4: The Calamity

The easiest way to watch Bleach is the release order, which maintains the story's structure without forcing you to bounce between seasons or skip episodes. This is also the easiest way to watch the Bleach movies, which take place outside of continuity.

How to watch Bleach in chronological order

• Season 1: The Substitute Soul Reaper
• Season 2: The Entry
• Season 3: The Rescue
• Season 4: The Bounty
• Season 5: The Assault
• Season 6: Arrancar The Appearance
• Season 7: The Arrancar Part 2
• Season 8: The Arrancar Part 3
• Season 9: The New Captain
• Season 10: The Arrancar Part 4
• Season 11: Turn Back The Pendulum
• Season 12: The Arrancar Part 5
• Season 13: Zanpakuto The Alternate Tale
• Season 14: The Arrancar Part 6
• Season 15: Gotei 13 Invading Army
• Season 16: The Lost Agent
• Thousand Year Blood War Part 1
• Thousand Year Blood War Part 2: The Separation 
• Thousand Year Blood War Part 3: The Conflict 
• Thousand Year Blood War Part 4: The Calamity

The chronological order and the release order for the Bleach anime series are the same. However, because the plot of the Bleach movies are unrelated to the series plot, you can also watch them separately (or not at all), as listed above, and the show will still make sense.

The watch order for the anime movies is:

• Bleach The Movie: Memories of Nobody
• Bleach: Diamond Dust Rebellion
• Bleach: Fade To Black
• Bleach: Hell Verse

Which episodes of Bleach are filler?

• Bleach Episode 33
• Bleach Episode 50
• Bleach Episodes 64-108
• Bleach Episodes 128-137
• Bleach Episodes 147-149
• Bleach Episodes 168-189
• Bleach Episodes 204-205
• Bleach Episodes 213-214
• Bleach Episodes 228-266
• Bleach Episode 287
• Bleach Episodes 298-299
• Bleach Episodes 303-305
• Bleach Episodes 311-341
• Bleach Episode 355

Like many Shonen anime of its day, Bleach’s year-round production schedule means that the anime occasionally had to make filler episodes to keep from overtaking the source material. It is a problem that only One Piece has managed to overcome, resulting in entire arcs of the Bleach anime that don’t adapt the original manga and can be considered filler.

What is Bleach?

Bleach is a long-running anime based on the manga by Tite Kubo. The original manga was published from 2001 to 2016, while the anime aired from 2004 to 2012. It tells the story of a teenager named Ichigo Kurasaki, who can see ghosts. After meeting a Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki, Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper himself. As a Soul Reaper, Ichigo is responsible for fighting evil spirits known as Hollows and guiding spirits to the afterlife. As he comes into his powers, he meets others with similar spiritual abilities and becomes embroiled in incidents involving the realm known as The Soul Society.

What is Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War?

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is a continuation of the original Bleach anime that adapts the final story arc that didn't get animated before. Despite being one of the most popular anime and manga of all time, Bleach ran into some issues during its run. The anime continually outpaced the manga, which resulted in heavy filler. Then the manga had problems with Tite Kubo struggling to tie all the various plotlines and characters together in the final arc. The result was the anime ending several years before the manga did and the last arc not being adapted.

This changed in 2022, when Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War came and gave Ichigo and his friends the send off he deserves.

What genre is Bleach?

Bleach and its follow up The Thousand Year Blood War are supernatural action-adventure shonen anime series. The supernatural elements come from the ghosts and spirits featured, as well as the Soul Reapers, which is a unique take on the Grim Reaper. Meanwhile, the action adventure can be seen in the intense fights between Soul Reapers and spirits, Soul Reapers fighting each other, and humans with high spiritual powers.

Other upcoming Bleach projects

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is the only currently ongoing Bleach project. The final episodes of that anime will begin airing in October 2026. After that, it is likely that we won't get any new official Bleach content for many years. However, in June 2026, rumors started to swirl about new Bleach manga publishing in Weekly Shonen Jump. Though no official announcement has been made, the timing makes enough sense that we wouldn't be surprised if Bleach really made a return.

Do I need to read the Bleach manga before watching the Bleach anime?

The Bleach anime is an adaptation of the manga, though whether it is a faithful one is up to the viewer. There are some changes between the manga and the anime, especially in certain episodes of the sequel series, Thousand Year Blood War. However, it is not necessary to read the manga in order to enjoy and understand the story.

Do I need to watch the Bleach anime movies?

You don't need to watch the Bleach movies to understand the rest of the anime. The Bleach anime movies feature original stories that are not important to the overall plot of the series. They are side-stories rather than part of the main plot, so it's not necessary to watch the movies unless you are a big fan of Bleach.

Do I need to watch Bleach before The Thousand Year Blood War?

Since The Thousand Year Blood War adapts the final chapter of the manga and picks up where the previous series left off, it is recommended that you watch the other seasons of Bleach first. If you don't, you'll be confused about the plot and the characters.

Why isn’t Bleach on Crunchyroll?

The world of anime streaming rights is complicated, but fans overseas have grown accustomed to turning to Crunchyroll for their anime fix. This made it something of a shock when Bleach left the streaming service back in 2022. That was when The Thousand-Year Blood War anime was first released and aired on Hulu and Disney+. Either Crunchyroll opted not to pick up the new anime or they were simply outbid by Disney for the rights.

Where to watch the Bleach anime franchise

• Hulu
• Disney+
• Amazon Prime Video
• Vudu
• Google Play
• Apple TV

Currently, you are only able to stream Bleach on the above websites.

While Bleach and its sequel The Thousand Year Blood War are available to stream on Hulu, Disney+ only has The Thousand Year Blood War. In addition, streaming is the most cost effective way to watch Bleach, as there are over 300 episodes collected across twelve DVD and Blu-ray sets that are available on Amazon. Finally, the Bleach anime movies are available to purchase physically and digitally from Amazon and digitally from Vudu, Google Play, iTunes.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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