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The rumor mill is hard at work on behalf of Bleach and Sakamoto Days. According to sources, one is making its return as the other is ending. While nothing has been confirmed by Shueisha or Weekly Shonen Jump, there are reasons to believe that we could see the return of the Bleach manga and the end of the Sakamoto Days manga in the coming weeks.

These rumors seem to all stem from a post by Shonen Jump News on social media. The claim is that Bleach will be returning to Weekly Shonen Jump following the upcoming end of Sakamoto Days. Bleach would be back with the Hell Arc, which is a serialized take on the Hell Arc one-shot that was published several years ago. That arc takes place ten years after the original manga ended and follows the son of Ichigo and Orihime, who has inherited his father’s Soul Reaper powers.

The problem with these rumors is that they are simply that – rumors. Shonen Jump News is usually a fairly reliable source for leaks like this, so they may be right. However, there hasn’t been any official confirmation that Bleach is returning or that Sakamoto Days will end in the coming weeks.

Here is what we do know: the final season of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is airing later this year. August 2026 also marks ten years since the original Bleach manga ended. Both these things make a return this year sensible. Cash in on both the hype around the anime’s conclusion and the nostalgia for the original manga.

We also know that Sakamoto Days is ending… eventually. It was announced last year that the story was entering its Final Battle arc. However, that was 10 months ago, and the story continues to chug on. We know that Sakamoto Days is going to end, but we don’t know when. When it does end, it will leave a big hole in the Weekly Shonen Jump lineup, which would be perfect for a returning manga with a lot of nostalgia around it. A series like Bleach is a safe bet for the publisher.

So there are a lot of reasons why this feels possible. We wouldn’t be surprised if it did get confirmed in the coming weeks, potentially in an upcoming issue of Weekly Shonen Jump where the final chapter of Sakamoto Days is published. However, until we get official confirmation that Bleach is returning and Sakamoto Days is ending, we should treat all of this as rumor and speculation.

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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