Bleach

## Bleach *Bleach* by Tite Kubo ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 2001 to 2016, selling over 130 million copies and becoming one of the pillars of the "Big Three" shounen era alongside Naruto and One Piece. Known for its striking visual style, bold character designs, and inventive sword-based power system, Bleach left a lasting mark on the genre and experienced a significant revival with the acclaimed *Thousand-Year Blood War* anime adaptation beginning in 2022. Ichigo Kurosaki is an ordinary high school student who has always been able to see ghosts — a strange ability he accepts as normal. When his family is attacked by a Hollow (a corrupted spirit), Ichigo accidentally absorbs the power of Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki, gaining the ability to fight and purify these monstrous entities. Forced into the role of a substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo is drawn into the conflict between the Soul Society — a vast afterlife bureaucracy — and the forces that threaten it. The manga unfolds across several major arcs, each centered on a large ensemble of elaborately designed characters with distinct visual flair and unique abilities. Tite Kubo's greatest strength was his sense of aesthetic — his characters became iconic figures, his sword releases (*Zanpakutō* abilities) became beloved for their creativity, and his compositions gave the series a visual identity unlike anything else in its genre. The final arc, the *Thousand-Year Blood War*, was the densest and most ambitious, concluding the series's central conflict in 2016.