His new-found powers allow him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife, and set him on journeys to various ghostly realms of existence.

Rukia is thereby trapped in an ordinary human body, and she must advise Ichigo as he balances the demands of his substitute Soul Reaper duties and attending high school.

Eventually, Rukia is arrested by her Soul Reaper superiors and sentenced to death for the illegal act of transferring her powers to a human.

When Ulquiorra, one of the Espada (Aizen's ten most powerful Arrancars) kidnaps Orihime, Ichigo and his allies enter Hueco Mundo to invade Las Noches.

Months later, preparing for life after high school, Ichigo is called back into action when Xcution, a group of Fullbringers—supernaturally aware humans like Chad, manipulate him and the others in a scheme to siphon his Fullbring abilities.

The group is led by Yhwach, the ancient progenitor of the Quincies, who seeks to kill the Soul King, and rid the world of death and fear.

Ten years later, Rukia becomes the new captain of the thirteenth company and has a daughter, an apprentice Soul Reaper named Ichika, with her childhood friend Renji Abarai.

While the captains are waiting in the Soul Society to perform the ritual, Ichigo joins the Lieutenants at Karakura Town to capture Hollows that will be used as a sacrifice.

[4][5] After that, the series was meant to be named "Black" due to the color of the Soul Reapers' clothes, but Kubo thought the title was too generic.

[6] The original story concept was submitted to Weekly Shōnen Jump shortly after the cancellation of Kubo's previous manga, Zombiepowder, but was at first rejected.

[3] Bleach was accepted for publication a short time later in 2001, and was initially intended to be a shorter series, with a maximum serialization length of five years.

[2] Kubo has cited influences for elements of Bleach ranging from other manga series to music, foreign language, architecture, and film.

[4] The action style and storytelling found in Bleach are inspired by cinema, though Kubo has not revealed any specific movie as being an influence for fight scenes.

When writing plotlines or having difficulties generating new material, Kubo begins by thinking of new characters, often en masse, and rereading previous volumes of Bleach.

[10] Bleach's plot incorporates the traditional Japanese belief of spirits coexisting with humans and their nature, good or evil, depends on the circumstances.

Academic Patrick Drazen says this is a reminder to the audience to not abandon the old ways or risk the spirits taking offense and causing problems in the world.

[19][20] Shueisha published the first 21 volumes compiled into six omnibus collections under the name Resurrected Souls, to celebrate the series' tenth anniversary.

[23] North American licensor Viz Media serialized the first chapters in the print magazine Shonen Jump from its November 2007 to April 2012 issues.

[33][34] A 73-page chapter, titled "New Breathes From Hell" (獄頤鳴鳴篇, Gokui Meimei-hen), was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the manga's debut in the magazine, on August 10, 2021.

[38] Bleach was adapted by studio Pierrot into an anime television series directed by Noriyuki Abe and broadcast for 366 episodes on TV Tokyo from October 2004 to March 2012.

[51] Tite Kubo and Makoto Matsubara have co-authored three novelizations of the Bleach series, which were published by Shueisha under its Jump J-Books imprint.

The musical was directed and written by Tsutsumi Yasuyuki with Dream5's Akira Takano and Chihiro Kai as Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki respectively.

In addition to character guides and articles on other fictional aspects of the series, it compiles the various short comics, Tedious Everyday Tales Colorful Bleach (徒然日常絵詞 カラフル ブリーチ, Tsuredure Nichijou Ekotoba Karafuru Buriichi), that were published in V Jump.

[126] Deb Aoki from About.com considered the series as the Best Continuing Shōnen Manga of 2007, along with Eyeshield 21, praising the "compelling stories, dazzling action sequences and great character development".

He also commented on the series' ability to handle multiple minor character plotlines at the same time, which he considered a point of appeal, in response to fans' claims about a "lack of a story" in Bleach.

[129] Leroy Douresseaux from Comic Book Bin agreed with Sparrow in the number of storylines, but also praised the fighting scenes finding them comparable to the ones of popular films.

He felt it was a rough start for the series with unimpressive battles, overused gags, and a bad introduction for central character Ichigo that causes him to come across "as a frowning punk" whose one good trait is his desire to protect.

[132] Jason Thompson said he was no longer able to take Bleach seriously after it introduced villains Ulquiorra and Yammy in a scene precisely mirroring Vegeta and Nappa's arrival in Dragon Ball Z, but acknowledged it was likely intended as a deliberate homage.

He also said Kubo was able to avoid the worst artistic failings typical in series which indulge in superpowered combat, but that the battle scenes were still sometimes difficult to follow.

[136][137] In November 2014, readers of Media Factory's Da Vinci magazine voted Bleach the 16th Weekly Shōnen Jump's greatest manga series of all time.