The animated series "Bleach": the actors and the plot of the cult anime

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

People of different nationalities, genders and ages equally love Japanese animated films and anime series. This is already a separate culture, a world in which there are no borders. It will take several lifetimes to review all the anime. Bleach is a cult Japanese TV series that has gained popularity all over the planet. Some actors of the animated series "Bleach" (seiyu), engaged in the voice acting of the characters, became famous thanks to their participation in this project.

General information

The Bleach animated series is the standard of the shonen genre. Genre literally means "boy" in Japanese. Shounen is characterized by dynamic, exciting scenes in which there is a share of humor. The series was directed by Japanese director Noriyuki Abe with the support of Studio Pierrot. In Japan, the anime aired on television in October 2004. In Russia, television broadcasting began much later - in December 2010. The series has 366 episodes in 16 seasons. Bleachdesigned for the target audience, consisting of boys and young men aged 10 to 18.

History of Creation

The series "Bleach" is based on the manga of the same name, which was created by mangaka Tite Kubo. In an interview, he said that he got the idea for the story when he wanted to draw Rukia in a kimono. The comics went on sale in August 2001. Kubo wanted to complete the story in 5 years, but unexpectedly for him, there was a huge buzz around the manga. As a result, successful comics were published weekly in Shonen jump magazine for over 10 years. An anime adaptation began airing in 2004 on TV Tokyo. Since 2006, the series has been published in English. On Russian television, the anime "Bleach" appeared in 2010 on the 2x2 channel.

Not all episodes of the Bleach animated series have been officially translated into Russian. In Russia, only the first 9 seasons were shown. The rest of the series was translated by anime fans on their own. It is worth noting that many anime fans prefer to watch their favorite series in the original, without Russian voice acting, but with sub titles.

Actors (seiyuu) of the series

Seiyuu are actors who voice characters in anime. Among all the actors of the animated series "Bleach" should be highlighted:

• Masakazu Morita voiced the main character - Ichigo Kurosaki. Seiyu was born on October 21, 1972, and in 2007 he was awarded Best New Actor at the Seiyu Awards for his role in Bleach.
• Fumiko Orikasa is a Tokyo voice actor who voices Rukia Kuchiki. She was born on 27December 1974 and gained great popularity in Japan. She has many other famous roles to her credit.
• Suchiyama Noriaki voiced a close friend of the protagonist - Yasutora Sado (Chad).
• Matsuoka Yuuki is the voice actress for Orihime Inoue, Ichigo's classmate. For her work in the series, the seiyu won the Best Supporting Actress award in 2007.
• Morikawa Toshiyuki is a singer and seiyuu who voiced several roles at once: Isshin Kurosaki (father of the protagonist), Tsubaki and Kaname Tosen.

Other actors of the animated series "Bleach" (seiyuu):

• Noda Junko (Tatsuki Arisawa).
• Rie Kugimiya (Karin Kurosaki).
• Fukuyama Jun (Yumichika Ayasegawa).
• Nakajima Saki (Chizuru Honsho).
• Miki Shinichiro (Kisuke Urahara) and others

Series plot

In the center of the plot of the series "Bleach" is Ichigo Kurosaki - a fifteen-year-old schoolboy who lives with his father and younger sisters. When he was very young, his mother died. Ichigo leads a completely ordinary life at first glance: he goes to school, quarrels with his father, helps in the family clinic. But in fact, the guy is not so simple - he has long been able to see ghosts and communicate with them. One day, the character randomly acquires the power of the god of death (shinigami). Since then, his life has been filled with bright adventures, difficulties and dangers.

Bleach: Season 1

In the first season of the anime, the viewer gets to know the main characters. The events take place in modern Japan, but it is filled with many spirits and ghosts. RukiaKuchiki is a Shinigami who fights these monsters. While hunting for an evil spirit ("hollow"), she encountered Ichigo. Soon the spirit joined them, and Rukia entered into a fight with him, as a result of which her power went to Ichigo. For this, the girl was arrested and sentenced to death.

"Bleach" (animated series): Season 2

The main character, together with his friends, rushes to help Rukia in the Soul Society, but an obstacle in the form of evil spirits stands in their way. The execution of Rukia's sentence has been postponed by two weeks. Ichigo tries to protect her by fighting prison officers and captains.

Bleach Season 16

The boy is 17 years old and has entered high school. Beating one thief, Ichigo made himself an enemy in the face of a group of bandits. The hero then meets the Xcution organization, which offers to help him regain his Shinigami abilities. Ichigo agrees and starts training to get the skills he needs.

Manga Bleach

The manga, released in 2001, was successful, and the author had to come up with new storylines. Taito Kubo brought various elements from music, cinema, other languages and architecture into his story. For example, from the Spanish language appeared "empty". Although all the main characters are not associated with white, but with black, the mangaka decided that Black is a banal name for a manga. Therefore, the story came out under the name Bleach, which literally translates from English as “bleach”, and the white color always implies its own shadow - black. The last volume of the manga was released in 2016.

Adaptation of the series

• Card game. Two collectible card games were created based on the Bleach story: Bleach Soul Card Battle (2004) and Bleach TCG (2007). The first was sold in Japan, and the second in the US.
• Musical. The studio behind the Bleach anime later (in 2005) adapted the rock opera Rock Musical BLEACH with Nelke Planning. Almost all the main characters are present in the musical, except for Ishida Uryu. This is due to technical difficulties. The performances were led by composer Shoichi Tama, screenwriter Naoshi Okumura and director Takuya Himaritsu. 5 musicals have been created so far.
• Based on the series, several console games were released in Japan and the US. The most popular series of games belong to the fighting genre: Bleach DS, Bleach GC and Bleach: Blade Battlers.
• OVA are stand-alone episodes lasting approximately 25 minutes. This anime format is characterized by high image quality. Noriyuki Abe created 4 films. Separate scripts were written for the OVAs, which are not related to the main Bleach animated series. The voice actors of key characters were also involved in the new project.

Over the years of its release, the Bleach anime has become truly legendary. Incredible atmosphere of comedy and adventure so appealed to countless fans of this story that they only lacked anime and manga. Therefore, in 2018, the fan-anticipated feature film Bleach will be released, starring 24-year-old Sota Fukushi in the title role. Tite Kubo will help director Shinsuke Sato create this picture.