Bleach is a manga and anime series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. The series narrates the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki, a teenager who accidentally absorbs the powers of a shinigami - Japanese personification of the God of death - called Rukia Kuchiki.Once Ichigo obtains these abilities, he is forced to orient good souls after death and defend them from hollows, evil spirits trying to devour them.The work is based on a one-shot that Kubo had made for Shōnen Jump magazine after canceling the publication of his first manga, Zombie Powder. The pilot chapter was disseminated in Akamaru Jump, and subsequently the series was published in Shōnen Jump magazine.
The manga began to be published in August 2001 by the Shūeisha publishing house in the Japanese weekly magazine Shōnen Jump, until August 2016, and a total of seventy-four volumes were published in tankōbon format, after which the manga was adapted to a series of anime produced by the studio Pierrot. The anime was aired in Japan from October 5, 2004 until March 27, 2012, on the television network TV Tokyo, and reached a total of 366 episodes, divided into sixteen story arcs. In addition, Bleach has given rise to two original animations, four animated films, a live action movie, seven rock musicals, two light novels, four artbooks and numerous video games. As well as led to the commercialization of many types of merchandise related to the characters in the series. The Spanish versions of the manga are published by the Editores de Tebeos publishing house - formerly known as Ediciones Glénat - in Spain, by Grupo Editorial Vid and later, in 2015 by Panini Comics in Mexico, and by Editorial Ivrea in Argentina. the first two seasons of the anime premiered on Animax Latin America and the third season was premiered in Chile on November 2, 2015 on the ETC TV channel.
Both anime and Bleach manga have achieved great success inside and outside Japan. In 2005, the manga won the Shōgakukan award in the shōnen category, one of the most prestigious awards given annually in Japan. Subsequently, in a ranking published by TV Asahi about the one hundred most popular anime of 2006, Bleach reached the seventh position. In addition, in 2008 it was the fifth best-selling manga in Japan, while in 2009 it was the third to be surpassed by One Piece and Naruto, respectively.
