The anticipation for the upcoming Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is swelling as various developments concerning the continuation and climactic conclusion of Tite Kubo's classic Shonen manga. This week saw the official reveal of the profiles of the various characters who will be making up the cast of the series set to make its return in October.
The update came in the form of a tweet from the Bleach anime official Twitter page, which also shared the link to the series website where the profiles can be found. With less than two months before October, various cast and staff members have been revealed, as well as several key visuals and trailers to build hype for the returning Shonen Jump giant.
The appearance of the character profiles on the official Bleach website is evidence that the anime character designs of the various Shinigami, as well as those of some of the Sternritter officers that make up the brunt of the Quincy threat, have been completed. Based on the trailers previously released to build hype for the series' return, Studio Pierrot and series character designer Masashi Kudo have pulled out all the stops to ensure that this final arc shows off one of the Bleach series' best qualities: the art. With author Tite Kubo more deeply involved in the production of this final arc than ever before, fans are waiting with bated breath for the complete official release date, down to the very day.
The profiles found on the official website separate the cast according to their faction, with the main characters, Ichigo, Uryu, Orihime, Chad, and Kisuke Urahara listed together, followed by the various significant members of Soul Society, and finally, the members of the Quincy faction – the Vandenreich.
Interestingly, the full list of all 26 Sternritters is not presented, with series antagonist Yhwach being followed by Quincies like his loyal right-hand Jugram Haschwalth, the hotheaded Bazz-B, the terrifying Äs Nödt among a few others. With the series' confirmed release date still fairly vague, it could be that more character designs will be released to the official site as we approach October.
When one clicks on the various character panels, an expanded view of the selected character can be seen, with a better view of the character's full body as well as three facial expressions. The information also includes the character's voice actor, and minor information about them in the form of the character's height and birthday.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War will be the adaptation of volumes 55-74 of the original manga, which was originally serialized from August 2001 to August 2016. The series spawned several media, including the original anime which ran for 366 episodes in the period from October 2004 to March 2012, four animated movies, a live-action movie, novels as well as the BLEACH: Brave Souls mobile game, from which various voice actors who are yet to appear in the anime will reprise their roles.
Source: BLEACH Official Website