Bleach is a very popular anime series made by Tite Kubo. This magnum opus of Kubo sensei is often counted in the Big Three anime series. Today we will be explaining the whole Bleach World timeline including all the canon movies. So, make sure to read until the end! Let’s begin with this article without any further delay!
The Prelude Of The Series
In this section, we will be looking into the events that took place before Ichigo became a Shinigami in the Bleach universe. The events that took place go back as far as 2,000 years in the history of Bleach. So, let’s take a look at the prelude of the series without any more delay!
2000-1000 Years Before The Main Storyline
Around 2,000 years ago Yamamoto founded the Shinigami academy and also took on the name Genryusai after fighting against his disciple Chojiro Sasakibe who after much effort finally managed to master his Bankai! Some 1,000 flew by, and Yamamoto went on to create the Gotei 13 with a band of killers. These captains of the Gotei 13 were protectors in name only and were vicious in reality. Yamamoto goes on to declare himself as the head captain.
After that Yamamoto and the Gotei 13 had a war with Yhwach and his army. Yamamoto manages to defeat Yhwach but fails to kill him. After the war finally subsides Yamamoto takes Shunsui Kyoraku and Jushiro Ukitake under his tutelage.
200-110 Years Before The Main Storyline
200 years before that of the current timeline nearly all of the Quincies were exterminated and both Shunsui and Ukitake became captains of their respective squads. 150 years prior in the year 1851 Rukia and Hisana died in the human world and were sent to the Soul Society. 111 years before that of the current timeline Gin Ichimaru enters the Shinigami Academy. 110 years prior Kirio Hikifune retired as a captain and went on to become a member of the Royal Guards.
Kisuke Urahara officially becomes the captain of squad 12. He asks Mayuri Kurotsuchi to be the Shinigami Research and Development Institute’s vice president. At the same time, Gin Ichimaru goes on to kill the third seat of the Fifth division and takes his position for himself. 101 years before that of the current timeline Rukongai residents started disappearing in a strange way leaving their clothes behind.
Kensei’s group got attacked along with Hiyori by several Hollows but was thankfully saved by Shinji. Kensei and Mashiro undergo Hollowfication. The rescue team sent by Yamamoto engaged in a bloody battle against these Hollowfied allies. Eventually, the entirety of the rescue team sent by Yamamoto succumbs to Hollowfication and turns against their friends.
Kisuke Urahara and Tessai arrive and witness this horrific sight. They realized that Aizen, Gin and Tosen were the ones behind this massacre and were traitors. Aizen and his gang reveal themselves to Kisuke and Tessai and after having a small talk with the both of them escape out of there. Urahara tries to reverse the Hollowfication but fails in this attempt of his.
Both the men were arrested and put on trial under a false charge of being traitors. Yoruichi arrives at the scene and saves both of them. The trio escapes the Soul Society and secretly starts taking several necessary steps to put a stop to Aizen’s plans.
20-6 Years Before The Main Storyline
20 years before that of the current timeline Sosuke Aizen and his team succeded in creating a Hollow based on a dead Shinigami’s soul after many failed attempts. Isshin Shiba receives a report on the mysterious deaths of the residents of Naruki City and heads out to find the cause. Isshin eventually finds out that the cause of these incidents is the hollow created by Aizen namely White. He fights White and with the help of Masaki Kurosaki defeats him.
After some time they both got married and Isshin studied some medical arts and started his own clinic. Both of them had three kids which were Ichigo Kurosaki, Karin Kurosaki, and Yuzu Kurosaki. After this incident the mail storyline began and we are going to what happens in it in the next section of this article!
The Main Storyline
In this section, we will be taking a look into the main storyline of the Bleach anime in detail. It begins when Ichigo Kurosaki gains his Soul Reaper powers from Rukia Kuchiki. So, without any more wait let’s begin!
1. Agent Of The Shinigami Arc – April 1 To August 8
Rukia Kuchiki who is a Shinigami or Soul Reaper arrives in Karakura town and meets Ichigo Kurosaki there by the twist of fate. Because Ichigo can see ghosts he was able to see Rukia as well who was in the Soul Reaper form at the time. Later a decently strong Hollow named Fishbone D attacks Kurosaki clinic and Rukia while protecting the clinic gets severely injured. Ichigo arrives at the scene and blames himself for not being strong enough to protect his family.
Rukia then states that her power can be transferred to Ichigo and he could perhaps slay this Hollow and save his family. Ichigo took this offer of hers and became a Shinigami gaining his own unique Zampakuto. He defeats the vicious Hollow and goes on to live his normal school life again. However, Rukia enrols into his school and tells him that he has to act as her substitute and would have to exterminate Hollows from Karakura town.
2. The Soul Society Arc – August 1 To August 13
Months pass by in the blink of an eye and Ichigo is accustomed to being a Substitute Soul Reaper/Shinigami. However, on July 19th Rukia gets abducted by her brother Byakuya Kuchiki and her friend Renji Abarai. Ichigo when found that Rukia secretly went somewhere went on to find her and faced both men head-on but couldn’t stand up to them. Rukia went to Soul Society and was put under arrest.
Ichigo prepares himself for a big battle and goes to the Soul Society with the help of Urahara Kisuke. He was accompanied by his friends Orihime Inoue, Yasutora Sado and Uryu Ishida. Ichigo and his friends after fighting a bunch of enemies were finally able to free Rukia from captivity. Ichigo along the way also learned the true name of his Zampakuto and learnt to use his Bankai which is named Tensa Zangetsu.
After successfully rescuing Rukia all of the outsiders from the human world became friends with the captains of Gotei 13 and spent some time there honing their skills. After some time excluding Rukia, everyone returns to the human world and their normal lives. The amount of action a viewer witnesses is nothing less than amazing. The character development and world-building are also one of the major reasons that make this arc great.
3. The Hueco Mundo Arc – October 31 To November 1
Aizen who was earlier the captain of the 5th division of the Gotei 13 betrayed everyone and went on to become a threat to Soul Society. He arrived at Hueco Mundo and dethroned the King of the Land of Hollows at that time thus claiming the throne for himself. He goes on to recruit new Espadas who are the strongest Hollows in Hueco Mundo. Aizen was preparing for the imminent war and on the other hand, Gotei 13 was also prepared for the worst.
Ichigo and the rest of his friends were enjoying their normal lives with Ichigo doing his job as a Substitute Shinigami. However, this peace will soon cease to exist! Ulquiorra who is a Espada was sent to the human world to capture Orihime. The Arrancer tells Orihime that she has no choice other than to go with him.
She asks him to give her some time. In that spare time, she visits Ichigo and secretly confesses her love in front of him when he is sleeping. After that, she goes to Hueco Mundo with Ulquiorra and Aizen plans to use her in order to reach his goals. Ichigo wanted to rush straight to her aid when he learnt the truth.
Later he goes to Hueco Mundo with his friends Ishida and Sado. After some tough fights with the likes of Grimmjow Jaquerjacks and such he finally meets Ulqiorra and asks him to release Orihime. After failing to convince him, Ichigo was fully prepared to draw the first blood. He fights Ulquiorra but is utterly defeated.
Ichigo bit the dust when Ulquiorra opened a large hole in his chest. When everything seemed over Ichigo’s ultimate fully Hollowfied form unveils. He takes care of previously overpowered Ulquiorra with rather ease in this new form of his. However, he has no will or control over his actions and just yields to his desires in this form.
As a result, he ended up hurting Ishida his own friend who was trying to stop him from doing an unjust or rather unnecessary thing. Eventually, he snapped back to his old self and watched as the defeated Espada slowly turned to dust!
4. The Battle Of The Karakura Arc – November 1 To December 2
In this arc, we saw the battle between the Aizen and his army vs The Gotei 13. Aizen after opening a Gargantua comes to the Karakura town. His goal is to open the gates to the Soul Palace. However, the Karakura Town he arrived at is a fake set up by the Gotei 13.
A long battle between the Arrancers and Squad Captains took place. The captains defeated all of the Espadas but were not in the shape to fight anymore. Then we got to see the iconic fight between the Head Captain Yamamoto Genryusai vs Aizen Sosuke. Aizen using his tact barely defeated Yamamoto.
After defeating everyone he then proceeds to go to the original Karakura town as it is a necessity in opening the gates to the Royal Palace. There he fights with Gin Ichimaru who was pretending to be his accomplice all these years. Gin waited for this specific moment his whole life. He succeded in whisking away the Hogokyu from Aizen.
However, soon after Aizen regenerated and killed Gin. With his dying breath, Gin saw Ichigo whose eyes packed much more power than ever before. Ichigo trained with his dad and was much more powerful than ever before. He goes on to single-handedly defeat Aizen in his strongest form.
Urahara then proceeds to seal Aizen as he is immortal thus he cannot be killed because of the power of the Hogokyu. Ichigo because of using his final technique of Mugestu loses all of his Shinigami powers and starts to live his life as he did before he got his powers from Rukia. Later on in the series he got his powers back because of the effort put in by every captain and Kisuke Urahara who was the one to suggest the idea.
5. Thousand Year Blood War Arc – June 10 To June 19
In this arc, we saw Soul Reapers fight against the Yhwach and his army of Sternritters. The Shinigami Research and Development Institute discovered the mass disappearance of Hollows. As they were investigating this incident some mysterious people in odd cloaks arrived at the 1st division’s barracks. They declared war against Shinigami and also killed Yamamoto’s disciple Chojuro in a very cruel manner.
The Shinigami began fighting these mysterious people when they heard the news. A large war in the Soul Society broke out suddenly. On the other hand, Ichigo and the gang were at the Hueco Mundo when they stumbled upon the news of the changed hierarchy and thus rushed to the aid of the Arrancers there. There they learned the events that took place in their absence.
Ichigo Kurosaki brawled it out with Quilge Opie who is one of the Sternritters and defeated him. However, with his last attack, Quilge entrapped Ichigo in the Gargantua and stopped him from reaching the Soul Society. Back to the Soul Society, the situation was horrible as many Squad Captains were defeated and also had their Bankai stolen by the Sternritters who were part of Yhwach’s army. In this first war, many died even the likes of Yamamoto Genryusai the Head Captain who was hailed as the strongest Shinigami in the Soul Society.
Ichigo when arrived at the horrible scenery was engulfed in rage and sorrow. He without a second’s thought went on to take Yhwach’s head but was defeated with almost no effort by Yhwach. He then goes on to train himself in the Royal Palace with Squad Zero who are the Soul King’s personal security. Rukia, Renji and Byakuya were also taken with Ichigo.
After each and every one of them were finished with training they departed for the Soul Society as soon as possible. Yhwach and his army of Sternritters already infiltrated Soul Society from the inside and had quite a bit of an advantage. However, Kisuke Urahara came in a clutch and saved the lives of many Squad Captains by giving them the pill to undergo the Hollowfication momentarily to get their stolen Bankai again to themselves. The Captains whose Bankai were stolen returned to them and many Sternritters met their demise at the hands of the same captains they mocked and looked down onto.
Eventually, Rukia and Renji would come to provide aid to the Shinigami. They fought and defeated some of the strongest Sternritters. Ichigo also came at the time when he was needed the most. He flashily entered the battleground and by himself handled a ton of strong Sternritters.
He noticed that Yhwach was up to something. So, he rushed to stop Yhwach in his tracks. But what he saw was ridiculously unbelievable to him as he saw Ishida who is his close friend standing beside Yhwach ready to depart to the Soul Palace. He tries to stop him but is unsuccessful.
Yhwach arrives at the Soul Palace and receives a very warm welcome from Squad Zero. Yhwach and his strongest Sternritters fight Squad Zero. They managed to defeat Squad Zero who were a big hurdle in their path. On the other hand, Yhwach fights Ichibei and is defeated at first but eventually prevails.
He then proceeds to kill his father who is the Soul King. Ichigo arrives at the Soul Palace and watches in disbelief what becomes of the mighty Squad Zero. After aiding Ichibei goes on to confront Yhwach. After a long series of fights, every other remaining Sterritter was defeated by the Strongest Captains of the Gotei 13.
Ichigo tries to defeat Yhwach. He goes on to use his True Bankai but Yhwach broke Zangetsu in half before he can even activate it. He does so by his Almighty technique through which he can look into all the possible future and can also alter it according to his will. Ichigo was facing despair itself when he confronted this technique of Yhwach.
He eventually, with the help of Aizen Sosuke defeats Yhwach and puts a stop to his plans. Along the way, the Soul King was also killed but that was taken care of. Everything returned to how it used to be. Several years passed by, now Ichigo and his friends are all working adults and are also married. Ichigo had a son with Orihime and lives his life in peace now.
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