After nearly eight years off the air, Bleach’s anime is finally coming back to finish the series. According to reports from A.I.R. (Anime Intelligence and Research) on Twitter, the anime is returning to celebrate its 20-year anniversary.
According to the report from A.I.R., which appears to be from a translation of an early copy of Shonen Jump’s latest issue, the new season of the anime will be adapting the manga’s Thousand-Year Blood War story arc. This was the final story arc in the original Bleach manga but was never adapted for the anime, which ended in 2012. The original Bleach manga began in 2001, which makes a 2021 debut for the new anime adaptation seem likely. The Thousand-Year Blood War arc brought the manga to a close in 2016.