The world of Bleach is flying to London this Fall -- courtesy of Crunchyroll.
The anime brand has announced that Tite Kubo's Burn the Witch, which is set in the world of the Shonen Jump series, will arrive exclusively on its streaming service this October. Taking in place in Reverse London, Burn the Witch follows two young witches working for Soul Society's Western Branch. Tatsuro Kawano (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress) will direct the anime.
A trailer and an official synopsis from Crunchyroll can be found below.
Historically 72% of all the deaths in London are related to dragons, fantastical beings invisible to the majority of the people.
While unknown to most, some people have been standing up to these dragons.
Only inhabitants of Reverse London who live in the hidden “reverse” side of London can see the dragons. Even then, only a selected few become qualified enough as witches or wizards to make direct contact with them.
The protagonists of the story are witch duo Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole. They are protection agents for Wing Bind (WB), an organization for dragon conservation and management. Their mission is to protect and manage the dragons within London on behalf of the people.
First published as a one-shot in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2018, it was announced in March that the Bleach spinoff story was to be expanded into a four-chapter miniseries, alongside the news that an anime adaptation was also in the works. Burn the Witch began serialization in the magazine this month. After publishing the first chapter in English in July, Viz Media began digitally simulpublishing the series on Sunday.
According to Anime News Network, the English-language version of the anime will differ from the version releasing theatrically in Japan on October 2. Rather than a feature-length adaptation, the site, quoting a statement released in Issue #38 of Weekly Shonen Jump, reported that the international release will be "an edited version where the content will be a little different from the version that will screen [in Japanese theaters]." Instead, the streamed version will be "reorganized" into three episodes.
The main Bleach anime series is also set to return next year to adapt the final arc of Kubo's manga, "The Thousand-Year Blood War," coinciding with the franchise's 20th anniversary.