Mangaka Tite Kubo announced that he was scheduled to make an appearance during Bleach's Super Stage EX event at the upcoming Jump Festa 2023.Kubo's official Twitter account confirmed he was attending Bleach's Super Stage as a panelist, alongside the Japanese voice actors from the manga series' beloved anime adaptation. The mangaka additionally announced the official time slot for the event. Bleach's Super Stage EX is set to premiere on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. JST in the Makuhari Messe convention center. Fans of the series who are interested but cannot attend in person may also watch the event through its scheduled live stream via Jump Festa's official website, mobile application or YouTube channel.
Bleach's Super Stage EX event will be hosted by veteran Japanese voice actor and announcer Chiaki Matsuzawa. Kubo will additionally be joined by several actors from the anime's Japanese dub, which will include Bleach's leading duo Masakazu Morita, the voice of Ichigo Kurosaki, and Fumiko Orikasa, the voice of Rukia Kuchiki. The panel will also feature actors Noriaki Sugiyama, Ryotaro Okiayu and Kentaro Ito, who provided the voicework for Uryu Ishida, Byakuya Kuchiki and Renji Abarai, respectively.
The Bleach manga series began serialization under Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 2001 and concluded in 2016, ending its 15-year-long run with a total of 74 compiled volumes. An anime adaptation produced by Studio Pierrot aired from October 2004 to March 2012, with the show running for 366 episodes before it entered a decade-long hiatus. Bleach's anime adaptation returned to the spotlight with the Oct. 10 premiere of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, which promised to finally adapt the last story arc of the beloved source material.
The latest Bleach popularity poll conducted by publishing company VIZ Media revealed series protagonist Ichigo was only the second-most popular character of the franchise, with the Substitute Soul Reaper placing just below Rukia, who sat at the top of the overall list. The poll additionally reported Urahara Kisuke, Kenpachi Zaraki and Sosuke Aizen comprised the latter half of Bleach's five most popular characters.
Bleach is available in English on VIZ Media. The latest season of the anime adaptation, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, is exclusively available to stream on Hulu in the United States; international viewers may also stream Thousand-Year Blood War on Netflix and Disney+.
Source: Twitter