Netflix Is Losing The Best Live-Action Anime, Watch Before It’s Gone
Anime live-action adaptations can be very hit or miss (almost overwhelmingly miss), but every now and then, there’s a decent adaptation that comes along. The 2018 live-action Bleach film is one of those, and it’s going to be leaving Netflix soon if you’re interested in checking it out. The last day to watch it on the streamer will be August 19, so plan accordingly.
The Bleach live-action film is based on the Tite Kubo manga and subsequent anime adaptation of the same name. It follows Ichigo Kurosaki, who becomes a substitute Soul Reaper after the Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki is wounded in battle. Soul Reapers are tasked with purifying departed souls and sending them to Soul Society, especially the ones who became monstrous beings known as Hollows.
2018’s live-action adaptation of the beloved anime Bleach leaves Netflix on August 19.
The live-action Bleach adaptation largely adapts the first arc of the anime and does a fairly decent job of it. Unlike most anime live-action films, it doesn’t try to take too many liberties with the source material, and Tite Kubo himself was involved in the film’s production to ensure its faithfulness. The film received decent reviews, with the action being a fairly solid representation of how anime action might make the jump to live-action.
Is the Live-Action Bleach Better Than the Anime?
Is the Bleach live-action movie better than the anime or manga? Absolutely not, but it’s still fun to check out and is a great way to revisit the source material in a different medium. The cast is solid, too, with Sota Fukushi, Hana Sugisaki, Ryo Yoshizawa, Erina Mano, Yu Koyanagi, Seiichi Tanabe, Taichi Saotome, Miyavi, Masami Nagasawa, and Yosuke Eguchi all bringing their characters to live-action faithfully.
Fans of the Bleach anime’s English dub will also be happy to know that Johnny Yong Bosch reprises his role as Ichigo for the voice dub of this movie.
The only bad news about watching the live-action Bleach on Netflix is that you’ll have to go to a different streaming service if you want to watch more of the franchise. The anime isn’t available on Netflix, but you can stream it in its entirely on Hulu. There’s a lot more to watch, with hundreds of episodes adapting the majority of Tite Kubo’s manga.
Now is a great time to get into Bleach because the series was just recently brought back after the anime ended in 2012. While the anime ended with one of the biggest arcs in the series, Tite Kubo’s final arc in the manga titled “Thousand-Year Blood War,” wasn’t adapted. However, that changed when the anime was brought back in 2022 to finally adapt Kubo’s final manga arc.
Unlike most anime live-action films, it doesn’t try to take too many liberties with the source material, and Tite Kubo himself was involved in the film’s production to ensure its faithfulness.
Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is currently releasing new episodes on Hulu, with four cours being released for the anime in total. The first cour, The Thousand-Year Blood War, ran for 13 episodes and ended in December 2022. The second cour, The Separation, is currently airing new episodes, with the next episode set to hit the streamer on July 29.
In total, there are 366 episodes of the original Bleach anime, and there are 16 episodes of Thousand-Year Blood War to watch, so there is plenty to see if you enjoy the movie. Overall, the movie should be a good enough primer to get you through the initial arc if you prefer to condense your episode-watching, but it might be better to just watch the anime if it’s your first time. While the live-action adaptation is respectable enough, the anime is always going to be the better option.
Netflix and Anime
While video-game adaptations have made a lot of headway in recent years, there still hasn’t really been a legitimately incredible anime live-action adaptation. While Netflix didn’t make the Bleach live-action adaptation, it has been trying its hand at live-action anime series. The first major attempt it made was the Death Note film adaptation, which was met with a muted reception, if not outright derision.
Netflix then made the loft, almost foolhardy, attempt at adapting the classic and beloved Cowboy Bepop to live-action. That series failed hard and was quickly canceled before another season could get underway. Netflix’s next big crack at live-action adaptation will be a live-action series of Bleach‘s fellow Big Three anime, One Piece.
While there is certainly hope that One Piece can buck the trend, the most fans are giving it right now is cautious optimism. We’ll just have to wait and see if live-action anime can truly succeed. Until then, make sure to check out Bleach before it leaves Netflix for good.
