Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has dropped a major update about its final season, but fans aren’t going to be happy about it. After going on a year-long hiatus for quality control, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4, The Calamity, is finally here, and with everything that’s led up to this point and how great the trailers look, everything is set for it to be nothing short of a phenomenal conclusion to the anime after over 20 years.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4, The Calamity will surely be great, but fans might have a problem with it for one major reason: its length. With the season premiere finally upon us, Hulu has officially confirmed that Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4, The Calamity, will be only 10 episodes, making it shorter than previous seasons by three or four episodes.
There are many reasons why that would be disappointing, but at the same time, it might be the best thing Bleach fans could ask for.
Why Bleach Fans Are Unhappy With Thousand-Year Blood War’s Episode Count
Bleach fans are already taking offense to Thousand-Year Blood War part 4 being so short, and it’s easy to see why. For starters, the first three episodes of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4 recently played in theaters, meaning that many fans have already seen almost half the season; usually when an anime has a theatrical preview, there’s still a couple of months of new content, but if part 4 will really be so short, then there’s almost nothing new to look forward to, and that’s pretty disappointing.
More than that, of course, is what it means for the story. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War’s big claim to fame was that it was fleshing out the manga’s infamously thin narrative with more fights, worldbuilding, and character work, but with fewer episodes, there’s a chance they won’t have time for that, and it will be a repeat of Bleach’s lackluster manga finale. Fans have been waiting a decade for Bleach’s finale to be animated, but if it ends up being more of the same, then that will be nothing but disappointing.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War’s Episode Count Is Far Better Than You Think
As disappointing as the episode count for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4, The Calamity may be, it’s nowhere near as bad as people think. Not only are 10 episodes plenty of time to tell a good story, but the reduced episode count might even result in better animation, as it will narrow the anime’s scope and allow the staff to focus solely on the major fights and scenes. The past two seasons were plagued with major production issues to the point that their finales were glorified clip shows, but with this, nothing of the sort should be expected.
Ever since it premiered, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has done an amazing job of bringing Bleach to life and making its story even better, and even with a reduced episode count, that shouldn’t change at all with part 4. Even if there are some rough patches, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4, The Calamity should be everything a person could dream of, and its premiere on July 25 can’t come soon enough.
- Release Date
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October 10, 2022
- Network
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TV Tokyo
- Showrunner
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Tite Kubo
- Directors
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Tomohisa Taguchi, Mitsutoshi Satô, Hikaru Murata, Hodaka Kuramoto
- Writers
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Tite Kubo
