Bleach (ブリーチ) is a 2004 television anime series based on Tite Kubo’s manga series of the same name. The series was adapted by studio Pierrot, and the staff credits include director Noriyuki Abe, series composition writers Masashi Sogo, Tsuyoshi Kida & Kento Shimoyama, character designer Masashi Kudo, and music composed by Shirō Sagisu. The anime first aired in Japan on October 2004.
Background:
“The Soul Reapers’ battle continues to rage as Ichigo and his friends manage to drive off Grimmjow and the rest of the Arrancars. But with this fight over, a new threat emerges as Orihime is taken hostage by Sosuke Aizen. Will Ichigo, Uryu and Chad be able to defeat the Arrancars’ most powerful fighters – the Espada – and rescue her from Aizen’s stronghold of Las Noches in Hueco Mundo?”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, August 2025.
The Bleach franchise continues its Blu-ray run with Anime Limited in the UK. Following the same approach that Viz Media have done, Bleach is slowly being released in parts with about 25-28 episodes each, and the anime adaptation does have some hefty filler from time to time due to Studio Pierrot wanting to keep the series on television for as long as possible like Toei Animation have done with One Piece.
As a recap, Bleach was one of the most popular Weekly Shonen Jump manga titles out there and was also pretty huge internationally with Dragon Ball, Naruto and One Piece. The anime adaptation ran for 8 years but didn’t finish the source material, until a second series was eventually released with Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War that’s almost finished its run.
The 2004 adaptation had hundreds of story arcs that are non-canon to the manga as a way to avoid the anime from catching up with the manga too quickly, and while the first half of the series is considered pretty strong, as the anime progressed is where fan reception gets a bit more mixed. The anime ended its run in 2012 and the manga wrapped up in 2016.
Viz Media picked up the rights to release Bleach for North America back in 2006, which included UK & Ireland rights also since their logos were on the UK releases distributed by Manga Entertainment. The later seasons of the anime eventually shifted from Manga Entertainment over to KAZE UK, which was Viz Media Europe’s UK branch. In 2024, the UK, Ireland and France home video licenses for Bleach moved over to Anime Limited.
Since this is Part 6 of 13, this covers the remainder of the Arrancar: The Hueco Mundo Sneak Entry arc and the entirety of the Arrancar: The Fierce Fight arc.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Bleach is a very long series so it would be crazy for Anime Limited to release collector’s edition in their traditional style for the whole show as it would be too expensive for consumers. So instead we have a different model to cover all of the episodes. As the show is being split into 13 parts, they’re all being presented as limited editions but three of them will also have collector’s edition variations.
Part 6 is the second of three collector’s edition releases for Bleach, presented with a rigid slipcase containing an Amaray case with an o-card to house the Blu-ray discs and three small art cards. Alongside the case is a thick 104-page artbook that contains character designs and cover artwork for episodes 140 to 251. The rigid slipcase that comes with this set is designed to house Parts 6-9 (which goes up to episode 251).
The rigid slipcase artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £79.99, with a limited edition Blu-ray (basically a first print edition that comes with an o-card and artcards) is available for retailers at an SRP of £49.99.
I pre-ordered my copy from Anime Limited’s online store for £44.99 + £3.50 postage thanks to Anime Unlimited membership (non-members is £49.99 + £3.50 postage), however Part 5 has yet to arrive because its bundled with another title that’s been delayed from its initial May 2025 window to either August or September 2025 without notice. A separate unboxing to focus on Parts 2-5 together as well as Parts 7-9 together are planned.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Slipcase with clean artwork
- Blu-ray Amaray packaging with o-card slipcase
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 108-page Artbook
- 3 Small Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 4th August 2025
The collector’s edition Part 6 release (also advertised as Set 2) for Bleach contains episodes 140-167, across four Blu-ray discs. The discs have been authored and encoded by Viz Media via their March 2020 release for North America.
Audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and the STUDIOPOLIS, Inc. English dub commissioned by Viz Media. The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the discs are region locked to players set to B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Upscaled format 1.33:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 4 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 3:
- Episode 155 English Audio Commentary with Viz Media Staff members Urian Brown (Marketing), Alexis Kirsch (Manga Editor for Bleach’s English volumes) & Pancha Diaz (Manga Editor for Bleach’s English volumes)
Disc 4:
- Original Japanese DVD Artwork
- Production Art
- Clean Opening & Endings:
- “After Dark”
- “Tane wo Maku Hibi”
- “Kansha”
- Episode 166 English Audio Commentary with Viz Media Staff members Urian Brown (Marketing), Alexis Kirsch (Manga Editor for Bleach’s English volumes) & Pancha Diaz (Manga Editor for Bleach’s English volumes)
- More from Viz (06:15 runtime)
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Set 1
- Boruto: Naruto the Movie
- Hunter x Hunter Set 6
- Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Set 1
- One Punch Man Season 1
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Bleach is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK, Ireland and France.
The collector’s edition Part 6 (aka Set 2) Blu-ray release that comes with the rigid slipcase and artbook is available for purchase from retailers AllTheAnime Store, Amazon UK and Anime-on-Line and other different stores.
The limited edition Blu-ray release that retains the o-card slipcase and small art cards is also available for purchase from retailers AllTheAnime Store, Amazon UK and Anime-on-Line and other different stores.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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