Similar to its shonen rivals Naruto and One piecethe long term Bleach anime is famous for having frequent filler material. About a third of the Bleach Anime is nothing more than filler, with some episodes being filler/canon hybrids. For more casual anime fans, it's fine to watch the whole thing, filler and all, but story-focused fans would rather skip the whole thing. Manga is always an option to avoid filler, but Bleach anime definitely deserves a watch.

New Bleach Fans who prefer to focus on the actual story and save time can skip the filler-only episodes. Additionally, they can watch the mixed filler/canon episodes along with the pure canon episodes so they don't miss anything. This means skipping over 50 filler-only episodes, but they're not all grouped together. Instead, these filler episodes are spread throughout the series. Bleach anime, which means new fans may need a guide on where to find and avoid these surprising episodes/arcs.

Updated May 14, 2024 by Ajay Aravind: The Thousand-Year Blood War arc will release its third episode of 13 episodes in 2024. Fortunately, there probably won't be a single filler episode during the anime's final storyline. That being said, Bleach Fans still have tons of filler to wade through to finish the anime, so we've updated this article with some more relevant information.

The Bleach-Only Filler Episodes That Can Safely Be Ignored

When a new Bleach If you're an anime fan and you're starting your Shonen anime adventure, the first season will be a quiet one. There are no filler episodes, although a few episodes in the first 30 have a little filler embedded in some of them. However, the first true filler episode comes at the beginning of the "Soul Society" story arc with episode 33, "Miracle! The Mysterious New Hero". The only other filler episode in the "Soul Society" arc is episode 50, "The Reviving Lion", which is oddly placed at the climax of that story arc. Otherwise, both the first and second seasons are filled with filler. Bleach arc and the famous “Soul Society” arc are a bed of roses for fans of canon-only anime.

After episode 63, Bleach begins its first serious chunk of filler episodes, lasting from episode 64 to episode 108, with canon material being picked up again in episode 109. This is a major blow to the Bleach pace of the anime, with dozens of episodes filling the runtime between the “Soul Society” and “Arrancar” story arcs. To recreate the original Bleach With the manga’s fast pace and overall enjoyable storytelling experience, fans can go from episode 63 straight to 109, with the caveat that some filler characters from the “Bount” story arc will be sprinkled into canon episodes. It can be strange to watch canon episodes with unexplained characters, but if anime fans know what they’re in for ahead of time, they can overlook these oddities.

The next batch of filler episodes runs from episodes 128 to 137, in the middle of the “Arrancar” story arc, where Ichigo Kurosaki and his Soul Reaper friends fight Sosuke Aizen’s Arrancar minions in Karakura Town. A three-part mini-filler arc runs from episodes 147 to 149, dealing with a Menos forest in the kingdom of Hueco Mundo, where they encounter a Soul Reaper named Ashido Kano. Interestingly, this was originally supposed to be in the manga, but was removed due to Tite Kubo’s busy schedule. Another major filler arc runs from episodes 168 to 189, introducing Captain Shusuke Amagai. Two more pairs of filler episodes interrupt the canon “Fake Karakura Town” story arc, these being episodes 204, 205, 213, and 214.

Another large chunk of filler episodes interrupts the “Fake Karakura Town” arc, all before Ichigo’s final duel with Ulquiorra Schiffer, the 4th Espada. Canon-focused Bleach fans can skip everything from episode 228 to episode 266, and then skip episodes 287, 298, and 299, as well as episodes 303, 304, and 305. Just a few episodes after that, another big chunk of filler arrives, spanning from episode 311 to episode 341. Once that's out of the way, Bleach fans only have one more filler episode to skip, that being episode 355, and then the original, canon-only Bleach the anime adventure is complete. Season 9 is also 100% filled, so canon-only fans can also skip the entire box set.

Why does Bleach contain filler material and should fans try it or skip it?

Newer anime fans may wonder why a popular shonen anime from the “big three” like Bleach would even worry about having episodes that are not part of the real story. Longer anime like Bleach have filler arcs not for their own sake, but for practical reasons that are highly relevant while the anime is still airing. When an anime like Bleach When adapting an ongoing manga series, it is important that the manga stays ahead so that the anime studio has enough material to work with when creating new episodes. If the anime catches up, it can stagnate, and the animators don't want that. So the animators keep the anime and manga on track by stretching out the anime with filler episodes or even entire filler arcs. This gives the manga time to continue releasing new material, giving the animators ample material to make a new season that follows the manga. Tite Kubo definitely needed this time for his Bleach manga, hence the high percentage of filler episodes in the anime. Something similar can be said about three other great animes, Masashi Kishimoto. Narutoalthough One piece is notoriously poor in fillers.

As for whether anime fans should watch filler episodes of an anime like Bleach, there is no right answer, although individual anime fans may find compelling reasons one way or another. Even if fans know that filler episodes are not part of the actual story, they may still enjoy the filler simply because it is more of the same anime universe that they love. Additionally, filler episodes tend to explore ideas, often humorous or experimental, that the main story may not allow for. Canon or not, filler gives anime fans more insight into how a universe like Bleachcan be explored and realized, such as the idea of the Soul Reapers' Zanpakutos revolting against their owners. When Bleach was on the air, fans had no choice but to watch the filler or at least wait for the real story to be picked up again, but with the original Bleach anime finished, fans can easily choose to watch the filler or skip everything to resume the story.

Watching everything Bleach episodes without filler are also a strong option for basic, universal reasons that can be applied to any story, especially pacing. Mangaka Tite Kubo paced back and forth Bleach manga the way it did for good reasons. That said, the anime's filler episodes do mess with the pacing, putting the actual story on hold to explore a completely unrelated narrative. It can be a downright jarring experience to go from an intense canon story to a silly, entirely new narrative midway through and then pick up the canon story as if nothing ever happened. Bleach may not have the most complex lore or narrative in anime, but serious fans may still have a hard time reconciling all that information with filler episodes that get in the way of the story. If anime-only fans want to try it out, Bleach The way Tite Kubo intended, with pacing and everything, skipping the filler is mandatory. So if they wish, fans can watch selected episodes or arcs just for fun.

Bleach: A Thousand-Year Blood War and Anime Viewing Options

Luckily, it's just the original Bleach anime that suffered from constant fillers. The new Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime is a more modern production in every sense, from cutting-edge animation to fast pacing and a complete lack of filler episodes. When the time comes Thousand Year Blood War started, the original Bleach the manga was already complete, freeing the Bleach anime the main reason why filler episodes were created in the first place.

The first court of TUBW story arc, 13 episodes in total, has no filler episodes or mixed canon/filler episodes, so story-focused fans can enjoy the TUBW anime without complications. Most likely, the TYBY the next three courses of the arch will also have no fill, especially since the original TUBW The story arc is quite long and there is little time to waste. Interestingly, however, Kubo took the opportunity to incorporate new characters, powers, and stories into the ongoing anime season, such as the original Gotei 13 and Hirako Shinji's Bankai. While some of these do not appear in the manga, all of them do appear in the TUBW arch from the second court is considered canonical.

Interested anime fans can find the original Bleach anime available to stream on Hulu in the USand on Disney+ internationally, and the same applies to TUBW anime. Anime fans can also find Bleach Blu-ray and DVDs for sale on Amazon and the Crunchyroll store, although the latter is currently out of print. That said, fans should be aware that some box sets may only contain filler episodes. The Bleach The fourth season of the anime, for example, is 100% filler, so canon-only anime fans can skip the season 4 box set and go for season 5, which is mostly filler except for the canon episode 109 at the end. Season 15, meanwhile, is mostly filler except for the canon episode 342 at the end.