After rumblings of a potential anime return in vein of Inuyasha: The Final Act began making the rounds for several years it has since been seemingly confirmed by industry leakers that Bleach will receive an anime adaptation covering the final arc “The Thousand Year Blood Wars”. This news was initially scheduled to be unveiled at Anime Japan and was going to open its doors on March 21, 2020, however, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event was canceled. With an event this size and the risk that coronavirus has to all staff and visitors, adhering to the proper safety procedures would’ve been particularly hard to achieve. Even though businesses are able to find and use this funny covid signage that they can post around their building, it’s not as simple as this when it comes to a wide-scale event. That’s why it was in the best interests of everyone to cancel the physical event. Those (speaking for the otakus and the weebs, worldwide) who might have had high hopes of attending the event, might have to live with souvenirs of their choicest waifu from Bleach – be it Rukia, Orihime, Nel, or Rangiku! An Anime Dakimakura Pillow seems to be a good option for all those who are disheartened by the cancellation of the event.

With that being said, event planners announced that the planned Bleach panel would instead be streamed live on Saturday prior to the leak. Another rumor that came about was the potential of the Bleach spinoff “Burn the Witch” receiving an OVA special of some kind or potentially a fully serialized manga. The latter has since been confirmed, only Burn the Witch won’t be getting an OVA, it will surprisingly be getting its very own anime adaptation possibly running alongside the manga similar to Boruto: Naruto Next Generations upon its debut. Though no studio has been announced Bleach’s anime sequel is set to debut in 2021, Burn the Witch will be released ahead of it in 2020 to give it time for production. The reported CVs for lead characters Noel and Spangle have been announced as Yuina Yamada & Asami Tano respectively. The studio animating the series is said to be Studio Colorido with director Tatsuro Kawarno which has recently done the Pokemon: Twilight Wings shorts. Burn the Witch will be Studio Colorido’s first anime series, the studio had a history of doing anime films, shorts and ONAs since its debut in 2011. Tite Kubo has stated that Burn the Witch’s manga serialization will be “short-term” likely acting as a bridge to Bleach’s anime production returning.