Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 episode count revealed, and it’s good news

We’re gradually learning more and more about Bleach’s return as we get closer to Part 3 of Thousand-Year Blood War, and now we know how long it is.

After 20 years and almost 400 episodes, the Bleach anime show is coming to an end. Yes, Ichigo Kurosaki has really been battling the forces of evil on our screens for that long, and hard as it might be to accept, he’s about to lay his sword down for the final time.

In 2022, Thousand-Year Blood War kicked off, adapting the massive final arc of Tite Kubo’s smash hit manga. We’ve gotten two cours so far, and now it’s been confirmed that Cour 3 has 13 episodes, promising a good, meaty salvo as the penultimate chapter of the franchise.

So far, Thousand-Year Blood War, the 17th season of Bleach overall, has given us 26 episodes. So Cour 3 will be the same length as the previous parts.

It’s a relief, since sometimes the last cours become a feature-length or truncated production, like what happened on Attack on Titan. Alas, Pierrot appears to be avoiding this issue, likewise providing an adaptation that isn’t too drawn out, another issue Attack on Titan suffered from towards the end.

Tomohisa Taguchi is directing Bleach’s last hurrah, an increasingly accomplished anime filmmaker whose other credits include the Persona franchise and The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, an underrated anime movie from 2022. Given his results to date, this last chapter will be one to remember.

There are four cours planned, so after this, there’s just one installment left and Ichigo’s story is complete. The franchise has enjoyed mileage very few ever get close to, rivaling One Piece in overall length, though without the same consistency.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Cour 3 kicks off on October 5, 2024. It’s easily one of the biggest upcoming anime of the year, and comes right as Dragon Ball Daima and My Hero Academia: You’re Next land as well.