When was the first Bleach film released?

"Bleach" was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine "Weekly Shōnen Jump" from August 2001 to August 2016, with its chapters collected into 74 "tankōbon" volumes. The series has spawned a media franchise that includes an anime television series that was produced by Studio Pierrot from 2004 to 2012, two original video animation episodes, four animated feature films, ten stage musicals, and numerous video games, as well as many types of "Bleach"-related merchandise. A live-action film adaptation was released in 2018. English-language releases of "Bleach" are coordinated by Viz Media, which has released several volumes of the manga each year since 2004, and published chapters of "Bleach" in its "Shonen Jump" magazine since November 2007. Viz Media secured foreign television and home video distribution rights to the "Bleach" anime in 2006. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim began airing dubbed episodes of "Bleach" in the United States that Fall, and Hulu later began to stream subtitled versions of the anime a week after each episode aired in Japan. Viz Media has also released each of the "Bleach" feature films in English.

Bleach (manga)

"Bleach" received the Shogakukan Manga Award for the "shōnen" demographic in 2005, and is among the best-selling manga in both Japan and the United States. Despite significant downturns in both the Japanese and English manga markets, "Bleach" had continued to perform well commercially, and it has sold more than 90million tankōbon copies in Japan alone. As of 2018, the series had over 120 million tankōbon volumes in print worldwide.

Ichigo Kurosaki is a teenager from Karakura Town who can see ghosts, a talent which lets him meet supernatural trespasser Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia is one of the Soul Reapers, soldiers trusted with ushering the souls of the dead from the World of the Living to the —the afterlife realm from which she originates—and with fighting Hollows, monstrous lost souls who can harm both ghosts and humans. When she is severely wounded defending Ichigo from a Hollow she is pursuing, Rukia transfers her powers to Ichigo so that he may fight in her stead while she recovers her strength. Rukia is thereby trapped in an ordinary human body, and must advise Ichigo as he balances the demands of his substitute Soul Reaper duties and attending high school. For aid in hunting the Hollows, the pair ally with a trio of other spiritually empowered teenagers: Ichigo's high school classmate Orihime Inoue, best friend Yasutora "Chad" Sado and the Quincy—humans who can fight Hollows—Uryū Ishida.

Eventually, Rukia is arrested by her Soul Reaper superiors and sentenced to death for the illegal act of transferring her powers into a human. Ichigo and friends enlist the help of ex-Soul Reaper scientist Kisuke Urahara, who also enables Ichigo to access his own Soul Reaper powers, to enter Soul Society and rescue Rukia. Shortly after the party's arrival in the Soul Society, conflict arises among the captains of the 13 Court Squads when the captain of the fifth company, Sōsuke Aizen, is apparently murdered, which causes the Soul Reapers to begin fighting amongst themselves. However, as Ichigo is almost successful in rescuing Rukia, and Soul Society is on the verge of civil war, Aizen reappears and reveals his intention to obtain the —an orb of immense power—that Kisuke planted in Rukia's human vessel by faking his death and arranging Rukia's execution. Aizen is accompanied by his fellow conspirators, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen who are the third and ninth company's captains, as they use Hollows to cover their escape into the Hollows' realm,. Afterwards, Ichigo and Rukia reconcile with the Soul Reapers, who view the former as a powerful ally and designate him as an official substitute Soul Reaper.

Ichigo soon finds himself and his friends in escalating skirmishes with Aizen's army of humanoid Hollows, the Arrancar, as they are joined by the Vizards—Soul Reapers who were victims of Aizen's experiments in creating Soul Reaper/Hollow hybrids. When one of the Espada—Aizen's 10 most powerful Arrancars—kidnaps Orihime, Ichigo and his allies enter Hueco Mundo to invade Aizen's palace. However, as Ichigo rescues Orihime, Aizen reveals her abduction was a distraction as he launches an attack on Karakura Town in order to sacrifice the souls of the living and create a key to the Soul King's Palace so he can kill the Soul King who reigns over the Soul Society. When the Vizards join the remaining Soul Reapers to face their mutual enemy, Gin reveals his own agenda of assassinating Aizen. However, the latter then uses the Hōgyoku to become a Hollow-like being and overpower everyone. Ichigo ultimately succeeds in subduing Aizen at the cost of his powers and reverts to a normal human.

Months later, preparing for life after high school, Ichigo is called back into action when Xcution, a gang of Fullbringers—supernaturally aware humans like Chad—manipulate him and his loved ones in a scheme to siphon his Fullbring abilities. After his Soul Society allies restore his Soul Reaper powers, learning that Xcution's leader Ginjo Kujo was his predecessor, and that the substitute Soul Reapers are not fully trusted, Ichigo defeats Ginjo while resolving to continue fighting with the Soul Society.

After Ichigo regained his powers, an army of Quincies known as the appear and declare their own war on the Soul Society, after enslaving the Arrancars. The group is led by Yhwach, the ancient progenitor of the Quincies who seeks to kill the Soul King and rid the world of the fear of death. In their first invasion, the Wandenreich kill many Soul Reapers including the head-captain. Uryū joins the Wandenreich as a means to get close to Yhwach, who was responsible for the death of his mother among other Quincies. Later on, Ichigo and his friends aid the Soul Society in fighting the Wandenreich's second invasion, but Yhwach proceeds to slay the Soul King. In the final battle, Yhwach returns to the Soul Society to conquer it, but with the help of Uryū's father, Ichigo and Uryū defeat the Quincy leader.

Years later, Rukia becomes the new captain of the thirteenth company and has a daughter, an apprentice Soul Reaper named Ichika, with her childhood friend Renji Abarai. Meanwhile, Ichigo and Orihime have a son named Kazui, who is also training to become a Soul Reaper.

"Bleach" was first conceived from Tite Kubo's desire to draw a Shinigami (Soul Reaper) in a kimono, which formed the basis for the design of the Soul Reapers in the series. At first, Kubo thought that the Soul Reapers should use guns, so the first title for the series was "Snipe" (as in "sniper"); however, this was changed with the inclusion of swords. After that, the series was meant to be named "Black" due to the color of the Soul Reapers' clothes, but Kubo thought the title was too generic. He later tried the name of "White," but came to like "Bleach" more for its association with the color white and that he did not find it too obvious. The original story concept was submitted to "Weekly Shōnen Jump" shortly after the cancellation of Kubo's previous manga, "Zombiepowder", but was at first rejected. Manga artist Akira Toriyama saw the story and wrote a letter of encouragement to Kubo. "Bleach" was accepted for publication a short time later in 2001, and was initially intended to be a shorter series, with a maximum serialization length of five years. Early plans for the story did not include the hierarchical structure of the Soul Society, but did include some characters and elements that were not introduced into the plot until the Arrancar arc, such as Ichigo's Soul Reaper parentage.

Kubo has cited influences for elements of "Bleach" ranging from other manga series to music, foreign language, architecture, and film. He attributed his interest in drawing the supernatural and monsters to Shigeru Mizuki's "GeGeGe no Kitaro" and "Bleach"s focus on interesting weaponry and battle scenes to Masami Kurumada's "Saint Seiya", manga that Kubo enjoyed as a boy. The latter is based on Greek mythology and Kubo also considered it as a source for his focus on myths, monsters and the afterlife. The action style and storytelling found in "Bleach" are inspired by cinema, though Kubo has not revealed any specific movie as being an influence for fight scenes. When pressed, he told interviewers that he liked "Snatch" but did not use it as a model. "Bleach"s fight choreography is instead constructed with the aid of rock music, which the author listens to while imagining the fights in order to give him a sense of pacing for the panel cuts and change of angles through the scenes. Kubo prefers to draw realistic injuries in order to render the fight more impactful, by making the readers feel the pain the characters are feeling. "Bleach" fight scenes are often broken up with brief gags, which the author inserts when he grows bored during the illustration process.

"Bleach"s plotting process is focused around character design. When writing plotlines or having difficulties generating new material, Kubo begins by thinking of new characters, often "en masse", and rereading previous volumes of "Bleach". Kubo has said that he likes creating characters that have outward appearances that do not match their true nature—an element that can be found in many "Bleach" characters—as he is "attracted to people with that seeming contradiction" and finds an "urge to draw people like that" when he works. The terminology used in "Bleach" has a variety of inspirations, with each category of characters bearing a different linguistic theme. Many of the names for swords and spells used by Soul Reapers were inspired by ancient Japanese literature. Hollows and Arrancars use Spanish terms. Fullbringers use English vocabulary, with names referencing rock music, and finally, both Quincy and Bounts draw on the German language. This multilingual terminology, along with the variety in apparent character ethnicities, emphasizes the international nature of the "Bleach" settings.

"Bleach"s plot incorporates the traditional Japanese belief of spirits coexisting with humans and their nature, good or evil, depends on the circumstances. An example is Orihime's backstory: she was raised from the age of three by her brother Sora, and prayed for his soul's peace after he died in a car accident. As time went on, she prayed less and Sora became jealous and turned into a Hollow and attacked Orihime. Academic Patrick Drazen says this is a reminder to the audience to not abandon the old ways or risk the spirits taking offense and causing problems in the world. "Bleach" also incorporates Shinto themes of purification of "evil spirits through charms, scrolls, incantations, and other rituals." Christopher A. Born regards "Bleach" as transmitting Confucian values.

Von Feigenblatt describes "Bleach" as being culturally and religiously aware, as it draws upon Christianity and Caribbean Santería. Spanish terms are prevalent throughout the realm of Hueco Mundo, while both Quincy and Bounts have been known to associate with the German language, making Kubo's world of characters diverse in race and language as well. Von Feigenblatt notes that the Quincy "are clearly inspired by the Roman Catholic Christian Orders of Knighthood such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre whose influence is shown in terms of the uniform worn by the Quincy as well as by the symbolism of the cross."

The chapters of the "Bleach" manga are written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. In Japan, they were published in Shueisha's "Weekly Shōnen Jump" from August 20, 2001, to August 22, 2016. The 698 individual chapters of "Bleach" were collected in 74 "tankōbon" volumes released between January 5, 2002, and November 4, 2016. Shueisha published the first 21 volumes compiled into six omnibus collections under the name "Resurrected Souls" to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the "Bleach" series. The first collection was released on August 22, 2011; the last collection was published on January 23, 2012. On September 21, 2012, Shueisha released 45 digital volumes in Japanese e-book stores, concluding with the 74th on November 4, 2016. These digital editions have been re-released as a set of 10 volumes on April 26, 2013; the sixth was released on March 14, 2014.

North American licensor Viz Media serialized the first chapters in the print magazine "Shonen Jump" from its November 2007 to April 2012 issues. The series moved to the digital anthology "Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha" in January 2012 and Viz Media released it digitally as Shueisha published new chapters in Japan. The first volume on English was released on July 6, 2004, and the last volume–the 74th–was released on October 2, 2018. Viz also released a hardcover "collector's edition" of the first volume that came with a dust jacket, two box sets, and 24 "3-in-1 Edition" volumes between June 7, 2011, and October 2, 2018. Viz Media released digital forms of the 16 volumes in English on June 17, 2011. As of October 2, 2018, all 74 digital volumes were released.

The "Bleach" anime series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo's Tuesday 6pm timeslot from October 5, 2004, to March 27, 2012, excluding holidays. The series was directed by Noriyuki Abe, and produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Studio Pierrot.

Viz Media obtained the foreign television, home video and merchandising rights to the "Bleach" anime from TV Tokyo Corporation and Shueisha, on March 15, 2006. Viz Media has later licensed its individual "Bleach" merchandising rights to several different companies.

"Bleach" premiered in Canada on YTV, as part of their Bionix programming block, on September 8, 2006. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim began airing "Bleach" in the United States the following evening. Adult Swim stopped broadcasting new episodes of the English adaptation on October 13, 2007, after airing the first 52 episodes of the series. It was replaced with another Viz Media series, "Death Note", to provide Studiopolis more time to dub additional episodes of "Bleach". The series resumed on March 2, 2008, but went back on hiatus on November 21, 2009, after the airing of its 167th episode. Adult Swim would continue to air new episodes as part of the revived Toonami block, with the final episode airing on Saturday November 1, 2014, at 12am.

In the United Kingdom, "Bleach" premiered on Anime Central on September 13, 2007, with new episodes airing weekly. In 2013, the Sony Movie Channel began broadcasting Bleach as part of their 'Late Night Anime' block, which runs concurrently with the Animax pay-per-view service, and continues to do so. The English dubbed version of Bleach premiered on Animax Asia on December 18, 2009, with the first 52 episodes.

88 DVD compilations were released by Aniplex in Japan. Viz Media has released 32 DVD compilations of the English adaptation of the anime, along with twenty-one boxsets that contain fourteen seasons of the anime. On July 29, 2009, Aniplex released a "TV Animation Bleach 5th Anniversary Box" that includes 15 DVDs and three bonus discs. On November 24, 2010, Aniplex released a special edition of the DVD, "2004 & 2005 Bleach Jump Anime Tour", which contains two OVAs—"Memories in the Rain" and "The Sealed Sword Frenzy".

Composed and produced by Shirō Sagisu, numerous CD soundtracks have been released for the "Bleach" anime series and movies by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. "Bleach Original Soundtrack 1" was released on May 18, 2005, which contains 25 tracks, including the first opening and ending themes in their original television lengths. "Bleach Original Soundtrack 2" followed on August 2, 2006, with an additional 23 instrumental tracks. "Bleach Original Soundtrack 3" later followed on November 5, 2008, with 27 instrumental tracks. "Bleach Original Soundtrack 4" was released on December 16, 2009, with 30 instrumental tracks. For the 5th anniversary of the series, Aniplex released "Bleach 5th Anniversary Box" set which contains CD with rare and unreleased tracks. "Bleach: Memories of Nobody Original Soundtrack" was released with 25 tracks from the "" film. "Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion Original Soundtrack" was also released for the "" film, with 29 tracks from the movie, followed by "Bleach: Fade to Black Original Soundtrack" for the "" film, with 29 tracks, followed by "Bleach: Hell Verse Original Soundtrack" for the "" film, with 21 tracks. Aniplex released "Bleach The Best" box set, which contains CD and DVD with 12 of the opening and ending themes from the series in their full length versions and few extras, later followed by "Bleach The Best Instrumental/Jam-set Groove", which contains eight instrumental tracks. The separated CD under the label, "Bleach The Best" which contains 12 tracks, was released in December 2008. The next release, "Bleach Best Tunes", contains 14 more opening and ending themes. "Bleach The Berry Best" box set, which contains CD with 13 tracks, bonus DVD and few extras, was released for the 10th anniversary of the series. On April 25, 2012, Aniplex released "Bleach Best Trax" box set, which include musical CD, bonus DVD with the complete opening and ending theme videos and few extras.

Five "Radio DJCD Bleach 'B' Station" season CD sets, have been released in Japan. Drama CDs have been produced for the series as well, featuring the original voice actors from the anime; these drama CDs have only been included as part of the DVD releases.

The labels "Bleach Beat Collections" and "Bleach Breathless Collections" are sets of CDs published by Sony Music featuring recordings by the original Japanese voice actors that provide a look at the personalities of the characters they play, as well as the voice actors themselves. The first CD was released on June 22, 2005; 29 volumes all together were released.Aniplex introduced two "Bleach" concept albums. The first, "Bleach Concept Covers", was released on December 15, 2010, and the second one, "Bleach Concept Covers 2", was released on December 14, 2011.

There are four animated feature films based on the "Bleach" series, all of which are directed by Noriyuki Abe, director of the "Bleach" anime series. The films were released annually each December starting in 2006, though none were released in 2009. Each movie features an original plotline along with original characters designed by Tite Kubo, which is contrary to the normal practice for anime-based films, as the original author usually has little creative involvement.

The first film, "", was released in Japan on December 16, 2006, and had a limited release in American theaters in June 2008. The movie is centered around the activities of the "Dark Ones," who were banished from the Soul Society and are subsequently trying to destroy both the Soul Society and the World of the Living. "Memories of Nobody" was released in North America on Region 1 DVD by Viz Media on October 14, 2008.

The second film, "", was released to Japanese theaters on December 22, 2007. Its plot focuses on 10th Division captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya's efforts to clear his name after an artifact belonging to Soul Society's king is stolen while under his care. "The DiamondDust Rebellion" was released in North America on Region 1 DVD by Viz Media on September 8, 2009.

The third film, "", was released in Japan on December 13, 2008. In the film, members of Soul Society are struck with amnesia, caused by a parasitic Hollow that erases the memories of its victims. The people in those memories forget the victim as well, resulting in everyone losing their memories of Rukia and subsequentially of Ichigo. When he goes to the Soul Society to investigate, Ichigo is hunted as an intruder and the perpetrator of a great disaster and also discovers that Rukia has not only forgotten him, but has forgotten her own identity as well. The film was released on Region 2 DVD on September 30, 2009. The English Dub release of "Fade to Black" was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray by Viz Media on November 15, 2011.

The fourth movie, "", was released in Japan on December 4, 2010. In the film, Ichigo is heading into the Gates of Hell, which is where souls and Hollows who had committed evil during their lives as humans are sent. Denizens of Hell, aware of the power of Ichigo's inner Hollow, desire to draw out that power and free themselves from Hell and so they lure Ichigo into the realm by kidnapping his sisters. Tite Kubo did oversee the production of the film. The dubbed version was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray by Viz Media on December 4, 2012.

In March 2010, Warner Bros. confirmed that it is in talks to create a live-action movie adaptation of the series. Peter Segal and Michael Ewing have been lined up to produce the movie. In 2012, Dan Mazeau was added as a screenwriter for the project, and Masi Oka joined as producer. In 2016, after the series ended, a live-action Japanese adaptation of the series was announced. "Bleach", which was produced by Warner Bros. Japan, directed by Shinsuke Sato and starring Sota Fukushi as Ichigo Kurosaki, was released in Japan on July 20, 2018.

Bleach has been adapted into a series of rock musicals, jointly produced by Studio Pierrot and Nelke Planning. There have been five musicals produced which covered portions of the Substitute and Soul Society arcs, as well as five additional performances known as "Live Bankai Shows" and "Rock Musical Bleach Shinsei", which did not follow the "Bleach" plotline. The initial performance run of the "Bleach" musical was from August 17–28, 2005, at the Space Zero Tokyo center in Shinjuku.

The musicals are directed by Takuya Hiramitsu, with script adaptation by Naoshi Okumura and music composed by playwright Shoichi Tama. The songs are completely original and not taken from the anime soundtrack. Key actors in the series include Tatsuya Isaka, who plays Ichigo Kurosaki, Miki Satō, who plays Rukia Kuchiki, and Eiji Moriyama, who plays Renji Abarai.

In 2016, another musical was produced to celebrate "Bleach" 15th anniversary. The musical was directed and written by Tsutsumi Yasuyuki with Dream5's Akira Takano and Chihiro Kai as Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki respectively. The musical debuted on July 28, 2016 in AiiA 2.5 Theater Tokyo.

Two collectible card games (CCG) based on the "Bleach" series have been produced, one in the Japanese market and a different one in North America. "Bleach Soul Card Battle", produced by Bandai, was introduced in Japan in 2004. Twenty named sets were released for the series. After "Bleach Soul Card Battle", Bandai introduced three more series. "Bleach The Card Gum", which contains 14 sets, was released in early September 2007. The next series, "Bleach Clear Collection", which contains six sets, was released in July 2008. The last series, "Bleach Clear Soul Plate", which consists of three sets, was published in December 2009.

"Bleach TCG" was introduced in the United States by Score Entertainment in May 2007, but ceased publication April 2009, just before the planned launch of its seventh expansion, "Bleach Infiltration". This cancellation was attributed to the ongoing recession, which has heavily affected TCG sales. Designed by Aik Tongtharadol, the TCG is a two-player game in which each player starts with at least 61 cards: a "Guardian" card, a 60-card "main deck," and an optional 20-card "side deck." A player loses if his or her power, as dictated by the Guardian card, is reduced to zero, or if he or she is unable to draw or discard a card from his or her deck. The cards for the game have been released in named sets with each set released in three formats: a 72-card pre-constructed box set containing a starter deck and two booster packs, a 10-card booster pack, and a 12-pack booster box. Six named sets were released.

A number of video games have been created featuring characters from the "Bleach" series, primarily though not exclusively fighting games. The first video game to be released from the "Bleach" series was "Bleach: Heat the Soul", which debuted on March 24, 2005, for the Sony PlayStation Portable. Currently, the majority of the games have only been released in Japan, though Sega has localized the first three Nintendo DS games and the first Wii game for North America. So far, all dedicated "Bleach" games released for Sony's consoles have been developed and published by SCEI, whereas the games for Nintendo consoles are developed and published by Sega, and the Nintendo DS games are developed by Treasure Co. Ltd.. Two mobile games had also been released in 2014 and 2016 for the series, which are available for iOS and Android. In 2017, Line announced the release of a game exclusive for their communication app called "Bleach: Paradise Lost".

Tite Kubo and Makoto Matsubara have co-authored three novelizations of the "Bleach" series, which were published by Shueisha under its "Shounen Jump Books" label. The first volume, "Bleach - Letters From The Other Side: The Death and The Strawberry", was published on December 15, 2004, and re-released as "Bleach - Letters From The Other Side: The Death and The Strawberry - New Edition" on November 4, 2009. The second, "Bleach: The Honey Dish Rhapsody", was published on November 30, 2006. The third, "Bleach: The Death Save The Strawberry", was published on September 4, 2012. Two novelizations of the "Bleach" series, have been co-authored by Narita Ryohgo. The first volume, "Bleach: Spirits Are Forever With You", and the second, "Bleach: Spirits Are Forever With You 2", were published on June 4, 2012.

After the series ended in 2016, a series of novels were released by Shueisha. The first novel, "Bleach: WE DO knot ALWAYS LOVE YOU", is written by the writer of "Bleach: The Death Save The Strawberry" and was published on December 27, 2016. The second, "Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World", is a serialized novel written by the writer of "Bleach: Spirits Are Forever With You" series and is released bi-weekly from April 28, 2017. The first volume was released on August 4, 2017 and the second volume was published on November 2, 2018. The novel series ended with the release of the third volume on December 4, 2018.

Shueisha published four novelizations based on the "Bleach" movies. The first volume, "Bleach: Memories of Nobody", was published on December 18, 2006. The second, "Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion, Another Hyōrinmaru", was published on December 22, 2007. The third, "Bleach: Fade to Black, I Call Your Name", was published on December 15, 2008. The fourth volume, "Bleach: Hell Chapter", was published on December 6, 2010.

The first "Bleach" artbook, "All Colour But The Black", has been released in Japan, the United States, and Europe. The artbook compiles a selection of color spreads from the first 19 volumes of the series, as well as some original art and author commentary. The second artbook,, was released on August 3, 2007. In addition to character guides and articles on other fictional aspects of the series, it compiles the various short comics,, that were published in "V Jump". The "omake"-style panels are similar to those included in the main series, but reveal more of the daily lives of characters. "Color Bleach+: Bleach Official Bootleg" was released in English by Viz Media on August 10, 2010. In December 2018, another artbook will be released, which will contain a massive 700 artworks from the series' 15 years tenure. It will be titled "Bleach JET".

Seven databooks have also been released about the series. The first two, "Bleach: Official Character Book SOULs." and "Bleach: Official Animation Book VIBEs.", were released on February 3, 2006. "Bleach: Official Character Book SOULs." was later released in English by Viz Media on November 18, 2008. The third book, "Bleach: Official Character Book 2: MASKED", was released on August 4, 2010. This book covers details about characters that appear 100 years prior to the story, such as former captains and lieutenants, along with the Arrancars and Visoreds. Although it was released on the same day as volume 46, "Back From Blind", the book only covers material up to volume 37, "Beauty Is So Solitary". The English version was released by Viz Media on March 6, 2012. A fourth book "Bleach: Official Invitation Book The Hell Verse", was published on December 4, 2010. This book was released to promote "Bleach" movie:"Hell Verse" and it contains character sketches, promotional posters and the one-off Hell manga special. A fifth book "Bleach: Official Character Book 3: UNMASKED", was released on June 3, 2011, the same day as the volume 50 of the series. However it only covers material up to volume 48, "God is Dead". On June 4, 2012, a sixth book has been released under the name "Bleach: The Rebooted Souls". This free booklet has been distributed with "Bleach" manga volume 55, with the aim to provide information to readers about upcoming manga's final arc, "The Thousand-Year Blood War". The seventh book, "BLEACH 13 BLADEs.", was released on August 4, 2015 and focused solely on the Soul Reapers and the 13 Court Squads.

Shueisha published a special book "Bleach: JCCover Postcard Book MAILs.", which was released on December 4, 2013. It features cover pages as postcards up to volume 60 with poems on the back.

"Bleach" has sold over 90million tankobon copies in Japan, and over 120 million tankobon copies worldwide, making it the 6th best-selling series of all time from "Weekly Shōnen Jump". In 2005, "Bleach" was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award in the "shōnen" category. During 2008, volume 34 of the manga sold 874,153 copies in Japan, becoming the 12th best-seller comics from the year. Volumes 33 and 35 have also ranked 17 and 18, respectively. In total the manga has sold 3,161,825 copies in Japan during 2008, becoming the year's 5th best selling series. In the first half from 2009, "Bleach" ranked as the 2nd best-selling manga in Japan, having sold 3.5 million copies. Having sold 927,610 copies, Volume 36 ranked 7th. Volume 37 was 8th with 907,714 sold copies, and volume 38 at 10th with 822,238 copies.

North American sales of the manga have also been high, with tankobon volumes having sold over 1.2million copies by 2007. Volume 16 placing in the top 10 graphic novel sales in December 2006 and volume 17 being the best-selling manga volume for the month of February 2007. In a 2010 interview, Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Viz, listed "Bleach" as one of six Viz titles that continue to exceed expectations in spite of the harshening manga market. The English version of the manga was nominated for the "best manga" and "best theme" awards at the 2006 and 2007 American Anime Awards, but did not win either category.

Deb Aoki from About.com considered the series as the Best Continuing Shōnen Manga of 2007, along with "Eyeshield 21", praising the "compelling stories, dazzling action sequences and great character development". She also placed the title on her list of "Top 10 Shōnen Manga Must-Reads". The artwork and the character designs received positive response by IGN's A.E. Sparrow. He also commented on the series' ability to handle multiple minor character plotlines at the same time, which he considered a point of appeal, in response to fans' claims about a "lack of a story" in "Bleach". Leroy Douresseaux from ComicBookBin agreed with Sparrow in the number of storylines, but also praised the fighting scenes finding them comparable to the ones of popular films. On the other hand, Mania reviewer Jarred Pine criticized the series as being plagued with stereotypes from the genre. He felt it was a rough start for the series with unimpressive battles, overused gags, and a bad introduction for central character Ichigo that causes him to come across "as a frowning punk" whose one good trait is his desire to protect. Despite this, Pine notes that he loves the series, particularly its quirky, lovable characters. Jason Thompson said he was no longer able to take "Bleach" seriously after it introduced villains Ulquiorra and Yammy in a scene precisely mirroring Vegeta and Nappa's arrival in "Dragon Ball Z", but acknowledged it was likely intended as a deliberate homage. He also said Kubo was able to avoid the worst artistic failings typical in series which indulge in superpowered combat, but that the battle scenes were still sometimes difficult to follow.

There are four animated feature films based on the "Bleach" series, all of which are directed by Noriyuki Abe, director of the "Bleach" anime series. The films were released annually each December starting in 2006, though none were released in 2009. Each movie features an original plotline along with original characters designed by Tite Kubo, which is contrary to the normal practice for anime-based films, as the original author usually has little creative involvement.

Bleach (manga)

"Bleach" received the Shogakukan Manga Award for the "shōnen" demographic in 2005, and is among the best-selling manga in both Japan and the United States. Despite significant downturns in both the Japanese and English manga markets, "Bleach" had continued to perform well commercially, and it has sold more than 90million tankōbon copies in Japan alone. As of 2018, the series had over 120 million tankōbon volumes in print worldwide.

Months later, preparing for life after high school, Ichigo is called back into action when Xcution, a gang of Fullbringers—supernaturally aware humans like Chad—manipulate him and his loved ones in a scheme to siphon his Fullbring abilities. After his Soul Society allies restore his Soul Reaper powers, learning that Xcution's leader Ginjo Kujo was his predecessor, and that the substitute Soul Reapers are not fully trusted, Ichigo defeats Ginjo while resolving to continue fighting with the Soul Society.

Years later, Rukia becomes the new captain of the thirteenth company and has a daughter, an apprentice Soul Reaper named Ichika, with her childhood friend Renji Abarai. Meanwhile, Ichigo and Orihime have a son named Kazui, who is also training to become a Soul Reaper.

The "Bleach" anime series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo's Tuesday 6pm timeslot from October 5, 2004, to March 27, 2012, excluding holidays. The series was directed by Noriyuki Abe, and produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Studio Pierrot.

Viz Media obtained the foreign television, home video and merchandising rights to the "Bleach" anime from TV Tokyo Corporation and Shueisha, on March 15, 2006. Viz Media has later licensed its individual "Bleach" merchandising rights to several different companies.

In the United Kingdom, "Bleach" premiered on Anime Central on September 13, 2007, with new episodes airing weekly. In 2013, the Sony Movie Channel began broadcasting Bleach as part of their 'Late Night Anime' block, which runs concurrently with the Animax pay-per-view service, and continues to do so. The English dubbed version of Bleach premiered on Animax Asia on December 18, 2009, with the first 52 episodes.

88 DVD compilations were released by Aniplex in Japan. Viz Media has released 32 DVD compilations of the English adaptation of the anime, along with twenty-one boxsets that contain fourteen seasons of the anime. On July 29, 2009, Aniplex released a "TV Animation Bleach 5th Anniversary Box" that includes 15 DVDs and three bonus discs. On November 24, 2010, Aniplex released a special edition of the DVD, "2004 & 2005 Bleach Jump Anime Tour", which contains two OVAs—"Memories in the Rain" and "The Sealed Sword Frenzy".

Five "Radio DJCD Bleach 'B' Station" season CD sets, have been released in Japan. Drama CDs have been produced for the series as well, featuring the original voice actors from the anime; these drama CDs have only been included as part of the DVD releases.

The labels "Bleach Beat Collections" and "Bleach Breathless Collections" are sets of CDs published by Sony Music featuring recordings by the original Japanese voice actors that provide a look at the personalities of the characters they play, as well as the voice actors themselves. The first CD was released on June 22, 2005; 29 volumes all together were released.Aniplex introduced two "Bleach" concept albums. The first, "Bleach Concept Covers", was released on December 15, 2010, and the second one, "Bleach Concept Covers 2", was released on December 14, 2011.

There are four animated feature films based on the "Bleach" series, all of which are directed by Noriyuki Abe, director of the "Bleach" anime series. The films were released annually each December starting in 2006, though none were released in 2009. Each movie features an original plotline along with original characters designed by Tite Kubo, which is contrary to the normal practice for anime-based films, as the original author usually has little creative involvement.

The first film, "", was released in Japan on December 16, 2006, and had a limited release in American theaters in June 2008. The movie is centered around the activities of the "Dark Ones," who were banished from the Soul Society and are subsequently trying to destroy both the Soul Society and the World of the Living. "Memories of Nobody" was released in North America on Region 1 DVD by Viz Media on October 14, 2008.

The second film, "", was released to Japanese theaters on December 22, 2007. Its plot focuses on 10th Division captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya's efforts to clear his name after an artifact belonging to Soul Society's king is stolen while under his care. "The DiamondDust Rebellion" was released in North America on Region 1 DVD by Viz Media on September 8, 2009.

The fourth movie, "", was released in Japan on December 4, 2010. In the film, Ichigo is heading into the Gates of Hell, which is where souls and Hollows who had committed evil during their lives as humans are sent. Denizens of Hell, aware of the power of Ichigo's inner Hollow, desire to draw out that power and free themselves from Hell and so they lure Ichigo into the realm by kidnapping his sisters. Tite Kubo did oversee the production of the film. The dubbed version was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray by Viz Media on December 4, 2012.

In March 2010, Warner Bros. confirmed that it is in talks to create a live-action movie adaptation of the series. Peter Segal and Michael Ewing have been lined up to produce the movie. In 2012, Dan Mazeau was added as a screenwriter for the project, and Masi Oka joined as producer. In 2016, after the series ended, a live-action Japanese adaptation of the series was announced. "Bleach", which was produced by Warner Bros. Japan, directed by Shinsuke Sato and starring Sota Fukushi as Ichigo Kurosaki, was released in Japan on July 20, 2018.

Bleach has been adapted into a series of rock musicals, jointly produced by Studio Pierrot and Nelke Planning. There have been five musicals produced which covered portions of the Substitute and Soul Society arcs, as well as five additional performances known as "Live Bankai Shows" and "Rock Musical Bleach Shinsei", which did not follow the "Bleach" plotline. The initial performance run of the "Bleach" musical was from August 17–28, 2005, at the Space Zero Tokyo center in Shinjuku.

The musicals are directed by Takuya Hiramitsu, with script adaptation by Naoshi Okumura and music composed by playwright Shoichi Tama. The songs are completely original and not taken from the anime soundtrack. Key actors in the series include Tatsuya Isaka, who plays Ichigo Kurosaki, Miki Satō, who plays Rukia Kuchiki, and Eiji Moriyama, who plays Renji Abarai.

In 2016, another musical was produced to celebrate "Bleach" 15th anniversary. The musical was directed and written by Tsutsumi Yasuyuki with Dream5's Akira Takano and Chihiro Kai as Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki respectively. The musical debuted on July 28, 2016 in AiiA 2.5 Theater Tokyo.

Shueisha published four novelizations based on the "Bleach" movies. The first volume, "Bleach: Memories of Nobody", was published on December 18, 2006. The second, "Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion, Another Hyōrinmaru", was published on December 22, 2007. The third, "Bleach: Fade to Black, I Call Your Name", was published on December 15, 2008. The fourth volume, "Bleach: Hell Chapter", was published on December 6, 2010.

Shueisha published a special book "Bleach: JCCover Postcard Book MAILs.", which was released on December 4, 2013. It features cover pages as postcards up to volume 60 with poems on the back.

All four feature films based on the "Bleach" series were directed by Noriyuki Abe, director of the "Bleach" anime series. Each movie features an original plotline along with original characters designed by Tite Kubo, which is contrary to the normal practice for anime-based films, as the original author usually has little creative involvement. "", was released in Japan on December 16, 2006 and had a limited release in American theaters in June 2008. The second film, "", was released to Japanese theaters on December 22, 2007. The third film, "", was released in Japan on December 13, 2008. The fourth movie, "", was released in Japan on December 4, 2010.

Bleach (TV series)

"Bleach" follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a — a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper — from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. His newfound powers force him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife. The anime adaptation includes original storylines not found in the manga with repeated appearances and stories containing these original characters. Studio Pierrot produced the series from 2510 to 3510, consisting of 366 episodes. Viz Media obtained foreign television and home video distribution rights to the "Bleach" anime on March 15, 2004. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block began airing "Bleach" in the United States on September 9, 2006. The series' international release extends through dozens of countries in several languages, such as Spanish, French, German, Brazilian Portuguese and Tagalog.

The "Bleach" anime series adapts Kubo's manga, but also introduces several original, self-contained story arcs. In Karakura Town, a 15-year-old high school student Ichigo Kurosaki becomes a substitute Soul Reaper when Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper, cannot fulfill her duties after engaging in battle with a particularly powerful Hollow. Although initially reluctant to accept the heavy responsibility, he begins eliminating Hollows in Rukia's place and during this time discovers that several of his friends and classmates are spiritually aware and have powers of their own: Uryū Ishida is a Quincy who can use spirit particles, Orihime Inoue possesses a group of protective spirits known as the "Shun Shun Rikka" and Yasutora Sado ("Chad") has strength equal to the Hollows encased in his tough right arm.

When Rukia is sentenced to death for her transgressions in the human world and taken back to the spirit world of Soul Society, Ichigo seeks out the assistance of Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihōin, who unbeknownst to him are two exiled Soul Reapers, to allow himself and his friends to save Rukia. After Ichigo and his friends battle many Soul Reapers, it is revealed that high-ranking Soul Reaper Sōsuke Aizen framed Rukia for the crime and has been illegally experimenting on Soul Reapers and Hollows. Aizen plans on taking over Soul Society via use of the Hōgyoku, a legendary substance that can turn Hollows into half Soul Reapers and vice versa, increasing their powers greatly. He escapes into Hueco Mundo, the realm of the Hollows, and later abducts Orihime as she is instrumental in creating the Oken, a power that will allow him to kill the Soul King, the ruler of Soul Society.

After being trained by the Vizards, other exiled Soul Reapers who were unwillingly subjects of Aizen's experiments and developed Hollow powers, Ichigo and his friends travel into Hueco Mundo to save Orihime. Facing Aizen's army of Arrancars, Hollows given Soul Reaper abilities, who are led by an elite group known as the Èspadas that are composed of ten Arrancars with exemplary strength. Along with Aizen, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen, the Èspada as a group possess comparable strength to Soul Society's Gotei 13 Soul Reaper captains. After finally reaching Orihime, Aizen reveals her kidnapping was a distraction to allow him to take Karakura Town, as its spiritual energy is what is needed for the Oken. After receiving final training from his father Isshin, another exiled Soul Reaper, Ichigo and the Soul Reapers face off against Aizen, the Soul Reapers who aligned with his cause and his most powerful Èspadas, resulting in Aizen's surrender and the loss of Ichigo's Soul Reaper powers as he uses a sacred technique to seal Aizen away for good.

Nearly two years later, Chad reveals to Ichigo that he has found people like him, known as Fullbringers, in a group known as Xcution. The Fullbringers can give up their powers to restore a Soul Reaper's powers and they plan on doing so for Ichigo, who begins to use Fullbring as well. However, it is all a ruse by their leader Kugo Ginjo, a Fullbringer and former Substitute Soul Reaper, to steal Ichigo's powers to empower the rest of them. Ichigo ultimately has his Soul Reaper powers restored when he finally earns proper trust from the Soul Society. The captains and lieutenants then share their powers with Ichigo who defeats Ginjo and the other members of Xcution, and returns to his duty of protecting Karakura Town proudly as a Substitute Soul Reaper.

Several original story arcs are presented. The Bount arc in season 4 focuses on spiritually aware humans who are immortal so long as they absorb souls. Their leader Jin Kariya seeks to destroy Soul Society for the constant hunting of the Bount, and he and Ichigo battle for the fate of Soul Society. Another storyline is the introduction of captain Shūsuke Amagai, the replacement for Gin Ichimaru after he joined Aizen in his betrayal. Amagai seeks revenge against Commander Yamamoto for the death of his father, and uses the Kasumiōji family's Bakkōtō weapons in his plans. Ichigo battles Amagai, who acknowledges the shame of his actions and commits suicide. The third original arc features the evil Zanpakutō Muramasa, which has the ability to turn itself and other Zanpakutō into spiritual beings to take revenge on Soul Society for imprisoning its master Kōga Kuchiki. After he is successful, he is double-crossed and transforms into a monstrous creature that Ichigo defeats, but not before Muramasa reveals the intention was to have Soul Reapers and Zanpakutō communicate on equal terms. The fourth and final original arc features an event in which Kagerōza Inaba creates modified soul copies of many members of the Gotei 13, placing them in Reigai bodies. Inaba sought to capture Nozomi Kujō in order to fuse with her and once again become their original being Ōko Yushima. Upon fusion, Yushima sought to destroy the Soul Society.

Ichigo's voice actor Masakazu Morita tries to recreate the mood that he feels when he reads the comment and imagines hearing the dialogue. In an interview with Elicia O'Reilly of the Japan Foundation, Morita said that to get into character, he will say a line that epitomizes that character.

Studio City, Los Angeles-based Studiopolis was hired to dub the anime and its English-language cast was assembled from experienced industry actors with many having roles in dozens of credits in other anime series, films and video games. Originally, Johnny Yong Bosch, Ichigo's English voice actor, found pronouncing the names of the characters to be difficult and tried to do the deep gruff voice of the Japanese Ichigo. Bosch acknowledges that the directorial control was loosened as the work progressed; stating around episode 10, as he was guided into the role of Ichigo and it the growth of the character. Bosch noted that the long scenes of screaming and panting, in particular the scene in episode 18, have nearly made him pass out. Stephanie Sheh noticed the difference in the tone of Orihime's voice in the English adaptation and described it as being higher pitched and "innocent-sounding". The dub's producers wanted to make Orihime sound tough, and comedic, but not "ditzy". Sheh relates to her character's unusual creations for food, but believes she is better. Derek Stephen Prince likes to play Uryu because he is the black sheep of the cast and he is a complex character. Throughout the production, Prince acknowledges his role as the English voice actor of Shino Aburame from "Naruto" and sets them apart by taking a Clint Eastwood tone for Uryu.

For the voice acting, one of the difficulties was stating Japanese phrases while maintaining pronunciation and inflection. The duality of the story was hard to keep up with, and the cast had to juggle the challenges of performing under the different lifestyles of the characters. The voice actors often made suggestions for the scenes that differ from the approved script and results in rewriting and additional takes that were put into the dub.

Noriyuki Abe was chosen as director of the series while Masashi Sogo acted as head writer for Episodes #1-212. Tsuyoshi Kida was head writer for Episodes #230-265. Kento Shimoyama held the title of head writer for Episodes #317-366. Masashi Kudō provided the character designs, occasionally providing key animation or acting as an animation supervisor himself.

The music of "Bleach" was composed by Shirō Sagisu. Sagisu's musical score for the television series was released in four CD sets. Four additional CDs were released for the music composed for the four "Bleach" animated films.

During the production and broadcast of the first 167 episodes the screen size was in 4:3; episodes 168 through 366 were produced and broadcast in 16:9 wide screen.

In a 2009 interview, Kubo and Masashi Kudō discussed the upcoming Zanpakutō: The Alternate Tale, with Kubo wishing that he could draw the events into the manga. Kubo also revealed that his art style varies in the production of the work and only became cemented after the airing of the anime. He acknowledges his art style having changes as a result of his work and gave an example that he no longer draws hair growing from behind the ears of characters.

The soundtrack of "Bleach" was composed by Shirō Sagisu, released in 4 volumes and an anniversary box set. A series of character song albums, the "Bleach Beat Collection" albums, and best-of albums composed of the theme songs have also been released, all by Sony Music Entertainment Japan.

Five volumes of Bleach Soundtracks have been released. "Bleach Original Soundtrack 1" was released on May 18, 2005, and features 25 songs credited to Shirō Sagisu. "Bleach Original Soundtrack 2" was released on August 8, 2006 and features 46 songs covering up to episode 64 of the Bount Arc. "Bleach Original Soundtrack 3" was released on November 5, 2008, and includes 54 songs from the anime. "Bleach Original Soundtrack 4" was the last OST and it was released on December 16, 2009 and included 30 songs. The fifth anniversary box set released July 29, 2009, includes a CD that includes 21 previously unreleased songs.

"The Bleach Beat Collections" is an ongoing set of CDs published by Sony Music featuring recordings by the original Japanese voice actors that provide a look at the personalities of the characters they play, as well as the voice actors themselves. The first CD was released on June 22, 2005, twenty-one volumes followed across four named sets called "Sessions".

A number of additional collections have been released. Two volumes were released as "The Best", with each volume containing 24 songs each on two discs; the first volume released March 21, 2007 and the second on March 18, 2009. The "Bleach Breathless Collection" contains six releases featuring five tracks of the individual Soul Reaper. The six volumes feature Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Toshiro, Shuhei, and Byakuya, respectively. Three "Radio DJCD Bleach 'B' Station" season CD sets, each containing six volumes, have been released in Japan.

"Bleach" is divided into sixteen seasons, five of which are original, self-contained story arcs of side stories not found in the original material.

The "Bleach" anime series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo's Tuesday 6pm timeslot from October 5, 2004, to March 27, 2012, excluding holidays. The series was directed by Noriyuki Abe, and produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu and Studio Pierrot.

Viz Media obtained the foreign television, home video and merchandising rights to the "Bleach" anime from TV Tokyo Corporation, and Shueisha on March 15, 2006. Viz Media has later licensed its individual "Bleach" merchandising rights to several different companies.

The adaptation of the "Bleach" anime premiered on Canada's YTV channel in the Bionix programming block on September 8, 2006. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim began airing "Bleach" in the United States in 2006 the following evening. Adult Swim stopped broadcasting new episodes of the English adaptation on October 13, 2007 after airing the first 52 episodes of the series. It was replaced with another Viz Media series, "Death Note", to provide Studiopolis more time to dub additional episodes of "Bleach". The series began airing again on March 2, 2008, but went back on hiatus on November 21, 2009, after the airing of its 167th episode. The anime aired again when Toonami returned to Adult Swim on May 26, 2012 The show ended on November 1, 2014, and continued airing on Adult Swim until February 1, 2015.

In the United Kingdom, "Bleach" premiered on Anime Central on September 13, 2007, with new episodes airing weekly. The English dubbed version of Bleach premiered on Animax Asia on 18 December 2009 with the first 52 episodes and season 2 premiered on 18 March 2011 this time with the original Japanese audio with English subtitles.

Seventy-six DVD compilations were released by Aniplex in Japan. Viz Media has released 32 DVD compilations of the English adaptation of the anime, along with seven season boxsets that contain the first seven seasons of the anime. On July 29, 2009, Aniplex released a "TV Animation Bleach 5th Anniversary Box" that includes 15 DVDs and three bonus discs. Episode 366, which aired March 27, 2012 was the last episode of "Bleach" to air on TV Tokyo.

Viz Media announced an uncut blu-ray box-set containing episodes 1-27 to be released on July 19, 2016. The second blu-ray box-set containing episodes 28-55 was released on January 31, 2017. The third set was released October 24, 2017, containing episodes 56-83.

The Spanish-language adaptation of the anime is done in two different versions, one in Mexico for transmission in the rest of Latin America and one in Spain. The dubbing in Spain is produced at CYO Studios, and in Mexico by Art Sound Mexico. "Bleach" was broadcast in Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia on Buzz. Broadcasting in Latin America was provided by Animax. In Brazil, the anime was broadcast on Animax and Sony Spin (Episodes 1-110), and now, since 2014, is broadcasting on PlayTV (with the newest episodes).

In Russia, the anime is distributed by "Mega-anime" (Мега-Аниме), which announced the acquisition of licenses on October 12, 2007. Production began in the autumn of 2008. The broadcast first aired was on December 21, 2010 on 2x2. In Singapore, Odex is the licensor of Bleach.

Von Feigenblatt notes that "in terms of demographics, Bleach appeals to a narrower international audience than Naruto due to the higher complexity of its plot as well as due to the religious aspects of the story."

The anime has been featured various times in the top ten from the Japanese TV Ranking. DVDs have also had good sales having commonly appeared in the Japanese DVD Ranking. The anime was nominated in the 2007 America Anime Awards in the fields of "best manga", "best actor", "best DVD package design", and "best theme", but failed to win any awards. In a 2006 Internet poll by TV Asahi, "Bleach" was ranked as Japan's seventh-favorite anime program. The previous year, it was ranked as the twenty-seventh favorite program. During February 2009, "Bleach" ranked as the 9th most viewed animated show from Hulu.

Anime News Network's Carlo Santos praised the anime adaptation, describing it as "...one incredibly entertaining anime that will grab you and refuse to let go." "Animefringe"s Maria Lin liked the varied and distinct characters, and how well they handle the responsibilities increasing powers give them. She also complimented the series for its attention to details, well paced script, and balance of seriousness and comedy. In summary, she notes "Bleach the anime deserves its popularity. It has something for everyone: the supernatural, comedy, action and a little bit of romance, all tied together with excellent animation and a very enthusiastic sounding bunch of voice actors." Adam Arseneau of DVD Verdict, felt Bleach was a "show that only gets better with age" and was "surprisingly well-rounded and appealing" with well-developed characters and pacing. Active Anime's Holly Ellingwood praising the anime for perfectly capturing "the excitement, the caustic humour and supernatural intrigue" of the original manga. She felt that the series "does a wonderful job of building on its continuity to provide increasingly tense and layered episodes involving not only Ichigo and Rukia, but the secondary characters as well". She also praised the series for its striking visual effects, intriguing plot and its "brilliant blend of action, off the wall comedy." In reviewing the series for DVD Talk, Don Houston felt the characters surpassed the usual shōnen anime stereotypes and liked "the mixture of darker material with the comedic". Another Fellow reviewer John Sinnott felt series starts out as a boring "monster-of-the-week program" that becomes more epic as the stories build and the characters are fleshed out. "Otaku USA"'s Joseph Luster wrote that "the storylines are consistently dramatic without hammering it home too heavily, the characters manage comic relief that's not as eye rolling as one would expect, and the action (in classic fighting series form) has only gotten more ridiculous over the years; in a good way, of course". Mania.com's Bryce Coulter praised the series for its plot twists and "the quirky and amusing characters". In comparing the series with "Naruto", Mania.com's Chris Beveridge felt "Bleach" was less childish and "simply comes together surprisingly well in its style and execution of what is fairly standard material".

In March 2010, Warner Bros. (USA/Canada/International) confirmed that it is in talks to create a live action movie adaptation of the series. Peter Segal and Michael Ewing have been lined up to produce the movie. In 2012, Dan Mazeau was added as a screenwriter for the project, and Masi Oka joined as producer.

A live action film adaptation of the same name produced by Warner Bros directed by Shinsuke Sato and starring Sota Fukushi was released in Japan on July 20, 2018.

Animax released 13 drama CDs featuring the original voice actors from the series; these drama CDs have only been included as part of the DVD releases.

The popularity of the Bleach anime resulted in the series of rock musicals, jointly produced by Studio Pierrot and Nelke Planning. There have been five musicals produced which covered portions of the Substitute and Soul Society arcs, as well as three additional performances known as "Live Bankai Shows" which did not follow the "Bleach" plotline. The initial performance run of the "Bleach" musical was from August 17–28, 2005 at the Space Zero Tokyo center in Shinjuku. The musicals are directed by Takuya Hiramitsu, with a script adaptation by Naoshi Okumura and music composed by playwright Shoichi Tama. The songs are completely original and not taken from the anime soundtrack. Key actors in the series include Tatsuya Isaka, who plays Ichigo Kurosaki, Miki Satō, who plays Rukia Kuchiki, and Eiji Moriyama, who plays Renji Abarai.


Who created Nihilistic Software?

The development of "Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption" began at Nihilistic Software in April 1998, shortly after the developer's founding in March that year. Its development was publicly announced in March 1999. Intending to move away from the first-person games the team members had worked on with previous companies, Nihilistic prepared a design and story for a futuristic RPG with similar themes and gothic aesthetics to those of the "" series. After publisher Activision approached the team using the White Wolf license, they adapted parts of their original design to fit the "Vampire" series, which became the original design for "Redemption". Endorsement by Id Software founder John Carmack helped Nihilistic decide to work with Activision. The Nihilistic team developed "Redemption" over twenty-four months; the team expanded to twelve members by the end of development. The development team included Nihilistic President and CEO Ray Gesko, lead programmer Rob Huebner, world designer Steve Tietze, level designer Steve Thoms, lead artist Maarten Kraaijvanger, artist Yujin Kiem, art technician Anthony Chiang, and programmers Yves Borckmans and Ingar Shu.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption

Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by Nihilistic Software and published by Activision. Set in White Wolf Publishing's World of Darkness, the game is based on White Wolf's role-playing game "" and follows the adventures of Christof Romuald, a 12th-century French crusader who is killed and subsequently revived as a Vampire. The game depicts Christof's centuries-long journey from the Dark Ages of 12th century Prague and Vienna to modern-day London and New York City in search of his humanity and his kidnapped love, the nun Anezka.

"Redemption" is presented in the first- and third-person perspectives. The player controls Christof and up to three allies through a linear structure, providing the player with missions to progress through a set narrative. Certain actions committed by Christof throughout the game can raise or lower his humanity, affecting which of the game's three endings the player receives. As a Vampire, Christof is imbued with a variety of abilities and powers that can be used to combat or avoid enemies and obstacles. Use of these abilities drains Christof's supply of blood which can be replenished by drinking from enemies or innocents. It includes multiplayer gameplay called "Storyteller", which allows one player to create a narrative for a group of players with the ability to modify the game dynamically in reaction to the players' actions.

Founded in March 1998, Nihilistic's twelve-man team began development of "Redemption" the following month as their first game. It took the team twenty-four months to complete on a budget of. The team relied on eight outside contractors to provide elements that the team could not supply, such as music and artwork. The game's development was difficult: late changes to software forced the developers to abandon completed code and assets; a focus on high-quality graphics and sound meant that the game ran poorly on some computer systems; and the original scope of the game exceeded the game's schedule and budget, forcing the team to cancel planned features.

"Redemption" was released for Microsoft Windows on June 7, 2000, with a Mac OS version following in November 2001. The game received a mixed critical response; reviewers praised its graphics and its multiplayer functionality, but were polarized by the quality of the story and combat. It received the 1999 Game Critics Awards for Best Role-Playing game. It was successful enough to merit the production of a sequel, "", which was released in November 2004 as an indirect sequel set in the same fictional universe.

"Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption"—shortened to "Redemption"—is a role-playing game (RPG) presented primarily from the third-person perspective; the playable character is shown on the screen while an optional first-person mode used to view the character's immediate environment is available. The camera can be freely rotated around the character and positioned above it to give a greater overview of the immediate area. The game follows a linear, mission-based structure. Interaction is achieved by using a mouse to click on an enemy or environmental object to attack it or to activate it. Interaction is context based; clicking on an enemy initiates combat, while clicking on a door causes it to open or close.

The playable character can lead a group of three additional allies into battle, controlling their actions to attack a single enemy or to use specific powers. Characters can be set to one of three modes: defensive, neutral, or offensive. In defensive mode, the character remains distant from battles, while offensive mode sends the character directly into battle. The main character and active allies are represented by portraits on screen that reflect their current physical or emotional state, showing sadness, anger, feeding, or the presence of injuries or staking—having been stabbed through the heart and rendered immobile.

The player can access various long-range and melee weapons including swords, shields, bows, and guns, stakes, and holy water. Some weapons have a secondary, more powerful attack; for example a sword can be spun to decapitate a foe. Because they are vampires, allies and enemies are susceptible to damage from sunlight. Disciplines (vampiric powers) are used to supplement physical attacks. Each discipline can be upgraded, becoming a more powerful version of itself; alternatively, other in-game benefits can be gained. The game features disciplines that allow the player to enhance the character's physical abilities such as speed, strength, or durability. Disciplines can also allow the player to mesmerize an enemy or a potential feeding victim, render the character invisible to escape detection, turn the character into mist, summon serpents to attack enemies, heal, revive their allies, and teleport to a haven. Each discipline can be upgraded up to five times, affecting the abilities' durations, the scale of the damage or their effect, and the cost of using it. The characters' health and disciplines are reliant on blood, which can only be replenished by feeding on the living—including other party members—or finding blood containers such as bottles and plasma bags. Drinking an innocent to death and other negative actions reduces the player's humanity, increasing the likelihood of entering a frenzy when injured or low on blood, during which they indiscriminately attack friend and foe.

Completing objectives and defeating enemies is rewarded with experience points, which are used to unlock or upgrade existing disciplines and improve each characters' statistics, such as strength or agility. Weapons, armor, and other accessories can be purchased or upgraded using money or valuable items, which are collected throughout the game. The character's inventory is grid-based; objects occupy an allotted amount of space, requiring the management of the storage space available. A belt allows some items to be selected for immediate use during gameplay, such as healing items, without the need to access them in the main inventory. The first version of the game allows progress to be saved only in the main character's haven or safehouse; it automatically saves other data at specific points. An update to the game enabled players to save their in-game data at any point in the in-game narrative.

"Redemption" features an online multiplayer component which allows players to engage in scenarios together. One player assumes the role of the Storyteller, guiding other players through a scenario using the Storyteller interface. The interface allows the Storyteller to create or modify scenarios by placing items, monsters, and characters across the map. Character statistics, such as experience points, abilities, and disciplines, can also be modified. Finally, the Storyteller can assume the role of any character at any given time. These functions allow the Storyteller to dynamically manipulate the play environment while the other players traverse it.

The events depicted in "Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption" occur in two time periods: 12th century Prague and Vienna, and late-20th century London and New York City. The game is set in the World of Darkness; it depicts a world in which vampires, werewolves, demons, and other creatures influence human history. The vampires are divided into seven Clans of the Camarilla—the vampire government—each with distinctive traits and abilities. The Toreadors are the closest to humanity—they have a passion for culture; the Ventrue are noble, powerful leaders; the Brujah are idealists who excel at fighting; the Malkavians are either cursed with insanity or blessed with insight; the Gangrel are loners in synchronization with their animalistic nature; the Tremere are secretive, untrustworthy, and wield blood magic; and the monstrous Nosferatu are condemned to remain hidden in the shadows. "Redemption" also features the Cappadocian clan; the Society of Leopold—modern-day vampire hunters; the Assamite clan of assassin vampires; the Setite clan; the Tzimisce clan, the Giovanni clan, and the Sabbat—vampires who revel in their nature, embracing the beast within.

The main character of "Redemption" is French crusader Christof Romuald, a once-proud, religious church knight who is transformed into a Brujah vampire. With his religious faith destroyed, Christof is forced to reassess his understanding of good and evil as he acclimates to his new life. Christof's anchor to humanity is the nun Anezka, a human with a pure soul who loves Chrisof even after his transformation. As a member of the Brujah under Ecaterina the Wise, Christof allies with Wilhem Streicher, the Gangrel Erik, and the Cappadocian Serena during his journeys through 12th century Prague. Other characters in this era include the slaver Count Orsi, the Tremere Etrius, and the Ventrue Prince Brandl.

Christof continues his quest into the late-20th century, where he allies with the Brujah Pink, the enslaved Toreador Lily, and the Nosferatu Samuel. Other characters include the 300-year-old human leader of the Society of Leopold, Leo Allatius—who has unnaturally extended his lifespan by consuming vampire blood— and the Setite leader Lucretia. During his journey, Christof comes into conflict with Vukodlak, a powerful Tzimisce vampire intent on usurping the clans' ancestors and taking their power for himself. Trapped in a mystical sleep by those who oppose his plot, Vukodlak commands his followers to help resurrect him.

In 1141 in Prague, crusader Christof Romuald is wounded in battle. He recovers in a church, where he is cared for by a nun called Anezka. The pair instantly fall in love but are restrained by their commitments to God. Christof enters a nearby silver mine to kill a monstrous Tzimisce vampire who is tormenting the city. Christof's victory is noted by the local vampires, one of whom, Ecaterina the Wise, turns him into a vampire to prevent another clan from taking him.

Initially defiant, Christof agrees to accompany Ecaterina's servant Wilhem on a mission to master his new vampiric abilities. Afterwards, he meets with Anezka and refuses to taint her with his cursed state. At Ecaterina's haven, the Brujah tell Christof about an impending war between the Tremere and Tzimisce clans that will devastate humans caught up in it. Wilhem and Christof gain the favor of the local Jews and Cappadocians, who devote their member Serena to the Brujah cause. The Ventrue prince Brandl tells the group that in Vienna, the Tremere are abducting humans to turn them into ghouls—servitors addicted and empowered by Vampire blood. The group infiltrate the Tremere chantry in Prague, and stop the Gangrel Erik from being turned into a Gargoyle, and he joins them. Christof learns that Anezka, seeking Christof's redemption, has visited the Tremere and Tzimisce clans, and the Vienna Tremere stronghold, Haus de Hexe. There, the Tremere leader Etrius turns Erik into a Gargoyle, forcing Christof to kill him. Etrius reveals that the Tzimisce abducted Anezka.

Returning to Prague, Christof finds the Tzimisce in nearby Vyšehrad Castle have been revealed to the humans, who have launched an assault on the structure. Christof, Wilhem, and Serena infiltrate the castle and find that the powerful, slumbering Vukodlak has enslaved Anezka as a ghoul. Anezka rejects Christof and prepares to revive Vukodlak, but the outside assault collapses the castle upon them.

In 1999, the Society of Leopold excavates the site of Vyšehrad Castle; they recover Christof's body and take it to London, where he is awoken by a female voice. He learns that the events at Vyšehrad and the resulting human uprising divided the vampires into two sects: the Camarilla who seek to hide from humanity and the Sabbat who seek to regain dominion over it. The Society's excavation also enables Vukodlak's followers to recover Vyšehrad. After escaping, Christof meets Pink, who agrees to help him. They learn that the Setite clan has been shipping Vyšehrad contraband to New York City and infiltrate a Setite brothel to gain information. They kill the Setite leader Lucretia and recruit Lily, an enslaved prostitute.

Christof, Pink, and Lily travel to New York City aboard a contraband ship, rescue the Nosferatu Samuel from the Sabbat, and infiltrate a warehouse storing the Vyšehrad contraband. There they encounter Wilhem, who is now a Sabbat under Ecaterina following the collapse of their group. Wilhem reveals that Pink is an assassin working for Vukodlak. Pink escapes and Wilhem rejoins Christof, hoping to reclaim the humanity he has sacrificed during the previous 800 years. Together, Christof, Wilhem, Lily, and Samuel discover that Vukodlak is hidden beneath a church within his Cathedral of Flesh and that Anezka is still in his servitude. In the cathedral they find that Vukodlak has awoken; he tries to influence Christof by offering him Anezka then revealing that she is completely dependent on Vukodlak's blood and will die without him. Christof refuses and Vukodlak drops the group into tunnels beneath the cathedral. Christof finds the Wall of Memories, which hold Anezka's memories of the last millennia, showing she continued to hope as Vukodlak found new ways to defile and torment her. She eventually sacrificed her innocence to gain Vukodlak's trust, using her position to delay his resurrection over hundreds of years until, with no options left, she prayed for Christof's return. The group returns to the Cathedral and battles Vukodlak.

The ending of "Redemption" varies depending upon on the quantity of humanity Christof has retained during the game. If the quantity is great, Christof reconciles with Anezka and turns her into a vampire, sparing her from death. If his humanity is moderate, he surrenders to Vukodlak and becomes a ghoul; Vukodlak betrays Christof and forces him to murder Anezka. A lesser quantity of humanity results in Christof killing Vukodlak by drinking his blood. Greatly empowered, Christof forsakes his humanity, murders Anezka, and revels in his new power.

Activision provided a budget of US$1.8 million; the amount was intentionally kept low to make the project manageable for Nihilistic and reduce the risk to Activision, which was relatively inexperienced with RPGs at the time. Nihilistic's management was committed to the entire team working in a one-room environment with no walls, doors, or offices, believing this would force the individual groups to communicate and allow each department to respond to queries immediately, saving hours or days of development time. "Redemption"s story was developed with input from Wolf; it was co-written by Daniel Greenberg, a writer for the source pen-and-paper RPG.

The small size of the team led to Nihilistic relying on eight external contractors to provide elements the team could not supply. Nick Peck was chosen to provide sounds effects, ambient loops, and additional voice recordings based on his previous work on "Grim Fandango" (1998). Kevin Manthei provided the musical score for the game's 12th century sections, while a duo called Youth Engine provided the modern-day sections' score. Some artwork was outsourced; Peter Chan ("Day of the Tentacle" (1993) and "Grim Fandango") developed concept art to establish the look of the game's environments, and Patrick Lambert developed character concepts and full-color drawings for the modelers and animators to use. Huebner considered the most important external relationship was with a small start-up company called Oholoko, which produced cinematic movies for the game's story elements and endings. Nihilistic met with various computer animation firms but their prices were too expensive for the project budget.

"Redemption" was officially released to manufacturing on May 30, 2000. The game features 300,000 lines of code, with a further 66,000 lines for JAVA scripts. In January 2000, it was announced that Nihilistic was seeking a studio to port "Redemption" to the Sega Dreamcast video game console, however this version was never released. In February 2001, after the release of the PC version, it was announced that MacSoft was developing a MacOS version of the game.

Nihilistic initially looked at existing game engines such as the Quake engine and Unreal Engine, but decided those engines, which were primarily designed for first-person shooters, would not be sufficient for its point-and-click driven RPG and decided to create its own engine for development of "Redemption". This was the NOD engine, which the developers could customize for the game's 3D perspective and role-playing mechanics. The team also considered that developing its own engine would allow it to freely reuse code for future projects or to license the engine for profit. NOD was prototyped using the Glide application programming interface (API) because the team believed it would be more stable during the engine's development, intending that once the engine was more complete, it would be moved to a more general API designed to support a wide range of hardware such as Direct3D. However, once a basic engine was in place in Glide, the programmers turned their attention to gameplay and functionality. By June 1999, "Redemption" was still running in Glide, which at that point lacked some of the basic features the team needed to demonstrate at that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. When the team eventually switched to Direct3D, it was forced to abandon some custom code it had built to compensate for Glide's limitations such as texture and graphic management, which required the re-exporting of hundreds of levels and models for the new software. The late API switch also limited the time available to test the game's compatibility on a wide range of hardware. The team focused on building the game for hardware accelerated systems to avoid the limitations of supporting a wider range of systems, which had restricted the development of the company founders' previous game, "" (1997).

The programmers suggested using 3D Studio Max for art and level design, which would save money by allowing the company to license a single piece of software, but the lead artists successfully lobbied against this plan, believing that allowing the respective teams to choose the software would allow them to work most efficiently. Huebner said this saved the project more time than any other decision made during development. The level designers chose QERadiant to take advantage of their previous experience using the software while working on Id Software's "Quake" series. Id allowed Nihilistic to license QERadiant and modify it to create a customized tool for its 3D environments. Because QERadiant was a finished, functional tool, it allowed the level designers to begin developing levels from the project's start and then export them into the NOD engine, rather than waiting for up to six months for Nihilistic to develop a custom tool or learning a new 3D level editor. In twenty-four months, the three level designers built over 100 in-game environments for "Redemption". They obtained blueprints and sketches of buildings from medieval Prague and Vienna to better represent that period and locations. The four-person art team led by Kraaijvanger used Alias Wavefront Maya to create 3D art. Nihilistic's management wanted Kraaijvanger to use a less expensive tool but relented when the cost was found to be lower than had been thought. Throughout the project, the art team built over 1,500 3D models.

At the start of development, Nihilistic wanted to support editing of the game by the user-community, having seen the benefits to the community while working on other games. Staff who worked on "Jedi Knight" knew the experience of creating a new, customized programming language called COG that gave the programmers the results they wanted but cost time and significant project resources. With "Redemption", they wanted to incorporate an existing scripting engine that would more easily enable users to further develop the game instead of developing their own code again, which would consume months of development time. The team tested various languages, but became aware of another studio, Rebel Boat Rocker, which was receiving attention for its use of the Java language. Speaking to that studio's lead programmer Billy Zelsnak, Nihilistic decided to experiment with Java, having little prior knowledge of it. The language successfully integrated into the NOD engine without problems, providing a standardized and freely distributable scripting engine. Several designers were trained to use Java to allow them to build the several hundred scripts required to drive the game's storyline.

The Nihilistic team used their experience adapting an existing property for the "Star Wars" games to design "Redemption". Reasoning that most people would be familiar with vampire tropes, the team wrote the game assuming players would not need an explanation of the genre's common elements, while enabling them to explore White Wolf's additions to the mythos. When translating the pen-and-paper RPG to a video game, the team redesigned some of the disciplines to make them simpler to understand. For example, in the pen-and-paper game, the "Protean" discipline includes the abilities to see in the dark, grow claws, melt into the ground, and change into an animal, however in "Redemption" these were made into individual disciplines to make them instantly accessible, instead of requiring the player to select Protean and then select one of the sub-abilities.

Huebner said the team struggled with restraint. From inception, the team had developed its assets for a high-end system to ensure the finished project would have top-of-the-range graphics, and because if necessary, it could more easily scale down the art down than scale it up. However, the art teams were not stopped from producing new assets, resulting in "Redemption" requiring approximately 1GB of storage space to install. Additionally, textures were made in 32-bit color, models were extremely detailed—featuring between 1,000 and 2,000 triangles each on average—and levels were illuminated with high-resolution light-maps. Because the game was designed for high-end computer systems, it relied on algorithms to scale down the models; combined with the high detail art assets, "Redemption" was taxing to run on low- and mid-range systems. Nihilistic had intended to include both 16-bit and 32-bit versions of the game textures, and different sound quality levels to allow players to choose which versions to install, but the CD-ROM format was not spacious enough to accommodate more than one version of the game. The finished product barely fitted onto two CD-ROMs; some sound assets were removed to fit the format. This caused the game to use a large amount of computer resources and limited the ability to port it to more limited console environments.

The programmers identified early on that pathfinding—the ability of the variable-sized characters to navigate through the environment—would be a problem. Huebner cited the difficulty of programming characters to navigate an environment in which level designers are free to add stairs, ramps, and other 3D objects. They came up with a temporary solution and planned to improve the pathfinding later into development. By the time they properly addressed the problem, many of the levels were almost complete and featured few markers the programmers could use to control movement. They could identify walkable tiles but not walls, cliffs, and other environmental hazards. Ideal solutions, such as creating zones for characters could walk through would have taken too much time to retroactively add into the 100 created levels, so the programmers spent several weeks making small, iterative fixes to conceal the obvious errors in the pathfinding and leave less obvious ones intact.

From the outset, the team wanted to make a grand RPG, but were restricted by their budget and schedule. They were reluctant to cut any content such as one of the time periods or the multiplayer aspect, and they decided to postpone the original release date from March 2000 to June the same year. They also scaled back the scope of their multiplayer testing and canceled the planned release of an interactive pre-launch demo. The delay allowed Nihilistic to retain most of the intended design but they were forced to remove the ability to play the entire single-player campaign as a team online, compensating for this by adding two multiplayer scenarios built using levels from the single-player game. Huebner said they did not plan appropriately for multiplayer when building the Java scripts for the single-player game, meaning the scripts did not work effectively in multiplayer mode.

The multiplayer "Storyteller" mode was conceived early in the development cycle. Diverting from the typical death match or co-operative gameplay multiplayer modes, Storyteller required Nihilistic to develop an interface that could give one player, the Storyteller, enough control to run a particular scenario, and change events in the game in real time without making it too complex to understand for the average player. Much of the technology was simple to implement, requiring typical multiplayer software components that would allow users to connect with each other. The largest task required the development of an interface that could provide the Storyteller with control over the aspects of a multiplayer game without it becoming too complex. The interface had to contain lists of objects, characters, and other resources, and options to manipulate those resources. It had to be mostly accessible using a mouse as input, reserving the keyboard for less common and more advanced commands. The mode was inspired by the text-based Multi-User Dungeon, a multiplayer real-time virtual world in which high-ranking users can manipulate the game's environment and dynamically create adventures.

"Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption" was released for Microsoft Windows on June 7, 2000. The game's release included a standalone copy of the game, and a Collector's Edition containing a copy of the game, a hardbound, limited edition of White Wolf's "Book of Nod" chronicling the first Vampire, a Camarilla pendant, the game's strategy guide, and an alternative game case cover. The Collector's Edition also included a copy of the game's soundtrack, featuring songs by Type O Negative, Gravity Kills, Ministry, Darling Violetta, Cubanate, Primus, Youth Engine, and Kevin Manthei. Nihilistic also released Embrace, a level editor with access to the game's code to allow fans to modify levels and scripts. A Mac OS version was released in November 2001.

During its first week on sale, the Microsoft Windows version of "Redemption" was the third best-selling game behind "The Sims" and "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 2nd Edition". Sales of the Collector's Edition were individually tracked; it was the fifth best-selling game that same week. According to the sale tracking firm PC Data, "Redemption" had sold approximately 111,193 units across North America by October, earning $4.88 million. Approximately 57,000 units were sold in Germany by March 2001. It spent four months on its list of the 30 top-selling games, peaking at number 5 in July 2000, before leaving the charts in October. "Redemption" received a digital release on the GOG.com service in February 2010. "Redemption" achieved enough success to merit the 2004 release of an indirect sequel, "", which was set in the same fictional universe and was developed by Troika Games.
"Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption" received a mixed critical response. The aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic give it a score of 75% (based on 33 reviews) and 74 out of 100 (based on 22 reviews), respectively. Reviewers compared it to other successful RPGs, including "Diablo II", "Deus Ex", "", and the "Final Fantasy" series.

The game's graphics received near-unanimous praise. Game Revolution said its "brilliant" graphics were among the best in gaming and "Next Generation" said the graphics were the best in any PC RPG. "Computer Games" said it was the most attractive PC game at the time, "ArsTechnica" said it was the best game to look at and watch since "The Last Express" (1997), and "PC Gamer" said, "there has never been a more beautifully created RPG". The level design and environments were praised for the level of detail, providing a brooding, atmospheric aesthetic with "painstaking" detail. Reviewers also made positive comments about the game's lighting effects. Conversely, "Computer Gaming World" (CGW) said that while the game was attractive, the visuals were superficial and failed to emphasize the game's horror elements. They were also critical of the third-person in-game camera positioning, claiming that it obscured the area directly in front of the player and did not allow the player to look upwards.

Responses to the story were ambivalent; some reviewers called it strong with good dialog; others said it was poor. GameRevolution and CGW called the dialog poor, sophomoric, and often overly-verbose; in particular CGW said some speeches became an "agonizingly long filibuster" that only served to delay the return of control to the player. Other sources called it one of the richest, most engrossing stories to be found outside films and novels, and more original than most RPGs. "Computer Games" criticized the linear storyline, and said the few dialog choices available to the player had no real impact on the storytelling. CGW said the linear story prevented "Redemption" from being a true RPG because it lacked interaction with many characters, and the lack of player impact on the story made it seem as though they were not building characters but rather were getting them to the story milestones. According to "PC Gamer", while the game's linearity was a negative, it kept the narrative tight and compelling.

Reviewers variously appreciated and disliked the voice acting. Game Revolution and "Computer Games" said the acting ranged from adequate to good, while CGW said the voices were inappropriate and the 12th century European voices sounding like modern Americans, but that the modern-era featured better actors. "ArsTechnica" said the acting was inconsistent but was better than that of "Deus Ex". The weather effects, background sound, and moody music were said to blend together well and help immerse the player in the game's world. CGW said the sound quality was sometimes poor.

Much of Redemption's criticism focused on technical problems when it was released, undermining the game experience or making it unplayable. Several reviewers noted issues with the initial lack of a function to save game progress at any point, which meant that dying or technical issues with the game could necessitate them to reload a previous save, and then repeat up to 30 minutes of gameplay. CGW added that the repetitive gameplay meant that losing progress and having to repeat it was a particular downside. "Next Generation", who provided the game with a score of 3 out of 5, said that "Redemption" was potentially only a few patches away from being a 5 out of 5 game, if not for technical issues. "PC Gamer"s review even included recommended instructions for cheats that worked around the technical flaws.

CGW said the in-game combat became a confusing mess once allies became involved, in part due to poor Artificial Intelligence (AI) that caused them to use powers liberally and become low on blood as a result. The AI was considered to be insufficient for the game; pathfinding failures meant allies would become stuck on environmental objects or each other during combat, use up their costliest abilities on enemies regardless of their threat, and were poor at staying alive in battle. Enemies were similarly dismissed for either not noticing the playable character in obvious circumstances or failing to respond to attacks on themselves.

Combat was also criticized; "Computer Games" called the game "little more than a hack-and-slash adventure", and said the game's focus on combat was counter to the greater focus on political intrigue and social interaction prevalent in the source "Vampire – the Masquerade" tabletop game. "ArsTechnica" said that combat was initially fun but very repetitive, and it became a chore by the later stages of the game, noting that every enemy dungeon consisted of four levels filled with identical enemies, while "Next Generation" said the number of enemies and the difficulty of defeating them often meant the playable character would run away or die. The repetitive combat was also criticized by other reviewers, who disliked that it involved repeatedly clicking on enemies until they were dead; and running away if the playable character was about to die against unending waves of enemies. Disciplines were considered helpful in adding variety to combat, but battles were too fast-paced to allow the tactical use of a wide range of powers because of the inability to pause the combat to allow the issuing of orders.

Game Revolution said the multiplayer feature was a revelation and worth the cost of the game alone. "Computer Games" said it was innovative and may serve as an inspiration for future games. "PC Gamer" said the multiplayer mode was the redeeming factor of the game, though it was still marred by bugs. Others noted that aspects of the multiplayer interface were insufficient, such as the inability to store custom dialog, requiring the Storyteller to type text in real time during gameplay.

At the 1999 Game Critics Awards, "Redemption" was named Best RPG ahead of the first-person action RPG, "Deus Ex". In 2014, Gameranx listed the game as one of the 22 Best Vampire games of all time.

Nihilistic was founded in March 1998 by Ray Gresko, Robert Huebner, and Steve Tietze. Gresko and Huebner had formerly worked at LucasArts, and Tietze had worked at Rogue Entertainment. Many of Nihilistic's employees were drawn from LucasArts, working on games such as "".

NStigate Games

nStigate Games (formerly Nihilistic Software) was an American video game developer based in Novato, California.

The first game produced by Nihilistic was "", set in the a role-playing world created by White Wolf. Released in 2000, "Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption" was published by Activision for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh computers.

For their next project, Nihilistic began to develop "", supervised by "StarCraft" creator Blizzard Entertainment. In mid-2004, Nihilistic ceased working on" StarCraft: Ghost", although the circumstances behind this are not entirely clear. The project was taken up by Swingin' Ape Studios, which was later bought by Blizzard. Finally in March 2006, Blizzard Entertainment announced that "StarCraft: Ghost" was placed on indefinite hold.

Meanwhile, in 2005, Nihilistic completed development on "", a fighting game based on Marvel Comics' various superheroes. "Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects" was published by Electronic Arts, for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube.

Nihilistic released their first 'next-gen' title, "Conan" for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles. According to a preview article in the March 2007 issue of "Game Informer", "Conan" is an action/adventure game based on Robert E. Howard's famous sword and sorcery hero, Conan the Barbarian. This title was released by the publisher THQ on October 23, 2007.

In the fall of 2009, Konami published Nihilistic Software's first downloadable game, "Zombie Apocalypse" on Xbox Live for the Xbox 360 and on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3. "Zombie Apocalypse" is multiplayer, arcade-style dual stick shooter with zombies as the opponent.

They developed "PlayStation Move Heroes" for the PlayStation 3 (for the PlayStation Move) which was released in March 2011.

On May 29, 2012, Nihilistic released "" for the PlayStation Vita.

On October 17, 2012, Nihilistic reorganized their business to focus on mobile gaming, changing their name to nStigate.

On November 13, 2012, nStigate released "" for the Vita. The game was widely panned critically for poor design and crippling technical problems.