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Bleach's Story Continues In 1st Art Exhibit

The first ever exhibit for Tite Kubo's Bleach manga opened on the 9th floor of Tokyo's Shibuya Hikarie building on December 18 and will run until January 16. The exhibit represents a fresh look at the manga as it celebrates its 20th anniversary: It contains a reproduction of the new 76-page chapter of the manga, which was published in the magazine's combined 36th and 37th issue on August 10, as well as Kubo's comments and reflections on his artwork from the original manga.

The exhibit is particularly memorable to attend in person because visitors are shown two slickly edited videos based on a spread illustration Kubo drew of Bleach's impressive cast of characters. The videos are presented with stylish rock music performed by singer-songwriter Tatsuya Kitani, which perfectly captures Bleach's unique vibe.

You can see a preview in the exhibit's promotional video:

The main part of the exhibit takes the visitor through the major arcs of the manga. But first, it begins with poetry. The first wall shows several panels representing some of Bleach's most lyrical lines of dialogue, which is the first indication that the exhibit isn't just about representing Tite Kubo's line art, but also his artistic sensibilities as a whole. Later on in the exhibit, his music inspirations are a focus; in his commentary, he shares how he has a music playlist for his characters. A row of illustrations shows his characters drawn in the style of a record album cover. (Incidentally, one of the biggest musical inspirations for Bleach is the punk rock band Bad Religion.)

To some degree, the exhibit is an advertisement for Tite Kubo's official fanclub, called Klub Outside. Members of the club voted on their favorite characters and battles, which were displayed at the exhibit. (The Ichigo vs Ulquiorra fight got the top vote, for those curious.) In addition, 100 members were invited to a live drawing and Q&A session with Tite Kubo to commemorate the exhibit's opening. For the fanclub, Kubo continues to draw new artwork and release rough drawings and design materials for Bleach that have never been made public before.

Kubo's written comments throughout the exhibit were consistently frank and insightful. One comment that stood out to me was when he mentioned that because Hitsugaya is so short, he ended up drawing the character in the foreground of most of the spread illustrations so that he doesn't come across as even shorter than he is. It was also nice to see the comments where Kubo plainly said, "I like this art" or even "I have this framed in my house." He mentioned that because he has drawn Bleach for so long and tackled so many different kinds of illustrations over the years, it can be hard to keep up the creativity, which is why it's a nice feeling to draw something that feels a little extra memorable to him, whether it's an unusual layout or a theme with a different atmosphere than usual.

It might not always have been a smooth journey, but Bleach's artistic vibes are unforgettable. As Kitani stated in the official pamphlet interview, Bleach had an impact on everyone in his generation. Anyone working even adjacently with art or graphic design was aware of what Bleach did to push the image of manga as a "cool" and "stylish" art.

Looking ahead, although the main manga series has concluded, the future of Bleach remains strong, with the "Thousand Year Blood War" arc anime set to debut in October 2022. Long may its legacy continue.