Bleach watch order
Watch the original Bleach, episodes 1-366, then Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War from its episode 1 to its finale, episode 50. The four movies are optional side stories. Thousand-Year Blood War finished in October 2026, so the anime is now complete.
Thousand-Year Blood War (TYBW) adapts the manga's final arc. It was released in four parts, and Japanese listings number its episodes 1-50 rather than continuing from 366. Some guides and apps use a running count that starts at 367 instead.
The order
| Step | Watch | Episodes | Aired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bleach, episodes 1-366 | 1-366 | 2004-2012 | The original series. Our Bleach filler list cuts it to 207 episodes. |
| 2 | Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 1 | 1-13 | 2022 | The final manga arc begins. Numbering starts again at 1. |
| 3 | Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 2: The Separation | 14-26 | 2023 | Continues straight on. |
| 4 | Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 3: The Conflict | 27-40 | 2024 | Ends with an hour-long finale (39-40). |
| 5 | Thousand-Year Blood War, Part 4: The Calamity | 41-50 | 2026 | The final part. Its last episode aired in October 2026. |
Sources disagree on how many episodes Part 3 has. Some count 13, but Part 4 opened with episode 41, which makes Part 3 run 27-40 once the two-episode finale is counted as two. In the US, Thousand-Year Blood War streams on Hulu.
Bleach watch order without filler
Only the original series has filler. Follow the Bleach episodes to keep: 207 of 366, after cutting 159 filler episodes (43.4%). Then watch Thousand-Year Blood War in full.
Keep the mixed episodes in that route. Episodes 33, 109 and 342 sit inside or beside filler arcs but include manga material, including the farewell in 342 that leads into the last original arc. If you want some filler back, our Bleach filler worth watching guide picks three arcs.
We haven't labelled Thousand-Year Blood War episode by episode. It adapts the final manga arc and adds expanded scenes. Our filler counts cover the original series only.
Bleach movies in order
There are four films, all original stories made for cinema: Memories of Nobody (2006), The DiamondDust Rebellion (2007), Fade to Black (2008) and Hell Verse (2010). None is needed for the TV story.
They were released while the original series was airing, so each assumes you know the cast up to that point. The simplest choice is to watch them in release order after episode 366 and before Thousand-Year Blood War. That way nothing in them gets ahead of the show.
There's also a 2021 manga one-shot about Hell, but no anime of it had been announced when we checked.
Questions
Can I start with Thousand-Year Blood War?
You can, but it's the ending. It assumes you know the characters, their powers and the events of the original series. Use the no-filler route to get there faster.
Is Thousand-Year Blood War a new season or a new series?
A new series that continues the story. It picks up after the original anime's last arc, about ten years after episode 366 aired.
How long is the whole thing?
366 plus 50 episodes. With the filler cut, the original series takes about 79 hours at 23 minutes an episode.
Sources and scope
Episode labels for the original series come from our Bleach sources. The movie placement is our recommendation.
Thousand-Year Blood War and films: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (Wikipedia), Anime News Network on episodes 49 and 50, Anime News Network on The Calamity, Final Weapon on episodes 39-40, Bleach: Hell Verse and Anime News Network releases. Checked November 3, 2026.