Bleach is a series full to the brim with memorable story arcs, including one that is considered by many to be one of the best arcs in shonen history. Unfortunately, this arc appears early on in Bleach’s run, with subsequent story beats either rehashing concepts from this one or just not being as riveting as they should’ve been. Here are all the arcs of Bleach, ranked on the basis of how riveting they were.
Updated on September 20, 2022, by Ritwik Mitra: With the advent of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War right around the corner, there’s no better time to get into this series and experience the legendary nature of Ichigo’s journey from the very start. Bleach might not have been the most genre-defining anime around, but there’s no denying that the series had its moments early on. Watching Ichigo transform from a dissatisfied student into one of the most powerful Shinigami of all time is a joy to witness even now.
The original anime covers a multitude of arcs from the anime, all of which vary in quality quite a bit. For the most part, the series is pretty riveting and features a bunch of amazing stories that viewers will be absolutely hooked onto. That being said, some Bleach arcs are simply better than others, as illustrated by their ranking on this list.
8 Special Mention: The Filler Arcs
Bleach has its fair share of filler, as is the case with any weekly-running anime that has to do everything in its power to avoid catching up to the manga. While most people might lambast the filler in the show for obvious reasons, ardent fans of Bleach can still check these stories out if they wish. Just keep in mind that their placement in the show’s timeline can be weird, since there’s little to no downtime between Bleach arcs, causing certain filler arcs to just pop up out of nowhere to try and justify their existence.
RELATED: Bleach: Inconsistencies Introduced by the Anime’s Filler Arcs
The Bount Arc (Episodes 64-108)
The Bount arc is one of the first filler arcs in Bleach. While it starts out with an intriguing premise, the Bount themselves are pretty uninteresting and the Shinigami are nerfed quite a bit to fabricate a fair bit of conflict in the series. This leads to the Bount arc feeling rather underwhelming by the time it ends.
Stolen Hogyoku Arc (Episodes 128-137)
This arc takes a slightly detailed look at the Arrancar and their dissatisfaction with Aizen being the leader. It’s a decent arc where the fan-favorite character Hitsugaya also gets his moment to shine, but it comes at the cost of poor pacing and an odd placement in the middle of an ongoing canon arc.
The New Captain Shusuke Amagai Arc (Episodes 168-189)
Shusuke Amagai is the new captain of the 3rd Division after Gin Ichimaru betrays Soul Society. He seems like an intriguing character and his fights in the arc are pretty good… but the rest of this saga focuses on boring characters and non-consequential stories that lose all their importance after this filler arc ends.
Zanpakuto Unknown Tales Arc (Episodes 230-265)
One of the better filler arcs in the series comes when the spirits of every Shinigami’s Zanpakuto start rebelling against their owners. This makes for some great battles, even though — just like most filler arcs — there are no long-term consequences of this rebellion whatsoever.
The Gotei 13 Invasion Arc (Episodes 317-342)
This arc takes place after Ichigo’s powers start waning following his battle with Aizen. The idea of the Shinigami fighting against their doppelgangers makes for a great time and is considered by many to be one of the best filler arcs in the anime.
7 Agent Of The Shinigami Arc
After becoming a substitute Shinigami, the first few episodes of Bleach follow a monster-of-the-week format. This allows Ichigo to get a grasp over his powers, lets the show slowly introduce new characters, and also lets Rukia explain the nuances of Soul Society and the nature of this world too.
Ultimately, this Bleach arc is a pretty slow burn that most fans will need to power through before they can get to the good part of the show. Most people don’t mind the slow beginning of Bleach, especially since it serves as a perfect lead-up to one of the best shonen arcs of all time.
6 The Lost Substitute Shinigami Arc
After beating Aizen and losing his powers for good, Ichigo returns to his mundane life as a student. It’s smooth sailing for the most part, but there’s a part of Ichigo who misses his life as a Shinigami and wants to return to his action-packed life back in the day.
This is where the Fullbring comes into the picture, who allows Ichigo to attain a new form of power once again. However, this Bleach arc feels like nothing more than a gigantic waste of time, serving as an excuse for Ichigo to regain his Shinigami powers and fight against a villain established through this arc.
5 The Past Arc
This arc is pretty short and serves as a way to fill in the blanks and reveal Aizen’s motivations to the viewer. Figuring out how the Visored came to be, along with the reason for Urahara being ejected from Soul Society, is revealed in a short but sweet arc that turns Aizen into a more repulsive villain than he already was.
The only reason why this Bleach arc is placed so low on the list is because of its pretty short length. Aside from this minor gripe, The Past arc does a great job of fleshing out the world and the history that occurred before the events of the manga.
4 The Arrancar Arc
The introduction of the Arrancar is certainly quite intimidating and comes around the perfect time when Ichigo starts battling with the Hollow powers inside him. It helped that the designs of these villains were incredible, showing just how talented of an artist Tite Kubo really is.
However, this Bleach arc is mainly used as a way to introduce these powerful villains before setting the stage for the rest of the events that follow. While this isn’t detrimental in the slightest, it does end up making this set-up feel a bit long-winded at times. It doesn’t help that Orihime being kidnapped feels like a rehash of Rukia’s damsel-in-distress storyline all over again.
3 The Battle Of Karakura Arc
The Battle of Karakura is one of the pivotal moments in the series, with all the members of the Gotei 13 trying their hardest to thwart the threat of the Arrancar once and for all. This arc is littered with some amazing fights that fans still remember fondly to this day.
However, the finale of this Bleach arc is somewhat hampered by the underwhelming conclusive fight between Ichigo and Aizen. This is where Bleach’s issues with its power creep take center stage, with Ichigo getting a power boost out of nowhere that lets him absolutely manhandle Aizen. It’s a torrid way to defeat one of the most intriguing antagonists in shonen and is probably the reason why so many people lost their interest in Bleach.
2 Hueco Mundo Arc
The Hueco Mundo arc is when Bleach starts getting good once again after setting up the events for this arc. While the act of infiltrating Hueco Mundo is pretty similar to the time when the gang had to break into Soul Society, there are enough differences to make this particular part of the story pretty exciting anyway.
The large number of Arrancar that Ichigo and his friends need to fight in this Bleach arc are pretty powerful and memorable in their own right. Finally seeing Ichigo take on Arrancar that would’ve given him a tough time is pretty satisfying and makes for one of the best parts of the show.
1 Soul Society Arc
Any Bleach fan knew it was only a matter of time before the Soul Society would appear at the very top of the rankings. After all, most people consider this arc to be some of the finest storytelling in a shonen anime, with its fights being quite awe-inspiring as well. Each character in Bleach arc gets their time to shine in a battle that really lets them showcase their true potential.
The arc ends with a great confrontation between Byakuya and Ichigo, followed by Aizen’s betrayal. This arc had everything one could expect from a brilliant shonen storyline, and it’s a shame that Bleach could never live up to the high standards set by its first major arc.
More: Things The Bleach Manga Does Better Than The Anime
