Ichigo Kurosaki is an average high school student except for his ability to see ghosts. One night, his family is attacked by a Hollow, a corrupted spirit that devours souls. He and a Soul Reaper who appears named Rukia manage to fight it off.
However, in the process, Rukia is injured, forcing her to share her powers with Ichigo in order to survive the battle.
From there, Ichigo must face down with Hollows and other Soul Reapers alike, not yet knowing what powerful enemies lurk out in the universe and what devastating powers lie within himself.
Oh, Bleach, started off so strong, but couldn’t bring it back from filler by the end. Here’s hoping for a reboot to at least finish the story, I guess. Anyway, if you are looking for more anime recommendations like Bleach, head on down below.
Anime Like Bleach
For Fans of Increasingly Powerful Main Characters
Fairy Tail
While looking to enhance her magic, celestial mage Lucy meets an energetic fire mage name Natsu. After finding out he is a member of the famous wizard guild Fairy Tail that she has long admired, the pair travel home so Lucy can join.
Together with her new guildmates, Lucy and Natsu embark on adventures to help people, make money, and explore their vast magical world.
Fairy Tail progresses on a similar scale as Bleach. Early On, both are an even mix of action and humor, but they gradually begin to just focus on action as things go on and get more intense.
Essentially in both series, the heroes go on a journey filled with endless fights and gathers an ever-growing list of allies while awaking new powers.
Yu Yu Hakusho
Yusuke was your typical delinquent teen, but one day he is fatally hit by a car after saving a young child.
Impressed by his sacrifice, the afterlife gives him another chance at life, providing he become a Spirit Detective in return and defend humanity from demons and powerful enemies that seek to do them harm.
Being a Spirit Detective is just a stone’s throw away from being a Shinigami.
Especially since both Spirit Detective Yusuke and Soul Reaper Ichigo both gradually drift away from their purpose, powering up and fighting even stronger enemies.
Dragonball Z
Goku and his family live a peaceful life until one day when his son Gohan is kidnapped by a man claiming to be Goku’s brother, a powerful alien from another planet. A
fter defeating his brother and refusing to join the last remnants of his Saiyan race, Goku must defend earth from the powerful foes from throughout the universe.
Before there was Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece, there was Dragonball Z, a must-watch action series for anyone that is a fan of the Big Shounen 3.
Like in Bleach, Goku is constantly gaining new powers in order to deal with increasingly powerful evil. So much so that, like Ichigo, many of his friends become irrelevant in terms of power.
Black Clover
After being abandoned at the same church, Asta and Yuno grew up together. Together they also grew up aiming for the same title – The Wizard King, the strongest wizard in the kingdom.
However, it soon became apparent that while Yuno has skill with magic, Asta couldn’t use it at all. This all changed when they were attacked and Asta was given a strange grimoire that granted him the ability to nullify magic.
In a way, Black Clover kind of slid into the void left by Bleach after it ended.
It has a different setting and type of main character, but it still has that same shounen anime feel to it where the characters are constantly getting stronger to fight stronger enemies.
Furthermore, both shows also enjoy a large cast of unique characters.
Busou Renkin
One night, high school student Kazuki Muto is killed while saving a girl from a monster. However, when he wakes up in his dorm, he thinks it was just a dream.
When he is attacked later with his sister, the girl he saved, named Tokiko Tsumura, appears and explains that these monsters are Homunculi and she fights them using Kakugane that form Busou Renkin weapons.
Having revived Kazuki using one of these Kakugane, he is able to form his Busou Renkin lance and fight alongside Tokiko.
If you enjoyed the beginning arcs of Bleach, Busou Renkin and its manageable amount of episodes really keeps that feel.
Like Bleach, it is about a kid that gets powers from a girl he saves, and ends up fighting what is plaguing his city right beside her.
For Fans of Lengthy Anime Series
One Piece
When legendary pirate Gol D. Roger was executed, his last words told the world about his treasure – One Piece. This set off a race among pirates everywhere looking to get their hands on it.
Enter Monkey D. Luffy, who has finally assembled a motley crew ready to head out into the Grand Line and battle it out with anyone that gets in their way in hopes of finding the treasure.
Both are comedy, action, adventure-type anime, but while Bleach tends to only stick to a few locations, One Piece goes all over their world and meets all kinds of enemies.
Regardless, both are incredibly lengthy shounen series with a large cast and a large list of growing powers for the characters.
Inuyasha
Kagome’s normal life came to an end one day when a demon dragged her down into a well at the shrine where she lived. When she next woke, Kagome finds herself 500 years in the past in Japan’s feudal era, a time in history fraught with both war and, apparently, demons.
It is there she learns that she is a reincarnation of a priestess tasked with guarding the Shikon Jewel, a jewel she died with.
With the jewel returned to the world with her, Kagome must fight off the demons that want to gain its power, including Inuyasha, a half-demon that was once a lover of her past self right up until she sealed him to a tree.
Unlike Bleach, Inuyasha eventually found its end. However, it is long enough and filled with enough fights to keep the serious anime fan busy for awhile.
While Inuyasha has more elements of romance than Bleach, both feature strong, somewhat grumpy main characters that are constantly getting stronger to face stronger opponents.
Naruto
Orphaned at a young age and ostracized by his village due to the nine-tailed fox demon that was sealed within him at birth, Naruto aims for the top. His dream is to eventually become the leader of his village, the Hokage.
However, first he must actually become a ninja and gain strength enough to rise to this pinnacle.
There was a time when Bleach and Naruto were the hand-holding best buddies of the anime world, and then Bleach ended. Naruto did not.
Regardless, you will see the same widening scope of story progression where it goes from solving small-time problems in the beginning to basically killing gods by the end.
Bleach and indeed many shounen series seem to have a problem with knowing when to end. If you enjoy longer anime series, check out these 20 Longer Length Anime Series to Get Lost In
For Fans of Supernatural Battlers
Soul Eater
Death City is home to a famous technical academy and ran by Lord Death himself.
At this academy, meisters train with their human weapons in order to evolve them into Death Scythes to be wielded by the Grim Reaper, Lord Death. Only by consuming 99 evils souls and the soul of one witch will a weapon be able to evolve.
This is the story of several students of the academy as they try to grow stronger and protect Death City in the process.
Most obviously, both series are about shinigamis doing what shinigamis do.
While Bleach spends more time in the human world, Soul Eater focuses on what is essentially their version of Soul Society.
Blue Exorcist
In order for demons to pass into the human realm, they must do so through possession. For Satan, ruler of the demon realm Gehanna, he cannot find a vessel strong enough to bear him.
In order to conquer the human realm of Assiah, he sends forth his son, hoping he will grow into a vessel for him to posses. Rin, the son of Satan, was raised ignorant of his origins.
After finally meeting his real father, Rin decides to begin his training to fight against him as an exorcist.
While both supernatural in nature, they take different routes about it. What they most have in common is the attitude type of their main character, and the ever-increasing difficulty of the battles throughout the show. Blue Exorcist, however, keeps its world in a little smaller scope.
D. Gray Man
After three years training with one of their prestigious Generals that saved him as a kid, Allen Walker is finally ready to join the Black Order, an organization of exorcists that fight Akuma and their leader, the Millennium Earl.
With their Innocence weapons, Allen and his fellow exorcist embark on a journey to stop the Earl’s plot of ultimate destruction.
Both series deal with enemies that can’t be seen by regular humans as well as special weapons that are unique to those that wield them.
While Bleach has a modern Japan setting, D. Gray Man is set in an early 19th century Europe that, for some reason, has modern technology.
Jujutsu Kaisen
In order to gain more power, demons search for fragments of the legendary demon Sukuna to consume them.
One day, Yuuji Itadori, who just lost his grandfather, learns of this as he saves his school friends from being consumed by demons after they break the seal on one of the body parts of Sukuna that was at their school.
In order to stand a chance, he eats it, revealing himself as a rare vessel that can utilize and control the curse of Sukuna, meaning when he dies, Sukuna’s curse dies with him.
While Bleach is showing its age now, Jujutsu Kaisen is that newer, sexier, darker thing on the block.
It features characters fighting demon-like creatures much like the beginning of Bleach, but it is less outwardly silly at times. It also shares a decent passion for creating interesting looking characters as well.
Shaman King
There is a battle about to begin in Tokyo, the Shaman Fight.
This tournament is held every 500 years where shamans, those who command spirits, test their skills in combat. The winner becomes the Shaman King and gains command of the Great Spirit.
Shaman King follows the story of the carefree Yoh Asakura and his spirit Amidamaru.
What are zanpakutous if not weapon forms of the spirits in Shaman King?
Both series have that emphasis on fighting with a weapon that has a sort of personality to it. Part of what makes both shows interesting is seeing all those spirits and weapons introduced with the lengthy list of characters.
Shakugan no Shana
One day, Yuuji Sakai had his regular school life end when he becomes trapped in time and attacked by an unknown being. Right as he is about to die, he is rescued by a nameless hunter with brilliant red hair.
After being saved, the girl tells him that he is a Torch, a soul that has already died and is just waiting to fizzle out.
Both series are about people that end up being saved by some supernatural warrior. They then find themselves bound to them in one way or another, and fight alongside them.
Interestingly enough, both the main characters end up being vastly more powerful than the girls they initially team up with in the end.
Beelzebub
Ishiyama High is a school full of delinquents, but they have one rule: Don’t cross Tatsumi Oga, the strongest fighter in school.
One day, Oga is sitting by a riverbank when he encounters a floating man that splits down the middle to reveal a baby inside. This baby turns out to be Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, the son of the Demon Lord.
It turns out raising the future lord of the underworld is more trouble than you’d think.
While Bleach abandons the whole “young punk” thing pretty quickly, Beelzebub leans hard into it.
Beelzebub, despite being a supernatural battler similar to Bleach, takes place on a smaller and more grounded scale. Not really any big trips to Soul Society here, just dudes punching each other.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Bleach? Let fans know in the comments section below.
