There was a time that when someone talked about the “Big 3” of shounen anime, they were talking about Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach. However, while Naruto and One Piece remained relevant by lasting forever or spinning off, Bleach sort of fell out of fashion when its anime caught up to the source material and pretty much had to end or have fans endure even more subpar filler.
But Bleach is coming back strong!
Well, coming back strong to at least give fans the ending they wanted to see. With them hoping with even more bated breath that the anime also expands upon the supremely rushed manga ending.
However, that is something for the long-time fans to fret over. With all the hype surrounding Thousand-Year Blood War, it is only natural that some newer anime fans would gain an interest in Bleach.
If you don’t care about things like “filler” or movies, Bleach is actually really easy to watch. However, like the original non-Shippuden Naruto series, the Bleach anime is riddled with filler, and not all of it very enjoyable. As such, a watch order is necessary.
Bleach Watch Order
How to Watch the Bleach Anime – All of It
Not all filler in Bleach is bad. A lot of it goes on to explore side characters that are otherwise less developed, but some of it is pretty tedious too. So to watch the Bleach anime with filler isn’t a bad thing, but it will take you longer to get through the series.
- Bleach Episodes 1 – 106
- Bleach: Memories of Nobody (Movie)
- Bleach Episodes 107 – 153
- Bleach: The Diamond Dust Rebellion (Movie)
- Bleach Episodes 154 – 198
- Bleach: Fade to Black (Movie)
- Bleach Episodes 199 – 299
- Bleach: Hell Verse (Movie)
- Bleach Episodes 300 – 366
- Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War
- Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Separation
Do You Need to Watch The Bleach Movies?
The above Bleach watch order includes the movies roughly where they take place in the timeline. However, while the author did helps with parts of the movies, they are still filler. This means that no, you don’t actually need to watch the Bleach movies when watching the anime.
However, if you do choose to watch them, you will still want to watch them after watching at least the episodes in the watch order as you either need the information to fully understand the movie or the movies spoil certain events.
The Bleach movies aren’t all bad. If anything, watch them casually after watching the anime.
How to Watch the Bleach Anime – With No Filler
Out of 366 episodes, 166 episodes of Bleach are filler content, as well as the movies that are all filler. So, by cutting the filler, you actually save a ton of time and can get to the Thousand-Year Blood War that everyone is chattering about.
Below are the episodes you should watch for no filler.
- Bleach Episodes 1 – 20
- Bleach Episodes 21 – 26
- Bleach Episodes 28 – 31
- Bleach Episodes 34 – 45
- Bleach Episodes 47 – 49
- Bleach Episodes 51 – 63
- Bleach Episode 110 (You skip all of season 4 and 5)
- Bleach Episodes 112 – 115
- Bleach Episodes 117 – 118
- Bleach Episodes 121 – 123
- Bleach Episodes 125 – 127
- Bleach Episodes 138 – 140
- Bleach Episode 142
- Bleach Episodes 144 – 145
- Bleach Episodes 150 – 155
- Bleach Episodes 157 – 159
- Bleach Episodes 162 – 167
- Bleach Episodes 191 – 192 (You skip all of season 9)
- Bleach Episodes 194 – 203
- Bleach Episode 208
- Bleach Episodes 210 – 212
- Bleach Episodes 215 – 221
- Bleach Episodes 224 – 227
- Bleach Episodes 269 – 273 (You skip all of season 13)
- Bleach Episode 275
- Bleach Episodes 277 – 283
- Bleach Episode 286
- Bleach Episode 289
- Bleach Episode 292 – 294
- Bleach Episodes 296 – 297
- Bleach Episodes 300 -302
- Bleach Episodes 306 – 309
- Bleach Episode 344 (You skip all of season 15)
- Bleach Episodes 346 – 350
- Bleach Episodes 352 – 354
- Bleach Episodes 356 – 366
- Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War
- Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Separation
The Easier Bleach “Some” Filler Watch Order
As you can see, the no filler Bleach watch order is kind of ridiculous as it struggled in vain to not catch up to the manga only to constantly fail and fall to complete seasons of filler.
My recommendation? Just skip the “whole season” filler arcs and endure the rest.
The smaller filler arcs or filler episodes aren’t so bad. They are even fun sometimes. If you just skip seasons instead of constantly having to monitor which episode you are on, it is a lot better of an experience.
The filler seasons of the Bleach anime you need to skip are:
- Season 4
- Season 5
- Season 9
- Season 13
- Season 15
You can also skip the movies, but I mentioned that already.