Bleach is one of the most popular manga series of all time, but its ending is also regarded as being particularly weak. While there are a lot of reasons why that’s the case, one of the biggest has to do with how Shonen Jump produces manga and how it negatively affects manga creators. Fortunately, the anime adaptation of Bleach‘s ending, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, is taking the time to fix many of these problems, and the way they’ve gone about it shows how Shonen Jump can prevent this from happening in the future.

Without getting into spoilers, it’s fair to say that the ending of the Bleach manga is quite rushed. This was due in part to series creator Tite Kubo’s declining health, and he wanted to end the manga, giving himself another year or two to finish up. Many fans believe that low sales of the later volumes of the manga caused Shonen Jump to lose faith in what was once one of the “Big Three” manga series, but there’s no hard evidence to support this claim. However, Shonen Jump surely bares some of the blame, as one has to consider why Tite Kubo’s health was declining in the first place.

Shonen Jump’s Demanding Schedules Overwork Mangaka

Bleach is emblematic of the problems with the manga industry, which constantly overworks its creators into declining health. Aside from Bleach, one famous example is Hunter x Hunter‘s Yoshihiro Togashi, whose health declined to such an extent that Hunter x Hunter has been on an indefinite hiatus for years at this point. Togashi has reached a point where he struggles to sit in chairs, and is now only capable of drawing while laying on his back and holding the paper up in front of himself.

While Tite Kubo’s situation was thankfully never so severe, he did get to the point where a shoulder injury required surgery, but he couldn’t take time off from creating Bleach to actually get the surgery. People like Togashi and Kubo are incredibly resilient creators, but it’s not fair to them to put them in such difficult positions in the first place. After all, these creators are the masterminds behind these behemoth properties, so one would expect that keeping them healthy and able to create would be of the utmost importance. Yet, the way that they are treated and the schedules they’re held to suggest anything but.

Of course, one can become in poor health for a variety of reasons, but it’s well known that overworking and the stress that comes with it can have massive negative impacts on health. The unforgiving schedule, demanding 15-20 page new chapters each week, can be incredibly difficult even for a fully healthy artist to keep up with, much less those who might already have health problems. Many mangaka face extremely long weeks, in excess of 60 hours, week after week, indefinitely. Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, for example, wasn’t able to take time off for a honeymoon after his wedding for years.

Thousand-Year Blood War is Fixing Problems by Taking Its Time

Thousand-Year Blood War, as an anime adaptation, has been unusual in that the anime production studio has worked closely with Tite Kubo to revamp the ending into one that’s more satisfying for fans. The anime has already incorporated new scenes, revealed new Bankai releases, and expanded upon content that was glossed over in the manga. Kubo has had time in the years since the manga’s ending to consider what worked and what didn’t, and decide what he regretted cutting and what he wished he could’ve incorporated.

The adaptation has also been quite different from the original Bleach anime (which never adapted the final arc) in that rather than airing nonstop episodes, Studio Pierrot has instead opted to release episodes in 4 cours (effectively seasons), which have been spread out months apart. This ensures that their animators and writers aren’t faced with so much crunch time, and has resulted in an overall greater quality for the Thousand-Year Blood War anime as a whole.

While there’s still no exact release date known for the 3rd cour of Thousand-Year Blood War, that’s totally fine; if Studio Pierrot needs more time to work on this part than they did on previous parts, then they should take it. While it is important to stick to deadlines to prevent a project from going on indefinitely, there’s no reason that those deadlines need to be publicly shared until it’s certain they can be met. Of course, there are other factors, like maintaining audience interest, which must be taken into account, but there’s a balance that needs to be struck between business demands and the human factor.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is Showing How Anime and Manga Should Be Approached

Thousand-Year Blood War‘s seasonal approach and willingness to take its time rather than rush to put out a product has undoubtedly been a key factor in the incredibly high quality of the series so far. It proves that Shonen Jump’s intense, non-stop production isn’t necessary to create a high-quality product, and in many ways results in a lower overall quality, while simultaneously being unhealthy and even dangerous for the manga and anime creators. The health and quality of life of the people who create our favorite stories needs to be a higher priority.

Hopefully, more series, in both the world of anime and in manga, will take the proper lessons from Thousand-Year Blood War‘s success, and be more willing to take their time and get things right, rather than forcibly sticking to an incredibly tight schedule that overworks creatives and inevitably leads to negative impacts on their health.

While the responsibility to correct these industry problems lies primarily with companies like Shonen Jump, it means that fans, too, must be willing to be more patient and understanding when there are delays with the production of their favorite series. Creators like Tite Kubo are people, too, and while it can be disappointing to have to wait longer for the next chapter, it’s far better for everyone to keep those creators happy, the way Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War has.