Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War episode 1 leaked, length and special ending theme revealed

As fans wait for Ichigo and his friends to return to their screens, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode 1 has gotten leaked. The episode was dropped online ahead of its official premiere on Hulu and Disney+, as fans desiring to watch it have already started streaming the episode.

Tite Kubo's Bleach previously finished airing on March 27, 2012, making fans wait over a decade for the anime to resume. Now that the premiere is so close, episode 1 has gotten leaked ahead of schedule, allowing fans to experience Ichigo's Soul Reaper shenanigans before its official premiere.

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The leaked Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War episode reveals 20 minutes runtime and a special ending theme

Now that Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode 1 has gotten leaked, it has been revealed that the premiere will be 24 minutes and 31 seconds long, with the episode itself only amounting to 20 minutes. The remaining four minutes will feature a special ending theme, which is a throwback compilation of all the previous seasons that came out in the last run, hitting fans with nostalgia.

Meanwhile, the anime has also revealed the total number of episodes set to air under Bleach Thousand Year Blood War. The series will have a total of 52 episodes, which will be split into four cours. This means that each cour will have 13 episodes each, with the anime set to finish airing around the same time next year.

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Twitter reacts to the leaked episode

Fans were ecstatic after watching the leaked episode, as they were impressed by Tomohisa Taguchi's art direction. According to them, the layouts for each scene were perfect as they helped bring out the tension in the episode.

While the fans who watched the episode were so excited that they could barely contain their emotions, other were pissed at them for having watched the premiere before its official release.

This led to some back and forth between fans as those who watched the leaked side argued how they might not be able to watch the episode given their country and the confusion surrounding Viz's simulcast.

Meanwhile, some fans amid the leak are still waiting for the official release of the anime on Hulu and Disney+.

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What to expect from episode 1?

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode 1 will re-introduce fans to their beloved characters, as we will see Ichigo and the group take on a hoard of hollows, as seen in the official trailer. The fight scene is bound to take us back in time as we get re-acclimated to the franchise.

Yhwach as seen in the trailer (Image via Studio Pierrot)

The episode will also set up the was set to take place between Gotei 13, led by Captain Commander Yamamoto, and TheSternritter, led by Yhwach.