For reasons best unknown, the search term "Is Bleach coming to Fortnite" has been trending on Google. It's unclear what got the ball rolling, but the community has been stirred up like a hornet's nest.
It would seem that rumors or perhaps some clickbait content ignited the spark, which turned into a full-blown trend on social media. Sadly, despite these keywords trending and kicking up a storm, there's no legitimate proof to back up these claims.
Considering that no major insider or leaker has come forward with irrefutable proof, this is yet another attempt by individuals to hype things up. Nevertheless, with all that being said, there is some truth to the matter at hand.
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Fortnite Bleach survey
Despite no official collaboration, Bleach has been mentioned several times in surveys. In February of 2022, a survey of potential crossover candidates, including anime/manga such as Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, Ben 10, and Bleach, to name a few.
At the time, this was odd as the only anime to make it in-game was Naruto: Shippuden. However, when looking back and connecting the dots, perhaps the trending keyword "Is Bleach coming to Fortnite" may have been triggered by something other than a search algorithm.
To put things into perspective, a few weeks ago, around mid-August, a Dragon Ball Super collaboration took place. Given that this anime/manga was mentioned in an earlier survey in February, who's to say whether or not Epic Games is currently working in collaboration with Bleach?
On that note, as stated, there's no proof to back up this claim. While there's been a lot of chatter on social media over the past few hours, there's nothing of substance to go by. Perhaps leakers will find something in the coming days during the update for v22.10. For now, it's best to take these rumors with a spoonful of salt and optimism.
If the Fortnite x Bleach collaboration does occur, when is the possible timeline?
Considering that the island is being covered/consumed with Chrome, it's hard to see characters from Bleach fit into this phase of the storyline. Furthermore, with Epic revealing Brie Larson as The Paradigm and Fortnite X Marvel: Zero War comics wrapping up, there's already too much going on in the metaverse.
Doing another anime collaboration at this point will be a sheer waste of potential. Players will have too much to contend with, and everything will get diluted.
Naruto arrived in Chapter 2 Season 8, right after Fortnitemares. If the storyline in the current season slows down by the time October ends, having an anime collaboration right after the spooky season would make sense.
The first episode of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is also set to premiere in October. Since the developers' time collaboration to get the most traction, a crossover may be possible.
Then again, considering that the Dragon Ball Super Crossover wrapped up just 10 days ago, it's far too soon for another major anime downpour. Following the pattern of past collaborations and the time frame, it'll be a few good months before the supposed Bleach collaboration can occur.