The official website of the Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen – Kashin-tan (Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Calamity) television anime announced an additional pair of cast on Monday. The anime series premiered on July 25 at 11.00 p.m. on TV Tokyo and its affiliates. The final two episodes of the series will air on October 20 and October 27 at 12:00 a.m. on TV Tokyo Network, respectively.

Voice actresses Azusa Tachibana (Kuroneko to Majo no Kyoushitsu) and Ayaka Ohashi (Jishou Akuyaku Reijou na Konyakusha no Kansatsu Kiroku.) are joining the cast as Kazui Kurosaki and Ichika Abarai, respectively.

Sennen Kessen-hen (Thousand-Year Blood War) adapts the final arc of Tite Kubo‘s Bleach manga, which spans from the 55th to the 74th volume. Prior to the series’ serialization, Kubo published a pilot chapter in December 2000. The action adventure manga debuted in Weekly Shounen Jump in August 2001. After a 15-year serialization, Kubo ended the series in August 2016. Shueisha published the 74th and final volume in November of that year.

Produced by Pierrot, the first part and second part aired in Fall 2022 and Summer 2023, respectively. The third part aired Fall 2024. Hulu simulcast the anime series in the U.S. and subsequently streamed an English dub. Disney+ streamed the anime worldwide.

VIZ Media acquired the series’ master license in March 2006 and serialized the manga in English in its print edition of Shounen Jump magazine between November 2007 and March 2012. The manga concurrently moved to the Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha digital anthology in January 2012. The company published the 74th and final volume in October 2018 and released the 26th home video installment of the anime in September 2015.

The first television anime by Pierrot began airing in Fall 2004 and ended with 366 episodes in Winter 2012, covering the first 54 volumes. The manga also inspired four anime movies in 2006, 2007, 2008, and December 2010.

Source: Official site

Manga UP! Global added the following manga in English over the past two weeks:

Title: 25 Years in a Dungeon: A Suspicious Man Returns as a Dungeon Streamer! (Dungeon ni Tojikamerarete 25-Nen. Kyūshutsu Sareta Toki ni wa Rippana Fushinsha ni Natteita)
Creator: Nameko Hoshitake (author), Shiba (character designer), Taiyou Mitarai (manga artist)
Release date: September 19
Summary: The year is 2025—dungeons suddenly started popping up all over the world. A young man, Hiroshi Nagano, ventures into one of them, but ends up trapped in the dungeon’s uncharted depths…for 25 years! By devouring ferocious monsters, he not only survives, but builds a legendary physique. When he finally makes it back to the surface, he’s greeted to a Japan of the future, where streaming your dungeon exploration is mandatory. His overwhelming power is broadcast to the nation, propelling him straight into the ranks of top dungeon explorers! Using a quarter-century of brutal survival instincts, a shady-looking veteran is about to dominate the algorithm in this thrilling, over-the-top heroic dungeon tale!

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Title: A Defeated Saint’s Gonna Topple a Kingdom! (Haiboku Seijo wa, Hitamuki ni Kuni o Horoboshimasu!)
Creator: Toriko Ono
Release date: September 21
Summary: Reincarnated as the Saint in an otome game, Akari Kizaki completely ignores romance in favor of her true passion: potion making! However, her neglect comes at a steep price when her intended target, the First Prince, teams up with the villainess to frame her for a crime, leaving Akari stripped of her title and banished. Undeterred, Akari gets right back to brewing potions in her new location. That’s when she’s approached by the Second Prince, Roy—a man feared as the “Atrocious Prince.” He makes her a direct proposition: “Let’s rule this country together.” And just like that, Akari becomes an accomplice in the nation’s downfall! The curtain rises on a story of rebellion and overturning fate, starring a defeated Saint and a ruthless prince!

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Title: Bloody Cross
Creator: Shiwo Komeyama
Release date: September 23
Summary: Half angel, half demon, Tsukimiya must drink pure demon blood to stave off the curse that will eventually claim her life. When she meets an angel named Hinata, he’s eager to team up with the half-blood to take down a vampire that has been attacking humans. Tsukimiya is surprised to find that Hinata is a capable partner, but when the vampire is slain, it is Hinata who claims its demon blood, leaving Tsukimiya to be taken by the curse. In a last-ditch effort to save herself, Tsukimiya tries to drink Hinata’s blood, now mixed with the vampire’s pure demon blood. But in taking the blood that will save her, Tsukimiya has also transmitted the curse that will kill her. Hinata and Tsukimiya now share the curse…and they’re running out of time.

Yen Press published the manga in English in 2013-2016.

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Title: The After-School Bullying Trial is Now in Session! (Kaeri no Kai o Hajimemasu. Ijime Saiban Kaitei)
Creator: Chikara Kimizuka (author), Yen Hioka (manga artist)
Release date: September 24
Summary: All class president Shinya Kitami wanted was to help transfer student Himari Tojo fit in. Instead, his efforts turns the whole class against them both. Now, two outcast students face a gauntlet of relentless bullying every single day. From the author of “Is It My Fault That I Got Bullied?“, another hellish after-school “class debrief” is now in session!

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Title: Wolf Boy’s Secret (Ōkami-kun no Kakushigoto)
Creator: Natsuta Futatsuno
Release date: September 25
Summary: In a world where humans have evolved to be born with animal-like abilities known as “traits,” a new high school year begins. Kuro, a popular boy with the wolf trait, meets the traitless Misako. These two opposites couldn’t be further apart, yet they grow closer by the day. But what happens when Kuro’s behavior takes a sudden turn? A clumsy yet sincere wolf-boy coming-of-age story!

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Title: The World is Full of Monsters, but With My Fluffy Feline Companion, I’ll Be Okay (Monster ga Afureru Sekai ni Nattakedo, Tayoreru Neko ga Irukara Daijōbu Desu)
Creator: yosshaa! (author), Chiho Shinishi (character designer), Enya Uraki (manga artist)
Release date: September 26
Summary: The hit series “The World is Full of Monsters, So I Want to Live as I Wish” is back with an official spin-off! This time, the hero is the strongest cat around! Running parallel to the main story, the action moves to Kyushu with all-new boss monsters, skills, and mysteries waiting to be uncovered. If you love fantasy and post-apocalyptic survival, prepare for a purr-fectly wild new reverse-isekai adventure!

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Title: There’s a Wall of Extroverts Around Me! (Sekigae Shitara Yōkya ni Kakomareta Hanashi.)
Creator: Misaoji
Release date: September 27
Summary: It’s the final seating chart swap of her second year of high school, and self-proclaimed introvert Hinako Kagei finds herself completely surrounded by extroverts! Behind her is a gyaru, diagonally is a goof, and right beside her is the school’s top delinquent, Hino. When totally opposite cliques clash, can Hinako make it out in one piece?

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Title: Blood Addict (Bladict)
Creator: Umiharu
Release date: September 29
Summary: After being ravaged by war, Tougoku is now consumed by the endemic threat of UDL, a powerful and heavily addicting drug. Ibuki, a survivor living in the dregs of Tougoku’s society, sells UDL in order to fund the search for his lost mother. But then, he meets a mysterious girl named Milfie, who soon turns his search efforts upside down.

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Source: Email correspondence

The title of “My Buddha, Part Two” marks the episode as an explicit follow-up to one of the first season’s finest outings, which meant my expectations were raised before I even clicked the “play” button on the streaming app. This second season of The Elusive Samurai has been messier and less consistent than the razor-sharp first year, but even when the larger scope and shape of its story is getting shaggier by the week, it can still impress in its individual chapters. While I don’t think “My Buddha, Part Two” lives up to the sterling quality of its predecessor, it’s still a good time overall, as it sees both the plot and Tokiyuki’s development as a master tactician move forward in a sufficiently satisfying way.

Since the two-pronged failure of last week’s attempted assassinations has plunged the region into chaos, Yorishige declares this the time to strike back against the enemy, and Tokiyuki is given the honor (and the test) of selecting their route of attack. Tokiyuki’s explanation for taking the ostensibly more difficult, longer route is a good and practical demonstration of what the boy has actually learned after so many weeks of setbacks and false starts, even if all the expositing doesn’t exactly make for the kind of edge-of-your-seat television that we saw in that first “My Buddha” episode. We’ve gotten to the point in The Elusive Samurai‘s run that its penchant for introducing an endless wave of odd new characters and its obsessions with increasingly convoluted battlefield minutiae must be counted as a feature, and not a bug. Even if it’s not exactly the anime I hoped it would become, it’s clear that The Elusive Samurai knows exactly the kind of cartoon it wants to be.

Eventually, we arrive at the reason that this episode is even called “My Buddha, Part Two,” as Team Hojo Clan’s offensive requires Tokiyuki to pursue old Alien Ant Farm himself, Shokan, yet again. Watching the kids and their disbelieving army of recruits prepare for this rematch is quite entertaining, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate the return of those Season One vibes that I’ve been sorely missing across several of this season’s episodes. It certainly did not hurt when we got to enjoy the ridiculous montage of Tokiyuki’s memories that cataloged all of the freaks, geeks, and bloodthirsty lunatics we’ve met along this journey.

Tokiyuki is not the only character who is learning from his past mistakes. It’s fascinating to see Shokan become a genuinely reformed man so haunted by his former life as a merciless and cruel bandit. It was surprising enough when he threatened to behead one of his underlings for thinking about indulging in the raping and pillaging to which they were so accustomed. I truly was not expecting the horrific jump-scare that we got when Shokan’s guilt transformed the face of his adorable little attendant into the mutilated visage of a bloody ghoul. With both our hero and our villain having properly evolved, we will have to see what happens when their blades clash once again on the battlefield.

Episode Rating:

The Elusive Samurai Season 2 is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.