Why is #SimulcastBleach trending on social media ahead of anime premiere?
Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is set to release this Fall, but why is ‘Simulcast Bleach’ trending worldwide on social media?
Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family, Mob Psycho 100, My Hero Academia and Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War…The 2022 Fall anime slate is undoubtedly one of the best seasons in recent history.
As soon as October 1st rolls around, millions of anime fans around the world will be tuning in to watch these series, with the new Bleach anime being a particular standout to fans of the iconic series.
However, a new hashtag that is trending worldwide on social media is starting to concern fans of the franchise as rumours that Disney+ will not be simulcasting the Bleach anime spread online.
Rumours that Disney+ will not simulcast new Bleach anime
If you have been scrolling through social media platforms this morning, you will have likely seen the #SimulcastBleach hashtag trending worldwide. Simulcast, being the term for simultaneous-broadcasting, i.e., new episodes stream internationally on the same day as the domestic TV broadcast in Japan.
Some of the earliest reports of this came from anime YouTuber Jaymes Hanson, who reported that two sources had confirmed to him privately that the upcoming Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War anime would not be simulcast on the Disney+ streaming platform.
Hanson would follow-up by noting “I wanna say copium that it could change…but lets be honest.. the chances are…” indicating that the possibility of this release format changing is extremely slim.
Officially, there is still no public confirmation that the new Bleach anime will be released on Disney+, nor that it will be moving away from the traditional simulcast release schedule.
However, rumours that the streaming giant had acquired the digital distribution rights have been plentiful online for several months now, including from the typically-reputable SugoiLITE anime leak page.
If the recent rumours are true and Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War will not be airing internationally as a simulcast series, the anime will likely be released in several batches.
This is commonly referred to within the community as ‘Netflix Jail’ and even though this new information concerns Disney+, it suggests that Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War will release multiple episodes from the new season at once over several months.
Unfortunately, this has led to a notably negative response from the Bleach and wider anime community, who were looking forward to watching Thousand Year Blood War alongside the domestic audience in Japan.
#SimulcastBleach trends worldwide
In response to the rumours that Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War would not be released as a simulcast anime on Disney, the community was quick to start and jump on the trending hashtag previously noted.
As expected, the vast majority of posts were decidedly negative and implored Disney to reconsider their approach to internationally broadcasting the new Bleach series.
By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]
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Tom Llewellyn
@https://twitter.com/Tom__Llewellyn
Tom Llewellyn is the Head of World Content, Anime, and Comics at HITC Entertainment and also helps oversee all things deemed ‘nerd culture’ at Forever Geek. After gaining a BSc degree in Animal Behaviour, Tom continued his education with a Master’s degree in Science Communication (MSc) and post-graduate research; with his own independent project being published in the Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens in 2021. Since joining GRV Media in early 2020, Tom has amassed over 48 million views on his content and has conducted interviews with various actors and filmmakers from the wonderful world of anime.
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