Bleach and Thousand-Year Blood War: Sub or Dub?

Bleach has two English dubs to account for: the original series, which ran 366 episodes in Japan from 2004 to 2012, and Thousand-Year Blood War, the adaptation of the manga's final arc that began in 2022. Both were licensed by Viz Media with English production at Studiopolis, and most of the principal English cast returned. This page does not judge performances itself; where it describes them, it names the critic.

The short answer

Both tracks keep their lead actors from the original series into Thousand-Year Blood War. Among the main cast, the reported recasts were Chad in English and Head Captain Yamamoto in Japanese. The English dub covers every episode of the original series, so a viewer who starts dubbed is not forced onto subtitles partway through. The decision can rest on preference rather than on gaps.

The original series dub

Anime News Network's encyclopedia dates the Japanese run on TV Tokyo from 2004-10-05 to 2012-03-27, and the Adult Swim premiere in the United States to 2006-09-09. It credits Studiopolis with ADR production and lists several voice directors across the run, among them Wendee Lee, Kirk Thornton and Jeff Nimoy. In 2022, ANN reported that Viz Media was selling all 366 English-dubbed episodes digitally in the United States.

Thousand-Year Blood War

The new series premiered on October 10, 2022 on TV Tokyo, with Tomohisa Taguchi replacing Noriyuki Abe as director at Studio Pierrot, and Viz Media streamed it on Hulu in the United States. Its English dub premiered on Hulu on November 4, 2022, according to ANN's encyclopedia, which credits Ryan Johnston with voice direction and Studiopolis with ADR production. In April 2025, Adult Swim's Toonami block announced that it would add the series from May 17, 2025 (effectively the early hours of May 18).

Who came back in English

ANN's report on the dub cast lists these returning actors.

• Johnny Yong Bosch as Ichigo Kurosaki
• Michelle Ruff as Rukia Kuchiki
• Derek Stephen Prince as Uryu Ishida
• Stephanie Sheh as Orihime Inoue
• Wally Wingert as Renji Abarai
• Doug Erholtz as Kisuke Urahara
• Dan Woren as Byakuya Kuchiki

The one recast in that announcement is Chad. Viz cast Alain Mesa in place of Jamieson Price, who voiced Chad from episode 86 to 366 of the original series; Marc Worden voiced him before that. ANN reported Price's statement that he no longer auditions for roles of characters who are people of color. ANN's entry for the fourth part, The Calamity, still credits Bosch, Ruff, Sheh, Wingert and Mesa.

Who came back in Japanese

ANN's encyclopedia credits Masakazu Morita as Ichigo, Fumiko Orikasa as Rukia, Yuki Matsuoka as Orihime and Noriaki Sugiyama as Uryū in both series. The documented change is Yamamoto: ComicBook reported in December 2021 that Binbin Takaoka replaces Masaaki Tsukada in the role. Morita's Ichigo won a Best Rookie award at the first Seiyu Awards in 2007.

Script and localization differences critics noted

Reviewing the first volume for ANN in 2007, Melissa Harper graded both tracks A and found little difference in quality between them. She noted that shinigami is translated as "soul reaper," and that Rukia's disguised schoolgirl voice does not change in English, so that joke is lost. Carl Kimlinger, reviewing the second volume, graded the dub B- and the sub B. He found the dub's dialogue generally faithful, though the Hollows' lines stray and some sexual innuendo is glossed over. Reviewing DVD 24 (episodes 330 to 342) in 2015, Theron Martin wrote that the script varies some but never entirely changes the meaning of what is being said.

Where each track streams

In the United States, Hulu carries both series (checked October 7, 2026). Its Thousand-Year Blood War page lists separate dubbed and subtitled versions of its episodes, and its original Bleach page lists a dubbed and a subtitled version of each of the 366 episodes. Outside the United States, ANN lists Disney+ for Thousand-Year Blood War. Catalogs change, so check your own service before choosing.

Whichever track you choose, our Bleach watch order sets out where the new series picks up, and the Bleach filler list marks the original series' non-manga episodes. Lines on our Bleach quote pages record which version they come from.