Here Is How to Watch ‘Bleach’ Without Fillers

With 392 episodes as of the time of writing, originally airing from 2004 to 2012 and then continuing in 2022, Bleach is one of history’s longest and most popular anime franchises. The 392 episodes are divided into 13 narrative arcs, five of which were completely original. Since many people want to avoid fillers, we have created a guide for watching Bleach without the fillers!

Editor’s Note: This filler-free watch order is regularly updated to bring you the latest developments from the Bleach franchise. It was last updated on October 2, 2023.

How to watch Bleach without fillers?

Let’s answer your main question: how to watch Bleach if you want to avoid all the fillers? Well, the first you can easily do is remove the five original filler arcs, which will reduce your episode count from 392 to a total of just 229. But, the original arcs are not the only filler content in the anime; several individual episodes are obvious fillers. If you want to avoid them, you can skip them as well. Here is the complete watching order for the Bleach anime without fillers:

Main Arc 1: Soul Society Arc

• Watch episodes 1-32
• Skip episode 33
• Pick up at episodes 34-49
• Skip episode 50
• Pick up at episodes 51-63
• Skip the complete “The Bount” and “The Assault” arcs

Main Arc 2: Hueco Mundo Arc

• Pick up at episodes 110-127
• Skip episodes 128-137
• Pick up at episodes 138-167
• Skip the complete “The New Captain Shūsuke Amagai” arc
• Pick up at episodes 190-203
• Skip 204-205
• Pick up at episodes 206-212
• Skip 213-214

Main Arc 3: Fake Karakura Town arc

• Pick up at episodes 215-226
• Skip episodes 227-229
• Skip the complete “Zanpakutō: The Alternate Tale” arc
• Pick up at episodes 266-286
• Skip episode 287
• Pick up at episodes 288-297
• Skip episodes 298-299
• Pick up at episodes 300-302
• Skip episodes 303-305
• Pick up at episodes 306-310
• Skip episodes 311-316
• Skip the complete “Gotei 13 Invading Army” arc

Main Arc 4: Substitute Soul Reaper Disappearance

• Pick up at episodes 343-354
• Skip episode 355
• Pick up at episode 356-366

Main Arc 5: Thousand-Year Blood War

• Pick up at episode 367 and continue watching until the end

Bleach filler episodes and arcs

For your very convenience, we’ll provide a separate list of all the filler content here:

• Individual episodes or groups of episodes: 33, 50, 128-137, 204, 205, 213, 214, 227-229, 287, 298, 299, 303-305, 311-316, 355
• Arcs: “The Bount” (#64-91), “The Assault” (#92-109), “The New Captain Shūsuke Amagai” (#168-189), “Zanpakutō: The Alternate Tale” (#230-265), “Gotei 13 Invading Army” (#317-342)

What about the Bleach movies – are they filler?

There are a total of four Bleach anime movies. The first, Bleach: Memories of Nobody, was released in 2006, with the second – Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion – and third – Bleach: Fade to Black – movies released in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The final anime film, Bleach: Hell Verse, was released in 2010.

The four Bleach movies are indeed connected to the main anime, although they are separate storylines. If you want to watch them in chronological order, along with the anime, here’s when and how you should do it:

• Bleach: Memories of Nobody clearly shows that Ichigo can use his bankai in the World of the Living, so it happens after the Bount Invasion arc but before the Arrancar arc, as he’s still unable to use his hollow form. This means that the movie is set between episodes 109 and 110, just after the first filler arc.
• Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion is a bit more ambiguous regarding chronology, but we can approximately pinpoint its setting. We know that Ikkaku can use his bankai, so the movie is quite probably set after the first invasion of Arrancars (the ones defeated by Toshiro team) and before they enter Hueco Mundo. This all happened around episode 138, so this is when you should watch it.
• The same applies to Bleach: Fade to Black, whose position in the timeline is also unclear. Based on our information, we know that it is set during the Arrancar fight, but before the characters enter Hueco Mundo because Ichigo still uses the first form of his hollow mask. So, this one is also set somewhere around episode 138.
• The fourth movie, Bleach: Hell Verse, is a filler movie where Ichigo uses the second form of his mask and transforms into his full hollow form, so we know that he has already fought Ulquiorra in Hueco Mundo and returned. Concerning the anime, it is set after episode 299.

And there you have it. This is your ultimate guide to watching Bleach, both the anime and the tie-in movies. We recommend watching the whole series, but if you’re not a fan of fillers, we have provided you with all the information you need to watch the complete series as you prefer.