Bleach is one of the biggest anime series to ever come to life. 15 seasons of the anime span about 366 episodes. And while a great deal of it is filler content, a greater amount is not. When it comes to long-running anime, most anime fans watch every single bit of content they possibly can, others would rather stay to the mainline content and skip around to the important parts.
It’s a strange phenomenon, but skipping around anime episodes is commonplace among people who don’t want to waste their time. In some communities, anime fans skip entire arcs of a story just to get to the “good” part of a series. It’s a weird practice, but it happens. However, some episodes are a must-watch, which some would consider essential to get an understanding as to what is going on. There are just some episodes you can’t afford to skip.
10 Episode 20: Gin Ichimaru’s Shadow
Episode 20 marks the end of the Substitute Soul Reaper arc and enters in the Soul Society Invasion arc. This episode concludes Ichigo’s training with Kisuke Urahara, but also setups the departure to the Soul Society. The plot relevance in the episode is the plan to invade the Soul Society, Rukia’s sentence for the crimes of giving her powers to Ichigo, and the resolve of Ichigo and his friends.
There is also some context to the relationships between some of the top Soul Reapers in the series and insight into some of their personalities. But that’s not all, the episode also gives more lore to Zanpakuto and the relevance of knowing the name of one’s Zanpakuto. All in all, Episode 20 is pretty plot extensive and is too important to skip as the series enters into the next major arc.
9 Episode 61: Aizen Stands! Horrible Ambitions
Skipping towards the end of the Soul Society arc’s climax, viewers get the betrayal of Sousuke Aizen. This answers many of the questions that persisted throughout this arc and is merely the beginning of a much larger arc in Bleach, as fans enter the Arrancar-arc. Firstly, Aizen faked his death and killed all the members of Central 46, which is the Soul Society’s government, and gave commands from the shadows.
Viewers also get a reveal of Aizen’s Shikai but also why he orchestrated a ploy for Rukia to be brought back and executed as he had been in command for quite some time now. This would all be an elaborate plan to acquire a device inside of Rukia known as the Hogyoku. At this point in the series, it’s believed to be a device that makes Hollows mature into their final form.
8 Episode 114: Reunion, Ichigo and Rukia and Shinigami
After surviving an attack from a pair of invading Arrancar, Ichigo and co reflect on their near-loss. It was revealed that Aizen had an interest in Ichigo, but that Ulquiorra soon found that to be far-fetched and retreated as their mission was complete after Ichigo is overwhelmed by Yammi. This incident begins the first half of the Arrancar arc where Ichigo copes with the fact that his inner-Hollow is going to possibly consume him unless he learns to control it.
At the same time, the Soul Society now begins to work on measures to intercept any Hollows that will appear in Karakura Town as the Gotei prepares for an all-out war by deploying several Captain-class Soul Reapers and Rukia Kuchiki who finally recovered her Soul Reaper powers.
7 Episode 125: Urgent Report! Aizen’s Terrifying Plan!
This episode is essential to understanding the basic motivation behind Aizen’s plan. Aizen plans to create an Oken or a key to the Soul Palace, and get rid of the Soul King. No one is sure why Aizen wants to do this, but removing the Soul King from the Soul Society does skew the balance of the world of the living and the Soul Society.
However, to execute this plan, Aizen needs an area with a large concentration of souls (about 100,000) to create the Key as well as an area that is large enough to make the key, so he picks Karakura Town as it’s the perfect area for it.
6 Episode 142: Order! Forbin Rescue of Orihime Inoue
Orihime goes missing, kidnapped by Ulquiorra under the command of Aizen, she complies with a deal to leave to Hueco Mundo if it means she could protect her friends. This leads viewers to the second half of the Arrancar arc, which is the Hueco Mundo Invasion. This arc covers the purpose of the arc, which is to go get Orihime.
Ichigo was prohibited from entering Hueco Mundo but is assisted by Urahara. Unfortunately, the Gotei didn’t feel inclined to help as the war was made a priority, so Ichigo was left on his own but is soon joined by Chad and Uryu as they begin to embark on a journey to Hueco Mundo.
5 Episode 196: Joining The Battle! The Strongest Shinigami Army Appears
Episode 196 is important to understand what the Soul Society has been doing since Aizen’s plan was discovered. As explained by Kenpachi, when the Captains arrive in Hueco Mundo to help Ichigo, they were deployed to aid Ichigo in the battle against Aizen and finish off any remaining Arrancar. Of course, this plan also had measures to assure some security for Karakura Town.
A fake, mock Karakura Town was made in and swapped out with the real one so that they could battle when Aizen would leave for Karakura Town. This somewhat begins to conclude the Hueco Mundo arc as the story now enters in the Karakura Town arc once Aizen deploys at the end of the episode.
4 Episode 212: Rescue Harako! Aizen vs. Urahara
The Turn Back The Pendulum arc is a 6-episode mini-arc that shows the Soul Society 100 years before the events of the main series. This arc is important to understanding where the Vizards came from, why Urahara is so well informed on the Soul Society (and confirming that he is a Soul Reaper), as well as how Aizen came to be.
Episode 212 is a conclusion but does briefly brush over more of the minute, significant details if someone isn’t invested in the Vizards. The arc is essential but also pretty fun to watch if you are invested in some of the Soul Society’s lore. It also has the first mention of Squad 0.
3 Episode 288: The Final Trump Card! Ichigo, Towards the Decisive Battle
After concluding the battle with Ulquiorra and having the last Hollow taken care of, the Hueco Mundo arc can be concluded properly. Ichigo is on his way to Karakura Town to help in the battle with Captain Unohana. Unohana heals Ichigo but soon comes to the revelation that Ichigo is not at full power, but still radiates the power of a Captain-class Soul Reaper.
Additionally, Ichigo has not been exposed to Aizen’s Shikai, Kyouka Suigetsu, which means he’s the only one that could get close to Aizen and possibly defeat him without much issue (difference in physical abilities aside), Ichigo has the best chance at this moment.
2 Episode 296: The Shocking Truth… The Mysterious Power Inside Of Ichigo!
One of the most integral episodes in the series would be Episode 296. Episode 296 is important for the overall plot of Bleach for context in the whole series to later arcs in the series. Aizen’s explanation to Ichigo regarding his battles and his observations is an interesting way to explain a lot of plot holes in the series that would soon get filled by this explanation.
This episode is incredibly important for the overall plot of Bleach and shouldn’t be skipped by any means. It’s arguably the most important episode to date. A lot of the details all get wrapped up perfectly with a series of reveals until the very last one that is especially big for Ichigo as a character.
1 Episode 343: 3rd Year High School Student! Dressed Up, & a New Chapter Begins!
The Fullbring arc is easily dismissed as one of the essential arcs to Bleach, some even skipping it entirely, but the arc offers a lot of depth into Ichigo’s character. It’s not a super plot-extensive arc, but getting insight after the Aizen battle and what’s been happening since is important. Ichigo lost his powers, so the story mostly focuses on the human world and the impact of the Aizen incident.
Ichigo’s life, more or less, turns back to normal, but there are some important aspects to the arc overall and it shouldn’t be skipped. Viewers get information on the Soul Reaper Badge and introductions to characters who will serve a greater purpose later in the series.
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