Bleach is about a high-school student, Ichigo Kurosaki, whose family is attacked by a spirit known as a Hollow. A Soul Reaper named Rukia "protect[s] Ichigo's family from the assailant". Soul Reapers defend people against the Hollows. Ichigo is offered Rukia's powers and he becomes a Soul Reaper. He must defend his town from the Hollows.¹
Immodesty
In this show, thighs and cleavages are seen. One character "regularly shows a lot of cleavage."² Additionally:
"One of the [espadas']...outfit is fairly revealing"
"later in the series there is mild nudity, no nipples are shown but the character in question is clearly naked."
"There is an filler episode where an animal transforms into a woman with no clothes. Rather than covering up, she flaunts [herself] before putting a shirt on."²
This is, obviously, not pleasing to the Lord. Jesus Christ Himself spoke that we need to clean the inside so that the outside (that is, our outward appearance) would be clean as well (Matthew 23:26). Part of this outward cleanliness is being modestly dressed, which Paul says women ought to do (1 Timothy 2:9).
Language
This anime also has profanity.⁽²⁾⁽³⁾ Such language is against God and His Word.
"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." (Ephesians 4:29)
Clearly, the Lord condemns such language. It is not alright for a Christian to listen to. A Christian ought to avoid it.
Murder
"The villain Grand Fisher kills Ichigo's mother."
"The show is heavily focused on action-packed fight scenes that are often violent and involve characters being wounded and losing blood although few protagonists have been killed."²
Do you think such is godly? Murder is explicitly against Scripture. John says that "ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15) in relation to fellowship with God. If the Lord calls murder unholy, why would we feel it is okay to watch it?
Drunkenness
Jehovah tells us that alcohol is wrong in His Holy Word (Leviticus 10:9-10). Additionally, we are told to "be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). This anime, however, doesn't follow the Bible on this topic. IMDb reveals that:
"Several characters smoke and drink"
"One character gets drunk on one drink of sake"²
How does this please the Lord? Hint: It doesn't. God is not happy with such wickedness!
Human to Demon
There are spiritual beings called Hollows. They used to be the souls of humans who hadn't moved on to the afterlife. There is a form of communion of the spirits that teaches the soul will stay on earth for a period after death before going to heaven. This is contrary to Scripture. When you die, you either go to Heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8) or Hell (Luke 16:22-23), you don't remain on earth.
Additionally, the Hollow are demonic creatures. The human soul does not become a demon after death. Demons are angels that Satan took with him out of Heaven (Revelation 12:4).
Conclusion
The things found in this anime are not pleasing to God. May we avoid them and instead seek to bring pleasure to the Lord in living correctly within His will. Bleach is not an anime that God supports or condones.
Sources:
1. "Bleach." MyAnimeList, myanimelist.net/anime/269/Bleach. Accessed 15 Feb. 2025.
2. "Bleach: Parents guide." IMDb, imdb.com/title/tt0434665/parentalguide. Accessed 15 Feb. 2025.
3. Bleach. Crunchyroll, crunchyroll.com/series/G63VGG2NY/bleach. Accessed 15 Feb. 2025.
4. "Hollow." Bleach Wiki, bleach.fandom.com/wiki/Hollow. Accessed 15 Feb. 2025.