Bleach’s Afterlife: The Ultimate Guide to Soul Society and Beyond
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Over the course of several story arcs, the hit Bleach anime expanded its worldbuilding to encompass not just one, but three distinct worlds, and protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki has spent time in all of them. It was easy for Bleach to develop Karakura Town, set in real-world Japan in the early 2000s, with points of interest like the local high school and Kisuke’s shop. Then, Ichigo started some isekai-lite adventures in worlds like the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo.
Spirits of all kinds have business in all of these worlds, such as Soul Reapers going back and forth between the Soul Society and Karakura Town, or Hollows sneaking from Hueco Mundo to the world of the living to feast on living souls. Making sense of the story of Bleach means getting to know these worlds better and understand exactly why Bleach‘s main characters and factions care so much about each one. After all, some of the story’s biggest plot twists happened because certain characters visited worlds beyond their own.
Bleach fans might say that the Soul Society is the “main” dimension found in this fantasy anime’s universe, both because of how it functions and this realm’s massive impact on the overall story. While there is no true Heaven in Bleach, the Soul Society is the next best thing for many of the Pluses who end up living there, especially given the alternative. While Hell is a nightmarish place of eternal torment without escape, the Soul Society is a peaceful place with a stable, tradition-bound civilization. Many groups and notable individuals can be found in the Soul Society, and protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki met, heard about, or even fought many of them. It’s no wonder the Soul Society story arc is so fondly remembered — it had such a fantastic backdrop.
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