Although it's one of the most popular anime of all time, Bleach has a massive number of filler episodes amongst its total 366-episode run.

With this hit adaptation of Tite Kubo’s beloved manga series first dropping in 2004, Bleach was subject to the big trend for long-running anime, which involved additional single chapters or even whole subplot arcs.

The idea of this was to give the mangakas essentially more time to create more original chapters for the anime to adapt. As a result, some filler is actually worth a watch if you’re a die-hard Bleach fan, whilst other episodes are considered pure padding.

To save you lots of time as you catch up before checking out the Thousand-Year Blood War sequel anime, here is the exact list telling you which episodes of Bleach are filler — and which are definitely skippable.

How much of the Bleach anime is filler?

Running for 16 seasons between 2004 and 2012, the original Bleach series included 160 filler episodes, covering lighter side-stories and detours from the central plot.

Confirmed with the help of Anime Filler List, all of the pure filler episodes in the anime adaptation of Bleach are as follows:

One example of these side stories that are inconsequential to the manga canon lore is an episode featuring the supporting characters Ikkaku and Yumichika. A duo of soul reapers, they embark on a mission to the human world, which basically amounts to an entertaining but pointless standalone story.

Elsewhere in the show, you'll find stereotypical fan-service episodes, alongside slice-of-life moments that don't offer much in the way of plot or character development.

While a few of these episodes do help to flesh out the broader Bleach canon (for instance by setting up the Bleach: Hell Verse film), if you watch all of them then you'll spend just as much time engaging with filler as following the main plot.

What filler episodes are a must-watch?

Despite still being classed as unnecessary by Bleach manga purists, there are some Bleach filler episodes that add something meaningful to the experience of the story — like the Bount arc, covering episodes 64-108.

This arc introduces a new race of dangerous supernatural villains, but since it doesn't appear in the original manga, it’s still completely skippable if you decide it’s not for you a couple of episodes in.

Later on, in episodes 311-316, we get some insight into the Reigai Uprising, establishing a more serious and gritty tone for the show going forward.

This particular arc is one where Kageroza Inaba creates Modified Soul copies of the Gotei 13, placing them in Reigai bodies. He then uses these bodies to attack the Soul Society, so if you skip these episodes, you'll miss some important context for the final status of the Soul Society.

If you skip that section, you may miss out on some important context.

In terms of sheer entertainment value, the Zanpakuto Unknown Tales episodes (230-265) offer new insight into the show's main characters and fantasy world-building. This arc explores how a Shinigami's Zanpakuto (or sentient weapon) can rebel against its master, disrupting our expectations for how this kind of relationship typically plays out.

Where to watch the Bleach anime

At the time of writing, all 16 seasons of the Bleach anime are available to stream on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK.

This includes the sequel anime, BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, which you can watch the trailer for above.

Bleach is available to stream on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK.

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