Picture: Warner Bros. Japan / Netflix
Another Netflix Original is set to leave the service in August 2023, with the 2018 live-action Japanese remake of Bleach set to depart midway through the month.
Netflix acquired the global rights (including countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom) in 2018, with the movie dropping on the service on September 14th.
Around that time, Netflix was also streaming multiple seasons of the anime series, although according to Unogs, only select Asian territories currently carry that show as of July 2023.
Directed by Shinsuke Sato, the movie told the origin story of high schooler Ichigo, who is given reaper abilities but ultimately doesn’t want them.
The cast for the movie included Sota Fukushi, Hana Sugisaki, Ryo Yoshizawa, Erina Mano, Yu Koyanagi, Seiichi Tanabe, Taichi Saotome, Miyavi, Masami Nagasawa, and Yosuke Eguchi.
It ultimately released mixed-to-positive reviews, with it currently having a 6.3 on IMDb at the time of publishing. On Decider, they praised how the movie got the anime aesthetics right and nailed the action sequences.
When will Bleach leave Netflix?
The movie is set to be removed from Netflix globally on August 20th, 2023, with a “Last day to watch” notice currently showing for August 19th.
Of course, Netflix could renew the movie’s rights ahead of time, although there’s no indication that’s likely to happen at this point.
Why is the Bleach movie leaving Netflix?
The ultimate owner of Bleach is not Netflix, and as with the case with all the Netflix Originals that have departed over the years, they were only licensed to Netflix on an exclusive basis.
Warner Bros. Japan is the owner for the title. They’ve licensed a number of high-profile movies and anime from the country to Netflix in recent years. Titles include Rurouni Kenshin, Bubble, and Fullmetal Alchemist The Final Alchemy. Most recently, Netflix took receipt of Re/Member in January 2023.
For more on what’s leaving Netflix throughout August 2023, keep it locked here on What’s on Netflix, where we’ll continue covering the US removals plus UK and Canadian removals.
Did you like Bleach on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
