BLEACH: Thousand Year Blood War is a follow up to the original Bleach (2004), akin to Inuyasha Kanketsu-hen (2009). It will be completing the series' anime adaptation by bringing the remainder of the manga chapters-that being the final arc-to the screen, which the original anime did not adapt. The Japanese cast from the earlier seasons return for the finale, whilst most of the English cast from the previous anime are retained with some re-casting for main and side characters.
BLEACH: Thousand Year Blood War will be running for a total of 52 episodes, released in four split cours that will be broadcasting 13 episodes each. These cours will be airing a couple of months from each other as part of seasonal anime titles. Together with the episodes from the original anime, it will give the entire BLEACH anime adaption a total of 418 episodes. Though the only exception is The Blood Warfare, Separation (Interlude) (2023) as recap episodes are treated as specials and are not technically part of the main episode numbering.
As a result of the series airing at midnight in Japan, this installment of BLEACH is free with less censorship compared to that of the original series, allowing for more depiction of explicit content such as blood and graphic violence. Interestingly enough, some of the more gruesome scenes are still mildly toned down from the original source material (manga), such as Ayon's death from March of the StarCross (2022).
Unlike the original anime, the episode title is seen with the episode numbers when it is displayed.
The anime fills in gaps in the manga that Tite Kubo wished to address and fix