Country of origin Japan Original network TV Tokyo | No. of episodes 16 | |
Original release October 14, 2008 (2008-10-14) – February 3, 2009 (2009-02-03) | ||
The tenth season of the Bleach anime series, released on DVD as the Arrancar vs. Shinigami arc (破面・VS.死神篇, Arankaru VS. Shinigami Hen), is directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu, and Studio Pierrot. The 16-episode season is based on Tite Kubo's Bleach manga series. The episodes' plot continues to follow Ichigo Kurosaki's and his friends' battle against the Espada, the strongest of former Soul Reaper Captain Sōsuke Aizen's army, to rescue Orihime Inoue. Episodes 204 and 205 are centered on a soccer match developed by the Kasumiōji Soul Reapers who appeared in season 9.
The season first aired from October 14, 2008 until February 3, 2009 on TV Tokyo in Japan. The English adaptation of the anime is licensed by Viz Media, and began airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim starting on February 5, 2011, and ended on May 21, 2011. Aniplex released the season in a series of DVD compilations, with each of the four volumes containing four episodes. The first DVD volume was released on May 27, 2009, and the fourth one on August 26, 2009.
The episodes use three pieces of theme music: one opening theme and two closing themes. The opening theme is "Velonica" by Aqua Timez. The first ending theme, "Hitohira no Hanabira" by Stereopony, is used for episode 190 to 201, and the second ending theme, "Sky Chord (Otona ni Naru Kimi e)" (Sky chord 〜大人になる君へ〜, Sukai Kōdo ~Otona ni Naru Kimi e~, lit. "Sky Chord (To the Adult You)") by Shion Tsuji, is used for the remainder. To promote the third feature film, Bleach: Fade to Black, which was released on December 13, 2008, the credits from episodes 197 through 201 use teaser footage.