Country of origin Japan Original network TV Tokyo | No. of episodes 26 | |
Original release April 12 (2011-04-12) – October 4, 2011 (2011-10-04) | ||
The fifteenth season of the Bleach anime series is known as Gotei 13 Invading Army arc (護廷十三隊侵軍篇, Gotei Jūsan Tai Shingun Hen). It is directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu, and Studio Pierrot. The season's twenty-six episodes are based on the Bleach manga series by Tite Kubo, but follow original storylines exclusive to the anime. In this arc, Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends investigate a series of strange events in the Soul Society where numerous Soul Reapers have disappeared without a trace, with a seemingly large conspiracy at work. As this takes place, Ichigo is forced to struggle with the fading of his powers due to the previous battle between him and Sōsuke Aizen.
The season began airing on April 12, 2011 on TV Tokyo and ended on October 4, 2011. Aniplex collected it in six DVD volumes between February 22 and July 25, 2012. The episodes of this season uses three pieces of theme music. The single opening theme is "BLUE" by ViViD. The first ending theme, "Aoi Tori" (アオイトリ, "Blue Bird") by fumika is used from episode 317 to 329. The second ending theme, "Haruka Kanata" by UNLIMITS is used from episodes 330 to 342.