Interviews

Is there a reason the manga is called Bleach, or is that a secret?
The Soul Reaper - the color that you associate with the Soul Reaper is
black. But "black" is too straightforward. So I thought about "white",
but white is too simple. So if you put "bleach", somebody can associate
that with white. So that's how Bleach came.

If you become a Soul Reaper, what division would you want to be in?
The fourth [medical], because you don't get hurt there!

One thing a lot of people have noticed is that Bleach has many different female characters, each with a distinctive strength. Is that something you took a lot of care in doing?
Usually, I don't intend to create personality before I draw. Usually I draw a character and then I know which side of her is strong and which side is weak. But sometimes the personality and the design come at the same time. I don't think that the artists should create the character that you want it to be. I think that the character should have its own character. Let them grow: that's my belief.

What do you think is the main theme of Bleach?
In my work, I don't like to impose a message or theme onto the reader. I
want the characters to develop on their own and create the story
themselves, and it usually turns out very clever. So I tend to do that
sort of thing.

Way back in the beginning of the manga,
when Ichigo was first using Rukia's powers, was he also wielding her
actual sword, just much bigger? A lot of people have noticed that the
marking on it were the same.
The design is the same because at that time he was bearing her power. So yes.

Was the spirit of her zanpakuto in him also?
The outside [of the zanpakuto] has the design of Rukia's but when he was fighting at the beginning, the spirit was his - Ichigo's. At one point during some battle, Urahara tells him that Ichigo's zanpakuto is big, but there's nothing in it. So at that time he hasn't really developed his spirit in it, but he gradually starts to.

For a shonen series, Bleach spends a lot focusing on the emotions and
different bonds between the characters. I'm sure you're asked this a
lot, but will we ever see any romance by the end of the series?
I don't really intend to make it a romantic story, but it's one of the aspects of the series, so I put it in here and there.

In some of the earlier collected volumes, you list a theme song for each character in the character profile. Do you have any songs picked out
for some of the newest characters?
Usually when I draw, when I create a character, I'm playing some music in my head and that's why I assign that music, for example, to Ichigo. So even if I don't list it now, I do assign it, I just don't put it on paper. But every character has a theme song.

When did Rukia have the Hogyoku put inside her?
It's a secret!

From the beginning of the series, the team-up of Ichigo and Rukia was very important to making the series work. How did you plan it out?
Ichigo obviously needed help because he was developing his talent and
strength, and here she was, so I thought they'd be a good match to help
each other.

Finally, can you tell us why Aizen's couch is so big?
The bigger, the more beautiful!

"Tite Kubo's Big Comic-Con Adventure!"
Drawing Inspiration:
Shonen Jump: Did anyone inspire you to draw?
Kubo-sensei: When I create characters, I'm inspired by music rather than stories, other manga or movies. The characters then create the story. So for me, my creativity comes from music.

SJ: Are any of the characters based on people you know?
Kubo-sensei: Well, I haven't mentioned this before, even in the Bleach SOULs Official Character Book, but Kisuke Urahara is based on Snufkin. Snufkin is so cool.
[The character appears in Tove Jansoon's Moominvalley novels.]

SJ: You seem to use mythical content about death and the afterlife from Japanese folklore. Did any books influence you?
Kubo-sensei: I can't point to a particular book, but one manga that influenced me when I was small was Saint Seiya [published in the U.S. as Knights of the Zodiac], which is based on Greek mythology. Because of it, I started looking into things like myths, monsters and the afterlife. I was reading about them until around junior high school, so they might have been the basis.

SJ: What does Rukia's name mean, and why is it written in katakana?
Kubo-sensei: When I'm working, I jot down names in the margins of my notebook as they come to me. Once on TV, I saw the original type of cosmos in South America.

SJ: You mean, the flower?
Kubo-sensei: Yes. The show mentioned the name of the flower in Latin or something-like "rukia." It sounded like "Kuchiki Rukia" to me, and I wrote this down. When I created the character, I thought Kuchiki really fit as a Soul Reaper (Shinigami) name and called her Kuchiki Rukia. She had her full name from the very beginning. Later on, I learned that the word "rukia" means "light." She's like a ray of light for Ichigo, which makes the name really suit her.
[In English, the name is read "Rukia Kuchiki." The meaning of the kanji for Kuchiki is "decayed tree." When Kubo-sensei talks about light, he may be referring to the word "lucia."]

SJ: Why did you pick Bleach as the title?
Kubo-sensei: The title wasn't Bleach when I decided to draw a story about Soul Reapers. (Shinigami) This was before I drew the one-shot manga that appeared in Akamaru Jump. The weapon wasn't a sword, but a scythe. Only Rukia had a scythe and the other characters used guns. At that point, the title was Snipe [as in "sniper"]. Right before I started drawing, I began to think that a sword would be better and realized I couldn't use Snipe as a title anymore. I began looking for a title that grasped the bigger picture. Soul Reapers (Shinigami) are associated with the color black, but it would have been boring to use "black." "White," on the other hand, can suggest black as a complementary color. So I chose "bleach" to evoke the impression of the color white.
[Kubo-sensei explained to us how he chose English chapter titles for the manga. He uses a dictionaru to look up words that match his idea for the title, and ogten replaces a word with one that has a similar meaning but sounds better. Kubo-sensei didn't use a dictionary to choose "bleach" because the English word is already commonly used in Japan.]

Behind the Scenes:
SJ: Will you ever do an Aizen backstory?
Kubo-sensei: Will I...? To be honest, I think part of Aizen's appeal is that he's mysterious. It probably wouldn't be good for his character if I revealed everything about him. If I felt the urge to tell, maybe I would, but I'm just not sure right now.

SJ: Does Captain Yamamoto have a larger plan for the Soul Society? He seems to have no problem with his captains dying.
Kubo-sensei: Does he? I don't have anything planned for him right now. What's interesting about Genryuusai is you can never guess his true intentions. Among the captains, like Shunsui and Inohana, there are a few who appear to have something more to them, but for now I'll have to say it's all a secret.

SJ: Will we learn who will become captains in place of Aizen, Ichimaru and Tousen?
Kubo-sensei: Probably not anytime soon. Assistant captains lack certain abilities that captains have. I personally think the assistant captains need some time before they can become captains. Renji is a major character who's pretty powerful, but put him next to the captains and you'll probably notice that he's kind of erratic... and missing a noble quality. The captains are simply on a whole other level.

SJ: Do you have any plans to make Ichigo and Rukia a couple?
Kubo-sensei: I'm not going to confirm nor deny that. [Laughs]


SJ: Which American superheroes do you admire?
Kubo-sensei: I don't know of many American comic book heroes. I only know them from the movies, but appearance-wise, I thought Cyclops [from the X-men] looked pretty interesting. He can't take off the visor. When he does, his eye power is too strong and kills people- wasn't it something like that? I think that kind of setup is great because it's so dramatic.

SJ: Will Kon ever get his own body?
Kubo-sensei: I hadn't thought about it. I like him in his current body, and I think Kon likes it, too.

SJ: He gets more attention in that body.
Kubo-sensei: That's true.

Kubo-sensei on Comic-Con:
SJ: What was the most impressice Bleach coustume you saw?
Kubo-sensei: There were actually two. One was Komamura, who had a wolf's face on when he took off his helmet. The other was Neliel [a character who hasn't yet appeared in the manga in the U.S.], who was in all white. Those two coustumes impressed me the most. I also saw a few Kons out there that were very cute.

SJ: We do call it Comic-Kon!
Kubo-sensei: It's an event made for Kon. [laughs]

SJ: He seems to think so.
Kubo-sensei: That's right, definitely.

SJ: We also saw on Arrancar with a mirror.
Kubo-sensei: Ah, yes. That was Grimmjow.

SJ: He had a round mirror over his stomach to look like a hole.
Kubo-sensei: That was a great idea.

SJ: What will you tell your family and friends about this trip?
Kubo-sensei: I want to tell them about everything. I'll take the time and tell them everything I can remember. I was so glad to meet the fans. I received their heartfelt welcome and felt their warmth. I want to be able to convey what I felt as much and as truthfully as possible.

SJ: Thank you so much for the interview!
Kubo-sensei: You're welcome. It was fun.