Color Bleach+: The Bleach Official Bootleg »

Bleach is author Tite Kubo's second title. Kubo made his debut with ZombiePowder, a four-volume series for Weekly Shonen Jump. To date, Bleach has been translated into numerous languages and has also inspired an animated TV series that began airing in Japan in 2004. Beginning its serialization in 2001, Bleach is still a mainstay in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump. In 2005, Bleach was awarded the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award in the shonen (boys) category.

R to L (Japanese Style).

An indispensable guidebook to the Soul Society, Color Bleach+: The Bleach Official Bootleg takes you behind the scenes in the shadowy world of the Soul Reapers. All Thirteen Court Guard Companies are covered in great detail and even popular how-to columns are reprinted inside, making this an essential manual for any Bleach fan. The book includes 72 pages of full-color manga.

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—When Kubo, the creator of the original "Bleach" manga series, was asked to create some "rough sketches" of additional scenes that would take place in the Bleach universe, his output was quite prolific. In fact, he created so many sketches showcasing characters like the Soul Reapers that they were able to fill the first half of this book. In this color section, the artwork is definitely rougher than that in the original series, but the casual style matches the fun and fluffy stories in which serious characters show their lighter sides. The other half of the book features more polished black-and-white art and consists of something called Seireitei Bulletin, a handbook that is supposed to prepare readers for the Soul Reaper academy entrance exam. Superfans of the "Bleach" manga and anime series will be delighted with this behind-the-scenes look at some of their favorite characters from the 13 Court Guard Companies. Readers who are unfamiliar with Bleach, however, will have absolutely no idea what's going on, so this book is only recommended for libraries in which the manga and/or anime series already have a following.—Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library