Following the triumphant return of Tite Kubo's Bleach in its 20th anniversary special, fan speculation has been at all-time high, debating what this follow-up sequel arc might include. There's one major area of the Bleach world, however, which absolutely needs to be addressed: the series' clandestine spin-off from the other side of the world, Burn the Witch.

Burn the Witch was originally a one-shot manga by Tite Kubo which appeared in Shonen Jump back in 2018. Met with success, the series returned for a four-part miniseries in 2020, and has already had animated adaptations which came out around the same time, as well as plans to continue. As Burn the Witch progresses, it becomes apparent that the witches and dragons as seen in the series are just a different interpretation of the same Soul Society and Hollows from Bleach. Given that the Soul Society and soul reapers of Bleach are so heavily coded with Japanese culture, it's not a huge surprise to find out that other areas of the world would have a Soul Society that more closely matches local culture. What does raise issues is the radically different treatment of Bleach's Hollows and Burn the Witch's Dragons.

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Most of Bleach's story revolves around the concept of the Hollow, a soul which becomes corrupted by remaining in the human world far beyond its death due to attachments. Hollows mutate into strange creatures and tend to become both dangerous and possessive of that which they were attached to; Orihime's brother, for example, was shown to stay behind in the human world to watch out for her, but instead became so possessive that she was essentially unable to make friends or connect with others. For Hollows, the corruption seems inevitable, and many become animalistic, losing any traces of the being they once were, solely focused on consuming human souls. Sending souls to the Soul Society is the job of Soul Reapers (also called shinigami), preventing them from becoming Hollows and keeping the world of the living safe. Hollows do seem to play an important role, however, as the conflict between Soul Reaper and Quincy came down to purifying Hollow souls versus destroying them altogether. In other words, Soul Reapers have some idea that Hollows are essential, just not why or how.

Bleach-Hell-Balance

Burn the Witch's Dragons, however, seem to be integrated into life in the series' setting of "Reverse London," the magical realm which exists simultaneously beneath the ordinary city. Dragons are used as transportation (in place of broomsticks), food and resources, and preserved like endangered species. While Dragons can be dangerous, and should avoid coming into contact with ordinary humans as much as possible, Burn the Witch has shown that there's no reason they need be destroyed on sight, the way the Soul Society in Japan has operated. Bleach's Hueco Mundo arc even visited a plane occupied by Hollows where they seemed to live largely peacefully - essentially a different sort of afterlife from the Soul Society, which is barely distinct from the Human world, and Hell, which is factoring heavily into the 20th anniversary continuation.

With this revelation about Dragons and Hollows, it's time for the characters of Bleach's Soul Society to come to terms with the fact that they may have been handling this situation wrong all along. Hell is a problem in the anniversary one-shot because the balance of these planes has been upset; could this balance be off specifically because of how poorly the Soul Reapers have been dealing with Hollows? After all, these powerful reapers wouldn't need to be in Hell at all if not for their recklessly violent approach. Ultimately, the connection between Burn the Witch and Bleach raises a lot of questions, many of which will need to be addressed sooner or later if both series are to continue simultaneously.

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