Tite Kubo has always been involved with the Bleach anime and helms the general supervisor role. He is used to supervising most aspects of the production, including the scripts, storyboards and the work by voice actors.
Yet, the fourth Bleach movie, Hell Verse, lacked any specific directions from him, making it a very independent work by the studio. Tite Kubo loves being a part of the anime and knows what he does not want in any episode that carries his name. Thus the topic of the fourth film is a sensitive one for him.
A Miscommunication Prevented Tite Kubo’s Involvement in Bleach: Hell Verse Movie
In the DVD version of the Bleach: Hell Verse movie, a shocking message from Tite Kubo was included, and it stated the author’s regret for not being involved with the film’s production. However, it was not because of Tite Kubo’s time management or lack of interest, it was due to the lack of diligence among the nine staff.
The message starts with:
In this movie I was credited as “Executive Director”. However honestly speaking, for the DVD version I want that title to be removed. I already asked them to do so.
Tite Kubo felt that he did not have nearly enough participation in the movie for him to be credited. The author then began to recount that in the year preceding the movie (in early summer), he had a meeting with the scriptwriter. The scriptwriter also carefully took notes of the ideas that he wanted to contribute. Kubo even agreed that they jointly came up with some pretty interesting stuff.
The Bleach creator thought that he would be shown the final scenario at least before winter. However, it was sent to him only in the spring of the movie’s premiere year. Furthermore, the scenario contained absolutely no ideas from the meeting he had attended with the scriptwriter. He later found out that the notes taken by the scriptwriter were never transmitted to the director or any other staff member of the movie.
Tite Kubo Credits the Cast and Staff for the 4th Bleach Movie
Kubo went on to explain that after the incredibly slow back and forth between him and the movie staff, they also faced trouble with the production department agreeing to changes. The scriptwriter also worked hard to implement the changes in the script, but unfortunately, they had already run out of time.
The author then admits that the reason the characters had every Bleach-like feeling to them despite the lack of his opinion was due to their voice actors. Theseiyuus did an incredible job with the voices, which gave the characters life and prevented any misrepresentation. In his message, Kubo also thanked the staff members for drawing the characters accurately.
Despite everything, Tite Kubo’s name was included in the credits, and he could not remove them no matter how much he wanted to.
I already had this feelings since the premier of the theatre version, however when I met with the producer staff to persuade them, the movie was already in the editing process so it couldn’t be removed.
Nonetheless, the author vented his opinion through the jacket cover of the film’s DVD edition and made sure that fans knew he was not involved with the movie’s production as much as he had initially planned.
You can read Bleach on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.
