The exhilarating comeback of Bleach in 2022 with the Thousand Year Blood War arc is one of the best things that has happened in the shonen sphere in recent years. Despite the criticism that Bleach gets, one thing Tite Kubo has done excellently is creating cool characters. Even the side characters are the epitome of coolness, with their distinctive traits and motivations, whether good or evil.
In an interview, the editor of Bleach shared a fun fact about Kubo that sets him apart from his contemporaries. Kubo’s way of thinking and his process of creating the manga are truly unique.
Morita and Kubo Discuss the Ideation Process
Tite Kubo is heavily involved in the production of the Thousand Year Blood War Arc. Before part 2, the mangaka was interviewed along with Masakazu Morita, the voice of Ichigo Kurosaki. Upon being asked about his ideation process; Kubo shared (via Viz) that he doesn’t seek ideas necessarily, instead, they occur to him. And this would happen while doing something completely unrelated.
While watching something or having a conversation with someone, a word would click with him. That word would be the genesis of his creation but it’d not necessarily resemble the original conversation.
As the conversation went on, Morita asked Kubo about the association of characters with songs. The response he got was extremely intriguing, these songs were either playing in the background or in Kubo’s head when he created the character. He goes on to share that he doesn’t have to listen to songs, as his favorite ones automatically play in his head. That’s why he ends up associating some songs to his characters, making melodies and rhythms the beginning of his craft.
Bleach Editor Reveals A Quality Unique to Tite Kubo
Kubo finally shared that whenever he’s drawing, he already has a visual playing in his head. He tries to capture stills from this vision and presents them to the viewers, hoping that they understands his vison.
When I draw, I have a vague image of it in my head. I visualize stopping the camera at a certain point or moving the camera around at a certain place.
So instead of imagining what a particular moment would look like, Kubo can visualise what the scene would look like when animated. Without any experience with the camera, Kubo says that he has a sense of how the camera moves. Morita was surprised and asked if every mangaka follows the same process. The editor revealed that this quality is something unique to Tite Kubo.
In the editorial office, we were saying, “That’s not doable for someone other than Kubo Sensei.”
Who knew that every hype-inducing moment in the anime was a result of this special exercise that Kubo does in his head, one that is incomprehensible to others. Throughout this interview, Kubo speaks about the entwinement of the musical influences and his creative approach. He’s extremely spontaneous with the way he begins a story and everything that follows. So, while his works might lack a perfect structure, they still manage to captivate the readers.
Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is available to stream on DisneyPlus and Hulu.
