While Bleach is considered Tite Kubo’s Magnum Opus, it wasn’t his first manga. Any great work of art has several undiscovered or abandoned pieces behind it, and it’s the same with Kubo.
His one-shots before Bleach were coarse in nature and attracted severe criticism in the manga industry. In a radio interview, the author opened up about how he was once critiqued by an extremely famous editor.
Tite Kubo’s Previous One Shots Before Bleach
Tite Kubo wrote several one-shots before Bleach was serialized. Kubo’s previous manga, Zombiepowder, was serialized in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine between 1999 and 2000. It was a short serialization and did not receive much fanfare in Japan, but was successful overseas.
Before the launch of Zombiepowder, Kubo wrote two one-shots: Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine and Rune Master Urara. The one-shots came out in 1996, but they were not appreciated by the industry’s higher-ups.
Back when Kubo’s one-shots were released, he was a rookie, and the serializations were considered to be too early in his career. When the one-shots were serialized, Kubo did not have a lot of experience. His trademark designs were absent, and the art style was rough. This did not fare well with his seniors. In fact, he was often scolded and was even called in by a renowned person just to receive some extremely harsh feedback.
Tite Kubo Received Tough Schooling from Dragon Ball‘s Editor
Before Tite Kubo’s second one-shot was released, he was called to Tokyo by none other than the editor-in-chief of Shueisha, Torishima. Kazuhiko Torishima joined as an editor of the Weekly Shonan Jumo and began overseeing Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, and other hit series.
When Tite Kubo reached Shueisha due to Torishima’s summoning, he was met with a disappointed editor. He met up with Torishima along with his editor. Torishima then told him:
Your manga is not good. Go home and read these. Write these kinds of manga
Apparently, Torishima had thrust Kubo with copies of Dragon Ball and Fist of the North Star and demanded that Kubo follow the styles of these famous Shonen works if he wanted to be successful. In fact, his intonation was extremely harsh with the budding writer.
Naturally, Kubo did not like it and thought of Torishima as a ‘bas**rd’. Kubo realized that the intention behind the meeting was to make him produce huge Shonen hits like the examples he was shown. He did not, in fact, read the provided volumes later, though he was already familiar with them, given their popularity.
After his manga Zombiepowder ended in 2000, Kubo’s editor told him to write another one-shot unless he wanted to be forgotten. Thus, Kubo wrote the Bleach one-shot that later inspired his biggest franchise, whose anime is still ongoing with the Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War arc.
Nonetheless, Bleach never followed in Dragon Ball‘s footsteps and yet became one of the most successful franchises in existence.
You can read Bleach on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll. Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War arc is available to stream on Disney+.
