Happy Birthday Ichigo! + Bleach's 10th Anniversary!

Even though I wrote this a year ago, I feel as though it were only yesterday when I made this blog post dedicated to saying Happy Birthday to the main character of my favorite series:
http://secretly-skeptical.blogspot.com/2010/07/happy-birthday-ichigo.html

A majority of people may be dedicating this weekend to seeing the highly anticipated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 movie and reflecting on the last ten years of the franchise that they all grew up with, but I’m currently more occupied with something else: the 10th anniversary of Bleach! :D The 10th anniversary has so far been a yearlong celebration packed with amazing goodies (that sadly, is exclusively released only in Japan and costs a fortune to buy on Ebay!), anime and manga specials, and is sure to end with an epic FESTIVAL solely dedicated to its 10th year run! The festival, known as Harajuku Bankai Matsuri, takes place in Harajuku, Japan next month during the entire week of August 7th to the 14th. Words cannot express how epic this is. I wanna go so badly but my chances of attending at this point are highly unlikely. There are supposedly contests, free goodies, events and gorgeous banners and posters everywhere! It’s my idea of Heaven :) For more info, check out its official website @ http://www.j-bleach.com/harajuku/what.html

There has been quite a number of Bleach merchandise that’s been released exclusively with its 10th anniversary logo but I cannot recall them all because it has been a YEARlong celebration :O I do remember that there was a funny filler episode (ep. #287) that involved Ichigo & co. in an Arabian-esque adventure around Lamp society (just think of it as a Bleach meets Aladdin episode! xD). Not only that, but production of the 4th Bleach movie: Jigokuhen (or Hell Chapter) was also a way for them to celebrate the series’ 10th year. It will be released on DVD in Japan on the 24th of August. The limited edition of the DVD looks amazing and is jam packed with bonus features, exclusive trailers and great cover art:
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=ANZB-2190

More Bleach 10th anniversary goodies to check out:

A limited edition calendar:

Coasters!

For more high quality pictures, go here:
http://bleachness.livejournal.com/584575.html

Stickers! :D

A 10th anniversary ring – I do not remember the Jap. website where you can purchase this, all I have is the picture! It is engraved with the words “Death and Strawberry”, much like the title of the very first chapter of Bleach.

Food (yes, actual food!) made in the likeness of characters and objects from Bleach:
Download here: http://www.mediafire.com/?s70r8998l0amevc

The current ending theme of the Bleach anime:



I am so proud of the series and for Kubo Tite for its success. With currently 456 chapters, 330 episodes, 2 OVAs and 4 movies (I know it all by heart ;), Bleach has the best fans and followers ever! It could go on for another 10 years and it still wouldn’t be enough for me! It’s seriously my favorite series and it has been ever since I first started watching it. I just realized that I haven’t made that blog post about why it’s so special to me yet huh? Well, I’ll do that soon (maybe, not sure yet since I have a tendency to put things off…) but for now, I just wanna say that it’s been such an amazing year for Bleach and hopefully it will be for years to come! :)

*I do not take credit for the images and videos used in this post. I do not own them nor are they mine. I'm just a fellow obsessed fan who is sharing the Bleach love!*