Bleach TCG

Bleach TCG is Score Entertainment's adaptation of Tite Kubo's shonen-manga-to-anime phenomenon, one of the Big Three shonen properties (alongside Naruto and One Piece) during the 2006-2010 anime boom.

The game

Released in 2007 by Score Entertainment, Bleach TCG is a two-player duel where each player builds a team around Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Byakuya, or a Hollow/Arrancar antagonist. The Bankai mechanic lets Soul Reaper cards level up into their ultimate forms mid-game, replicating the anime's signature release sequences. Spirit Pressure (Reiatsu) functions as the resource system.

The context

Score had been running the Dragon Ball Z and GT CCGs through the early-to-mid 2000s and used their established anime-licensed-TCG distribution to launch Bleach into the same retail channels. The show was in its Hueco Mundo/Arrancar arc when the TCG launched, which is widely considered the peak Bleach era among fans.

The collector angle

Premiere, Bleach Premier Starter Deck, and a handful of booster expansions make up the main Score run. Score lost CCG-business footing in 2009 and the line did not continue. Foil Ichigo, Rukia, Byakuya, and Aizen cards are the signature pulls. Because Bleach received a major revival with the 2022 Thousand-Year Blood War anime adaptation, the Score-era cards have benefited from renewed franchise attention without a replacement TCG filling the gap.