Rock Musical BLEACH is a rock musical jointly produced by Studio Pierrot and Nelke Planning, based on the manga Bleach by Tite Kubo. The musical is directed by Takuya Hiramitsu, with a script adaptation by Naoshi Okumura, a veteran of the Japanese theater scene. The music is written by playwright Shoichi Tama; the music in the show is completely original and not taken from the anime soundtrack. The initial performance run of the Bleach musical was from August 17 to 28, 2005 at the Space Zero Tokyo center in Shinjuku. To date, there have been five musicals and a "Live" Bankai Show, two musicals are coming in the spring of 2008.
The first musical centers around Ichigo Kurosaki becoming a shinigami, Rukia Kuchiki going back to Seireitei, and the trio of friends arriving in Seireitei, ending when Abarai Renji is defeated by Ichigo. The second musical has only minor differences, a slightly larger stage, a few new songs, and adds the new cast member, Eiki Kitamura, to portray Kira Izuru.
The Dark of the Bleeding Moon adds Kumiko Saito to portray Yoruichi Shihouin, Kohei Murakami to portray Hanataro Yamada, Harumi Inoue to portray Rangiku Matsumoto, Shogo Suzuki to portray Kenpachi Zaraki, and Takuya Usui to portray Ikkaku Madarame. They cut Yousuke Ito, Rei Yoshii, and Naofumi Yoshida from the cast. The musical features Ichigo Kurosaki meeting the 11th squad, to Rukia Kuchiki who is about to be executed.
The Live Bankai Show Code 001 is not a part of the Bleach storyline, but does mention the events taking place. The musical is more for fun and features a few new songs. Naoya Gomoto portrays Shuhei Hisagi for the first time. Harumi Inoue who plays Matsumoto Rangiku was not in this musical because she was pregnant with her son at the time.
No Clouds in the Blue Heavens takes place at Rukia's execution. Asuka Sekine and Masahiro Kuraniki are added to the cast to play Soifon and Kaname Tousen. Kohei Murakami and Harumi Inoue are not able to play Hanataro Yamada and Rangiku Matsumoto in No Clouds in the Blue Heavens but they both will be in the next two musicals.
The All will be the next new musical and is simply all the musicals in one, it is basically the whole Soul Society arc. It will run in the Spring of 2008 on March 24, 25, 26 and 30. Live Bankai Show Code 002 is the second Live Bankai Show and will run on March 27, 28, 29, and 31. The two musicals have every cast member in it excluding Yousuke Ito, Rei Yoshii, and Naofumi Yoshida.
It is not to be confused with Bleach Soul Sonic 2005, the seiyū event that featured a small preview of it.
