2026 is a monumental year for the Bleach franchise, with Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War Part 4 – The Calamity now airing and the all-new game Bleach Mirrors High on the horizon. As the anime picks up steam in its final part, Bleach fans were also given the chance to try out Bleach Mirrors High in its closed beta test. So far, I’m sold on what this Thousand-Year Blood War sequel has to offer, and in some ways, it shares some interesting similarities with Bleach Rebirth of Souls and card-based games.
Bleach Mirrors High focuses on dual protagonists Shirin Migishima and Shirane Sanari, two novice Soul Reapers who have some blanks to fill in their memories. Players can choose which of the two characters they would like to play as, and the game’s avatar customization feature does let you adjust their hair color and other minor features. There’s not much more to say in terms of character customization, but that’s for a good reason. Both characters are fully voiced, and their names are canonized, so if you choose to leave their names be, it will be recognized in the voice acting.
Bleach Mirrors High Brings a Post-TWBY Story
In addition to Shirin and Shirane, the very first chapter of Bleach Mirrors High introduces a new batch of original characters specifically designed by Tite Kubo, the creator of the iconic manga series. Ryunosuke Yuki, Naru Jurinna, Giro Hando, and Maiko Tokishima are a new group of Soul Reapers deployed to survey Karakura Town after the end of the Thousand-Year Blood War, and they all seem relatively young in Soul Reaper years at least. Meanwhile, Shirin, or Shirane if you chose the female protagonist, is roaming about Karakura Town with some of their memories. A strange figure continues to call out to them as well, beckoning them to call to a greater power within themselves.
In typical Bleach fashion, it really doesn’t take long for trouble to start brewing in Karakura Town amongst the Hollows. Naturally, the protagonist ends up being drawn to Hollows and the souls of those who have long since passed, and Kisuke Urahara begins to get more involved as expected. However, once Yuki’s group starts getting involved, the protagonist’s visions become more and more clear with memories of Ichigo and his friends. When driven to the verge of defeat at the hands of a powerful Hollow, Bleach Mirrors High presents an interesting curveball that puts more personalization into your hands—the Zanpakuto.
Interestingly, Bleach Mirrors High gives you the choice to inherit the Zanpakuto of Naru, Giro, or Maiko in one last ditch effort to unlock Soul Reaper powers and best the powerful Hollow. This attempt seemingly fails and the Hollow laughs off their efforts, but the protagonist does awaken to their Zanpakuto after some self-realization finally kicks in. With a sense of self now firmly in their grasp, the protagonist defeats the Hollow to close out this prologue chapter. However, the closed beta test does give a glimpse of what the main game will bring—a determined protagonist and a close relationship with the other protagonist, who lives with them in the Soul Society.
The first chapter is a little light in substantial story developments, but I’m extremely pleased with the overall presentation and curious to see where it goes in a post-TYBW setting. Bleach Mirrors High’s story dialogue plays out similarly to a visual novel and Fate/Grand Order, and I’m very happy with the flow of dialogue and the great Japanese voice acting, even from the protagonist’s side. It all feels authentic to Bleach, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise since Kubo is directly involved in the project. The new character designs are also fantastic in both artwork and 3D models.
A Familiar But Different Combat System
While progressing the story, you’ll get a better feel of the combat system, which did surprise me slightly. Bleach Mirrors High borrows some elements from Bleach Rebirth of Souls with its camera angle, attack animations, cinematic feel, and even the presentation of text and the UI. However, the fundamentals of combat are different, with it operating more like a typical fighting game—lower the opponent’s health down to zero to win. How you get to the point of victory is where Bleach Mirrors High’s combat system gets a little more interesting.
As you tap the screen and perform combos on your opponent, you’ll begin to fill out a row with action cards that you can use to perform signature special moves and chain attacks. Chain attacks allow you to switch to another character in your party of three to perform link attacks and deal more damage. Eventually, you’ll be able to perform a powerful team-up technique called Soul Drive, which is basically an all-out attack sort of move.
That’s the gist of the combat system as we know it in Bleach Mirrors High, but like any other mobile game, there are plenty of characters that you can expect to summon. I can’t comment on the gacha mechanics just yet since everyone was showered in summoning currency during the closed beta test, but the roster is looking stacked for launch. You can summon original Bleach and Thousand-Year Blood War variants of characters and level them up with materials you earn from repeatable daily battles and content alike.
All the battles you take part in will consume stamina, which regenerates over time. You can use your stamina in the aforementioned daily battles to get leveling materials and in the story mode to get more rewards by clearing missions on higher difficulty settings. There’s also an Arena mode that lets you challenge the parties of other players, but it’s worth keeping in mind that this isn’t a direct PvP mode. There are also Event Battles and other content that will consume Event Tickets and other consumables that you can earn in-game. Overall, it’s the standard affair for gacha games—pick the content you need to play and grow stronger by grinding and completing content at higher difficulties for bigger yields.
Bleach Mirrors High is Shaping Up to be a One-of-a-Kind Bleach Experience
Rounding out the closed beta test is the ability to customize your own ideal Zanpakuto with a variety of options, including the blade, guard, hilt, decoration, effects, and sheath. There were plenty of options to choose from at the start, and I assume that you’ll be able to unlock more as you summon more characters and complete more content in the full game. I can see this feature being overlooked by some who want to get into gameplay immediately, but it’s a nice touch that makes the protagonist a little more personalized to your liking.
Bleach Mirrors High is shaping up to be a good time for Bleach fans, and while it borrows some elements from Rebirth of Souls, the game is standing out so far with its original story and fun card-based mechanics. The in-game gacha economy remains to be seen, but if its anything like Bleach Brave Souls, then players should be able to get by with normal in-game progression and a slew of limited-time events. I’m optimistic about what Bleach Mirrors High will bring at its eventual release, and I hope it’s a step toward realizing an eventful new era for Bleach after Thousand-Year Blood War wraps up.
Disclaimer: Bandai Namco provided Bleach Mirrors High closed beta test access for coverage purposes.
