Bleach Collaboration Cafe is Based Off April Fool’s Joke

From April 26 to May 26, 2024, a collaboration event and cafe will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bleach. The event will have two parts: an exhibition of signature scenes from the anime and manga and a collaboration cafe. [Thanks, PR Times!]

News of this event first appeared in late March 2024. However, at the time, it was unclear what kind of event this would be. The Locus of Brave part of the event will allow visitors to look at dynamic decorations, as well as artwork from the Bleach anime and manga. As for the collaboration cafe, the characters will look like regular high schoolers. This includes people who weren’t high schoolers in the original setting.

The reason why the characters look like regular high schoolers is because this is from the High School Warfare April Fool’s joke. Because of that, the food items you can get are either jokes on common Japanese school tropes or references to the characters’ in-universe seating numbers. For example, Ichigo and Renji’s dishes are “Hayaben Taiketsu,” which are lunch boxes. “Hayaben” in Japanese is a term for when you eat your lunch before it’s actually lunchtime. Here are the menu items you can get at the Bleach collaboration cafe:

As for the limited goods, you can expect to find pretty ordinary items. There will be can badges, acrylic stands, postcards, and keychains. Merchandise will use both the Locus of Brave key visual and the High School Warfare designs.

The Bleach event in Japan will take place from April 26 to May 26, 2024. Tickets start from 1300 JPY ($8.55), and they’ll take place at the Yokohama Landmark Tower.