The eighth season of the Bleach anime series is named the Arrancar: The Fierce Fight arc. The episodes are directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu, and Studio Pierrot. Based on Tite Kubo's Bleach manga series, the episodes' plot centers on Ichigo Kurosaki's and his friends' battle against the Espada, the strongest members of former Soul Reaper captain Sลsuke Aizen's army, to save Orihime Inoue.
The season began airing on December 12, 2007 in Japan on TV Tokyo and ended on April 16, 2008. The English adaptation of the Bleach anime is licensed by Viz Media, and this arc began airing on September 26, 2009 and ended November 21, 2009 on Adult Swim. Four DVD compilations, each containing four episodes of the season, were released by Aniplex between May 28, 2008 and August 27, 2008 in Japan. Viz Media released the season in two separate DVD boxes during 2011 on June 21 and September 6. The first box, however, also contains episodes from the previous season.
The episodes use three pieces of theme music: one opening theme and two closing themes. The opening theme is "After Dark" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation. The first closing theme is Kousuke Atari's "Tane o Maku Hibi", which switches in episode 154 to "Kansha." by RSP. To promote the second Bleach featured film, Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion, the opening and closing credits for episode 152 to 154 use footage from the film, which was released on December 22, 2007.
