Bleach Wiki:Canon Policy

Bleach Canon: consists of materials that are thought to be genuine (or "official") and those events, characters, settings, etc., that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe established by the manga series Bleach.

Canocity can only be Sanctioned by Tite Kubo specifically stating that the material in question is canon.

The Bleach Universe is expanded through other additional materials such as movies, novels, promos and video games which do not necessarily take place in exactly the same fictional continuity as the Bleach manga.

Canon
In fiction, canon is the conceptual material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical. It is used in two slightly different meanings:

1.) "it refers to the overall set of storylines, premises, settings, and characters offered by the source media text".


 * In other words all the information presented from source material of the manga and databooks are considered canon as they are the source material.

2.) it is used "as a descriptor of specific incidents, relationships, or story arcs that take place within the overall canon"; thus certain incidents or relationships may be described as being canon or not.


 * In other words the arcs, relationships, and incidents presented in the manga are considered canon.

Canon listing

 * All Volumes of the Bleach Manga series.
 * All Bleach Databooks (not including material not written by Tite Kubo).
 * All Bleach Anime (not including filler arcs).

Anime
Anime is considered canon in so far that it is a T.V. media depiction of the storylines that take place in the manga. When the content is based on filler (In media, filler is material that is combined with material of greater relevance or quality to "fill out" a certain volume). Then the content has less credibility, as while it is based on concepts and characters that are canon. The storyline is not the original authors creation and bares no connection to the established timeline featured in the "Source" material. (Unless otherwise indicated).

Expanded Universe
The term Expanded Universe (sometimes called an Extended Universe) is generally used to denote the 'extension' of a media franchise (i.e. a television show, series of feature films, etc.) with other media (generally comics and original novels). This typically simply involves new adventures for existing characters already developed within the franchise; however in some case entirely new characters and complex mythology are developed.

Although there are some exceptions, Expanded Universe works are generally not accepted as canon, or part of the 'official' storyline. They are generally seen as 'apocrypha'.

Apocrypha
This includes those fictional stories that do not belong within a fictional universe's canon, yet still have some authority relating to that fictional universe.

Often these materials might contradict the continuity that has already been established by 'canon'. Even when no such contradictions occur, such materials may still be deemed apocrypha possibly because they might have been produced largely independently of the creator of the fictional universe.

Movies
Movies are not considered to be canon. They like fillers feature information and issues that cannot be corroborated with canon material. (Unless otherwise indicated).

Video Games
Video Games are not considered to be canon.

Novels
Novel's that are not written by the author of the series are not considered to be canon.