Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-29325824-20190212155747/@comment-5398287-20190212202544

Okay so basically, for the longest time the only non-canon stuff we reliably had access to properly translated content of was the anime. the movies and the video games. We had those two Spirits Are Forever With You novels released 5-6 years ago, but there was never an actual full translation (even a fan one) like there is with these new Narita novels - the best scanlation group ever, Ju-Ni, was working on one at the time, then the wretched cesspool that is Bleach Asylum stole their work so far and claimed it as their own, which in turn led to Ju-Ni not only abandoning the project but disbanding altogether. So, for the longest time, light novels were not even in consideration for this "hierarchy".

As for why it is the way it currently is, I wasn't around when a vast majority of it was decided, but if I had to hazard a guess, the decision-making process went like this (it's what I'd do):


 * 1) Manga obviously and absolutely comes first in all aspects, even when it comes to incorporating existing things invented by non-canon stuff e.g. the Valley of Screams. This also includes omakes and volume sketches in addition to the standard chapters, but excludes a couple things like Imaginary number 01. the unforgivens, something made explicitly as a "what if?" story for a movie.
 * 2) Anime comes second as the most direct adaptation of the manga's storyline. While we will list the manga's events, we will use the anime's images where possible (which is most everything, except for stuff they didn't cover, such as Hollow Fisher's Arrancarification). This is also why we're willing to list the events of its filler arcs alongside the canon arcs in character articles, as well as use that filler for powers & abilities stuff, personality sections, etc. as long as it doesn't contradict anything else - while only 2 of the 4 major have a clear place in the timeline (Reigai still makes no sense, but let's roll with it for this part), the idea is that it's taking place in its own continuity overall, the anime's continuity - that's why most of the arcs after the Bount Arc, canon or filler, feature appearances from the Mod-Souls that arc introduced and even sometimes bring up Kariya, the main villain. You brought up the Kasumiōji Clan as an example of non-canon being treated as canon; but, looking at the article you linked, they're marked as being anime-only, which is correct and falls in with the before-mentioned idea of incorporating anime stuff as long as it doesn't contradict manga material. Believe me, there were/are so many anime-only viewers who came to this wiki for info that they'd be real confused if we DIDN'T list some of this stuff. So, tl;dr for this part, the anime has its own continuity and we're willing to list it as such on canon articles as long as it doesn't too heavily contradict the manga.
 * 3) Movies, video games, and musicals come in third equally because they make the anime's timeline look canon by comparison. I think Memories of Nobody is the only movie you could MAAAAAYBE slot somewhere in the timeline, but the rest are all over the place, mainly because of what Ichigo's Hollow mask looks like during each one. And the video games, well, they don't even try to fit somewhere in the timeline aside from sometimes mentioning what events have already taken place - if they're going with their own plot, they all take place after the Soul Society arc at bare minimum, that's about the most you'll get. And the musicals? I don't even know dude, those are on a level of their own. Now, these three together are what we've been relegating to the "Appearances in Other Media" sections as explicitly outside canon but still worth mentioning, especially if the given character plays a hefty role in the plot (like Hitsugaya for Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion). That's also why that one clan the Dark Ones came from is listed separately on the Noble Clans page. Kubo has, to my knowledge, only ONCE made an element of any of these canon, the aforementioned Valley of Screams, and so on that article we now list the manga version first and then the movie version as what came first, but something that is substantially different. Personally I enjoy keeping them there to safely list things like game-unique techniques and character forms, but that's just me.

Now, in general, for all of these we designate where content is from a non-manga source if we're using it - in the Zanpakutō Spirit page you mentioned, which I wrote in its entirety, I assume you're referring to the Zanpakutō Rebellion section and how it could be mistaken for a simple anime adaptation of a manga event by some users. Now, generally we rely on users to realize something is anime-only by looking at the references - if something is stated and the reference directs you to an anime episode, 99% of the time that means it originates from the anime and not the manga. All the same, I can see the confusion here, so I'll remedy that with a notice like for the Noble Clans page.

Now, for your final question; where do we rank the new novels in this? That's a bit tricky, but I believe the consensus is that, with the listing definitions I provided above, it would be ranked 2.5 out of 3 for a few reasons. One, I'm aware that these are meant to tie up loose ends from the manga and explicitly takes place somewhere after the end of the Blood War but before the 10 year timeskip, but from what I've heard of them and their content, there are a whoooooooole lotta discrepancies with the manga in term of characterization, power levels, established history, etc. (Grimmjow giving relationship advice, anyone?). Secondly, regardless of how many sketches Kubo has drawn for these books, and as much as those are appreciated, he is not WRITING them - that's Narita, as it was for the previous set of novels. That alone makes its canon status sketchy, and the issues I mentioned prior really solidify that we can't safely list it in the same breath as the manga or even anime content. So why 2.5 and not 3? Well, it doesn't need to go in the Other Media section - instead, this seems ripe to be placed in new Apocrypha sections for the various characters, like we did with Harribel and her subordinates for the UNMASKED story about their survival. I and the team are perfectly fine with listing everything the novels do concerning the canon characters in great detail there. I hope that helps.

P.S. in case you're wondering, we've love summaries for the original SAFWY novels as well, but we are absolutely not listing their content on the canon articles because boy they are duuuuuuuuuumb. Also Kenpachi has a totally different Zanpakutō so that 100% bars them from canon.