It looks like fans of the "Bleach" anime are going to have to wait until at least after April to catch new episodes of the series on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim program block.

As reported by Anime New Network, Adult Swim's schedule shows repeats for the foreseeable future despite a previously aired bumper promoting new episodes during April.

So, what happened? Did they decide to postpone new episodes until May or later as part of a broadcasting strategy? Could the show be moving into another time slot? Did studio Pierrot run out of content because Nick Simmons stole it? (I kid, I kid -- but sick burn, right?)

The episodes in question would have followed episode 167 and helped bring North American audiences closer to the series more than 260 episodes in Japan. Normally I'd just suggest viewers pick up a manga to breeze forward in the story, but in this case that's no good given that Viz's latest release, volume 30, is floating around a similar timeline as the anime. Hulu's no good either because it's still behind Adult Swim.

Looks like all fans can legally do now is wait (which I know they won't). Waiting, man, it's the hardest part.

[Via Anime News Network]