The fourth season of the Bleach anime series is named The Bount arc. The episodes are directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by TV Tokyo, Dentsu, and Studio Pierrot. This season, along with season five are fillers which are not direct adaptation of the Bleach manga by Tite Kubo; the plot focuses on the introduction of the Bount, a race of humans that consume human souls to extend their lives, and their conflicts with Ichigo Kurosaki and his allies. This season lasted twenty-eight episodes. The season initially ran from January 17, 2006 to August 1, 2006 in Japan on TV Tokyo. The English adaptation of the season began airing on May 18, 2008 on the Adult Swim programming block, and the last episode of the season aired on December 6, 2008. Seven DVD compilations, each containing four episodes of the season, were released by Aniplex between May 24, 2006 to December 20, 2006. Viz Media released the season on seventeen DVDs from May 12, 2009 to November 17, 2009. Each of them contain four episodes in both English and Japanese languages. Two DVD box sets collecting the entire season were released on November 3, 2009 and February 16, 2010. Manga Entertainment released the season in three DVDs for the United Kingdom from October 26, 2009 to June 7, 2010, while a box set was released on August 9, 2010.