Bleach Review

  

   Bleach manga series has ovas, movies, its own anime series, musicals, card games, art books, novels, over twenty videogames, and it has become one of the most important series in the last decade.

 I remember that in late 2004, a friend of mine brought me a DVD with some of the episodes of the Bleach animation. After watching the first twenty-seven episodes, my first thought was: “OMG, this is having the Sixth sense movie, the Dragon Ball series, Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin, monks, put it all in a juicer, and the result is Bleach”.

  Over time, I realize that it is much better ​​than a simple combination of series. It’s an overwhelming story and the characters are very unique, making the manga and the animation tremendously entertaining.

 I can understand to the author, Kubo Tite,  that all of the enemies of the leading character, Ichigo Kurosaki, are trying to conquer every worlds, even if they have to destroy one, while Ichigo, in his attempt to protect what he loves, ends up unifying the different dimensions.

 The story shows Ichigo Kurosaki’s life, a young man who’s able to see spirits and interact with them, like the Sixth Sense movie (“I see dead people”), but the difference is that Ichigo is not afraid of spirits.

   In the first episode he meets Rukia Kuchiki, a Shinigami, and the most well done character by Kubo Tite (according to himself). The Shinigami are in charge of protecting the human beings of the Hollow, evil spirits that eat human souls with strong Reiatsu, Spiritual Power. Rukia saves Ichigo from being eaten by one and also gives him his powers to become into a Substitute Shinigami.

ARGUMENTAL PLOT

 The first one recounts the Ichigo, Rukia and partners’ adventures inside “Karakura Town”.

 The second plot, recounts Rukia’s capture, How Ichigo reaches the Bankai, the entrance to the Seiretei, the Shinigami dimension, the Captains of the Soul Society, and finally, Aizen’s Betrayal. In this plot, you can see more characters, developing a much deeper and human story in what’s related to personal relationships. We can also see the people that surround Rukia next to her unknown past for Ichigo.

 The third plot, recounts Ichigo’s first War. Hollow World and Soul Society’s War. Aizen tries to destroy Karakura town to create the key that could take him with the Soul Society’s King. At this point, Ichigo loses his power to defeat Aizen, becoming, for the first time in his life, into a regular and normal human person.

 The fourth plot, with the FullBringer, explains why it is forbidden for a human to become into a Substitute Shinigami. Somehow, Ichigo ends up receiving all of the Seiretei’s captains’ powers, acquiring again his Shinigami power. This is the animation’s last plot, ending with 366 episodes since October 5th of 2004, to March 27th of 2012. A great loss to those of us who love the series.

 The fifth plot supposed to be the last one, the Quincy battle against the Shinigamis. I won’t go into details so you can read the manga in time.

THE GOOD STUFF OF THE SERIE

 One of the things that I liked the most, and found very interesting, was the first soundtrack, the music is “odd”, i feel like it’s made for a thriller, more than for an anime, music worthy of Silent Hill. Another plus is that both, the manga and the anime can tell something really serious and at the same time switch to something extremely funny. Else, the story becomes so entertaining that you can’t and don’t want to stay away from the serie, and makes you want to watch from beginning to end over and over again.

THE BAD STUFF OF THE SERIE

  One thing the anime lost after the second plot was the filter switch in the animation each time a Hollow appeared, the sky stopped lightning up. Another loss of the animation is the filled (everything not according with the manga); it’s very few filler episodes that are actually worth it. Else, I feel that the FullBringer´s plot is too forced, different from the rest plots in which the characters appear and maintain till today, the FullBringer disappear and they’re note even named again. It’s a plot simply made to tell how Ichigo recovers his powers.

OVAS, MUSICALS AND MOVIES

 There’s one ova and several movies of Bleach. The Ova, “Memories in the Rain”, is the only one loyally based in the manga, while the movies are spin-off from the serie.

 I understand that in 2010, Warner Brothers announced they had a Live-action being produced in that moment. Let’s hope it’s not another freak movie for Hollywood’s crap and trash collection.

 I laughed quite enough with the Musicals of Bleach. The actors sounded and seemed really good, plus the good acting work and the concepts of the serie.

Bleach, both manga and anime, is one of my favorite pieces. It has all what a fan can wait; over natural things, fiction elements,  comedy, action, a bit of romance, character development, everything together for the making of a great story.