Bleach Anime/Manga Review
One of the three so-called major shonen animes, together with One Piece and Naruto, is called Bleach. These three are incredibly well-liked, and their fans constantly compare them to determine which is the greatest. They just won’t let go of their fanboyism to evaluate the show objectively, which is unfortunate because they are probably missing out on some very epic adventures which are, in many respects, the case with Bleach. Regardless of what others have stated, I would recommend giving Bleach a go since, despite many flaws, it portrays an intriguing and captivating world.
The manga series of the same name by Tite Kubo inspired the Japanese anime television show Bleach. Noriyuki Abe served as the director, while Studio Pierrot produced it. 366 episodes of the series were shown on TV Tokyo between October 2004 and March 2012. The plot revolves around Ichigo Kurosaki’s exploits after he gains the abilities of a Soul Reaper a death personification akin to the Grim Reaper from Rukia Kuchiki. His newly acquired abilities compel him to assume the responsibilities of protecting people from bad spirits and leading the souls of the deceased to the afterlife. The anime regularly incorporates unique self-contained plots and characters that are not present in the manga series it is based on in addition to adapting the manga series.
Plot
The main plot arcs from Kubo’s manga are adapted into the series, along with certain anime-only ones. Rukia Kuchiki stakes her life to shield high school student Ichigo Kurosaki from a Hollow, turning him into a stand-in Soul Reaper in Karakura Town. He steps in for her despite his initial reluctance, and it’s at this moment that they learn that a couple of their students have supernatural abilities and are spiritually aware: Ury Ishida, a Quincy survivor, employs spiritual particles; Orihime Inoue has a team of guardian spirits known as Shun Shun Rikka, and Yasutora Sado has a hollowed-out arm that gives him strength comparable to the Hollows.
Unaware that Yoruichi Shihin and Kisuke Urahara are two banished Soul Reapers, Ichigo meets them after Rukia is condemned to death for crimes committed in the human world and brought to the Soul Society in order to enable himself and his comrades to save Rukia. Following this, it is made known that former squad leader Sosuke Aizen had unlawfully experimented on Hollows and Soul Reapers while framing Rukia for the crime. By employing the Hgyoku, a rumoured potent drug that transforms Hollows into partially Soul Reapers, Aizen intends to subdue the Soul Society. Aizen fakes his death and reappears, causing a conflict with certain individuals. He then flees into Hueco Mundo, the world of the Hollows, where he later kidnaps Orihime to use in developing the Oken, a power that would enable him to assassinate the Soul King, the head of the Soul Society.
Ichigo and his allies enter Hueco Mundo after receiving training from the Vizards, other exiled Soul Reapers, and the subjects of Aizen’s experiment. A troop of Arrancars, or Hollows with Soul Reaper skills, were in front of them. The Espadas, an elite squad of ten Arrancars with exceptional strength, commanded the Arrancars. Each of the Espadas, who lead Aizen’s army as commanders, oversees a group of Arrancars who are less powerful. The Espada collectively have strength equivalent to Soul Reaper commanders, including Aizen, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tsen. After saving Orihime, Aizen says that her abduction was a ruse to let him seize Karakura Town since the spiritual energy there is what the Oken needs.
Ichigo, a Soul Reaper who had been taught by his father Isshin, another banished Soul Reaper, gives up his ability to shut Aizen away when the Hgyoku rejects its master, allowing the Soul Reapers to destroy the Espadas. A few months later, Chad and the others in the organisation Xcution identify themselves as Fullbringers. They can give up their capabilities in order to revive others, and they want to do this for Ichigo, who utilises the Fullbringer power. Their commander Fullbringer, Kugo Ginjo, and ex-Substitute Soul Reaper is using it all as a pretence to gain power and empower everyone else. When Ichigo earns the trust of the Soul Society, his Soul Reaper abilities are restored. Ichigo returns to his role as a Replacement for Soul Reaper after assisting other Soul Reapers in defeating Ginjo’s squad.
Review
The series introduces several story arcs that are specific to anime. The Bount are a group of spiritual people who extend their immortality by snatching souls, and they are the subject of the first story arc. Their commander, Jin Kariya, wants to avenge himself by destroying the Soul Society. But Ichigo and his companions triumph over them. The second storyline centres on Shusuke Amagai, the Soul Reaper commander who has taken Ichimaru’s place. Amagai exploits the clan’s illegal experiment to exact revenge on Captain Yamamoto for the passing of his father. Amagai, however, recognises his error and ends his life.
The third arc centres on the wicked Zanpakuto spirit Muramasa, who transforms into a spiritual entity along with other people in order to get revenge on the Soul Society for incarcerating its leader Koga Kuchiki. He succeeds, but as Muramasa reveals the plan was to have Zanpakuto and Soul Reaper interact on an equal footing, he is double-crossed and changes into a monster monstrosity that Ichigo destroys. Kageroza Inaba modifies duplicates of every Soul Reaper and places them in Reigai bodies in the fourth and final arc. He makes an effort to combine with Nozomi Kujo to create the original being ko Yushima. Nozomi, however, gives her life in order to vanquish Inaba, and Ichigo is rendered powerless.
The idea appears to be rather simple at first; there are the Soul Reapers (Shinigami), powerful spirits that lead the souls of the deceased to Soul Society, the afterlife dimension built after feudal Japan. To defend both live people and souls, they also battle wicked spirits known as Hollows. As the story continues, it covers the essentials of the first story arc, which is essentially the arc where we meet the main characters of Bleach: the typical, headstrong, reckless, and protective teenage shonen hero; his female voice of reason; his haughty rival; the ditzy klutz girl with big boobs; and the large, stoic type.
The main issues with Bleach are the way it disregards its power level structure, the fillers, the pointless side characters, and the awful ways it explains certain skills. We can only hope that Bleach will eventually become better, but aside from the utterly odd filler arc, it has recently shown improvement potential and it keeps increasing its cast ceaselessly, which gives the universe a life feel in many ways. I seriously doubt, though, that it will ever be brought back to its former glory, particularly the Soul Society rescue storyline.
When it comes to strength levels, Bleach doesn’t make logic. A character can lose to an opponent and later, without training or power-ups, defeat someone who completely demolished that opponent. It is incredibly frustrating that there is no power-level structure in place, but I’m not sure how to explain it without giving anything away. The main character, Ichigo, will repeatedly learns a new skill to defeat an adversary who is shown as being far more strong than Ichigo. The primary opponent, who has levelled up five times, effortlessly defeats Ichigo despite his three months of training.
Even though it has many flaws, the unexpected aspect it possesses makes it a really enjoyable movie. Excellent character design and overall extremely strong animation. But occasionally there are problems with it.
The series’ director has been named Noriyuki Abe, while Masashi Sogo served as the series’ chief writer for episodes one through twelve. The primary writer for episodes 230–265 was Tsuyoshi Kida. For episodes 17–366, Kento Shimoyama served as the show’s head writer. Character designs were created by Masashi Kudo, who also occasionally contributed crucial animation or served as an animation supervisor. Bleach’s Shir Sagisu-composed soundtrack was made available in four volumes and a box set to celebrate the series’ anniversary. However, the soundtrack is excellent. It is highly varied and updated according to the plot arc, frequently adding new songs while keeping the classics around as well. Variety is essential to any above-average soundtrack. It features everything from fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping electric guitar compositions to melodic piano pieces and traditional comedy moment tracks while maintaining a great tone and atmosphere in keeping with current events. Numerous styles and genres, ranging from the tranquil and emotional to rap and rock, are featured in the opening and closing tunes. And of course, pop.
You might argue that it contains clichés, has some bland characters, and yes, the finale was hurried, but none of it counts in comparison to the vast number of fans that enjoyed Bleach. Ichigo’s demonstration of a person’s strength united a community of millions of people. the tenacity, feeling, and suffering of a person. human compassion, suffering, friendship, and moral principles. Swords and superpowers are not the focus. We learned how to love, how to defend, and how to get over our weaknesses through Bleach. Although it is fiction, the truths it teaches are quite true.
Recommendation
When the series is over, we advise you to watch some related series, such as Naruto, InuYasha, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings, Ninja Scroll: The Series, Samurai 7, and so on.
