Well, I was shown the anime by a friend back in...year 10 or 11 I'd guess, so getting on for five or six years ago now. It was one of the things that really got me in to the genre as a whole (Next month I'll be focusing on one of the others). I still read it when it comes out, but I wouldn't say I'm so much a fan, as I am a reader...
Something I've Read: Bleach
Written by Kubo Tite and published in Shonen Jump, the same magazine as One Piece, and for a long time was regarded as one of the `big three` of both the magazine and probably the shonen genre in general, along with the previously mentioned One Piece and Naruto. Recently, however, it’s lost that position. The anime has been cancelled, replaced with a Naruto spin off for some extra insult to injury, and Jump’s advertising has been slowly been putting less emphasis on it as well.
Bleach starts off being fairly monster of the week based, focusing on Kurosaki Ichigo, a fifteen year old who can see ghosts. Actually, I really like the first chapter, where Ichigo beats up a bunch of punks who damage a memorial to a little girl killed in a traffic accident, before turning to the little girl’s ghost and comforting her. It’s a nice establishment of Ichigo’s character, as well as the overall world of the story.
However, later, he runs into a monster that only he can see, which is destroyed by a young woman in a black outfit, wielding a sword. Another monster, called a Hollow, appears later on and attacks his family, only for the sword wielder, a Shinigami (Death God/Soul Reaper) named Rukia to intervene and end up being injured saving Ichigo from his stupidity. In desperation, they try to transfer Rukia’s powers to Ichigo, and Ichigo, with his new powers, must take over her duties while she recovers, still trying to deal with the bizarre new world he’s been thrown into. It starts off fairly monster of the week style quirky comedy in an urban fantasy setting, with some interesting ideas about how death works. Some fun characters and powers get introduced, and the focus is very much on the characters, such as when Ichigo confronts the Hollow who killed his mother.
Soon though, more shinigami return and take Rukia back to the afterlife, known as Soul Society, with Ichigo hot on their tails. This leads to what’s known as the Soul Society Arc, which is filled with fantastic sword fights and ends with one of the most well regarded plot twists I’ve seen….except that it isn’t.
See, the writing of the later parts of Bleach can best be described as seeming to be week to week, without much thought given to planning for the future. Characters are constantly introduced (and old ones brought back as well, making it incredibly cluttered), new powers come in with no reason, and plot threads are used and discarded without a conclusion. Even the art often feels lazier as the series progresses. Early chapters were filled with panels on each page, giving them lots of character and energy. Now, entire pages are repeatedly devoted to one image, with little text. The plot twist is good, but the writer has admitted that he didn’t actually plan it, and he doesn’t follow it up enough to make it worthwhile.
Bleach had a lot of potential, but it hasn’t delivered on the promises it made of greater things to come after Soul Society ended. If you are still interested, I’d definitely advise reading up to the end of the Soul Society arc, which had brilliant fights and characters, but the rest isn’t worth reading, given how long it is, unless you are really enjoying it, and even then, be careful. Bits of it will make you pump your hand in the air, only to be reversed next chapter or just abandoned. Don’t waste your time, if you want a good long running shonen, read One Piece or Fairy Tail, or heck, even Naruto.
Bleach is translated in manga form by Viz media, and was made into a (equally long running) anime which, as I’ve noted above, was recently cancelled. The manga is currently in its final arc, and I suspect the finale may well come this year or next year.
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