Genre: Supernatural/Action
Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5
For your personal convenience, here is a video version of this review:
General Set-up: High schooler Ichigo Kurosaki has the ability to see ghosts. He can also see soul reaper (or shinigami) Rukia Byakyua, who should be invisible to mortals. She is patrolling Ichigo's hometown for errant Hollows. (Hollows are dead people's souls who have gone corrupt.) When a Hollow attacks his home, Ichigo helps Rukia defeat it and saves her life. In the process, however, Rukia must transfer her powers to Ichigo, making him a substitute shinigami.
Characters: There are a lot of characters so I am only going to go over the main five. Ichigo’s M.O. is to protect those he loves (his name actually can mean ‘the one who protects’). He can be a little hot-headed and will sometimes charge into situations without thinking. Rukia butts heads with Ichigo a little because they are so alike. Three of Ichigo’s friends from school get pulled into his adventures. Chad (or Sado) is strong, but quiet. Orihime has a bubbly personality and is rather air-headed, but caring. Ishida is a know-it-all who declares that Ichigo is his rival because they both have supernatural powers.
Plot: Bleach is organized into well-defined story arcs. You could almost watch the separate arcs out of order as long as you understand the basic premise. Theoretically, that is. To me it felt like the tension kept building arc after arc and there wasn’t much down time between arcs. One of the major failings in this show is that the plot can be similar in the arcs, and it can take many episodes to defeat one person. In short, it has Dragon Ball Z syndrome.
Ending: The ending of the anime is okay. It is not a deal-breaker, but some things are left to be resolved. It bugs me because they were so close to the end of the story when they ended the anime. The final arc of Bleach is not animated, and is currently on-going in the manga.
Things to Watch Out For: There are plenty of fights and battles. While epic, these often involve blood. No ‘guts’ are shown, but there is plenty of hacking and slashing (most shinigami use swords). Most blood doesn’t bother me, so I don’t notice it very much. I just wanted you to be aware of this if blood creeps you out. Also, there is some ‘fan service emphasis’ put on a couple of the female characters. It is especially obvious in the Hueco Mundo arc.
Humor: Mostly this anime keeps a serious tone. However, there are more than a few laugh out loud moments.
Sights and Sounds: The music in Bleach is unique. It has an otherworldly-feel, which goes well with the supernatural elements of the show. The soundtrack covers a wide variety of emotions; some songs are upbeat and light where others are intense and suspenseful. The show started coming out in Japan in 2004, so the animation is not as up-to-date as some anime. However, there are still some really cool battle sequences. The type of music changes for every arc.
Moral Lessons: Protect what you love. Fight to the end and never give up if you are fighting for something important.
Spirituals Views: After you die your soul may need the help of a shinigami to crossover to Soul Society (or heaven). In Soul Society you live another life, sort of like being incarnated. Soul Society is divided into districts - some better than others. Shinigami live in Seireitei, the innermost district. It is possible for a deceased soul to become a shinigami. Shinigami are not immortal.
Other media: Bleach was based off a manga. The manga is still ongoing, but it is winding down. There are several movies.
Fillers: Similar to Naruto, Bleach has a lot of fillers. It has 165 filler episodes (that’s 45% of the total content!). However, there are guides that tell you what episodes to skip.
Length: Bleach is also very long, with a total of 366 episodes. I really liked the first arc, called the
Soul Society Arc. To be honest, after the first arc I started to lose interest because it seemed like the same plot was being acted out each time.
Where to Watch: You can watch Bleach on Hulu and Crunchyroll. The first arc (first three seasons) is on Netflix.
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