Bleach

Bleach is one of the three so-called "mainstream shonen animes"; together with Naruto and One Piece these three are immensely popular, and the topic of endless comparison among their fans set out to prove that their favorite is the best out of them. They simply refuse to exit their fanboyism to view the series in an objective light, which is a shame, because they are probably missing out on great adventures, which is the case of Bleach in many ways. If you want my review short and good, give Bleach a try no matter what people have said, as it, despite a lot of shortcomings, ... presents a most interesting and enthralling universe.

The concept seems pretty basic at first; there's the Soul Reapers (Shinigami), empowered souls who guide departed human souls to Soul Society, the afterlife deimension, formed after a Feudal Japan. They also fight Hollows, evil and malevolent spirits, to protect living humans and souls alike. So, I assume you have read the plot summary, which covers the basics of the first story arc, which is basically the arc where we are introduced to the main main cast of Bleach; the standard, headstrong, rash and protective teenage shonen hero, his voice of reason in the form of a girl, his arrogant beglassed rival, the ditzy klutz girl with big boobs, and the large, stoic type.

Towards the end of said arc however, a real plot appears, events are set into motion, and before long, it has escalated into an assault on said Soul Society a rescue mission from our team of 4-5 heroes, who fight their way through shinigami of all kinds trying to reach their goal, conveniently placed in the middle of this Society. In this arc, you'll get lots of great action and meaningful fights, bottled together with an extremely large and colorful cast of characters, flashbacks and an interesting plot. It all builds up one hell of an end to the arc, 60 or so episodes into the show, where a most intersting twist takes place. And said arc ending is in each and every way the climax of Bleach.

Which is its problem. From there it goes steep downhill to two arcs of slow-paced filler, which lowers your excitement a great deal of levels, and from there the show never manages to get you hooked as much as it did during the Soul Society arc. It does get some interesting new aspects and revelations durign the following Arrancar arc, but it never gets really exciting, nor does it get that much greater during the Hueco Mundo arc. It's just too much fighting, and a re-used "save the damsel in distress" plot. The colorful cast is not seen as much anymore, and aside some interesting emotional developments courtesy of the former klutz girl, there's not a lot to it, and most fights don't have the same enthralling depth to them which made the fights in SS so unique. Now it's more a display of unique powers, and whatever motivations the bad guys had for their fighting is revealed only after the actual fights, which in ways ruins things. Also, there's a few plot holes to speak of, but nothing large.

However, aside the completely random filler arc (which re-used several plot elements from the story), Bleach has shown potential for improvement lately, and it keeps expanding its cast endlessly, which makes the universe seem living in many ways, so we can all only hope that Bleach will improve gradually. However, I sincerely doubt that it will ever be restored to how great it was at its peak, namely the Soul Society rescue arc.

It does have a lot of shortcomings, yet it is a most enjoyable watch still. Now, why is that? The answer is the unexpectancy factor it has. Due to its vast cast and great universe, you can't really know what comes next, only make qualified guesses. What kinds of powers will that character have? What is the villain really up to? And what's with that guy? What will happen next? Who knows, who knows. So one could say that the true strength of Bleach lies in its cast, which can bring about mysteries, plot twists and other aspects of awesomeness, and cover up for a somewhat lacking storyline.

So what about the asesthetics? there's plenty of people who believe that the visual and auditory aspects of anime are just as important as any plot or character development. And Bleach delivers here, in many ways.

The animation quality is quite the hassle to discuss, because it is so varying in quality. At its worst it has low frame rates, offset character designs and framed action, while at its best it is vivid, meticulous and full of soft motions and beautifully animated special and lighting effects. Most of the time however, it is decent. Not average, but not in any way anything bragworthy. Expect some ups and downs in this department.

The soundtrack however, is very great. It is greatly varied, and is renewed per story arc, introducing new tunes often whilst keeping the old ones around too, and this variation is intrinsical of any above-average soundtrack. It stays perfectly in tone and atmosphere with the current events, and feature everything from upbreat, adrenaline-pumping electric guitar pieces to melliflous piano pieces, and standard comedic moment tracks. The opening and endign themes feature a lot of types and genres, from the serene and sentimental to rap and rock. And pop, of course.

I said it in the beginning, and I'll say it again; try out Bleach at least once, desptie what Naruto fans, shonen haters or anyone else have said. It's pretty enjoyable despite its lacks and faults, mostly in thanks to its great cast.

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =)

*NO SPOILERS*

Bleach had great potential, but became annoying with poor character development and random powers.

Bleach has one of my favorite concepts ever. The Soul Society is awesome and the Gotei 13 are probably the best part of the show. They are squads composed of a multitude of Shinigami(Soul Reapers) and the show focuses more on the Captains and Lieutenants of those squads that are the most interesting characters in the show. Although, their could have been less squads(like 6) with less members in them(like 5) to have a more focused cast of characters that get more development. Hollows are also very interesting, they are souls ... that have either decide to let themselves be taken by evil or have been capture by other hollows. The basic concept is that the Soul Society dispatches Soul Reapers to purify the souls of hollows to let them live in the Seretei(basically heaven) unless they were evil while human( then they go to hell). The Soul Reapers use their swords called Zampakuto, that have 2 transformations to purify hollows.

The story of Bleach is ok, it is basically a regular shounen protagonist (Serious while fighting and Over powered) vs a traitorous, power hungry, intellectual villain.

Bleach biggest problems are its disrespect of its own power level system, its useless side characters, its horrible explanations for certain powers and its fillers..

Bleach doesn't make sense when it comes to power levels, a character can be defeated by an opponent, and then can defeat someone that utterly destroyed that opponent without training or power ups. I don't know how to describe it without spoilers but the power level system is non existent and it is really aggravating to not see that system in place. Ichigo, the main character, will discover some new ability to beat his opponent that is portrayed as being way more powerful than Ichigo, this will happen multiple times. Ichigo is easily defeated by the main antagonist(villain), that same villain levels up 5 times and is defeated by Ichigo who trained for 3 months. What? at least don't make the villain level up 5 times so it makes more sense.

The side characters in bleach are useless. The Captains and Lieutenants aren't, but Ichigo's friends are. First off, Orehime Inoue, F**K is this character annoying. Shes is the typical damsel in distress, she is hot, she tries to be extra cute and she has stupid powers that have no explanation(Maybe Fullbringer). Orehime's only use is healing Ichigo so he can get back into a fight. Chad has *MINOR SPOILER* Fullbringer powers, these are probably the stupidest powers in the Bleach universe. Fullbringer is the abillity to control the souls found inside objects. WTF!! an object has a soul? I guess it does in the Bleach universe. Uryu Ishida is probably the on except-able friend Ichigo has. Uryu is a Quicy, they are similar to soul reapers, but instead of using a sword they use a bow and arrow. They also kill hollows instead of purifying them. The problem with all three of these characters is they become to weak to participate in battles except Uryu who can still provide support in battle.

Bleach is almost 50% filler. These can be skipped if you binge watch Bleach but on a week to week basis it can be really annoying to have to watch filler almost every other arc.

Although Bleach has a huge list of problems I was still hooked until the last cannon arc because the concept of Bleach was so interesting. The Soul Society and the captains are the main reason I continued to watch the show. The most annoying part of Bleach for me was its lack of explanation and logic for powers, Ichigo's friends that shouldn't have existed, especially Orehime and the fact that the main characters can just come full circle and defeat a character that should be way above them in terms of power.

Bleach will always warm my heart no matter how many times I watch it. There are scenes in this anime that I consider iconic to the anime community, regardless of how many people disagree with me, I truly believe Tite Kubo inspired greatness in so many fans. He has the most beautiful artwork I've seen in manga, and while the anime doesn't quite reach the level of skill Kubo possessed, it still presented a beautiful adaptation of his story in a way that impacted millions of people around the world.

You can argue that it has cliche moments, or maybe some flat characters, and yeah, the ... ending was extremely rushed (due to Kubo's poor relationship with his publishers), but none of that matters when compared to the enormous amount of fans who adored Bleach. A community of millions of people were all brought together when Ichigo showed us the power of a human. The strength, emotion, and pain of a human. Human understanding and suffering and friendship and human values. It's not about swords and power ups. Bleach taught us how to love, how to protect, and how to overcome our weaknesses. This is a fictional story with very REAL lessons.

And while there are other anime and stories that can teach us about life, there is nothing quite like Bleach. The story captured me at every moment, I could relate to every struggle, and I felt my heart melt at every tragedy. I know that not every person will experience something the same way. I know there are many people who feel disconnected from Bleach. But as for me and the Bleach fans around the world, we gained something by watching this treasure. I have a passion and a strength that developed every time Ichigo fought and won his battles. The soul society became my allies. Ichigo's friends were my friends too. Ichigo became my hero. I started this series back when I was 15 years old and even though I'm 22 now, I still find personal strength and encouragement from watching my hero fight for the good in this world.

I believe this will live in my heart and mind until the day I die. Bleach is not unworthy of praise, because it truly helped at least one person on this earth find happiness. Nothing is meaningless. Even if only one person finds value in something, it's worth it.

Thank you.

Story:
Bleach is a mixed bag as far as story goes. The first arc (ep1-63), which covers the soul society, is interesting and engaging. It contains both action and a good plot. However, after episode 63 things go downhill. A lot. The Bount arc which follows it isn't even in the manga and has no relevance to the overall story, as well as being entirely uninteresting. It picks up a bit when the story shifts back to the plotline of the manga, but there isn't much of a plot to follow at that point. Basically, the main characters fight the bad guys from there on out ... with little else of interest to be found. If the action was great, it might make up for this, but it isn't. While it isn't terrible, it is never enough to carry the anime by itself. In addition, there are frequent fillers, which I would recommend ignoring entirely if you decide to watch this.
Aside from the generally uneventful plot, Bleach suffers from an unwillingness to kill off anyone. Despite having tons of shinigami, Bleach never kills off a single one. The only characters who ever die are the bad guys, and very few of them ever perish either.
If I were rating only the first arc, I would give this a 7 or an 8, but the decay which has happened since then forces me to drop it significantly to a 5.

Art:
Character design is excellent, overall very solid animation. It does occasionally have issues though.

Sound:
Sound is generally good, music appropriate to the mood. No complaints here.

Character:
This is where Bleach should shine, but doesn't. As said before, character design is great. However, there are so many characters that none of them get any sort of development. With the sheer volume of characters in the show, even main characters are often forgotten for several episodes. Most of the characters seem like they would be interesting if developed, but they simply aren't.

Overall:
I would recommend watching the first 63 episodes and dropping it there. Aside from the Turn Back the Pendulum story (206-212) there is essentially nothing of value plotwise after that point.
If you're only in it for the action, I suppose Bleach is a decent show. But even in that case, you could do much better.

Bleach has become one of the most popular anime around, and is commonly if not always, compared to Naruto. Hated by many, loved by many, this anime will be watched by virtually everyone who dives into the anime world.

Story: The story, or perhaps setting to be more accurate, is quite unique. Shinigami, or Soul Reapers, that have their own special society watch over the souls in the living world. Each Shinigami carries a unique sword(soul slayer) or Zanpaktou that has its own unique name and abilities based on the wielder's style and personality. Alongside them are the Hollow, and two subgroups later to be ... known as the Vaizard and Arrancar. It is this unique setting that gives Bleach the power to create so many characters under such a captivating environments, and this I believe, is one of the story's strong points. In terms of plot, it isn't very strong. The whole 'rescue a friend' is seen in pretty much every anime, and the whole 'I need to get stronger to protect my friends' is equally overdone. But I personally enjoy watching series with this type of theme, so I can't mark it down because of such overdone plot devices. But Bleach also comprises by adding a few twists into a seemingly transparent storyline, and it is here that I again am impressed. Bleach isn't just about mindless violence, its about friends striving to help each other, looking out for each other and improving themselves. Theres a bit of romance tossed in too, so thats a bit of a plus. The great setting and positive themes of friendship and perseverance made me give this an : 8/10

Characters: Bleach has a huge number of characters, some of them developed fairly well, otherwise poorly. But it is the huge cast of such unique and usually admirable individuals that makes this anime so captivating. You just hold your breath everytime someone pops into release their soul slayer or release their Bankai. It's because of all these characters and their own unique swords and abilities that makes the fights in this anime worth watching. You just can't wait to see what the characters are capable of. In terms of character development, I would say that it isn't bad, especially in terms of Ichigo who starts off as a badass that can take down most hollows with ease. In time, (particularly the current arc) he realizes how insignificant he really is, and tries his hardest to get stronger. The same is similar for the other characters such as Chad. Although most of the character development is in terms of strength and not so much in personality, I still rate the characters high for their largely unique cast: 8/10

Sound: This I find, is one of Bleach's strongest qualities. The soundtracks really intensify the battles and make even the smallest things seem cool. Thats that Bleach is good at - making things seem cool, and the soundtrack is a key and necessary component. But it isn't just the action scenes. It makes the sad and thoughtful moments come alive, in addition to the mysterious and tense situations Bleach presents. It's also accompanied by some of the best opening and closings I've seen in anime, in terms of both music and visuals. They greatly depict the story and the songs set the mood beautifully. 10/10

Art/Animation: I have little to say here. The art is quite good for the most parts, and I loved the coloring in the first few arcs, particularly the bright glowly/misty colors. Most of the fights are animated very smoothly with a variety of scenes and angles and such. Its on par with most anime these days: 8/10

Overall: Bleach is one of my favorite anime, being one of the first I ever watched. I know most people consider it over rated, repetitive and predictable, but hey, it presents some epic fights and follows them through nicely. Most of the fights are a good length (couple episodes) and I'm a fan of swords and people who power up, so what can I say, this anime is gold to me. If you're the type that doesn't care too much about a complicated story or deep compelling characters and you just want to see some epic fights, Bleach is right for you. This deserves an 8/10 overall (bogged down with fillers too much, although I didn't take that into account while rating. Fillers aren't part of the show, just don't watch them =/ ), but I personally love it and rated it a 10/10 on my list.

---- Spoilers

(FIRSTLY THIS SEIRES CONTAINS AT LEAST 40-55% FILLER! )

Bleach: This anime is a cluster-fuck!
Nothing more, nothing less.

The concept of bleach is actually decent, and it's execution was 8/10 right up till episode 63. The relationship between hollows , humans and shinigami(death gods) was interesting and continued to progress into a rescue mission . This anime honestly should of ended as that!

But instead we get shitty plot after plot hole, deus ex machina(shikai >bankai> hollow mask>hyper bolic time chamber) and basic shounen formula... the ... current manga for this series is in such a shit-hole that there is literally no hope for this series in my opinion ESPECIALLY with the death of Tsukada Masaaki the voice actor of yammamto.

Essentially, the plot for bleach has devolved to a transparent sequential pattern>> i.e ( antagonist enters op status ( aizen) where it canonly be matched and beaten by ultra op status ( ichigo))>> the end. STORY 4/10

It's saddening that really the only redeeming quality of this series is the sound !Shirō Sagisu the music producing god behind such titles such as NGE , black bullet and ofc BLEACH! 9/10


ART: for the first 63 episodes art was definitely 8/10 , honestly even with the lower ratio, the quality of animation and art were superior to the other 300 so episodes...

In fact I'd go as far as to say that every episode after 63 is 4/10 in art rounding to 6/10 overall .

Characters are thrown into the series in hope that the viewer will like at least one, the main problem with this is that there is virtually not nearly enough time to distribute to each character evenly leaving low amount of needed character development and understanding.
5/10

Enjoyment: There are definitely some good fighting scenes, but there is way too much inconsistency in the story and the power levels between the characters leaving for some predictable plot.

5/10


Overall this series is mediocre as fuck, and it's a shame. I really felt kubo could of rapped up this series ages ago and went on to another one... the first 63 episodes of bleach had a certain flavour to it that couldn't be tasted by any other anime just the versatility of the characters and the interaction between them were interesting. BUT FILLER AFTER FILlER + the cannon material becoming saturated really made this series barely watchable!

4/10

Bleach is a good choice for you if you're looking to observe the process of the mainstream anime of the 2000's and what they tried to pull off to sell and stay relevant. Outside of the popularity that it got, I see Bleach as a very stale and mediocre anime, which I'll go and detail in the review later, but I'd like to start with the cause and then the effects.

You see, Bleach is a product of a time when a shounen reaches popularity to an extent that it can be milked, hinduism will then sue the studios and authors in question for treating their ... cattle with such disrespect, because those innocent cows have like four japanese businessmen attached to all ends of the udder, with them chugging the milk hard. The strategy was to sell it like it's crack-cocaine, because people will love it and people will buy it because it is something that fits their business strategy.

But how did the studios get the warm & sweet cow milk? Here, I'll guide you through it if you wanna do the same. First of all, the source material needs to have garnered some popularity from the target audience desired. Then, as your next step you make sure that it is gonna be a battle shounen and that it does feature some form of fanservice. Third, you make sure to influence the source material in a way that the show will keep its cast mostly out of mortal danger and will turn any of the cool villains into protagonists. And also make sure that nobody dies so you can milk the character popularity too. Fourth make sure you never take a break from airtime ever and air constantly, even if there is no content to adapt. Create filler arcs so the author has time to write content for the anime to adapt. They don't have to be memorable or interesting, you already hooked in the audience. They'll watch anything, so they don't deserve any quality. And then you are set for as long as the author complies. Some free advice on how to keep animating content and delay running out of source material: Make sure to rehash as much material as possible, showing as many flashbacks as possible whenever the character reminisce something important or just make a bullshit reason like trying to remind the audience what the characters are fighting for. It will help you plenty. Don't forget you think your audience is just filled with complete idiots. Very important.

What shows like Bleach aspired to be was the next Dragon Ball, because that for most was like crack-cocaine. Since the DB franchise did it first, we just have to do it and make sure we capitalize on all the things it did and make our shows as close in execution as possible, and not risk anything because it won't sell. This is kinda why shows like Bleach disgust me. They just don't aspire in any way to be artistically distinguishable and just try to be the same thing as their spiritual predecessors. They treat their audience like garbage and the only reason I came come up with for such a thing is the reward, which is the money. If this business scheme worked, why not use it? Each of these goliath shounen shows have some varying degree in certain aspects of sins in these departments, but they're all the same when boiled down. Another attempt at getting another Dragon Ball on the market. If you can't respect that, you can just stop reading the review, you read enough. If the show will have potential early, it will dissapoint you because it went nowhere with it. If it won't, you'll be dissapointed again because you had nothing to show for at all after spending some time through it. But if you still hold some interest for Bleach, keep reading, because now I'll get into the actual show itself.

But note that I'll spoil some things in the story for like the first 15 episodes of the show. The show has 366 episodes so it kinda is hard to not give you any specifics on the story's direction without giving you any specifics. I strongly advice reading despite that, I did my best to avoid it being plot specific and in a series like Bleach, having a little knowledge of what you'll watch, from where I'm standing, is strongly adviced.

The story of Bleach early seems to be about a high school student who gets super powers and has to fight and protect people from spirits that failed to pass away to the other world. And for the most part, he spends his time going through high school featuring some slapstick humor along the way and then, in his responsabilities as a shinigami, he has to fight gigantic monstrous beings with a big fucking sword. Sounds like nothing. As a matter of fact, for the most part, Bleach is mostly generic in terms of its action and story, but it does have a high point.

In its introduction arc the series does build itself up. First it does build up the main character, and his overall attitude towards saving people. He isn't unwilling to save people that he sees that do need help, but he isn't exactly accepting of the idea that he would go around and make a day out of it. The way he described it at the time that "Of course I'm gonna help someone if I see they need it. But I don't want to seek doing it." And for a while the series tries to convince him to get to do what he can to take care of everyone and Ichigo constantly does it reluctantly.

But that plays into a meaningful decision.

Another thing that was constantly built up in the series was the Spirit Society, a society governed by people with the same powers as Ichigo, responsible for the protection of spirits and fighting against corrupt ones. The character responsible for Ichigo having to fight these spirits leaves in order to protect him and not make him also suffer consequences as a result of her actions. He is unsatisfied with her decision and runs off to find her. And so he does, just to find another two people, of whom one proceeds to destroy him in battle, with him being a subordinate of the other. And then a meaningful thing happens. After this sore defeat, Ichigo decides to try and save her. To infiltrate Soul Society. After losing his powers. And after being overpowered. He made a decision about who he wants to protect and why, and goes in to save her despite all odds, in a world filled with an uncountable number of people who might be potentially much more powerful than him, willing to simply just go alone. It feels like an adventure with odds stacked against him with who knows what might come against him. The show is respectable at that point and the decision makes sense and feels meaningful.

The Soul Society Arc is pretty much where the non-fanatics of Bleach agree that the show was at its strongest. And I'm one of those people. Now don't worry, I'll stop with the spoilery stuff now, so you won't have to worry about what you'll read on ahead. All I will say that in the Soul Society arc, our characters will explore uncharted territory and have fights of their own. Most of the fights will focus on presenting the personality and motivations of the characters and show off the world. It's the most well executed arc out of the entirety of Bleach, because there's a sense of urgency because you don't know how events will play out and it does pretty much feel like a rescue mission.

But everything falls apart after this arc. Fillers with irrelevant events will start pilling up, which even the most thirsty of fans tend to skip. The fights just become a mess where the character who's strongest wins until the other character reveals a "final form". That will be the basic structure of all the fights for the series' remaining airtime and actual abilities and what they do won't matter, because ultimately, the strongest in raw power will win. All of the action of the series is stale and the character motivations just don't matter. Fuck, each character has different abilities and that plays so little into how fights go around, that they feel almost incompetently choreographed. They just seem to bank on pure hype alone.

While Ichigo has an interesting execution at the start, he's a very standard shounen protagonist who fights to protect his friends from harm, he's hot headed, has spikey hair and is fucking terrified of those things women have on their chest or between their legs. He is an archetype that even at the time was treading water. All the other character don't matter since the series removes all the tension and urgency by making everyone make peace amongst themselves and just introduce some new enemies so a constant clash of I'M STRONGER THAN YOU DIE will come. The overarching villain of the series is some dude thirsty for power for the sake of power. Otherwise known as a cartoon villain. Everything in Bleach is as generic as possible.

Bleach aired for 8 years. In these 8 years, the artstyle suffered some changes. From first having that choppy VHS aimed type animation with some degree of bad color balance it eventually ends up being one of those series that didn't figure out how to draw the outline of the characters without making them oversharpened, so everything is constantly looking blurry. Also the color balance often feels too strong when dark colors aren't involved. In the first few years it was introduced, it had some pretty interesting tracks that in all honesty, I can enjoy listening to these days. Then eventually transitioned to airing some harmonical/classical tracks in its wake. They're not bad, but the first aired tracks for the series have a very distinct feeling.

So if you decide to watch Bleach do it if one of the following descriptions apply to you. You're just looking for a long running action series and don't really care about the structure of the fighting and think that the raw power type drawn fights will entertain you. Or you're looking to look into the way the business strategy of selling off the next Dragon Ball failed and Bleach is a particularly strong choice because it's already kinda faded out of relevance. It doesn't really have really strong action and early it mostly was used to develop characters. Then it was just colored blasts or final forms. Or both. The humor is slapstick and well... you can find that type of humor pretty much anywhere. No need to find it in Bleach. And Bleach just is a very generic show that aired for a really long time. Ultimately, Bleach was passed off as milk. But most people know better than to drink Bleach.

Bleach, Bleach, Bleach. It has alot of popularity, and for reasons I don't know because I find it awful.

I have given Bleach a lot of chances and I think I have seen enough of Bleach to give a review.

==STORY==
One of Bleach's many bad points is its story, it's about as typical as a story gets. The premise is basically 'save the girl' and 'beat the strong people'. That is it, often running into huge monsters that never really seem like much competition. The story never improves, every arc starts the same. Ichigo in school hanging around with his horribly annoying, useless friends, then a new ... enemy will show up, capture someone or blow up something, then it is up to Ichigo to save the day. This process isn't quick either. One fight would be 4-6 episodes of struggle before something actually develops, and thus leads to many hours of boredom. But from the Soul Society Arc to the Arrancar Arc, Bleach never excels, it's stuck in one spot it can't seem to get out of.

==CHARACTERS==
Oh God, something actually worse than the story. Characters, let's start with our protagonist Ichigo, I'd say he is about as interesting as a wooden post. I didn't realise main characters can lack such depth, but it's possible, Ichigo is a character that never develops, his personality, his relationships. The only thing that Ichigo actually improves in the whole series is his strength, but everything else tends to remain the same. We are left with a very boring, serious character, surrounded by several really happy characters. His school friends are very annoying, Inoue seems to follow too deep into the cliche, "damsel in distress" because that is basically all she provides, often his other friends will try to join in on the action and get beat up. Ishida starts out as a potential threat to Ichigo, then ends up far behind, Chad is big... and this soon becomes natural, the unimportant classmates, (Keigo and the Lesbian in particular) will provide moments of forced humour, to the point where you would want to repeatedly hit yourself with a lead pipe. Then you'll have the 13 division captains and lieutenants. Basically just a horde of characters, in fact, too many characters that will get about 1 or 2 fight scenes then become unimportant to the rest of the story. The antagonists are either extremely insane or extremely moody and that is all you get, I tried to analyse deeper into the supporting characters, but then I realised the characters aren't deep enough to delve into, what you see is what you get.

==ART + ANIMATION==
Well backgrounds aren't exactly awful. They provide with fairly decent backdrops. Sometimes you'll wonder where all of the people are but while not anything special backgrounds are colourful and scenery contrasts well. Art is very inconsistent for the most part. Good episode, rushed the next. You don't know what you are going to get and it becomes really unpredictable.

Character designs, not so good. Sometimes you'll wonder if a 5 year old designed some of the characters because they tend to be very different looking. Some characters will look incredibly standard, and others odd, the inclusion of a hollow hole for me is unnecessary because it just adds to the strange character designs for most hollows and arrancar, just a huge, randomly-placed, gaping hole going through their bodies. Reason? I have no idea. Just to add to the stupidness maybe. Well, they are about as strange as their choices of names and fanservice is extremely common, just about every woman other than Rukia has massive breasts, I think its just a ploy to make most of the women memorable since they seem to lack character. Rukia is perhaps is the only female in the series with any character.

Animation is not fantastic, you'll find yourself laughing at most running motions. Fight scenes are incredibly boring, it feels like the animators took every shortcut they could to make the fights easier to animate, movements of characters are far too static and stiff, I would like the characters to loosen up and fight properly but in the end it gets repetitive to the point where it is unwatchable, and all they tend to do is bash swords together for several episodes, using energy blasts and flying into eachother at high speeds. Yes, it's DBZ with swords, the only thing is DBZ managed to pull those fight scenes off and make them interesting. The main problem with the fight scenes is that there is no fluidity, no originality, everybody has the same thing: Sword strike and energy blast. But most importantly it is the lack of style that ruins it, it's like no one has freedom when they fight. Since most of Bleach is fighting, I judge most animations on the fights which is perhaps the biggest disappointment I get when watching Bleach, as I am a big fan of well choreographed fights in animation.

==SOUND==
The sound in Bleach succeeds a lot of the time. OPs and EDs are good, you can see the standard of music for Bleach is high, as people are usually disappointed when a series changes OPs and EDs, but with Bleach the current OP is usually just as good as the previous. Background music also fits very nicely, it is actually Bleach's strong point, the music is very refreshing. And usually suits moments. The only problem is that after a while you will hear the same songs, this isn't much of a problem but you can tell after a while the music variety starts to become limited. Voice acting is standard, sub and dub.

==CONCLUSION==
Bleach is just an overhyped shonen. Most of the time I sit there watching, incredibly bored, the series never really goes anywhere, the pacing is really bad, things tend to take too long, fights drag on. The series has been running for too long. There are too many fillers, too many characters, not enough development, I don't care enough for the characters. It's boring conversation followed by boring battle every episode. After the Soul Society Arc I thought I'd give up on Bleach until a better Arc comes out, when the Arrancar Arc came out I was excited thinking that Bleach would finally excel to heights I'd expect. But it was all a big disappointment, I am now in the Shinigami v Arrancar Arc and so far I have been wasting my time and I am ready to give it all up. Basically, it is a modern, lackluster DBZ laden with huge swords, uninteresting characters and fanservice. I feel, when watching Bleach I am just missing out on better series'. I don't just want to flame Bleach because it is overhyped, but I really don't think Bleach has any of the qualities that make anime good. Overall, I really wish it was better

One of the most mediocre animes I've watched. Episode 311 was my limit. I have no clue why I'm still watching this anime other than the fact that I can procrastinate a good 22mins every week, this week was, however, exceptionally frustrating.

The storyline is decent, but constantly revolves around the I'm-going-to-whack-you-until-you-die-so-that-I-can-protect-some-people-that-arent-even-going-to-be-hurt-by-you, oh I forgot that they spend no time trying to solve any conflicts peacefully, they just get straight into drawing their sword, and dueling it out with as LITTLE effort as possible?

Why? Because, they will put in a little more effort the next week, and just a little more effort the week after, before ... deciding that I'm-going-to-take-you-down-now-with-my-super-ultimate... which will take another week before the fight is resolved.

What an utter waste of time.

Too predictable, and a total lie if anyone tells you there is characterization. The last 50 episodes has either been filler, or raw fighting. Ichigo continues to fight everything he sees and threaten everyone with his big sword without ever giving a care about resolving conflicts out of combat, same goes for almost every creature in the show.

Initially the show was definitely enjoyable, what with the interesting idea of shinigami and their shikai+bankai... 311 episodes in, I'm sure few of us, other than the 12 year old kids will continue to enjoy this constant plot-less circle around karakura town.

Where will the show go from here on? Well, I hope it ends, because surely there is NOTHING left to talk about? But golly me, I'm sure everyone will resurrect and powerup, just like they have been doing the past 311 episodes and it will not be a surprise if there is a ultimate-kai along the way which will then be countered by a super-ultimate-kai.

What a waste of time, but I'll keep watching it, until it drops below the 5 I'm rating it now. Thank god shitty Naruto actually turned out better than I thought, as stubborn as Ichigo, but at least hes much more mature and likable than that violent criminal that is Ichigo.

When I started watching Bleach, I couldn\'t get enough of it. Not only is it fun to watch but th storyline was fast moving and character exploration was something that I definitely looked forward to. I must admit, like Naruto, it has slowed down a lot and is just dragging for the sake of being on the air, but I still watch it every week.

The protagonist of the story is Ichigo Kurosaki - who through some circumstance becomes a shinigami on earth. He is joined in the defense of earth from Aizen with his friends who have awoken their power through his ... influence. The trials and tribulations of friendship, honor, trust and loyalty is the underlying theme of the anime - very similar to Naruto.

Simply put, it is a story of good versus evil and standing up for what you believe in.

Story: 7/10

The story of Bleach is fantastic at times and dull at others. Episodes can you leave you at the edge of your seat, unable to stand the thought of having to wait till next week to see what happens next, or begging for current plot to end and to get to the next part where something interesting happens. (Especially if you read the manga in addition to watching the anime) When the story isn't filler it is usually exciting, fast paced, and with plenty of action and epic fight scenes. Unfortunately the filler is why the story loses points as none of it ... so far has been enjoyable to watch or added anything in terms of character development or exciting plot lines. While the plot isn't very unique, the old tried and true "I must get stronger to save my friends" routine, it does have some interesting plot twists that make it not as predictable as you would think and the conflict between the world of the Shinigami and the world of the Hollow and its impact on Earth, who is caught in the middle, is very fun to watch.

Art: 8/10

The art is good compared to a lot of anime I have seen. Nothing groundbreaking but still pretty good. I've noticed a slight lapse in quality during some of the filler but that might just be my imagination.

Sound: 9/10

Bleach has a few sound tracks that they reuse and are very well matched up with the mood of the scene. When Ichigo is getting smacked around by a bad guy it will play some dramatic, sinister music. When something sad is happening, it will play sad music. When Ichigo just had one of those "I believe in myself" moments where he unlocks some sort of hidden power in order to overcome a situation, the music reflects that beautifully as well.

Character: 8/10

Some characters are extremely well developed and interesting while others exist for the sole purpose of showing off their large breasts. (coughMatsumodocough) Ichigo begins the show as a rather selfish, uncaring person who wants nothing to do with the Shinigami and we get to witness the change in him as he begins to place the welfare of others over his own. Eventually he meets plenty of other memorable characters that are hilarious or awesome in their own way while being mixed in with annoying characters that you wish would hurry up an die. The reason I began to love this show is because of the interaction between Rukia and Ichigo. Their conflicting personalities and the way they play off each other's sarcasm got me hooked on this show right at the start. There are a few other character pairs in this show who make me laugh every time they are together, such as Kenpachi and Yachiru, but none come close to Rukia and Ichigo. There is a little romance thrown in but nothing too deep. In short, you will come across quite a few memorable characters in this show that alone make it worth watching.

Enjoyment: 9/10

I love watching Bleach. The fight scenes are great to watch and its a blast trying to predict what happens next and being surprised the following week. The only reason this part does not get a 10 is because of how bad the filler is. It is not fun to watch and leaves you desperate for it to get back to the real story. This show has made my Thursdays far more enjoyable.

Overall: 8/10

All in all this is a show worth watching. If you like action then this is the show for you. If you like a unique and intricate plot then you might not enjoy it as much. The show has its good and its bad but the good far outweighs the bad in my opinion. It certainly isn't the best anime out there but it definitely holds a place among the front of the pack.

Story:

Bleach is a shounen anime and with that, people generally expect a decent story with interesting fights, unfortunetly, you don't get that with Bleach. The plot, or lack of one generally stays with the same formula throughout every arc. Ichigo gets a power-up, someone gets kidnapped, Ichigo gets depressed, Ichigo saves them, rinse and repeat. If that weren't bad enough, only bad guys die, while that may not be a problem for some people, the fact that a good guy cannot die really limits the amount of suspense a fight can have. It works for One Piece only because One Piece has a good ... story and characters that are developed well enough to carry the story. Bleach just doesn't have that. But some positives are that the fights are pretty decent, though there are a bit too many at times.

Art:

Studio Pierrot does the art and animation. Just like with Naruto, some episodes are hit or miss in terms of animation, though, they seem to do a better job with Bleach.

Sound:

The music is pretty good and fits the atmosphere of the anime. I also feel the music has gotten better through the series as it has gone along.

Character:

This is the area where Bleach could most improve. Kubo Tite did an amazing job with character designs and EVERY character looks simply awesome, but under their flashy exterior, is nothing. These characters, aside from Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia, are severly underdeveloped. They feel shallow and hollow. They are so forgettable, that I don't even know everyone's name, and I'm at episode 150.

Enjoyment:

I think you get a fair amount of enjoyment out of Bleach. It's far from a masterpiece, but it can be enjoyed, as long as you take it for what it is and accept the limitations placed on it by its creator.

Overall:

If you're a fan of shounen anime, watch Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin, and One Piece instead, though if you've already seen those, then Bleach would be a last alternative.

I have watched bleach before it became popular and I thought I should give my two sense.

Story: Bleach\'s story is pretty straight forward, know the enemy beat up the enemy fight alot of people along the way. It does it pretty well but the one thing that I don\'t like is this animes fillers. They are terrible, I can no longer watch them. Bleach is a action anime and good story, nothing more. But for some reason the makers think they need to try and make it funny with the small filler story\'s. That is just wrong. Its like having a series setting and then ... throw a clown in the mix WTF! Anyways, that is not all that was wrong with the story. At some point and time they decide to make a huge filler arc and make it all action and your like YAY no stupid puns no dumb characters, but soon you realize and say to yourself \"man this sucks pure action is pointless without a story\" and like many Arnold Schwarzenegger movies you are wondering why you are watching this. (insert name) was good but this is crap. Well let me tell you most action flicks actualy have pretty good back story\'s and do carry them on through the show. And that is my problem with Bleach\'s story.

Animation: Excellent characters, amazing backgrounds, just great animation.

Sound: Pretty decent but not what I would say good, its music is very electronic and gets very repeated to much.

Character\'s: Well despite a rather predictable main character who once again is the only one who can beat everyone, there are a lot of great secondary main characters. They have a lot more depth than Ichigo and are a lot cooler.

Enjoyment: Even though all the negatives I have stated it is still very Enjoyable. When the real fights are done and over you will be wowed.

Overall: Its a good anime, a lot of people like it and I think the reason is because the action is some of the best and even though Ichigo is kinda flat every other character seems to be more well though out.

Oh, Bleach. What a terrible story.

I remember 2004, I was one of those stupid little kids who "wanted to move to Japan to pursue an anime / manga career" and felt the "Japanese culture is kawaii ^___^".

So I'm on my computer, and I thought since I was loving Naruto that I would find another anime to watch. Well on a certain anime website, there was talks about 'Bleach', a popular manga story in Japan which has finally begun an anime on TV. Most people only decided to watch Bleach because Dattebayo started subbing it, but I got it right from the begining when LunarAnime ... was subbing it.

Even when I was 14, I watched the first episode and didn't see what was so amazing about it, but I felt it had a 'cool' concept. Spikey haired stereotypical main character with a huge sword! What's not to love about that in anime when you're just a young teenager?

Around episode 16 - 17 (I was having trouble watching this damn anime weekly because I was just bored out of my mind), the story begun to change and we headed into a new story arc. We learned new things and about where Rukia came from, etc. etc. And I felt the story was finally going to get good. Wrong.

I was still bored. It felt like the story was going around in circles, over and over. Although the arc did have its fair share of enjoyable moments with some of the battles, it just didn't feel 'epic'.

It's near the end of the arc, and Ichigo has finally got a new power up. It was bound to happen, since this IS a Shounen anime. And after 40 episodes of running around, they finally suceeded at what could have probably taken 10 episodes to do.

AND THEN WE HAVE AROUND 50 EPISODES OF FILLER. FUN.

And so, the current arc comes around and.. What is this? THIS IS JUST LIKE THE OTHER ARC! Only it involves masks and more energy beams.

I dropped it after 132 episodes. I should have dropped it sooner, but I felt the show did have potential, but in the end it didn't reach it. The conclusion I have come to is that Kubo Tite (the creator and artist of Bleach) can draw very well, but when it comes to story telling, he fails miserabley. I wouldn't be surprised if he just made up the story as he goes along on the spot.

And people won't admit that this is a poor series. They will continue watching it and kid themselves into thinking it's good along with Naruto (let's not get started on Naruto).

My tip: give this anime / manga a miss and just watch something which is actually enjoyable. If it has to be Shounen, watch Hunter x Hunter or One Piece. I may have been brutal over this series, but it's just very overrated.

I remember when I first got into Bleach. Young, stupid, inexperienced with anime. For quite a while I thought I was enjoying a nice school life supernatural with a cute shinigami girl living in the main character's closet. It had so much potential to become something that had some plot, deepened characters and some actual drama in the mix. Then came the soul society arc and for a while I accepted it as a part of the series.

Then it mutated into a cash cow. Throwing away all traces of deep plot and developed characters. completely ignoring it's secondary characters and focusing on many others, one ... by one, with slow paced fights that take episodes to complete.

after having watched +300 there hasn't been a moment where I heatedly laugh or emotionally tear up. There is absolutely nothing presented on the emotional level. It's cheap themes and an overload of characters, keeping it's fat behind on airing slots week after week making sure it milks itself for everything it's worth.

Then to explain the entire plot and the 'why' of the story the plot has the nerve to blame everything on Aizen. (not a spoiler, it's freaking obvious)

Although I want to cry when a character dies, or want to take a small break from this pointless so called 'action' between shallow characters with no development, or deep rivalry, to have some true humor or romance in between. There are just simply too many characters and just too little time and effort into truly turning them into real important figures and entities in the anime.

I'll give you a million dollars if you can name every attack, move, sword name, and character name in the anime. Seriously who gives a f*ck?

This is the equivalent of a bottle formula for the young anime viewer and is a decent start point for anime. It serves as the bottom step to take you to the next and the next as you ascend to the greatness of anime such as, Evangellion, Code Geass, CLANNAD, or something like that.

I've seen single OVAs do more than the total 300+ episodes that Bleach has done. Honestly, reading the manga is barely enough to keep my attention span. why stick around for the extended version littered with fillers and band promotional EDs and OPs?

It's just a money maker for the studios.I hope Yuki Matsuoka is getting her fair share of fame and salary out of this. Seiyuus and animators gotta eat too.That's the only thing I have to thank for the people who still watch this anime...

Ah good ol' Bleach, I started watching this when Naruto hit it's big filler phase and I fell in love with it. I suppose seeing as how this is a review I'll start out with what I love about the series. The characters are great with such a diverse range of people in the series, from the Captains of Gotei 13 to all of Ichigo's friends in his hometown; the series defienty has plenty of enjoyabe characters.

The story itself, I think is great; I love animes that have to do with fighting supernatural being such as demons or ghosts or in this case Hollows. The ... series starts off a tad bit slow untill the first real arc begins in Soul Society, and from there I was hooked. The fight scenes are suberb and I love they shinigami weapons, called Zanpakutos and how they each have their own abilities and personalities. There is of course powered up forms reminiscent of plent of other shounen anime, but I actually like chaacters being able to turn into stronger forms. Ever since Dragonball Z's super saiyans; in the case of Bleach they release their swords, and then can go into Bankai form with some of the characters having even stronge forms.

My only real gripe with this series is the fact that rarely anyone dies at all. Characters get stabbed, sliced, and put into near-death states but they always get healed or something, even villians. The villians are the only ones who seem able to actually die eventually, while all the good guys can get stabbed and whatever repeatedly and still fight like nothing happened. While this little gripe of mine does not deter from my overall enjoyment of the series, it can be a little annoying at times. They really need to allow some of the good guys to be killed, not main characters per-say, but atleast some of the secondary good guys every once in awhile just so we see they're not all invincible. All in all, I would easily reccommend this anime to any fans of action, or shounen in general because it is truly great.

Bleach is an anime that revolves around the japanese concept of having an orange haired person as the main character. While Kurosaki Ichigo's hair is indeed the main part of the plot , there is also a sub plot. Ichigo can see ghosts while not being drunk , one day his sisters are being attacked by a Hollow (an ancient japanese clown) - here we meet a new character , Rukia , whom while starting off as a decent character becomes as worthless as Sakura from Naruto . Rukia's hair is black , thus making her a side character -she tells Ichigo she is ... a shinigami which implies wearing black puffy pyjamas while fighting off clowns (Hollows). Because of how worthless she is, she gets beaten up by the hollow , so Ichigo - taking advantage of the situation - steals her powers to become the main character and gain power the like of which , the world have never seen the like of which. So then he saves his insignificant sister , whose names are not important enough to be stated.
For letting Ichigo steal her powers , Rukia is pursued by her loving brother , Byakuya - chan , who wants to kill her . Here is a summary of the most important characters :

Ishida - Wears glasses while not looking like a nerd which enables him to kill hollows using magical powers and good looks. His grandfather's father past is revealed in flashbacks , but since no one watches those , we can assume he is a toilet cleaner.

Renji - Has some strange ass tatoos on his face , and is stupider than the averages british which puts him slighty higher than animals. Like all characters that love Rukia he wants to capture her so she can be killed. His sword's spirit looks like a baboon with a snake for a tail , this shows how much shit a japanese guy can come up with.

Ichigo's friend #1 and #2 - They are not relevant in any way but knowing the author we can suppose they could be the actual evil masterminds.

Chad - A mexican bulldozer that reassembles a human being , he has a mexican hair and mexican accent but he is not mexican. He is dumb but kind , which is usually the worst combination for an anime character. His grandfather (everyone appears to have one of those) is dead , he calls him 'abuelo' which I assume means 'asshole' in mexican.

Orihime Inoue - Even though her hair is worthy of a main character , she is regrettably a female which means she is not macho enough to be the main character. She therefore assumes the role of support character , all she does is run around , get kidnapped , shout other's people's names (Kurosaki-kun! Kurosaki-kun! Kurosaki-kun! ), have lame monologues and provide fanservice.

Aizen - He is the Deus Ex Makina of Bleach , he is like Stephen Hawkings meets Jesus Chritst meets Gandalf. He is the most overpowered character ever invented , not even Voldermort would challenge him to a duel. Also his ego is about 2 times the size of the bleach universe. In terms that can be understood by the average anime fans , he is the male version of Haruhi Suzumiya except he doesn't have ponytails (in public) and his SOS squad (or as he calls it - Espada) is made up of hipsters.

Tite Kubo , the manga-ka of Bleach , loves doing 3 things:
1.Overpower Aizen
2,Make dissapointing characters
3.Extend flash backs to a ridiculous extent

The fight sequences consists of unnecessary movements and awkward punchlines. Here is the formula to calculate the chances of winning in bleach:

how loud they scream (db) * how many flashbacks they had + how close they are to the main character
(note : if formula applied to Aizen divide by 0)

Also if badass music is playing around , you can pretty much assume something is going to happen , so get your popcorn ready for the bitch slapping - unless the enemy is Aizen , in which case not even badass music iwill help. The music itself consists of the vast playlist which sounds very much like the youtube sensation : Keyboard Cat.

Every single male character in bleach is gay , with the exception of Kon - the teddy bear. This means that love plots are nonexistent thus the lack of love triangles (and love parallelograms).

Another concept used in bleach is F.L.A.B.F. , which stand for Fucking Long And Boring Fillers. By using the ancient japanese technique of having a 10 years old write the plot , the Bleach fillers make as much sense as any given youtube comment. The fillers feature an intricate story consisting of shouting , running and bitching outloud , new characters are introduced to see whether a character more annoying than Inoue can be created - of course such abomination wasn't conceived yet. Many conspiracy theories have arised with regard to the making of those fillers , some claiming that the bleach studios are just trying to find out how much shit fans are willing to go through just to see Aizen getting beaten up (or go to the skies with his father , Jesus , and his granpa - Haruhi Suzumiya).

Overall the cake is delicious , but would you really eat it if the pancakes were kidnapped? It's like the story of the lonely napkin who forgot to go to work and lost his passport in a volcano after being chased by a flying rabid weasel across the globe , while being followed by CIA for stealing a coin from the desk of the person who's brother is egyptian - the same place where the pharaohs ate stuff which reassembled delicious sterilized carbon otakoxide which reacts with bleachium hydromoe.

I hope you enjoyed my analysis of this intricate bullshit , and will help me in my quest to work out how drunk I am right now.

Bleach really has a lot of ups and downs. While some parts of the anime are very catchy and enjoyable, others are incredible boring and make it hard to go on watching it.
The very same goes to the plot of Bleach: There are some very interesting storyparts, as well as many plotholes and odds in the story (For example take a look at Soul Society - I'll never get why people grow up and die in a place they came to after they died on earth ...).
The humour used in Bleach also has his ups and downs. Even though many jokes might not even ... scratch your lips, others will make you laugh hard enough to almost fall off your chair.
The show always reaches his top when Ichigo is about to fight seriously, since those fight scenes are usually pretty cool, even though they are mostly kinda overdone.

Bleach in general is a pretty enjoyable anime, especially the first few episodes are very entertaining and humorous. It's a shame it has some very boring story parts, many plotholes, many filler episodes and does not have much development in character relationships ... :(

Im trying to write this review with minimum spoilers.
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What makes a good anime ? Is it the art ? Is it the story ? We can say a lot of things but in my opinion, what makes an anime legendary is that if you watch it again and again without getting bored, you crave for it when you got nothing else to watch, that makes a great anime. Bleach makes you feel that way. I've read the manga too and its a solid 10 points for me.
(Minimum amount of spoilers? below)
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This will be my most controversial opinion yet; Bleach is the most under-rated anime ever ... made with how popular it is. It has a %45 filler rate and suffers from a classic shounen main protagonist style which can be seen as a bad thing but the story itself is far away from boring. It evolves with every arc and it's really enjoyable. The art is great (Kudos to Kubo ! we love you man) and the sound, the ost's... In my opinion it has one of the best ost's that anime history ever seen. The sad ost's will be make you cry even after listening to them after 10 years and remembering all the things that happened. While i write this review im listening to bleach ost's in the background and it takes me back to my childhood, the good times when there is no hardships adulthood has, no covid just pure happiness and the joy of watching anime and laughing with friends. This is what a good anime needs. Lastly on the charachters, all charachters got their own personality and you can feel it while watching it.
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Overall, Bleach is one of the greatest anime that has been made.

I can't take this show anymore. I tried, I really did, but there's so many negative aspects to Bleach that I just can't watch this uninspired, bloated, one-track show. This is a prime example of action shonen titles gone wrong.
STORY: There WAS a story. Something that started off pretty good in fact, until Tite Kubo topped himself with the first Soul Society arc. This part was enjoyable, Ichigo and his friend on a mission to rescue Rukia. Simple, yet effective, something you would expect from a typical shonen series.
However it becomes very clear that little thought went into how to ... follow this storyline. Like Dragonball Z, which I reviewed eariler, once this arc of the show is complete, the rest just feels like padding and filler. I know that most of it is filler and it's a constant recurring theme with a lot of manga/anime tranisitions, but Bleach has derailed from it's original concept so far, it makes me wonder why the hell some things are still happening. Why is Ichigo still a substitute Soul Reaper? How in the hell is he able to achieve bankai if he's still alive? Why not just launch an all out assault on Hueco Mundo if they have time to send random captains and squads to earth just to dick around for 20 episodes? I thought the premise of the story was defeating hollows, performing a seiru on lost souls, and sending them whatever happened to that? Instead, they make up new forms of hollows, then upgrading them to arrancars, them to espadas, and then vizereds! And don't forget about the OTHER forms of hollows called hashucehs, or whatever! FAIL!!!
ART: The art is good and detailed, but it's easy to forget that these are supposed to be high shcool students. There are way too many soul reapers and their designs ranged from generic to just flat-out scary. It doesn't help that they all have the exact same uniform, despite different ranks and squads. There's lots of squad jargon in this, so when you hear Rangiku scream "Hang on, members of squad five and seven will be there for back-up", just translate that into "some generic red-shirts will be there!" The villans all look completely ridiculous, especially the released form of arrancars and espadas. They look like failed Pokemon critters made out of petrified egg noodles. But still the art is still decent and some of the atmosphere looks nice, the battle scenes are vibrant and action-packed, so it does pass on that scale, as it's knows it's fans like action.
SOUND: The english dub of this show is incredibly grating. If I wasn't hearing Johnny Yong Bosch snarling "You Bastard" every time someone does anything short asking him what the time is, it's listening to the terribly dubbed voices of the horrible excuse of comic relief this this show has to offer. They actually manage to make these "personalities" even more unfunny then they really are. The soundtrack is passable, but leaves no real impression on any scene thats taking place, except for the "wacky comedy music"(jazz hands) to let you know that it's okay to laugh at whats going on right now. This show just insults me with how stupid it thinks I really am that I need phoned-in, whimsical music to remind me that jokes are being told. Focus on making the scene funny first, then get back to me.
CHARACTER: Oh, you want personality and character development? No, not in Bleach. All character development must be presented in exposition flashbacks in order to save time for the next fight scene. Despite the diversity of characters in this anime, the males and females have limited traits that define whos who. Most of the guys are either boorish, loud and obnoxious, and most of the women are shrill, abrasive, and annoying.
And I have to say, of all the shonen main characters I've watched over the years, I can't think of one thats as poorly written as Ichigo Kurosaki. There's no real direction as to what this character is supposed to be. In the beginning, he's supposed to be a delinquent, I guess, but I never quite believed it. He wants to fight to defend people, but treats his friends like shit, especially other male characters, to the point where I stopped caring about him. He's just another macho, male, chauvanistic, power craving Z Fighter knockoff who turns into a whiny emo git the second a stronger bad guy punches him around a few times, and if anyone like Byakyua or Kenpachi shows up, he has to try his best to assert his male dominance like an old lion getting kicked out of the pride. FAIL!!!!!!
ENJOYMENT: There's just way too many uncalled for fight scenes in Bleach to stay interested. And once you start getting into character's bankais, the stupidity is cranked to the 32nd power. Characters get new powers out of nowhere with little explanation how they aquired them, the villians are nothing more than brutish thugs with petty grudges and don't do much else, the Soul Society is about as organized and efficient as your local Blockbuster and serves no real purpose other than a lame platform for the latest villian assault on it, a good chunk of the comedy is unoriginal and unfunny (short people jokes, hormone-driven jokes etc.), and is it me, or is this the desolate, lifeless version of Japan in anime history? It's giving Ronin Warriors a run for it's money.
OVERALL: I just don't have the patience to sit through another +200 episode shonen title. Maybe if there was some sort of structure, or direction, it's just not good enough to deserve to be this long. Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should. But as long as it's marketable, Bleach, and titles alike will continue to go on and on, long past the point when it was fresh and different. Now it's just another shonen title, keeping the seat warm for the next big thing, like Naruto did for it.