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Alternative Titles

Japanese: BLEACH

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 74

Chapters: 705

Status: Finished

Published: Aug 7, 2001 to Aug 22, 2016

Genres: Action, Adventure, Award Winning, Fantasy

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump (Weekly)

Authors: Kubo, Tite (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.86¹ (scored by 236,119 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1134²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #14

Members: 384,815

Favorites: 35,977

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 70 / 136

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Dec 31, 2020

infoworms

Recommended

Bleach is a truly cohesive work that plays to the strengths of the battle series genre with little fluff and fat. The characters are always moving forward, the story is engaging and iterates on itself smartly, it's constantly refining and executing on its themes, it's a near perfect showing of the battle genre. It pays off on investing in side characters, it rewards thinking about the themes and visual/textual metaphor with a deceptive amount of depth. It employs a mature cast and a strong grasp on real, tangibly complex emotion to great effect.

Jan 8, 2010

Darkchao45

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/705 chp)

Bleach is a like a roller coaster ride. It has its dull moments but also has its exciting moments. If you are an avid reader, you will know what i am talking about, If this is your first time reading Bleach then i hope you give it a chance and see what this wonderful manga is about.

Sure it has the typical Shounen components, but it is more original than you would think. Bleach has many mysteries that have yet to be revealed, keeping you always wondering and wanting more. Give it a try if you have not already and see for yourself since everyone ...

Sep 5, 2008

Wasabi

Recommended

Preliminary (339/705 chp)

OMGZ ANOTHER BLEACH REVIEW. At least I'm not giving out mostly 10s for some strange reason! *Chapter 355 is the latest chapter, excluding all sidestories such as the Hitsugaya sidestory and the Pendulum Arc*

Bleach is an on-going manga by Kubo Tite. It is part of the holy trinity of never-ending shounen manga (along with Naruto and One Piece). I haven't read One Piece but I believe Bleach is superior to Naruto in many ways. It does not feature orange jumpsuits or straw hats but a black robed GOD OF DEATH AKA a Shinigami.

The anime is mediocre at best but like every other show based on ... never-ending manga, this show has its fair share of fillers.

Story: The story flows through two main arcs, with several smaller arcs in between. The first arc, called the Soul Society arc, introduces the readers to the world of Bleach and its many supporting characters and lore. It pits our protagonist characters against the denizens of Soul Society in what seems to be a rescue mission with an ulterior motive by some of the other central key figures.

The second main arc (which is still going on) however, seems like a rehash of the first arc but there is yet to be seen if some huge plot twist will occur or not.

The pacing of the story at times can get dragged on but that is to be expected in a shounen manga that has yet to end. There is plenty of dialogue and sometimes there's too much of it. Same can be said of the action. Countless battles one after another gets a bit tiring but it's acceptable once Kubo Tite inserts a twist here and there.

The story basically stars Kurosaki Ichigo, who at an early age, can see spirits. He gets attacked by a corrupted spirit called a Hollow and is saved by a Shinigami named Kuchiki Rukia. With a little help from Rukia, Ichigo manages to become a Shinigami himself. His Shinigami influence gives birth to unique latent powers to two of his friends, Yasutora Sado (Chad), and Inoue Orihime. Along with the Quincy (a group of humans who possess supernatural powers now nearly extinct) Ishida Uryuu, the four of them enter Soul Society to rescue Rukia after she was questionably imprisoned by the Soul Society government.

Art: The art in this manga is probably some of the best I've seen. They have a unique appearance that is quite recognizable and the characters are very detailed on their own. From huge bulking muscles on the body of the old Shinigami commander to the large chested females running around, each character has their own distinct appeal. Not to mention Kubo Tite really likes to draw large chested women... not that it's THAT bad of a thing.

Character: Like every other never-ending shounen, Bleach has a very large cast of characters. The manga focuses mainly on about 5 or 6 of these characters but the other supporting cast gets a fair amount of screentime when the moment comes. In the more recent chapters, several of the supporting characters are finally getting their 15 minutes of fame in battle.

There is quite an amount of development for many of the characters in Bleach. There's pretty much every character archetype possibly found in Bleach. Whether you like the short tempered guy who always starts the fights, or the arrogant looking guy that doesn't say much, to the flirtatious endowed women, there is enough personality to go around.

Enjoyment/Overall: Bleach is one of those shounen manga that gets the heat for being generic and never ends with crappy plot or ridiculous characters. Even if that may be true to some eyes, Bleach is also a manga that caters to the fans. It's filled with action (although somewhat dragged on sometimes) and it has its fill of dramatic and emotional moments. I enjoy Bleach much more than I do Naruto because it simply catches on for me with its artistic style.

Jun 26, 2008

theeggman85

Recommended

Preliminary (327/705 chp)

OH. MY. GOODNESS. This is about the most perfect manga you will ever read.

For those fans of the Bleach anime, I know you're like me, waiting around for more stupid fillers about a dumb princess that no one cares about. I invite you to delve into the world that is the Bleach manga. No fillers, SO much more movement and SO much more story. This is where its at.

Story: 10/10

I rarely rate an anime or manga with a story above 8. I hate to say it, but most animes/mangas these days follow too closely after their predecessors, and end up being almost identical clones of ... the original. Bleach may not be completely original, but it is so throroughly engaging that you won't even give it a second glance. After being a fan of the anime, I found myself gawking at certain frames in the manga, thinking "Why in the world was this NOT in the anime????" and furiously reading on. There is never, and I mean never, a boring section in this manga. Bleach is what all mangakas should look to as an example. It does what a manga should: It truly entertains people. The story is not completely original, but it doesn't seem to matter. I'm always waiting eagerly for the next chapter to come out.

ART: 10/10

Fantastic work from Kubo Tite in this section. It's almost always clear what is happening in battles, clarity that most mangas lack. The characters are defined and unique looking, and each panel is well thought out. The landscapes and buildings also have lots of creativity packed into them

CHARACTER: 10/10

Again, amazing work here. Theres a character for everyone to enjoy, and each person has their own unique traits. There are enough characters to keep the story interesting, and they are almost all developing as the story goes on. It just all makes a whole lot of sense, see?

ENJOYMENT: 10/10

I cannot express how enjoyable this anime has been to read. I started reading where the anime awkwardly broke away, and before I knew it I had read 40 chapters and it was 12:00 AM. Perfect balance between action, comedy, and that sense that you don't know something very important. Tite never leaves you hanging for too long, however, and whenever a secret is unearthed, you will find yourself making astounded noises at your book/computer screen. If you like the action, if you like surprises, definitely, definitely read this manga.

OVERALL: 10/10

Bleach manages to keep a perfect balance between action and story, and it is truly a one-of-a-kind manga. You will always be on the edge of your seat, not knowing what to do while waiting for the next episode to come out. Timing, which is one of the crucial things in an anime/manga, is mastered wonderfully in each chapter. It really doesn't get much better than this, and it deserves the one and only full 10 score I will probably ever give to any manga/anime. Definitely give this a try, no matter what you like.

Nov 3, 2009

Awesoma

Recommended

Preliminary (380/705 chp)

Ok so I’m pretty new to the wide world of manga and admit that I primarily read shonen manga and anime. However I do not like what I read in the reviews and would like to throw in my 2 cents.

Story:
The story most people seem to think has 2 arcs. I personally break it into smaller pieces. The first being Ichigo Kurosaki as the substitute shinigami. He fights hollows with the powers he stole from shinigami Rukia Kuchiki. His friends Chad, Orihime, and Ishida have obtained their own powers and can also fight hollows. They are all helped by the mysterious Urahara and his crew. ... This is the first arc. I think so anyway this is before the multiple sword forms and giant cast of characters. The story takes a turn for the awesome with the introduction of other shinigami and the kidnapping of Rukia. The Soul Society was a wonderful place that brought a lot of new characters, concepts, plot that fueled my delight right and wrong were blurred and the intrigue of the going ons of the soul society were fascinating. The ending twist was fantastic and perfect and I was ready for the next arc. This is where most critics of the manga and even the fans say the series died and ruined it for them. I disagree I missed fighting hollows and now the shinigami had a real reason to use their zanpakto's abilities that was not directed at other shinigami. The arrancar were real threats to the soul society and was a perfect opposite. They would finally force those who were too powerful to fight at their fullest back in the soul society. Aizen was terrifying and magnificent and lead a front that made the series amazing and I wait with baited breath to see what comes up next. The story is not without problems things drag sometimes and there are a lot of characters who don’t get enough screen time and those who get too much and yes the characters tend to be generic. But I’m looking for that in a shonen manga and it helps that I think the concept is amazing. Tite Kubo is not only writing a story he is creating a world.

Art:
I dont know much about drawing but i would say Mr. Kubo does a great job of displaying things clearly and smoothly his style is appealing and his concepts are really original.

Characters:
Good. There are alot of them and they never die. This leads to characters getting left on the side of the road with little to no use. Best example Chad. He had alot of potentail but is just nowhere near what the lead characters are. He is basically Krillin. This is happening more and more in the manga which is unfourtunate. He is working on the back story on some characters but only those who were mentioned to be uber powerful beforehand. Overall problematic but i like it.

Enjoyment:
Well I like it and the other people i have introduced it to like it as well. Obviously people like it or Bleach would not be as main stream as it is.

Overall:
I understand why people are complaining about some things. However not a big deal in the overall to the story but they make it seem like a damning offence. Then there are people who i dont know why they read this long manga all the way through to bitch about it. Unless there is a golden vault of shonen manga im missing out on. If so please refer me to it otherwise stop trolling Bleach cause quite frankly it feels out of place to read

Dec 31, 2008

Azula_Faith

Recommended

Preliminary (340/705 chp)

It's addictive (I won't comment on what others had said). There are two arc.(s) till now as the manga is still on-going. While some may not fancy this Espada saga compared to the Soul Society arc. I, on the other hand, think that this arc is just as great as the previous ones. The fights, the sacrifice, the hardship.
Basically, what I think is that the author is trying to create the different points of view in each of the characters. Like "they feel the pinch when another is suffering" and stuffs like that. Also in this (Espada) arc in the manga, it creates a ...

May 20, 2013

melonpanfan

Recommended

Preliminary (537/705 chp)

Bleach has been in the top rated manga/anime charts for years, its success is even known by people who arent huge nerds like us ;). Being someone who has been reading and watching for most of my life, I was always a little curious as to what all the hype was about. Finally my curiosity got the best of me and I picked up the manga for the first time.
I didn't put it down. For all the popularity and discussion this was a read that definitely did not disappoint.

Story-10: The general idea of the story is about Ichigo, a high school boy who has a ... particular ability, and also, well, a loud personality :). He, of course, encounters a life changing incident that takes him to unimaginable places, and leads him to make complicated decisions. The manga itself is over 500 chapters and supposedly not even halfway over yet. The development is a tad bit slow, but the plot is always interesting and the fighting is pretty intense. Its definitely a great shounen manga storyline, interesting enough to capture readers of all ages and gender.

Art-8: I suppose 8 is a bit harsh considering that the characters are pretty well drawn and there are some pretty epic designs for many of the characteristics in the manga. The characters were all very distinguishable and unique, and their clothing, weapons, and 'masks' were all awesome and drawn nicely. However, the backgrounds in the manga are usually pretty lacking, sometimes nonexistent, and since the manga started over a decade ago, the art is of course something that took time to improve. Overall the art is great, and I hope this doesn't deter you from reading this manga.

Character-9: There are so many interesting personalities in this manga! Very loyal friends, family that does anything for eachother, funny and serious characters, you name it! But that, I suppose, is the small flaw I find in the characters of this manga, there are SO many. The development of each one is absolutely perfect! They spend just enough time to let you get to know each character and a bit of their story. But with there being so many, you might come to like a character and then not see them for another 100 chapters. Once again, this really isn't something to worry about if your wondering if this manga is worth the read; all of the characters become part of the Bleach world that you will immerse yourself into as soon as you pick up the manga...

Enjoyment-9: I expected a bit more comedy, because everyone I asked to recommend me a funny manga told me Bleach. For me it was a little to shounen-ish and not enough comedy to suit my taste, but for anyone who loves action and being on the edge of your seat, you wont be disappointed!

Overall-9: This is exactly what your looking for in an action, shounen manga! The hype isn't for nothing, and even if it is overrated, its still a pretty amazing read! Make sure you have a long weekend and your fridge is stocked because once you pick it up, you wont put it down!

Feb 7, 2010

Lavi-en-Rose

Recommended

Preliminary (387/705 chp)

Now Im just going to say it, Bleach is my favorite Manga, ever. But Im going to write this review unbiased. I try to look at everything individually, not the Manga as a whole. Tite Kubo is an excellent writer, Im sure if he had gone into writing outside of Manga, he would be excellent. Bleach's story itself is not the greatest, however Kubo's ability in creating characters is great. He has a very large supporting cast, and with large casts characters often get forgotten and are one demensional. All of Kubos charaters are unique and he manages to always ...

Mar 28, 2021

ronin_aizen

Recommended

Bleach

Bleach as a whole was an amazing read. i loved everything from the phenomenal cast, filled with top tier characters like aizen, ulquiorra, nnoitora, Tosen, Urahara, Shunsui, Tokinada, and of course its protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki, to the phenomenal Art which could be considered on of the best in all of shonen Manga. Bleach deals with very profound themes such as death, fear, Despair, self realization and more. Thw arcs each have their own appeal and all have a very different feel to them. Bleach also has one of the best shonen arcs in all of Shonen with the arrancar saga. A lot of the Things ...

Feb 1, 2017

FloatDarkSphere

Recommended

Its my first review on MAL.

About Ichigo.

Sumary: Bleech is a freakin teenager that doesnt wants to grow up, just like u was in highschool; and thats what makes him so relactable and such a great character. His friends are great too:
Rukia is a freakin death scythe
Orihime is the B00BS girl
PueñoFuerte és uno luchador supinpa, muy guay
GlassesGuy is a fucking nerd, he uses that bow things that nobody rlly strong uses in anime or any other midia.

...

Aug 22, 2016

ShinobiPalace

Recommended

This manga/anime makes me feel so much, I don't think I've ever felt so amazing in my life. The morals and the experience you get from this is just out of this world. My life feels so different now. I've read plenty of manga before you list me as a casual, view my profile.

Was never bored once, Kubo took a realistic setting with relatable characters and mixed in a fictional world. Art was phenomenal and so were fights. Sometimes there was little character development but this manga was so fucking entertaining that I don't care. Not a dull moment.

Don't listen to what others have said ...

Aug 22, 2018

Adub217

Recommended

I like to call Bleach one of the founding fathers of my anime/ manga experience, up there with Naruto and One Piece. These 3 classics are what got me into the world of manga in the first place.
Bleach may appear as a cliched shounen manga type that we see today, but you have to remember that it contributed to the standard of shounen manga that we see today.
The characters, both good and bad, are well designed and given enough depth that we can see what both sides are fighting for as justifiable and reasonable from their point of views. While it may be one ...

Oct 24, 2018

BabyGirl06301

Recommended

I'm not entirely sure why I feel the need to review everything I encounter on this website, but I feel the need to review everything I encounter on this website.

Bleach is a classic, right? I finished off the manga a while ago, so I'll try and review it the best I can. The story is on point. Not a moment is wasted, which is more than I can say for the anime. The character development that's seen is insane, and the attention to detail by Tite Kubo is very impressive. Hints to Ichigo's future can be found at the very beginning of the manga, ...

Jun 14, 2019

DesolatePsyche

Recommended

Bleach (Manga) 9/10/10/10/10

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.
------

Oeh.. now that I've re-read Manga... figured to write a review about my all time favorite battle shounens. (I've seen Anime total of 4 times including the movies.. but re-read because... Anime final arc is still not animated and I wanted refresher of final arc)

✦Story
As it's extremely long running battle shounen, it would be too tedious to make more of "detailed" review. So to put it simply. It has a very battle, drama, tragedy rich storytelling that also has spice of character relationships and even ...

Apr 6, 2018

RoseContra

Recommended

*Spoilers TOWARDS THE END*

I loved reading the final arc of Bleach, but the thing that frustrated me was the lack of emotion that the final villain had.

The art is awesome, the characters are also awesome (Although they definitely deserve alot more detail and development, there is just so many of them...). I will probably end up purchasing the Character books due to the fact that I don't think I got the fill I needed from the manga or anime.

I want to know what happened in details that were not provided, and hope that to some degree certain things can be wrapped up.

****Spoilers but not in ...

Apr 23, 2020

Yohane01

Recommended

Now I'm not going to be doing a review about the entirety of the bleach manga, just a certain part. That part in particular is the thousand war blood war arc. To me every page of this saga was an absolute masterpiece. I'll try my best to not give any spoilers seeing as it'll be over a whole year until it's animated.

This saga starts off a bit slow in the first volume and doesn't really look that good. But Jesus Christ does it pick up...and quick too. By the second volume everything goes up to a hundred. A full on war in the soul ...

Mar 22, 2021

Hussain_Rezaie

Recommended

Well I haven't any reviews yet
So this is the First
Story 5/10 Maybe even Less lol
TBH the story isn't that great first arc was great but same plot every arc
and the last arc was a mess
girl gets kidnapped MC and friends goes rescue and boom every friend gets one villain till mc reaches the big villain
Art 10/10
Kubo's Art is my favorite art the character design the transformations everything is cool
Like every character has different transformation and design most even has 2 or more transformation
Characters 10/10
Basically every Character is interesting in this manga everyone has their moment to shine ...

Aug 14, 2018

ArtistryNote

Recommended

If you like a mix of mystery, death, and action, Bleach is for you! Tite Kubo’s manga, Bleach follows young 15 year old Ichigo Kurosaki as he bumps into Rukia Kuchiki, who claims to be a Soul Reaper- she says she sends Hollows, evil spirits, back to Hell, and lost spirits to the Soul Society, where you go after death; and Ichigo discovers what it’s really like after death!

The storyline itself is mind-blowing in some cases, like at the end of the manga itself, when we find out what had really happened to Ichigo’s mother, Masaki Kurosaki. At other points, we need a good ... explanation on what’s going on, like in the Soul Society arc, at first, I didn’t really understand the concept of Captains and found it overwhelming with so many characters.

I hate fillers. I’m even linient about it and will watch a filler arc if it has even the slightest bit of something related to the plot- the Fullbringer arc, unfortunately just wasn’t good enough for me. I found myself skipping the arc and knowing everything that was the same before the arc with the exception of Ichigo’s age, and he’d gotten his Soul Reaper abilities back- correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the Fullbringer arc came up to my expectations.

The art is amazing, and I’ve personally tried to draw in Tite’s style a few times (and miserably failed!). He changes the art style as the characters grow, putting an end to the ‘anime characters never change’ myth. You can also tell when the arc has changed because the art style will change a little bit- in the Fullbringer arc, we can tell that Ichigo and the others have grown since we last saw them, Ecuador’s they look a little different. Iwillnever get over how cool some of the characters outfits look- they’re really fun to try to draw,and I really like the art style.

The characters! Let me say right now that Bleach has some of the traditional ‘we see these characters reincarnated in every anime’ characters, and some that just aren’t. For one, Tite actually focuses on his side characters instead of leaving mild plot holes as to where they came from and why they want to help-the side characters are as useful as the main characters, which I definitely like. Take Kisuke Urahara, for example; while they explain everything about Qizwn, they also explain about Kisuke, Yoruichi, and why Kisuke was never directly in contact with the Soul Society.

The overall rating I’ve given it is a 9, because I really enjoyed it! I loved following the characters and learning more about the plots if you like long, confusing, and enjoyable storylines, then Bleach is the way to go!

Jun 15, 2023

n1ckelpickel

Recommended

Well-written

Bleach was one of the first ever shonen ive finished. The manga is so good and besides the soundtrack in the anime, it is better by alot.
Tite Kubo's art is breathtaking and simple yet sleek. the character designs are all so unique and just eyecandy to look at. He takes inspiration from so many parts of the world, like Spain and Germany. The foreshadowing in this series is one of the best. I love the giant cast of characters and all their unique personalites. The antagonists of this story are all masterfully done and you truly feel terrified of them. There is so much ...

Jul 20, 2022

Asife77

Recommended

Well-written

*Slight spoilers ahead

To be honest, I started Bleach because it was part of the legendary shonen group of "Big Three". I always thought that it would be the worse of these (in fact I think that objectively it is), but I had never imagined that it would be such an entertaining and cool ghost-fighting story. It actually end up being my favourite amongst the Big Three.

1-One positive point:
One of the things I liked the most about Bleach is the storytelling. It's true that most of the time the pacing is needlessly slow, but it gets conpensated with the lots of fights and ease to read. ...