Bleach: Gokui Meimei-hen
Bleach: Special One-shot

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I was quite excited when I heard news of Bleach One shot, despite still having murky after-taste of chaotically written last arc in original manga. And I am happy for many fans who still feel the same, but this seemed as underwhelming revival.

Whole one-shot danced between "hey you are long time fan, you know these people" and "Let's make it totally new". For me, this didn't work out. All the faces I knew felt like complete strangers to me, while newcomers felt gray-ish.

Pacing itself was all over the place. Yes, author wanted to set up base for new arc, but at same time ... it tried to connect with its predecessor. In doing so, it felt like TK was eager to return and repair damage from original series, but at same time wanted to move on and "restart" it in a better way. Either direction would be fine, but trying both at the same time didn't click for me.
Plot(twist) itself was okay-ish. Idea was good, but it has issues blending with already established world. Made me wonder how such a big thing had such weak dealing with it and how pessimistic whole ordeal sounds.

It is unclear whether author can (clearly want) proceed with more than one shot; can he make this a series. Despite having support of fans, if I was well informed - Bleach was only one of Big 3 that ended up getting axed by Shonen. In any case, with news of anime returning (and fans talking about repairing damages) and this one-shot being announced, I was hoping more for return to stuff TK wanted to fix. He is immensely talented writer and I know if he were to return back, he could've done things way better.

Reason I am leaning more toward repairment is mostly because this whole one-shot gives some sort of Boruto vibes. Not that I mind having key character going from dad to kid, but I don't know would it work for Bleach.
From looks of things many were quite satisfied with this one shot, I wish I was too. Bleach was what got me into anime, yet it never reached its full potential.

In any case, time will tell. His art-style and character design are still amazing.