Welcome to yet another review of mine. This time it will be Bleach, third on my watch list, and my first anime crossing 100 episodes (I will need to re-watch DBZ). Before I begin, let me clear this, there were multiple seasons in the anime, and one more in manga which haven’t aired, but I will rather sum them up to just 4 seasons excluding the frequent fillers. Season 1, Soul Society. Season 2, Battle with Aizen. Season 3, Fullbringer. Season 4, Quincy. Since season 4 is a manga only season, I won’t be referring it. I will also refer all the fillers season as
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one.
Concept: 7.0
The main concept was based on ‘Soul Reapers’ and apart from not being as unique as others we have seen till now, this concept wasn’t even properly laid out in the show. There were numerous contradictions, and much of the idea was based on vague propositions. Firstly, I really never got the idea of Soul Society. The souls here would have families, they would age, and some would even die eventually. Yes, of course, when we watch the show, we hardly care about this facts, but when you give a deeper look, you will find it all too weird. Souls can come to earth whenever they like, which is acceptable, but then they can marry with humans, have kids, and age like all humans do. Seriously? The concept of hollows was fine, with hollows being the evil spirits. But when they consume other hollows, they regain their sense(fine), feelings and emotions(for real?). It was as if you were trying to force the supernatural Soul Reaper thing in an otherwise real world scheme. And the concepts of Fullbrigers, mystical earrings, and quincies were rather forced one too. Nothing blended, and the entire concept were just forced here and there to make sense for the storyline. What I personally felt was something like this: there were three nations, the World, Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society. And people from these nations were at a constant war with each other. Some people from this nations had unique powers and abilities. The story begins with a boy from the ‘World’ nation, who is later revealed to be a hybrid, since his parents were from different nations. The villain happened to be a ‘Soul Society’ citizen who ditched his own country and allied with the ‘Hueco Mundo’ nation. His plans were to be the ruler of all three nations, and to rule the entire world (universal one). And now, only this hybrid guy can stop his evil plans. Makes more sense, right?
Storyline: 8.0
The story of this show is a rather simple one. There is no mystery, suspense, or any missing clue type of thing. Everything goes linearly. There was never any big picture of any conspiracy, and no interesting plots were there to be unravelled. Of course, this makes it ideal for casual viewing, as there is nothing to guess. Aside from this, there were certain, or many I would say, plot holes which didn’t have any satisfactory explanations. And if you consider the filler seasons, then it takes a more deeper dip than one can imagine. Aside from content to watch, the fillers had nothing to offer, and their storyline was way too horrible.
Characters: 9.9
Bleach had a sheer number of characters, and when one could expect an inverse relation between quantity and quality, each one of the character introduced in Bleach had ample space and time to progress. I really liked this aspect of the show. I have always been a big fan of series with lots of characters, but generally in such series, a lot of detailing of the characters is left out and all of them have no depth to it. Bleach, somehow, managed to overcome this issue. Each character was detailed well enough, and all had some or the other back stories, which not only connected, but were completely acceptable and satisfying. Speaking of the individual characters, Sosuke Aizen, the antagonist, is by far my favourite character, and the best villain I had seen so far. I really liked the way he picked up fights with all the dangerous and powerful characters of Soul Society, with no regrets, hesitation or fear and maintained his cool even when he was being sentenced. That character was just amazing and brilliant, and coolness etched from every action of his. Not to mention those I-Don’t-Give-A-What look he used to give to all those heroes, that used to be so hilarious. Aside from this, we all have been huge fans of characters like Starrk (another cool villain), Shunsui (made my stomach ache with his humour), Gin (seriously, he gave me such intense feels), Ulquiorra (just awesome), Kisuke (that man, deserves all respects), Hollow Ichigo (I loved that maniac) and so much more. I won’t be wrong to conclude that characters really were a strong point of this show.
Tragedies: 8.7
Spoilers Alert!
No, there were certainly no tragedies, and that made the so much predictable. After watching a few episodes, we simply learn the fact that no matter how hard the fight is, our heroes will always be safe, and that never kept me on my toes. There were many tense moments when we anticipated something bad to happen, but that bad never happened, and eventually we stopped filling those tense moments itself in the first place. Yea! this worked in favour too, (Spoiler!) because by the time we reached the Aizen Saga, we stopped expecting bad things, and all of a sudden we faced the truth of Gin, immediately followed by his death, and that struck my chord so hard, I was left in shock for the next 7 days. Honestly speaking, Gin’s death is the only reason this show gets a 8.7 instead of a 7 in tragedies section, because that one was not at all obvious, or at least it had never been to me. I got so accustomed to the merry-go endings of events, that I had stopped being sceptical of characters and the moment Gin’s truth was revealed, I was completely shocked. But there was a reassuring in my head, that, now, since Gin is a good guy, he won’t die, and at that very moment he gets stabbed, and I was like, no that can’t be, that’s impossible, he shouldn’t be killed. After that, I remember myself surfing on the internet for a whole week, trying to find hopes for Gin’s survival. His death was definitely the most epic death of all times (clashing with FMA Hughes) in anime, and it became more memorable because of its unexpectancy. Even today, thinking about Gin makes me very depressed and sad. But other than that, there were not much tragedies, although this one was more than enough. I would also like to add, that, from what I have heard, Season 4, which is manga only as of now, have all the major tragedies necessary for the story, yet missing from the three seasons. But since it isn’t on anime yet, I can’t factor it yet.
Pace: 7.0
Utterly and butterly poor, and lacklustre. Out of 22 minutes of running time of a single episode, 5 minutes were wasted on soundtrack and specials, and 10 minutes were wasted on either recaps, or re runs of last episodes, In simpler words, each episode offered only 7 ~ 10 minutes of new content. What could have been covered in 1 episodes is essentially stretched over 5 different episodes. And what to say about the filler? Not were they only horrible, but they slowed the show so much, that its no wonder this series ratings dropped so quickly and dramatically. The fillers were the nail in the coffin for this show. And they completely ruined it.
Soundtrack: 10
Fantastic. And truly memorable. Firstly, the opening (and few ending) themes were so good to watch and listen, that it gave this show an another edge. I remember how excited I used to be whenever I saw a new opening, and the visuals were so cool (especially because we were so much connected with all the characters), that I often found myself not blinking at all so that I don’t miss out a single scene. And the original sound track, it was not only just awesome, it was fantastic, and even today, when you hear it, you feel so nostalgic. ‘Soundscape to ardor’, ‘Clavar La Espada’, ‘Treacherous’, ‘Escalon’ were among my favourite. In fact the reason I love this show, is because of its insanely strong soundtrack. The moment it played during the show, you will all get so hooked up that you could feel your heart racing in the flow. Be it an emotional scene, or a fighting scene, or a moment of triumph, the sound really captured the essence and delivered so much that you won’t want to miss a single scene or sound. Still today, whenever I am reminiscing, I would generally listen to its soundtrack and I would feel so nostalgic, that eventually I fall depress, for such a beauty build up of sound will no longer be there again (of course that’s not completely true, there are many more anime with great soundtracks). Sometimes, I wonder, that it was the soundtrack that made us feel connected with the characters and the show more rather than the storyline. Whatever be it, this show proves how an awesome soundtrack can help a show.
Real Life Values: 8.5
Many people complain that the show didn’t have much of the real life values, and while I agree with them, I would also say that it wasn’t even completely devoid of them. There were trivial values like friendships and sacrifices and there were even complex values like what is true justice. Captain Tozen wanted justice, but he strayed from the true justice he had always envisioned. Often, in real life, it sometimes gets too hard to decide what is just and what is not, and siding with one or the other can lead to highly different outcomes.
Content: 9.0
The show had a fair amount of humour, emotions, and action scenes. The show had some pervert jokes as well, but they were all acceptable, or to some extent they were. Speaking of humour, this show wasn’t an all out humour show, so of course you won’t find yourself sitting with your stomach in hand, but of course, there was ample comic relief and casting aside the fillers, it had quality too. Emotions were loaded in as well. In fact the all time pervert Rangiku had a serious emotional turn about during the end of Aizen saga. Orihime, of course, was the trademark for all the emotional content, but I preferred the softer sides of the villains more than anything else. I was sad, the way Ulquiorra died (I was not depressed, because I knew he had to die anyway), because his character really grew throughout his occurrences, and his coldness was a form of emotion as well. Last but not the least, this show had completely awesome and satisfying action and fighting scenes. The battles sometimes took more than 5 episodes to end, but that never bored me. In fact it kept me all tuned up (a little thanks to the soundtrack for that). All in all, the show had enough content to watch, and I never got bored out of it.
Animation: 9.0
The earlier episodes have a ‘meh’ animation (technology boundations), but later on the animation turns out to be just fine. The action scenes are amazing. There are like 100 Cero blasts, 250 Getsuga Tenshos and 500 flash steps, but each time they happen, its amazing to watch. All the explosions and cero blasts were friendly to the eyes, without any unnecessary and irritating flashing lights. Speaking about the art, well, all the characters had distinct and excellent art. The villains especially were really cool, they definitely had those ‘evil eyes’, and I was very fond of those.
Climax: 8.5
Climax of this show could have been something, only if there were no fillers. When I talk about fillers, I can’t even talk about climax, because whenever it tried to build up, another filler will pour water upon it. That apart, its hard to talk about climax in such shows, because, practically, in each and every fight that happens, a climax builds up. And especially in Bleach, I would say, all the fights that took place had that climax and post-climax thing. The major climax in the plot was of course the battle with Aizen. And just prior to that major event, we are warmed up by several other fights, and the manner they take place one after another, our excitement surmounts in anticipation of the final battle. And our expectations are met as well. The final battle between Ichigo and Aizen was definitely a battle worth watching, and properly justified and quenched the viewers thirst. The post climax was short yet adequate. Especially, the part when Rangiku accepts everything and decides to move on, was a touchy and beautiful thing. I still gave it 8.5, because of the season 4 with the fullbringers, which had climax build up. That season started and ended much before I knew what was happening. That said, it’s no doubt why people sometimes don’t even consider that season a season.
Final Score : 8.56
So, for my closing thoughts, I would say, Bleach is definitely an anime worth watching. It’s a fair mix of action, emotion and humour, and with its strong soundtrack and character cast supporting it, you will never get bored out of it. Yes, the fillers can sometimes annoy you, but given the fact that the fillers have absolutely no effect on the major plot line, you can as well as skip them totally in the first place. But of course, if time makes you a big Bleach fan, then watching those fillers isn’t gonna hurt you either. It’s like something more to watch of your favourite anime, that’s all.
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Feb 6, 2015
Welcome to yet another review of mine. This time it will be Bleach, third on my watch list, and my first anime crossing 100 episodes (I will need to re-watch DBZ). Before I begin, let me clear this, there were multiple seasons in the anime, and one more in manga which haven’t aired, but I will rather sum them up to just 4 seasons excluding the frequent fillers. Season 1, Soul Society. Season 2, Battle with Aizen. Season 3, Fullbringer. Season 4, Quincy. Since season 4 is a manga only season, I won’t be referring it. I will also refer all the fillers season as
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Jan 15, 2015
Fullmetal Alchemist
(Anime)
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This is the first time I am writing my review on one of the animes I watched. FMA was the very first anime I watched (I had watched many before this too, but those were just casual viewing), and thus holds a special place in my heart. I therefore decided to review it the very first. I will try to keep it as low on spoilers as I can, but it might contain a few here and there, so be warned, thought I won’t discuss about any major turn-around event, so rest be assured. And I will score the anime again in 10 different aspects.
Concept: ... |
