Reviews

I discovered bleach by watch the dubbed version on television and at first glance i was not that impressed. Dragon Ball Z being my first anime ever watched, my view of shounen anime and most anime in general had pretty much been destroyed. Soon after that i began to watch the show subbed and my view of Bleach changed significantly. Sadly I still think the episodes building up to the Soul Society arc still are not that impressive. The beginning of Bleach starts out pretty how all other mainstream shounen anime starts out. Guy with strange hair is able to see spirits and soon discovers that there are bad spirits (Hollow) who eat souls that have yet to pass on into a place called the Soul Society and there are Shinigami who kill hollow and save the soul who have not passed yet. Main character Ichigo, who is: stubborn, quick to anger, protects his friends, not always the sharpest spoon in the drawer; obtains Shinigami powers and begins his fate of saving the world several times.

I am very pleased to say however that the very crude synopses above does not give Bleach proper justice. From the Soul Society arc onward, despite the filler arcs, Bleach hosts a wide variety characters; all with their own unique backgrounds and positions in and out of the Soul Society. Bleach Plot doesn't simply translate into main character and friends go through the ladder of bad guys and get their ass handed to by main evil boss. Shortly followed by main protagonist pulling something out of his ass to save the day and then wait for an even stronger bad guy to appear.

In each arc of the Bleach series there is unique goal that Ichigo and friends try to accomplish. And the protagonist is not always the most powerful when said goal is accomplished, leaving room for growth and character development. Even when the main cast of characters obtain new powers they often gain a new perspective with that power. Overall the show delivers many plot twists and a complex history of both the soul society and the hollow world.

Another aspect of Bleach that drew me in was the complexity of the enemy forces, they are not simply just hollow but various level of hollow and the birth of the Arrancar, etc. It is true that Bleach in recent time has started to drag on and maybe it is time to just leave it after this arc is over. Despite what many will say Bleach is not just another long and annoying shounen anime. It is most certainly a step above the rest and a must watch. Hope this will be helpful to some you :D