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.
