Being one of the first anime I fully watched, I can thank bleach for turning anime into a passion for me (or maybe not? hahaha), which lead to me loving Japan, and the next thing you know, I have been living there now for a bit and am much thankful for it.
Does that make me biased? Hell yes, and aren't we all in some way?
Let me pull out a bit of negatives before I fanboy away; Bleach has never been the best in terms of consistent plot, nor has it been with power scaling, and a lot of people would mention that it doesn't have very deeply developed main characters, which I generally agree with (although they do fit with the anime). BUT out of the big three shounen, I would say it has the best "VIBE": it has good music, awesome villains and STYLE; no seriously did you look at the DRIP that the characters have? Kubo should really have designed clothing... I am basically stating that, Bleach is a vibe.
It helps that I love supernatural settings (hello Yuu Yuu Hakusho) too; I just can't get enough of that sense of "mystery" that just pairs well with the music (or maybe it's the music that makes it that way?) and the story in general and it's... uniqueness; and no, not in terms of the generic shonen story, but in terms of the overall feel it gives compared to other shounens. I guess if you don't like it, you just don't get the vibe???
Jokes aside, let's talk about the current anime. I have read the manga until the end and yes there are scenes that I am kind of disappointed that are cut, but in the first place; those were cut because of complaints (from what I have heard, which is second-hand information); consumers are never happy aren't they? Ok, I agree, although I was hype, I feel like the first episode could have been a bit better, and there are bits here and there that I would have changed in the 2nd too (trying not to spoil so won't be too specific), but overall I know this arc is gonna rock and I am sure Kubo is looking at the big picture too; there are a lot of things that will happen, thus some things might need cutting. Even though I am nitpicking, I still think it was pretty well directed and executed overall and I was still hooked.
Although the new animation looks beautiful, I am not a fan of the 3d animation they used in the first episode for the hollows. The fights and cleanness from all the rest though compensates totally for it, and we won't be seeing much of it I presume as this arc doesn't contain a lot of hollows. Besides that, Bleach has never looked any better; which I am so thankful for.
The music remixes from old OST have been also a hit; the intro is a banger; I feel like bleach never disappoints when it comes to music, I would even come to say that it's the main reason why I truly enjoy the show. Music is completely subjective, but most people I know or talked to all agree that bleach's music is one of the big reasons why people fall in love with it. Some may not like it, and that's fine, surprisingly not all people in this world like chocolate either (weird right??), I wasn't a fan of the hollified remix; but I still think it fit and I am sure it's just a matter of getting used to it.
The characters are alsowhat made people stop bleach and made others into bleach fans at the same time. I agree that the main cast is very.... boring?; to a point where it gets pretty easy to know what most of them will say and how they will act at most times, and I am saying this even though I love them (let's exclude Orihime from here hahaha). Their dialogue is pretty easy to guess. This season they haven't seemed to change that much either, but I am liking the tension that stems from Uryu. The side characters and the villains thought? Broooooooooo. My favorite captains are back with style and am happy that you could see them in the first few episodes. I am also super stoked to see the villains in this arc come on air. I am also looking forward to the fights; this is the war arc after all.
For me, anime; like any form of entertainment; it all boils down to enjoyment. Even though I have some knicks and knacks, I have never felt this excited again to watch anime; and bleach, even though has never been the best show for me from a critical point of view, has always been the best at hyping me up and getting me excited to watch the next episode; a feeling I haven't felt ever since I was in my early teens, where I would go to school and just think about Bleach all day and would run back home just so I could binge watch it. I rewatched it, even with fillers, and still felt that way the second time and even when reading the manga. Rare are shows, or games nowadays that give me this feeling, and somehow, even through my nagging, I just can't contain my excitement for the next episode of this season.
