Reviews

Bleach is a fun read, but it is by no means a work of art. Strong points for the series include great characters, strong dialogue, and a finish that gives all of the (important) characters a strong send-off. Additionally, the series can be very funny at different times. It was very difficult to put the series down once I got to the second arc. Despite that, the series has a few obvious weaknesses. 1) There is very little character development throughout the entire series. 2) There are a lot of completely superfluous characters, and some genuinely fun characters feel underutilized. 3) It felt like Tite Kubo didn't have a particularly strong sense of where the story was going from the beginning, and important details were made up as he felt were necessary. Sometimes this comes across as lazy retconning. 4) Every arc in the series except for the first feels completely divorced from the original premise of the manga. None of these problems should "ruin" the manga to people who are okay with turning their brain off for just a little bit.