Reviews Manga / Bleach

Not the best, but definitely my favorite.

(Currently reviewing(ed) Bleach, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, and One Piece)

Ahhhh, Bleach. How far has it come since I started reading?

Bleach is a manga by Tite Kubo about a teenager named Ichigo Kurosaki who gains the power of a shinigami (death god; Soul Reaper) from another shinigami named Rukia Kuchiki. That's pretty much it until the Soul Society arc where things get good. Well, after you add Shonen Upgrades, Xanatos Roulettes, and (oh crap) Loads and Loads of Characters (at this point, the Other Wiki lists 147; I kid you not). All righty then, what are the good things?

A little sidenote is that this happens to my personal favorite out of the other shonen series, Another thing is that I would actually prefer the anime over the manga.

Pros

• A welcome aversion of Only Six Faces. Each member of the cast looks significantly different from each other. Pretty much self-explanatory. Reminds me of Eiichiro Oda (rummages for One Piece). For that matter, the whole cast is animated in the best way possible. For the manga? (Hint: It depends on who you ask)
• There are... Some very interesting characters in this show. Each member of the cast has a distinct and unique personality. I was astonished that Tite Kubo could create original characters out of a massive cast. Easily my favorite characters are Kenpachi (obviously) and Hollow Ichigo.
• An anime-only good thing is the filler. This is not potty humor Naruto filler which makes you wonder if it was on drugs, but filler good enough to be considered canon. I nearly thought the Bount, Shusuke Amagai, and Zanpaktou Tales arcs were canon! I'll even do you a favor and say that this whole anime is exceptionally made and no one should miss this.

Cons

• Loads and Loads of Characters. Don't. Ask. There's 147 characters. Kubo has a real problem with this.
• Arc Fatigue. The anime tries to make it bearable (they succeeded, thank God) by compressing FKT from 5 (I forget) volumes into 30+ episodes. Half of it was talking.
• A lot of wasted potential. Bleach could have been the ideal Slice of Life/Shonen fighting series, but nooo, Kubo decides to keep it only shonen.

Whew. That's all. Like I noted, it's my favorite series.

Manga: 7/10 Anime: 9/10