*NOTE, THIS REVIEW WILL GO INTO SPOILER TERRITROY AFTER THE SECOND PARAGRAPH. IF YOU HAVE YET TO READ BLEACH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT INSTEAD OF READING THIS NONSENSE REVIEW*

After just having finished Bleach, I am conflicted heavily; but happy. Bleach is a story that's been with me for a large majority of my life, but it's always remained in the shadows of other Shonen like Dragon Ball, or Naruto. This year, I finally decided to read all of Bleach. I had never been so intimidated to take on such a massive body of work before reading Bleach, but I'm beyond glad I did. On one hand, Bleach suffers from a lot of poor long term writing, with most fights ultimately boiling down to "main character conveniently pulls out deus ex machina to win a fight they probably shouldn't have" but it never really becomes a real problem I'd say until TYBW, at which point the story gets a little too bloated for it's own good; while on the other hand Bleach contains some truly brilliant foreshadowing and set up that can keep you addicted to each page turn.

On the whole, when compared to a contemporary such as Naruto, I find Bleach to hold up honestly very well. I'd say everything up until Fullbringer, roughly +500 chapters, has been some of the best Shonen manga I've ever read. Substitute shinigami, Sul Society, Rescue Rukia, Hueco Mundo, Arrancar, Fake karakura are ALL incredible arcs. The villains are terrifying and awesome, the fights are straightforward and bombastic (in a very shoneny way), and a shit ton of fun. Soul Society hands down is one of the best manga arcs I've read, and if you have no idea who the antagonist of these arcs are PLEASE read Bleach. The twists are brilliant.

but the pace with the arcs comes to a near GRINDING halt one you hit the Fullbringer arc, which is really a shame; and it only spells the future of Bleach from that point on. I myself liked Fullbringer more than most others, but I could very clearly see the direction Bleach was being sent down after finishing it. And that leads me to some of Bleachs real problems.

1st: There's far too many characters and this applies to minor villains as well. Too many characters only feel there to fill very specific purposes to ultimately benefit the main characters as sorts of tools, instead of being real characters that have desires, personalities, and goals. To address minor antagonists, they just become really forgettable with this problem beginning with some of the Arrancar (genuinely tell me if you remember all of them, and their abilities, and what they even stood for. You might get three or four of them), but it's in full efect with the Quincies of the final arc. Quincies even begin to recycle powers that had already been established, causing their fights to feel super bland.

2. Speaking of Quincies, most of their fights dragged on unbearably long. The pacing of the final arc was a real mess. While I do recognize the immense pressures being put on Kubo by way of his health issues, stress from higher ups, and frustration with Bleach (and absolutely cut him slack for even pushing through all of that mental and physical strain) I do still think it's fair to criticize the end product. Fights could last ten chapters with a Quincy whose powers were absolutely nonsense, or would be whiplash inducingly short. But there were some real treats during TYBW which helped make up for it. A lot of the side characters introduced during/after Fullbringer are just boring and forgettable. Not really worth mentioning outside of that.

3. Fullbringer arc was kind of boring through and through. It's only existence was to bring back Ichigos powers which could've been cool in concept, but he doesn't GAIN anything from the arc. I see people complain that Ichigo just got his normal powers back early on, but my problem was that they didn't evolve in any capacity and just went back to being the Zanpakuto/Getsuga Tenshou again whcih was ashame.


But for all of Bleachs genuine missteps, Bleach does a shit ton right. The main cast of characters feel very unique, with genuine and personal relationships to one another that make them have great interactions. An obvious example would be all the Captains of the Gotei 13. All of them are memorable, with recognizable designs, motivations, powers, etc. Hell, even the VICE captains and 3rd seats are all pretty memorable (for the most part).

If there's any point to talk about it, then I htink nows the time to mention the art. Bleach has some fucking fantastic art. Not only are all the characters given a recognizble identity through style, with fantastic designs, each Bankai release is jaw droppingly beautiful. Each one DRIPPING with an unimaginable degree of hype, and this is maintained all the way up until the very end of Bleach. In the same vein as the art, the chapter covers just have to be mentioned here. They are beautiful. Kubo is a graphic design wiz, with sleek and beautifully made chapter covers. The volume covers are also great, but that's because Kubo has a perfect understanding on how to use negative space in every context. The use of Negative space is done brilliantly throughout all of Bleach, always being used to display exactly what Kubo wants you to see and make you feel exactly what you need to at that point. There's never an unnecessary distraction, never any clutter, just buttery smooth aestheticism.

This review is already too bloated, paced poorly, and pretty much unreadable. But I wanted to try and get my thoughts and feelings about Bleach at least somewhat consolidated in one space. In a MASSIVE tl;dr I absolutely love Bleach. I wouldn't have read 74 volumes of the manga if I didn't love it. I've had Bleach involved to some capacity ever since I started watching anime and even reading manga. But Bleach really isn't approachable for everyone. It's a massive work, with a lot of real flaws. But it's a series you can feel the heart and soul Kubo put into crafting this story, and for that Kubo I thank you for giving us Bleach. And if you have that feeling, an itch to read Bleach. An inexplicable feeling that slowly draws you in to read Bleach, please read it; and follow it all the ay to the end. I think it was worth it.












































This is probably going to be the only time I actively review a series, and update the review, as I read through the manga. The reason I'm going to review Bleach like this is due to the sheer volume of this manga; 700 chapters is a monumental undertaking of a manga and I would only do this for something of equal length (i.e. One Piece).

As of Jan 15. 2021 I am about 230 chapters into Bleach and I am LOVING IT, but there's problems that I'll probably focus more so on later. Initially everything leading up to the Soul Society/Rescue Rukia arc was perfect shonen writing (and even beyond that it has been able to maintain that degree of hype which is fantastic). Each of the main beats of Soul Society was probably some of the best shonen fiction I've ever read, Kubo keeping my eyes glued to each panel and my jaw firmly planted on the floor. The fights flow perfectly, and the pacing is fantastic; but I know that it won't be able to maintain this consistency (especially leading up to/into the fullbringer arc but I'm not quite there yet).

The addition of the Arancar as the primary antagonists, their goal, Ban-kais, etc are incredibly woven into the story. Their leader, cold, calculating and menacing is fantastic and really does tie them together. Ulqiorra and Grimm Jow being the main focus as Ichigos direct antagonists is good; Ulqiorra feels like Ichigos anthithesis while Grimm Jow feels eerily similar to Ichigo and I constantly look forward to their encounters/fights.

I really want to address the powers finally: I'm really mixed. While I think Bankai are really cool, they don't feel all too unique seeing as each character of the main cast has a Bankai. Even the supporting characters have Bankai, despite them apparently being incredibly rare. Imo they could've been introduced far better, but I don't mind all too much. I do have an issue with orihime and Chads powers however, and that after nearly 170 chapters there's still nothing known about them other than "You got them because you were around Ichigo a lot, around Hollows, and around Ichigo in his SHinigami form." if that were the case then why don't his sisters have any unique powers yet? What even ARE Orihime and Chads powers? Very obviously they are tied to their attachment to Ichigo and their desire to fight by his side and protect him; but that's it. I wish they had theirs powers more thoroughly developed instead of just accepting that they have them (and maybe they're going to be? it's just taken an incredibly long time with only some vague hinting's occasionally). Also in the same realm of unexplained powers, what's up with Ichigo? I understand that his situation is going to be explored throughout the story, being a shinigami/hollow and all, but his immediate acceptance of his abilities just kind of irks me. Yes initially when Rukia gave him shini powers that made total sense, but why does he never question the fact that he just DEVELOPED such overwhelming Shinigami powers, fuck even Bankai? The apparent END ALL BE ALL of Shinigami powers? Yes knowing what I do know now about Ichigos family it makes sense TO ME, but it shouldn't to Ichigo. So far those are my only complaints.

Next I wanna talk about Kubos art. It's phenomenal and that's all I really have to say about it. Kubo is a master artist.


CHAPTER UPDATE: January Eighteenth (can't type the number since my eight key doesn't work) 2020. I just finished chapter 422, and I can safely say this would have been the perfect conclusion to Bleach and I can very clearly tell that I am not the only one who shares this sentiment. 422 would have been a masterful ending of Bleach in every regards, standing proudly shoulder to shoulder as an equal in story telling with peers like FMA; but alas we were not so fortunate. I can really only see anything beyond this as a sort of "Bleach Gaiden" due to how phenomenal this ending point is, but for a series that I love one must take the good with the bad. If you want the true Bleach experience, you have to steel yourself for what's to come. ITS TIME FOR THE FULLBRINGER ARC.