Bleach

Bleach is one of those mangas that seems that it's never going to end. Bleach has become very popular and it has some enjoyable parts. But then it has some really boring arcs. Bleach is currently on its final arc. Yes it's going to end. Most people have been saying that the final chapter will take a year to end. I dont see it ending for a while.

Art:
The art in this anime is extrodinary. Every character has their own dynamic power not the usual power. For example Byakuya Kuchiki has a Cherry Blossom power as well as the Espadas.

Enjoyment:
Some Bleach fillers are very boring ! Don't waste your time watching them. That's if you want to watch the anime. The manga does not have those fillers.

Overall:
I gave Bleach a 9 because this manga has it's falls with boring fillers. If the fillers where more exciting then it would probably be a perfect score. Enjoy!^^

I used to be way into Bleach. It started out amazingly as it's simple school-life supernatural thing but in later (much later) chapters, it starts going down. If any anime was like a roller-coaster, it'd be Bleach. It has great moments that'll keep you begging for the next chapter and moments that'll make you wander why you ever even bothered with it.

Bleach is full of typical Shounen elements but that doesn't mean it's not good. The charcters are cool (though there are a ton of them), the art is beatiful, and the story started out great. But much much later in the story, it starts to seem like it is doing the same thing over again but with a few tweaks.

Overall, I really like this manga, but it could do better.

Bleach is a weird one in terms of how to review it, not just because it is so long, but because of how strongly encapsulated each story arch is. So the quality varies greatly from one story the next, almost like different books in a series of novels.

Let me start out by just doing this briefly and if you want you can read the much longer part.

Story- The story started out fairly weak and episodic in the first section. Then the second section was decent and began some really interesting things. However, the third section could not manage to completely follow through, and the main plot line for the majority of the manga falls apart completely by the end of this section. Ever since then the author introduced a completely new set of antagonists that seem largely unrelated to anything that happened before, but it's clear at this point that the series has just gone on for way too long.

Art- The art starts out very very weak but he improves steadily as the manga goes on until by the 300th chapter it was quite solid. It has only continued to get better since then.

Character- There are lots of interesting characters in Bleach, but the main character tends to fall a little flat sometimes. Anyway there are very few who I would consider to be genuinely unlikable and in MOST cases he even gives you some insight into what the antagonists motivations are. (But not all, and he is especially bad about this with his main antagonists, for whom it's most important).

Enjoyment- Many exciting fight scenes, if you're into that kind of thing, and there is quite a bit of light-hearted comedy here and there. Generally up until near the end it's a fun manga to read.

Overall- Read more below, but basically it was fun for a while but never really delivered on it's potential.

I'm going to take you through the experience of Bleach as I experienced it, while reading it, so you can understand exactly why it was so popular for a while, but now has gotten so much hate. It's something that happens a lot in long series, so it's not like this progression is anything new.

Spoilers in large numbers will follow. This is also really long, but I mean the manga is like 500+ chapters so, what can you do?

-ARC 1 - THE HIGHSCHOOL KIDS DEMON HUNTING MANGA-

So I started reading Bleach like 5 years ago and no lie, I dropped it after chapter 10 and didn't try to read it again for more than a year. The reason was because I felt that the art was laughably bad. At the same level as the first few chapters of Shingeki no Kyojin, but without that series far superior plot and characters. It was this fairly poorly drawn manga about this boy who can see spirits, and meets a spirit-girl who gives him spirit hunting superpowers. They have fun adventures together with his quirky classmates and funny little sisters and it's all fairly lighthearted and good times. I gave it a second chance a few months later and found it to be diverting, but not exactly a masterpiece. But then at the end, some bad shit goes down, the spirit girl gets kidnapped, and the MC is left at the brink of death by the character who is going to be the antagonist of the next arc.

So yeah the first arc is like a very lighthearted ghost hunting mystery story. There's nothing particularly dark and only VERY vague hints at something bigger going on. That ending though...it pulls you in because you got to like Rukia so much, of course you have to know if she's okay.

Which leads us in to the second part of the story, which most fans will tell you is "the good part" because it is the story most fans were looking for from the beginning.

-ARC 2 - THE SHONEN ACTION MANGA-

So in the second arc, the MC has to rescue his little cutie spirit girlfriend, so he gets himself all powered up and goes to the spirit world to rescue her. In the spirit world he goes though a VERY standard set of Shonen Action Hero steps to doing this, involving fights that he loses at first, then goes and does some training and then winds the second round, or just rallies his resolve and manages to overcome the odds. Finally against an implacably powerful foe, he pulls out some turly crazy demon-like powers and manages to win, but he holds back from actually killing his opponent, instead coming to an understanding with them and rescuing his little girlfriend just in the nick of time!

At the same time, there is this murder mystery going on, and THIS, THIS is where the trouble for this series started, although no one knew that at the time. So at the very end, after saving the girl, suddenly this asshole shows up and stabs the MC in the stomach, then just sort of struts off, saying that he'll see everyone in 3 months when there's gonna be a bigass war.

So once again, the arc ends with the main character getting stabbed by the person who is presumably going to be the main villain of the next arc.

This second part is pretty much the classic shonen action series. The story advances by way of a number of unique battles that the MC has to fight against increasingly powerful opponents, with all the expected last minute powerups and speeches about ones resolve to fight and all that. Also as a side note, the art in Bleach steadily improves as it goes on, and so by the time we got to the middle of this arc, it had reached a level that was really pretty great.

There are also a large number of colorful and interesting characters introduced, and the cosmology of the setting really gets fleshed out a lot.

And the whole murder mystery plot SEEMED really cool, with lots of potential for interesting future developments.

I have to say, if the series had ended with the MC saving the girl and going home to live out the rest of his life in peace, Bleach would have been a pretty decent entry into the shonen genre, there would have been a neat 50-100 episode anime based on it, and people would still be writing fanfiction forever.

If only they could have been content with this.

-ARC 3 - THAT LAST ARC SOLD REALLY WELL SO MAYBE WE'LL JUST DO THAT AGAIN...ONLY THIS TIME MAKE THE ENEMIES SCARIER-

So in the third arc many of the characters who were antagonists in the second arc are now on the MC's side, helping him out. And since the villain ran off to the world of darkness and evil spirits, he now has a bunch of really REALLY vicious monsters working for him.

And here is where things begin to go off the rails. The monsters from the demon world are more powerful than previous enemies (Of course, because this is a shonen action series) so the story just becomes a retread of the previous arc, with the main character losing fights, then training and powering up, all ground that has pretty much been covered before. They even kidnap one of the female characters, taking her off to be imprisoned in the demon world for some unknown (but presumably nefarious) purpose. Just like in the previous arc, the MC has to go to the demon world to save her.

So the problems begin when they have nearly finished fighting their way through the demon world and finally find the kidnapped girl.

First of all, while they were trying to rescue her, there was a good deal of time spent on showing the reader what she was doing while she was stuck there, basically being psychologically abused by, and subsequently developing stockholm syndrome for the demon henchman who was in charge of holding her prisoner. I'm not sure if the author just liked this demon character a lot, or if the fans really liked him, but he just got more and more out of control powerful and unstoppable and unbeatable as the story went on. So FINALLY the MC manages to defeat this unbeatable demon by using another crazy shonen action hero powerup. But the thing was, that because you had gotten all these scenes that involved this demon, you had a feeling for his personality: so when the MC and this demon finally had their final battle, you felt like you knew both of the characters and so it mattered who won and how it happened. Anyway the MC eventually wins, and saves the girl. BUT, instead of the story ending, then he has to go fight the MAIN villain.

So then the author remembered, I guess, that this unbeatably powerful demon who was just killed was supposed to have been WORKING for the main villain. So the main villain, then, by default, MUST be more powerful than this all-powerful unbeatable demon.

Thus ensues one of the most ridiculous case of a Villain-Sue that has been seen in a comic book this decade. The shonen action powerups just get more and more ridiculous, random, and insane. Most of the original cast just kind of disappears into the background, and everyone's power levels go completely off-kilter just so that it can be established that yes, really, this villain is really the most powerful being in the universe. But the problem isn't weather this guy is more powerful. The problem is that HE wasn't the one who we got to know over the course of this story arc, instead all the character time was given over to his various demon henchmen. Since we don't actually know what this villain's motivations are, or anything about him other than that he's a jackass Villain-Sue, nobody wants to see him fight: by this point I'm pretty sure everyone reading the manga was just sick of him, and wanted him to die already.

Anyway eventually the author actually had to resort to sending the MC into an alternate dimension where time moved more quickly so he could get 3 months of training into and hour of subjective time. EVEN THEN the villain was so powerful that after no less than 6 mid-battle power-ups and transformations, he couldn't actually be killed and could only be imprisoned, and just to do that, the MC used an attack so powerful that he went into a coma for three months and lost all of his powers.

And really, where can anyone go from there? When you have used a villain who is so powerful that he literally cannot be killed, there just isn't anywhere else you can go with a shonen action series. But by this time the artwork was finally looking really really solid, and bleach was still making buckets of money.

So of course they had to continue it.

As of now they're about 3-4ths of the way through the 4th and allegedly final story arc, and I know it's about 3/4ths of the way through, because it is all just the same story as last time, just with an even more ridiculously over-powered group of villains who the main character will likely once again have to pull out all sorts of crazy bullshit to defeat.

The thing that I think frustrates most people was that they got really hyped up for the end of the third arc and then it just never delivered. The second part of the story was really good, and then it set the next arc up as being this big epic battle, but that big epic battle took like 200 chapters to get to, and wound up just being a whole bunch of bullshit. A lot of hints were dropped about things that might turn out to be true later, but then a lot of them got dropped or were just picked up again in weird ways.

Here we go again. I'm going to make this review quick because I have already reviewed the manga. The first two arcs were amazing with an interesting story, memorable characters, and great fight scenes. However, shortly after the Soul Society Arc, Bleach saw a rapid decline in quality. Gone was the creativity of the first arcs. We're left with a sloppily written story, characters that no longer develop, and art so lazily drawn there aren't even backgrounds anymore. And it only gets worse from there. The Fullbringer and the 1,000 Year Blood War arcs were both a complete mess. The Fullbringer Arc is uninteresting and rushed. In the 1,000 Year Blood War arc, almost every fight is won using a plot device and the pacing is all over the place you can barely keep up, especially when it comes to the ending.

People have consistently compared Bleach to Naruto and One Piece. However, for Bleach to be like those two, it would require character development, which Tite Kubo seems to completely disregard.
It would also require it to have a good plot, which it does not.

Naruto, One Piece, Fairy Tail and other Shounen of the like all have something Bleach is sadly lacking: originality in attacks. Naruto found a way to make Puppets badass, One Piece found a way to make a talking skeleton with an afro one of the more powerful characters, and Fairy Tail found a way to make a tiny old man with a giant moustache have insane strength.

Bleach however has...swords. The only original and likeable powers are of the Captain Commander, Aizen, and the espada. Even the main character's powers are unoriginal and boring!

I have no idea why people go crazy over this series.

To be honest I am not a Bleach fan. I usually just read it while waiting for something better to come out. I literally stopped reading Bleach for like a year, started at the most reason chapter and felt like I didn't miss a single thing. The story line has been done to death(no pun intended) and the characters are two dimensional(I'm on a roll right now). Out of all the weekly manga I am currently reading, Bleach would be the easiest to say goodbye to.

This won't exactly be a review, more like a pure stream of unfiltered consciousness on the Bleach manga. Of course, this will contain spoilers for all of Bleach, and I will talk about many topics relating to Kubo, but not so much the heavy symbolism and sheer amount of motifs present throughout the manga. I suggest anyone reading do look into those though, as they are an interesting topic when thinking on Bleach.

Bleach is a manga I had low expectations for. I started reading it two months ago, and the deepest I ever got was midway through Substitute Shinigami beforehand. Thanks to the Nen Show Podcast, I decided to give Bleach (as well as the rest of the Big 3 and many other Shounen manga) another chance (or a first chance) to wow me. From what I knew of Bleach, I heard it peaked in the second arc (Soul Society), Arrancar was okay, and the final two arcs were some of the worst Shounen arcs ever written. If you can see my review score, you know I don't think that.

Let's start from the beginning. Substitute Shinigami. It is a very strong start to the manga, much like Yu Yu Hakusho's Spirit Detective arc, it is unique, draws you in, all the characters are endearing, but, much like Yu Yu Hakusho, it's not something a story could stand on for that long. I felt a bit drained of the 'day in the life' antics by the time this arc was getting into the spirit medium on TV stuff, thankfully, Kubo probably understood the reader's mentality and after laying all this groundwork, moved onto, what is generally considered to be, the best arc.

I think Soul Society is fine. I like a good chunk of the fights, I quite like the theme regarding how Ichigo couldn't protect his mother, but when he was able to save Rukia, he grew on from the pain of his mother's death, 'the rain stopped' so to say. The mystery aspect is also great, it's Kubo pulling the rug out from under you, thinking this will be a straightforward rescue arc where the good guys dispatch overpowered baddies until they save the girl. Instead, you get insight into so many of these surrounding characters, and the penultimate plot twist regarding Aizen's "death" is iconic for a reason. Kubo isn't writing this on the fly, he is laying down the essential pieces necessary, you can see where the story is going and why all these characters are getting development. But, there are a few drags on it. In particular, I'd like to highlight Ichigo's antagonist, Byakuya, who is sorely lacking in character. I understand him and his motivations, and how they tie into the over reliance on this system nobody questions, but he is very much a drab character. I don't hate him, I don't even dislike him, but all the other captains are just far more captivating as characters.

I'd also like to add that I really love some of the groundwork Kubo lays here regarding Tosen, which won't be coming back for like 300 chapters in the story, and it's just insane to think about, how much care Kubo was putting into this longrunning story, I don't doubt he knew what he wanted to do.

Next up was the Arrancar arc, which highlights Kubo's greatest failing as a mangaka, and it is quite literally too much of a good thing. He gives too much time to the bit players. He has so many characters and you can tell he loves each and every one, but during the final third of this arc, all these characters get their big fights and big moments, and I love some of these characters, but I just want to get back to Ichigo and Ulqiorra's conflict at times.

Speaking of that, the core conflict of the Arrancar arc I find to be far more interesting than Soul Society, and I've seen a lot of complaints about the reuse of a damsel in distress plotline, but it's done completely differently. When Rukia is kidnapped, she has no agency over it and is in denial of her fears. When Orihime is kidnapped, it is of her own volition and she acknowledges those very present fears regarding her friends dying to save her, and this all comes to a head with Ichigo losing control over his desire to protect Orihime, which makes him uncontrollable in his power. The battle between Ichigo and Ulquiorra very much highlights aspects of their characters in ways only possible in this medium and genre. It's a shame about the very much present pacing issues.

I'd also like to add that this is the point where I noticed that the poems at the start of each volume tie into the characters on the cover, and I very much want to reread, despite having just finished it, just to get those poems. Another interesting thing Kubo does with the volumes is the spread showing what characters will be appearing, as unlike a majority of manga, the cast will change to just the most important characters in that volume, and for the Turn Back the Pendulum story, all the characters are blacked out to hide their design. It's these cute little details that make it hard to dislike this manga, it feels very genuine and like Kubo really cares about and knows about what he's writing.

And, despite all the crap I've given this arc, it is genuinely my favourite (though it was almost overtaken by another), as those flaws, when looking back, don't inhibit my view of the arc, as that struggle, those bit player fights, now feel like they added to my understanding. Also, to compliment Kubo's character writing for a moment, Aizen just commands so much presence in his sheer power, I've never felt like this when reading a manga, he just exudes this overwhelming power that commands your attention.

I have so much I could say about Arrancar, but I will move onto an oft lambasted arc, Fullbring. It's fine. I don't have much to say here, I just don't get the hate really. It's a short well paced arc that goes through Ichigo's lowest point in preparation for the final act. It also explains Chad and Orihime's abilities, as well as giving a lot of insight into Ichigo's character, throwing around ideas of trust and doubt. I do think some Captain fights drag, but overall, I'd say it's the third best arc, better than the first two.

Now, obviously, based on that comment, you should know The Thousand Year Blood War is my second favourite arc, and I say second with a heavy heart. This arc, everything in it, was so close to perfect. It was perfectly paced, all the moments were just right, so many returning characters all feeling meaningful, until the last few volumes. It is well known that Kubo's health declined, and he had intended this arc to be far longer than originally intended, and the seeds of that are there, but those flowers never blossomed. Ichigo's dad shows up with Uryu's dad, but they're only around for a few pages to give the final boss killing weapon. One Quincy seems like he's going to rebel, but a few volumes later, he's just another bad guy. Yoruichi's brother shows up but acts mainly as comic relief. Grimmjow, the Fullbringers, Aizen, a lot of the non-Captain Soul Reapers, these guys are there, and they get some moments, but they all feel like they were cut short.

Kubo had a vision, and all the stuff leading up to that conclusion, made me want to see that vision to the end. But, it just wasn't to be, and because of that, I feel bittersweet not just because this manga I enjoyed ended, but also because it basically took the mangaka with it. Kubo is 46 years old now, and I don't see him coming back to give his true vision of the war arc, and I don't see him returning to a longrunning serialization again, as it burned the man out.

Bleach has given me pause. I haven't felt this drained after finishing something in ages. I really want to cry, cry for Kubo's lost vision, cry for this manga's untimely end, cry for Kubo, a man I could see as the next big mangaka, losing that due to health issues. It's insane how much this manga, that I knew barely anything about two months ago, hit me.

So, with a heavy heart, I say to anyone who has made it this far and has not read Bleach. Please, for the love of God, read it. It may feel slow at times, but I believe it is worth it.

To conclude, here's my pipe dream. I hope, somehow, the anime gets Kubo's original vision and gives it to us. I want to see that intended ending.

Godspeed Kubo. Can't wait for Burn the Witch.

FULL SCORES
Story - 8 (Very Good)
Art - 10 (Outstanding)
Character - 10 (Outstanding)
Enjoyment - 10 (Outstanding)
Overall - 9 (Great)

Bleach is an interesting beast, as nothing is ever quite what it may seem to be, and practically everything in it is foreshadowed. The story is mixed, but after starting it in 2002 I have never stopped or taken a break, as it is too gripping to leave be. The world is set up in one of the most interesting ways I have seen thus far, with all the different types of souls and how they all integrate and relate with one another, and each hybrid has different characteristics that make sense depending on their core parts. It contains a surprising amount of symbolism, in fact the most I have seen in any anime thus far. The dialog is some of the best I have seen, and many of my favorite quotes are from this anime alone, especially from Aizen and Ulquiorra.

The Art has been rather phenomenal sense the beginning. Although some people are irritated for the lack of backgrounds, as Kubo is so renowned for doing, I personally like it, as it puts a major emphasis on the character designs, something Kubo does not disappoint on (most of the time...). After the fullbring arc, when Ichigo goes bankai, the art goes into overdrive. Most characters received some sort of modification, and Ichigo's fullbring integrated with his shinigami powers is both creative and awesome looking.

Characters is where the show falls a bit flat. Don't get me wrong, many of the characters are amazing, and Ulquiorra is my favorite character of all time. But many of the characters here are psudo-fluff, like Omeida or Nel's companions. Kubo has admitted to creating characters to get past writers block and it can show at times. The number of characters is so intensive now, it would be impossible to develop them all and so some that should probably see more panel time are left out (like Hinamori, who some people still think is dead.)

The overall enjoyment is rather substantial. I've always found myself satisfied with every arc, and each arc has gotten progressively better than the last. A good mix of drama and action, but I would say the overall best part is a mixture of the plot and the psychology of the characters. There are many of character analysis's on the characters that both show the complexity, realism and depth to the characters of the show. Overall it is a very good anime, albeit super long, and perhaps in some cases drawn out or extended beyond what is necessarily, but still the point remains that it is worth the investment.

Bleach is a series that began promisingly, but sadly became less and less compelling over time, due to a variety of factors.

Bleach's story has a fair enough setup: Ichigo meets Rukia, a soul reaper, and becomes a soul reaper himself. Antics ensue. Right? Well...to some extent, yes. For a little while the story has a kind of monster-of-the-week feel, with our characters facing some fun, inconsequential enemies. We see a little of Ichigo's high school life. Then the big Soul Society arc begins, and it's pretty fun! It introduces a bunch of new characters and lore, we see plenty of fights, it's a good time. It's a pretty long arc, and it culminates in a villain reveal that has obviously been memorable among fans.
In my opinion, this is the highest point the manga ever reached. Unfortunately, this arc is generally accepted to end around chapter 182. And there are *705* chapters. That's a pretty big gap. So what was going on for the rest of the time? To be brutally honest, nothing that ever felt that important. There are really only 3 big arcs after the Soul Society. I think that in order to hold your attention over such a long-running shounen series, there should ideally be a higher number of slightly shorter arcs, or at the very least the arcs need to be more varied. But each new arc in Bleach seems to follow the exact same structure as the first, but in increasingly bleaker locations.

I think characterisation is another place Bleach falls short. There's nothing wrong with the characters designs; but I just couldn't ever connect with the main characters the way I wanted to. I'm not certain why this is. They're not TERRIBLE - but I just don't feel that their motivations and goals are well expressed. Ichigo, for example, should be the biggest driver of the story, and I guess I like him well enough - but I don't know what his ultimate goals are. I think this makes it apparent that the story really lacks something important: an emotional core. Without this it's hard to feel invested in any of the goings on. I also always found it kind of odd that Ichigo's high school pals all happened to have their own super abilities outside of the reaper powers.

The artwork of the series, while it's biggest strength, also suffered from deteriorating quality through the years. I think initially the art and designs of Bleach were very impressive; Tite Kubo is a very talented artist. The characters look sleek and very very cool. The fight scenes were visually exciting. But by the mid point there is less and less to hold your eye's attention - the scenery and backgrounds seemed to become much bleaker and washed out. It feels like you're just looking at the characters talking or battling in a blank void, and this only lends to an increasingly empty story.

Overall, I think it's a shame that Bleach fell from grace the way it did. I read it faithfully every week for 3-4 years up till sometime in 2013, and yet I find it hard to pinpoint many memories from that all time spent reading. For some time I convinced myself that I would eventually catch up and finish the manga, but I've now long accepted that I will probably never bother. I've seen summaries of the very last chapters and they're not enough to compel me to spend my time reading through more of the same.
I don't want to place blame too harshly on any one factor for the disappointing nature of the series. I think perhaps Tite's strengths lie in artwork and character design, rather than character development. I understand that the world of weekly manga, especially Weekly Shounen Jump, is a unique and unforgiving environment in which to publish these stories, but that doesn't automatically mean that any series in there is doomed to the same failures. And I know that eventually Tite was given a brutally short frame in which to end the manga, but, truthfully, what would have happened otherwise? Would the manga have been drawn out for another 150 chapters of stale plot? Who knows.
Ultimately, I think Bleach would have worked much better as a shorter series; perhaps after the Soul Society arc there could have been a short conclusion. I think Bleach would be remembered more fondly if had ended sooner. But, alas. It's certainly not the worst manga in the world; if shounen manga in a cool, modern setting appeals to you then I think it's worth your time to read the beginnings of it. Just know that, even if you enjoy it to start with, and you're determined to power through the lacklustre arcs in the hopes that the story will get better: it won't.

The first time i encounter Bleach, i loved it very much: the story was intresting, good story twist, lovable characters, fine art.
it was catchy, new and refreshing, but after the soul society arc it started to go down, but still it was ok, even the hueco mundo arc was enjoyable in some parts, but after that i lost my intrest.
it's very disapointing to see such a good series going downhill without any hope to get better, cos now author is just trying to wrtite jus for the sake of writing.
My point is, the series should have ended after soul society or hueco mundo arc, that way it would have been a great sounen manga, but now...

If you love shounen, you should definetly read this, but be prepeared for a great downhill. it's not a bad manga, but the way it is now is very disapointing.

If you haven't heard of Bleach yet, you're obviously not in the otaku world. The second most-popular series from Shounen Jump, has had it's great moments in the limelight, while soon it kind of...died. Bleach was the first anime series I really got into. I fell in love with the anime after the first episode and the manga isn't any different.

To this day, I am still reading Bleach, even though at this current time, it really just needs to end. You can pretty much ask anyone, but the series should have ended after the first 3-4 arcs. So that's why I gave the story an 8.

The art is really good though. During all the action scenes, they're portrayed amazingly. And it really draws you into the story, which is what manga should do. So i gave it a 9.

There are lots of characters in Bleach, and there's always going to be someone who sticks out and leaves an imprint on your heart. It's really hard to find a series with good characters, but Bleach gives some rather good ones.

I did enjoy reading/watching Bleach. Those few moments of seriousness, with comic relief, to those insane battles. Bleach is the reason I love shounen series so much. But overall, I had to give it an 8. The series has been dragging far too long and I do think it just needs to stop. Even though they say it's on the final arc, it's probably still months, maybe years before it ends.

My advice? Just stop after the Soul Society arc ends. It will save you a lot of time and probably disappointment.

Bleach!!!Bleeaach!!!Bllllllllleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccchhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Definitely THE BEST manga ever!!!! The Story, The art, The Fights, The characters and most of all, THE FRIGGIN' ATTITUDE!!!
Tite Kubo is an awesome mangaka and this is really a masterpiece....
Although you may feel it's not worth it in the first few epps, but be patient and watch, you'll fall in love...
The concept of "Soul Reapers" really worked out very well...
The fights are really on a whole new level(At least in the 1000 year old blood war arc) Kubo manages to add such a grave demeanor to the fights that you actually go like... #RESPECT .....
The most capturing stuff is the Swords, called Zanpakutos. Each Zanpakuto reflects a person's own soul and is totally unique and has crazy powers.
And even the shinigami arts are so capturing, it leaves you in awe...
Also, ALSO, the villains... The villains are super bad-ass and really you LITERALLY can't predict what will happen next. You could almost call it a suspense manga.

So, Fight + Sword + Mythical Arts + Bad Ass + Baffling Storyline + Beautiful art + ATTITUDE = BLEACH

MUST READ OF ALL TIME !!!

I love the first arc.
Story:
The story wasn’t phenomenal but it served its purpose and with a villain of the week style continuity you could easily enjoy a few chapters whenever you like.

Art:
It was awkward to read it at first because of the unusual proportions, but after I got over that It began to shine. Tite kubo uses hatching in a way I’ve never seen in manga before. I could feel the bright, but somehow faded, colors come off its grayscale pages.

Character:
The characters are diverse and well defined, with enough back-story to get my sympathy. The way they interact with each other is excellent.

How Tite Kubo screwed it up
Story
Why couldn’t Ichigo have just let Rukia go? Fight after uninteresting fight in a setting that gets old after the first 10 chapters. They only introduce the main villain (as a villain) after about 15 volumes. A lot of the time it feels as though it’s supposed to be funny, but isn’t; or supposed to be dramatic, but isn't. the fights aren’t very interesting.

Art:
I did not realize how much the style relied on the setting. I don’t want to see a bunch of people in the same exact black (or white) clothes in a setting that looks the same everywhere you go.

Character:
The personalities you fall in love with either change or disappear from the story for long periods of time. Oh but don’t worry you get to know about 50 more characters all at the same time. And that’s not all; they each have their own back-story to interrupt important plot points.

Everything was great until the Aizen arc finished! I tried trust me I tried to lot get through it but it was becoming so ridiculous I just got disappointed. I know people are hyped to see the anime come back but ah... no thank you. I really want to give this a 5.5 but ehhhhhh.
I loved the diversity in bleach and the clothing variations for characters it really was good. There’s not too many characters I dislike. Though again the development after Aizen is meh for me.
Character development is a personal thing I really pay attention to. I felt like too much plot convince and trying to make this character super amazing and op just ruins it. I need to substance to back it up. Now with bleach it’s having the characters be waaay too many things and I’m just like ehhhhhh, you’re doing too much

Straight 10s , right across the board. Its rare that a manga could be this great, you might be thinking. Funny thing is.... what you say is true. This ranking only holds true to the first 20 volumes of Bleach. After that, its power level bullshit, plotholes galore, and Kubo trolling himself to the bank each week. Having said that, I still read it every week and get some enjoyment out of it (even if its not GOOD enjoyment).

I say, only read this if you don't mind having your whole soul crushed after being completely enthralled by a witty tale of humor, action, and pretentious art. If you can commit to such a thing, then by all means read this manga that used to be brilliant.

= Story =
- I was absolutely OBSESSED with Bleach. Some manga readers often avoid mainstream mangas b/c they're mainstream. But Bleach is definitely a must read manga.
So anyways, you guys already get the idea. Kurosaki Ichigo meets a Shinigami named Kuchiki Rukia. She gives her powers to him, etc. etc. You get it. That's the base of the manga.
The first plot to me was called the 'Aizen Arc.'
The actual arcs are:

- Agent of the Shinigami
- Soul Society
- Arrancar Arc
- The Lost Substitute Shinigami
- Final Arc: The Thousand Year Blood War

The first 3 arcs (421 chapters I think) are what I consider the 'Aizen Arc.' Everything that Ichigo + friends did was b/c of Aizen. The reason why Ichigo met Rukia was Aizen. The reason why Ichigo exists is technically b/c of Aizen (if you've been caught up with the manga, you'll know why). Literally everything connects to Aizen somehow b/c it's all his doing. He planned everything from before the beginning to the end.
The Lost Substitute Shinigami arc is... rather slow, but it really gives you a sense of Soul Society of substitute Shinigami in general. And now we're at the final arc. So many secrets are being revealed in this that I was literally checking MangaHere every 4-5 hours to see if the new chapter had been updated. I was miserable waiting to find out what happens next. I am now as well. Since this is the final arc, Kubo really does have to reveal every question in the manga, but there are so many so this arc may be as long as the first.

The story is easy flowing, though not consistent in Substitute arc, but all in all, suspenseful and jaw dropping. Really, really great story, mainstream or otherwise. -

= Art =
- If you look up demotivational posters, there is one where the main Bleach characters from the first several chapters to the current them now in the manga. It shows how Kubo's art has changed throughout the entire manga. And as in all my other reviews, I can't draw any better, you probably can't draw better. We probably wouldn't be reading it unless the art was decent and/ore great. Art is a 10. -

= Character =
- Kurosaki Ichigo may be... hot tempers, arrogant, hot and the main character, but he isn't my favorite in the series. I find his character to be the archetypal heroine. Something is threatening the world/his friends or family and he must get stronger b/c he just got beat... then he fights again and wins some new power that of which he loses at the end. That's it.

Kuchiki Rukia... I REALLY love her. Her drawings, her personality, and the fact that she can defend herself. She is one of the rare female characters that don't cry, but instead defend themselves and others. Plus she helps Ichigo with his problems. She does more to help him than those people who may think they're helping him, but are just dead weight. *cough* Orihime *cough*

Inoue Orihime is literally that one character in any Shounen manga that just get in the way. She's useless! She may have 'powers' and shit, but she only got them b/c her brother gave her those pins. If he didn't, she'd be long dead. I really dislike her. "Kurosaki-kun!" this and "Kurosaki-kun!" that. SHUT. UP. YOU. STUPID. WOMAN.

There are a lot of other characters, but those by far are ones I consider to be 'main' enough to talk about. Though I should say this, most of the male characters are DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. Ulquiorra Sciffer, Grimmjow Jaggerjack, Kuchiki Byakuya, Ichimaru Gin; Love you all and many others. -

= Enjoyment/Overall =
- It's a bit obvious that I enjoyed the manga. I've said everything I needed to say (minus the spoilers). Totally recommend this manga, mainstream or not. A very interesting, suspenseful read.-

Bleach was a series I decided to tackle last of the Big 3 manga, and at first I thought it was pretty entertaining. Naruto had already finished before I started Bleach, and the disappointing ending left me hopeful that Bleach would be a bit better, especially since the ending of bleach was incoming by the time a began reading. At first, I thought the story was actually pretty good, with Ichigo learning about hollows and soul reapers from Rukia, and the dynamic between these two was actually pretty amusing. While I was never a huge fan of Orohime, Uryu was intriguing and Chad was hilariously badass.

My feelings for the series maintained up through the soul society arc, with me finding myself enjoying the established cast of characters, as well as the captains introduced throughout the arc. From what I hear, this is where most people begin to fall off the series, but for me, I enjoyed it up until the defeat of Aizen. I wasn't a fan of the final battle against Aizen, but the rest of the arc was entertaining enough to me so I let it slide. However, the arc that killed it for me, an many others as I've heard, was the fullbring arc. The main cast was already getting outshined since Hueco Mundo, but at least Ichigo was progressing so it wasn't to bad. The fullbring arc felt like a massive regression for ichigo, both power and character-wise, and ultimately he gets his reaper powers back so it seems totally pointless in the long run. While the Quincy arc was much better than the fullbring arc, it was very similar to the hueco mundo/ aizen arc to me and, by this point in the series, I wasn't on board enough to tolerate the bullcrap anymore. Only the "coolest captains" got any good fights and the final fight against Ywach was extremely anticlimactic for the amount of power he was hyped to have. Ultimately, I think I might have enjoyed bleach slightly more if I had just skipped the fullbring arc, since it isn't even that important to the overall story and without the frustration it caused me I may have enjoyed the Quincy Arc for slightly more time before I burnt out. Ill still stand by the quality of Soul Society arc though, it was truly a great arc.

Bleach is an outstanding mangwha for its novelty and art style. Tite Kubo’s talent lies in his character creation, excellent artwork, and unparalleled creativity seen only in the most popular of mangwha, his single lacking area’s are in the mangwha’s story structure and proper establishment of strong plot. Overall, the Bleach series strengths are in its characters, the way the story is articulated throughout its panels, and the series outstanding illustrations. However, its biggest pitfalls is in its repetetive story confrontations and poor major plot establishment in each of the archs climax. Bleach is an outstanding mangwha for its novelty and art style. Tite Kubo’s talent lies in his character creation, excellent artwork, and unparalleled creativity seen only in the most popular of mangwha, his single lacking area’s are in the mangwha’s story structure and proper establishment of strong plot. Overall, the Bleach series strengths are in its characters, the way the story is articulated throughout its panels, and the series outstanding illustrations. However, its biggest pitfalls is in its repetetive story confrontations and poor major plot establishment in each of the archs climax.

Last Time,i was thinking what kind of story really bleach are,i thought it's not going to be so good or something,but it really change when i read it. It was really enjoyable,sometimes hard to understand,but still fun. the author really make an efford of thinking the name for the swordlike Zangetsu,Zabimaru. the character like ichigo,rukia,etc.try reading it,you will enjoy it.

great manga at the beginning, with a good story, great characters, and good character development. But it gets extremely repetitive after the soul society arc, and the fights get very very dull.