10.22.06
Bleach review: an overrated shounen anime?
Well, the Bleach TV series has finally reached 100 episodes, so I figured it was time for me to write a review of the series ^_^ I remember it was a little over a year ago today that I got my new computer and was finally able to download anime fansubs, and Bleach was one of the first I checked out. At first, I didn’t really like it all that much until the episodes hit the late teens or so. 100 episodes later, it still isn’t one of my all-time favorites, but I do like it a lot and will continue to keep watching it.
It’s strange, but I really have mixed feeling about Bleach. I love shounen anime, but after watching 100 episodes of Bleach, though I enjoy the series, I just can’t get as attached to it as I have with other shounen anime I watch, like Naruto, Inuyasha, One Piece, and Konjiki no Gash Bell. I don’t read the Bleach manga, but I doubt reading it would change my opinion about the series significantly. But in order for me to clarify my opinions about the series, I’ll talk about what I think are the good points of the series as well as the bad ones.
I’ll start with the good points of the series, just to reassure any sceptical Bleach fans reading this that I really do like Bleach even if I don’t consider it a personal favorite. First of all, the premise of Bleach is very interesting. The Soul Society, Hollows, shinigamis each with their own unique zanpakuto swords, etc., all of this is great shounen, sci-fi, and fantasy elements with a ton of potential. The character designs are very cool as well; each character looks distinct, considering there are a lot of characters to keep track of. As for the characters themselves, most of the main cast, like Rukia, Chad, and Ishida, are well developed and unique.
One thing I really love about Bleach is the songs. The series has some of the coolest openings and endings I’ve seen; a wide variety of great j-pop songs, plus animation that matches the the flow and mood of the songs perfectly. I can’t ask for anything better in this department =)
Now the bad points. But there’s really only one main problem I have with Bleach that prevents it from being one of my favorites; lack of good character development. Before any of you Bleach fans think I’m crazy for saying that, let me try and explain why I feel this way. First off, as I said before, a lot of characters on Bleach are great. But I feel that too many are lacking in character development, especially the star of the series, Ichigo. It actually took me a while to figure out what it was about Bleach that prevented me from liking it as much as other shounen anime. Then I came across this post from another anime blog, and it helped me figure it out. If you take a moment to read the post(it’s short and to the point), though I don’t agree with everything the author says, I think he makes a good point. And in order to make my point about Bleach clear, I feel like I need to add a bit of a shounen anime rant here too.
First, let me compare Ichigo to other shounen heroes like Luffy and Naruto. Though they all fight strongly for what they believe in, never back down from fights, gain super powers along the way, and all that other great shounen stuff, an important difference I’ve noticed is that, in addition to seeing them kick ass in battle, we also get to see Luffy and Naruto’s fun-loving and appealing sides. When they’re not fighting, they come off as comical, fun, and enjoyable characters. When he’s not facing off with an enemy, Naruto’s happily eating ramen, futilely trying to win Sakura’s heart, making fun of Jiraya’s perverted-ness, duking it out with his friend/rival Sasuke, etc,. All these things make him all the more well developed and interesting. Personality-wise, though he does get full of himself sometimes, he’s basically just a fun-loving and determined kid who only wants to be respected by the people around him, which again makes him more appealing. And like Naruto, when Luffy’s not fighting enemies, he’s happily stuffing his face with food and just downright enjoying the freedom of being a pirate. Outside of battle, he’s a total airhead and doesn’t have a clue most of the time, but he’s always smiling and having a good time. Again, this makes him so much more enjoyable to watch. These different sides to Luffy and Naruto’s personlities is what makes them great characters. Seeing their humorous antics after harsh battles reminds us that there should be more to shounen anime than just a ton of fighting and fantasy.
Other of my favorite shounen heroes, like Gash(from Konjiki no Gash Bell) and Yoh(from Shaman King) are the same way. Gash is a dedicated fighter in battle, but he also loves to have fun and play with friends. When Yoh isn’t fighting, he likes to just take it easy, watch the clouds, and enjoy the tranquility. The fact that Luffy, Naruto, Gash, and Yoh are powerful, determined, and self-sacrificing in battle makes them appealing, but I feel that their development and unique personalities when they’re not fighting is more important. So how does Ichigo compare? I really can’t point out any significantly enjoyable or unique aspect of his personality. We see too much of him in battle and not enough of him doing anything else. I wouldn’t say he’s downright arrogant, but he has that same tough-talking and bad-ass personality all the time. Luffy and Naruto can be tough and hot-tempered in battle, but we get to see a lot more of their endearing and sympathetic sides too.
Ok, so I’ve pointed out how Ichigo compares to the determined yet fun-loving shounen heroes, but what about the other “bad ass” ones. Let me now compare him to the main character of my favorite series, Inuyasha. Like Ichigo, Inuyasha comes off as your basic hot-tempered, tough-as-nails, bad-ass shounen hero. But what does Inuyasha have that Ichigo doesn’t, which makes him a better character? First let me say that there are a lot of tough, arrogant, bad-ass male characters in anime, as any fan probably knows. But what makes these characters appealing isn’t so much their toughness as their less-shown, soft side, as well as character development over the course of the series. Looking at Ichigo, my opinion of him hasn’t changed at all since episode 1. He’s pretty much the same tough bad-ass, just with a ton more super powers bestowed on him. So I can’t really give him many points for character development. Inuyasha on the other hand has developed a whole lot since the beginning of the series. Sure, he’s gotten a lot more powerful too, but he’s obviously become much more caring and sympathetic than he was at the beginning, when he didn’t want anything to do with anyone. His heart steadily becoming more open to friendship, his struggle between his demon and human sides, his conflicted romance relationship with Kagome and Kikyo, his rivalries with Sesshomaru and Koga, etc., all these parts of his character are developed over the course of the series and make Inuyasha an extremely unique and interesting character. Because of these things, he’s not perfect and has vulnerabilities, which again makes him seem more real. As for Ichigo, sure he cares about his friends and family, but there’s nothing really special about that. I really can’t find any significant conflict, relationship, or character attribute he has that makes him stand-out among other shounen heroes.
Alright, so I’ve made it clear how I feel about Ichigo, but what about the other Bleach characters? As I said before, Bleach does have enough good characters to make it worth watching; Rukia, Chad, Orihime, Ishida, and Yoruichi for example are great. But there just seems to be so many characters and not enough time to develop them all. This is the main problem I had with the Soul Society arc and why I liked the Bounto arc better. Each of the 26+ Soul Society captains, lieutenants, etc., that we’re introduced in the Soul Society arc were all begging to be important characters, but there just wasn’t enough room to develop them all and move on with the plot at the same time. The most screen time any of them got was a few battle episodes with Ichigo and co. It was just too many characters to introduce all in one arc. Since there were just a few Bounto, there was more time to develop their personalities, so I felt like the Bountos were more interesting villians, even if the arc is filler.
Also, there just seems to be too many tough bad-ass male characters in Bleach. In addition to Ichigo, there’s also Renji, Ganju, Kenpachi, and other supporting characters. And they all suffer the same flaw as Ichigo that I mentioned before; we pretty much see only their tough-talking kick-ass side in battle and nothing else really interesting or unique in their character development. Renji does have his relationship with Rukia, but other than that he’s that same typical tough-guy shounen character, I can’t really point out anything special about Ganju, and Kenpachi just seems to be a ruthless fighter, with nothing sympathetic about him. And I know fangirls are going to hate me for saying this, but Byakuya just seems like a Sesshomaru clone, without any of Sesshomaru’s interesting qualities. Other minor characters like Ichigo and Orihime’s classmates for example, are about as stereotypical as you can get and don’t seem to serve any other purpose besides adding some hyperbolic humor(Tatsuki’s the only one with any hint of character.) And Ichigo’s dad always kicking him is kind of annoying too. That kind of unnessecary slapstick humor seems out of place in the relative seriousness of the show.
Well, that’s my review of Bleach as of seeing 100 episodes of it. Bleach fans, feel free to disagree with anything I said. My point in writing this was just to make it clear why I personally feel Bleach is overrated. I think the main appeal of Bleach comes from its overwhelming amount of content. The series throws a ton of characters, subplots, fantasy elements, intense violence, and flashy actions scenes left and right, so with all this content to keep track of, people don’t have time to think about how developed and appealing the characters really are. But who knows, maybe the next 100 episodes or even the next arc will show a significant increase in character developement and cause me to rethink my opinions about the series. Again, don’t get me wrong, I still like Bleach enough to keep watching it. But I just feel that there are a lot of better shounen anime out there.
Amy said,
October 26, 2006 at 12:57 am
yay~! the 100th ep of Bleach. Byakuya-sama totally rules!!!
Jennifer said,
November 4, 2006 at 2:13 am
I myself am a major Bleach fan, but I appreciate all the things you said in your review of it. To tell the truth, I have to admit that almost everything you said makes sense and is true - but I can’t help loving this anime just the same. I like its fast pace with moving through the story, and all the different characters, rather than an isolated group (but an isolated group allows chances for them to grow, I see that). Basically, to me, it’s AWESOME.
Yep, that’s pretty much it, but don’t make the mistake of thinking I DON’T like characters that struggle and have personalities, like Rock Lee - he’s actually one of my favorite Naruto characters! “Hai, Gai Sensei!”
Fred said,
November 24, 2006 at 9:16 pm
To be honest, everything you say here, i agree. The only thing I dont agree is that it is not “completely” undeveloped, because to be honest, Ichigo “changed” a bit, as you see, in the beginning, Ichigo really didn’t want to give a **** about being a Shinigami, but later, he went to save Rukia. I dont think that would count as a “family and friend” kind of thing.
Good review. Its 104 episodes now!
Tree said,
December 1, 2006 at 12:32 am
Great in-depth review!
I admit that when I first watched Bleach, it didn’t hook me, either. I was too absorbed with Naruto, at the time. But as Naruto has progressively gotten worse, I’ve found myself more and more attached to Bleach. Like you, I am constantly analyzing why I like my favorite anime’s, and it is incredibly hard to pin down. And one great thing about Bleach compared to Naruto or Inuyasha, is that there is not one great villain. When Naruto & Inuyasha tried to divert from the super villain, I lost interest almost immediately. Not only that, but both of those anime’s turned to the cartoon style of telling 1-5 episode stories, which makes for a very shallow plot.
Don’t get me wrong, I love both Inuyasha & Naruto, but Bleach has the most potential of getting BETTER. It’s still building up and improving.
Boertush said,
April 11, 2007 at 9:11 pm
yes I’m a bleachfan, yes I’m about to argue :p
well bleach had so many secrets from the start, unlike naruto and one piece were you know what there final goal is (and you know from episode 1 they will achive this goal), bleach has no obvious goal. But after 50 episodes you know about Aizen but you still don’t know what he wants (yeah power, but for what?).
furthermore unlike other shounenanimes ichigo isn’t the standard funloving/foodloving/morron/untalentedbutintheendagenius like goku and naruto.ichigo is mistunderstood, he is a genius from the start, but after a while this power will start to work against him (is inner hollow), and as ichigo is searching for more power he gets more consumed by his hollow.
and the other character, have you actually watched the first 15 episodes? not much development but a great introduction of rukia,chad,ishida and orihime. and I think there will be revealed of them more in the future just like the plot instead of making 10 a 20 episodes evolving around 1 main character (like in naruto and one piece).
their might not be a lot of development but the anime shows of every character how they became the way they are now, also sliced in pieces and spread through the anime.
the other bad-ass characters aren’t as standard and useless as you say they are, of all the characters you named you ll know their goals and why they act the way they behave.
what I’m saying (obviously lol) is that I think bleach is better than most shounen. the story is a lot better and isn’t as obvious, the character development is more subtile and has a lot more possiblities because there is still a lot unknown.
Flufferz said,
April 28, 2007 at 7:48 pm
You have made great points about this, and some I fully agree with, but I’m about to make some counter-points to this. I guess this is mainly due to there being so much development in the manga on Ichigo’s character.
At first, I saw Ichigo as the typical badass shonen main hero, but as time has gone on I’ve seen other sides come out of him. The first is very evident with his devotion to protecting and rescuing his friends. Let me mention first, I think he is a sweet person when it comes to some things, look at the ghost in the anime that he helped. [flashback in ep. 109 I think] He was trying to comfort her and felt very down when he saw that she had been eaten by a hollow. After that he was basically shut down for a few episodes, brooding about his inner hollow and inability to protect everyone close to him. You said that you could not find conflict, but now the conflict has been shown as the manga and episodes have progressed. He is fighting with himself and the inner hollow, which threatens to overcome him at any time. That is partially why he goes to train with the Viazards, his “brethren”. As far as relationships go, there are so many conflicts on whether there will be a IchigoxRukiaxOrihime triangle. In ch. 213, Ichigo does give a rather tender look to Rukia when she is injured. And Orihime definately likes/loves Ichigo. The attempted kiss in 237 seals the deal. As Bleach has gone on, it has grown very interesting and developed into one of the most well-done animes/mangas I’ve seen/read in a while. IT’s taken a while, but Bleach is getting along on the complicatedness rather well. Though I’ll admit that it was strange that it didn’t start picking up the pace until much later.
Brienna said,
May 20, 2007 at 4:14 am
Okay, I’ve been thinking about that Sesshoumaru-Byakuya thing, too. However, you’re missing the fact that Byakuya IS a very caring person. They are a lot alike except that Sesshoumaru cares about very few things, like Rin and possibily Jaken. Byakuya cares about the people he’s close to…he just gets torn between his responsibilities. That’s why when he protects Rukia even though he acts as though he has no care is really…well, touching. Same with Sesshoumaru for Rin, but it just comes across as different because that’s almost expected. The Byakuya thing isn’t. *Shrugs*
Maarten said,
June 27, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Something I find very weird about the series is that in the first few episodes there seems to develop some kind of (love?) relation between Ichigo and Rukia. The episode where rukia was arrested and brought back to Soul Society was actually quite touching, in my opinion (comparable with when Kaoru “dies” in the Rurouni Kenshin manga) but then when he has saved her, she just decides to stay in soul society and Ichigo goes back to the real world. Not even a touching goodbye or anything. It gets even worse when the bounto-arc is finished: Ichigo just goes back to the real world without even saying goodbye to Rukia.
How further in the series the less they spend attention to character development and the more to fighting, Ichigo’s superhollowskills etc etc. Really annoying.
Another annoying part: the series is going the dragonball Z-way: now they have to fight the über-strong Espada and in the end Aizen. The way how it’s going to end it pretty predictable: after a hard struggle where all the heroes almost die, they finally are able to kill all espada (with or without the help of the Visard but I’d go for without because the vizard are pretty much on par or stronger than the Espada) and eventually Ichigo will kill Aizen. They might give it a good twist if they allow aizen to make his precious key and obliterate that whole town but that’d probably be to “cruel”.
To be honest I found the introduction episodes and the Soul Society arc the best. The bounto arc was more “kill all bad guys to win” (cf. DBZ) and the Arrancar arc/hueco mundo arc will probably just be more of the same.
Something that also irritates me enourmously is if you take ichigo’s strength now and in the future how easy it would be for him to rescue Rukia again if she’d be in the same situation again as in de Soul Society arc.. He’d just fight those captains all 10 at a time and still win, probably (considering he’s only 15 years old and hardly had any battle experience compared to the hundreds of years old captains that’s quite a feat).
My conclusion is that it’s a good series, as long as you don’t think too much.
W i l l o w* said,
July 18, 2007 at 2:47 am
Your review and the Post you mentioned, have basically made a seriouslly undeinable points about said shows, their lack character-development and the focal point, “Bleach” and the macho-man syndrome it suffers. I, too, like Bleach, but I’ve avoided watching the TV series because my attention span was gobbled up by DBZ and is not what it once was. I honestly can’t stand Ichigo’s bad-ass-devil-may care additude most of the time (Johnny Bosh is not a redeeming point. I liked him better as Kiba in “Wolf’s Rain” anyway). His “Goku-Like” ever-growing strength annoys me as well. It also makes me yern to see this ’softer’ side of Ichigo that proclaims to care and protect his friends and family, but he never shows. [But then, there are Shonen-Boy characters who start off as weak, continue to periecve their-agnst ridden asses as such, but get so freakin’ powerful its irritating. Have ya seen it?] .
When I watch the ‘Cartoon’, mainly the ‘Soul-Reaper’-Arc, I can see so many ways of ending the arc without the stalling, cliffhangers, legion of Captains/Subordinates, and ‘more-power’ subplots, that I end up changing the channel. It becomes so freakin’ tedious. I want the character depth I somehow manage to scrounge (or simply input myself) out of the MANGA. The cartoon lacks it. What am I trying to say? I could handle such cliffhangers, dragouts, and the like, from DBZ because I had never watched anything else like it. Most of the characters had some depth to them (even Goku, if you wanna see it). There was a semi-balance between Most-Powerful-In-World and Character Development, I loved it neverthelsss. However, after the CELL-Saga this atmopshere died. DBZ came an entirely slapstick comedy/Shonen-Action cartoon. I lost interest and began to what I’ve written below. The BLEACH “CARTOON” reminds me too much of that. It captures the DBZ-wannabe-ness battle-royales but beyond that, it fails on everything else.
If you understand my reasoning of course.
Probably not.
After I finished watching DRAGON BALL/Z (suffering needlessly through the BUU-Saga) I stopped watching shows like that and rolled my eyes whenever I saw such series like “Inu-Yasha” - and “YU-YU-HAKUSHO” with their wanna-be tough-guys (who are really kind and sweet once you get to know them) because it reminded me too damn of the said show. “ONE PIECE” and “NARUTO” remind one completely of “POK’E'MON” and nothing else, given the main characters determination to be “the best [insert profession here]” of all! Sure, there’s probably a lot of points I’m missing about the shows mentioned, but I can’t get past the abstract concept that they show you to begin with. Its tideous and borning. I want something with more depth that doesn’t show up 100 episodes later. The BLEACH MANGA gives me that.
My Suggestion: Read the MANGA avoid the cartoon.
W i l l o w*
Ascverlaren said,
September 28, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Having read your review and the subsequent responses, I can accept that there are valid arguments for both sides of the ‘Bleach overrated?’ debate. Yes, the series takes time to progress. But I agree with Boertush. As I see it, the character development is present, but so subtle (here you might read slow) that it can escape notice.
To illustrate my point I would like to use the relationship between Rukia and Ichigo. Here are two reticent individuals, unwilling to show emotion lest it be taken as a show of weakness. To understand their feeling for each other you need to watch their body language. For example after Rukia is taken back to the Soul Society to face judgement, Ichigo risks everything to become strong enough to save her. When he does save her, Rukia turns round and tells him she will not return with him. She wants to stay. While showing a bland smile to the world and telling her what a great decision she has made, Ichigo clenches his hands. While easily missed, this is a clear sign that he does not mean what he says; he wants her to come back with him and live in his cupboard —all is right with the world when she is there. However, he is a warrior and understands her need to stay and gain strength. Since he cares for her deeply, he allows Rukia to walk out of his life (as he sees it at that time). There are other such signs, between all the main characters; too many to note here.
Since I also have the benefit of time, I can also draw upon the most recent arc. From episode 110 onwards, Ichigo must face his own weaknesses in the face of overwhelming opposition. He is not all powerful and success is not guaranteed. Along with his internal struggle, Ichigo also begins to realise that in his search to become stronger he has alienated his family and long time friends. The very people he set out to protect. Episodes 141 and 142 in particular are highly emotional (though I refuse to post spoilers, so you will just have to watch them and judge for yourself).
The Manga is most definitely worth a read. As with most things, the book is always better. However, the use of understated body language and charged silences in Bleach is one of the main reasons I became hooked on this series. It is why I would also recommend you watch the show.
BLEACH said,
November 5, 2007 at 4:08 am
I myself really never got into that whole DBZ thing because I felt the animation was too toony it seemed no matter what the DBZ chacters got crazy amounts of streght. I like animes that the chacters don’t look like a cartoon I wacth when I was 8yrs. One Piece was ok for a while but I felt it was also getting a little too toon like also nartuo was getting that way and well i think kind of was lame i mean have you guys seen the the rock lee guy I mean really. Maybe it’s just me but the type of animes I like are well the ones that are packed crazy with action and don’t turn into some type of 8yr toon fest and are more serious some of my favorite animes are Bleach, Outlaw Star, Innyusha, Full Metal, Ghost in the Shell, ghost in the shell 2 gig, Agent,Tokko,Noien,Virus Buster Surge, Dot Hack and Deathnote. I like animes because they are serious most of the time.
I think all these animes have one thing in comman they don’t turn into some toon fest and have great story lines. What i am saying in a nut shell is I don’t like the silly light hearted animes.
Vincent said,
April 4, 2008 at 9:24 am
Well there is nothing much for me to add to all of this.I’m just wondering now that we are at episode 165 how Yumeka feels about the series ?
We’ve gotten to see more of ichigo, that he hasn’t turned out to be the almighty hero and that he has been saved manny times by others(Nel, kenpachi,…).
K he has become stronger but not to say that he could defeat Aizen-sama or Commander-General or even Kyouraku Shunsui.
^.^ said,
April 12, 2008 at 7:33 am
thing about bleach is ichigo at first seems like an overconfident kid whos brash and dumb but as the series gos on we see the loss of his mom and the eventual rukia execution soul society arc we expect ichigo to be a knight in shining armor to rescue her but no he in actuallty is still scared the hollow inside him is tearing him apart he fights even though hes scared and even though he doesnt want to he fights for those that he cares for -Cliche on my part- BEST anime ever it shows the dark side of all heroes
no_name said,
September 1, 2008 at 4:06 am
your point in two words: want love? watch NARUTO….want fighting? watch BLEACH!!!
nice rewiew though. i never really stopped to think why i like bleach over the others shounen animes; i never watched Naruto or Shaman King and i only watched Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z at the age when i was also watching Scooby-Doo :| . but i have watched Inuyasha and it just didn’t seem as good as Bleach; yeah, they had a lot less characters, more time to develop them, more ‘lovey-dovey’ stuff and many inner conflicts, but at some point it just got tendious… nothing new, just the same old pointless wondering around (:| .
come to think of it, that just my reason for loving Bleach. i like a story to be shocking and innovative and that’s exactly what you can always expect from this series.
New Bleach Lover said,
September 7, 2008 at 8:38 am
I really appreciate your honest and constructive criticism, but I just really feel by leaving some ambiguity in the characters allow the writers to keep them open and allow the series to have open areas to grow as the series goes on (on 186 now)
also, I think they do show Ichigo’s soft side a lot better from the end of the bounto arc forward, which is why i think his is just so friggin awesome, yes i said friggin