Learn to better appreciate the poetic intricacies of Bankai names (and also how to watch anime without subs and hold a conversation on a trip to japan, I guess) (also you can learn a bunch of other languages) with a lifetime subscription to Rosetta Stone for only $179: tryrosettastone.com/mothers-basement-4
I was about to question how years could pass between you watching Ichigo vs Ulquiorra and your friend telling you about the round 2 of that, then it occurred to me just how many filler arcs there actually were
Me and my friend have been watching it together... for years.. Its hard for us to commit to more than a few episodes at a time when the filler is so exhausting.
Out of all the filler the only 2 I actually remember are the Bound/Vampire arc and the "Sword Wars"/Muramasa. Probably cause they were actually good. And actually do something for the story.
When you mentioned the mesoamerican influences in hollow's characterization, I really thought you would talk about how Aizen's whole deal with Hueco Mundo it's really just an animefication of Hernan Cortés and "The New World". I'm Mexican, so it was pretty obvious to me. Powerful guy from an imperialistic civilization sets foot in an "other worldly land"and suddenly decides he's the ruler. He builds his palace in the middle of the desert, finds the strongest native habitants of the place and through different schemes makes them his soldiers. Gives them new clothes, new habits, new hierarchies, all under his mand. "Educated man conquers the dessert and tames the savages that live in his new land", where have I heard that before? I think that is one of the reasons I found the Arrancar arc so fascinating. Aizen gave them "evolution", but took everything else. Hollows where no longer free, they became a sociopath's personal guerrilla. For me, it's too perfect for it to be just a coincidence. Arrancar is a Spanish word after all, and their powers are in Spanish too. All that "power" thanks to who? Exactly, Aizen. Not every Arrancar seems to be hispanic-coded or latino-coded, for example Grimmjow is very clearly a German name, but curiously enough, his powers (the representation of his very being) are not in a language that relates to HIS origin, they ended up having a Spanish Name: Pantera, because who gave that power to him? Aizen, again. Everything that Aizen conquers get homogenized under his very Spanish-coded empire. Even the music that represents them, Spanish flamenco. Notice how that's the only music we relate to Hueco Mundo? Because that's the music AFTER Aizen, after we actually engage with Hollows in a deeper level. What was Hueco Mundo's music before that? Maybe mesoamerican inspired music? We'll probably never know. EDIT: I now know that Grimmjow is not German, It's English and Swiss, but still, the point holds itself.
I'm inclined to believe that it's on purpose, at least most of what you said is. All factions in Bleach as well as Burn the Witch is based on a certain culture of people, kinda like the way Pokemon bases its regions on a particular real-life culture each game.
Why the hell had I never plugged the word arrancar into google translate? The mesoamerican influence and the use of spanish names in Hueco Mundo is so obvious, but I'd just never done it.
Ok but as someone who goes full “no thoughts, head empty” when I’m really enjoying reading something, I would be 100% here for that 40-minute spoon-feeding session
That’s kinda my problem with bleach fights. The point of bleach is two fold, one of which is reading the fights. But if there’s enough people who can’t understand it (which they need to do if it’s the god damn point if it), then a problem is there. I’ve read the whole thing and loved almost all of it (full bring had great moments but was just eh) and I still don’t get most of the combat.
I literally started watching this video, then stopped it halfway and read the entire manga and now three days later have come back to say that yes, I loved the worldbuilding of this show!!
…you read the entirety of Bleach in three days? How?😅 It took me a month or so, and that was using the Shonen Jump app (which has 100 chapter a day limits).
For me, it was the characters that caught my attention far more than the worldbuilding. I really got the sense that, whenever the author of the manga created a new character, he sat down and thought of everything about them, including things he intended to save for later.
Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra is still one of my favorite shounen fights to this day. Imagine fighting a Souls boss that has a phase 2 once their hp bar goes to 0 but if you take ages to actually get some decent damage in they just go "fuck it, I'll do it right now."
@@lovelimbs4lifeU say that yet Yusuke gets dunked on. From a writing point? Yusuke’s still fairly 2d from a writing style. That’s why most MCs that are that way are praised, because the audiences aren’t willing to research. Half-demon? Did that. Character development? Ichigo’s 4x both of those, literally. Don’t get it twisted, Yu Yu Hakusho’s definitely deserving of a GOAT status, but BLEACH has insanely more cultural and metaphysical depth compared to YYH when u compare the themes between both Aizen and Yhwach to Sensui.
So the "problem" with Bleach... the world building, which was my main gripe... is not that it's shallow but actually the author was happy to go over our heads with it? I'm salty about that, but also really impressed.
The problem is the bloated cast. It's about death gods, they should have been killing off more characters to keep the story focused. Like why didn't the Vizard go to Hueco Mundo with Rukia/Renji to rescue Ichigo? could have killed some off so they didn't turn into background images for the rest of the story.
just watch a recap of bleach and watch the new seasons of bleach since those are 100% worth the watch. its like dragonballz came back but with swords and much better animation
@@paprikagames That's actually why I stopped reading/watching after Ichigo beat Aizen. I liked Dragonball and the adventure shonen. Hated Dragonball Z and how long the fights drag on. Bleach lost interest when the characters got too strong.
@@kyleellis1825 well its a lot different in that regard bcus the plot for fights are better and the talking has been reduced the fights are now 1 ep long for now atleast
@@kyleellis1825 Bleach's problems are multi-layered, but at its core, it's not *just* the cast bloat, but how the whole story got structured around it. Kubo himself admitted that the part he loved the most was designing new characters and powers for them. However, he barely ever killed off any characters (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) or let them completely fade into the background (which is). Now, we had a bunch of characters who needed their powers showcased, so he needed to design more enemy characters for them to fight, but now those characters had to demonstrate their abilities, so it led to long fights, and then if those characters returned in later arcs, they had to have their power-ups, which required more new characters they could fight to show off those powerups, rinse and repeat ad nauseum. This exponential bloat eventually consumed the series, and buried all the nuanced main characters and the twists of the core plot under a mountain of mostly meaningless duels between mostly meaningless characters with increasingly specific and nonsensical powers, culminating in the final arc, where we had literary gems like "You can't kill me, I'm literally a God!" -> "Oh, what a coincidence! I have a super-special-awesome sword that is useless against everything but can one-shot gods!" and, "This overpowered guy just tanked three consecutive super-moves from some of the strongest characters in the setting! Raw power doesn't work on him, so what kind of ingenious way are they going to use to take him down?" -> "Oh, wait. The main villain absorbed him and left the scene. There was no clever ploy or using already established powers in interesting ways; he just died because the plot had to move forward." As much as I love Bleach, it was one of the most terribly flawed series I'd ever seen, and that's *before* we take all the mind-numbing filler arcs into consideration.
I love Bleach but I can name a lot of them. Most of it comes down to Jump being greedy and the different model shounen anime used to stay on TV year round.
You can't keep threatening to talk about deep Bleach lore and metaphysics and then not actually talk about it. You gotta make that video, man. Also as a fellow Brando Sando fan who didn't know you read those, I'm glad you're enjoying them, and am glad you appreciate how anime the whole thing is.
Kubo’s art style are on of the very few styles in Shonen manga that I could also follow without a single panel confusing me due to weird conveyances of illustrated fight scenes and abilities. There were several panels in several fights in the Naruto manga where I had to wait for the anime just to see what was going on during those particular fights. Never had this problem not once with Bleach.
Naruto is hardly confusing with its paneling. I think people default to the anine because seeing flashing colors and extended fight scenes hold attention more.
@vileluca How does it "make no sense"? And please don't use the "how are they in ge air that long" shit either, the speed of those attacks aren'tbeing accounted for when people try and play critic to the sequence of attacks.
One thing that really impressed me was in early Bleach how Senbonzakura Kageyoshi looked like a prison, which represented the rules and traditions of the Kuchiki family, holding them back, in the form of a weapon, and how the cherry blossoms were mature, intelligent wisdom only gained through hard work and experience.
As a fan of Hunter x Hunter, the whole Cosmere universe, and someone that broke and read One Piece after several friends and this channel managed to finally convince me it was worth doing, I am really going to have to ask you to stop opening my eyes to new extremely long running series that will take me weeks, or even months, to read.
Well you're in luck, because I hate to be that guy but, "it really ISN'T that deep bro". I know, because I read it every week as it came out. I reread most of the last chapters a few months ago. I say 'most' because I didn't bother finishing it since I was shocked at how little I remembered and even more shocked at how little I cared. It's not good. Skip it. Do not consume Bleach (the manga or the anime). Find and consume better media that is worth your time. I suggest The Horizon by Jeong Ji-Hoon (it's only 21 chapters).
I got goosebumps when the Bleach OP played. Jesus it's been like 20 years and it still hits me... Bleach has issues, I know, but it's still so special.
The Bleach anime has TONS of issues. The music isn’t one of them. It says a lot that it can have such a strong reaction on us 20 years later. Hell, the series introduced me to so many artists that I still listen to today (UVERworld for one).
I believed Kubo-sensei was always a huge underdog. His art is one of the best in the business, characters designs are simple yet SO effective. His dynamic action shots walked so Hero Aca could run. What really had Kubo s art work stand out is the line work, thin, clean like a dynamic brush strokes. Loved your video Geoff! You definitely hit my experience growing up and falling out of love with Bleach. Cannot wait to watch TYBW!!!
Love how you gave it a chance and learned about all the things that make the bleach manga so well written and special. You never disappoint with the genuine and gripping video essays you make.
I read bleach chapter to chapter. That's been a ride! But! At some point, Ichigo was off screen for _several years_ imagine that! I loved the hype that built up from reveal to reveal and chapter to chapter. But it could be really frustrating to "wait" for the main character to show up again when he's gone for over 80 chapters/weeks
Orihime is the perfect example of the anime vs manga in terms of Bleach. The differences are subtle, but overtime it’s like FUUUUUCK they really misrepresented these characters.
2:30 - You brought me back man talking about how you first watched Bleach and that intro. 2006, didnt have any friends, moved to a new country and I went to a local anime event and they had three anime DVDs, Naruto, One Piece and Bleach, kind of like IRL Shonen Pokémon starters. Needless to say I choose Bleach. What a ride that has been. I regret nothing
Tatsuki was my favorite human in the series. Princess and Dragon was my favorite series of chapters. The little pics on the otherwise blank page with Princess Orihime hiding behind Dragon Tatsuki was perfect for what was happening, but when the roles switched and wounded Dragon Tatsuki was being shielded by Princess Orihime, it got to me. Tatsuki's drive to protect Orihime at all costs, even her own life, was awesome, and when that tentacle monster took over Tatsuki, I worried for her. But when Orihime's power awoke and she declared she would protect Tatsuki, I cheered. Seriously people, if you haven't, read the damn manga. It's great. I was a little meh on the Thousand Year Blood War arc, but at the time I was reading an unofficial translation (I've bought all the manga as they came out), so the wait between each chapter coupled with some of the Sternritter fights taking multiple chapters, I think it was mostly due to the time sink.
The fact that Bleach (manga) is what it is, considering the frequency of releases in it's run, is damn impressive. Not enough deference is given to mangaka. What they are able to create in such limited time, and most of the time alone. Being able to keep to the weekly Jump schedule is a feat not appreciated as fully it deserves.
Seriously the sheer number of stuff Jeff managed to touch upon in this single video reveals to me a chasm of mad mad lore, research and wiki fodder that rivals a fictional world, established by me and my friends, over *_literal years_* of work and worldbuilding (which is still ongoing) interspersed with decisions, lore bits and characterization that can only truly make sense if you know the real-life drama surrounding them. This man managed to match all that shit without the severe personal entanglement for a teen boy Japanese comic magazine whose readers want only to see cool dudes blasting less cool dudes to pieces while on a weekly installment schedule and got it popular enough that forum wars over it persist to this day, almost entirely on his own. _To call that impressive is an understatement._
As someone whole only ever read the manga and never watched the anime in more than bits and pieces, I can absolutely see how anime pacing would have made a lot of the arcs and fights unbearable to sit through. And while I'd never given much thought to the why behind it, you're absolutely right about how strikingly beautiful many of Kubo's panels are thanks to his skillful use of the black and white palette, and sadly some of that inevitably just gets lost when it's colored and animated. You're also spot on about the wealth of complex and interesting characters. In a way it's a double-edged sword because it's so easy to get attached to a minor character during their brief time in the spotlight, and then spend the rest of the series sad that they're relegated to the background again.
What built the hype up in Bleach for me was the animation and most importantly the music. Shiro Sagisu created one of the greatest anime OSTs imo for this show. It fits the vibe of the series so well and creates a TON of tension. the track "Precipice of Defeat" being my go to for explaining this. On top of that the anime showing lines over the screen to represent spiritual pressure was absolute genius. It truly amplifies a character's feeling of power at a massive scale.
The Kubo drip is undeniable. I’ve always loved his character designs, especially in their casual downtime. Thanks for pointing out how iconic and unforgettable that first OP is for those of us that witnessed it at the time. Your breakdown of the context surrounding it’s premier brought back a lot of memories!
My relationship with Bleach is a strange one. I've watched the anime about two years ago and I distinctly remember being bored out of my mind for half of the episodes. It was a 6/10 show for me and I thought I'd just move on from it fairly quickly. But as the time passed I caught myself becoming more and more fond of the memories I had of the show. So much so that I started recommending it to all of my friends. And when I was thinking how could I change my opinion on the show so drastically without even rewatching it, I came to one conclusion: The story of Bleach was always really really good, but it was hurt terribly by the slow pacing of the show. But after a few months I didn't remember the insignificant fights between two characters that had a lot more screen time than they deserved. My brain just deleted them, because they were so unremarkable. I only remembered the amazing, climactic and emotional moments that Kubo's fantastic writing gave us.
Same here. I always liked Bleach more than the others but I couldn't for the love of it tell you why I found it more enjoyable. Years later, after some rewatches and rereads, all the things i normally would've begrudgingly agreed with I can now say exactly why I felt some of those criticisms, not all, weren't exactly well-informed. "Bleach have no foreshadowing" being a big one.
@@Manganization Yeah unjustified criticism can be really annoying. "Bleach has no foreshadowing" The quincy bedsheets on Ichigo's bed in episode one: 😑
@@gigigvintsadze7382 Bleach has the most insane foreshadowing. It's honestly just as good if not better than highly praised series like AOT with its foreshadowing
Hmm... yeah that just about tracks. The earliest FROM game I'd give _kinda_ modern FROM lore vibes to is Eternal Ring, not to be confused with Elden Ring, which released in 2000. Bleach debuted in 2001. God, we don't get Demon's Souls until 2009 T_T
my favorite detail in the manga that i completely missed until it was pointed out by TotallyNotMark is that most of the main characters has a song assigned to them, with the general theme and the tone of it completely changing the way that you interpret those characters, with even Byakuya being less of an ass and more a lonely ass from the beginning
Hmmmm still skeptical here. I only ever read the Manga, and I distinctly remember the sense of disappointment as I read different moments where it felt like the author just wasn't sure where to go next and had to change the system to keep things rolling. It's been a while, but I remember Ishida sacrificing his powers to win a battle in what was an incredibly dramatic moment, only for us to learn a short time later that he could in fact get them right back with a weird training session. I can give the series another try, but I remember the sense of it turning into a slog.
I’m so happy to hear that you’re into the Cosmere! Those series, especially Stormlight, are some of my absolute favorite and most influential stories. I hope someday you share your experience with them online!
I'd love to see a video on the anime-adjacent elements of the Stormlight Archive. I've been beating the "Stormlight should be an anime" drum since Oathbringer
@@spencerkirkham5952 yes man!! I think it's only a few years off, Brandon has said he's been having a lot of meetings this year about adapting his works. So ready for book 5.
It's so rich and deep with lore, from every system of combat and to every "world" within it. In the anime especially, with the musical motifs changing depending on the subject, the language, the feeling of design, it's all so exceptional. For all it's faults and shortcomings, I still adore the series and hold it really up there on a subjective list. I'm still excited to see every episode that's been released so far even knowing how it all goes.
So back in the day I watched Bleach, got tired of Bleach filler, and then started to read the Manga. Holy epic storytelling Batman! The manga ran circles around the anime and, overall, I found it highly satisfying. I was a little miffed about Rukia’s ending but, well, as long as she’s happy I’m happy. 😂
Yeah Rukia's ending really hurts So I never went back to bleach. But the nostalgic me can't the bleach anime comeback where I'll get to see so many bankai reveals !!
Regarding Bleach’s fights, even though the colorful cast have a variety of interesting powers, the fights are not that interesting because the protagonists always have the exact counter abilities to beat the bad guys.
As someone who’s read through the entire manga, and was even there to read the TYBW arc week-to-week, but bounced HARD off of the anime initially and is currently struggling to make it through the Arrancar arc adaptation (even while skipping through the filler arcs) as we speak: You’re so damn right it H U R T S. Bleach is a phenomenal manga, but kind of a sub-par anime. The world, aesthetic, story, and characters are genuinely amazing but holy fuck the anime does not do them justice.
I feel like that’s with most shonen of its time I enjoy the manga way more than the anime for those ones, nowadays I feel like the anime elevates the source material but back then it was rough
The anime adaptation of bleach is still watchable.Imagine being a One Piece fan watching that shit anime 🤣.Atleast now Bleach got a good adaptation for tybw.
Watching the Arrancar arc felt like receiving the time-dilating "Superhuman Potion" drug that Mayuri used to defeat Szayelaporro even after skipping all the filler episodes. The pacing was unbearably slow.
@@neerajcherukuri4052 facts I watch one piece but accept bleach shits on one piece massively the pace of one piece is terrible something good happens once every 30 episodes like wtf bro
I really can't relate with people like this saying that the manga is phenomenal but the anime is subpar, like how? I find more emotion & enjoyment from watching the anime than reading the manga bcus well, it's actually alive instead of static black & white drawing on papers that literally don't express anything. Bleach anime has its own issue. The biggest one was the pacing of it. It's quite lengthy & dragged out, I gotta admit that. But how u gonna say it's subpar when these are drawing moving with details & color, accompanied with AMAZING voice actors & background music, followed by actual interaction & expression by the characters?? I just can't grasp it lol. I feel like it's the other way around. The anime did the series justice where the manga couldn't, bcus it's literally just a comic book that don't move lol.
Your argument that "Bleach is rewarding." is so true. There are many things that I pick up in the second read of the manga that make the story itself better and by thinking about some aspects that I completely ignored the first time. That's why it is my favourite series. Not best, but the most enjoyable I"ve ever read.
Hey Geoff, you totally convinced me to get back into watching Bleach and no it’s not because of the world building or the fight scenes. It’s because of the shoujo influences which finally explains why Ichigo is still the hottest and coolest protagonist in shounen anime till date. Thank you for giving me a new perspective on this anime 😊
Even the 3 flavors of high speed movement have distinct characteristics. Hirenkyaku was stated by Uryu to be the fastest and it also seems to allow the user to surf on reishi. Sonido apparently causes the users reiatsu to vanish when used. Ichigo displayed this against Ulqiorra, and when he first arrived to save Soul Society from the 1st Quincy invasion. Shunpo seems to be a completely physical techinique like Sonido but requires training and mostly only lets you move fast with its extra utility coming from a variety of trained sub-techniques.
Ichigo comically embraces the saying you are what you eat. As he literally becomes the very thing he's fighting almost every time. He becomes a Substitute Soul Reaper and fights other Soul Reapers. The Hollow that manifested when he regained his Soul Reaper powers tried to take over and Ichigo conquered it and was able to use those powers to fight Arrancars a group of Hollows mimicking Soul Reaper powers essentially making them very similar again. Then Aizen ascended beyond Soul Reapers and Hollows fusing with his Zanpakuto and Ichigo did the same, lol. Then to regain his lost Soul Reaper Powers Ichigo learned from Fullbringers how to use Fullbring and then they became his enemies. Then when the Quincys attacked Ichigo finds out his mom was a Quincy too. How many people noticed this? He always has to mimic his enemies abilities in some way to a point that its humorous to see how they will force the character to become his enemy time and time again.
Ichigo is basically the successor of God, a being which has the essence of each """"race"""" so, when other hybrids show up, Ichigo discovers a new way to fight fire with fire, Ichigo was naturally a Quincy-Shinigami, stuff got wild when the Hollow named Blanco showed up and attacked his mom. So, no, Ichigo doesn't just pull out stuff from his ass.
My Bleach watching experience was almost EXACTLY like yours, we probably stopped on the same episode since i can’t remember where i stopped either. I had the same thoughts about the anime and had no interest in reading. BUT You’ve literally never steered me wrong in the three years i’ve been watching this channel (thanks for telling me about Bocchi btw). I work at a second hand bookstore with a surplus of Bleach manga so, I’ll read the damn book, Geoff…
The whole "Ichigo is a magical girl" thing at the beginning of the video reminded me of a crossover fanfic I once read that meshed together the world of Bleach and Madoka, and by god, it works _perfectly_ and now I realize exactly why. You're right. Ichigo is a magical girl. Edit: I am an idiot. I can't believe I completely skipped over the fic name. *As N Approaches Infinity* by *Corisanna* on AO3, as both @jurifengshui7426 and @aidanhayes3571 mentioned.
32:53 I actually think the lack of a hard magic system in MHA helps set it apart from the other shonen and grants the abilities an immediacy that isn’t possible with chakra, nen, or spiritual pressure. Quirks function as extensions of the body and develop/deteriorate as such, so you only really need to watch a character in a few conflicts before you get a sense of their limits and preferred use of their quirks. Trying to explain why and how quirks first manifested feels like trying to give an origin to mutants in X-Men comics in that I don’t really understand what we as readers would gain from that info. Even in-universe scientists are way more interested in the future of quirks than the past.
A few arguments: 1. 'Even side characters get to fight not just his friends': One of my BIGGEST gripes with bleach is how under utilized ichigo's friends are. Chad, Uryu, and Orihime never get a truly substantial battle, and end up fighting what are essentially midbosses only to get curb stomped by a stronger foe so the shinigami can fight them. This happens through the whole series. The hueco mundo arc was the most notorious for me with Uryu and Chad fighting Cirucci and Gantenbainne respectively, who are former Espada and realistically just a tick below the current espada, only to face the actual Espada and need to be saved by a Soul Society captain because now the Soul Society has decided to help even though they originally weren't going to? While every fight is a battle of ideals in bleach and in a vacuum every fight is awesome it feels like a complete asspull a lot of the time when it feels like Tite's doing whatever it takes to force whoever he wants to fight to fight. The fullbringer arc was especially egregious because Chad is a fullbringer and that means it should be his time to shine but he gets absolutely nothing. Ichigos friends are done absolutely dirty in bleach. Character's also vanishing from the story, even in thousand year war like Tia Harribel despite being the new queen and kidnapped playing no role in this damn story other than hyping up the new bad guy is infuriating. 2. 'There's no expectation that you should look that hard for worldbuilding': This is correct and a big deal. If my eye isn't going to be drawn to those subtleties so I can pick up the details of how it all works then its just going to get confusing. Even more so if what I do know feels inconsistent with the power scaling. Crucial information is hidden and if you aren't satisfied with just 'ooh big battle go awesome' you are not going to enjoy bleach because you aren't prepared to look for it. The filler arcs ended up being better than the original story at points because they help the world building so much. The zanpaktou arc is my favorite arc in bleach. I've rewatched that arc a few times. It's just good. 3. 'you can explore the power system through ichigo': How? ichigo ends up being a hodgepodge of every single race in bleach by the end and his powers don't really change visually. He fires sword versions of the kamehameha. And he gets blut which is a defensive barrier and he has gran rey cero which he just uses to beef up getsuga tensho. But that's it. This also adds to how anyones supposed to piece together the differences between stuff like the aforementioned blut and hierro are different which requires you to know what they mean which allows you to infer the difference but stuff like sonido, flash step, and Hirenkyaku works at all especially since despite the names giving some indication, are visually identical and sonido can only be conveyed in anime form since it apparently has a sound to it and it still doesn't really happen. It would be cool and help if ichigo used various techniques that were similar to show how they had different uses especially in the same fight but that isn't really done either. I'd love it if bleach actually encouraged finding out about the power systems and how they be but it doesn't do that. And even then it can be a giant pain to piece it all together since you have to rewatch or reread everything to find out where to start looking and you'll rewatch and reread again and again frequently because you'll miss good chunks because you aren't drawn to them in any way. Hiding subtleties is awesome but its a huge pain when those subtleties are vital to your understanding what's going on and those subtleties aren't really pointed out through the visuals but just there and hopefully you find them.
orihime and isshida were never underused and they dont need to have bight fights to be great characters specially orihime since she is a healer. as for the rest wrong in those as well
Funny how this video releases now, while my brother: a recent Bleach fan, is forcing me to watch the show for the first time (currently in the arc where the captains are fighting Aizen in the fake Karakura Town). EDIT: I am now completely caught up on the anime, including the current episodes of TYBW. Overall, I quite enjoyed it. I got the sense that, while the author of the manga probably didn't plan ahead with the plot very much, if at all, he definitely planned ahead when it came to the characters, and since modern narratives (and especially shonen battle anime) are very character-driven, it's really good that the author had a complete understanding of the characters.
@@mothersbasement I honestly wasn't expecting a reply. Thanks, but I'm not really a manga reader. I'm still enjoying the series so far, so I'll keep watching; I just wanted to note the funny timing.
I rewatched it like a year ago, and I must say, I still love it. I love the growing up metaphore, where first he finds out he can change something, then learns to accept his dark side, deals with feeling lost and to lean on his friends and then accepts his legacy and inheritance. In my experience, that IS the way you grow up as a person
I’d say the moment I learned more about Ulquiorra’s character is the moment I really fell in love with bleach. I then found so much more deeper meanings and unique things it when I actually read it instead of just watching the anime.
Thank god someone put together a 'Bleach is good actually' video because more people need to come around to the gospel that it was always the second best of the Big Three.
It's possible to be TOO subtle with your worldbuilding. The time differential in the dangai tunnel thing so that Ichigo could train for 3 months to fight Aizen is an example - yeah Kubo kinda set it up in an earlier arc, but it still _felt_ like it came out of nowhere because the differential just wasn't explored to any real level of detail. Not to mention that Aizen really should have known about it given how often he was bumming around both soul society and the human world. But my biggest problem with Kubo is the wasted potential of his side characters, especially Tatsuki, Chad, and Orihime. The fullbring arc really should have been their time to shine.
Around the Fullbring arc was when Kubo's Editor's were starting to screw him over. He had so much material he wanted to do with Chad, Orihime, Uryu, and Tatsuki but on one hand, the original director of the anime was constantly switching things around in the anime, some of which Kubo liked, disliked, and genuinely HATES still to this day, and his editors wouldn't give him full creative control on what to do and would shorten things behind his back, which screwed him over further to get a chapter out for Shonen Jump, then the problems REALLY started to get worse during the TYBW to the point Kubo had to do pretty much everything himself, from writing to drawing and editing. That led him to have major sleep deprivation and tore tendons in his shoulder, to the point he had to go to the hospital.
Aizen did know about the different way time flows in the Dangai and he was actually hoping Ichigo would use it to get stronger. He said in one scene that Ichigo had wasted the last chance he had given him when Aizen could not sense his spiritual energy.
Wow I'm so glad I watched this, I always figured if I ever actually got around to checking out Bleach I'd just jump straight into the anime, but you've made an extremely compelling case in these 42 minutes and now I'll definitely be sure to read the manga instead! Excellent work as always, you really have a way of getting me interested in topics & series I previously knew next to nothing about 👍 Oh and I almost forgot, I was thinking while watching this it's really neat the way you've formatted and presented it, like. You mentioned because of Bleach's bad rep it would be tough to get people interested in hearing why it's good actually, so just the whole structure of titling the video the way you have and starting with your original perception of the anime that most people could probably relate to as a hook and THEN going into what changed your mind on all of that is just! Super neat to me! It's obvious you put a lot of thought not just into what you want to say but HOW you want to say it specific to the video essay format and imo that's super impressive/commendable! There's a reason your vids always hit just right 👌
Loved this, if you ever did another bleach video about how masterful the world building is, you should mention the sounds of things in bleach. I noticed that the different techniques in bleach all have different sounds. I can only base this off the anime since I can’t read kanji, but listen to the differences in sound between shunpo, sonido and hirenkyaku.
I first discovered bleach at 13 years old in my school library. My high-school had a very small (like 15 books) manga section. 4 of those books were the first 4 bleach books. I read through them all in 4 days, only because I could only borrow one book at a time. After I finished them, I looked up bleach online to see where to buy the next books only to find out they had been made into an anime. Not only that, but all the episodes were on youtube for free. However, I didn't have Internet at my house, so it would be another 2 years before I finally got to watch bleach. I watched it on my Samsung galaxy young with its tiny 3-inch screen. I absolutely loved it. It was the most epic thing I had ever seen. Then the first soul society arch happened and I watched the whole thing, by the last few episodes I just wanted it to end. Then the bount arch happened and I was invested again until that also dragged on for 2 whole seasons. By the time I reached the hollow soul reapers arch I just gave up. Archs that could have been 5 episodes were dragged out for entire seasons. The only reason I watched until episode 150 was because there would be the occasional moment where things would be cool again, it would draw me back in only to plummet my expectations an episode later. I have a love hate relationship with bleach now. The first season will forever be one of my favourite seasons of anime ever. It holds a special place in my heart for being my introduction to anime. But it will always be the anime that destroyed any expectations for a good 5 years. Any anime with a consistent storyline after I watched bleach would be considered the best anime ever. I remember watch wolves rain after bleach and thinking it was the best thing ever only because it was more consistent than bleach.
The arrow wasn't added 5 pages before the arrow was foreshadowed since around chapter 596? I think don't remember the exact chapter sure kubo didn't have the time to properly lay the ground work for it because of obvious reasons but it wasn't a deus ex machina moment like many think
The ending was rushed due to his deteriorating health. Everyone knows that and obviously all the Bleach fans hates it because of that It was supposed to be foreshadowed by Ryuken doing an autopsy on his wife (which messed up his relationship with his son Uryuu) to extract the blood cloth from Yhwach's Auswallen. But yeah Kubo rushed it. Hopefully it will be better depicted in the anime
I absolutely loved bleach as a 13 year old kid so I always found it weird how when I got older I just randomly found people hating on it it’s crazy how bad ran anime can ruin a series reputation
I loved it, finisehd the anime (at the time) up until halfway through the Hueco Mundo arc. Read the Manga and it was in the Fullbringer era already and I lost interest in the whole series for years. Fullbring arc is worse than any of the filler.
For me it was the fact that Bleach shamelessly copied Yu Yu Hakusho. I gave Bleach a chance 2 - 3 eps in I dropped it because of how much it reminded me of my childhood anime..
Bleach is one of the few series from my baby anime fan days that I revisit on the regular. It's one of the few series that I keep picking up on tiny details I've missed on a previous read through and Kubo's art is just a joy to look at. Honestly, as artist myself, his composition is something I aspire to. With how striking it is while still being able to understand what's happening on the page is a huge goal that I don't think many action manga can hit.
my biggest problem with the Bleach anime was always all those fights with filler enemies that were just there to show off characters’ new powers. there were so many
I’ve had years to think about bleach and whether or not I like it, but I had an epiphany not too long ago that sums it all up…it’s. SO. COOL! People weren’t drawn to bleach because they heard of a good plot and sound world building, they watched it because they heard it was about death gods fighting monsters with swords with cool abilities
As a former MASSIVE Bleach fan, this video may actually convince me to resurrect the love for it that I've lost over the last ten years. So many videos about Bleach's so-called downfall have made me hesitant to give it another chance, but this video may just be my sign to just feckin do it.
@@ambatuBUHSURK?? So you just didn't watch cour 2. That or you have serious comprehension issues considering what we saw ONE squad zero member do by themselves..
Ichigo aka Strawberry the magical boy who travels around meeting friends, bettering himself while searching for his literal Hime aka Princess in literal shining armor. Was it ever in doubt what Bleach was?
I had to pause the moment you mentioned Sanderson. His magic systems are my absolute favorite for how well defined they are and how creative they're used to solve problems while staying completely within the defined parameters
Which contrasts how the magic systems of Bleach…aren’t. Anything beyond “basic magic sword with cool power, kickass big magic sword release!” That is. They really just aren’t…systematized.
I don't think you're gonna get me trying to reread Bleach anytime soon. Maybe it reads better now that it's all out, but it was agonizing to read with weekly serialization. Maybe the issues I had were micro-moments that wash out in the macro-story, but I don't have it in me to try again. I could point to a dozen little story quibbles, but at the end of the day, Bleach just got exhausting to read, and I don't feel the slightest urge to try again with the short time I have on this planet.
Yeah as someone who kept up with Bleach week-to-week back in the day, Geoff is fucking out of his mind. Nearly every single point he made was either exaggerated or a straight-up lie. I honestly thinks he let the hype for the new anime influence his opinion while reading the manga.
Most "I never actually watched bleach and just repeating shit I saw" take you could possibly make lmao comparing soul society's writing to the later arcs anyone with more than surface level understanding of fictional writing will realize that each story arc after is better than soul society
@@fable2830 nope, the thing that made Soul society to me isn’t even the spectacle which you can argue becomes more “epic” as the series progresses. It’s fundamentally how the characters are written. None of the arcs after this hold a candle to how the gotei 13 are constructed, wether it be dynamics or character wise. Every issue with bleach (for me) starts in Arrancar/Hueco Mundo. Mind you full bringer and TYBW could’ve been great especially TYBW since I enjoyed the first third-half of it but after that it just becomes painfully mediocre and at times awful. Maybe if I wasn’t a weekly reader back then I wouldn’t be nearly as disappointed but at this point it is what it is
@@onepieceenjoyer5326 I actually understand your point Many people say "Bleach fell off at SS" without not really watching it,I'm not joking. You are not one of them though I personally found many problems in Arrancar arc (arguably the worst,depending on how TYBW anime will end),but I have honestly enjoyed it Skipping the fillers helped me. The story wasn't bad to me,the characters still great,except the main cast. The ending was the best and worst part to me Arrancar arc was also too long
@@marcomilillo2001 agreed, like I said the story didn’t really fall off a cliff or become downright awful because there was quality in the later arcs as both of us have mentioned it’s just that SS is a remarkably tight-knit arc where Kubo essentially achieved all he wanted well lol
@@onepieceenjoyer5326 couldn't have said it better People had higher expectations on Kubo and Bleach,but it seems like they can't do better than SS But who knows,it might change one day. I know the Hell arc could become a thing,but I honestly don't want it for now It should return only when Kubo will be ready to do things right
As someone who only finished going through Bleach for the first time this year to get ready for the final arc, I thought it was...ok. Like, it wasn't bad, but I didn't think it was amazing or anything. Maybe if I had watched it when I was younger I would've liked it more. My problem was that some arcs felt like they went on way to long. The Hueco Mundo/Aizen arc went on forever. The problem with those arcs was that it was just constant fights that felt like they would never end. There's nothing wrong with cool fights, but there's gotta be something more than just fights. Ironically though, I actually did like the Fullbringer arc after that, even though I heard a lot of people didn't like it. It was a nice change of pace. Overall, I'd say Bleach was like a 7.5/10. If anything, Bleach has good character designs, even though there are too many characters lol. However, in saying all of that, I think the current arc in the anime has been very good so far. It's actually gotten me excited for Bleach.
Bleach had a cool concept for a magic system, but that was enough for my teenage brain to latch onto and now the magic system is still the only thing I appreciate Bleach for. Basically, I needed this.
I love this analysis of Bleach and may even consider revisiting the manga (boy, do those pageayouts BANG). However, I can't help but be hung up on how damn BADLY I want to hear you talk about Eureka Seven. I sat straight up when I heard those strings. It's my absolute favorite anime. ❤️
A "reboot" of the older bleach series would do so much magic, like it helped dragonball with DB Kai. Even more so with the new arc currently running, a shortend and refreshed bleach serie would be amazing.
I had a similar experience as you with the anime (except on US TV, not Canadian), and dropped it somewhere around the Arrancar arc. Then a few years ago, I tried reading the manga via the Viz app. Much like the anime, I liked the early stuff, but it started losing my interest around the Arrancar arc, again, just like with the anime so long ago. But I still kept reading, nonetheless. Thankfully, after the Arrancar slog, the Fullbringer arc felt like a huge breath of fresh air, and is probably my favorite arc of the whole series. The final arc was very hit and miss with me. It wasn't as bad as the Arrancar arc, but it still wasn't without its flaws.
"the worst writer in all of shounen manga history who never planned anything and retconned everything all the time and didn't bother with world building and can't tell stories or especially write fights for shit" Oh we're talking about Kishimoto and Naruto now are we?
I wonder if kubo has detailed notes on how the power system works but decides to leave it as a background thing. From my own dabbling in world building, I found that approach to be favorable. I want consistency and the benefits of a complex, detailed system but I don't want to put it at the forefront of the narrative. The thematic weight of abilities is more important than their exact inner workings.
2:15 Wasn't expecting this at all. The moment you showcased Eureka Seven, you won my respect. It is one of the most underrated anime EVER. Earned you a sub.
As I said many times already,it's all subjective Everyone has their own experience. Many people read it all and found it good Though I suppose if you didn't like the SS,which is arguably its best written arc and a good one in general,it's quite difficult to like the rest I'm sorry your experience wasn't positive,it's a normal thing at the end of the day,but that doesn't mean it is for everyone else as well
One of my favorite bits of foreshadowing is that Ichigo's blanket on his bed in an early issues was a quincy cross, foreshadowing him being a quincy later. The other is when Ichigo's hollow insisted he was really Zangetsu in that early fight with him. Those facts were in front of us the whole time! Yes bleach has flaws, personally I dont enjoy many of the aspects of the story and pacing (yes even mangawise) of the arcs past the winter war, but its still DAMN GOOD and I have a lot of nostalgia for it.
yeah the start of bleach was so good but then it almost became a different show entirely lol. Another show that has the same vibe as bleach but maintains it longer is noragami, but even the manga eventually did the same problem as bleach did and became a supernatural battle anime in another dimension. I wish these stories would stay in the real world and not go so over the top into the supernatural elements. The whole reason I liked bleach and noragami was blending every day life with those things, the real life setting is key.
As a Canadian, those first few minutes really take me back, especially the Cardcaptor Sakura bit. I remember being crushed when it was taken off the air. Definitely shaped me in jr. high school and I still wear that Bionix lineup with pride as it's where I get my username from.
I read the manga as it was coming out. Was the only one in my local area interested in manga. I didn't watch the anime. I didn't like the manga as it did indeed pull story elements out of thin air. And would repeat the same themes and concepts over and over again without actually evolving. I tapped out when dad did a thing in the sky's above the city. I remember distinctly in the middle of the volume in my middle school reading it and then just closing the book. Never looking back. The manga had issues. Things that you mention lightly but don't go over. Like how the friends don't do anything after a while and their fights are largely pointless every time. It felt like the worst parts of Dragonball because at least in Dragonball there is build up to the epic Goku arrives and saves everyone moment and we exist with the villain for a while and know their deal. The sudden introduction of villains and dropping of them makes it very apparent how bland and unimportant everything is and misses a key feature that is important to shonen battle anime: the feeling of stakes. Illusion or not.
That was a very particular analysis Though I don't see what themes in Bleach should have evolved (more like not enough explored) and when the villains came out of nowhere,most of them were built up during the story or via flashbacks But I can understand your point. It's all subjective anyway. People have their ow experiences and thoughts
@@marcomilillo2001 Villains being built up during arcs and having backstories explained is a long standing thing in Shonen, and even my favorite ones right now still do this, but Bleach doesn't go from "villain arrives and then we learn about them to see them doing things to understanding their story." or that. It goes "villain arrives, does a thing, backstory, okay gotta go defeat them. Lose, then train, then win." WIth no expansion on this, it was the same thing almost every time. For the first two arcs it was fine, but after a while it became the worst shonen I was reading. A lot of people like to try and give things the benefit of the doubt well after it's shelf life, but if it was only the anime that made "bleach fall" then the manga would still be going, Anime has famously been bad adaptations for a long time. The writing itself in the manga was an issue, it was so fast paced it was irreverant. As far as "What themes Bleach should have evolved" Well, it was the same basic arc from the soul society onward. In the most popular shonen arcs are generally varied and have actual sub-concepts to introduce, mechanically, or phislophically. Bleach is the closest to Dragon Ball Z in regards to doing the formula and strictly adhering to it. Which by that point of time in the mid 2000's while we had things like FMA being written became stale. Hell, everyone started liking Fairy Tail (I did too, because I enjoyed Rave Master) and then most people ended up hating it in the end because it would just reuse the same plot elements and forumla over and over again and it became a frustrating mess of just going through the motions. Naruto everyone can tell you the actual purpose of the story, and what it kind of meant. One Piece anyone can tell you what it means, and what the overarching ideas were. Shonen King everyone can say it's about fighting against tradition to carve your own path. Every modern shonen people can have an understanding of what they are meant to be saying. And even though Bleach was very cool, and looked pretty, and had amazing things to conceptually "say" I've never had anyone tell me what the story meant or was about beyond "Cool". "awesome" "Epic" Bleach is a CLASSIC shonen with the skin of a modern shonen. Which isn't bad, but to ignore a lot of these issues that really only DB is able to get away with (and honestly not really anymore seeing how people have turned on DBS) is to be ignoring a large portion of the story and everything.
Allright, now to make my buddies watch this video, and make them understand why it is impossible for me to type out my explanation of "why I love Bleach so much" in a whats-app group chat.
Bleach isn't the typical shounen, because to understand most of the story it requires you to really think about EVERY detail that has been said throughout. The fact that the original adaptation (while still being good in my personal opinion) had so many jumps and skips with filler which would cause you to probably forget most of important stuff really hindered its success. On the other hand with TYBW so far, since Kubo is hands on with the anime we will get even more detailed explanations of everything from the creator himself which is going to help amazingly with the success of the series
One of my favorite fanfics ever is a crossover with Bleach and, ironically enough, Madoka Magica. Through it, I was able to really appreciate how deep Bleach's characters can be when you really get into their heads. It doesn't change or exaggerate who they are, but it puts them in a situation where I feel you can see how their minds and motives work on an intimate level. It's called 'As N Approaches Infinity', for anyone who's interested.
The author also has a deep understanding of the intricacies of Bleach's various systems, and uses them to expand the world and really deepen the story.
When you're more invested in the other characters than Ichigo and friends. I actually find it funny that I was more invested in Rukia's growth because she wasn't an overpowered character. I loved and hated Bleach. I think if Tite Kubo had the chance to actually leave the series. He would have done it, instead of continuing after Soul Society. I actually consider Ichigo and Rukia saying goodbye to each other and her fading away and him moving on with his life to be the perfect ending. I actually consider that canon. Lol.
Weirdly enough so has mine. I can't lie I was pretty hyped about the anime coming back. But now that it's heres still haven't watched it, and haven't got the appetite to either. That may change in the future but i'm too busy enjoying watching other things like MHA, Witch of Mercury, Mob psycho and Stone Ocean to care for Bleach rn. I'd already read the manga but that's never stopped me being excited for the anime before. Like you said, my love for bleach just isn't there.
I absolutely loved Bleach, but feel that critiques about narrative do have merit. Ichigo's ark seems to be all about self-discovery and self acceptance, but we never quite hit on what he "is". I can see the pieces in place, but can't really put my finger on what they mean and what they build up to. I'd love to see an analysis on Ichigo's ark, his gains and losses, and how they contribute to his growth.
aye i am so glad that u actually gave the time to read the manga. but tbh i liked pretty much all filler arcs for world building purposes even tho the bount arc pacing was terrible it gave us alot of knowledge on mod souls and soul candy in general which i found amazing. then the menos forest arc which captivated some of the most appealing landscape and style. the zanpakuto rebellion arc that symbolized ones hate for themselves and heavy manipulation of ones being. then the arrancar backstory arc that gave us deeper understandings of hollows and the evolution of hollowfication and also heavy manipulation. then the karakura town heros random filler episodes that gave us a break from the tense storytelling and showed what kon and ichigos sisters were up to during the times ichigo was away. then the episode where karin met hitsuguya and figured out that ichigo was a soul reaper and that stuck even through the canon episodes u can tell karin knew something was off about ichigo ever since rukia came around. imo the filler arcs gave more character and world depth then the canon episodes gave. u should go back and watch the filler episodes then make a video explaining how they are actually necessary for the anime all together. i mean they dont forward the plot at all but they did give us deeper understanding of the lore itseld
i've been a fan of bleach for 15 years and i'm so happy you made this video but also i do have a legitimate problem with bleach and it's that kubo did my boy chad super dirty with the ending and i'll never ever forgive him for that. chad rights 2023
So when I first got into anime and manga around a decade and a bit ago, I tired reading Bleach. I dropped off it pretty quickly (I think I got to the end of the soul society arc but idk). I can’t remember all my issues with the manga, but the one that stuck with me was that I found all the different magic systems too different and separate to buy me into that world building. Since dropping Bleach, I have also become a huge Brandon Sanderson fan, so to hear Geoff make that direct comparison multiple times, and outline that all these magic systems are actually related, makes me really curious to try the Manga again at some point.
Great video. Ever since the anime returned I've been checking back here to see if you did a video on Bleach. Thanks for being fair to my Shonen of choice and opening eyes to its subtle "Show Don't Tell" world building. Guess I was a few weeks late seeing this so I should probably just subscribe by now.
The Bleach manga is actually more of a tone piece than anything else. Most characters, powers, and plot events are just to set a certain tone and feeling. Each Bleach volume opens with a poem of one character speaking to another or themselves, Kubo states he doesn’t draw backgrounds too much to draw attension to the feelings of the characters, and Kubo gives us each character’s theme song that is supposed to set the tone for each character
I fully agree with this. Kubo's themes and influences are generally extremely straightforward as are his characters and general logic for the world. To his credit it all definitely "feels" like it fits as long as he doesn't try to go into too much detail. People can wax poetic about everything these characters represent and the underlying implications of the inspiration behind their design (and that stuff is cool for sure) but it's clear Kubo himself wasn't very interested in taking those elements past making the general vibe and design theme consistent.
Learn to better appreciate the poetic intricacies of Bankai names (and also how to watch anime without subs and hold a conversation on a trip to japan, I guess) (also you can learn a bunch of other languages) with a lifetime subscription to Rosetta Stone for only $179: tryrosettastone.com/mothers-basement-4
I'm learning Hatian Creole right now using duolingo, and when I'm done with that I'll hop on Rosetta stone. Preciate ya. A Christmas gift to myself.
stfu you boku no pico lover
Card captors english intro is almost great as pokemons, shaman kings, yuyus, beyblade. And dbz.. I've thought about this ALOT IF YEARS
You promise eureka right
Any chance you'll check out The Breaker? The art-style can be incredible and the action is artistically mesmerizing.
I was about to question how years could pass between you watching Ichigo vs Ulquiorra and your friend telling you about the round 2 of that, then it occurred to me just how many filler arcs there actually were
I'm a person who usually actually likes filler arcs in anime and I think the Bleach anime has too much of it. lmao
Me and my friend have been watching it together... for years.. Its hard for us to commit to more than a few episodes at a time when the filler is so exhausting.
Out of all the filler the only 2 I actually remember are the Bound/Vampire arc and the "Sword Wars"/Muramasa. Probably cause they were actually good. And actually do something for the story.
I had to look up a skip list to watch bleach lol for me it’s less about the amount of filler. The placement of the filler was what pained me😭
@@jach6393 more than half of the community would disagree with you, the bount arc is considered as one of the worst filler arcs ever made
When you mentioned the mesoamerican influences in hollow's characterization, I really thought you would talk about how Aizen's whole deal with Hueco Mundo it's really just an animefication of Hernan Cortés and "The New World". I'm Mexican, so it was pretty obvious to me. Powerful guy from an imperialistic civilization sets foot in an "other worldly land"and suddenly decides he's the ruler. He builds his palace in the middle of the desert, finds the strongest native habitants of the place and through different schemes makes them his soldiers. Gives them new clothes, new habits, new hierarchies, all under his mand. "Educated man conquers the dessert and tames the savages that live in his new land", where have I heard that before? I think that is one of the reasons I found the Arrancar arc so fascinating. Aizen gave them "evolution", but took everything else. Hollows where no longer free, they became a sociopath's personal guerrilla. For me, it's too perfect for it to be just a coincidence. Arrancar is a Spanish word after all, and their powers are in Spanish too. All that "power" thanks to who? Exactly, Aizen. Not every Arrancar seems to be hispanic-coded or latino-coded, for example Grimmjow is very clearly a German name, but curiously enough, his powers (the representation of his very being) are not in a language that relates to HIS origin, they ended up having a Spanish Name: Pantera, because who gave that power to him? Aizen, again. Everything that Aizen conquers get homogenized under his very Spanish-coded empire. Even the music that represents them, Spanish flamenco. Notice how that's the only music we relate to Hueco Mundo? Because that's the music AFTER Aizen, after we actually engage with Hollows in a deeper level. What was Hueco Mundo's music before that? Maybe mesoamerican inspired music? We'll probably never know.
EDIT: I now know that Grimmjow is not German, It's English and Swiss, but still, the point holds itself.
Just to add, if Kubo did all of that BY ACCIDENT, holy fuck, my dude got the jack pot of subtext without moving a finger
I'm inclined to believe that it's on purpose, at least most of what you said is. All factions in Bleach as well as Burn the Witch is based on a certain culture of people, kinda like the way Pokemon bases its regions on a particular real-life culture each game.
Phenomenal perspective! I didn't pick up on this so thank you for sharing!!
Beautiful and informative insight, I really enjoyed reading this.
Why the hell had I never plugged the word arrancar into google translate? The mesoamerican influence and the use of spanish names in Hueco Mundo is so obvious, but I'd just never done it.
Ok but as someone who goes full “no thoughts, head empty” when I’m really enjoying reading something, I would be 100% here for that 40-minute spoon-feeding session
TRASH
You took the words right out of my head.
I mean there are people who analyse it on youtube, I personally like DBZimran
That’s kinda my problem with bleach fights. The point of bleach is two fold, one of which is reading the fights. But if there’s enough people who can’t understand it (which they need to do if it’s the god damn point if it), then a problem is there. I’ve read the whole thing and loved almost all of it (full bring had great moments but was just eh) and I still don’t get most of the combat.
I literally started watching this video, then stopped it halfway and read the entire manga and now three days later have come back to say that yes, I loved the worldbuilding of this show!!
…you read the entirety of Bleach in three days? How?😅
It took me a month or so, and that was using the Shonen Jump app (which has 100 chapter a day limits).
I read it in 3 days too. The manga focused on the main arcs, and if you read at a extremely fast paced, the whole manga goes by way too fast.
For me, it was the characters that caught my attention far more than the worldbuilding. I really got the sense that, whenever the author of the manga created a new character, he sat down and thought of everything about them, including things he intended to save for later.
@@pattongilbert i read tybw arc again in about 6 hours so it's not out of the question at all.
@@pattongilbert I mean I read all of Chainsawman in about 2 hours, you could easily read it in 3 to 4 days if you have enough free time
Ichigo is a magical girl in an isekai story. I have never been more delightfully horrified to contemplate such a self-evident fact.
@loveless131 Me: "And he's voiced by, a former Power Ranger."
I think if bleach leaned more into the magical girl tropes instead of the shonen ones it’d have more staying power.
Does that make Kisuke Kyuubei?
@@jesterjaded73 Rukia actually. She used her magic sword to give him powers and a new outfit.
One of the old school isekai, where hopping back and forth between worlds was the thing, rather than transmigrating
Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra is still one of my favorite shounen fights to this day. Imagine fighting a Souls boss that has a phase 2 once their hp bar goes to 0 but if you take ages to actually get some decent damage in they just go "fuck it, I'll do it right now."
But then the boss activates a 3rd phase just to dunk on you even more
Hello Malenia?
Fume Knight Ulquiorra.
Yusuke >>>>>>>> Ichigo. Ichigo is bargonbin Yusuke Urameshi
@@lovelimbs4lifeU say that yet Yusuke gets dunked on. From a writing point? Yusuke’s still fairly 2d from a writing style. That’s why most MCs that are that way are praised, because the audiences aren’t willing to research. Half-demon? Did that. Character development? Ichigo’s 4x both of those, literally.
Don’t get it twisted, Yu Yu Hakusho’s definitely deserving of a GOAT status, but BLEACH has insanely more cultural and metaphysical depth compared to YYH when u compare the themes between both Aizen and Yhwach to Sensui.
So the "problem" with Bleach... the world building, which was my main gripe... is not that it's shallow but actually the author was happy to go over our heads with it? I'm salty about that, but also really impressed.
The problem is the bloated cast. It's about death gods, they should have been killing off more characters to keep the story focused. Like why didn't the Vizard go to Hueco Mundo with Rukia/Renji to rescue Ichigo? could have killed some off so they didn't turn into background images for the rest of the story.
just watch a recap of bleach and watch the new seasons of bleach since those are 100% worth the watch. its like dragonballz came back but with swords and much better animation
@@paprikagames That's actually why I stopped reading/watching after Ichigo beat Aizen. I liked Dragonball and the adventure shonen. Hated Dragonball Z and how long the fights drag on.
Bleach lost interest when the characters got too strong.
@@kyleellis1825 well its a lot different in that regard bcus the plot for fights are better and the talking has been reduced the fights are now 1 ep long for now atleast
@@kyleellis1825 Bleach's problems are multi-layered, but at its core, it's not *just* the cast bloat, but how the whole story got structured around it.
Kubo himself admitted that the part he loved the most was designing new characters and powers for them. However, he barely ever killed off any characters (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) or let them completely fade into the background (which is). Now, we had a bunch of characters who needed their powers showcased, so he needed to design more enemy characters for them to fight, but now those characters had to demonstrate their abilities, so it led to long fights, and then if those characters returned in later arcs, they had to have their power-ups, which required more new characters they could fight to show off those powerups, rinse and repeat ad nauseum.
This exponential bloat eventually consumed the series, and buried all the nuanced main characters and the twists of the core plot under a mountain of mostly meaningless duels between mostly meaningless characters with increasingly specific and nonsensical powers, culminating in the final arc, where we had literary gems like "You can't kill me, I'm literally a God!" -> "Oh, what a coincidence! I have a super-special-awesome sword that is useless against everything but can one-shot gods!" and, "This overpowered guy just tanked three consecutive super-moves from some of the strongest characters in the setting! Raw power doesn't work on him, so what kind of ingenious way are they going to use to take him down?" -> "Oh, wait. The main villain absorbed him and left the scene. There was no clever ploy or using already established powers in interesting ways; he just died because the plot had to move forward."
As much as I love Bleach, it was one of the most terribly flawed series I'd ever seen, and that's *before* we take all the mind-numbing filler arcs into consideration.
I read “Problem with Bleach” and ready to blindly reject out of pure nostalgia. I’m ready Mother’s Basement
Santenkesshun, I REJECT
lmao exactly same
Fuckin same.
Same he is gonna say that it’s false advertising as it was supposed to be about drinking bleach
I love Bleach but I can name a lot of them. Most of it comes down to Jump being greedy and the different model shounen anime used to stay on TV year round.
When this man said, "Anyone who is a fan of Tasuki can attest to that," - I legitimately almost cried 😭
seems unhealthy
that one sentence mademe stop and watch the whole thing
whos satsuki 😂
We are the small comment section that comprises all of the Tasuki fandom
I definitely love me some Tatsuki
I may not share all of this opinions, but "Ichigo is a magical girl" is one of the truest truths to ever truth.
You can't keep threatening to talk about deep Bleach lore and metaphysics and then not actually talk about it. You gotta make that video, man.
Also as a fellow Brando Sando fan who didn't know you read those, I'm glad you're enjoying them, and am glad you appreciate how anime the whole thing is.
Kubo’s art style are on of the very few styles in Shonen manga that I could also follow without a single panel confusing me due to weird conveyances of illustrated fight scenes and abilities.
There were several panels in several fights in the Naruto manga where I had to wait for the anime just to see what was going on during those particular fights.
Never had this problem not once with Bleach.
Naruto is hardly confusing with its paneling. I think people default to the anine because seeing flashing colors and extended fight scenes hold attention more.
@@D-Havoc no, he's right. Sasuke's Lion's Barrage makes no sense in the manga.
@vileluca How does it "make no sense"? And please don't use the "how are they in ge air that long" shit either, the speed of those attacks aren'tbeing accounted for when people try and play critic to the sequence of attacks.
Thank you, the only thing that was sometimes hard to tell was who parried who and that's useally perfectly clear in the anime
One thing that really impressed me was in early Bleach how Senbonzakura Kageyoshi looked like a prison, which represented the rules and traditions of the Kuchiki family, holding them back, in the form of a weapon, and how the cherry blossoms were mature, intelligent wisdom only gained through hard work and experience.
As a fan of Hunter x Hunter, the whole Cosmere universe, and someone that broke and read One Piece after several friends and this channel managed to finally convince me it was worth doing, I am really going to have to ask you to stop opening my eyes to new extremely long running series that will take me weeks, or even months, to read.
Bleach wouldn't take you that long, thankfully because the art gets space to breathe, and it's not dialog-heavy.
Bleach only takes a few days to read if you have the time. I've binged it in 3 days or less.
Well you're in luck, because I hate to be that guy but, "it really ISN'T that deep bro". I know, because I read it every week as it came out. I reread most of the last chapters a few months ago. I say 'most' because I didn't bother finishing it since I was shocked at how little I remembered and even more shocked at how little I cared. It's not good. Skip it. Do not consume Bleach (the manga or the anime). Find and consume better media that is worth your time. I suggest The Horizon by Jeong Ji-Hoon (it's only 21 chapters).
@@spiffythealien You need a hug?
@@spiffythealien me when I spread misinformation.
I got goosebumps when the Bleach OP played. Jesus it's been like 20 years and it still hits me...
Bleach has issues, I know, but it's still so special.
_sings along in gibberish_
MIAGETA YOZORANO HOSHITACHI NO HIKARI
Oh yeah, I checked out every Orange Range CD from my local library at the time!
The Bleach anime has TONS of issues. The music isn’t one of them. It says a lot that it can have such a strong reaction on us 20 years later. Hell, the series introduced me to so many artists that I still listen to today (UVERworld for one).
I believed Kubo-sensei was always a huge underdog. His art is one of the best in the business, characters designs are simple yet SO effective. His dynamic action shots walked so Hero Aca could run. What really had Kubo s art work stand out is the line work, thin, clean like a dynamic brush strokes.
Loved your video Geoff! You definitely hit my experience growing up and falling out of love with Bleach. Cannot wait to watch TYBW!!!
be quiet this video is garbage
LMAO
Say psyche right now
@@applejones1697 ? calling him sensei is kinda odd but otherwise whats the problem? the art is good
@@wesleywyndam-pryce5305 yea the art is good but that’s about it bleach kinda sucks
Love how you gave it a chance and learned about all the things that make the bleach manga so well written and special. You never disappoint with the genuine and gripping video essays you make.
I read bleach chapter to chapter. That's been a ride! But! At some point, Ichigo was off screen for _several years_ imagine that!
I loved the hype that built up from reveal to reveal and chapter to chapter. But it could be really frustrating to "wait" for the main character to show up again when he's gone for over 80 chapters/weeks
Hahaha yea😅
Orihime is the perfect example of the anime vs manga in terms of Bleach. The differences are subtle, but overtime it’s like FUUUUUCK they really misrepresented these characters.
she's trash in both anime and manga
@@sherif8350 she isnt trash in both anime or manga liar
I hate the anime orihime
Especially because voice acting is involved so all she does is "kurosaki kun kurosaki kun kurosaki kun "
@@chadadams not really. She is very fine in the manga,but kind of trash in the anime
@@chadadams 😂
2:30 - You brought me back man talking about how you first watched Bleach and that intro. 2006, didnt have any friends, moved to a new country and I went to a local anime event and they had three anime DVDs, Naruto, One Piece and Bleach, kind of like IRL Shonen Pokémon starters. Needless to say I choose Bleach. What a ride that has been. I regret nothing
Tatsuki was my favorite human in the series. Princess and Dragon was my favorite series of chapters. The little pics on the otherwise blank page with Princess Orihime hiding behind Dragon Tatsuki was perfect for what was happening, but when the roles switched and wounded Dragon Tatsuki was being shielded by Princess Orihime, it got to me. Tatsuki's drive to protect Orihime at all costs, even her own life, was awesome, and when that tentacle monster took over Tatsuki, I worried for her. But when Orihime's power awoke and she declared she would protect Tatsuki, I cheered. Seriously people, if you haven't, read the damn manga. It's great. I was a little meh on the Thousand Year Blood War arc, but at the time I was reading an unofficial translation (I've bought all the manga as they came out), so the wait between each chapter coupled with some of the Sternritter fights taking multiple chapters, I think it was mostly due to the time sink.
The fact that Bleach (manga) is what it is, considering the frequency of releases in it's run, is damn impressive. Not enough deference is given to mangaka. What they are able to create in such limited time, and most of the time alone. Being able to keep to the weekly Jump schedule is a feat not appreciated as fully it deserves.
Seriously the sheer number of stuff Jeff managed to touch upon in this single video reveals to me a chasm of mad mad lore, research and wiki fodder that rivals a fictional world, established by me and my friends, over *_literal years_* of work and worldbuilding (which is still ongoing) interspersed with decisions, lore bits and characterization that can only truly make sense if you know the real-life drama surrounding them. This man managed to match all that shit without the severe personal entanglement for a teen boy Japanese comic magazine whose readers want only to see cool dudes blasting less cool dudes to pieces while on a weekly installment schedule and got it popular enough that forum wars over it persist to this day, almost entirely on his own. _To call that impressive is an understatement._
Elden Ring is HOPSCOTCH compared to mangaka long runs!
As someone whole only ever read the manga and never watched the anime in more than bits and pieces, I can absolutely see how anime pacing would have made a lot of the arcs and fights unbearable to sit through. And while I'd never given much thought to the why behind it, you're absolutely right about how strikingly beautiful many of Kubo's panels are thanks to his skillful use of the black and white palette, and sadly some of that inevitably just gets lost when it's colored and animated. You're also spot on about the wealth of complex and interesting characters. In a way it's a double-edged sword because it's so easy to get attached to a minor character during their brief time in the spotlight, and then spend the rest of the series sad that they're relegated to the background again.
What built the hype up in Bleach for me was the animation and most importantly the music. Shiro Sagisu created one of the greatest anime OSTs imo for this show. It fits the vibe of the series so well and creates a TON of tension. the track "Precipice of Defeat" being my go to for explaining this. On top of that the anime showing lines over the screen to represent spiritual pressure was absolute genius. It truly amplifies a character's feeling of power at a massive scale.
Ten thousand years later and I still have "Number One" on my phone's SD card just in case I need emergency hype.
@@SinHurr Absolutely Based
The Kubo drip is undeniable. I’ve always loved his character designs, especially in their casual downtime. Thanks for pointing out how iconic and unforgettable that first OP is for those of us that witnessed it at the time. Your breakdown of the context surrounding it’s premier brought back a lot of memories!
Ichigo, in that damn puffy jacket is burned into my mind it’s Gucci, Rohan, from jojo would be proud.
@@joshshrum2764 Rohan,one of my favourite characters from JJBA part 4 (iirc). He was very interesting
My relationship with Bleach is a strange one. I've watched the anime about two years ago and I distinctly remember being bored out of my mind for half of the episodes. It was a 6/10 show for me and I thought I'd just move on from it fairly quickly. But as the time passed I caught myself becoming more and more fond of the memories I had of the show. So much so that I started recommending it to all of my friends. And when I was thinking how could I change my opinion on the show so drastically without even rewatching it, I came to one conclusion: The story of Bleach was always really really good, but it was hurt terribly by the slow pacing of the show. But after a few months I didn't remember the insignificant fights between two characters that had a lot more screen time than they deserved. My brain just deleted them, because they were so unremarkable. I only remembered the amazing, climactic and emotional moments that Kubo's fantastic writing gave us.
Same here. I always liked Bleach more than the others but I couldn't for the love of it tell you why I found it more enjoyable. Years later, after some rewatches and rereads, all the things i normally would've begrudgingly agreed with I can now say exactly why I felt some of those criticisms, not all, weren't exactly well-informed. "Bleach have no foreshadowing" being a big one.
@@Manganization Yeah unjustified criticism can be really annoying.
"Bleach has no foreshadowing"
The quincy bedsheets on Ichigo's bed in episode one: 😑
Then read the manga. All that anime fluff is cut out.
@@gigigvintsadze7382 Bleach has the most insane foreshadowing. It's honestly just as good if not better than highly praised series like AOT with its foreshadowing
the way Geoff explained how Bleach doesn't explain its world building made me realize
my god Kubo was fromsoft before fromsoft
Hmm... yeah that just about tracks. The earliest FROM game I'd give _kinda_ modern FROM lore vibes to is Eternal Ring, not to be confused with Elden Ring, which released in 2000. Bleach debuted in 2001. God, we don't get Demon's Souls until 2009 T_T
@@SinHurr my dude go play armored core.
Before?
Did 2001 happen before 1997 or 1986?
@@Epsellis considering 2020 took my perception of the passage of time out behind the shed and shot it, I'm gonna go wiiiiiith yes
my favorite detail in the manga that i completely missed until it was pointed out by TotallyNotMark is that most of the main characters has a song assigned to them, with the general theme and the tone of it completely changing the way that you interpret those characters, with even Byakuya being less of an ass and more a lonely ass from the beginning
Not a main character,but that's what Aizen theme is,pretty much
How would you notice this in a manga?
@@marthvader14 there are bio pages at the end of the volumes, dedicated to each character, and it has a ton of useless info and their theme song
Hmmmm still skeptical here. I only ever read the Manga, and I distinctly remember the sense of disappointment as I read different moments where it felt like the author just wasn't sure where to go next and had to change the system to keep things rolling. It's been a while, but I remember Ishida sacrificing his powers to win a battle in what was an incredibly dramatic moment, only for us to learn a short time later that he could in fact get them right back with a weird training session. I can give the series another try, but I remember the sense of it turning into a slog.
I’m so happy to hear that you’re into the Cosmere! Those series, especially Stormlight, are some of my absolute favorite and most influential stories. I hope someday you share your experience with them online!
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one
I'd love to see a video on the anime-adjacent elements of the Stormlight Archive. I've been beating the "Stormlight should be an anime" drum since Oathbringer
@@spencerkirkham5952 LMAO I would love something in the style of Arcane so much! I need Lasting Integrity in full life!
@@spencerkirkham5952 yes man!! I think it's only a few years off, Brandon has said he's been having a lot of meetings this year about adapting his works. So ready for book 5.
It's so rich and deep with lore, from every system of combat and to every "world" within it. In the anime especially, with the musical motifs changing depending on the subject, the language, the feeling of design, it's all so exceptional. For all it's faults and shortcomings, I still adore the series and hold it really up there on a subjective list. I'm still excited to see every episode that's been released so far even knowing how it all goes.
people wouldn't hate on it as much I feel if they knew what Kubo went through to make Bleach!
So back in the day I watched Bleach, got tired of Bleach filler, and then started to read the Manga.
Holy epic storytelling Batman!
The manga ran circles around the anime and, overall, I found it highly satisfying. I was a little miffed about Rukia’s ending but, well, as long as she’s happy I’m happy. 😂
Yeah Rukia's ending really hurts
So I never went back to bleach. But the nostalgic me can't the bleach anime comeback where I'll get to see so many bankai reveals !!
The only filler I had any interest in was the zanpakuto rebellion.
Probably because they needed to lean on Kubo to make it work.
Regarding Bleach’s fights, even though the colorful cast have a variety of interesting powers, the fights are not that interesting because the protagonists always have the exact counter abilities to beat the bad guys.
As someone who’s read through the entire manga, and was even there to read the TYBW arc week-to-week, but bounced HARD off of the anime initially and is currently struggling to make it through the Arrancar arc adaptation (even while skipping through the filler arcs) as we speak:
You’re so damn right it H U R T S.
Bleach is a phenomenal manga, but kind of a sub-par anime. The world, aesthetic, story, and characters are genuinely amazing but holy fuck the anime does not do them justice.
I feel like that’s with most shonen of its time I enjoy the manga way more than the anime for those ones, nowadays I feel like the anime elevates the source material but back then it was rough
The anime adaptation of bleach is still watchable.Imagine being a One Piece fan watching that shit anime 🤣.Atleast now Bleach got a good adaptation for tybw.
Watching the Arrancar arc felt like receiving the time-dilating "Superhuman Potion" drug that Mayuri used to defeat Szayelaporro even after skipping all the filler episodes. The pacing was unbearably slow.
@@neerajcherukuri4052 facts I watch one piece but accept bleach shits on one piece massively the pace of one piece is terrible something good happens once every 30 episodes like wtf bro
I really can't relate with people like this saying that the manga is phenomenal but the anime is subpar, like how? I find more emotion & enjoyment from watching the anime than reading the manga bcus well, it's actually alive instead of static black & white drawing on papers that literally don't express anything.
Bleach anime has its own issue. The biggest one was the pacing of it. It's quite lengthy & dragged out, I gotta admit that. But how u gonna say it's subpar when these are drawing moving with details & color, accompanied with AMAZING voice actors & background music, followed by actual interaction & expression by the characters??
I just can't grasp it lol. I feel like it's the other way around. The anime did the series justice where the manga couldn't, bcus it's literally just a comic book that don't move lol.
Your argument that "Bleach is rewarding." is so true. There are many things that I pick up in the second read of the manga that make the story itself better and by thinking about some aspects that I completely ignored the first time. That's why it is my favourite series. Not best, but the most enjoyable I"ve ever read.
Hey Geoff, you totally convinced me to get back into watching Bleach and no it’s not because of the world building or the fight scenes. It’s because of the shoujo influences which finally explains why Ichigo is still the hottest and coolest protagonist in shounen anime till date. Thank you for giving me a new perspective on this anime 😊
"this week for sure!" in reference to Kogome and Inuyasha is something a feel in my very bones
Even the 3 flavors of high speed movement have distinct characteristics. Hirenkyaku was stated by Uryu to be the fastest and it also seems to allow the user to surf on reishi. Sonido apparently causes the users reiatsu to vanish when used. Ichigo displayed this against Ulqiorra, and when he first arrived to save Soul Society from the 1st Quincy invasion. Shunpo seems to be a completely physical techinique like Sonido but requires training and mostly only lets you move fast with its extra utility coming from a variety of trained sub-techniques.
Ichigo comically embraces the saying you are what you eat. As he literally becomes the very thing he's fighting almost every time. He becomes a Substitute Soul Reaper and fights other Soul Reapers. The Hollow that manifested when he regained his Soul Reaper powers tried to take over and Ichigo conquered it and was able to use those powers to fight Arrancars a group of Hollows mimicking Soul Reaper powers essentially making them very similar again. Then Aizen ascended beyond Soul Reapers and Hollows fusing with his Zanpakuto and Ichigo did the same, lol. Then to regain his lost Soul Reaper Powers Ichigo learned from Fullbringers how to use Fullbring and then they became his enemies. Then when the Quincys attacked Ichigo finds out his mom was a Quincy too. How many people noticed this? He always has to mimic his enemies abilities in some way to a point that its humorous to see how they will force the character to become his enemy time and time again.
maybe its his bankai lol
@HL At that point they’re both transcendent beings tho so i guess kinda
Ichigo is basically the successor of God, a being which has the essence of each """"race"""" so, when other hybrids show up, Ichigo discovers a new way to fight fire with fire, Ichigo was naturally a Quincy-Shinigami, stuff got wild when the Hollow named Blanco showed up and attacked his mom. So, no, Ichigo doesn't just pull out stuff from his ass.
@@ethangnasher3848 Did you mean to reply to this comment
@@MischieviousJirachi wdym?
My Bleach watching experience was almost EXACTLY like yours, we probably stopped on the same episode since i can’t remember where i stopped either. I had the same thoughts about the anime and had no interest in reading. BUT You’ve literally never steered me wrong in the three years i’ve been watching this channel (thanks for telling me about Bocchi btw). I work at a second hand bookstore with a surplus of Bleach manga so, I’ll read the damn book, Geoff…
The whole "Ichigo is a magical girl" thing at the beginning of the video reminded me of a crossover fanfic I once read that meshed together the world of Bleach and Madoka, and by god, it works _perfectly_ and now I realize exactly why.
You're right. Ichigo is a magical girl.
Edit: I am an idiot. I can't believe I completely skipped over the fic name. *As N Approaches Infinity* by *Corisanna* on AO3, as both @jurifengshui7426 and @aidanhayes3571 mentioned.
I mean Kubo did watch Saint Seiya growing up and that show is literally a male version of magical girl series except it's really graphic with blood
The streets need to know Ao3 or FF? 👀
As N Approaches Infinity on Ao3
@@jurifengshui7426 bless you 🙏🏽
@@jurifengshui7426 Man that such a good story. I hope they keep updating it. Been waiting a year.
32:53 I actually think the lack of a hard magic system in MHA helps set it apart from the other shonen and grants the abilities an immediacy that isn’t possible with chakra, nen, or spiritual pressure. Quirks function as extensions of the body and develop/deteriorate as such, so you only really need to watch a character in a few conflicts before you get a sense of their limits and preferred use of their quirks. Trying to explain why and how quirks first manifested feels like trying to give an origin to mutants in X-Men comics in that I don’t really understand what we as readers would gain from that info. Even in-universe scientists are way more interested in the future of quirks than the past.
A few arguments:
1. 'Even side characters get to fight not just his friends': One of my BIGGEST gripes with bleach is how under utilized ichigo's friends are. Chad, Uryu, and Orihime never get a truly substantial battle, and end up fighting what are essentially midbosses only to get curb stomped by a stronger foe so the shinigami can fight them. This happens through the whole series. The hueco mundo arc was the most notorious for me with Uryu and Chad fighting Cirucci and Gantenbainne respectively, who are former Espada and realistically just a tick below the current espada, only to face the actual Espada and need to be saved by a Soul Society captain because now the Soul Society has decided to help even though they originally weren't going to? While every fight is a battle of ideals in bleach and in a vacuum every fight is awesome it feels like a complete asspull a lot of the time when it feels like Tite's doing whatever it takes to force whoever he wants to fight to fight.
The fullbringer arc was especially egregious because Chad is a fullbringer and that means it should be his time to shine but he gets absolutely nothing. Ichigos friends are done absolutely dirty in bleach.
Character's also vanishing from the story, even in thousand year war like Tia Harribel despite being the new queen and kidnapped playing no role in this damn story other than hyping up the new bad guy is infuriating.
2. 'There's no expectation that you should look that hard for worldbuilding': This is correct and a big deal. If my eye isn't going to be drawn to those subtleties so I can pick up the details of how it all works then its just going to get confusing. Even more so if what I do know feels inconsistent with the power scaling. Crucial information is hidden and if you aren't satisfied with just 'ooh big battle go awesome' you are not going to enjoy bleach because you aren't prepared to look for it.
The filler arcs ended up being better than the original story at points because they help the world building so much. The zanpaktou arc is my favorite arc in bleach. I've rewatched that arc a few times. It's just good.
3. 'you can explore the power system through ichigo': How? ichigo ends up being a hodgepodge of every single race in bleach by the end and his powers don't really change visually. He fires sword versions of the kamehameha. And he gets blut which is a defensive barrier and he has gran rey cero which he just uses to beef up getsuga tensho. But that's it. This also adds to how anyones supposed to piece together the differences between stuff like the aforementioned blut and hierro are different which requires you to know what they mean which allows you to infer the difference but stuff like sonido, flash step, and Hirenkyaku works at all especially since despite the names giving some indication, are visually identical and sonido can only be conveyed in anime form since it apparently has a sound to it and it still doesn't really happen. It would be cool and help if ichigo used various techniques that were similar to show how they had different uses especially in the same fight but that isn't really done either.
I'd love it if bleach actually encouraged finding out about the power systems and how they be but it doesn't do that. And even then it can be a giant pain to piece it all together since you have to rewatch or reread everything to find out where to start looking and you'll rewatch and reread again and again frequently because you'll miss good chunks because you aren't drawn to them in any way. Hiding subtleties is awesome but its a huge pain when those subtleties are vital to your understanding what's going on and those subtleties aren't really pointed out through the visuals but just there and hopefully you find them.
Thank you my friend. Well said.
@@mrrdirty6198 but he said nothing right
orihime and isshida were never underused and they dont need to have bight fights to be great characters specially orihime since she is a healer.
as for the rest wrong in those as well
Funny how this video releases now, while my brother: a recent Bleach fan, is forcing me to watch the show for the first time (currently in the arc where the captains are fighting Aizen in the fake Karakura Town).
EDIT: I am now completely caught up on the anime, including the current episodes of TYBW. Overall, I quite enjoyed it. I got the sense that, while the author of the manga probably didn't plan ahead with the plot very much, if at all, he definitely planned ahead when it came to the characters, and since modern narratives (and especially shonen battle anime) are very character-driven, it's really good that the author had a complete understanding of the characters.
Read it instead, is my advice
@@mothersbasement I honestly wasn't expecting a reply.
Thanks, but I'm not really a manga reader. I'm still enjoying the series so far, so I'll keep watching; I just wanted to note the funny timing.
@@matthewmuir8884 read it for the story watch it for the fights
We in the same boat im on 275
Enjoy it instead, is my advice. JFC I love MB but....just fucking enjoy what you want.
I rewatched it like a year ago, and I must say, I still love it. I love the growing up metaphore, where first he finds out he can change something, then learns to accept his dark side, deals with feeling lost and to lean on his friends and then accepts his legacy and inheritance. In my experience, that IS the way you grow up as a person
Man why can’t bleach just get left alone, right as the new anime is releasing too. (Edit: Nevermind I just watched the video, I’m sorry.)
Confusing title 😂 also thought it will be negative like eyepachwolf
I’d say the moment I learned more about Ulquiorra’s character is the moment I really fell in love with bleach. I then found so much more deeper meanings and unique things it when I actually read it instead of just watching the anime.
Starting with Magical Girl Ichigo implications is actually so strong, this video is gonna be great lakdjfalkjdf
Thank god someone put together a 'Bleach is good actually' video because more people need to come around to the gospel that it was always the second best of the Big Three.
It's possible to be TOO subtle with your worldbuilding. The time differential in the dangai tunnel thing so that Ichigo could train for 3 months to fight Aizen is an example - yeah Kubo kinda set it up in an earlier arc, but it still _felt_ like it came out of nowhere because the differential just wasn't explored to any real level of detail. Not to mention that Aizen really should have known about it given how often he was bumming around both soul society and the human world.
But my biggest problem with Kubo is the wasted potential of his side characters, especially Tatsuki, Chad, and Orihime. The fullbring arc really should have been their time to shine.
Orihime wasnt a wasted potential
Around the Fullbring arc was when Kubo's Editor's were starting to screw him over. He had so much material he wanted to do with Chad, Orihime, Uryu, and Tatsuki but on one hand, the original director of the anime was constantly switching things around in the anime, some of which Kubo liked, disliked, and genuinely HATES still to this day, and his editors wouldn't give him full creative control on what to do and would shorten things behind his back, which screwed him over further to get a chapter out for Shonen Jump, then the problems REALLY started to get worse during the TYBW to the point Kubo had to do pretty much everything himself, from writing to drawing and editing. That led him to have major sleep deprivation and tore tendons in his shoulder, to the point he had to go to the hospital.
Aizen did know about the different way time flows in the Dangai and he was actually hoping Ichigo would use it to get stronger. He said in one scene that Ichigo had wasted the last chance he had given him when Aizen could not sense his spiritual energy.
Wow I'm so glad I watched this, I always figured if I ever actually got around to checking out Bleach I'd just jump straight into the anime, but you've made an extremely compelling case in these 42 minutes and now I'll definitely be sure to read the manga instead! Excellent work as always, you really have a way of getting me interested in topics & series I previously knew next to nothing about 👍
Oh and I almost forgot, I was thinking while watching this it's really neat the way you've formatted and presented it, like. You mentioned because of Bleach's bad rep it would be tough to get people interested in hearing why it's good actually, so just the whole structure of titling the video the way you have and starting with your original perception of the anime that most people could probably relate to as a hook and THEN going into what changed your mind on all of that is just! Super neat to me!
It's obvious you put a lot of thought not just into what you want to say but HOW you want to say it specific to the video essay format and imo that's super impressive/commendable! There's a reason your vids always hit just right 👌
You should watch the new arc once you catch up
Loved this, if you ever did another bleach video about how masterful the world building is, you should mention the sounds of things in bleach. I noticed that the different techniques in bleach all have different sounds. I can only base this off the anime since I can’t read kanji, but listen to the differences in sound between shunpo, sonido and hirenkyaku.
I CAN'T BELIEVE Witch Hunter Robin aired on YTV's anime block.
I first discovered bleach at 13 years old in my school library. My high-school had a very small (like 15 books) manga section. 4 of those books were the first 4 bleach books. I read through them all in 4 days, only because I could only borrow one book at a time. After I finished them, I looked up bleach online to see where to buy the next books only to find out they had been made into an anime. Not only that, but all the episodes were on youtube for free. However, I didn't have Internet at my house, so it would be another 2 years before I finally got to watch bleach. I watched it on my Samsung galaxy young with its tiny 3-inch screen. I absolutely loved it. It was the most epic thing I had ever seen. Then the first soul society arch happened and I watched the whole thing, by the last few episodes I just wanted it to end. Then the bount arch happened and I was invested again until that also dragged on for 2 whole seasons. By the time I reached the hollow soul reapers arch I just gave up. Archs that could have been 5 episodes were dragged out for entire seasons. The only reason I watched until episode 150 was because there would be the occasional moment where things would be cool again, it would draw me back in only to plummet my expectations an episode later. I have a love hate relationship with bleach now. The first season will forever be one of my favourite seasons of anime ever. It holds a special place in my heart for being my introduction to anime. But it will always be the anime that destroyed any expectations for a good 5 years. Any anime with a consistent storyline after I watched bleach would be considered the best anime ever. I remember watch wolves rain after bleach and thinking it was the best thing ever only because it was more consistent than bleach.
When de main villian was killed by an arrow zat Kubo added 5 pages before:
The arrow wasn't added 5 pages before the arrow was foreshadowed since around chapter 596? I think don't remember the exact chapter sure kubo didn't have the time to properly lay the ground work for it because of obvious reasons but it wasn't a deus ex machina moment like many think
The ending was rushed due to his deteriorating health. Everyone knows that and obviously all the Bleach fans hates it because of that
It was supposed to be foreshadowed by Ryuken doing an autopsy on his wife (which messed up his relationship with his son Uryuu) to extract the blood cloth from Yhwach's Auswallen.
But yeah Kubo rushed it. Hopefully it will be better depicted in the anime
I absolutely loved bleach as a 13 year old kid so I always found it weird how when I got older I just randomly found people hating on it it’s crazy how bad ran anime can ruin a series reputation
I loved it, finisehd the anime (at the time) up until halfway through the Hueco Mundo arc. Read the Manga and it was in the Fullbringer era already and I lost interest in the whole series for years.
Fullbring arc is worse than any of the filler.
For me it was the fact that Bleach shamelessly copied Yu Yu Hakusho. I gave Bleach a chance 2 - 3 eps in I dropped it because of how much it reminded me of my childhood anime..
It's genuinely one of thr greatest manga I've ever experienced. 10/10
Bleach is one of the few series from my baby anime fan days that I revisit on the regular. It's one of the few series that I keep picking up on tiny details I've missed on a previous read through and Kubo's art is just a joy to look at. Honestly, as artist myself, his composition is something I aspire to. With how striking it is while still being able to understand what's happening on the page is a huge goal that I don't think many action manga can hit.
my biggest problem with the Bleach anime was always all those fights with filler enemies that were just there to show off characters’ new powers. there were so many
now I NEED a Bleach conversion mod for Sekiro...
I’ve had years to think about bleach and whether or not I like it, but I had an epiphany not too long ago that sums it all up…it’s. SO. COOL! People weren’t drawn to bleach because they heard of a good plot and sound world building, they watched it because they heard it was about death gods fighting monsters with swords with cool abilities
As a former MASSIVE Bleach fan, this video may actually convince me to resurrect the love for it that I've lost over the last ten years. So many videos about Bleach's so-called downfall have made me hesitant to give it another chance, but this video may just be my sign to just feckin do it.
Do it
I think you should not read the manga because i think kubo is fixing the story in the anime adaptation
@@Anihan26fixing? given how fraud 0 continue to be the loser frauds that they are even in the anime, I'd say he's failed already
@@ambatuBUHSURK?? So you just didn't watch cour 2. That or you have serious comprehension issues considering what we saw ONE squad zero member do by themselves..
Ichigo aka Strawberry the magical boy who travels around meeting friends, bettering himself while searching for his literal Hime aka Princess in literal shining armor. Was it ever in doubt what Bleach was?
I had to pause the moment you mentioned Sanderson. His magic systems are my absolute favorite for how well defined they are and how creative they're used to solve problems while staying completely within the defined parameters
Which contrasts how the magic systems of Bleach…aren’t. Anything beyond “basic magic sword with cool power, kickass big magic sword release!” That is. They really just aren’t…systematized.
@@AzureAiluren if that's your take away, then you clear didn't understand it completely.
Well the wannabe big shot Shinigami that hit on Otihime did show up once more in the TYBW Arc (Manga ch. 511), Anime did cut him out.
I don't think you're gonna get me trying to reread Bleach anytime soon. Maybe it reads better now that it's all out, but it was agonizing to read with weekly serialization. Maybe the issues I had were micro-moments that wash out in the macro-story, but I don't have it in me to try again. I could point to a dozen little story quibbles, but at the end of the day, Bleach just got exhausting to read, and I don't feel the slightest urge to try again with the short time I have on this planet.
Yeah as someone who kept up with Bleach week-to-week back in the day, Geoff is fucking out of his mind. Nearly every single point he made was either exaggerated or a straight-up lie. I honestly thinks he let the hype for the new anime influence his opinion while reading the manga.
Bleach is better when binged. You can read literally 100 chapters in less than 30 minutes.
@@gavinmagness9009 no he wasnt lying or being exaggerated thats when someone has reading comprehension unlike you
Unfortunately for me whatever “genius” Kubo had ended with soul society lmao
Most "I never actually watched bleach and just repeating shit I saw" take you could possibly make lmao comparing soul society's writing to the later arcs anyone with more than surface level understanding of fictional writing will realize that each story arc after is better than soul society
@@fable2830 nope, the thing that made Soul society to me isn’t even the spectacle which you can argue becomes more “epic” as the series progresses.
It’s fundamentally how the characters are written. None of the arcs after this hold a candle to how the gotei 13 are constructed, wether it be dynamics or character wise.
Every issue with bleach (for me) starts in Arrancar/Hueco Mundo. Mind you full bringer and TYBW could’ve been great especially TYBW since I enjoyed the first third-half of it but after that it just becomes painfully mediocre and at times awful.
Maybe if I wasn’t a weekly reader back then I wouldn’t be nearly as disappointed but at this point it is what it is
@@onepieceenjoyer5326 I actually understand your point
Many people say "Bleach fell off at SS" without not really watching it,I'm not joking. You are not one of them though
I personally found many problems in Arrancar arc (arguably the worst,depending on how TYBW anime will end),but I have honestly enjoyed it
Skipping the fillers helped me. The story wasn't bad to me,the characters still great,except the main cast. The ending was the best and worst part to me
Arrancar arc was also too long
@@marcomilillo2001 agreed, like I said the story didn’t really fall off a cliff or become downright awful because there was quality in the later arcs as both of us have mentioned it’s just that SS is a remarkably tight-knit arc where Kubo essentially achieved all he wanted well lol
@@onepieceenjoyer5326 couldn't have said it better
People had higher expectations on Kubo and Bleach,but it seems like they can't do better than SS
But who knows,it might change one day. I know the Hell arc could become a thing,but I honestly don't want it for now
It should return only when Kubo will be ready to do things right
As someone who only finished going through Bleach for the first time this year to get ready for the final arc, I thought it was...ok. Like, it wasn't bad, but I didn't think it was amazing or anything. Maybe if I had watched it when I was younger I would've liked it more. My problem was that some arcs felt like they went on way to long. The Hueco Mundo/Aizen arc went on forever. The problem with those arcs was that it was just constant fights that felt like they would never end. There's nothing wrong with cool fights, but there's gotta be something more than just fights. Ironically though, I actually did like the Fullbringer arc after that, even though I heard a lot of people didn't like it. It was a nice change of pace.
Overall, I'd say Bleach was like a 7.5/10. If anything, Bleach has good character designs, even though there are too many characters lol. However, in saying all of that, I think the current arc in the anime has been very good so far. It's actually gotten me excited for Bleach.
Bleach had a cool concept for a magic system, but that was enough for my teenage brain to latch onto and now the magic system is still the only thing I appreciate Bleach for. Basically, I needed this.
I read it way before this video was made and was disappointed by all of it.
I love this analysis of Bleach and may even consider revisiting the manga (boy, do those pageayouts BANG). However, I can't help but be hung up on how damn BADLY I want to hear you talk about Eureka Seven. I sat straight up when I heard those strings. It's my absolute favorite anime. ❤️
A "reboot" of the older bleach series would do so much magic, like it helped dragonball with DB Kai. Even more so with the new arc currently running, a shortend and refreshed bleach serie would be amazing.
I had a similar experience as you with the anime (except on US TV, not Canadian), and dropped it somewhere around the Arrancar arc. Then a few years ago, I tried reading the manga via the Viz app. Much like the anime, I liked the early stuff, but it started losing my interest around the Arrancar arc, again, just like with the anime so long ago. But I still kept reading, nonetheless. Thankfully, after the Arrancar slog, the Fullbringer arc felt like a huge breath of fresh air, and is probably my favorite arc of the whole series. The final arc was very hit and miss with me. It wasn't as bad as the Arrancar arc, but it still wasn't without its flaws.
"the worst writer in all of shounen manga history who never planned anything and retconned everything all the time and didn't bother with world building and can't tell stories or especially write fights for shit"
Oh we're talking about Kishimoto and Naruto now are we?
😂
Lol
I wonder if kubo has detailed notes on how the power system works but decides to leave it as a background thing. From my own dabbling in world building, I found that approach to be favorable. I want consistency and the benefits of a complex, detailed system but I don't want to put it at the forefront of the narrative. The thematic weight of abilities is more important than their exact inner workings.
2:15
Wasn't expecting this at all. The moment you showcased Eureka Seven, you won my respect. It is one of the most underrated anime EVER.
Earned you a sub.
Nah, read Bleach for years and years weekly waiting for it to "get good" again and then I finally got burnt out.
As I said many times already,it's all subjective
Everyone has their own experience. Many people read it all and found it good
Though I suppose if you didn't like the SS,which is arguably its best written arc and a good one in general,it's quite difficult to like the rest
I'm sorry your experience wasn't positive,it's a normal thing at the end of the day,but that doesn't mean it is for everyone else as well
One of my favorite bits of foreshadowing is that Ichigo's blanket on his bed in an early issues was a quincy cross, foreshadowing him being a quincy later. The other is when Ichigo's hollow insisted he was really Zangetsu in that early fight with him. Those facts were in front of us the whole time! Yes bleach has flaws, personally I dont enjoy many of the aspects of the story and pacing (yes even mangawise) of the arcs past the winter war, but its still DAMN GOOD and I have a lot of nostalgia for it.
yeah the start of bleach was so good but then it almost became a different show entirely lol. Another show that has the same vibe as bleach but maintains it longer is noragami, but even the manga eventually did the same problem as bleach did and became a supernatural battle anime in another dimension. I wish these stories would stay in the real world and not go so over the top into the supernatural elements. The whole reason I liked bleach and noragami was blending every day life with those things, the real life setting is key.
Bleach was a big part of my life, i still have some songs of the ost downloaded so this review is a big W
As a Canadian, those first few minutes really take me back, especially the Cardcaptor Sakura bit. I remember being crushed when it was taken off the air. Definitely shaped me in jr. high school and I still wear that Bionix lineup with pride as it's where I get my username from.
I read the manga as it was coming out. Was the only one in my local area interested in manga. I didn't watch the anime.
I didn't like the manga as it did indeed pull story elements out of thin air. And would repeat the same themes and concepts over and over again without actually evolving. I tapped out when dad did a thing in the sky's above the city. I remember distinctly in the middle of the volume in my middle school reading it and then just closing the book. Never looking back.
The manga had issues. Things that you mention lightly but don't go over. Like how the friends don't do anything after a while and their fights are largely pointless every time. It felt like the worst parts of Dragonball because at least in Dragonball there is build up to the epic Goku arrives and saves everyone moment and we exist with the villain for a while and know their deal.
The sudden introduction of villains and dropping of them makes it very apparent how bland and unimportant everything is and misses a key feature that is important to shonen battle anime: the feeling of stakes. Illusion or not.
That was a very particular analysis
Though I don't see what themes in Bleach should have evolved (more like not enough explored) and when the villains came out of nowhere,most of them were built up during the story or via flashbacks
But I can understand your point. It's all subjective anyway. People have their ow experiences and
thoughts
@@marcomilillo2001 Villains being built up during arcs and having backstories explained is a long standing thing in Shonen, and even my favorite ones right now still do this, but Bleach doesn't go from "villain arrives and then we learn about them to see them doing things to understanding their story." or that.
It goes "villain arrives, does a thing, backstory, okay gotta go defeat them. Lose, then train, then win." WIth no expansion on this, it was the same thing almost every time. For the first two arcs it was fine, but after a while it became the worst shonen I was reading.
A lot of people like to try and give things the benefit of the doubt well after it's shelf life, but if it was only the anime that made "bleach fall" then the manga would still be going, Anime has famously been bad adaptations for a long time.
The writing itself in the manga was an issue, it was so fast paced it was irreverant.
As far as "What themes Bleach should have evolved" Well, it was the same basic arc from the soul society onward. In the most popular shonen arcs are generally varied and have actual sub-concepts to introduce, mechanically, or phislophically. Bleach is the closest to Dragon Ball Z in regards to doing the formula and strictly adhering to it. Which by that point of time in the mid 2000's while we had things like FMA being written became stale.
Hell, everyone started liking Fairy Tail (I did too, because I enjoyed Rave Master) and then most people ended up hating it in the end because it would just reuse the same plot elements and forumla over and over again and it became a frustrating mess of just going through the motions.
Naruto everyone can tell you the actual purpose of the story, and what it kind of meant. One Piece anyone can tell you what it means, and what the overarching ideas were. Shonen King everyone can say it's about fighting against tradition to carve your own path. Every modern shonen people can have an understanding of what they are meant to be saying.
And even though Bleach was very cool, and looked pretty, and had amazing things to conceptually "say" I've never had anyone tell me what the story meant or was about beyond "Cool". "awesome" "Epic"
Bleach is a CLASSIC shonen with the skin of a modern shonen. Which isn't bad, but to ignore a lot of these issues that really only DB is able to get away with (and honestly not really anymore seeing how people have turned on DBS) is to be ignoring a large portion of the story and everything.
Allright, now to make my buddies watch this video, and make them understand why it is impossible for me to type out my explanation of "why I love Bleach so much" in a whats-app group chat.
Bleach isn't the typical shounen, because to understand most of the story it requires you to really think about EVERY detail that has been said throughout. The fact that the original adaptation (while still being good in my personal opinion) had so many jumps and skips with filler which would cause you to probably forget most of important stuff really hindered its success. On the other hand with TYBW so far, since Kubo is hands on with the anime we will get even more detailed explanations of everything from the creator himself which is going to help amazingly with the success of the series
I'm 5 minutes in and I can no longer resist rewatching the first 2 seasons before finishing this video, see you in a couple of days
One of my favorite fanfics ever is a crossover with Bleach and, ironically enough, Madoka Magica. Through it, I was able to really appreciate how deep Bleach's characters can be when you really get into their heads. It doesn't change or exaggerate who they are, but it puts them in a situation where I feel you can see how their minds and motives work on an intimate level. It's called 'As N Approaches Infinity', for anyone who's interested.
The author also has a deep understanding of the intricacies of Bleach's various systems, and uses them to expand the world and really deepen the story.
The title reminds me of BBCF ARAKUNE…
Oh Roy…
When you're more invested in the other characters than Ichigo and friends. I actually find it funny that I was more invested in Rukia's growth because she wasn't an overpowered character.
I loved and hated Bleach. I think if Tite Kubo had the chance to actually leave the series. He would have done it, instead of continuing after Soul Society. I actually consider Ichigo and Rukia saying goodbye to each other and her fading away and him moving on with his life to be the perfect ending. I actually consider that canon. Lol.
For the people happy that Bleach is back, I’m happy for them and I hope it is what you’ve been anticipating. My love for it is sadly gone.
L
I'll love it even more for you. enjoy the amv's lol
That’s what happened to me with Naruto post 5 kage summit. Honestly I found Bleach exceeded in the last arc while naruto fell behind.
Weirdly enough so has mine. I can't lie I was pretty hyped about the anime coming back. But now that it's heres still haven't watched it, and haven't got the appetite to either. That may change in the future but i'm too busy enjoying watching other things like MHA, Witch of Mercury, Mob psycho and Stone Ocean to care for Bleach rn. I'd already read the manga but that's never stopped me being excited for the anime before. Like you said, my love for bleach just isn't there.
@@wrigh2uk wait you watch my hero academia? Okay lol as a manga reader and lover of the villain academia arc… I dropped the anime.
I absolutely loved Bleach, but feel that critiques about narrative do have merit. Ichigo's ark seems to be all about self-discovery and self acceptance, but we never quite hit on what he "is". I can see the pieces in place, but can't really put my finger on what they mean and what they build up to. I'd love to see an analysis on Ichigo's ark, his gains and losses, and how they contribute to his growth.
Please Geoff, just go full vaatividya on us. This was a really cool piece you've made and I would love to hear more of you concerning Bleach!
aye i am so glad that u actually gave the time to read the manga. but tbh i liked pretty much all filler arcs for world building purposes even tho the bount arc pacing was terrible it gave us alot of knowledge on mod souls and soul candy in general which i found amazing. then the menos forest arc which captivated some of the most appealing landscape and style. the zanpakuto rebellion arc that symbolized ones hate for themselves and heavy manipulation of ones being. then the arrancar backstory arc that gave us deeper understandings of hollows and the evolution of hollowfication and also heavy manipulation. then the karakura town heros random filler episodes that gave us a break from the tense storytelling and showed what kon and ichigos sisters were up to during the times ichigo was away. then the episode where karin met hitsuguya and figured out that ichigo was a soul reaper and that stuck even through the canon episodes u can tell karin knew something was off about ichigo ever since rukia came around. imo the filler arcs gave more character and world depth then the canon episodes gave. u should go back and watch the filler episodes then make a video explaining how they are actually necessary for the anime all together. i mean they dont forward the plot at all but they did give us deeper understanding of the lore itseld
Eureka 7 holds such a specific place in my heart that I've saved it as one of the ones to show my kid.
Man you really are good at making me realize that there’s a reason things get popular
i've been a fan of bleach for 15 years and i'm so happy you made this video but also i do have a legitimate problem with bleach and it's that kubo did my boy chad super dirty with the ending and i'll never ever forgive him for that. chad rights 2023
So when I first got into anime and manga around a decade and a bit ago, I tired reading Bleach. I dropped off it pretty quickly (I think I got to the end of the soul society arc but idk). I can’t remember all my issues with the manga, but the one that stuck with me was that I found all the different magic systems too different and separate to buy me into that world building. Since dropping Bleach, I have also become a huge Brandon Sanderson fan, so to hear Geoff make that direct comparison multiple times, and outline that all these magic systems are actually related, makes me really curious to try the Manga again at some point.
Great video. Ever since the anime returned I've been checking back here to see if you did a video on Bleach. Thanks for being fair to my Shonen of choice and opening eyes to its subtle "Show Don't Tell" world building. Guess I was a few weeks late seeing this so I should probably just subscribe by now.
I figured out that what I wanted Bleach to be was a slice of life comedy starring 11th division.
The Bleach manga is actually more of a tone piece than anything else. Most characters, powers, and plot events are just to set a certain tone and feeling. Each Bleach volume opens with a poem of one character speaking to another or themselves, Kubo states he doesn’t draw backgrounds too much to draw attension to the feelings of the characters, and Kubo gives us each character’s theme song that is supposed to set the tone for each character
I fully agree with this. Kubo's themes and influences are generally extremely straightforward as are his characters and general logic for the world. To his credit it all definitely "feels" like it fits as long as he doesn't try to go into too much detail. People can wax poetic about everything these characters represent and the underlying implications of the inspiration behind their design (and that stuff is cool for sure) but it's clear Kubo himself wasn't very interested in taking those elements past making the general vibe and design theme consistent.
I have never wanted something so hard as the script for the Reishi Rant
Kenpachi busting out his super move, "Kendo" is still one of my all time top manga moments.