[TV series] Bleach

[-Batman-]

My first review, be nice =) Today i will be reviewing the Popular...yet somehow overlooked anime that shares the same name as a household cleaning product, Bleach!



Plot Synopsis (Minor Spoilers for episode one)
Bleach is a story about a Japanese highschool student named Ichigo, who lives with his sisters Yuzu and Karin, as well as his nut job of a father. Ichigo is your average student, who just so happens to have an unnatural gift...The ability to see ghosts! One day Ichigo is attacked by a Hallow (a fallen spirit so to speak, the anime will describe it in more detail) and is rescued by a women named Rukia. Rukia however is anything but normal, She is a Death God.
Death Gods are beings who send spirits to the afterlife, and purify hollows useing there soul slayers (a weapon that, as the name suggests, slays souls) Later on that day Ichigo is attacked yet again by the Hallow, but this time it's target is Ichigo's family. Rukia tries to defend, however fails. Rukia than lends Ichigo her powers, so that he may fight the Hallow and protect his family as well as himself, which means Ichigo is now a Death God. Throughout a portion of the series, Ichigo fights Hollows along side Rukia, as well as settle some problems from his childhood. However the later episodes revolve around other Death Gods.Through the entire series you will also meet a cast of Loveable and not so loveable characters with there own unique abilities and personalities.
If i say any more i would REALLY be ruining the series, wouldn't want that now would we?The anime has been out for a while now, but it's still running, so theres no set amount of episodes at the moment.


Story (10/10)
Bleach has one of the most original plots i have ever seen in some of the newer anime out there. It has everything you could want, action, comedy, a little romance maybe? you name it and Bleach most likely has it.

Characters (10/10)
Most anime have that character than everyone likes,a few that are kinda cool, followed by a large cast of misfits who don't deserve recognition. Bleach however has several character's that can apeal to a large Audience. My Personal Favorite's are Ichigo and Inoue, however there are still other characters i recognize as important plot characters as well as over all likable characters.

Art/Animation (10/10)
Bleach in my opinion has one of the best art styles out there. The character models are clean and crisp, and the animation flows smoothly, and the color job is awsome.

Voice Acting/ Music (10/10)
To me, one of the most important aspects of Anime, is good music. Bleach doesn't sell us short in that department either. The theme songs are catchy and have a nice beat (as a matter of fact, i'm listening to one as i type this =p). The background music in the anime is both clear as it is ambient. They have also done a good job on the main score, the BG music fits with the current scene at all times.

Overall (Perfect)
Not many anime have impressed me as much as Bleach, it's by far one of my top five favorite anime. I recommend it to everyone, however i recommend it A LOT if you've enjoyed anime like Yu Yu Hakusho, Shaman King, and S-cryed (which don't even compare to this)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: The pictures are pixelated because i had to resize them.


http://www.animeforum.com/uploads/080.jpg

Ichigo

http://www.animeforum.com/uploads/wgerger.jpg

Rukia



---------------------------------


Well, thats my review, how did i do?


Ok...the review is over....WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE??!?! Go watch Bleach now =)

[Gjallarhorn]

Story: (10/10) One of the most original stories i have seen. It is addicting, and bring you into it very quickly.

Characters: (10/10) Every character is great and serves some important, whether it be a main character like Ichigo, or a character with as little screen time as Tatsuki. The character relationships are also interesting, always developing and changing both positively and negatively. Every character has a set of beliefs they follow and they conflict and blend with one another, such as Ichigo and Byakuya.

Art/Animation: (10/10) I am obsessed with the art style from this series, and how well it fits with the over all style of the anime itself. The animation flows well, and there is not a lot of still frame animation either.

Voice Acting/Music: (10/10) The voice acting is very good, and the voices fit the look of each character very well. The opening theme songs were great choices, and so far have all been from some of my favorite bands(Orange Range, UVERworld, and High and Mighty color). I am impartial to the ending themes, although Rie Fu's "life is like a boat", and Home Made Kazoku's "thank you" were both very good.

Overall: (10/10) Bleach is truely one of the greatest anime series i have seen, always suspensful, and captivating, the viewer becomes involved with the story very easily, there is a variety of character who can be compared and contrasted to one another, and so much more.

[iernt8]

Story 10/10
The story for this anime is great, although at 1st it may be kinda random at times but as you get to episode 10 t starts making sense and youll start to like it even more. Bleach is a very funny anime and entertaining. This story starts out because of "Hollows" attacking and one death god trys to save a human but gets defeated by a hollow so the death god gives him her powers.

Characters 10/10
All the characters on this anime are cool. The 2 main characters in the 1st few episodes are Rukia and Ichigo. Rukia is a death god that slays "Hollows" but is defeated by one after trying to defend Ichigo, so she gives her powers to him so he can save them both, so now he is also a death god.

Art/Animation 10/10
The art and animation is great. They are so detailed in making this story and the colors are awsome as well. I really dont have anything more to say on animation and art you just have to expirience it yourself.

Voice acting/music 10/10
The voices fit in perfectly with all the charcters. To me the opening theme song is awsome, it has a good beat and now its stuck in my head. Also the background music during the anime is awsome and fits in perfectly. The only thing that is bad is the ending theme song but i dont really care about the endings so i could just say that the music and voice acting as perfect.

Overall 10/10 (Perfect)
I recomend everyone to watch this excellent series. This is one of the best anime i have ever seen. There are no really bad parts to this anime and i think they did an excellent job on this.

[b.otaku]

Type: TV Series, Still going!
Genre: Adventure/Action, Comedy, Supernatural, Drama


Story (10/10):
This is one of the most oringinal stories that I've ever come across. There's ghosts, death gods, hollows, and whatever is supernatural-ish. It's not a typical anime, it's original and that's big points for me.

Characters (10/10):
This anime has some of the most memorable characters in my opinion. The main female character, Rukia, is very original. She's not any oridinary female character and she is definetly my favourite anime character of all time. There's also Ichigo, who is the main character, Orihime, Ishida, and Chad. You meet many more interesting characters along the way.

Art/Animation (10/10):
The animation is perfect. Need I say more?

Voice Acting/Music (10/10):
It's perfect. The music in the scenes match it perfectly, it really makes the mood. The voice acting is great, every single voice actor matches their character, especailly Rukia.

Overall (10/10):
Dear God this anime is perfect! Well I'm a girl who loves action and THIS is action! The characters are awesome! I recommend this to anyone who is looking for a long action anime to say "woooo" about. =D I swear this anime made me say "woooo" 53441454864531464 times! Made me want to watch more.

[Veoryn87]

Story- 7 out of 10

It's just another long running Shonen Jump anime to me. It does do it's own unique things though. It's nothing complicted or new, but it doesn't need to be. I enjoy the story. Both the Japanese and English voice acting are quite good.

Characters- 7 out of 10

Not much I can say about the characters. There's the strong guy, the pretty boy, the tempermental main character, the clumsy girl yet still cute girl, etc. Pretty much all the cliches. There's plenty of good character development though, which is good.

Animation- 8 out of 10

The animation is very impressive. Action scenes are good and they get better later in the story. It's the best animated Shonen Jump anime that I've seen so far.

Music- 4 out of 10

Most of the music is..... Odd to say the least. I enjoy some of the themes and endings, but sometimes I wonder if the music composers were drunk when they wrote some of the music.


Overall- 7 out of 10

Not the best out there, but still a very enjoyable series that all anime fans should give a watch.

[Dragon Chang]

Story- 10 out of 10
Fresh story line and plot, not a clone of another similar anime.

Characters- 10 out of 10
Good concept. All have their uniqueness and the show does a good job telling the backgounds of all the character.

Animation- 10 out of 10
Very Smooth.

Music- 10 out of 10
Great Opening and closing themes. I really love the fight situation music.

Overall- 10 out of 10
I really enjoy this series both the Anime and Manga.

Americanized Vertion: 7 out of 10
The Vertion airing on CN is pretty dissapointing if you have watched the original vertion. (what else is new) Mainly the Hallow's voices and a few of the other characters. But the dialog is 90% accurate to the Japanese vertion and the Open and Closing Themes were unchanged.

[kyubichan]

TV Series: BLEACH (original dub)
*Beware of spoilers*

Summary:
Kurosaki Ichigo is a Japanese highschool student who has the ability to see spirits, mostly ghosts. He stumbles upon a Death God's assignment to destroy a Hollow, and due to his family being in danger and said Death God injured, he takes on the job of a replacement Death God.

Story: 7/10
Slightly higher than average because it gives a nice spin to an old Japanese belief: the Death Gods. It also tackles the afterlife (Soul Society), reincarnation, good (Plus) and evil (Hollow) souls. Other than that, it's a typical power-up-to-save-someone story.

Characters: 9/10
This is where Bleach shines. True, absolutely all of the characters are cliche at first glance, but like real people you can't judge a book by it's cover. Ichigo seems to be a slacker/loser when you just look at him, but he's really a mama's boy who doesn't want to hurt anyone; and he's also a good student. Inoue looks like a ditzy babe, but she's the second smartest girl in class. All of the other main characters have something "off" about them, thus you can't put them in a certain category. Also, these characters' moments together are usually hilarious and the dialogue is rather believable (E.g. when an enemy throws in the I-shall-destroy-you speech, the protagonist tells him to shut up and fight.)

Art/Animation: 8/10
I am yet to see an episode of Bleach where the animation is inconsistent with other episodes. Character designs are simple, but this is more due to the fact that the setting of Bleach is in "the real/present world". The fight scenes are smooth and usually beautifully rendered (e.g. Ban Kai).

Music: 8/10
The background music of Bleach takes a pop turn, one which is unexpected since the story is based on an old belief. However, this is a good choice for the producers; whenever the "danger" theme plays, I can't help but go , "Oh no, something's up..." The OST is great as well, and incidentally, Houkiboshi happens to be my favorite song.

Overall: 8/10
Definitely one of my favorite anime including YuYu Hakusho, Hunter X Hunter and GitS 2nd Gig. I'd recommend watching this anime SUBBED, not dubbed, because there are a lot of comedic sequences that do not translate well in English.

[Mugetsu]

This review is NOT inclusive of the spoilers.

Story: 9.99/10
Well thought out and it draws you in. One of the sign of a great story (in my opinion) is that the end is completely different from the beginning, yet it all still makes sense. If nothing changes, then whats the point. When you look at the begining of this series and where it is now you would have never guessed what was going to happen. This means that you are always looking forward to the next episode. This series is not a predictable snooze fest.

Characters: 9.99/10
The characters are diverese and each have a certain amount of depth to them without getting overly personal. They interact with each other realistically (as realistically as you can in an anime anyway) and you can see them forming bonds and rivalries. You get to care about what happens to each character and you can even have a favorite character who is not the main hero.

Art/Animation: 9.99/10
Battle scenes are clear. No fuzzy areas. Backgrounds are done well and srve their purpose and it avoids choppy character movement.

Music: 9.99/10
The music is great and they seem to use the perfect music for each situstion. Their are certain tracks that when you hear them you just know that something is going on.


Voice Acting: 9.99/10
Excellent. The voives fit the characters very well. From the rough Renji, to sweet Orohime to the powerful but laid back Sado. The tone of the voices match the characters expressions perfectly. You can really sense the emotion of the scene by the tone of the voice actor. Even in the Dub the voice acting is pretty good.

Overall: 10.645/10
Highly recommended. Total package anime that is greater then the sum of its parts.

PS - Even the filler is better than most anime series. I would give it between a 7 and 8 overall.

[Sagat]

So apparently I didn't follow the rules with my first comprehensive one liner review. So here is the final version.

Story - 9/10.
I don't see how it's been "done before" cause the concept of using death gods with humans and going back and forth between heaven, hell and the material world is pretty neat. I gave it 9 out of 10 because I only give 10/10 to animes like NGE, which is incredibly deep and well thought out - and rare. Also because I am getting tired of the Bount Arc .. While Kariya is awesome and all I've seen enough of em

Characters - 10/10.
Yeah you got some cliche characters like the strong quiet guy and retardedly cute and airheaded big chested girl but you got some pretty neat ones too. Come on people - Zaraki? Byakuya? Aizen? There are all sorts of personalities and they are strongly reflected in their characters which makes them stand out more. The characters make a show, sort of how like DBZ's personalities often overshadowed the plot. The character stand out here too.

Animation - 9/10.
Pretty good for an anime, especially during the fights. I find it uses more of the latest technology (ie computers) to assist, which I like. I find the first intro - Orange or whatever its called, shows this well.

Music - 8.5/10.
Most of the time good, there is this one action song I think they had some crack addict sing, its in English. It's retarded. Aside from that it's all good. Especially the music during Byakuya's Bankai. It would have had a 9/10 if it wasn't for that particular stupid BG song.

Overall - 11/10.
This is better than yer friggen magical girl or ninja boy or whatever other animes everyone watches

[Kiin]

My Horrible Bleach Review:

Story:
10/10 From episodes 1 - around 65
6.5/10 From episodes 65 - current
The storyline for the first 65 episodes were well thought out, unique about the Soul Slayers, twists and turns, suspensful action, great fights, and a small romantic plot going on. Very very addicting. After around episode 65 the story goes extremly sour and from then on its "Filler time".

Characters: 9/10
Great character detail and tons of characters to make the anime intersting.

Animation: 9/10
Great animation quality, love the fight scenes.

Voice acting:
(Japanese 10/10)
The true way anime should sound, full of emotion and sounds great.

(English 7.5/10)
Hate the dubbing. Although voice acting is getting alot better in North America Anime, but if you cannot pernounce the japanese names. Then get a new voice actor.

Music: 9/10
Most of the intro and endings to the anime were well done. Orange range. UVERworld, Yui Horie, Younha, High and mgihty color. etc... all great. The in anime BG is all good.. sometimes leaving you with that suspensful feeling of what is going to happen next. However the 7th Intro was horrible. Beat Crusaders (Tonight, Tonight) What a horrible song.

Overall: 7.5/10
I would recommend watching this anime. It would be in my list of top 10, but only from episodes 1-65, I have stopped watching Bleach after episode 78. The only reason why I have gave Bleach such a low overall score is because the anime drags on with fillers. The manga dosent have many fillers, WHY SHOULD THE ANIME?

[Judith]

Story: (10/10). I’m not sure if it is the most original story. As the story braches off, it becomes much more of “bleach” and “something like…”. The story to me is that there is a guy involved in some crap. He is a school student. Not original. He is average. Not original. He has friends, that are involved in his mess. Not original. His amazing strength. Not original. A baby boy (I don’t care if Nell is said to be a girl. He is a boy.) that hits… well a very powerful source of energy used to kill people. Original. Fighting in your present world… to me that’s original. I don’t see that much or I just ignored it. The basics are original. Its pretty hard to be original and good at the same time. Anyways. The story is great. They can add so much to it because it starts off so simple. Something could pop out of know where and make no sense yet… still make sense. Its great. A animal could start talking and the people watching it will actually not get like ‘OMG OMG OMG’ or some crap like that. The oddest things are simple in bleach.


Characters: (10/10)

I like drama. Bleach is a Drama. In the eye of the storm, you know something big is going to happen. There are thing’s that suck. Like how the Quincy just sucks. Ya know… but that can be fixed. It might take awhile and be might come back stronger.. And still suck but at least he is stronger, right? And, this may be the only anime out there that I can say this for but… I actually like the lead character. Odd… I know! But I do. I mean, I prefer a few characters over him (I love Grimmjaw) but yeah… that’s common.

Art/Animation: (10/10)
The art is great. I love it. Both. The manga and the anime (I switch sometimes… I picture things I read so its hard to tell the difference between what I have seen in the anime and the manga because of that) both have their good parts. You can tell when they don’t care about a certain scene though. Sometimes, with close ups up Ichigo… he looks as if he were smoking but we can deal with that. Right?

Voice Acting/Music: (10/10) I adore the music. Period. The voice acting is perfect. I don’t think I can replace the current voices with anyone else’s. (You know the movie Hot Rod…I would see it is Simon Rex was the main actor… but nah).

Overall: (9.8321225/10)
Bleach is so good. But can really suck when there is no where else to go. When watching and reading the manga… well people tend to give up one and go with the other. They aren’t 100 percent compatible. You learn things at odd speeds. Bah.

[r_a_i_n_e]

Story: 7/10
The influences and certain adaptations to anime that came before it were evident. A little of YYH here, a little of RK there...in short it's not that unique.

Characters: 8/10
The art is nice-looking. There were some interesting characters like Zaraki and Yoruichi.

Animation: 8/10
It was generally okay but the fight scenes were a little boring to me. I can only usually see the characters being rammed onto a rock or a wall and blasting around. There were quite few real action scenes.

Music: 5/10
I haven't seen the English dub yet so I'm only reviewing the original. The voice acting was fine but the soundtrack and the themes weren't very catchy. It's an anime I won't buy a soundtrack CD of.

Overall:7/10
There are lots of better anime out there but it's still worthwatching.

[Vintniv]

As a Bleach fan, i thought it would be a good idea to do this.

Story (8 out of 10)
Your typical good guy versus the bad guy with a little corrupted organization mixed in with monsters, some romance and littered with some comic relief makes for a nice story line. Though there is a massive filler session.

Characters (9 out of 10)
Although we have seen it before where a normal kid is taken and given super natural powers of the sort, buts the abilities of people who go and send souls to the other side. IT starts with enemies being monsters, but then moves on to the whole organization, called the Soul Society, being screwed up, so our kid has to become the hero by saving the damsel in distress.

Voices (8 out of 10)
The voices work for the English version, though some of the voice characters have been used a bit too frequently. Though the choices for other really do benefit the idea of hero, that of a girl with artificial emotions, and power mad dudes with swords.

Music (10 out of 10)
The music mixes very well with how the story plays out by applying some layers of rock to whats going on. It really does give you the feeling of a battle that you just really cannot miss for the world.

Overall (9 out of 10)
I would recommend this as a top anime in my books. Just the idea of, "We are going to fight for no reason except because its fun and looks cool", is a good enough reason for me to keep watching it.

[KuroTan]

Seeing as how I've been mysteriously pulled back into the series, I thought I might as well post why.

Story: 8/10

One of the more refreshingly original anime series' that I've seen. Idea is very good and the plot twist is totally unexpected (Which is more than I can say for other shows.) An 8 only because the Bounto filler actually made me stop watching it for a good three quarters of a year.

Characters: 10/10

Though some cliche's are in the series like the enemy turned friend and the ditzy airhead, the remaining cast really pulls everything together. I mean, modified souls? the thirteen squad captains? urahara? Plus each are given their own unique side story that really helps you identify with each one. And you never get the feeling that one character is just put in because it's convenient.

Animation: 10/10

The quality of the animation is really superior to most of the other anime out there. Fight scenes are awesome. They're done really well and really gets you to feel involved with each one.

Voice acting/Music: 10/10

Never heard the English version but the Japanese one really delivers. BGM and the opening and closing songs are completely tailored for the series. There's one that plays before each fight as the tension builds up and it's really nailbiting sometimes.

Overall: 10/10

Joins my list as one of the best anime ever made and at 146 episodes it shows no sign of stopping. Definitely a must see.

[shooting-star]

Story: 9/10
sometimes it gets a little confusing but other then that it's great

Characters: 10/10
each character is drawn nicely and is unique. i love Ichigo and Rukia ... Maybe Renji

Animation: 9/10
i love the fighting scenes. they are soo well done! the colour is great too, like sunsets and nights.

Music: 7/10
i have some of the song's on my I-pod well in my I-tunes anyways. some songs are really nice were others are just to much.

Overall:10/10
it's great and i really enjoy watching it

[Twin X]

Story:10/10.The story of this anime is amazing one of the best ive seen they use many elements to discride and explane the plotline.

Characters:10/10.The characters are very realistic(aside from the fact there are soul reapers and what knot)They all have background and there own storys to tell.

Art/Animation:10/10.The animation of the characters and scenery gives them a real worldly feel and the battle sequences are well made and simply amazing.The Op/Ed sequences are also well animated with there different styles.

Voice Acting/Music:10/10.The actors were well selected for each character and match them well with there personality and look.The music is well selected for each Op/Ed to match there animation style and the OST are very well selected for each battle and scene with one.

Overall:10/10.This is simply one of the best and well made animes ever made.Im really enjoying watching it and i highly recommend it to anyone.

[Aznen]

STORY: (10\10)
Definitely deserves it , its one of the best anime I have ever seen, its never pridictable ,every time its new..

CHARACTERS: (10/9)
The most interesting character that any manga or any anime can have(may be I am saying this because I love Kon)

VOICE ACTING/Music: 10/10
Suits like its theirs..

Overall: (10/10)
No questioning..

[SubZer0]

All I have to say is.....

7/7 would watch again

[Sogogi110]

Art/Animation: (10/10)
The art is great. I love it. Both. The manga and the anime (I switch sometimes… I picture things I read so its hard to tell the difference between what I have seen in the anime and the manga because of that) both have their good parts. You can tell when they don’t care about a certain scene though. Sometimes, with close ups up Ichigo… he looks as if he were smoking but we can deal with that. Right?

Music: 9.5/10
Most of the intro and endings to the anime were well done. Orange range. UVERworld, Yui Horie, Younha, High and mgihty color. etc... all great. The in anime BG is all good.. sometimes leaving you with that suspensful feeling of what is going to happen next. However the 7th Intro was horrible. Beat Crusaders (Tonight, Tonight) What a horrible song.

Story – 9.7/10.
I don't see how it's been "done before" cause the concept of using death gods with humans and going back and forth between heaven, hell and the material world is pretty neat. I gave it 9 out of 10 because I only give 10/10 to animes like NGE, which is incredibly deep and well thought out - and rare. Also because I am getting tired of the Bount Arc .. While Kariya is awesome and all I've seen enough of em