I just wish they'd call him strawberry in the anime dub too.

asi to milujem.

Having enjoyed reading Tsugumi Ohba and Taskeshi Obata's Death Note: Black Edition series in 2011/12, I've been interested in finding another good manga series to follow. One such series I identified in 2011 (based on ratings and comments at Goodreads) was Bleach but it wasn't until six days ago that I found the first volume, Strawberry and the Soul Reapers in my local book shop's manga section. Unlike Death Note and certain other manga titles, Bleach isn't listed in 500 Essential Graphic Novels, but I was pleasantly surprised in reading this series' first volume.

The eponymous character, a fifteen-year-old redhead boy (whose hair colour is natural, not bleached) named Ichigo Kurosaki, has the ability to see and speak with ghosts. (Coincidentally, I'd only finished reading Kealan Patrick Burke's unrelated novella The Turtle Boy the day before, in which another boy, Timmy Quinn, discovers his own ability to see and interact with ghosts!) No explanation is given for Ichigo's unusual talent but we are introduced to him beating up a bunch of thugs on behalf of a ghost. His apparent kick-boxing ability seems to derive from the training his eccentric father gives him on a daily basis, ambushing him randomly like Inspector Clouseau's butler, Cato, in The Pink Panther movies!

Although Ichigo's talent would make an interesting basis for a graphic novel in its own right, it is his even more unusual ability to see and interact with a n  shinigamin or soul reaper named Rukia Kuchiki that forms the basis for this novel. Again, no explanation is offered for this ability except, perhaps, that he has unusually strong 'spirit energy', and Rukia is shocked by Ichigo's supernatural abilities. Unlike Ryuk, the apple-eating shinigami in the Death Note series, with his frightful skull-like face, sutured flesh and towering body, Rukia appears to be an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl, yet she has already lived ten of Ichigo's lifetimes (p. 21). Her purpose is to perform konso, or 'soul funeral', to send whole (good) spirits to the Soul Society and hollow (evil) spirits to oblivion (pp. 22-5). 'Hollows' prey on humans and 'wholes' alike but are particularly attracted to individuals like Ichigo who bear so much psychic energy. When one homes in on him, Rukia offers half her power to Ichigo to help him fight it but he absorbs all of her power instead, leaving him to confront the hollow on his own.

Now a half-human, half-shinigami, Ichigo reluctantly forms a partnership with Rukia to help her fight other hollows while she slowly regains her power in the guise of a new classmate at Ichigo's school.

Although not as dark as Death Note, in which a teenager is corrupted by the power to kill people with the use of a mysterious notebook, Bleach is more like a superhero story with some very creepy-looking monsters! I like that hollows are not merely speechless horrors for soul reapers to dispatch but can express feelings and regrets. I also like the occasional humour and sarcastic banter between Ichigo, Rukia and some of his friends and family members, which many teens will relate to. From time to time, we are reminded that there is a big age gap between Rukia and Ichigo. In one case, Ichigo wonders what Rukia means by 'opportunistically' (p. 39), while Rukia curtsies when greeting another girl (p. 92) and struggles to learn about present-day popular expressions and drinking juice (pp. 87-8, 172-4).

The artwork is not bad although there is some variation in the realism of the characters' appearance - generally, they are more realistic when faces are shown close-up but sometines this order is reversed (e.g. on p. 100, Ichigo is more realistically portrayed in the middle frame of the top panel compared with his distorted expression in the large middle panel or his toddler-like head in the righthand frame of the bottom panel). However, the storyline and the artwork are good enough that it's easy to ignore these artistic discrepancies.

Overall, it's an interesting story, with a new take on the shinigami, plenty of action, a sprinkling of humour and the presence of both good and evil spirits. I'll be interested to see where the story goes in future volumes of the series.

Haha this is actually really entertaining!

After watching Bleach at least a billion times. Finally got the manga and i'm still obsessed.

I like Ichigo- he's really cool and acts all tough but he's actually a real teddy bear XD

I’ve seen about 3 seasons of Bleach and I really enjoyed it (cant remember why I stopped watching tho) and so I remember most of what happens up the that point but it’ll be nice to not have to sit through like hours of filler

It's time to do this again... (02. 2022)
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So, Bleach is my favourite anime so...

Now as the series finished this year, I thought that I should finally starting Bleach because I never read it before. I liked this first volume definitely enough to continue, we'll see how the story will development. I really like Rukia's character by the way.

Another great manga series that inserts itself nicely among my other reading, giving me a surprisingly enjoyable taste of action, characters, humor, and story.

Ichigo Kurosaki has always been able to see ghosts. It's been an unusual, useful, and slightly annoying talent to him, but otherwise the life he lives above his father's clinic with his two sisters is normal.

And then a strange girl, who calls herself Rukia and claims to be something called a Soul Reaper, comes through his window in the middle of the night. And when a nightmarish spirit called a Hollow attacks Ichigo's family, it doesn't take him long to realize that Rukia has brought a whole new world along with her; the world of spirits and souls, swords and energy from beyond the realm of the living.

From Ichigo's quiet Japanese hometown, to the perilous realm of the Soul Society and beyond, this story is amazingly well-crafted for something I originally expected to be nothing more than fights. The art is sharp and bold, the characters drawn so uniquely that despite the massive cast it's easy to tell them apart. More than that, the characters are each well-developed with their own histories, motives, and personality quirks, from Ichigo and his assorted group of friends to the Soul Reapers of the spirit world.

Overall, a well-balanced manga that includes both bloody fights and comedy, touching relationships and epic confrontations. In essence, something for everyone.

Süper başladı, bayıldım!

I watched about a hundred or so episodes of the anime as a teenager and loved it, so this, the original volume of the manga, was a fun nostalgia blast even though it was my first time reading it. The epitome of 2000s shōnen in all its glorious excess.