No wonder it won a prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award (in boys category) in 2005. Well deserved!

I'm glad that I tried to open this manga in my 20s. I'm sure to myself that I wouldn't appreciate it when I was younger. The only action-packed anime I let myself be entertained with when I was a kid was Rurouni Kenshin, and 75% of that fact was because Kenshin is the most adorable human being I saw growing up. I've been a shoujo manga fan afterward.

Gosh, the tears I shed reading this halfway through is so worth it. I've been in a reading slump for two days after finishing Kaiju #8. And I can't find the perfect manga to get lost in. I'm so happy this one caught my eye. I instantly felt nostalgia since this is one definition of my cousin's childhood. It may not be mine, but I was around that cousin of mine half the time, so I mostly remembered seeing these black-haired and orange-haired black-clad fellas. I'm just happy that I'm finally able to appreciate this today.

Bleach Volume 1 Review

Manga Rating: 5 stars out of 5.

Story: 5 stars out of 5. I loved reading this so much. It was just as hilarious as the anime is. I started reading it because I just finished the anime. I really hated the ending to the anime because it was not satisfying at all. The anime was also cancelled. I feel it was because of filler. At least most of the Bleach filler is actually good. There was only one filler season that absolutely sucked, but oh well. I know the manga continued on so I wanted to start reading it. It reminds me of when I first started watching the anime years ago. This volume makes me want to watch the anime from the beginning again. I can't wait to finish this series. I want to see Ichigo's real ending...although I already know what it is! Oh well. I'm still happy to be starting this manga! (For this review only I will write about the actual story line in the character section!)

Characters: 5 stars out of 5. I love Ichigo! He may look mean on the outside, but to be honest he isn't. Ichigo can see ghosts for as long as he can remember. He lives with his sisters: Yuzu and Karin and father. His mother died when he was younger. Later, he meets Rukia Kuchiki who explains that there are good and evil spirits. Wholes are the good spirits and hollows are the bad. When Ichigo's family gets attacked by hollows. He wants to save them. Rukia had bound him with kido which he ended up breaking. Rukia was shocked. She never saw any human do that. Ichigo goes after the hollow. He isn't able to do anything to protect his sister. Rukia ends up saving him, but gets hurt. She tells Ichigo he can become a soul reaper. She lends him power, but he takes half of it. Ichigo becomes a substitute soul reaper! Rukia later appears to him in the real world. She tells him that he needs to fight the hollows. That it is his duty. He tells her he doesn't want to. They see a little ghost boy being attacked by a hollow. Ichigo decides to save him and sends him to the soul society. Now he decides to protect everyone. Ichigo is my favorite character throughout the whole series. I loved watching him grow and develop throughout the anime. I can't wait to see him do that in the manga!

Rukia is alright. She isn't my favorite character. She is the soul reaper of Karakura Town. She is there to protect people from the hollows. You don't really learn too much about her. All you learn is that she is a soul reaper.

His sister's are really cute!

And his father is a little bit eccentric...(but I already know a lot about him!)

Also in the volume you get to meet Orihime Inoue. She is one of Ichigo's classmates. Her brother was killed in a car accident when she was younger. He is watching over her as a ghost. He gets devoured by a few other hollows and turns into a hollow himself. Orihime is almost hit by a car, but her brother pulls her out of the way.

Ichigo and Rukia run into her. Rukia notices the cut on her leg. Ichigo tells Rukia he remembers the incident. Her brother was brought to his families clinic.

When Orihime and Tatsuki are attacked by a hollow Ichigo comes to save them. Orihime is able to see him because her soul was taken out of her body. Ichigo hits the hollow, but he escapes. He saw the face of the hollow...which was Orihime's brother. Ichigo is shocked.

Later her brother explains to her that he was so lonely without her. She stopped praying for him. She just wanted to show him that she was happy. She didn't want him to think she wasn't okay. She wanted him to rest peacefully. Her brother fights the hollow form and disappears. It was a really sad ending.

Another character you get to meet is Chad! Chad is a pretty quiet character. I love Chad though. He inherits a cursed parakeet. He talks to Chad. Chad decides to protect him. At the very end he gets attacked by a hollow. He is brought to Ichigo's clinic.

12/1 update: Now I understand where the training in the live action came from. The online translations really missed a lot of pages. I'm glad I bought the box sets. I can't wait to read volume 2 next week. I'm glad I decided to restart! I love it again

*Read for Graphic Novel Book Club @Goodyear 3/2023*

I think there is going to have to come a point where I learn that I simply do not like most manga stories. A boy who is already very perfect and very special, gets even more perfect and special.