Aizen,oh Aizen...
In other news, that backstory behind Ichigo and Chad's friendship is so cute. Along with Mizuiro.

4 stars.

Okay, I love the bonus story at the end and seeing how Ichigo and Chad became friends with Keigo and Mizuiro. I also wasn't expecting to see Mizuiro have such a rough relationship with his mom. I hope we get to see and learn more about those two.

I always laugh when Chad meets the captain Shunsui and poor Nanao is just throwing the petal over him like it's a movie. I'm also pumped to see Ichigo and Kenpachi's fight.

It's weird reading this and realizing that there are moments that I like more as a manga than as an anime.

Bleach 12 is similar to Bleach 11.

VOLUME 12: CHAPTER 99-107
Arc 2: Soul Society: The Sneak Entry

Renji was thrown in the jail due to his action. Captain Commander Yamamoto have lifted the ban on Shinigami bringing their Zanpakutou and all Shinigamis can used all their power to fight the intruder. Captain Hitsugaya warned Vice Captain Hinamori about Captain Aizen. On the next day, Captain Aizen was found dead. Captain Ichimaru is the prime suspect of Captain Aizen's murder.

Ichigo was healed by Yamada. Then they went back to the Senzaikyou. Captain Kenpachi appeared and fights Ichigo while Captain Kyouraku fights Chad.

Gli scontri stanno diventando sempre più accesi e li sto davvero adorando.

4.5

Ohhh hohohoho, the captains have stepped into the ring, folks! I’m not so sure our man Icihigo is leaving unscathed this time. How thick is his plot armor? Thicker than Kanpachi’s skin I hope. Chad, the main man, also has his hands full. Ironically, in another time, he would have accepted that offer of tea. Let’s give it up folks, kick back and enjoy the show. I’ve a feelin it’s gonna be a blast!

The Soul Society is in confusion and infighting.... when a Soul Society Captain ends up dead, lots of accusatory statements are made. It seems something is afoot on top of the execution scheduled for Rukia! I feel over the last two or three volumes you meet so many people you need a chart to keep track of them all...but it totally makes sense. You are after all at the Soul Societies Headquarters. To add to the high drama Ichigo meets up with....Kenpachi Zaraki- Captain of the 11th company! Chad versus Shunsui Kyoraku - Captain of the 8th company! Man...this is thick of heavy hitters and heart pounding action. Not...to...be...missed!

4.2 *
another hottie fight but I wanted to see more. Poor sado :( <3

Given that Manga, and especially Shonen is split up into bigger arcs as composed to volumes I will be analyzing and reviewing this by Arc. I also reread this manga over the span of 2 months, some days reading as much as 100 chapters a day. It would be quite tedious for me to review each 7-8 chapter volume. So this will be copy and pasted throughout all of the 72 manga volumes. That being said, if you're looking at this without having viewed the series...spoiler warning. I don't recap anything, but I also mention things that happen. If you want me to answer the question "Should I pick this up?" Yes. Even if you stop at the end of the Soul Society Arc. It's worth it.

Karakura Town Arc - Chapters 1-56 - Rating: 7/10
(The official page lumps this in with the Soul Society Arc however I feel as if they are two very separate arcs with two very separate themes)
- A fun introduction.
-An interesting premise on the idea of ghosts and demons (Hollows)
-Does a good job of introducing the characters and I especially enjoyed the love for characters like Chad, Orihime and Uryu as these characters would later lose more and more spotlight as the series went on.
-It is a bit of a monster of the week. When it works, like with Chad's introduction story. It works. But Characters like Don Kanonji felt superficial and very gimmicky. Which, fair. I didn't enjoy them as much.

Soul Society Arc - Chapters 57-182 - Rating: 10/10
-The height of Bleach
-Establishes an afterlife seemingly perfectly. Later on revealed to be full of plot holes and never fleshed out but hey! That's not an issue in THIS arc. The fights are top tier, the themes of Ichigo owing a life debt to Rukia and his passion and determination to rise above literally God's army is inspiring and to this day is why I love Ichigo so much. He doesn't have some grandiose plan. He doesn't have a major goal to accomplish. He is a protector by heart, losing his mother has made him sour to failing to protect those he cares about and he'll do anything in his power never to feel that helpless again. Very powerful stuff.
-The twist near the end of this arc is revolutionary and would make waves for the next 200 chapters onward. A perfect ending and set up for the forthcoming arc.
-The only issues I have for this arc would be Ichigo's lightning speed progression. The guy goes from being able to barely defeat a third seat to besting multiple captains in roughly 100 or less chapters. I get that that is the point and him defeating captains was more of a struck of luck, but progression and pacing wise it feels very unearned and a factor of "for the plot he needed to be this strong" It only seems as fast as it is because Ichigo's progression slows drastically down for the rest of the story moving foreword so it's only now that I make that criticism.
-Also, and this will be an issue in most Shonen. There are 13 Captains with 13 Vice Captains and seats that branch all the way to 10 I believe? Regardless, there's a fudge ton of characters that are introduced here and it can get a little jarring at times. Luckily, Kubo does a great job at making their designs and characters unique despite such a large cast.

Hueco Mundo Arc - Chapters 183-423 - Rating 7/10
-This is another arc where personally I would split it up into two separate arcs. But for the sake of this review I will simply refer to the first half of the arc and the later half of the arc. First Half 9/10. Second Half. 5/10.
-The first half of this arc is a great continuation of the last. Ichigo now struggles with his inner demons and it affects his ability to protect the ones he loves. We are also introduced to a deadly unknown new villains. The Arrancars/Espada to this day remain one of my favorite villain factions in all of manga enemies.
-Just so you're aware I would say the first half of this arc ends right around the point of Ichigo vs Grimmjow. Grimmjow is one of the first Arrancar that Ichigo faces. And he's also one of two Espada that he faces three times. The conclusion of that fight shows Ichigo conquering his inner demons. Where Grimmjow is very much fighting to establish himself. Grimmjow has to fight Ichigo to prove to his fallen comrades that he is as good as he says he is. He doesn't care about Aizen, he doesn't care about the rest of the Espada. It is very personal for him. For Ichigo, Orohime is within his grasp of saving and he views this as his "final" battle. It's my favorite fight in all of Bleach.
-However, this is where things start to take a bit of dip in quality in my opinion. We had a goal and we were striving towards that goal. Each character of the original cast coming to repay the debt they made to their friend who had risked her life to save them in the Soul society arc. But somewhere along the way it seems we just had a fighter fest. Captains would face enemies with no themes or character revelations. The Espadas got a little light but nothing that made their fights compelling. You almost just feel bad for the Espada as they were monsters turned into a military force by an unstoppable tyrant. But even that wasn't enough to make half of the fights interesting. Now, that's with knowing the outcome. These fights played little importance in the larger scheme of things. Where at least in the Hueco Mundo fights each match up had the protagonists striving for a goal. Rukia to defeat Aaroneiro to free her former superiors soul. Byakuya to defend Rukia. Renji and Uryu teamwork. Nel to protect Ichigo and get revenge on Nnoitra. Whereas Stark fought Kyoraku.....cause.....and Hitsugaya fought Halibel because Water vs Ice would be cool.
-This leaves me to the end. I won't say it wasn't satisfying that Ichigo was able to defeat Aizen. And yes, I do feel like his new power was earned. 3 months of training. But this was clearly a last minute decision to save Aizen for a later date and the show must go on. I do feel like it wasn't as satisfying as 200+ chapter buildup needed to be.

The Fullbring Arc - Chapters 424-479 - Rating: 8/10
-A very underrated arc. And yes, I acknowledge that rating wise I think the Fullbring arc is superior to the Hueco Mundo arc. That is mostly true. Though I like the first half of the Hueco Mundo Arc more than the Fullbring arc. The end of the HM arc really brought it down for me. The Fullbring Arc is much more concise and is actually the shortest arc in the series and works as a glorified Ichigo getting his powers back arc. But that doesn't mean its bad.
-When I read it originally back when it was coming out in 2010. (Cause I'm Old) It wasn't phenomenal. In fact, I hated it. But wouldn't you? It took just short of a year to get to the point that we were at. But upon rereading it, it gave much deserved love to the characters who hadn't been shown love in quite some time. The original cast. It was a very character focused arc. Ichigo never seemed more human. And despite me hating it before for taking so long, reading weekly can sometimes hurt these mystery based arcs. The twist is heavily foreshadowed and I really appreciated it.
-That being said, the end was super rushed. This was a big bummer for me. The villains this time around were humans. And the ones who had the most exposure and relations with these characters were the original cast who again....were humans. So to have the soul reapers, who have no connection to the fullbringers show up and basically no diff most of the fullbringers felt very forced and fanservicey to me. This very well could have not been Kubo's call. As the community was very vocal about their dislike for this arc as it was going on. But I appreciate it now much more as I appreciate character and story over big sword fights. Lol.

The Thousand Year Blood War Arc - Chapters 424-689 - Rating: 5/10
-And we're finally here. The final and largest arc within the Bleach story. And man...does it not stick the landing.
-That being said, this arc has phenomenal moments. Kenpachi's Shikai and Bankai. Ichigo's double swords. Renji's true Bankai. Rukia's Bankai. And many more. However, they are put together against the most break neck speed arc that I have ever read. Kubo was very ambitious when he introduced 26 new villains. However, most of them got barely any screen time and a lot of them even got off screened by higher level captains. This was unlike the Espada who each got a full double page spread for their Resurrections.
-Yhwach himself was a phenomenal villain but was dealt with swiftly and imo dirty. They did him dirty.
-There was just something off. The mood changed and it was very apparent. The villains had random powers instead of the powers reflecting their personalities or needs. The finale felt so underwhelming.
-Ichigo gets to be the strongest he's ever been....but he doesn't defeat a single person besides the main villain despite being in several fights.
-It isn't a good arc. In fact, I would say it's the worst. Hopefully the anime does a better job with this already mammoth of a story. 260 chapters is no joke.

This gives the story of Bleach an Overall rating of 7.4/10. Which to me is above average. It has it's ups and downs. It's not perfect. But when it's high, it's peak shonen. But when it's low, it's very forgettable.

I'm excited for the spicy flavours this volume has burst fourth into the fry pan that is this series. Mystery plot - death - politics - spooky ooky - dooky wooky (as once said by the great Alyssa Edwards). I'm intrigued. I legitimately thought we'd get some sensei Aizen being shady content, but uh, ya know, he dead. RIP. Cause he was so wholesome with Hinamori and then...

Chad is such a baddy b his spiritual energy scares hoes into submission.
"Never turn your back on an enemy!!! DIEEEEEEE"
*Chad proceeds to turn around*
"AIYEEEEEE... I'm sorry!!! D-D-D ON'T KILL ME"

Shunsui sensei may have to steal the bae title (the blossom petal bit on p141/2 killed me - so wholesomely flamboyant - and his outfit oof love a good man kimono). Idk I need more content containing him. But then again Ranguku also has the potential, she's such a baddie. The Kenpachi panels were INSANE OMG he's so fckn cool LIKE PLS PIERCE ME WITH THAT 11 PRONGED MOHAWK. Dw it's an actual mohawk.

Ok, tante, tantissime battaglie...

Possiamo far andare un po' avanti la trama?