Ichigo can see ghosts. Then a soul reaper shows up in his bedroom and tells him he needs to carry a big sword and kill bad ghosts who are about to kill good ghosts...or humans. Ok, so it's more complicated than that.

There were some pretty bizarre elements here that I wasn't wild about- like Ichigo and his father constantly beating on each other, the obsession with Orihime's boobs, and the portrayal of the big bad thugs...but I can also see the appeal here so I'll probably keep going. You know, for research purposes. And because I like Rukia.

با انتظار برزرک رفتم ولی با یه چیزی مثل hunter x hunter مواجه شدم

"Ichigo Kurosaki: I see dead people."

Tite Kubo has made some errors in the pacing, but the first volume of Bleach is still a fun and interesting read.

"Give me the sword, Shinigami! Let's give your idea a try!"
"It is not Shinigami. It is Kuchiki Rukia."
"I see... I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. Let's pray this doesn't become the last greeting... for both of us."


What word should I use to describe the enormous amount of love I have for Bleach? I truly think that whatever I would use, it wouldn't fully express my feelings. It's an incredibly special story for me and its' MC, Ichigo Kurosaki, is incredibly special person to me (if there was one fictional character I could die for, it would've been him - I'm serious). After re-watching the anime over and over again and dreaming about reading the manga, I FINALLY got an opportunity to do so. I hoped to love it as much as I love the anime. Heck, I was SURE that I will love it as much.

And I did.

After finishing reading volume 1, I'm shocked how bloody the story looks like in the manga. It's something I did not expect at all (I probably should, but didn't). I am also very surprised by the other differences. To this day I lived with a conviction that the anime is a faithful adaptation of the manga - and it mostly is, but there are some things that either were changed or weren't even shown in the anime. And to be honest, I'm overjoyed to see all those differences, especially when it comes to the additional scenes. It's a story I know and love, but it's like I'm exploring it for the very first time. It's exciting! I'm looking forward to read the next volumes, it's so much fun

Bleach vol. 1 Summary: STRAWBERRY AND THE SOUL REAPERS. Ichigo Kurosaki has always been able to see ghosts, but this ability doesn't change his life nearly as much as his close encounter with Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper and member of the mysterious Soul Society. While fighting a Hollow, an evil spirit that preys on humans who display psychic energy, Rukia attempts to lend Ichigo some of her powers so that he can save his family; but much to her surprise, Ichigo absorbs every last drop of her energy. Now a full-fledged Soul Reaper himself, Ichigo quickly learns that the world he inhabits is one full of dangerous spirits and, along with Rukia - who is slowly regaining her powers - it's Ichigo's job to protect the innocent from Hollows and help the spirits themselves find peace.

Rating: 2 1/2 stars

Opening Line: "I feel it here..."

Quote: "Those who die and those that get left behind... They all feel alone!"

Good start to the story. Let’s see how the story continues.

I should have read this a long time ago but kept putting it off. And I loved it! This is the second time that I've come across shinigami's in manga's and I loved it!

Rant mode on

I hate this series more than most of anything else. It is clearly undermining the quality of shounens, it’s trolling away like there is no tomorrow, and yet many love its ludicrous plot and retarded characters.
Before you immediately press the dislike button for saying something bad about your religion here, let me at least try to explain why.

First arc: Bleach began as urban fantasy, with teenagers being able to see ghosts and fighting to protect themselves and their friends. It was very good in the first dozen of chapters as the aesthetics were great for this sort of series and in each chapter there was progress and immersion to the characters. I disliked the magical way the lead gained more power in the nick of time and won all the time but I was willing to leave it aside since everything seemed great as far as shounen go. The characters had different goals, the ghosts were mostly presented as people who died with a grudge and there was school romance in the air. Very nice so far.

Second arc: Then the setting shifted to Soul Society, home of the Death Gods who oversee the proper handling of the afterlife. It was quite the epic arc, despite dragging things along at times. It still provided lots of immersion to many characters and the worldview of the series in general, while also having a great plot twist regarding a traitor amongst the captains. The lead still kept getting stronger with the speed of light but I was still willing to leave it aside as the aesthetics and the immersion were great.

Third arc: Then came the introduction of the super ghosts and the Death God hybrids and shit began to hit the fan. The plot draged a lot, battles became repetitive and the story was a repeat of SS arc, only 1500% slower. It is here where the series went so downhill, I lost interest and loath ever since. Characters became caricatures whose only feature is their transforming sword, many seem to be in the story just to drag it with unimportant battles, character development became a joke. Tite Kubo clearly had no idea what he was doing anymore and kept ass-pulling stuff, while forgetting the rules he established himself a few pages before.

Fourth arc: As if that wasn’t lame enough, the third arc ended with the main villain finally beaten and the hero losing his powers. It could have been a fine point to stop the series, as it had completed all its main objectives. But no, Kubo was making so much money he decided to keep going. And to nobody’s surprise, he again makes the story repeat in the exact same way as the first one, only this time the newer enemies are completely pitiful and superpowers degraded from awesome mystical forces that someone gains after years of training, to simple magical devises. Even the protagonist got his powers back in a completely uninspired way. Plain dreadful.

Fifth arc: Same crap as before, a rehash of the SS arc, only this time the bad guys pose a threat for once. Kubo decided to finally kill a few characters instead of keeping them around without doing anything, which was a good move. He also kept asspulling nonsense, such as the very existence of the bad guys. They were supposed to have been killed off before the first arc even begins. At this point there were over a hundred side stories happening at the same time, and the plot was going literally nowhere. The sales became so bad, to the point where the initial plan to make it last for another decade was called off midway. Shonen Jump trminated the show and wrapped up everything in a hurry, and in a way that explained close to nothing. Nobody was satisfied, everybody hated Bleach as a whole, and Kubo is still counting the money he made out of this 15 year scam.

I understand that the action is good and a major magnet (albeit repetitive, random and usually ludicrous in terms of looks). I understand that some characters look cool (and not as close as interesting as when they were offering more than just big explosions). But I also understand that the majority of anime fans don’t care about the finer things in a series, like consistency or pacing, because if they did, this series would have a far lower rating than 8. It is nice brain dead action of cool caricatures but nothing more. And it’s not like this is the best of what modern shounen can offer. Naruto, One Piece, even Full Metal Alchemist, may have less exiting action overall but have bits of strategy in them and the story is definitely going faster and more interesting, with far more character development and immersion, and far less inconsistencies and plot holes.

If I need to get into more technical details, the art is quite good, character figure and action wise. Although the overall character drawings have improved over the years, at the same time the aesthetics in atmosphere-building that made the initial chapters so great have almost disappeared, while the snail-slow plot makes even the battles to feel like mostly aimless blahblah with stiff characters instead of good choreography. You literally get 2 or 3 pictures per page and usually empty backgrounds, where nothing happens at all. You can read 10 chapters in less that 10 minutes and you will think not even a minute passed within the show. And it’s ironic how the main battle song’s lyrics in the anime are “If you want to get some action, you need be the center of attraction.” Because the action is way too slow but since the series has such a fandom behind it, this is almost overlooked.

The characters are mostly cool or funny but not all that interesting as developed personalities. I mean, the main character, an angsty teenager, degraded from a sympathetic youth to an imba warrior that keeps getting his ass kicked yet wins all the time with ass-pulling power-ups. And if the angsty lead is less interesting that a berserker secondary freak with bells glued on his hair and whose sole motivation is to cut things just for the heck of it, you can see how this series has really messed up priorities.

Enjoyment reflects my view on this and it’s pretty low as I prefer story and character immersion to brain dead repetitive action. Overall, it was a good series at first and still is a good series to watch as brain dead action but it is nowhere as good as it began and doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance before more innovating works like One Piece or Full Metal Alchemist.

Ichigo Kurosaki is a 15 year old (why are they always 15???) student that has the ability to see, hear, and touch spirits. His ability leads soul reaper, Rukia, to him. When she is injured in battle she unknowingly transfers her soul reaping powers to him and thus begins his adventure.

This has such an interesting story and seeing as it is amazingly popular I'm hoping/assuming the author does great things with it. In this first volume I was a little confused by what felt like silly and senseless violence (like when Ichigo's father beats him for being late for dinner) but maybe this manga just isn't aimed at me as an audience, I don't know. It gets better as it goes along. The story is excellent, as I said, and each chapter builds up the world in tantalizing tidbits. I very much disliked Ichigo's whining and selfish act (it felt very cardboard and fake to me) but I'm guessing he gets over that as he turns into super awesome badass Soul Reaper Man. I hope.

Very much enjoyed. Onto the next.

For the start it was pretty good and i hope that next part will be even better.

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

I definitely see the potential of the series and I really enjoyed this volume