Oh my goodness, I loved this book! This is one of the best manga series I've ever read. Kurosaki Ichigo has quickly become one of my top favorite manga characters, as well. I loved his selflessness in protecting his family. I think the part where he stabbed himself with the Rukia's zanbakutou (sword) was very poignant. To me, it was a foreshadowing of all the times Ichigo would willingly risk his life to protect someone else. Action sequences are great; story is unique and gripping; art very good. I'd definitely recommend it.

Phew! It was a long journey . Took me a little over six months to complete the whole bleach manga . But it was worth it . I don't need to say much about this series (there's been already said enough). I love everything about bleach . It's setting , it's characters , the slick art , Uber action scenes . There's a reason it is considered as one of the best shounen mangas after all . Bleach's ending might've been a little lackluster but it can't take away the fact that it's still epic . Recommend this to people who love mangas and are ready to commit to a big series .

Bardzo mi się podoba

Love Bleach so much <3 glad to be re-reading it

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.

This manga is so effortlessly cool, I'm pumped to finally get around to it.

The "Thousand Year Blood War" trailer was randomly recommended to me on YouTube, which must have been fate, because I was instantly hit with what I knew to be years of epic manga and anime I'd missed. I'm so happy to say that this opening volume was freaking awesome!! Ichigo and Rukia invented badassery, and Tite Kubo's dialogue is somehow even funnier than the anime makes it out to be. Plus, his art. The sharp lines and edgy style are everything. Cannot wait to binge this manga.

oohh i was skeptical ab reading this at first but holy cowww its good!!! i didnt realize ive already finished the 1st volume

Forgetable.

You know why the big brother is born first? It’s to protect the little brothers and sisters that come after him. A brother telling his sister, "I’ll kill you"... You never, ever say something like that.

I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did! I will be continuing the series!

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.

I’m awfully aware that mangas aren’t particularly part of genuine literature however we can’t neglect the fact that they are part of the common art.
Such is Tite Kubo’s Bleach.
Although, generally, all shounen manga have a similar storyline to Dragon Ball nevertheless the plot in itself is exciting and has loads to offer. I adored the humor and the character’s development. The fights were a bit Mah (comparing them with Naruto’s rational fights in part 1 and beginning of part 2) and the power ups were somewhat logical without going Saiyan-ic. For all Shonen Manga lovers I believe Bleach will meet your requirements seeing as the concluding ark is leading us to a great finale.
Warning: the use of German and Spanish (for those who grammatically are acquainted with the languages) leaves much to be desired.

T/W- Violence, Gore

Bleach certainly didn’t hold back from the amount of violence, gore and blood. Yuck! As someone who is relatively new to reading manga, Bleach was a title that I came across one day on Instagram. It follows a young character called Ichigo, who is fifteen and can see spirits that don’t settle down and haunt the minds and bodies of others. Connecting with a soul reaper called Rukia, the two of them work together until she gets injured and Ichigo must take over. It was a really interesting premise but sadly, the graphic content of the illustrations was far too gory for my liking.