Dripto Chatterjee

When i first heard the name bleach on Animax i, like many people thought it was something weird but my take on it did a full 180 when i started watching it. It opened an entire new dimension to me for what an anime can be . It made me laugh, cry, rage, and made me feel all sorts of things i didn't expect form an anime at the time. I was in for a further surprise when i actually read the manga and realized the true potential and brilliance of TIte Kubo. Few mangakas exist who are able to create a universe so diverse and a story so gripping as Tite Kubo. The manga is the funniest i have read without it being over the top while the action scenes are well drawn out. The story is realistic(well as real as a story on souls and hollows go) and most of all the hero knows defeat. It has limited use of deus ex machina and each new enemy forces Ichigo and the gang to power up through training often after a crushing defeat. Its sad to say that the only reason such a brilliant show lost its fans was because of the numerous filler episodes which were placed at literally the worst points of the story you can imagine. I hope the studio makes a reboot of it sometime in the future as with HunterXHunter and FMA: Brotherhood. but in the meanwhile there is hope for the show as the much awaited final arc is being adapted and scheduled for release next year . The Thousand Year Blood war arc has the capability of resurrecting the show if they are able to iron out the issues caused due to the manga being forced to rush and if it is presented the way Kubo intended. I came across many posts dissing the filler arcs and i don't agree with the statement that they are bad as is most often stated but rather their placement in the continuity of the main story was appalling. The fillers are pretty good in their own right with the zanpakuto arc being a brilliant one and makes for an interesting insight into soul society and the story of the mystical weapons they wield. Another disparity i found is that certain event which are brilliantly timed for the manga were not so when it came to the anime which makes certain effects fall short of the impact intended on the viewers as they were originally written based on the average person's reading speed. so what should you watch it for? - despite fillers the main story progresses beautifully. - good character development. -BEST soundtrack and intro/outro songs of an anime. -Epic fight scenes -Strong female characters who unlike many other animes, do not serve as just eye candy for the viewers and play important roles in their world and are powerful in their own individual way. Example Yoruichi and Rukia. -Diabolical villains.No story is complete without a villain and Aizen and Yhwach both bring despair for the soul reapers whose millenia of supremacy are now challenged and they lie helpless before the unexpected magnitude of strength of the antagonists. -Great character design. -Above all, legendary sense of humor which is rare to come across in anime, with it often going the gintama route by taking a crack at existing japanese comedy tropes. Anime-7.5. Manga- 9. PS. Go read the manga. if you are bothering to read this i'm pretty sure you have time to read that too.