Bleach.

In Bleach Volume 1, Ichigo Kurosaki, aka "Strawberry" who is an average kid except that he can talk to ghosts. A late night encounter with a hollow introduces Ichigo to Rukia Kuchiki and the Soul Society. Before he knows it, he's a shinigami, enfused with Rukia's power and charged with chasing down Hollows. I come to Bleach having seen the first few DVDs of the anime series of the same title. It's fun to spend a little more time with the characters and get more involved in the story and in Ichigo's world. We watch the anime with the Japanese language track and I don't always read all the subtitles, so it's nice to read the translated manga.

Bleach 2 brings in more characters into the mix. First is Chad, the big smart "thug" of the school who has a huge heart and spirit power of his own. He befriends a cursed parakeet because he's the only one strong enough to survive all the bad luck that follows owning the bird. Of course the bad luck turns out to be a hollow but Chad holds his own. The second half brings Ichigo and Rukia closer together as partners. What should be an "easy" way for Ichigo to control how and when he leaves his body ends up leading to a funny and embarrassing day of mistaken identity.

Although Bleach 3 has the delightfully random Orihime on the cover, this volume is all about the Strawberry (Ichigo). The day is June 17th, the day that Ichigo's mother died and the day he stopped smiling. In this volume, Ichigo finally grows as a character. His motivations, emotions and abilities start to make sense. His deep-seeded stubbornness is also explained. Through a combination of flashbacks and a very long winded fight scene between Ichigo and a hollow, we learn how Ichigo's mother died and how her death has affected the entire family. An interesting side note is the father's reaction to Ichigo's emotional outburst at the end of the book. It was after that scene that I finally began to like Ichigo's father.

Bleach 4 further explains what Hollows are and how they are created. Ichigo and a popular TV psychic learn the hard way the danger of doing haphazard spiritual cleansing. A mystery also begins near the end of the volume. Someone other than Ichigo and Rukia are taking care of the hollows. Either that or her detector has started to misfire. The who behind the mystery is shown on cover but the how and the why is revealed in volume 5. Overall I like how each new volume brings something new to the overall story arc. Each one reveals more information either on characters or on how the world works. Volume 4 does both, bringing in more pivotal characters and better explanation to how the spirit world works.

As the cover art implies, much of Bleach 5: Right Arm of the Giant is about Chad and his unusual abilities. As Chad is honing his strength we are treated to Uryû Ishida's back story as the last Quincy. Finally there is Orihime who is also coming into her powers. Although there are the usual fights with Hollows, Bleach 5 is mostly about Ichigo's friends (or soon to be friends). It's about their back stories, their abilities and how they are important to Ichigo. The Hollows here are just to show what Ichigo's friends can do without him. I like Chad. He's not the typical stupid heavy. He's quiet, embarrassed by his strength but he's smart. He's also very nice, even if he's not the most social of characters.

Although "Hat and Clogs" is on the cover of Bleach 6, he is waiting in the wings to clean up the mess that Uryû and Ichigo create. Volume 6 is the breaking point in the current rhythm of the series. It is also the point where the Soul Society's role in the universe is finally explained. They keep the balance of souls between the two worlds. Unfortunately Uryû and Ichigo have thrown that completely off kilter. Can they put things to rights? Can they work together long enough to fix the mess? And finally, will all of this go unnoticed? Of course not.

Bleach 7 takes the series in a new direction. The fallout from Ichigo and Uryû's Hollow competition leads to Rukia's arrest. Can they save her from certain execution? Most of this volume is a long drawn out fight between Ichigo and Rukia's captors. Lots of sword play and posturing. Needless to say, Ichigo gets his ass handed to him. In all of this abuse he begins to learn that he might have powers and strength beyond what Rukia has given him. He also learns first hand the prejudices of the Soul Society. The second half of Volume 7 focuses on the training of Ichigo and his friends. Ichigo's training re-emphasizes the theme of balance from Volume 6. There is a fine line between becoming a Soul Reaper and becoming a Hollow.

Bleach 8 is a pause in the action, a deep breath before the entry into the Soul Society. Although Bleach 8 lacks the action of the previous couple of volumes, it has one of my favorite scenes: Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper but at a tremendous price. He also learns the name of his zanpaku-tô. There are also brief glimpses into the Soul Society but so far we are uninitiated voyeurs. Characters are introduced and back stories hinted at. This volume will be fun to go back and reread with a few extra ones under my belt.

** spoiler alert ** It's been two months since my last Bleach review. Other reading commitments have gotten in the way of the reading for fun. I took some Bleach volumes along for the ride during our Oregon road trip but I only managed to read Volume 9. In Volume 9, subtitled "Fourteen Days for Conspiracy" Ichigo and his friends make it into the outer ring of the Soul Society. Unfortunately there's the little problem of the four gates blocking the inner circle. If they can't go through the gates the only other choice is to go over them. That's where "Rukongai's Premier Fireworks Expert" comes in. Her plan though is in Volume 10. On a bittersweet side note, Chad is briefly reunited with the spirit in the parrot who serves as a tour guide as Ichigo et al. get their bearings.

Up until volume 10 of Bleach, I've enjoyed the manga and the anime equally. Volume 10: Tattoo on the Sky breaks that trend; I enjoyed the anime more. Volume 10 spends most of its effort on showing how cool and scary the different captains of the soul society are. On the flip side, Ichigo and the others are learning how to control their spirit power. I really liked this training scene in the anime but here it falls flat. But the largest chunk of volume 10 is devoted to Ichigo and friends coming head to head with the captains of the Soul Society. Lots of slashing and posturing and onomatopoeias and very little in terms of plot progression. I know from previous volumes that this series goes in cycles and I know from sneaking peaks at Nanashi-inc, I know things are going to get exciting really soon.

Bleach 11 picks up the pace now that all the members of the Soul Society (and their aunts and uncles) have been properly introduced. Now that we know who they are; let the blood shedding begin! In the process of fighting in their scattered way and trying to reconnoiter, Ichigo and his companions learn more about the Soul Society, it's different companies, the layout of the compound and most importantly, where Rukia is being held. While the relationship between Renji and Rukia is set up to be the big dramatic reveal of "A Star and a Stray Dog," I much preferred the comedic scenes with Hanatarô Yamada of the Fourth Company and the tour through the sewers.

Bleach 12 is basically Bleach 11 The Revenge. It's more fighting, more bloodshed, more posturing over spirit power and an explanation as to what it takes to be a captain in the Soul Society. For most of this volume I was pretty uninspired but it all. There's only so much escalation of violence one can take before it gets repetitive and silly. Bleach 12 hit that point for me. The best parts of the volume were the scenes that explained Ichigo and Chad's friendship. Chad's back story explains a lot about him and why he is so loyal to Ichigo.

Bleach 13: The Undead relies heavily on more bloated spirit energy battles. The biggest battle in this volume is between Ichigo and Kenpachi Zakari who is what Ichigo could have become if his friends hadn't intervened. Kenpachi relies on his brute strength both in his physique and in his spirit energy. Kenpachi is where Ichigo was back in Volume 8 except that he's never advanced beyond that critical point in his training. In the process of learning about Kenpachi's underlying weakness Ichigo returns to the strange abandoned urban setting where he first learns to meld his strength with that of Zangetsu. His return to this metaworld gives hints as to its true power and to Ichigo's destiny. I liked Bleach 13 more than the previous couple of volumes. It felt like the story was getting back on track even if the battle with Kenpachi Zakari took more of the pages than I would have liked. At least his battle was a means to further exposition.

Bleach 14: White Tower Rocks has convinced me that now is a good time to take a break from reading the series. I'm getting tired of the never ending escalation of opponents and spirit energy. The newest one, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, I've actually seen in an anime clip that was posted on Nanashi-Inc awhile back. All I can say is he's more impressive in the anime than in the manga. In the manga he reminds me of a demented kachina but he doesn't instill in me the visceral reaction he did in the clip. Bleach 14 gives a false sense of forward progress. Rukia nearly escapes. Ichigo nearly manages to single handedly rescue her only to almost be mortally wounded again. I know Ichigo is supposed to be stronger and more determined than what anyone has ever seen and if he can learn to hone his powers but after awhile it pushes the suspension of disbelief well past the breaking point. In the early volumes, a lot happened in each issue. There were always a couple hollows to dispatch, friends discovering secret powers and the odd relationship between Ichigo and his father. Now it seems that the rescue party is slogging through quick drying cement. Each new volume seems to have less in the way of plot progression than the previous one. That's not to say I totally hated volume 14. Yourichi obviously has an interesting back story and powers previously unrevealed which calls into questions her motivation for joining the team. Likewise, there are some weird after affects of Ichigo's near transformation into a Hollow. I have up through volume 17 which I will be reading and reviewing eventually. For now though I will be concentrating on different manga series.

I love how these smaller “beginner” storylines are getting more time to flesh themselves out and breathe as opposed to fitting the story to a single anime episode. The storytelling in the manga format is much more significant because even the filler and smaller storylines get more time and space to tell a complete and more satisfying story and explore everything they want to explore. I was surprised by how much world building and greater context these smaller and earlier stories provided, such as the first story giving our first small glimpse at Hell (a storyline that will only be revisited much farther down the line) and how the second story about the mod souls gave us a deeper glimpse at the inner workings of the Soul Society and how they sometimes make morally grey or even morally abhorrent decisions in their quest to keep balance between the worlds of the living and the dead. I like how we’re introduced to another major player so casually while also having him contribute to the overall world building without giving too much away or overly teasing anything for early readers. I was surprised by how much I liked this one.

This was a fun and fast read. I loved seeing the end of the protagonists training and seeing the main cast of protagonists come together to enter the Soul Society. It was interesting realizing this is the first time the author introduces the concept of Zanpakutō names and spirits, considering how big of an aspect it is in this world, but I liked how slow we’re introducing central concepts and not overloading the story with info dumps about lore at the beginning. I liked seeing hints of Kisuke’s past in this issue and I loved seeing Rukia’s reaction to learning about her impending execution. It was interesting being introduced to Gin and Kenpachi so casually here, especially since they seem like two random characters to introduce after knowing who they are later in the story, but I also felt that way about Byakuya and Renji’s introductions in an earlier volume. I think Tite Kubo just had their character models ready and wanted to introduce them in this issue. This had some great art and great moments but really functioned as a transition story, which is fine, because I’m easily excited to continue reading the next volume after reading this one.

This volume reminded me of why I fell in love with Ichigo’s character (and Bleach itself) when I first watched the anime. I had forgotten how much heart the character had and how much of his protective and kind personality was shaped by his mother. I loved how we get a deeper backstory for Ichigo’s family so early, and I appreciate how the story takes the time to explore the grief of losing a loved one and how it effects the entire family. I loved the insight into Ichigo’s family dynamic and further understanding of these characters and how they behave. I loved seeing Rukia be there as a friend for Ichigo during his time of grief. The part where Rukia tells Ichigo that she’s there for him whenever he’s ready to talk struck a chord with me. I loved Isshin’s serious moment with Ichigo towards the end, and I loved how the author was able to show his love for his wife and family and how he constantly uses humour to lighten the mood without spoon feeding the audience with expository dialogue. It was very interesting reading this volume knowing what I know about these characters and their futures (and pasts) and it definitely made it more interesting and added to the experience.

I liked this follow up to the previous volume and I loved how we’re transitioning to the first part of the larger narrative that will introduce many iconic characters and greatly widen the world building. I liked seeing Uryū and Ichigo become friends and I loved seeing Rukia realize she’s stayed too long in the human world and has come to love these people. The cliffhanger ending introduced two central characters in the larger part of the narrative and it was interesting being introduced to these characters like this, especially knowing where their character arcs are going and understanding who they are in the larger part of the story. This volume was interesting, and I can already see that we’ve entered a part of the story where the end of every volume will only want you to continue reading right away.

I loved this volume and how the story heats up for all the secondary characters. I loved that Chad and Orihime get to shine in this volume. I loved seeing these characters get fleshed out while also introducing interesting concepts to both. I loved how Uryū’s cocky hatred of Soul Reapers ignited a dangerous situation for all the secondary characters in this instalment, and I loved how it wasn’t all resolved in the end and this storyline continues in the next volume. I loved seeing the deeper backstories and powers presented by the secondary characters in this volume, and I think that this instalment solidifies the sentiment that Tite Kubo is at his best when he’s fleshing out characters or introducing new ones. I love how this volume made me invested in all the secondary and even minor characters.

A basic volume that initiated the beginning of the Soul Society arc. This entry was quick and to the point and I liked how the stakes were instantly raised by the main cast being separated in such hostile and unknown territory. We immediately learn how dangerous this place is in the previous volume, so to see such high numbers of Soul Reapers running around and knowing our protagonists are cut off from each other in an environment they don’t know, with powerful and dangerous Captains lurking around every corner, is an interesting and exciting way to initiate this arc and move the story forward. We get our first battle within the Soul Society but it’s with a lower ranked character and ends pretty quick.

This was a great entry in the series, and easily had one of my favourite fight scenes in the manga so far. I liked how we got a look at the backstories of Kenpachi and Yachiru, and deeper insight into those characters and their dynamic. I liked the twist with Rukia and Ganju and how their backstories cross each other, their connection and dynamic will shake things up while introducing a past character that will have a major role further down the line. This entry also briefly touched upon other major players in the series for the first time and it was interesting seeing them in this context knowing who they’ll become down the line. This was an interesting entry, and I mostly loved the artwork for the fights and how Ichigo begins to further understand his sword, along with the first appearance of another character in Ichigo’s inner world. I do think this volume introduces an aspect to Ichigo’s character that is a little poorly written, and that’s the fact that he does seem like a Mary Sue at times in the way that he can sometimes suddenly get stronger or gain a new power out of seemingly nowhere when the plot demands it, even in moments where he realistically should be defeated. That’s a small gripe though, and I’ll just have to see if that changes in future entries.

I loved Renji and Byakuya’s fight, and I love seeing how much Renji has grown to parallel Ichigo. I loved the fights in this volume, and Gin giving Rukia false hope was brutal and really solidified his characterization of a snake. I liked hearing Tōsen’s backstory and seeing his Bankai, as well as the reveal of Komamura’s face and Bankai. All the characters are slowly converging on one place and I’m excited for the final climax to take place.

This volume did a great job at introducing Arrancars as a menacing and dangerous threat. Seeing how easily they killed hundreds of humans and nearly killed Chad, Tatsuki and Orihime really raised the stakes, though I’d love to hear the explanation the humans had for so many people mysteriously dying, even with the memory wipe powers the Soul Reapers have. I loved seeing some of the Soul Reapers enter the human world to visit Ichigo, and I loved seeing Rukia return back to the human world. I liked the ending of this volume and how it explains the lore of the Hollows/Arrancars further and how it easily raises the stakes for the entire cast of characters up until this point.

I loved seeing Ikkaku’s Bankai and a piece of his backstory surrounding his past with Kenpachi and his desire to stay and die with him and not become a captain. I loved seeing Ururu go into “massacre mode” and seriously injure one of the Arrancar. We also get out first explanation of the Arrancar numbering system, as well as our first mention of the Espada. I liked the twist that the Soul Reapers were not fighting at full power, and I loved seeing them gain a power up, but I did feel like the Arrancar fights and deaths were better portrayed in the anime than they were here. I liked how this volume established that even these enemies were the weaker class of the Arrancar, and that our heroes struggled to defeat even them, which definitely established that their enemies far surpassed them in strength. I liked seeing Grimmjow’s punishment and the small look into the world of Hueco Mundo and how Aizen’s rule operates. I liked seeing Chad go to Urahara for training, and I loved the ending with Ichigo going to the Visoreds.