Bleach is one of the Big 3 anime that people love during the year 2000's. Alongside Naruto and One Piece they started how the Shounen anime should look like. And even now we can see its influence to some of the newer anime. But why did it end in a cliffhanger and didn't have a final conclusion to end the story? The anime ended in 2012 but the manga continues until 2015. And after more than 5 years this anime will finally return to animate the final arc of this story. And that's the reason why I decided to watch this show again.
"The Thousand-Year Blood War Arc" is the title of the final arc. It will be composed of 200+ chapters so it will be most likely 50+ episode anime. I'm excited in this final season since people are hyping on how dark this arc was. I don't know how true it is because I didn't read the manga (and I don't have a plan to) but instead I decided to rewatch the whole show. I already watched Bleach but it was the time where I don't have any interest to anime at all. I just watched this for entertainment and I usually skip lots of episodes due to fillers. Maybe I just watched 70% of the show and now I regret that. It's time to watch this again and see what I missed during those times. It is also to refresh my mind and preparation to the final arc. And after watching the first 3 arc this is what I have noticed.
Agent of the Shinigami Arc
Episode: 1-20
Now I realized how slow this anime in terms of story progression. This first 20 episodes is just the introduction of the characters until they enter soul society. Its not that bad actually but if this anime aired nowadays people will surely lose interest in it immediately. I get it that they need to expand the episodes so that the manga production will always be ahead. But for me it just ruined the anime.
I also get it now why Gege Akutami (creator of Jujutsu Kaisen) said that his anime is inspired on Bleach. Yuji Itadori is very similar to Ichigo and Gojo Sensei is also similar to Urahara. I didn't realized it until now but I can see how influencial bleach is. Its just amazing to think that this anime was once rejected to several manga producer but now it is so big that even influence some new anime.
All I noticed on the first arc is the slow progression and it huge similarity on Jujutsu Kaisen. I don't know what to feel because nothing big happened except for the execution of Rukia. When it comes to power, when can see that Ichigo is not that powerful but he keeps on growing. So I'll give this arc a 7/10.
Soul Society: The Sneaky Entry Arc
Episode: 21-41
This is the arc when they entered soul society. It started normal but as the story goes on, I can see that Ichigo power level is unbalanced. First he defeated a 3rd seat and then a vice commander. I don't really mind him beating those two but when he defeated a commander, I am so sure that there is something wrong with their power levels. This is unacceptable because even though Ichigo trains, his growth shouldn't be that big. The captains spend hundreds of years to be that strong and they got defeated by a 16 years old who trains in just few days. That's just absurd.
For the good side I would like to commend how cool their character design is. There is nothing special with the character design on the first arc. But after the introduction of the captains and their lieutenants I now appreciate how good Tite Kubo is when it comes to character design. Their looks is worthy to be called captains and their weapons are just cool. You can't expect that kind of character design in a 2005 anime so I really appreciate that.
Second arc is probably better arc but not the best. Ichigo started to show unfair amount of strength. I know it is shounen on early 2000's so its just normal to have cool and strong main character but logic wise it is unfair. Its just like a meme said that a villain who train for a thousand years was defeated by a 16 year old equipped with the power of friendship. Good thing the character design is so cool so I'll give this arc an 8/10.
Soul Society: The Rescue Arc
Episode: 42-63
The third and final arc for Rukia Rescue Arc. If in the second arc Ichigo's power is unbalanced then in this arc he is now overpowered. It seems that defeating captains is not enough. Now he even learned a technique that took 10 years for a captain to master. But for Ichigo it only took him 3 days. Now lets just say he is "Talented" enough to do that. How can you explain that he stopped the attack from Sokyoku. It is a weapon used to execute shinigami and it is believed to possess a power of a million Zanpakuto. Like seriously what's wrong with Ichigo's unfair growth in power.
The next one I noticed is the revelation of traitors. This is surprisingly stupid because it just look like they were forced to be a villain (lol). Gin Ichimaru sure do looks and acts like a villain and Aizen might be suspicious but Tozen is unbelievable. They didn't even give a clue that he is a traitor. He even fought with his life to stop Ryoka and he looks like a person with a sense of justice. So I don't really know why he was chosen to be a traitor. Is he just a character chosen to be a villain in last few minutes? Lets find that out later.
This arc is definitely funny and stupid. It is intense with all of the fighting but I'm really bothered by how OP Ichigo is. Even in Naruto and One Piece they are not OP during that time. And the villains are just funny. Its like they are forced to add villain in their characters. Its entertaining but I'll give this a 7/10.
This is just a first part of my long article about bleach. I will make sure to finish it before the final arc anime will release. And the next season is not that interesting so maybe I'll just watch 2 or 3 and focus on Bleach instead.
