mrobel - 2014-09-30 19:39:38

Overall Review:

Bleach is an amazing anime to start off with if you want to get into the usual anime fan base. The story, animation, music and everything works to the best they can. The opening are nice to listen to, especially openings 1, 5 and the 15.

Dubbed vs. Subbed:

Some people say that the dubbed sucks and that Johnny Young Bosch does a dreadful job at dubbing for Ichigo. But I loved the dubbed because I started with it and equally loved the subbed version, which many more people enjoy. They both do the same job, equally fine. The dubbed voices work very well compared to the subbed, especially the dubbed 'Getsuga Tenshou'

Characters:

You will get attached to the characters slowly but surely. All characters reoccur through the whole anime, excluding few of the enemies such as (SPOILER!) Gin Kariya or Aizen who die and isn't brought back. But you will love Ichigo and his friends throughout the show for sure because all characters play parts in this show. Even some enemies are hard not to love. Such as Ulquiorra Cifer or Grimjoww Jeagerjaques. Their personalities make them wanna love them. But you will see what I mean when you watch Bleach.

Music - Openings and such:

 Don't get me started with the music. They are wonderful and fit in too well to the show. The sad music, 'Here to stay" is beautiful and other bg music like Hollowed, Number One, Vasta Lorde, Nube Negra, Clavar La Espada, etc, just do justice at their finest. Openings are also amazing, such as Opening #1, #5 and #15 Change!, etc, are wonderful.

Finish up: 

To really say, this review is too broad, if i say so myself and might not list 'every little thing' (hint, one of the opening songs' band)(enough with the stupid allusions) But the only way to judge Bleach is by watching it, not just reading these reviews I want to tell. Give it a try. I know most people love short animes like Angel Beats! or Tokyo Ghoul, etc, but Bleach is a fine long anime. Watch it to judge it by yourself.

fadel.nyasia - 2014-09-14 06:21:50

HYPEBEAST SHONEN ANIME THAT NIGGAS WILL PRETEND TO LIKE TO LOOK NERDY CUZ THOTS LIKE THAT. NIGGAS THAT DON'T READ THE MANGA WON'T UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES THAT PLAGUE THIS ADAPTATION, ALTHOUGH THE SOURCE MATERIAL DOESN'T PROVIDE MUCH LEEWAY FOR IMPROVEMENT.

gabrielle57 - 2014-08-21 02:12:00

the best of the big 3 in my opinion sick ass villians and the soundtracks OH MAI GAAAWD

carroll61 - 2014-05-09 16:16:02

Ok, I have seem to overrate this anime since I'm a Big Fan of Bleach! And I will like to recommend to all who likes Shounen, Action or Supernatural Animes.

The main reason I like Bleach could be the Characters', Plot or the Fun in it but I don't really need a full reason to like this anime. For me, it's perfect.

I will try not give out any spoilers so here it go, my review on Bleach!

The plot/story in Bleach talks about ones' normal life changed after meeting a certain person. That one is Ichigo and that person is Rukia. Ichigo will face towards many hardship to protect everyone he cares about while Rukia is there to support him and also to protect. The more he wanted to protect the more he progressed through his fights.

I kinda like that Ichigo's only will was to protect everyone. It's kinda impressive since he had no desires or any other motivation in life at all expect that 'protecting' one. Since in other animes, there are motivation to protect but not so much put in effort to protect without seeing what you want to become or what is your future goal, like Naruto or One Piece. (I'm offending the anime! So please don't hate! They are actually my favorites!) Where Naruto wanted to protect the Leaf Village while wanting to be Hokage. And also in One Piece, Luffy wanted to protect his nakama while wanting to be Pirate King. Ichigo doesn't want to become anything so that kinda impresses me.

The Animation/Drawing Style is great. Bleach's Animation is one of my favorites throughout all the anime I watched. For me, I don't know how to explain it but I think everyone have different opinions..

Sound... um... if you're talking about the Dub. Well, Japanese Dub is excellent! Totally love it! But Eng Dub could be a bit of a problem since some characters voices don't match but overall it's okay but a bit off. I also love the Bleach OST! It's really thrilling and shows a lot of emotions. (Duh, of course! It's an OST) I can't explain in words but the OST is just awesome!

Characters, I really love the characters, I don't hate them at all! Not even once! Not even the Filler Characters! That makes me a True Bleach Fan! (Actually I might have a hate on the villains since they're villains after all but after I realize what their true intentions were and why, I felt sad and sorry for them.) Bleach Characters, let's say they're varieties (like any other anime) like a Noble, a Bunny Lover, an Emo, a Killer, a Nerd, a Creep, Charming, Beautiful, Annoying, Pervert, Bald, Jazz-Lover, Sandals, Troll Shopkeeper, Funny, Cat, Assassin, Shorty, Spoon, Lazy, Drunk and there are so many to name! People have some many opinions on these characters but I love them all! Anyway, let's put it that check out the characters yourself and they're great in my opinion.

The Fun in Bleach could be how much I like the arcs! Including the fillers, I actually love the fillers but many people hate it since it always appear in a middle of an arc but I'm okay with it. Also, a warning if you don't like fillers, just skip it, it's okay, you wouldn't miss match. Usually peoples' appetites on anime gets ruined during fillers (that's my thinking) so that's one explanation for the Anime Haters so it's best to skip the fillers if you don't like non-canon or just hate fillers. Back to Canon Arcs, let's say that it progresses the story and the main character (like any other anime) but it do shows some meaning in every arc and it's really exciting to watch through while finding that meaning. (like any anime arc.) Another fun could be the Characters as I said early people have many opinions on certain characters so the fun might come in the characters, too. Also the plot could be a good fun in the catch as I enjoy seeing Ichigo doing his best to protect and it shows the thrill of every turn he takes in his way.

Finally, overall!~ I guess, you could say that I totally obsessed with Bleach but believe me or not just give a shot! It's amazing! Just remember to skip the fillers if you are a filler hater! So I hope you like my review on my review. Thank You, for reading through.

PS: Yes, I do all the word outlining to make it eye catching and I will be now doing Anime Reviews and will be accepting any requests if I've finished that anime or have known it for a long time. So please do follow me for reviews. :3

brooke12 - 2014-03-05 01:00:42

As a long running show it is truly amazing. I'm not very good at writing reviews, I'm only doing this so i can recommend this to people.

I loved the story, characters, sound.. Everything. Apart from some of the filler. Most of the filler was still worth watching, but some was a little tedious to watch.

mwaters - 2013-09-09 14:27:57

The anime is really good yes it is but the story will just randomly switch from different story which might confuse the viewer a bit. although the epic battle will cover up for everything that changes in the anime Bleach has one of the super cool fight scene that i find really great. If your a big fan of battling genre this is what you've been looking for

douglas00 - 2013-08-17 19:02:26

Spoiler Free :)

Bleach is one of those shows that was hyped to all hell during it's rise to popularity. It was considered by many as the direct "rival" to Naruto, which at the time was booming. And soon after Bleach cemented itself in the "Big 3", and as any Big 3 member it's popularity went up drastically. It's a shame we can't say the same for the quality of the anime.

At it's core, Bleach takes a lot of it's ideals from Buddhism, that however does not trickle down into the main pipelines of the plot/characters, and does not add anything to the experience, so it's a mute point.

For the first couple of arcs the story is rather decent. It keeps building up suspension and adds all these interesting questions. It introduces you to this world filled with Death Gods and all manner of other creatures at a pretty reasonable pace.

Speaking of pacing, for the first quarter or so of the series it handles surprisingly well, nothing praise worthy but good enough.

The story takes a huge hit once Kubo starts rehashing the same arcs only with a fresh set of paint. At this point every aspect of the plot drops in quality and it only gets worse as the plot continues.

The big problem is that the story (plot wholes aside for now) has a lot of problems with focusing on the right characters. It tries to make you care about all these characters and their stories and it just doesn't work. Not to mention the overwhelming amount of character inconsistencies that only serve to hurt the story.

Moreover the story's answers are dull and boring with no creativity. It does a great job of setting up this great world, and then it just mucks everything up (similar to Sword Art Online). It also does the old shounen cliche of over the top villains with their over the top plans that just seem silly.

Also (and this does not factor in the end score in any way) Bleach has one of the worst fillers I've ever seen in anime. With some arcs even being cringe worthy, so I do not envy the anime only watchers of Bleach.

Lastly the anime doesn't end...per se, with the final arc of the story being cut out due to low viewer numbers. Again it sucks if you're an anime only watcher and don't follow the manga, cause you basically do not know how the story concludes.

As with every other review on this site, I will assume that this rating is for both art and animation. As such I will add em up, then average them to get the final score.

The Animation is the high point of the anime. For a 366 episode anime, it has a surprising amount of very well animated ones. You have the standard washed down animation episodes, but that's basically a given at this point.

The action scenes are really, really well done. With high action, sword flinging, power building, heavy panting, minor cursing goodness. Every swing of the sword looks fluid, with very rare cutbacks that are few and far between.

The animation in itself is nothing jaw dropping (ufotable) but for a series that is this long it does demand merit. Plus the fact that it has such a large number of well animated scenes is also very impressive.

And as for the aesthetics, it starts out pretty well, but then the charm that the series managed to pull you in with just disappeared, living you with a lackluster color pallet, that really hurt in setting the mood and atmosphere of the anime.

The sound, although not bad, is nothing to write home about. With no particular tracks standing out.

It has the sad themes, it has the battle themes, it has some character themes but none of these really stand out as something I would add to my playlist.

It was far from a bad OST though.

The openings however are all rather well made, with the very first one being my absolute favorite. As the series continues they do become more and more action heavy, and they suite each arc rather nicely. I remember that they always had me pumped up to watch the episode. I would say that Bleach has the best openings out of the Big 3 (of which I've seen every opening).

As for the dub vs sub, it's not even a contest, sub all the way. The dub has the usual Funimation fare, but everyone slacks. Johnny Yong Bosch has one of his worst roles here in Ichigo, and the rest of the cast does not pick up much either. All in all, the dub for this one is really bad and I highly recommend the sub, even if you are a dub watcher.

Oh boy...here we go.

If someone came up to me and asked what's the one thing I hate about Bleach, it would be the characters. And I think it is the main reason why this anime takes such a huge hit in quality.

The characters are so one dimensional they are basically cardboard.

The anime relies heavily on the cool factor, with most characters having 'cool' hair and 'cool' swords with 'cool' phrases that in actuality have the personalities of a ripe tomato.

Development is lackluster at best, and the little amount that it has is just lacking in consistency. Not to mention that it keeps introducing new characters to the fray without even fleshing out the old ones. Leaving you with a klusterfuk of characters that are uninteresting, dull and boring. And yet it wants you to remember them all...

The main problem (as stated above) is that the cast of characters is ginormous, on top of that it wants to give screen time to every one of them, which as it turns out was not a good idea. As such it focuses on the wrong characters, characters that the viewer has zero interests in, which results in a boring experience.

The main cast is decently fleshed out, at least they didn't muck that up, but still they suffer from negligence on Kubo's part that sometimes makes them take the backseat for other characters.

And all of this leaves you with characters that are dull having too much screen time, and characters that are interesting having to little. As I've stated time and again in this review, it's decision to focus on the wrong characters hurts the anime in a monumental fashion.

When your most interesting villain is the least fleshed out, has the least back-story and talks the least out of all the other characters, you know that something is wrong.

The first two arcs were highly enjoyable for me, but then the astonishingly bad fillers kicked in along with the rehashed plot, and my enjoyment just collapsed.

Bleach is without a doubt the worst out of the Big 3, and is an anime that I would not recommend you watch.

It sucks you in with this amazing premise only to let constantly let you down. The true fans were disappointed long ago, with the mindless fanbois being the only ones remaining.

Even if it's popularity grants it a place in the Big 3, imo it is not in the top 5 battle shounen, let alone the top 5 shounen. So stay away from it.

lbaumbach - 2013-07-29 14:50:12

If you can look past all the fillers and side-arcs, which can be an entire season long, it's a truly fun and fantastic ride.

some may also want to look past the 'boy-saves-girl' part of the show. The women are quite powerful, but there is that aspect in there.

Still, the show keeps you engaged from the beginning and as the world of bleach gets filled in it becomes more and more intriguing.

jay88 - 2013-07-19 07:11:05

I started watching Bleach 2 years ago and it was the first anime I watched and it remains my favorite anime ever. The characters are awesome, the action is outstanding, everything is just the best. The plot is really good too. I loved it so much! And if you liked this, you'll like Ao no Exorcist (slightly similar plot).

rheidenreich - 2013-07-08 02:48:34

I'll start by saying this was one of the first long running series I ever watched back when it started in 2004 (has it really been that long!?! lol) This review only covers the regular series, but might serve to cover the movies as well (of which I only enjoyed Memories of Nobody...which had one of my favorite characters from Bleach, Senna...but that's another review)

In my opinion the first two seasons of Bleach were the best...after which the series completely lost its way until it became nothing more than a bunch of side arcs laced together by a storyline that was watered down more and more with each successive season.

Story (4/10):

What started as a promising storyline; Ichigo taking on powers to save his family and further open up the strange world he was "seeing"; the humbling loss of his powers; going through anything to regain his powers to save Rukia; redemption in defeating Byakuya; the intrigue and ultimate uncovering of Aizen's betrayal, all made for a great story. You had decent protagonists, antagonists who were overwhelmed by Ichigo's determination and "saw the light".

Then the damned Bount Arc started. I completely understand the process by which studios don't want anime to catch up to their in production manga counterparts. Makes absolute sense. But why, when SO many other studios simply "end" the season and let the manga run its course until the next season, did the studios for Bleach decide to "continue" the series in those blasted side arcs that had no real bearing on the main story? Well the answer is, sales. And it's the quest for sales that lead to the undoing of this series after S2 in my opinion.

I mean did anyone care about the Bount? The Zanpaktou? (ok, I was interested for a few episodes selfishly because I wanted to see what happened with Kenpachi's and Yachiru's...but they were nowhere to be seen conveniently...dammit!! lol)

By the time the side arcs ended, they had to have an episode to recap, then some nonsensical in season arcs that also had no real bearing on the overall story. What I'm saying is that this process of storyline, side arc, recap, mini side arc method was rinsed and repeated over and over to the point where I felt no connection to the story, nor the characters. So many things were just left the way they were. Isshin Kurosaki is a perfect example. We get hints of something between him and Ryuken Isshida, but it's never explained. We're left to assume it's a Soul Reaper vs. Quincy thing.

It's this method of dealing with characters that really made me wonder what exactly is this series focusing on? The main story? The side arcs? Character development? Was there a message being sent? They try to do all, but really don't do any of them well.

As it limps through the rest of the storyline, Bleach begins to go off in rather silly directions. The Espada battles in Los Noches and in the living world are absurd...even for anime. Because of the lack of development for most of the characters outside of Ichigo, I didn't care at all if any of them lived or died. In fact, I started to get annoyed when the scenes would shift to non-Ichigo battles. Further proving that the studio had failed in character development (discussed later).

By the time we reach the main battles between Aizen and Ichigo, I could have cared less. Between the insect-hollowfied Tosen, all the female protagonist characters being maimed/injured and all of the Espada and Vizard being defeated...it was just too much.

Animation (6/10):

The animation for the series started out really good. I loved the 1st opening theme animation where Orihime and Tatsuki spray paint on the invisible wall. Little details, particle effects, were all decent throughout the series. But in later seasons, you could see the artwork decline. Lines were not as crisp. Scenery was not as sharp. There were moments of glory. Sunsets in some scenes were really nice, but in later episodes it looked very average.

Sound (8/10):

The one thing that kept me going with Bleach until its bitter (merciful) end was the outstanding variety of music used in its soundtracks. I only wish they kept that variety DURING the episodes and not just in the opening and ending theme songs. I discovered many great singers and bands thanks to numerous OP and ED songs: Scandal, Stereopony (RIP ;_;), Home Made Kazoku, Yui, Orange Range, UVERWorld, High and Mighty Color, Ikimono Gatari among many others.

Sound effects, environment sounds, etc were on par with what you would expect from anime. There were times I wanted to immerse myself into what the Soul Society was, but it never felt any different from what the normal world was...not sure if that was intended.

Character (2/10):

First off, there are A LOT of characters in this series. From the 5 main characters to the too-many-to-count side characters (who take turns becoming important and then are thrown back into the ether for several months if not seasons!).

Because of this, only the main characters have a chance to be developed...which is a failure after the first two seasons. The first season does a great job of developing the rivalry between Ichigo and Uryu. We get some insight into what motivates Ichigo and some tragedies that have made him the way he is. We discover a bit about Orihime's story as well as Sado. And we see the bond that develops between Ichigo and Rukia through a split second decision. This carries well enough into the second season. I really CARED about Rukia and felt some of the pain as Ichigo fought his way through the Soul Society. But this is where the problems begin with further character development. There SHOULD be 5 main characters, but as Ichigo makes his way through the Soul Society, you can see that it is clear that he is the main and the other 4 are just tagging along. Eventually those other 4 characters become "in the way" and Ichigo's personality itself is to blame (feeling obligated to save everyone). While admirable, those steps serve to completely squash any hope of finding out more about Sado beyond his abuello, Orihime and her brother, Uryu and his dad. Rukia becomes the sole exception during S2 as we get a chance to learn more about her past throughout the season while she's imprisoned and up to the turning point when Byakuya recalls how she came to his family.

For all of this development in the first two seasons, we really see nothing in the rest of the series to take note of. The other 4 characters get pushed further and further away from Ichigo to the point where they even fight separately. In a funny twist, each of the now lesser characters ponder over their inferior powers compared to Ichigo.

Aizen was an interesting character that they managed to screw up by the end. Why did every antagonist that Ichigo defeated have an "eye opening moment" and then, as if brainwashed...were all pals with him? Aizen was the exception, since he was sealed away...but the reason for all of his plotting was to battle someone of his equal??? That was his transcendence?? LOL What a failure of a villain.

Enjoyment (5/10):

If you treat Bleach for what it is...a shonen with little story, character or other development, you might enjoy it for awhile before it becomes a repetitive mess of BANKAI this and BANKAI that. I can't think of any conflict in the series that didn't involve fighting or destroying the enemy to gain a resolution. Thinking about that, I don't see how any message could be sent...which strengthens my thought that this series was meant to be nothing more than a mindless bash-fest laced with some cutie soul reapers and side characters.

Overall (4/10):

I can't fault Bleach or its creators for making it what it is. It's become a lucrative cash cow for them. But I can fault them for trying to pretend that this series was anything other than what it should be seen at face value. There is no depth, no focus and no point in thinking this series would be anything more. I slap myself sometimes when I think how much time I sank into this series, when I should have given up on it. Probably why I'm a bit harsher on it. I waited for it to take the turn it was never destined to make. And for that I guess I'm an idiot for believing! lol Save yourself some time and skip this series. If you do watch, stop after S2 because you'll never get the answers you were hoping to get for anything that happens up to the end of S2.