I know it’s been finished for a while but I still wanted to share my thoughts on the manga.

So I finally read the whole manga, I decided to catch up on everything and finishing Bleach was way up there on my list.

It was good! It’s much more fast paced than One Piece and that threw me off for a bit but then I was like “Oh cool, I’ll fly through this”.

I had watched the anime up to Hueco Mundo so I started reading from there. Aizen’s arc was perhaps my favourite. It was so well thought out and so intense. The battles that happened were killer and the characters weren’t so black and white. Like with Tosen, I did not like him. He was so annoying and he betrayed Sajin, who’s one of my favourite captains, but then in the end he was mad at the world. He had gone through a lot and he thought Aizen had the answers. In the end he didn’t but then for Aizen to just cut him down like he was nothing when he was going to look at Hisagi? I was appalled, where was the loyalty? But this is Aizen we’re talking about *sigh*.

Also the twist with Gin was heartbreaking. To think all that time he was doing it for Rangiku, he wanted a world where she would never have to cry again. I’m kind of mad he never got the recognition he deserved. After he dies he barely gets acknowledged even though he sacrificed so much. I’m kind of mad it felt one sided, I mean Rangiku was sad sure but it fell flat. But what a good double agent was he?! He was smart and he really fooled everyone. He could have killed Aizen if he had not waited so long. I never imagined that he would be scared to make a move but he was more human than we thought. It was good we finally saw his eyes.

Then the battle Ichigo had with Ulquiorra and Aizen. They were the best! It was at that moment when he transformed into his final form against Ulquiorra that I thought “Maybe he does have feelings for Inoue”. His final hollow form was badass. A little scary but he did the job. His battle against Aizen was also satisfying. I think Aizen went wrong when he took too long feeling himself and how powerful he was. Also Ichigo’s form when he was fused with Zangestsu was sexy and slick… it was everything! I did get emotional when it meant no more Zangestsu. To think all that time he was protecting Ichigo… but that’s for another blog. It’s going to be Bleach fever for a while here.

In the end Urahara was the only one as smart as him. Isn’t that funny? I feel like people underestimated him. They knew he was smart sure but did they truly realise how smart he was? Is it frustrating for insanely smart people to live in the soul society?

Then it was the Fullbring arc which was the most frustrating. That guy, he messed with Ichigo’s head. Ichigo never trusted him and yet he still fell for it! . Uh uh, that arc was about being wary of toxic friends. To be honest it was an arc about all types of friendships: toxic friendships, true friendships and old friendships. I was happy that he hadn’t lost his soul reaper powers forever and become a Fullbring person… urgh those guys. I’m sorry, apart from one or two I didn’t much like them. It was interesting though that there had been another substitute soul reaper other than Ichigo but we didn’t get to know much about him.

Why was he let go? Why was he a substitute in the first place? If I missed it because of my bad reading please let me know.

After this arc I feel like the manga was rushed. Between the Fullbring arc and the Thousand Year Blood War arc there are so many missing arcs. The characters have grown and it feels like time has passed and yet we didn’t get to see any of it. I feel like the mangaka, Kubo, was rushed. I’ve read somewhere that he was sick and that he had more of the story to tell but he didn’t get to. To his publishers, if you’re reading this, I’m disappointed! Bleach is a great manga, he should have been allowed to finish it in his own time.

Henceforth, because of that, the ending was a bit rushed for me. All of a sudden he beat Yhwach and then it ten years later. There are so many people that weren’t accounted for in the ten years later as well! What happened to Grimmjow, Izuru, Urahara and Yoruichi and so many more? I guess the I will Knot always love you novel will cover it but is it canon?

I kind of wish Ichigo had been more badass in the end and that we had gotten to see more of him fighting with two swords. He’s both a quincy and a soul reaper, I was hoping that’d give him an amazing power like he was immune to Yhwach or something. I don’t know, I was expecting more of a power up.

By the way how did he beat Yhwach? Man was so powerful it was stupid. All the quincies at the end were waaaaay too powerful. It got annoying, it took the joy out of the fight. For one thing why did they keep regenerating, if Toshiro or Kenpachi Zaraki kill you, you stay dead! You have no idea how much they annoyed me, urgh!

Overall, it was a great manga that got played. The battle scenes were the best and it show cased sword fighting in a non boring non cliche way. I’ve read that Bleach is very Japanese, especially the world shown in the soul reaper society, with the clothes and food and kendo. It also manages to be multicultural. Thanks to Kubo I have one more character I can cosplay as without too many problems, Yoruichi.  So I’m thankful for the manga, it was one of the best and I learnt a lot from it.

What about you? What did you think of Bleach in the end?