User blog:LastationLover5000/Bleach: Then and Now



I never start blogs with the same pictures if I can help it, but these two seemed so fitting for the topic. I was bored this morning, and this idea struck me. Why not do a small recap of Bleach as a whole, where it started and were in the name of Arceus's holy rings we are now. Bear in mind, I'm not like Void or Sei, I won;'t be giving an in depth analysis to every thing of Bleach, simply because my mind is not capable of it, I am not smart enough. Now, everyone, turn on your favorite Bleach opening, ending, or something from the OST and let's do this.

Settle down, you're in for a long ride. From the author of Zombie Powder, we were presented with Bleach,  a manga which presented itself as a Supernatural Action Comedy. We were quickly introduced to our protagonist, Kurosaki Ichigo.

It obviously wasn't Kubo's original drawing style which endeared me to the series.

He is shown to be abrasive, quick tempered, violent, and ridiculously strong for a human. Oh, and his ~super speshul power~?

He sees dead people. This is shown to go in the family where his sisters have a similar range of seeing dead people, though his father can't. We are quickly thrust into the action and supernatural aspect of the series when Ichigo encounters the Shinigami Rukia, who kills evil spirits and sends normal spirits to the Soul Society. In only a few short pages, Kubo has introduced us to some very likeable characters, and Ichigo is forced to rise into a position of unwanted power when a Hollow, one of the evil spirits, threatens his family and Rukia cannot stop it.

And the viewers collectively shit themselves

Taking on Rukia's power, Ichigo slays the Hollow and the comedy we could expect resumes..for all of a few pages, however, Kubo lays on the drama and such in only the second chapter, which is fittingly called "Starter". He also proves he can mix his fights with comedy fairly well, and we're introduced to members of Ichigo's Five Man Band early. We find out Hollows aren't just mindless creatures, they have their own drives that make them what they are, some are just as sick as they were when they were alive. Oh, and Hell exists.

And it's bone-chilling.

We're introduced to two real problems for Ichigo pretty early on. Kon, the Mod Soul which gives us a bit more of a view on the Soul Society (who, at this point, merely sound like insufferably pricks), and Grand Fisher. The introduction of Grand Fisher gave us more insight into Ichigo's past, and exactly why he is what he is. Kon's introduction gives us Team Kisuke, who are vital for the rest of the series...or Kisuke is anyway, who are the rest of them again? ;);););) He's always watching, never telling. Would you trust those eyes?

The introduction of Uryu and Quincies only furthers the plot, and Hollows are made only more threatening as Bleach quickly shows it's Genre Shift is happening and fast. Chad and Orihime gain their own powers, and the Soul Society hears reports of Ichigo forcing Menos Grande (who was powerful shit back then), to retreat. Only the Royal Task force can deal with this? Everyone in the cast begs to differ

Shit quickly gets real when Rukia is taken back to the Soul Society to be executed. Ichigo, Uryu, Orihime, and Chad all undergo a training from hell, in which Kubo quickly foreshadows that things are not as they are when we see this. "A Shihakushou...and a mask? Is it a Hollow or a Shinigami?"

~Spoiler Alert~ It's both

Introducing us to the concept of Shikai, everyone's training finishes and the journey to the Soul Society begins. This is the arc that introduces more than half of the main cast, and produces a rich array of characters for us to deal with. While frowned upon for lasting awhile, it was a decent arc. Ichigo and his Five Man Band quickly either power through their opponents or are brutally crushed. Pasts of more characters are explored. Ichigo's powers are "explored" in depth a bit more as we learn more about the Zanpakutō as well, and Hollow-related foreshadowing runs rampant (though not as bad as Stephenie Meyer's "foreshadowing").

Just...damn Kubo.

The Soul Society starts to fall apart at the seams as loyalties are questioned, suspected murder within the ranks of the Captains. Old pasts are brought up, and this entire arc is basically exposition and action. Ideals clash all over the place, most notably with Ichigo and Byakuya.

Clashing ideals...black and white...Game Freak, you bastards...

Aizen and the Hōgyoku (the latter of which is the longest running villain in the series, Aizen is honestly more of the Hōgyoku's lackey), are introduced, and shit truly begins to get real as we run into the most broken power Bleach has yet to see. The objective of saving Rukia was fulfilled, and she and Ichigo part ways as we segway into the next arc.

This arc wastes no time in introducing new characters, and we quickly meet the Visored, as well as a new concept known as Arrancar. Hollows have slipped so far down the Villain Pedigree that this arc had to make them threatening by either giving their power to Shinigami, or turning them into new, mighty beasts we call Arrancar. Hollowfication and Shinigamification respectively.

Hollows are only further explored, despite being pretty much canon fodder now, and due to multiple defeats at the hands of different Arrancar, most notably the Sexta Espada, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, Ichigo undergoes his own training from Hell with the Visored, former Shinigami Captains and Lieutenants, to gain his own Hollow powers by fighting and conquering Hollow Ichigo, his inner Hollow. Aizen's plan to create the Ōken is revealed, and everyone else begins to train for the upcoming war with Aizen's Arrancar, who, due to the Hōgyoku's slumbering state, should not be ready to fight until Winter. Kubo shows us that Aizen surpasses anyone's pre-perceived notions into his plans when his Arrancar are ready months earlier. And then only further shows how much Aizen thinks things through by having him distract everyone with the newly created Arrancar while he kidnaps Orihime, whose powers are revealed to be God-like in their nature.

This leads Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu into Hueco Mundo, where they have to rescue Orihime. Like the Soul Society before it, Ichigo and company are introduced to a wide cast of characters, the Espada, Ten of the Strongest Arrancar which are designated to be their opponents. Kubo doesn't disappoint in using this arc to delve into the past a bit more, with Rukia, whose past was explored alot in the Soul Society arc, when she meets Aaroniero Arruruerie and nearly dies in her attempt to defeat him. Ichigo's powers develop as his third fight with Grimmjow occurs. This fight is the second best of the series, lower Ichigo vs Aizen and higher than Ichigo vs Byakuya.

Every member of Ichigo's rescue band gets their chance to shine, however, against the more powerful Espada, the Captains have to be brought in for anything to truly be effective, as even an ex-Espada is no help, while Ichigo pursues battle with Ulquiorra, leading us explosively into the Fake Karakura Town Arc.

It is in this arc that we finally see more of the Captain's powers, and all of the Hollow foreshadowing culminates, as Ichigo is remarks on becoming more Hollow-like until it finally becomes literal: Did I mention I fangirled over this moment? Like 9th, 10th grade and I fangirled over it.

Unfortunately, he never really went anywhere with it, which was sad. This Hollowfication and Ulquiorra's resultant defeat served as a bit of a plot device later, because Ichigo became disturbed and terrified because of it, unable to Hollowfy properly. During the fights in the city, we see the Espada fight firsthand, some fights are either disappointing or make you cheer for either side, we even explore a few Espada's backstories (two of which are truly heartbreaking, just damn Kubo). It shows us that Aizen is pretty much Kubo's Author Avatar, as he planned every thing that has happened in the last arcs. In other words, take Aizen out, Bleach wouldn't exist.

Did I mention he merged with the Amplifier Artifact Plot Device?

This arc bled right into the Deicide mini-arc, which only gives us more backstory, this time on Gin. Gin's fanbase solidified by this arc, and new fans erupted with a frenzy as his true goals were revealed. Aizen went through transformation after transformation, all in the name of attaining the same perfection Mayuri earlier professed to despise, while Ichigo is undergoing a training from hell. It culminates with what I will call "Battle of Decide". This battle is probably one of the best Kubo has shown, and it resulted in a rather shocking ending, Ichigo didn't win, but rather, Kisuke won it all with his seal. Ichigo lost his powers and it was time to start all over again: This was sad We are then introduced to the Fullbringer arc, which, due to the bit of wait involved, was subject to a bit of speculation. It did not go how fans wanted, though not everyone was a whiner about it. Kubo executed this arc much faster than the last, the pacing was better, the plot in just this one arc was, to me anyway, better than the giant Arrancar Arc (which I count as from the actual Arrancar arc to the end of the Fake Karakura, Deicide mini-arc). This is the first arc, notably where Humans are the main focus and get a chance to do pretty much anything. We are introduced once again to new characters and an organization to go with them. I want my first house to look like this.

The group, Xcution explains Fullbring to Ichigo and states they will help him regain his powers. They do this in the strangest method ever, by making him gain Fullbring himself. Ichigo gained and lost more powers in this arc than any I've seen. It went from awesome, to awesome, to a one-panel awesome, to "What The Hell Are You Thinking Kubo?"

The main villain is introduced slower than before and Ichigo doesn't meet him until later in the arc. This arc definitely focuses on Ichigo more as Tsukishima steals from him everyone he knows and things are truly personal for Ichigo for the first time when dealing with a villain. However, the entirety of XCution betrays Ichigo, even Ginjō, who had Ichigo's implicit trust, pulling off a Memory Gambit that rivaled Light Yagami's in effectiveness and steals Ichigo's power. Kubo pulls Ichigo from the brink of despair when the Shinigami return to give Ichigo aide, restoring his Shinigami powers. The end of this arc gives a bit of past on the position of Substitute Shinigami and Ichigo's badge. Ichigo proves unwavering loyalty to the Shinigami and his friends by killing Ginjō and deciding to remain Substitute Shinigami.

The next arc proves that Kubo knows what he is doing by now, and, it's been ten years, give the trolling demi-god some credit. A three-week long wait gave the fans time to speculate and Kubo time to drop hints that would make fans tear their balls or breasts right off with eagerness. The arc starts off suspenseful, with rather obvious hints bring dropped with anvils onto the fans' heads. Ooooh! Ooooh! I KNOW THIS! CALL ON ME, MAYURI-SENSEI!

We are quickly thrust into the plot with newly introduced minor characters taking on roles far to big for them, and war being declared two chapters into the arc", in a chapter fittingly named KriegsErklärung (Declaration of War). Also, character deaths''. The Quincy are brought back (everyone suspected that the moment Kubo dropped the anvil). Things get personal for Yamamoto for possibly the first time as well when Chōjirō Sasakibe is brutally murdered.

Everyone makes their preparations for war, and splits off into different directions to handle their own things, Arrancar come back after being gone for an arc, and Kubo has introduced characters they are legitimate threat to everyone involved. No one we know from the cast can possibly rescue the cast now. And did I mention Kubo is finally killing good guys? He has been notorious for letting them live after the most ridiculous of things. And this is just Ichigo folks, we have more.

I think Kubo knows what he's doing for this final arc, and, with what we've seen, it can only get better from here folks. Let us look fondly at Bleach's past, and look forward to the future.

P.S.: I am so sorry is this did not turn out as good as you may have wanted it to be. If you want an in-depth anaylsis over how Bleach has changed over the years, go ask Sei or Void. If you just want a way to kill time, then enjoy ^^