Bleach Season 1 Box Set Review
Licensed By: Manga Entertainment/ Viz Media
Genre: Action Adventure
Episodes: 1-20
Ichigo Kurosaki is a 15-year old school boy who has the ability to see ghosts. It becomes apparent that these spirits are lost souls lingering in the human world due to negative emotions such as anger or regret.
Eventually these spirits turn into ‘Hollows’, undead monsters that prey on living beings possessing high spirit energy. It is the job of ‘Soul Reapers’ to track down these hollows and either send them to the ‘Soul Society’ (a place where all good souls end up) or Hell (for those that were evil during their lifetime).
After an encounter with Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki, Ichigo absorbs some of her powers to become a Soul Reaper himself and manages to defeat a hollow that has attacked his family. Thus begins Ichigo’s life as a Soul Reaper, vowing to protect those in need against the hollows.
Although Bleach’s premise is somewhat original, it’s quite formulaic in execution. It rapidly becomes apparent that Ichigo is no ordinary Soul Reaper and as the series goes on he continues to uncover new and more powerful abilities much to the surprise to himself but not so much to the viewer.
So far Bleach follows the Dragonball formula of pitting our hero against greater foes as he gets more powerful himself. Anyone hoping for a character other than Ichigo to save the day may well be disappointed, which is a shame because Bleach boasts a strong cast, with some excellent character designs. A great example is the mysterious Uryu Ishida, the last member of a race known as the Quincies who battle hollows using a bow and arrow of tremendous energy. After building him up as an experienced and super strong rival to Ichigo, he is soon relegated by Ichigo’s untapped potential.
The first season perhaps devotes a little too much time introducing the main cast of characters and giving them a bit of background story. It takes until about episode 15 for the first season to pick up, when some charismatic characters from the Soul Society are introduced. However, by the end of the season, as Ichigo and friends are about to step into the Soul Society, there is a definite feeling of ‘gotta see the next episode’ that characterises other great shonen anime like Dragonball Z and Naruto.
Aesthetically, Bleach is a mixed bag. The artwork and character designs are very accomplished (even though Ichigo is basically a clone of Kyosuke from Capcom’s Rival Schools), and the show generally gives off a hip vibe.
The animation however, failed to impress. Whilst serviceable during the more mellow moments, the animation during the action scenes was surprisingly underwhelming, failing to display the level of choreography of the almost 20-year old Dragonball Z. Compared to the stylish kung-fu style animation of Naruto’s numerous key fight scenes, Bleach fails to excite. Ironically, the show looks its best during static shots where the viewer can sit back and appreciate the gorgeous art work.
Bleach boasts a strong soundtrack with quite a few memorable melodies that are always welcome, adding well to the show’s overall trendy atmosphere. The English voice cast is generally well cast barring a couple of Ichigo’s more annoying classmates. In terms of extras, Bleach doesn’t exactly push the boat out, consisting of textless openings and concept art.
So despite getting off to a slow start, Bleach Season One picks up just in time for a ‘must see more’ feeling to kick in, a common characteristic of a great shonen series. It’s a shame then that the quality of the action scenes don’t quite live up to the quality of the artwork which could have propelled Bleach Season 1 to must see status.
ROBERT SOMERVILLE
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