Bleach is coming to an end

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

Reading this thread, it seems Bleach is a god damn mess. I remember watching that shit way back in... 2005, 2006? It was alright for a while, mainly because it reminded me of another anime I saw as a kid, then I stopped watching it because I ran out of episodes to watch and never bothered with it again. I'm amazed they can keep this going for so long.

 

[Lieju]

Bleach is one of the series I only follow out of obligation at this point. It used to seem so good (compared to Naruto) and at some point it just became stale, mostly because of how dull the characters became.

That was always an issue with the series though. Many potentially interesting characters and relationships that just disappeared or were never expanded upon. So I always got lot of my enjoyement from the fandom that took those underdeveloped characters and let them realize their potential.

It really went downhill after the Soul Society arc... Looking back to it, it banked a lot on the plottwist element but that kind of conspiracy/murder mystery aspect to it was enjoyable. These recent revelations of the Big Bad being behind it all or whatever ring hollow since there never was a mystery. The Soul Society arc was about our heroes infiltrating a foreign world to save their friend while it becomes increasingly certain there is much more going on there. Looking back to it the mystery is not that good but at that time I was interested to know what would happen. But it became clear Kubo could only tell that one story, and had nothing after the big reveal.

Well, that's a bit unfair I think... The beginning of the manga sucked me in because it was different from a lot of stuff I had read so far. I liked Orihime, she was fun and likable, same for Rukia. All those things have been since forgotten.
I liked Ichigo, he came across as a jerk or a punk because of his demeanor but was genuinely a good person who cared for his friends. Now fighting for his friends is ALL of his character.

Chad was stoic, but nuanced and interesting, he has been dropped from the face of the earth.

The beginning of the manga did have its strengths that have been totally forgottenin favor of Kubo liking to make new characters.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Bleach and Naruto.

Come on One Piece end already so I can work up the willpower to watch every single episode.

 

[circularlogic88]

So, to steer this in a slightly more positive direction and not an echo chamber of "good riddance," what were some of your favorite moments from this series?

I'll never forget Ichigo's fight against Byakuya Kuchiki and Ichigo using bankai for the first time.

But my favorite segments were always when Ichigo would go into his Inner World and confront his Inner Hollow/Old Man Zangestu. No Shaking Throne still gets me pumped up whenever I read it.

 

[Super Cyborg]

So, to steer this in a slightly more positive direction and not an echo chamber of "good riddance," what were some of your favorite moments from this series?

I'll never forget Ichigo's fight against Byakuya Kuchiki and Ichigo using bankai for the first time.

But my favorite segments were always when Ichigo would go into his Inner World and confront his Inner Hollow/Old Man Zangestu. No Shaking Throne still gets me pumped up whenever I read it.

I honestly wish it wasn't all negative with the series at the end. I really did like this series at its inception, and thinking about it coming to the end and how much I loved it at one time, it's painful at times to think about. Kubo had some interesting concepts and great characters, but over time it became more and more apparent that he was not cut out to write a long running story.

As for stuff I really liked, I would have to say s lot of the stuff that happened before the SS arc. Chad was awesome when he shrugged off a pile of steel bars falling on him, and fighting a hollow he couldn't see with a light pole. The fight with Grand Fisher was very well done, and seeing the pain Ichigo had gone through and was still going through really got to me. Tatsuki was my favorite girl and looked like she was eventually going to become a badass to help with the fighting (one of my biggest disappointments). Rukia all around was just fun and quirky.

If I was to say a few things about after Bleach started to go down hill fast, there's a few that come to mind. After reading again the whole Aizen fight was so silly it was entertaining to read. Not good by any stretch, but I could enjoy the ridiculousness of it. The one part of the Fullbringer arc I enjoyed was when Ichigo realized all his friends had been turned against him, and I did like the despair he was brought to. As for the final arc, the fight against Mask de Masculine was fun, and the fight Mayuri had with Pernida was pretty fun as well.

It's sad because if Kubo had some small outlines and actually developed characters and plot, these stories that were told could've been very interesting. Instead Kubo just went with the flow and never planned stuff, and instead of developing character and motivation he made fight after fight happen.

 

[balladbird]

I still remember the smug response from Kubo when asked how long he will continue making Bleach and he said as long as he wants.

You're reading way more smugness in that response than was intended. He was basically just saying that he didn't have a plan for when it was going to end... not that anyone would find that hard to believe. XD

Seriously, for all the complaints a person can make about Tite Kubo's writing, pacing, and planning... and there's a lot to complain about... there's no denying that, as a person, he seems chill as fuck and pretty awesome.

When people were complaining about his manga to him, saying they could do better, his response was SINCERE support of them doing so, saying if they put their heart and soul into it, he was sure they really could make something better than Bleach.

in 2011, when it was discovered that Gene Simmons' son wrote a comic that outright traced art from Bleach, and fans pointed this out to Kubo, rather than getting mad or indignant, his response was basically "Wait, back up... Gene Simmons' son is a mangaka? What a crazy world we live in..."

He may not be the world's best storyteller, but I admit, I kinda wanna have a drink with him one day.

So, to steer this in a slightly more positive direction and not an echo chamber of "good riddance," what were some of your favorite moments from this series?

Oh, the Byakuya fight was a classic, one of the best in the shonen genre. I didn't really fall in love with the series until after it was at the point where most people say it started sucking. The Espada were my favorite characters, and scenes relating to them were my favorites in the series.

The deaths of Ulquiorra and Starrk kicked me right in the feels. The former not least of all because I was, at the time, one of the biggest shippers of Ulquiorra x Orihime that you'd ever find, and the latter because it was framed perfectly to showcase the tragedy of a good man committed to a bad cause, and the fact that there isn't really a "good side" in a conflict.

Definitely have to buck the trend of negativity in saying I'll miss Bleach. the last arc was a mess, but the series has been a weekly thing for me since my stint of homelessness back in '08, and it'll always be a fond memory for me.

 

[Mangod]

Having thought about it, I think Kubo's biggest problem is that he likes to design characters more than he does writing a long story arc, so he ends up producing more characters for his story than it reasonably can support. To quote the Tiny Toon movie: "feature length movies should not have 18 different plots. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourLinesAllWaiting]"

I believe Bleach would have been better served if it'd gone back to being a "monster of the week" series after Aizen's defeat (assuming the story needed to go on past that).

 

[Mahorfeus]

At first I kinda wanted to avoid this thread because of a lot of the negativity... but what the hell. I like Kubo. His art's good, and he has this "poetic" flair that a lot of mangakas lack - just look at his chapter names and the poems in the volume releases.

Beyond that, I'm not gonna bother trying to defend Bleach or anything, since at this point, it's rather obvious that it has its fair share of problems. The pacing is definitely one of them. However, as a fan of the series, I will definitely be sad to see it go. Especially if the rumors are true, and that it really will be ending in like, five chapters, which would be annoying as all hell.

I actually like a lot of the parts from this last arc, but a lot of them feel like they have been spoiled by editor interference. It's no secret that the series plunged in popularity during the Lost Substitute Shinigami arc (one I actually enjoyed, until towards the end), and it isn't exactly helped by the frantic, uneven pacing all throughout. Kubo introduced this diverse cast of villains that had the potential to be interesting, but so many of them have died off-screen, many without even getting to show off their abilities. And so few of them were actually developed as characters. It's a shame, because this was a chance for a lot of the underdeveloped characters to get a chance to finally show what they're made of. Instead, I am not kidding when I say that the main villain has killed more of the bad guys than the good guys have.

The main villain is horrendously overpowered, which makes sense, at least given the scope of the plot and what he has done to achieve that power. But it has made the prospect of defeating him seem virtually impossible, even given the hints dropped by Kubo regarding his weaknesses. It is rather obvious that Kubo is being rushed into a conclusion, which sucks, because the story just suffers all the more for it. I am going to stick with the story until the end; I can only hope that Kubo has enough chapters to give us something at least resembling a satisfactory conclusion. Even Naruto managed to accomplish that much, even after it shot itself in the foot with Kaguya.

On another tangent, I think that the long-running shounen manga series is dead. We still have the ones like One Piece that are still going on, driven by their popularity, but I think that the new trend is that series that end around 200 chapters seem to be doing better. From what I have seen at least, their writing tends to benefit from it. I hope that if Kubo ever does another series, he does one more in that vein.

 

[Something Amyss]

Huh. Coulda sworn both the Bleach anime and manga were already over. Ah well.

 

[Fox12]

That show I used to watch in high school? I stopped watching after they saved black hair girl. I may check in to see whether black hair girl ever ended up with orange hair guy.

You know, I could have swore the anime had ended already. Did the manga just keep going or something?

Due to a huge decline in popularity, they cancelled the anime after the Fullbringer arc. The manga was still popular enough to keep going and was already in the final arc when the anime cancelled, so it just kept going, for four long agonizing years.

If only Miura had Kito's work ethic, or Kito had Miura's talent.

 

[DoPo]

That show I used to watch in high school? I stopped watching after they saved black hair girl. I may check in to see whether black hair girl ever ended up with orange hair guy.

(as far as I watched) No, she doesn't. On the other hand, there is plenty of fan art that would claim the opposite.

Also, I think you've seen the best from the series. The rest is pretty much more from what you've seen. Only with more fillers. It even got an entire filler season at one point. Or rather, more than one, but one was the most aggravating - you have one season being the first half of an arc - finishes on a cliffhanger -> filler season -> the previous plot arc continues.

 

[Fox12]

That show I used to watch in high school? I stopped watching after they saved black hair girl. I may check in to see whether black hair girl ever ended up with orange hair guy.

(as far as I watched) No, she doesn't. On the other hand, there is plenty of fan art that would claim the opposite.

Also, I think you've seen the best from the series. The rest is pretty much more from what you've seen. Only with more fillers. It even got an entire filler season at one point. Or rather, more than one, but one was the most aggravating - you have one season being the first half of an arc - finishes on a cliffhanger -> filler season -> the previous plot arc continues.

Wait, how does that even work? Do they just follow new characters for a whole season? And how did the fans not carry the creator out of his house and beat him?

I remember thinking the second season dragged on too long anyway. I guess I got out while I was ahead.

 

[DoPo]

That show I used to watch in high school? I stopped watching after they saved black hair girl. I may check in to see whether black hair girl ever ended up with orange hair guy.

(as far as I watched) No, she doesn't. On the other hand, there is plenty of fan art that would claim the opposite.

Also, I think you've seen the best from the series. The rest is pretty much more from what you've seen. Only with more fillers. It even got an entire filler season at one point. Or rather, more than one, but one was the most aggravating - you have one season being the first half of an arc - finishes on a cliffhanger -> filler season -> the previous plot arc continues.

Wait, how does that even work? Do they just follow new characters for a whole season? And how did the fans not carry the creator out of his house and beat him?

I remember thinking the second season dragged on too long anyway. I guess I got out while I was ahead.

Not entirely new characters - it was still Ichigo and few of the others. They were helping out a new character, though. Some princess, if I remember correctly. It was also set at (so, definitely not during the current arc) and, to my knowledge, never really explained when, aside from Ichigo still having his shinigami powers.

However, the events from that season? Never brought up again in a meaningful way. I think the princess showed up a total of once more and even then it was for a very short time.

I don't know what people thought of it back when it came out, but I really disliked it. And I was watching way after the fact, too. As soon as I found out that the previous plot arc wasn't continued and this entire season was a filler I dropped it and went to watch the next one, then came back to the one in between. And when I finished it, I felt I might as well not have bothered.

 

[Raddra]

Jump: "Kubo, your series is tanking due to all the lame plot you keep introducing. Even the anime company which shovels dung on to the screen is cancelling the series. Finish your series."
Kubo: "Yes sirs." *plotting* . o O (bwahahaha, i'll drag on the final arc indefinitely!)
*3 years later*
Jump: "Kubo, we're on to you now. You're dragging this out as long as you can aren't you? Well done, but its over. We're giving you 4 more weeks to wrap up the series, its your own fault."
Kubo: "Aww.. well, ok. I'll have magic sword man reverse everything that happened in the last year of chapters."

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I found a series that's LIKE Bleach, but I thought did it better, and ended. I speak of course...of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan. http://www.watchcartoononline.com/thumbs/Nura-Rise-of-the-Yokai-Clan-Demon-Capital-Season-2-Episode-4-English-Dubbed.jpg

GOOD KAMI, this series. I could go at length on the beautiful art, the likable characters, the symbolism, how they explain their concepts in a way that makes sense, how when it gets going, it GETS GOING. This is a GOOD series, and I suspect that there are series that are like Bleach, and have done some aspects of it BETTER. This is one of these series, at least to me.

Nurarihyon no Mago (Literal translation: Nurarihyon's Grandson)(The original title of the series.) Isn't anything like Bleach, except maybe in that there's sword play in it. You don't have people just doing ass-pull stuff like standing in midair, or focusing then reappearing behind an opponent. Nurarihyon no Mago is chiefly concerned in actual Japanese mythology about Yokai. Especially considering Nurarihyon is supposed to be a very powerful and actually kind natured Yokai, who appears as a small, funny looking, harmless old man. Who invades peoples homes, then insists that he's the actual home owner. It's considered to bring seriously good fortune upon your household if you humor him and let him stay, but if you kick him out, your household will suffer serious misfortune.

The problem is, the Manga for Nurarihyon no Mago is finished already, while there is no plan to continue the anime past Sennen Makyo(Demon Capital)... Which is really unfortunate, because that's only about a quarter of the entire series.

Also, for anyone paying attention... Watch this at Hulu, or Crunchy Roll(it was there last I checked anyways), because watchcartoononline.com is a seriously suspect site for inserting malware on to people's computers.

 

[ArcaneGamer]

I found a series that's LIKE Bleach, but I thought did it better, and ended. I speak of course...of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan. http://www.watchcartoononline.com/thumbs/Nura-Rise-of-the-Yokai-Clan-Demon-Capital-Season-2-Episode-4-English-Dubbed.jpg

GOOD KAMI, this series. I could go at length on the beautiful art, the likable characters, the symbolism, how they explain their concepts in a way that makes sense, how when it gets going, it GETS GOING. This is a GOOD series, and I suspect that there are series that are like Bleach, and have done some aspects of it BETTER. This is one of these series, at least to me.

Nurarihyon no Mago (Literal translation: Nurarihyon's Grandson)(The original title of the series.) Isn't anything like Bleach, except maybe in that there's sword play in it. You don't have people just doing ass-pull stuff like standing in midair, or focusing then reappearing behind an opponent. Nurarihyon no Mago is chiefly concerned in actual Japanese mythology about Yokai. Especially considering Nurarihyon is supposed to be a very powerful and actually kind natured Yokai, who appears as a small, funny looking, harmless old man. Who invades peoples homes, then insists that he's the actual home owner. It's considered to bring seriously good fortune upon your household if you humor him and let him stay, but if you kick him out, your household will suffer serious misfortune.

The problem is, the Manga for Nurarihyon no Mago is finished already, while there is no plan to continue the anime past Sennen Makyo(Demon Capital)... Which is really unfortunate, because that's only about a quarter of the entire series.

Also, for anyone paying attention... Watch this at Hulu, or Crunchy Roll(it was there last I checked anyways), because watchcartoononline.com is a seriously suspect site for inserting malware on to people's computers.

And that is why I liked it so much. I don't know, I haven't had issues with it. At least not on my PS3 OR 4.

 

[twistedmic]

Besides, everything was quite predictable anyway: Ichigo faces somebody, then his opponent goes "but that's not my REAL power" levels up and they continue fighting. Ichigo pulls off a power up and wins. Rinse, repeat. Mind you, I enjoyed this bit, but I wasn't keen on the rest. If the show just stuck to this formula I'd probably have continued watching but I stopped bothering.

To be fair, that's the basic run down of any fight featuring the main character(s) from any Shounen-style anime you can name. Dragon Ball Z did that quite frequently with Goku, Gohan and Vegeta. From what I remember, the same thing happened in Naruto. I'm assuming that the same situation cropped up numerous times in One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh (though I never watched those).

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Besides, everything was quite predictable anyway: Ichigo faces somebody, then his opponent goes "but that's not my REAL power" levels up and they continue fighting. Ichigo pulls off a power up and wins. Rinse, repeat. Mind you, I enjoyed this bit, but I wasn't keen on the rest. If the show just stuck to this formula I'd probably have continued watching but I stopped bothering.

To be fair, that's the basic run down of any fight featuring the main character(s) from any Shounen-style anime you can name. Dragon Ball Z did that quite frequently with Goku, Gohan and Vegeta. From what I remember, the same thing happened in Naruto. I'm assuming that the same situation cropped up numerous times in One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh (though I never watched those).

In Naruto the winning power-up was generally a very negative thing, that pushed whoever did it to their breaking point. At least in the early seasons it was the "power-up" was getting the main trio to apply the things they learned, or them mastering an ability. One Piece doesn't so much pull the power-up angle, it's just a main character proving to be better in the end than their opponent. In Yu-Gi-Oh! it was always one of the players playing a until that point unplayed card of theirs, essentially the literal pulling of a trump card.