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Reviewed by Shannon Fay There was a time when I had fallen out of love with Bleach, which broke my heart because it had been my favorite manga. I loved the art, the sharp characters designs, the humor, even the fights. But when the series shifted from the real world to the soul society (aka the afterlife) I lost interest. By leaving the real world, the series also abandoned my favorite part of Bleach: the wacky side characters who make-up the main character’s friends and family. I just didn’t find the soul reapers as interesting as the supporting cast back in the land of the living, so I dropped the book. Now that Viz is running Bleach in Shonen Jump, I decided I may as well catch up with the series. The Soul Society arc wasn’t that bad, but I am relieved to see with volume 21 that Ichigo and co., have returned to the real world. Here’s a quick plot recap for anyone who’s somehow ignored one of the biggest shonen series out there right now. Ichigo Kurosaki is a high school student who can see ghosts. It’s not a big deal until one day he sees a girl fighting a huge monster. The monster is a hollow, a disfigured, evil soul, and the girl is actually a soul reaper, a supernatural being who brings souls to the afterlife. When the soul reaper, Rukia, gets injured, she gives Ichigo her powers so he can finish the fight. After he does, they realize that Ichigo’s stuck with her soul reaper powers. With the help of some of his classmates, Ichigo fights hollows and whatever else comes his way. In the previous arc (the soul society arc) Ichigo and his friends Chad, Uryu and Orihime traveled to the soul society to rescue Rukia. The soul society had arrested Rukia and sentenced her to death, a charge which was actually just part of a larger conspiracy. The first half of the volume is used to wrap up the soul society arc. Kite Tubo is great at creating little moments that tell you so much about a character, and the first half of the book is chockfull of these. There were soul reapers featured who I hadn’t cared about before in the previous seven volumes, but this book actually made me feel like I was going to miss them when the main cast left the soul society. In the second half of the book, we follow the cast back to the real world. Summer is over and the kids are back in class. Ichigo meets a mysterious transfer student (one of my favorite manga clichés) named Shinji who rocks an awesome bowl cut as well as an evil agenda. The new arc gets off to a good start as we meet new villains and also learn some surprising things about established characters. While the first half of the book was calm and reflective, here the action heats up: at one point there’s three different fights going on at once. Bleach is great because it has both great action and great characters. I’m a little disappointed that Chad and Orihime, my two favorite characters, don’t get much to do in this volume, but hopefully they’ll get a chance to shine later. Just like the plot, the art can go from serious to comical in the space of one panel. Sometimes the action scenes are a little unclear, as everything becomes obscured by speed lines and yelling (a problem common to many shonen action series) but for every unclear fight there’s another one laid neatly. So, it looks like Bleach has hooked me again. Am I just setting myself up for another disappointment, or is the manga I loved really back to stay? I guess I’ll find out in next month’s Shonen Jump. Comment on this review of Bleach v21 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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