Someone from Hive recommended watching Bleach because it's popular and I may find it nice. I forgot who he/she was though, my bad, sorry! So I finally gave in last year and started watching the series.
I think I started watching during the Winter holidays last December because I thought I'd have time. Before Hive, I spend my free time watching animes, including the animes with a lot of episodes. Bleach was already on that very long list but after joining Hive, my free time became limited. So it took me almost 4 months to finish watching the entire series of Bleach, including the season they just released last year.
source: MyAnimeList
It's an old anime, from 2004 to 2012. The newest season was released in October last year. 2012 to 2022. That's a decade of hiatus!
I remembered during my cosplay era some of my friends and acquaintances would cosplay Bleach characters. I never knew the anime back then, but I know the name because it was the talk of the town. I even cosplayed one of the main characters from the anime even though I haven't watched a single episode of it. 😆
! [Do not click hehe]
It was so hard to find an old photo of me cosplaying Rukia but I found this one after searching random photos
The date in the photo is wrong. At that time, we still didn't know how to configure the camera's date and time settings. LOL
So what do I think of Bleach?
The first few episodes were fun. It was interesting for me because it involved some action scenes and the supernatural. I like this kind of genre in anime so after one episode, I'd continue watching until I didn't realize I'd been binge-watching it for the entire day/night.
Honestly, I don't know the correct list of seasons of this anime but I've grouped them. If you have watched it or are watching it, you'll probably understand me.
warning: some spoilers ahead
The first season was great. You know, those introductions, how one obtains powers, etc. The main character is Kurosaki Ichigo, a human who obtained shinigami (soul reaper in English) powers from Rukia, a shinigami and another main character. The shinigami and the Soul Society were introduced. It got more intense when Rukia was taken back to Soul Society and was imprisoned there, sentenced to death. Ichigo felt indebted to her and had to rescue her, leaving the human world to go to Soul Society. Many characters: humans and non-humans have helped Ichigo in his mission.
source: MyAnimeList
After the rescue season was the start of my getting bored. The next seasons were about the Bounts. They're humans that obtained special powers and they can live for a long time. The problem with them was they're "eating" souls, some of them from living humans. I would say that at first, it got me intrigued but later on, that feeling didn't really motivate me to watch as happily as I could.
The Arrancar season was a bit okay. It was fun to watch at first but this season was probably the longest and some scenes were dragging. I stopped watching Bleach for a few days or weeks just because I got so bored with this season. Don't be discouraged, it's just me. I just think they could speed things up and fight the boss right away.
source: MyAnimeList
Because the Arrancar season was very long, they had to insert another arc: The New Captain. Not a lot of episodes here so it was bearable to watch. The plot twist was epic as well.
To fully understand the Arrancar season, they had to insert the details from the past so there's this arc as well. I thought this would bore me again but apparently, I enjoyed this arc. The history of Soul Society was interesting because this was the time that Ichigo wasn't born yet and there were many familiar characters. The young version of the current captains was so fun to watch. You can see who's close to who.
source: Bleach Wiki
Then, there's the Zanpakuto rebellion season. The intro to this arc was good and made me curious. Zanpakuto is the sword the soul reapers are using, it's like a part of their soul and now this blade has a body, thus this rebellion. The middle of this season somewhat made me take a break from watching because it was too cheesy but I hang in there and finished strong.
source: Bleach Wiki
Finally, the anticipated big battle between the Soul Society vs Arrancar continued after all those intermissions. This battle got me hyped because I would see some characters' powers. I got tired of seeing the main characters' powers, there isn't much development there. If there was, probably a little. I enjoyed seeing new powers from the side characters and that made me interested in the anime again.
source: Bleach Wiki
After the Arrancar season, I thought there would be no more episodes left to watch but apparently, there were still seasons left: the Invading Army and the Lost Substitute Shinigami. They're better for me especially, the Lost Substitute Shinigami. The twist on who the real enemy is was the best.
That's 2004 to 2012.
I didn't think there would be a day that I would finally be free of watching the old animation style of Bleach. 😁
The music by the way is so nostalgic. I know most songs but didn't realize they were from this anime.
The latest season: The Thousand Year Blood War was outstanding! Animation, story, fight scenes, graphics - they're all excellent for me! There were so many secrets that were revealed in this season. It's a cliffhanger now, I mean not really, but now I'm soooo looking forward to the next season.
source: Official website Bleach Anime
The next season will be available in July this year.
My boyfriend caught me watching the latest season and he found it great as well so he added it to his watch list. I don't know though if it's good to watch the latest season because you might not understand who the characters are and what their history is but if you want to skip the very old Bleach, go ahead. All episodes of Bleach are already up on Netflix but only the latest season has English subtitles.
Overall, I say mixed feelings. There were many times I got tired of watching the anime but with this new season, everything has improved. I hope they keep it up so I won't get bored, and won't be disappointed in the future.
Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！
All photos are not mine.