Brief Description: Ichigo Kurosaki is a 15 year old boy that has an ability to see ghosts/spirits. Because of his ability, he is able to meet a female death god (a.k.a Shinigami) named Rukia Kuchiki . To save his family and friends from unwanted soul-eating spirits (Hollows), Rukia transfers her Shinigami powers to Ichigo. As Rukia takes on a human shell, together they solve mysteries involving spirits and hollows until from the spirit world comes 2 other shinigamis explaining that it is illegal to transfer Shinigami powers to humans and Rukia exceeded the time limit to stay in the human world. After they sentence her death for breaking the laws, Ichigo snaps and swears to everyone he will retrieve Rukia by breaking into the spirit world.
Bleach, one of the "big three" in shounen anime (alongside Naruto and One Piece), is definitely a series worth watching. As with any series, there are ups and downs, but as Ichigo Kurosaki and his wide supporting cast of friends and fellow Soul Reapers fight to defend the world from evil, one can't help but be drawn into their story.
While I gave this series a rating of 10, there are definitely some things to be aware of throughout the show.
Violence/Gore: I gave this a 5 because this is an action-heavy series. Most battles occur between warriors wielding typical katana-type swords that are capable of transforming into more exotic (and more lethal) forms. While in battle even slight wounds tend to cause dramatic "blood spray" effects. Many characters are impaled with swords or other weapons, a couple have limbs severed, one gets beheaded, and one is sliced clean in half, although the worst violence usually occurs off-screen or is shown in an indistinct "shadow art" style.
Nudity/Sexual Content: Hmm, for this one I gave a three because while for the most part Bleach avoids unnecessary sexual content and fanservice, there are still some issues to be aware of in this department. One character behaves like (and even admits to being) a pervert much of the time, and has a fixation with females with large chests. Others comment on the chest size of some of the female characters from time-to-time, and one woman tends to wear clothing that exposes a lot of cleavage. Also, one girl at the high school is apparently a lesbian and has a crush on one of the main female characters. What stopped me from giving this a higher rating is the fact that throughout this long-running series, these inappropriate moments do not occur very frequently, especially in later episodes. There is, of course, the seemingly obligatory beach episode, where many female characters are shown in various skimpy bikinis.
Theological Themes: Another 3 here. Several unusual spiritual themes are present in this series, but cannot be discussed without potential spoilers...
Other: A 4 in this category, simply because there is a lot of minor swearing, mostly limited to h*ll and d**n, with a few instances of a** thrown in, usually uttered during the battles. Also, certain characters have a penchant for drinking excessive amounts of sake.
Things I Enjoyed:
I really like how the majority of the characters are good and noble of heart. Ichigo, the main protagonist, is willing to fight a seemingly unending number of enemies in order to protect his friends. Each of the supporting characters have their own motivations, whether it be honor, love, friendship, loyalty, duty, etc...but nearly all of them will put their lives on the line in order to defend their ideals and the people they care about.
While Bleach undoubtedly has a very large cast (the manga author admits he creates new characters to get around writer's block), nearly all of the characters are unique and extremely interesting. So even when the story shifts away from Ichigo, it's still enjoyable to watch.
Bankai! One of the reasons I watch shounen-style anime is for the moment during a battle where one character inevitably decides to unleash their full power on their enemy and the results are purely epic. I have yet to see an anime that takes those moments of awesomeness to the level of Bleach when someone decides to activate their bankai. I won't give spoilers, just watch it!
Things I Disliked:
My biggest problem with the series is the fact that they place a lot of filler material in at very odd times. Bleach is known for having a lot of filler, in fact, it has several whole seasons that are nothing but filler. I actually watched the anime before I decided to read the manga, so I didn't mind most of the filler, and some of it blends seamlessly into the main storyline. On a couple of occasions, however, the story literally stops right in the middle of a battle and switches over to a filler arc, which can get very confusing, and sometimes downright annoying.
While the action in Bleach is usually great, sometimes it can drag on for too long. Some later battles take several episodes to complete, and this can become tedious at times.
Final Words: If you like action-packed anime, then Bleach is definitely for you! If you really want to experience the whole story without filler interruption, then look up which episodes the filler seasons start and finish at and skip over them, or watch them after the main story. I would recommend that you not skip the Bount arc (the first filler) and the Regai arc, as they are the fillers that blend into the main story and they're actually really good!
If you decide to start watching Bleach, prepare to be hooked by the end of the second season and know it gets better from there!
