Ramblings of a Crowe

Bleach hits the air!

Yup! Yesterday, Bleach made its debut on Japanese television for the first time ever! It was a big day for us Bleach fans everywhere! I was incredibly happy to see they've kept the "retro" theme intact. And I mean "retro" as in back in the day when "funky" meant "funky" and not "bling bling" or "wicky wicky".

It veered a little bit off of the course of the manga, but not too so bad that the general prinicpals of the show were marred. I don't really mind manga adaptations, just so long as they aren't so far fetched them become stupid. Good example, Samurai Deeper Kyo. Bleach has a few minor adjustments, and that was all, really. For example, the scene with Ghost Girl was changed a bit, but it still followed the same concept. The humor was kept intact as well, which happens to be a big plus in my book. The jokes in Bleach are priceless, considering Ichigo has NO sense of humor what so ever. *laughs*

The first episode started off with typical character introductions. Ichigo confronts a group of thugs who have broken a vase of flowers with their skateboards. They try to bully him, but Ichigo isn't one to be bullied so easily and gives them the whatfor about being respectful of other people...including the dead. You see, Ichigo can see dead people. He sees them so well that they look like real humans to him. His spiritual powers are off the charts, though he's not sure why. His family is "fairly" normal, though his dad is a bit off his rocker at times.

At home, Ichigo fights with his father as his younger sisters each dinner. A new ghost shows up and attaches itself to Ichigo, sensing his high spiritual powers. His younger sister Karin explains to Yuzu (the other little sister) that she can't see ghosts because she refuses to believe in them (though she really can see them just as clear as Ichigo). Yuzu can't see them, though she senses them a little bit.

The next morning, Ichigo is watching TV and sees that something strange has gone on down town. While on his way to school, he meets his first "Hollow". Hollows are spirits that have become evil, and only devour the energy of other spirtis or people with high spiritual power. A black butterfly flies in front of his face and turns into a girl with a large sword. She quickly dispatches the Hollow and leaves without so much as a word.

That evening, Ichigo is thinking things over in his room when a the same girl steps through his wall and onto his desk. It takes him a moment to recover from the shock, then he kicks her in the back. Stunned and confused the girl lays on the floor, thens asks how Ichigo can see her. She's a shinigami. A soul reaper sent to find lost ghosts and send them to the other side. She also battles the Hollows. She explains this all to Ichigo, but he doesn't take her seriously. He pats her on the head and she then uses a seal to bind his arms and legs.The ghost that attached itself to Ichigo earlier shows up and she uses the hilt of her sword to send in over to the Soul Society. She then explains everything to him, using her own hand drawn illustrations of rabbits and bears, which Ichigo doesn't find very amusing.

Meanwhile, in town, the ghost girl from earlier is being chased by a Hollow. The Hollow nearly gets the ghost girl, but then catches whiff of something tastier. Ichigo senses something and tries to tell Rukia, the shiningami, but she just continues her explination. Only moments later does she sense what Ichigo sensed and can't believe it. How could a normal human surpass the spiritual energy of a Shinigami? A crash from downstairs send Rukia running and Ichigo is still bound on the floor. When Rukia opens the door, she's pressed back by a huge surge of spiritual power. It confuses her but Ichigo's little sister has made her way upstairs and begs Ichigo to help them before she passes out.

Rukia rushes downstairs and sees Karin, Ichigo's other little sister in the clutches of a Hollow. Ichigo makes his way down the stair too, much to Rukia's surprise. Seeing his sister in danger enrages Ichigo and he breaks the seal. Rukia can't believe it. No human should be able to do such a thing. Ichigo grabs a stool or crutch (I can't tell) and rushes to attack the Hollow. He gets nailed and Rukia chops off the Hollow's arm. Ichigo catches Karin and then Rukia tells him that the Hollow was attracted to his strong powers. This pisses Ichigo off and he rushes out to lure the Hollow away. However, the Hollow attacks him and Rukia throws herself infront of him.

Hurt, Rukia slumps next to a light pole. She can't fight any more and Ichigo is faced with a difficult decision. Does he become a Shinigami or let them all be eaten. Ichigo chooses to take Rukia's powers and fight the Hollow. Rukia stabs him with the sword and Ichigo chops off the arm of the Hollow. We see him standing under the street lamps, dressed in black samurai attire, weilding Rukia's sword. However, the sword is HUGE! Much, much bigger than when it was in her hands. It reacts to the spiritual power of the wielder and Rukia realizes that the pressing spiritual energy she was hit with when opening the door wasn't the Hollow's, but instead, Ichigo's.

Ichigo makes mince meat out of the Hollow and the credits being to role.

Welcome to the world of Bleach everyone! *claps* Looks like the next episode will introduce a few of Ichigo's friends and classmates! I enjoyed the first episode and am looking forward to the rest of this series. Bleach is a fun series. Pick up the manga if you have the chance, but it looks like this anime version will be a blast as well.

STAY TUNED FOR NEXT TUESDAY!!!!

*******

UPDATE:

Oh yes....the otaku idiots are having a field day with this one. As I predicted, many of the kiddies can't appriciate the music for Bleach...which is, extreamly fitting for the style of the series (but those silly otaku always know what's best, right?)

Oh, and the comparisons have already started. I saw where some idiot has compared Bleach to Full Metal Alchemist.

.............................Uh? Lay off the crack, genius.

Another otaku stroke of brilliance has called Bleach a Shaman King rip off. WTF!? Where do they come up with this crap? Lets see, ghosts, fighting, and magic powers = rip off of another show, right? *shakes head* That's about as similar as Bleach and Shaman King are gonna get...

I'll never understand otaku...I don't think I want to...

Even funnier, I happened upon another thread (I can't remember where it was, I think I got so disgusted I just closed the link), where some bozo was complaining about the fillers in Naruto...They hated the show because of the fillers...there were too many of them...

Um....okay...lets see...Naruto has JUST started the major portion of their filler episodes. Up until now, there was only a couple (and I mean a couple) that popped up, and they weren't bad at all. Other than that, Naruto has been following the manga practically VERBATUM....Of course, as the argument continued, some moron makes the brilliant statment that all anime adaptations of manga should be done like Full Metal Alchemist. Sure...I'll agree it was a good adaptation, however, for the sake of this argument I'd like to point out that Full Metal Alchemist DIDN'T FOLLOW THE MANGA AT ALL!

Why, why, why must otaku try and compare everything? Can't they just except a show for what it is? Everything becomes a pissing match with them. Even more annoying, most of them make these fly by the seat observations, not having even bothered to follow the manga of a particular series (EX: Bleach is Shaman King rip off).

*sigh* Oh well, I saw this coming, so it's too be expected...

Posted by Zoso at October 6, 2004 06:52 PM