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Bleach party Date: 2/26/2006 |
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BLEACH seems like your typical shonen fighting anime: Endow a teenager with special powers, throw some tough opponents his way and watch him develop cooler fighting skills. But it is not just a series of brain-numbing super-powered tournaments; Bleach is shaped in such a way that it appeals even to people who shy away from anime like Dragon Ball or Naruto. (Case in point: yours truly.) It doesn?t hurt that Bleach is a production of high quality. The animation by Studio Pierrot is great, while the script, although forced in parts, is filled with the right balance of drama, angst and comedy. The Japanese voice acting is also spot on. The soundtrack? Great J-Pop. But all of that is just the icing; the real pleasure in Bleach lies in its richly-developed characters and storyline. And yes, the comedy! It?s amazing how well the writers pull off the hilarious moments; sometimes it happens in the middle of angsty and tear-inducing moments! The first rule to remember when watching Bleach: people are not who they seem. There are many, many secrets to be uncovered, which is why we keep watching, episode after episode. The first few episodes are about Ichigo dealing with his new role as an ordinary student by day and Hollow-killing soul slayer by night (and sometimes by day, too). Of course, this creates many awkward situations for Ichigo who has to keep it a secret from his neurotic family. And it doesn?t help that Rukia has joined his school to keep an eye on him! The pace, however, really picks up when Ichigo enters Rukia?s world ? Soul Society, the place where the dead live. There, he has to fight the 13 division shinigami squads that are each governed by a captain and vice-captain. Did I mention that they happen to be really powerful and scary? Because of that there is plenty of katana-sparring. The action sequences are very well done and each shinigami?s weapons have special powers, which makes it all very entertaining. But the warriors do spend an extraordinary amount of time telling their opponents how they?re going to defeat them, and how futile it is for them to even try. (They?re almost always made to eat their words in the end, of course.) It gets silly after a while. But, what the heck, they look so cool doing it. Ichigo?s shinigami foes are memorable not just because of their powers ? they have compelling personalities as well. Bleach actually takes time to explore the backstory of some of the shinigami. Shinigami like Rukia and Abarai Renji actually have episodes exploring their pasts. It?s not surprising then that almost all Bleach fans have their personal favourite captain or vice-captain. (For me it is a tie between the kindly Division 13 captain Ukitake Jushiro and Division 6 vice-captain Abarai Renji.) It?s not perfect anime, however. The characters, for one, have an annoying tendency to state the obvious. When the 456th character exclaimed: ?It?s impossible! He?s turning his Zanpakuto into a sausage! How can Ichigo do this?? I wanted to reach into the television set and wring his neck and say: ?Okay! Ichigo is special! I get it already!? (No worries, Bleach purists; I was kidding about the sausage bit.) There is also plenty of lengthy expositional dialogue where the characters explain stuff ? and it oddly almost always happens before they beat the stuffing out of each other. Bleach is still running in Japan where some 70 episodes have been shown. Despite the hefty number of episodes, Bleach doesn?t feel tired at all, which is a testament to its storytelling prowess. However, because the story is divided into story arcs, you can actually watch it part by part. Recommended audience: There?s violence, and shedding of blood (the fighters seem to have an unlimited supply of it). |
| Source: Malaysia Star |
