Bleach

I think I've mentioned this before, but I don't think I've given it it's own post. And with how much I love it, it deserves it's own post.


This is a manga/anime by Tite Kubo. It's about Shinigami (or soul reapers or death gods). The main character is Ichigo Kurosaki (I'm putting the first names first, and I'm pointing this out because in Japan they put the last or family name first. I figured it would be less confusing if I stayed with the American way of doing names.) Here's Ichigo:


At the start of the series he can see spirits and these monsters called hollows, which are spirits that have stayed on earth to long. One of these hollows attack Ichigo's home and that's when he meets Rukia Kuchiki.


She gets injured fighting the hollow and protecting Ichigo. Unfortunately, the hollow is still alive and is going to eat Ichigo along with the rest of his family. So, Rukia offers Ichigo a choice: he can die and his family can or he can let her stab him through the heart with her zanpakuto (sword or soul cutter) transferring her Shinigami powers to him, but it's not a guarantee that it will work. Of course Ichigo chooses the latter and becomes a substitute Shinigami. From there it is awesome and so much fun.

(Ahhh, there's a spider on my wall!)

One of the reasons I love this series is just the incredible amount of characters. Besides Ichigo and Rukia, the other main characters are Chad Sado.


I actually don't know his first name. Ichigo calls him Chad because he thought that's what Chad said when he told him his last name. He's huge (giant) and really, really strong. He's also part Mexican (either a half or quarter, I know his grandfather is Mexican). He has some special powers. His arms kind of transform (they still look like arms, but it's like they have a weirdly shaped glove on them that goes all the way up to his shoulder), and he can channel a powerful blast of spirit energy out of them.

Then you have Orihime Inoue.


She's sweet but very weird. And kind of an airhead. She also has special powers. There are two hair pins on her lapel that can transform into a shield of light, an attacker, and a healer (or more accurately a reverser, it reverses damage done).

And last but my favorite (or one of them, I have so many) Uryu Ishida.


He and Ichigo will never admit to being friends, but they fight along side each other and save each other all the time. Silly boys. He is the last Quincy. Quincys also fight hollows, but unlike the Shinigami (who purify the soul of the hollow and send it to Soul Society) the Quincy actually destroy the soul. Because of this there is an imbalance of souls if too many hollows are killed by Quincy. About 200 years before the Bleach storyline, the Quincy were wiped out by the Shinigami to stop the imbalance from happening (the Quincy wouldn't stop killing hollows even when it threatened to destroy both the living world and Soul Society). This is the main reason Ishida refuses to get along with Ichigo because he hates Shinigami and he blames them for his grandfather's death.

This last arc they are doing (there will be no other storylines after this one is over. I'm so sad) is all about this Quincy/Shinigami history. It's so good and heart wrenching. One of my favorite side characters, Izuru Kira, (I also have many of those) may or may not be dead, and there has been no up date on him for like 20 chapters. It's driving me nuts. This is the last you see of him.


The fact that they have stated he is actually dead means he could still be alive, but I'm not holding out too much hope. I'll be so mad if Kira dies. But let's stop talking about it. It's making me depressed.

Here are three of my other favorite side characters.


Shuuhei Hisagi, Kira you've met, Yumichika Ayasegawa, and Ikkaku Madarame.

Hisagi is for the most part pretty serious, but he can be kind of an idiot when it comes to women. It's hilarious.

Yumichika and Ikkaku are best friends. No one knows how they became friends or really how they are friends because they are so different. Ikkaku is manly man man who loves fighting and being strong and getting bloodied, and Yumichika probably the most girly guy in the series; he's obsessed with beauty and being beautiful and is really vain and loves clothes and shopping. But they're both idiots which is probably why they get along so well. And Yumichika really likes to fight too. You should all look up Ikkaku's Lucky Dance (don't do the English dub, the dubbing on this show is horrible, but subbed is awesome). It might be one of the greatest a things I've ever seen. Hahahahaha.

One of my other non main characters (although he's in the series so often I would say he is one) is Renji Abarai.


I love Renji. You actually start off thinking he's this really big jerk, but then you realize he is not at all, and he's awesome, and you love him. He and Rukia grew up together, so they are really good friends. And I'm pretty sure he's in love with her, but that will probably never be explored.

In Soul Society there are what is called the Gotie 13 (13 Court Guard Squads). They protect Soul Society. Each squad is headed by a Taichou (captain) and a fukutaichou (vice captain or lieutenant). Here are all the captains.


My favorites are 6 - Byakuya Kuchiki (Rukia's older brother), 8 - Shunsui Kyoraku ( one of the oldest captains), 10 - Toshiro Hitsugaya (the youngest captains ever. He is also really conscious of how short he is, he looks like he's ten. It's hilarious), 11 - Kenpachi Zaraki (he is crazy), 13 - Joshiro Ukitake (also one of the oldest captains. He and Shunsui are really good friends. He is also sick a lot). Okay so almost half of them are my favorite.

Now for lieutenants.


Couldn't find one with the numbers in English. But there are a few I've already talked about. 3 - Izuru Kira, 6 - Renji Abarai, and 9 - Shuuhei Hisagi. There are also 10 - Rengiku Matsumoto (5)3 blond with the pink scarf. She's actually really lazy, but she's very loyal to her captain) and 11 - Yachiru Kusajishi (she's just funny, she the pink haired little girl. She's just as crazy as her captain, who is also like her father). This last one, I can't really say that he is a favorite because he kind of goes unnoticed the entire series until this final arc. Kubo kills him and then he gives this man's backstory, and it completely changes your perspective on him. You find out he is actually this strong, steadfast, loyal, amazing man. Your heart breaks for his captain. I cried. Nope, not going to tell you who it is. I've decided. Hahaha.

That felt good to talk about Bleach. It's actually quite hard to talk about really geeky stuff with people who are not into it because they think you're a weirdo for wanting to talk about that much. So thank you for indulging me and thanks to whoever read this entire post. You're awesome and next time I see you, you get a hug (or a high five if you don't like hugs). Haha. I would encourage you to check out Bleach, the manga or the anime, both are good. Although if you watch the anime, make sure it is the subbed version (like I said, the dubbed is awful) and watch all the way past the credits after the first 20 or so episodes because they have this hilarious little shorts.

DDoG:
Tite Kubo. One, he is the author of my favorite manga in the world. And two, he is so talented. It's actually fairly common for manga that the author and illustrator are one and the same (American comics there is usually an author and an illustrator). Kubo's action sequences are gorgeous though. Oh my gosh, they are absolutely beautiful. It's amazing.