Ever since I finished AOT like 5 months ago, I’ve been struggling with jumping on a new anime until my friend recommended Bleach to me. A few friends recommended it actually so I thought fuck it I might as well give it a try. And I DO NOT regret that decision at all.
It took me a few weeks to start liking it though. And I say a few weeks because I wasn't consistent in how I watched the first 20 episides. If you’ve seen bleach before, you know that the first like 20 episodes are not very interesting because the story and fight scenes there are mid. I almost stopped watching because based on the first 20 episodes, I thought Bleach sucked. Another thing I was wrong about.
Bleach is actually very good, I just needed to be a bit patient and let the storytelling do it's thing
Bleach started picking up the tempo after the first 20 episodes, just as Ichigo and his friends made their way for soul society to rescue Rukia. Of course, all this was prefaced by some amazing first hand battles between Ichigo and Abarai in the human world. The first scene in my opinion where I started to get the anime feel. This battle was at least better than the ones in the fight between Ichigo and most of the hollows he’d fought up until this point.
Spoiler Alert!
If you haven’t seen bleach yet or are currently watching bleach, you probably shouldn’t read this because it’s packed with spoilers and you’d hate me for it.
We get to see the first release of a zanpak to’s shikai as Abarai’s Zabimaru roars in episode 19. We’re also shown Byakuya’s flash step.
I got hooked from this episode and I’ve not missed a single day of Bleach since then even on my busiest days.
Things just get more and more exciting as we watch Ichigo grow stronger as he fights his way through soul society, training for only 10 days under Uruhara to at least be able to survive.
From where I’m currently at(episode 63) I laugh when I remember how epic I thought Ichigo’s fight with Jidanbo was. Lol now I see that that was merely an appetizer as we wait for the main meal. The battles just get better as Ichigo fights Lieutenants, and his first Captain, Zarachi. Well, maybe his second(if we consider his first encounter Ichimaru as a battle lol).
Anyways, it’s been nice seeing the story unfold, but I have to say that the episodes 60-62 have been packed with some of the most shocking twists and reveals I’ve seen so far.
I mean, I enjoyed some of the twists in AOT. I said some of these 5 months ago when I wrote a review on it….
Oh yes, and where Reiner point blank tells Eren he is the armored titan and he and Bertholdt transforms and they go to battle right there on top of the wall. source
And boy was I shocked when I found out Eren was the manipulative mastermind behind his dad murdering the original owner of the founding Titan. The reveal that his titan had the power to not only see the memories of it’s past holders but it’s future ones opened my mind to a whole different plain and array of questions. source
But compared to the shock of my latest Bleach discoveries, lol AOT was child’s play.
The unveil of Aizen’s evil mastermind, beautiful! That fucker really did a number on the soul society. Who would’ve guessed Aizen could be that evil. Aizen basically represents an anime case of “be careful of the quiet innocent nerdy-looking guy”.
Not that I love what Aizen did, but let’s be honest, isn’t his entire plan just marvelous? From how he discovered that Uruhara hid the Hogyoku in Rukia, to his acquisition and control of Central 46 to assign Byakuya and Renji to apprehend and return her to soul society. Plus how he manipulated Hinamori and basically the entire soul society to get what he wants. Lord I don’t even know what word to use to describe his plan! Nothing short of cunning, wonderful, perfect!
But joining with the Menos Grande? Mmm I don’t know about that one. I thought Hollows and soul reapers are supposed to be enemies?
But man, is Aizen powerful! I have to admit that until now, I could’ve ranked him as the weakest captain because bro looked like he gets the last bite of the cake.
That guy didn’t look strong(or powerful) until in the big reveal. The techniques I’ve seen him use are very new and some of the sophisticated techniques so far.
Oh and should we also talk about the story of how Rukia came under Byakuya’s wing? I was shocked to find out the honorable noble, Byakuya Kuchiki broke some laws and for what, a taste of commoner coochie?😂 Lol jk. It was honorable what he did, defying the laws yet again by fulfilling his promise to Hisana and taking Rukia under his protection . It always bugged me why he never seemed to care for Rukia like she was actually his sister until that big reveal.
I know I just dropped a big load of spoilers on you guys(those who haven’t seen Bleach up until the part I am) and I’m sorry for that. To be fair though, I did warn you earlier though at the beginning of this post.
Myself, I don’t want any spoilers, but my friend who recommended Bleach to me is very salty and I can’t stop asking for more spoilers either (even though I don’t want them) because who doesn’t want to know happens next? You get me?
I feel like the fun is just getting started though because I’m at episode 62(kind of still early-ish) so there’s a lot more to be excited about. When I’m done with Bleach, I’ll be back here for recommendations, yall. Until then, enjoy this terribly long post full of spoilers and expect more like it to come in the following days because you know I'll be back here talking if something else comes up:)
A little banter over zanpak to
Which zanpak to would you say is the coolest up until this point? Keep in mind that I'm around episode 63, just when Aizen's deceit is revealed, so if you mention a zanpak to that appears somewhere after here, I probably won't know it yet.
Maybe this post isn't exactly focused on what the title says but what can I say? I started writing with my mind somewhere and I ended up saying a little too much.
All gifs are from tenor and cover image is from source