BEFORE
If there was ever a soft spot in my high school years that I particularly enjoyed, it was watching anime. During these years as a teenager in the 2000s, I was quite bitter, annoyed, and mocked all of the time. Bitter, because I was surrounded by people who I thought were drenched in the stupid from the mainstream of that time, as well as pop culture and the Bush administration that left a permanent scar in the republican party. Yeah, don’t get me started with politics on this site. Annoyed, because of the people who were into the pop culture and the mainstream, and just wouldn’t shut up about it. Last, but not least, mocked, because they thought I was queer, and with my long hair at the time, they had an excuse to call me a girl and ask whether or not if I’m Native American.
I!!!!! AM!!!!! NOT!!!!!
So, I would feel most humbled going back home, playing on my Gamecube, Halo 2, roms that I downloaded, listening to Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes, Gorillaz, Pink Floyd, Metallica, watching The Simpsons deteriorate right before my eyes, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Lost, Malcolm in the Middle, and, of course, anime. These anime at the time were Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z (obviously), Inuyasha (haven’t cared for it in years, and don’t care enough to hate it), Big O, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note, Code Geass, King of the Hill, and lastly, Bleach. As much as I hated the 2000s, I can safely say that it was a good time for me to get into anime, as well as discovering both new and old. Even though I’m not into anime as much as I was back then due to personal disinterest on what is out there today, I can’t distance myself from what I used to watch, and I still go back and watch them to this very day. I will still watch Cowboy Bebop with love, and I’m showing one of my friends Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood to this very day, alongside Attack on Titan. And yes, there are still some remnant of anime that I’m watching to this day, such as Attack on Titan, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Dragon Ball Super (obviously), and Hunter x Hunter.
Bleach was a special case for me. Back then, the show was pretty new and fun to watch. It was bright, colorful, and it was entertaining for the most part. Even though I know the show went WAAAAAAAAY TOO OVERBOARD with the number of characters and exposition, I can’t unsee the show having too many great moments for me to stop keeping up. I even read the mangas too! ….which meant that I had to read the dregs of the final story arc.
I do have problems with the movies too. The first one, Bleach: Memories of Nobody was pretty forgettable, and the abridged version of that movie that TheAzureCrow did showcase why it doesn’t work. Bleach: The Diamond Dust Rebellion made about as much sense as The Episode of Bardock special, as well as being as memorable. Bleach: Fade to Black is my personal favorite of the four, or five, now that we have this new movie to watch. Surprisingly enough, I have no complaints about this film. The villains aren’t that bad either, even though they could have use a little more characterization, and it does make you want to know where the story is going. Bleach: The Hellgate Verse wasn’t my favorite, even though a lot of people like it a lot. Yeah, I only like 1 out of 4 of these movies, and as you can tell, they don’t do as well within quality.
I know nothing about this live action movie. I haven’t looked up a single review for this movie, but I knew that this movie was going to come out years in advance. However, I never kept up with the news, and live action anime films don’t even have a good reputation either. Ghost in the Shell is a good example of what I mean, and all of the Death Note movies are a prime example! However, Fullmetal Alchemist wasn’t that great for me, but I do feel that there was some effort put into making it good. So all I can do is be optimistic and have a mind that can pretty much be a clean slate about this movie. So, it’s off to NETFLIX: THE SAME SERVICE PROVIDER THAT GAve us…. Death………note.
After
Well, my mind has been settled about this movie after half an hour since I last viewed it, and I’m ready to say that this MOVIE. IS. GOOD! Those are the three words that I never say about a live adaptation of an anime movie, and yet I did it! There is now, for the first time in my entire life, a good, and possibly great, live anime adaptation movie! And guess what? It’s the adaptation on a series that people prefer Naruto over to dump on Bleach! CHOKE ON THAT HATERS, BECAUSE MY FANDOM HAS DONE THE IMPOSSIBLE AND DID IT FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, Bleach did a fantastic job of adapting the first 14 episodes of the series, and I applaud them for doing so. The action was done very well, and the CGI was pretty good all the way through, and that’s saying a lot. To me, from my past experience with Japanese films, they didn’t seem to have that good of an experience with CGI for some reason. It always looked artificial to the point that I never knew why they even bothered. the live action Death Note from 2008 is a perfect example of what I mean. This movie’s CGI is solid for me. It wasn’t used too much to the point where it looks like a video game, and it was used very wisely.
A lot of the adaptation that I saw was very pleasing for the eye of a fan. The costumes were spot on, the characters were spot on, but three each having a minor issue, but I will get to that soon, and you do get a short glimpse of Soul Society!
At first, I wasn’t quite sure why there were so many tall towers, but seeing how all of them symbolizes each squad, and then remembering how the place is for some reason a huge darn maze, it’s for the best. And when I said that the costumes were spot on, I wasn’t joking!
I watched this dubbed in English, and what surprised me the most is that they reprise Johnny Yong Bosch, Stephanie Sheh, Doug Erholtz, Paul St. Peter, and Derek Stephen Prince to respectfully play their roles as Ichigo, Orihime, Urahara, Grand Fisher, and Ishida. And even though they didn’t get everyone from the show to do the English voices for all of the characters, the voice actors for Isshin Kurosaki and Renji Arabai have also been in the series as different characters, like the voice actor for Isshin did the voice for Coyote Starrk, and the voice actor for Renji did the voice of Daiji Hirasago! Yeah….. You remember him…… ….do ya? Here’s a picture of him!
I HOPE YOU REMEMBER HIM, THAT WAY I DIDN’T POST THIS IMAGE FOR NOTHING!!!!!!
I do have some issues with this movie with some of the changes that they made. When Byakuya and Renji came into the human world, they said that Rukia must get her powers back before a full moon, or they’ll be sent back to soul society. Why don’t they just do it right there and then? For some reason Ichigo is a huge Bad Religion fan. You don’t get to hear any music from them (or at least I don’t think I did), and he has them plastered all over his bedroom walls. It just felt a little too weird for me. And the biggest change that they did for me was at the end. I won’t spoil it for you, so go and watch it for yourself.
There were other changes that I didn’t like, and I won’t list them all, only because I want to avoid spoilers. Other than that, Bleach was a very good movie. The characters were great, the effects were good, the action scenes were impressive, it doesn’t get boring, it’s entertaining, satisfying, and sticks with the (no pun intended) spirit of the original series! And to top it all off, it’s not only the best live adaptation of an anime, but also the best Bleach movie out there! Go ahead and watch it if you haven’t seen it yet!
Some Review Site 