The ZONE Podcast: Nerdy News and Reviews
We, the Zealots of Nerd Entertainment (or the ZONE Alliance), are a group of eople talking about old and new movies, television shows, video games, and everything else in nerd/pop culture!
The ZONE Podcast: Nerdy News and Reviews
Bleach: The Xtreme Review (Part 1: Seasons 1-4)
We take a deep dive into the early arcs of Bleach, revisiting the series that deserves recognition as part of anime's Big Three alongside thoughtful analysis of its strengths and weaknesses.
• Introducing the Substitute Soul Reaper arc and its character foundations
• Soul Society arc delivers one of anime's greatest plot twists with Aizen's revelation
• Detailed character analysis including Byakuya's inner conflict between duty and family
• The controversial Bount arc receives mixed reviews from our panel
• Tite Kubo's visual storytelling and character design excellence sets Bleach apart
• Discussion of Bleach's unique manga features including between-chapter storytelling
• Exploration of Aizen as a complex villain with potentially valid criticisms of Soul Society
• Analysis of Bleach's musical components and their contribution to iconic moments
• Acknowledging pacing issues and the challenges of managing too many characters
• Why Bleach deserves its place in the Big Three despite its flaws
Stay tuned for our next episode where we'll dive into the Arrancar arc and continue our comprehensive review of Bleach!
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DISCLAIMER: The thoughts and opinions shared within are those of the speaker. We encourage everyone to do their own research and to experience the content mentioned at your own volition. We try not to reveal spoilers to those who are not up to speed, but in case some slips out, please be sure to check out the source material before you continue listening!
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- J.B.
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what's good, nerds? It's jet black extreme. And welcome back to the zone podcast, the show where we like to talk about non-classic anime. That deserves its flowers. Today we're gonna do a redux on the bleach extreme review that we tried to do years before, like we kind of fell off not going a lot. There was like a whole bunch of things going on, like whether it's like personal things, or there were so many new things that we could be reviewing, but now it just got lost in sauce. So we're gonna try again. This time we're gonna make it a little bit more fast paced. So, without further ado, let's talk about the first four seasons of the anime, which would be the substitute Soul Reaper arc, the Soul Society arc and half of the Bounce arc.
Speaker 1:But honestly, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you I do not give a fuck. I watched it, but I just don't care for it. It's a self-contained story and it's not bad, but once again, I just don't care for it. Like it's a self-contained story and it's like it's not bad, but once again, I just don't. It's a bleach equivalent of vampire art. Well, at least it's better than Twilight, I'll give it that. But anyways, let's go ahead and get into the Subtlue Soul Reaper art.
Speaker 1:So essentially, with this art, it's introducing characters like Ichigo, rukia, uryu, orihime Chie. They are high school students Well, it's not Rukia, of course. They are, for the most part, high school students with the ability to see ghosts. And with Ichigo, his life changed dramatically when he becomes a substitute soul reaper, gaining the power to protect the living from evil spirits known as hollows. Uh, rukia, who's a soul reaper from the soul society, lends her power to ichigo, becomes his mentor of sorts, a close friend, guiding him through the new responsibilities that he had being a substitute soul reaper while dealing with her own struggles. Uryu, a Quincy, who's a descendant of a line of hollow hunters, pretty much like soul reapers and initially views Ichigo as a rival, but over time they become allies, working together to combat threats. Orihime, ichigo's classmate and friend, possessing unique healing abilities, which has become very crucial in helping her friends during battles, and become even more crucial when we get to part two of our stream review. We'll get to that later. Uh, and then we have chad, the hollow with a heart. I'll explain that later, but he's another one of each go's friends who develops spiritual powers and is fiercely loyal and use his strength to protect others.
Speaker 1:Now there's more other characters. That was introduced in the social garage substitute soul reaper art sorry and honestly like they're cool, but yeah, I'll just leave. Uh, open that up to the panel just a little bit. But essentially the vibe for the substitute soul reaper arc was that Ichigo received his powers, he battles the various hollows, learning about his powers, and then you have this whole thing about why Ryu hates soul reapers and what not.
Speaker 1:I didn't have a whole lot to say about the sub two-story arc other than the fact they just gave me the vibes, like I mean, I think yui hakusho did it first for me but essentially that introductory art to where, okay, monster of the week or some type shit, but ultimately it's about introducing new characters, bringing in the world, building like what's going to be going on, um, the overall vibe and tone of the series and I thought it was pretty good. But of course it really gets cooking when we get to the soul society art. So before we talk about that art, let's it up to the panel, which is why I'm glad I have Kogayasu and Talos Gundam on for this one. Let's start it off with Talos. How you feeling about Bleach as a whole so far?
Speaker 2:Hey, so you want to get my honest opinion of Bleach as a whole? Alright, cool. To sum it up, bleach as a whole fucking awesome, absolutely awesome. Bleach as a whole is awesome. It's one of the animators. In my opinion. I consider it to be the big three, one of the anime. That's in my opinion I consider to be the big three, one of the big three. I know a lot of people will be like that's debatable here and there, especially how it is with stuff, because everybody's like, oh, this is big three here. This is it when I consider big three. Big three for me was Bleach. Naruto One Piece.
Speaker 1:Hold on, I believe that too. But here's my thing. This might be a hot take, but Bleach, for me, is the bronze medal by default. Now hear me out, I say it's the bronze medal by default. Now hear me out. I'd say it's the bronze medal by default because with one piece, you're not taking away the fact that it is the best-selling manga of all time. Not only that, but it has a anime adaptation that's running just about as long as the manga, like getting close to it. And even though, yeah, they had games and what not, of course there's a whole bunch of people that would be like, oh, it's too long, and I don't like the art, whatever. Whatever, it's still good, no doubt. And with Naruto, I would say it's like the most popular choice out of the three. I mean not to say that bleach isn't good, but it's more like, let's just be real.
Speaker 1:In mainstream media, uh, you're more likely to see one piece and naruto references over bleach. Like you have to be, like really in the know, like it's almost like how you have to be like consider og, if you still remember anime like inuyasha. Uh, like, how, like. Uh, there was this one post I saw where they were saying oh, uh, name, like some store users, and I just listed up inuyasha and um shishomaru just off the top of my head because I knew people gonna be like basic about, oh, kirito and zoro and whatnot. Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure. But like, hey, man, think outside the box that's what I'm saying to where, like, you're probably not gonna see A whole bunch of that, but what was I getting with this? With Naruto, it's the most popular choice Because you know, it's the one thing when damn near everybody Watches it and everybody talks about.
Speaker 1:But also you gotta consider the fact that they have the strongest line of video games out of the three. Like with one piece, yeah, like they had like that dynasty warriors version of um one piece and that was okay. But like, out of the three, out of the big three, naruto had the games on lock with ninja storm and ultimate ninja and all that other shit. Uh, even now where it's like they have naruto storm connections but like that's gonna get overshadowed by sparking zero right now. But uh, bleach, like it's a five star anime.
Speaker 1:No doubt it is big three, but like I'm gonna be honest with you, in comparison to like a overall nerd community influence, like. It's more like one of those shows where if thousand year blood war didn't get animated, it would have been forgotten about. That's, that's the main thing like. That's why I was saying like with one piece. Luffy never sleeps. So you're gonna hear about one piece, whether you like or not. With naruto it's like because of the games and whatnot. That's not just the games, but you know, if they still wasn't making games nerds, well, even with boruto let me not discount boruto like but if they stopped at shippuden and still um stopped making games, then naruto would have been gotten out of the way. That's why I would say with one piece, because it's kept ongoing even with the story, if they had no sequel. It's okay, I'm gonna start rambling right now we're gonna.
Speaker 1:We're trying to talk about bleach, but point being is that, in my opinion, bronze medal by the ball play is still big, three is still five star. But uh, you were saying tell us.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, bro, I understand that you know, in your opinion, that's what it is. To me it's not, and relatively, there are way too many facts to showcase that it's not hey, wow, most people would think, well, you know, hey, if you feel like it that it's not, hey, while most people would think, well, you know, hey, if you feel like it's bronze in your opinion, cool, cool me. However, it outclasses Naruto. It outclasses Naruto Like they're as much as folks would be like oh, yeah, you know how is that possible? At every con, there's always somebody cosplaying as one of the squad captains. You don't see that with Naruto. Like that, hey, when it comes to.
Speaker 3:I just want you to know that when you made that comment saying that Outclass is Naruto, I felt the energy across the world of a bunch of Naruto fans getting extremely upset and frustrated.
Speaker 2:I mean, look, look, once again, once again. And them are not real anime fans. But I don't really care. But at the same time, like legit, right? I understand that you might be like, no, that's not true. Nah, wholeheartedly it's truthful because, hey, I'm an actual Naruto fan. But I even know that this right here, bleached out classes, bleached out class Naruto, without having all of the games. Like, yes, I love the Ninja Storm, I love the Ninja Storm stuff, I do Wholeheartedly. But I'm not going to sit here in front and act like Bray Souls didn't have everybody in a chokehold and still almost has everybody in a chokehold at times. And they did that with one game One. They didn't do this with multiple, they did that with one. I never heard of this one.
Speaker 1:Let me check this out.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying and, as much as it might be, even want to be said from you, Jet Black of hey, you know, like if Thousand Year Blood War didn't get animated, nobody would relatively remember. Nah, because they still talk about the Aizen fight to this day.
Speaker 1:Like they talk about the Aizen fight more, there are major fights, it would be more so with the new wave, where they will probably won't even remember well, not remember, but look into Bleach Like they will probably be more engrossed with things like Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen. That's what I'm saying. If you grew up with Bleach, yeah, you will remember Bleach, but it's more like for the new fans Out of the new fans and this is where I say I know my opinion's different.
Speaker 2:Out of the new fans, I hear more so about Bleach than Naruto. Why? Because Boruto tanked, being that Boruto tanked the way it did in the beginning and didn't grab everybody's attention the way it should have. Yeah, it's picking up the slack, don't get me wrong. I'm giving Boruto that credit because Boruto is picked up, but Bleach literally didn't have to do much. They didn't have to do a thing. Oh look, hey yo. Have you ever seen Bleach or heard of Bleach? Yeah, I've heard of Bleach. I haven't, relatively watched it. What did you hear about Bleach? Oh, the eyes and fight when each of them go for eyes and fight.
Speaker 2:That's literally the first thing out. Or and this is why I say literally, what makes Big 3 the Big 3. Because they have their most, you know, most egregious fight.
Speaker 1:That's the only example, though.
Speaker 2:No, not relatively really, like you still have the Kenpachi fight.
Speaker 1:Okay, go ahead, give me more examples you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:You still have the Kenpachi fight and we're like if I was to get into it a little more in depth, you have the Kenpachi fight Like you have more fights coming out of there that folks are like oh, oh, no, Like these are fights. That just was like yeah, hey, hey, this was downright memorable, right here, In the case of Naruto, right, I'm going to be real with you. I'm going to be real with you. One of the more memorable fights doesn't even have the main character in it. That's the Itachi versus Sasuke fight.
Speaker 3:If we're going to be honest, Right, Okay, or even like Sasuke versus Killer B. That gets referenced a lot.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying. The Sasuke versus Killer B fight gets referenced a lot more than Naruto's fights. So this is why I'm saying, like, legit, as much as folks want to say what they say about Bleach and I understand, even if you're an old head, because old heads say the same thing Even if you're an old head, understand me, I'm going to hit you with the facts of it. Guess what? Hey, bleach outclasses majority of your people. Bleach outclasses majority of a lot of the anime that you think about. Why does it outclass? Because even with its filler which is why the big three are the big three their filler even is entertaining. If your filler is entertaining and it's filler, meaning it can be skipped, but your filler is entertaining enough to be like hey, bro, nah, I'm going to watch the filler, I'm going to watch the filler as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that says something about you.
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 3:Interject for just a moment. Just main thing into it. I would not do a filler for filler battle between Naruto and Bleach.
Speaker 1:And I know I'm still going to focus specifically on Bleach.
Speaker 3:You can say that if you want to, but I'm the reason I won't say it into that aspect is we're going to talk about one of the filler arcs here.
Speaker 1:I mean, we're going to talk about the big three anyway, so we'll find out for sure what really matters up.
Speaker 3:Even the Bound arc is that particular filler arc is considered so weak that even if you look it up on Google, the AI-generated content on there will literally tell you that most people recommend to skip that one. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:That's why I said I don't even care for the Bound Heart.
Speaker 2:Most definitely right. People are recommending to skip the Bound Heart. They're recommending to skip the Bound Heart because a lot of people are like eh.
Speaker 1:The only art I really cared for that's filler was the Zomp Heart to filler are like, and the only art I really cared for that filler was the zomparto um filler. That's the only one that I really liked, honestly but I'm gonna be real with you, right.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna be real with you, right, and this is just me being outright honest. Naruto had way too many filler arts. I didn't care for I mean there was something I didn't care for either.
Speaker 1:I mean, there was some that I didn't care for either, but there was a lot that I liked.
Speaker 2:I'm talking about overall, and when I say this you might be like what the hell, Talos, but I'll put the Bound arc over them. I'll watch the Bound arc over a lot of Naruto arcs that were filler. Why? Because what I'm looking for out of a filler arc when I'm looking for that action, I'm talking about actual action. Found arcs still had that, Whereas with a lot it wasn't just oh, my god, hey, guess what? Here we go with the filler arc. We're at school and majority of this is just oh, we got a goofy, goofy monster that we got to deal with. No, Fountain Art actually had seriousness to it. So I'll take that seriousness versus a goofy-ass filler arc, and this is just me. I'll take that seriousness Versus A goofy ass Phil Art, and this is just me, my opinion of it. I'll take the seriousness of it. Most folks be like Ooh, ooh, hey.
Speaker 2:Bounce Art was you know what I'm saying In your word, j. Black Folks say, ooh, bounce Arc was vampires. No, the Bounce Arc wasn't. I mean, it wasn't really vampires, it's more like what they actually is is that the Bounce Arc. If we're gonna put the vampires out there, like let's point to the actual ones in the room right when we get to them. If we're gonna put the vampires out there right and relatively the name, literally what they call themselves, what?
Speaker 3:are you referring to?
Speaker 2:They get on my nerves, so much what they call themselves, but they was just so, so, freaking, weak. What was that other soul that literally tried to rob, that robbed Ichigo. What was his name? What was them? There, you go, them were vampires. Them niggas wasn't strong at all, whereas, there you go, them were vampires. They ain't do shit. With Sparkle, them niggas wasn't strong at all, whereas with the Bounce at least the other Bounce outside of their leader were fucking strong and gave niggas a problem. The rest of them, niggas, didn't do shit.
Speaker 3:Well, look, for the sake of time, for the sake of time, we ain't gonna go there.
Speaker 2:For the sake of time, for the sake of time we ain't gonna go there for the sake of time, right? You know what I'm saying for later, right, cause I'm being I'm just being real, though like legit they were trash. So if we gonna do that, I'm gonna put the right arc where it should be. Bounce, don't get enough love. Bounce to the guy that the Full bring his guy, because the full bring his work Garnage. But overall For Bleak, for me, yeah, bleak stands up there, bleak stands up there.
Speaker 3:Well, look, let's put it in this, in this regard, onto this one, because, uh, overall, I'm gonna just go ahead and say my overall, because I know we're still trying to move forward real quick and I got you talos, I got you um, because I I'm on both sides of this. I will definitely remain neutral into this aspect. I have moments where I would like, as far as we're doing, if we do the comparisons, I have my moments into it to where there's some filler I don't absolutely dislike on to bleach and there's some minority I dislike. My only biggest thing into it is that most of the fill, the filler for bleach this dislike isn't even made by kubo. Kubo did not write the bound arc at all whatsoever.
Speaker 1:That was nothing to do with him they were self contained filler arts that was like not even part of the manga. So I mean that's the thing it's like, but see, the thing about it is some of those fillers.
Speaker 3:usually the author has some input into it as well, too. Kubo actually had no input to the Bound arc. That's one of the reasons why it is one of the weakest and why most people don't like it. Kubo had nothing to do with it. This was completely done by the director by. This was completely done by the director. By? What was it? Noriyuki Abe?
Speaker 3:Was the person who was the director. Yeah, so he was the one that had full control as far as that whole arc in itself. So Kubo had nothing into it. Kubo has admitted for himself he's not the biggest in storytelling. He's more so in visuals, and that's one of the things where.
Speaker 1:See, that's the thing Out of the big three. Bleach fucking kills all the others. As far as like character design because, bro, the character design had that fucking sauce for real, absolutely, I'm gonna give Bleach that much credit and Kubo is one of those ones where it's around for most people agree.
Speaker 3:And Talos, you may's around forever Most people agree. And Talos, you may agree. Into this one, most people agree. The manga is better than the anime and the reason in being is because, when it comes down to the anime, it's not that the anime is bad, it's just saying the manga is better because Kubo has a way of his storytelling through his visuals. There are pages in the manga that has no words, like the exact opposite of hunter, hunter and yuya haka show, where you have you have comic panels. There's just nothing but filled with words and storytelling trying to explain stuff.
Speaker 2:I still remember kubo does not do that all right, hey, okay, so on that end of the aspect, see, on that one, that's where I'm on the fence, and the reason why I have to say that is because for me that doesn't work for Bleach, bleach for me. As far as anime and manga were balanced, now, if we were talking about Naruto, yeah, and the reason being, once again, naruto literally shows that a lot. When it came to about Naruto, yeah, and the reason being, once again, naruto literally shows that a lot when it came to manga-wise. That's the reason why I give Boruto credit where credit is due, because reading Boruto versus watching Boruto.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's a whole different thing. You have to read.
Speaker 1:Boruto. I don't care for watching. I'll read Boruto though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they soaked the hell out. But that's where I say. That's the reason why I say I have to care. It's different when it comes to Bleach, because Bleach shows the fuck up, just like it does for the anime. Same thing with One Piece. One Piece shows the fuck up.
Speaker 2:So whatever you tend to almost see in the manga, you damn near couldn't see in the anime. So it's like it shows the hell out. It shows the hell out, like I said, that's just me, that's just me. That's why I say it's a little reverse when it comes to this, because that's where Bleach and One Piece fought, because when I first started them both and I was watching them both, that's where both of them were kind of like I see it, but I need to see what you got on the other end of the spectrum, because if it's so far on the other end of the spectrum, then I know something off. But Bleach and One Piece, damn near they kept their balance, whereas with Naruto I was reading Naruto and I was mad at some of the animation because I was like yo this fight scene popped way harder in the fucking manga. What the hell you do?
Speaker 3:so but look, and I will say that's also one of the things that Kubo that there's two people that I follow on YouTube that do bleach analysis and it's one of the ones that both of them agree to. The same thing as Mr Tomo two, three, four, six or something like that. It's Mr Tomo and he has his own character design and like kind of side with Talos onto this one. His case picture is his uh, own drawn character in a captain uniform. So so, um, the other guy, dbz imrom I think it is imrom or something like that um, both of those channels that they have, both those channels are dedicated specifically to bleach analysis, and one of the things about it is the fact that kubo has been dealing with health issues and stuff all the time, and when it comes down for like manga releases, there's been times where he's he struggled in trying to get stuff out on time, and so, like I said before, he he himself has admitted the fact that he's more visual in storytelling, and so talos, like you said, that has a good balance, is important. There are where in the manga there's some things that kind of get confusing. That's one of the best parts of the Thousand Year Blood War arc.
Speaker 3:Right now, the Thousand Year Blood War arc is considered one of the most controversial in the manga. The reason being is because there's some stuff that just isn't adding up. It's almost like we're jumping scenes sometimes and some stuff is missing. And it's because Kubo's health has been very bad. He doesn't. He doesn't know when he's gonna go, like he just knows for a fact. He's like I'm gonna go at some point, I don't know when. I would hope to finish this before it happens, but who knows? So then, most of the thousand year blood work he sped through and wound up yeah, and he wound up speeding through. So he purposely skipped some story development that he said he really wanted to put in the manga. But he was trying to push, though, to get it out in time, because the publishers were trying to get it out, like they were hounding him so much about. We gotta get out, we gotta get out. He's like my health is like important to me too.
Speaker 3:So thousand year blood war arc the anime is one of those prime examples of the anime gets a chance for kubo to be able to put those moments that he skipped in there now. So that's the reason why we have so many arcs for Thousand Year Blood War, and I know we're not talking about it right now. So there's just some background information to give you an understanding of how the anime has been for Kubo when it comes down for this, because there's been quite a few times um, not so much in Soul Society, not so much no. Um Soul Society arc. He was able to get what he wanted in the manga and we got that in the anime. Um, for the substitute soul wreaker or the something of the shinigami art. It has two different names in america.
Speaker 1:We know as a substitute, because that just sounds like it rolls all the tongue a little bit better.
Speaker 3:Anyways, yeah well, it's, I forgot exactly what it is. Something the the training, not the training, of the. It's a whole specific name and I can't remember exactly what it is. Something the the training, not the training of the. It's a whole specific name and I can't remember exactly what it's called. Hold on Now, it's bothering me. Agent, agent of the Shinigami, that's what that arc is called in the Japanese version. Here in America we call it Substitute Soul Rebar, which is very different, but I don't know Just whatever the case may be.
Speaker 3:So the first two, what we're going to talk about. It lines up manga to anime. Wise kubo was able to do what he wanted to do in the manga and in the anime to make it line up. However, once we get further on, probably we'll talk about it more in the next episode, once we get to the ron car art, there are some moments in the manga that starts to skip that. In the anime we get more fleshed out and in some episodes some people's like that's kind of a filler. That wasn't actually like this, maybe like a one or two episodes in the arc. That's like that wasn't in the manga. I don't think that's important. No, it actually was important for the story. Kubo was not able to put it in the manga because of health issues, and so when it finally got an anime adaptation, he was like I want this in the store. It's actually important. It gives some background information. One of the other things about um that I like about kubo um, and since I'm focusing on we're focusing on just the first three arcs first three arcs here um is the manga. One of the things I love about it. I actually have the first um, the substitute, soul, soul Reaper, and the Infiltration, as well as the Rescue. I have all three of those on manga. I actually own all of the manga for that, and I got the big stack where they put like three or four mangas in one big book. That's what I have. I absolutely love the manga and one of my favorite parts about Kubo's manga that I don't see too many others, favorite parts about Kubo's manga that I don't see too many others doing this Kubo gives extra storytelling between chapters.
Speaker 3:So between the chapters in the manga there's these little pictures that happens and it's like little like uh, just like little script. Stories that kind of happen into it and if you pay attention, some of them is just goofy pictures, but some of them is like what happened afterwards, like, for example, um and we'll probably talk about it in a moment but ichigo versus um ikaku. Remember how um ikaku winds up having his ointment inside of his uh, inside his staff that he uses to. He uses for himself and he'll even share this opponent if it's a good fight and stuff and um. So the thing about it is, after that fight you wind up seeing a little bit more.
Speaker 3:If you pay attention into the manga, there's actually a little snippet, a little um picture, where it shows him using that ointment to help out somebody else in a fight that was in a fight previously as well too, like after the kenpachi fight he actually helped him out, and you don't see that in the manga. You don't see that happen in the manga or in anime, like when you're just regular reading. But those little snippet story gives a little background as far as like, huh, how did this person show up all of a sudden? And now they're all healed? How does this person like all of a sudden like didn't you weren't you just in a fight? Didn't you just get your behind kicked? How are you like all of a sudden more energy and stuff, like have more energy or something like that.
Speaker 3:Those little snippet comics is kubo's way of saying oh. By the way, this is what happened after the fight. This is a little bit of uh, just kind of give you an idea of what was going on or like, let's say, for instance, um, during the whole time, what, what happened to um, like what happened to yodorichi? Yodorichi is just kind of, is kind of missing in most of the arc, right?
Speaker 3:No, if you pay attention, those little pictures it actually had, if you line them up, it's an entire story script of what yororichi was doing the entire time until we wound up catching up to her again, and it's like he kept us informed of every single character and it was in those little things and I have not seen it happen in manga anymore. Like I don't see anyone doing it anymore. If I see those little artwork things, it's like, oh, okay, it's just like a little goofy stuff, but understanding that he put an extra story, little arc, a little little bit of background of what these other characters were doing, and you can see what is udahara doing, what is yoruichi doing, what was going on with orhime while she was um missing for a short period of time, and it's like we actually do know what happened to them. They're in those little cartoons and it's like that was probably, to me, one of the most peak things in the manga and that's why those are one of my most prized mangas that I have, aside from um, my Ronekenshi manga.
Speaker 1:Alright, now hold on, yeah, hold on. There was a whole bunch of things I wanted to say, but that doesn't matter now.
Speaker 3:That's my general go. I'm good.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's cool. We're going to talk about the Bounce arc more during part 2 anyways, because, keep in mind, I said that seasons one through four is where it's half of the Bounce arc on the season four and then season five is the second half when the Bounce invade the Soul Society arc. That's when we really talk about the Bounce arc. But for the most part that was the general vibe that I was getting from the bount arc, even though, yeah, they're not really vampires, it's more like they are spirits who can absorb the, uh, human soul. So, in other words, unlike soul reapers and quincy's where they hunt down people that's already dead well, not really all soul reapers on, they, they don't do people it's more like they hunt hollows while the hollows hunt down, um, dead spirits. You know the spirits that's like still lingering and whatnot. You know it was whole rigmarole and the substitute so shinigami art, uh, but it's different. They're not really vampires, but that was like that's what it made it framed to be. So that's the vibe I got from it, but we'll talk about it in more detail in the second part. And, like I said before, the substitute shinigami arc Was just introductory To the characters and what not. Both are pretty good, but let's get to the real meat and potatoes the Soul Society arc.
Speaker 1:Now Rukia Got recalled because you know breaking the rules and what not. But, um, obviously Ichigo wanted to Save her, even though rukia was like don't, don't do that, I won't forgive you if you do. And you know, in typical fashion, gotta rescue my friend. And of course, orihime chad. Uh, who are you since they? They were the only one that also knew that rukia was missing. Um, because you know they can't see spirits and what not. They want to help too. They received training from Yoriji back when they thought that she was a cat, but you know, with the male voice and what not. But we come to find out that she's a very beautiful black woman.
Speaker 1:Uh, out that she's a very beautiful black woman. Meanwhile, ichigo, he needs to undergo the process of his training to go into the Soul Society to rescue Rukia, and he had the risk of becoming a hollow in order to become a Soul Reaper. And you know, they give him the choice to wear Once you go through the whole process, like um. I know there's more detail to it than that, but I'm just pretty much trying to give the whole point by play.
Speaker 3:You're good we did find out that you go ahead a cheat code at that moment and we didn't know this until later on. If you really pay attention, it's funny, but continue.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry yeah, like, and then essentially they go through all this, just go to the soul society to try to rescue rukia, while they're fighting all the lieutenants, captains, third seats, fourth seats, fifth seats, whatever, whatever, fighting all them. But you know what, man, I'm gonna be honest with you. It's when we got to like episode 60, 61, 62, so like the um near end of season three, where I was just singing, it was aizen all along. Well, really, it was more like a combination of aizen and urahara. I was like whoa, oh shit, hold the fuck up.
Speaker 1:Because first of all, it was urahara that was behind the hogyoku and also creating a giga for rukia that could be untraceable, which was taboo, which why he got exile and all the other shit. But the main thing was the reason why the whole all according to plan, all according to keikoku memes was going around with Aizen was mainly because he knew and planned around everything. Like I still remember watching that episode and I'm like, oh yeah, like you know, I knew you're gonna come in through the soul side on the rukon district, that way, like I knew you're gonna hit up uh kukaku and all that because that's uraha's um district, because you're working for him, right, you're working for um mr hadn't called.
Speaker 1:Hold on how the fuck.
Speaker 1:you know all this Bro, like were you watching that? It was so funny. In hindsight I'm like, holy fuck, how do you know all this shit? Like you playing for everything. But you know what? I'm going to open it up to the panel how y'all feel about the social idea right there. See that I want to say the run card was really what got me into bleach. But the social society, or when that revealed to where, like oh, eisen wasn't really dead. In fact he was like the main battalion, like I'm pulling the trains um, killing off Central 46 and all that, I was like holy shit, he was playing chess with everybody.
Speaker 3:Since Talos started first last time, I'm going to go real quick and go first this time. I absolutely love the Soul Society arc. Some people probably wound up breaking this up into two different arcs. They call one the sneak entry and then the rescue, because, yeah, so they want to sometimes consider two different arcs and we're combining together whichever one. So I absolutely love the world building that we kind of have into this one. I love that we get an opportunity of seeing people who were born in the soul society versus people who were born humans and then went to the Soul Society and understanding that there's a big difference between them.
Speaker 3:Getting the background and getting the story development for Rukia understanding how she grew up, who she was and stuff, and it makes sense more of why it is that when she came to the human world she was kind of confused on some stuff. But then there was some stuff she was kind of familiar with, because the humans that die and go to Soul society art. They still do some of those same things, but it's nowhere near the same way. That was done in like back on the normal world, because while the normal world human world winds up being much more advanced in technology, the soul society almost shuns and bans almost all technology, everything is old school. And it's like okay, yeah, I'm sorry. And then the whole thing about the no one has to eat unless you have extreme amounts of spiritual pressure, which is a pretty interesting thing because you know, rukia loves to fucking eat and so when you figure about that, you're like, wait, so you love to eat. Is that something about the gig, guys? She's like no, I just have to eat, I just love eating food. And you're like why? But if you're from the soul society, you shouldn't need to eat food. And you're like, oh, you actually have immense amount of spiritual pressure. Oh, that's pretty dope.
Speaker 3:Um, so her whole background, ringy's background and this is also the point where I'm making an absolute comparison between fucking Snape from Harry Potter and I'm just saying Biacuia. What I mean by is, literally we find out throughout Harry Potter the entire time Snape has actually been looking out for Harry the entire time, but the whole time we just swear he's been out just to absolutely hate him. You just like, just to absolutely hate him. You just like, you just absolutely hate him, don't you? You just straight up just want to keep going after him and not realize that he's been protecting him this entire time.
Speaker 3:Byakuya is the exact same way with rukia. We literally have this understanding that that byakuya like oh, he's like, he sighs no, she needs to die. No, she needs to be executed. No, is this nis? And you don't find out till like way later on. He's been battling this demon inside himself forever. He absolutely loves rukia and he's been fighting himself between the fact of understanding do I uphold the law, like I, like my family is supposed to, or do I save my sister, like I love? And even though he's been having this blank face, he's been suffering.
Speaker 1:Can I pause right there? I was going to let you go, but I was also thinking, keep in mind when he was explaining how he was thanking Ichigo, because remember, when he was asking Ichigo the same thing during their fight and he was like, oh, I'll just do the right thing regardless of the law, and I'm like whoa, and it was that moment of just like dang, but you know what about.
Speaker 3:But the rules are made and it's like sometimes rules got to be broken in order to help people. Like that's just realistic thing, like it's one of those ones that you matter oh, what would it call it?
Speaker 1:It's either at utilitarianism or rural utilitarianism.
Speaker 3:Exactly, you had these two balancing forces and so it literally paints Bianca this whole time, and then you finally get that, understanding that, no, this is a question that he's been battling himself constantly and he's leaning on both sides and he's not sure what to pick, because he doesn't want to dishonor his family. He doesn't want to dishonor his family, he doesn't want to dishonor things, but he absolutely fucking loves his adoptive sister and he's like, even though she's not my blood sister, she's my sister and I fucking love her and I don't want this happening.
Speaker 1:Technically she's like sister-in-law once removed In a sense. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's way more complicated.
Speaker 1:Yakuya married her sister and, like you know, uh, hisana abandoned rukia and it was like, okay, after, like, hisana died and the very next year yakuya find rukia, I'm like, okay, let's let her in. But what about rules?
Speaker 3:fuck the rules, let her in yeah, and before he was like fuck the rules before, but now it's like so different. But there's also difference between like he will violate some family rules because he thinks he can still if he can still maintain some type of order, but he's like based upon the rules that rukia had broke, he was like as I can't excuse that, he's like, if I excuse it, that means anyone can do it. Anyone can break these rules and it's gonna always be a big issue into that and it's always something you battle honestly. As a parent, I battle that with my kids all the time. My kids will snitch on each other. My kids love snitching on each other. I hate it. I'm like why y'all y'all supposed to be looking out for each other? That's one of the things that naruto did. Right, when sasuke and sakura wound up giving naruto that food and like it's, and like literally, um dude showed up was like hey, who says you give him food? I said he couldn't have none. Now, I'm just kidding, y'all pass, and I'm just like this is seriously kakashi sensei, but um, it's just one of those ones that like it's always going to be an ongoing battle as far as when it comes down to rules.
Speaker 3:Some people's like rules are made to be broken, but some people like no rules uphold order. Okay, rules do uphold order, but there's got to be some type of leeway. Nothing is absolute. There's always some type of leeway, because Rukia did not break the rules of her own accord. She was coerced into it. None of this was her decision. She thought she was doing the right thing from the beginning. She went to the human world because she thought she was doing the right thing. And it's like I accepted help because I'm trying to do the right thing. And it's like but I've been doing nothing but breaking rules. And it's like I accepted help because I'm trying to do the right thing, and it's like but I've been doing nothing but breaking rules and it's not fair type of thing. Like do I really deserve death?
Speaker 1:Like seriously though, and that's and that's also one of the things I love Go ahead. I'm sorry, but can I talk about this real quick before I forget how Rukia was trying to put on this brave face this whole time, was trying to put on this brave face this whole time, and I like how it took Ichimaru to break her arm.
Speaker 1:resolve to where I'm like there's something about this motherfucker that just gets under my skin like he always breaks me, every time like fuck you, ichimaru, just walking off with that smile and saying like I got her again it's, and I love it.
Speaker 3:It's great we show these that these people are like fucking humane. Let's just say that they're humans. They, even if they were born in soul society, they were still. They have great emotional feelings and that's one of the best story developments into it.
Speaker 3:Um, the last thing and I'm gonna stop so I can let talo speak onto this as well too is the fact that, like I, one of the things that got me is the fact that they have this rule about killing and they're so against it, but they're willing to kill rukia.
Speaker 3:But we were just talking before about and I mean like not so much we, but like the characters, just talking so much before about those the biggest issues the soul society had with the quincy's is the fact that when the soul society, when they defeat a hollow, they release its spirit to be able to go back through the reincarnation cycle in order to continue, the balance of the world Versus the Quincy erases them from existence and it's like you have this big issue about this. But Rukia breaks the rules and instead of like, oh, we're going to just release you into the soul, we're going to re-release you into the soul society's reincarnation system. We're going to straight up eliminate you. You're going to be straight up dead. You're gone, you're going to be wiped from the balance and it's like weren't y'all just all about balance. Why would you do this? Hold on hold on.
Speaker 1:You got, keep in mind, the whole execution wasn't because, oh, they feel the need that they had to, but it's more like, if anything, it was more like a like I said before a joint thing going on between Aizen or Howard to where, ultimately, the execution was in order for Aizen to extract the Hogyoku from Rukia's Anki guy, but it was more like in order for Aizen to extract the Hogyoku from Rukia's Angega. But it was more like a more humane way to more like okay, at least this way it seems like I can look like a martyr and all that shit. You know, pretend I died and all that shit, so I can like sneak in and kind of get the thing from her. Later I had a whole thing going on, but I like then each of you had to show up and be all hero and shit. But hey, you know what. I accounted for this. I knew the only way he'll be strong enough to even do all this is if he's half hollow. We're going to explain this later in the um other parts of the stream review, but either way, I'm like I kind of pray.
Speaker 1:I accounted for everything and this whole and the whole execution was based on his part of his plan. So I'm like thinking, okay, to be fair, uh, rukia didn't know. Like she didn't know, she had a geek guy that had the hokyo ku in there. Like urahara didn't tell her that and even urahara apologized to ichigo and hopefully, like he's gonna, um, eventually tell rukia. I didn't see that part yet or I glossed over it, but essentially, like he was the one who gave rukia the gi guy that had the hokyo ku, she didn't even know that she was breaking the rules when she got the giga. It was just a matter of aizen urahara, their whole thing going on.
Speaker 3:That's why she was in trouble in the first place true, and I just want to clarify real quick because it really sounds like you're saying urahara was working with aizen.
Speaker 1:They were, no, not really working it's more like he had this whole thing going on. Aizen just tried to take his shit from him, but keep in. He was the one that developed the Hogyoku and all that. It's just more like Aizen just wanted to use it for nefarious purposes.
Speaker 3:That's it. But like I said, I'm done, so I don't really have anything else to say, and so I guess the only thing is how did you not know that Go Take 13 was dead? Dumb motherfuckers. Anyway, tell us you have anything dumb motherfuckers.
Speaker 1:Anyway, tell you anything, add on to the social society arc nope, really really I didn't.
Speaker 3:I didn't take nothing from you, did I? Because I wanted to talk, I wanted to hear you, man all right, so right.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna say this. I wanted to hear you man. All right, so right. I'm going to say this and I'm going to say this whole hardly as far as it goes, because majority of this I don't want it to be where, even though I consider things differently when it comes to quote, unquote spoiler. But, folks, as far as it goes. Differently when it comes to quote unquote spoiler, but, um, folks, as far as it goes, how do I put this in nice terms? Eisen was trying to fix the social science. There we go. I said fuck it, fuck it.
Speaker 3:I'ma say it right here, right now we have, I said fuck it, fuck it. I'm going to say it right here right now we have an ISIS supporter.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say it wholeheartedly right now yes, isis is a dick, isis is an ass, isis is a whole ass asshole. Why? Because of the way he was going about shit. However common, however common, fix the soul society great again.
Speaker 2:ISIS was literally trying to Fix the soul society. If you've watched Thousand year blood war, if you've read thousand year blood war, you know what he was trying to do. You know where he was trying to go with it. Oh yes, it looks like he's going for Absolute power, but we're gonna be real with you. So he is dead. So King Bendy, who knew about this shit for the longest? Head Captain? None of the captains knew. They was too dumb in the dark. Well, maybe one other captain knew, but we're not going to talk about that Because I don't want to spoil shit. But Headains knew they was too dumb in the dark. Well, maybe one other captain knew, but we're not going to talk about that because I don't want to spoil shit. But head captain knew.
Speaker 1:See, that's the thing. That's what I like about Bleach already. See, with Aizen, I consider him the main antagonist of it all. So far, you know what I was going to make, one of those references. I'm not going to even do that to Aya right now. Point being is that, well, hold on, I will do it, but not for different reasons.
Speaker 1:The whole point being is that I was talking about in the Fairytale review with Hero, Pendragon, mirror Jane and Barza Taco I was glad they were on the show, by the way, for that. I was talking to them about how that anime ended with Zerub and Atenologia and I felt like, okay, I honestly felt like if they ended the show with them fighting Zerub instead of Atenologia at the end, it would hit a lot harder. Because personally, I feel like with Atenologia he was just all about destruction and whatnot and I was just like, eh, you should sound, should sound one dimensional. I don't really care for that.
Speaker 1:Zero, he was low-key, like the reason fairy tale existed. He was the reason why they had magic. All this other shit was because zero, like, and on top of that, all he wanted to do was just, um, revive his brother, who turned out to be not. It was a whole bunch of shit. The whole point being is that at least Zaref was about something. Same thing with Aizen. At least as a villain he was about something. So I won't say I'm an Aizen supporter, but I do like Aizen as a villain. I'll just put it like that.
Speaker 2:Cool, I'm just going it right there. Cool, I'm just going back to it and just saying, like it is right, because, truthfully, to be truthful and honest, aizen was literally trying to do Things in a way of hey, I want social society, we're trying To save social society here, and just that. Third, because Folks are lying. Folks are not telling the whole truths and everything else In between. Yes, aizen was an ass. Because folks are lying, folks are not telling the whole truth and everything else in between. Yes, aizen was an ass for the way he was going around With it, but Eh, aizen at least Knew the whole details of hey, y'all lied. Huh, what do you mean? They lied? You know the stories that they would tell us and say that we're not supposed to do this Because this goes against the. The soul can't get stabbed. That's literally Isaac See.
Speaker 1:Now hold on. It's like one of those lines I like to tell myself sometimes. Sometimes, before they'll claim that you were right, they'll claim that you're crazy.
Speaker 2:True, true, that would fit, that would fit. But I'm just saying, outside of that, though, going into this whole, if you want to call it an arc, if that's what we're going to call it, if you're going to call it an arc, you had, you're gonna call it an arc. You had A lot of people in here who, really and truly Truthfully, should've got way more development In the beginning of and I can say that now, yeah, cause I have taken the fans glasses off Whereas when I first Watched this, I was like, oh shit, it's perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect. No, like I can take that whole Harley off Now and be like, yo, yeah, they should have got Way more development. Not gonna lie to you, I love how things were and yes, I know it's foreshadowing and everything else, and once again, ladies and gentlemen, we're here with foreshadowing. So you heard me say it twice. I get that with Ichigo.
Speaker 2:Ichigo is the mutt, because that's literally what he is. He's a mutt. He's an actual mutt Because, when it comes down to it, as much as folks don't like it, yes, ichigo is not only a soul reaper, not only a hollow, or not even a hollow, because he's not a Hollow, he's a Vastalorde. Not only was he a Vastalorde and a Quincy and a Fullbreaker, and a full breaker From how we're going and what not. Ladies and gentlemen, and here we go, spoiler, spoiler. If you don't like Reddit At this point, yeah, better walk away. Everybody, love Cool. It's also being said that he's a fool.
Speaker 2:Bringer you know how y'all don't like the fact that they've been taught that he's a fool bringer. He's a quote unquote he's a fool bringer, yeah, yeah, I'm not even gonna. I'm not even gonna tell you what else. Yeah, like uh it was.
Speaker 1:It was a whole thing, like we're gonna talk about when we get there anyways, in full detail. But here's my thing.
Speaker 2:Hey, hey, hey, we ain't going to talk about the parts that quote unquote still ain't been animated yet because, hey, you know, they're saying that truthfully. If we're going to be very much so truthful, ichigo or his son might get in in the hell title, but we're not going to talk about that Back to it, so that way I can let everybody else go. Like I said before, this arc here relatively was slow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was slow, to be honest, like when I was re-watching the shit like I'm thinking okay, it was like 40, I remember it was 63 between seasons 1 and 2. 20 of it was season 1. So that means 43 episodes was dedicated to the Soul Society arc between the entry and the rescue. I'm gonna be honest with you, if you cut out like at least 5, maybe 10 of those episodes, maybe the pace would have been better for it, because I just felt like a lot of this I understood like the fight between the lieutenants and the captains just like introduced them, I get that part, but then it just felt like they were doing a whole bunch of nothing every now and then where I'm like, are y'all gonna like get along with this shit or not?
Speaker 3:I can actually explain that to you, based upon a previous review that you and I did JB with Kata Kyo Hitman Reborn. Remember how we talked? Remember how one of the things I talked to you about before was the fact that there was some moments where some of the comedy just seems like either forced or just kind of there. So it's the same thing. Shonen jump.
Speaker 3:Shonen jump is very and viz both of them are very big onto these things about fan bases and stuff to where most of their fan base is still kids. So if you have something that's too serious, too serious tone, too actiony, then you start losing the kid fan base, they're not wanting to watch it as much. And then there's a threatening of having to move that um, that that manga from the beginning of that book to the end. And so you know, back when we got those those big issue releases that had like a bunch of manga chapters inside the big book and it was like because of that threat that was there, it wound up being to the point of there had to be some moments of we need to add a little bit of funny, we need to add a little bit of jokes there. Even if it add a little bit of jokes there, even if it doesn't fit into the storytelling. It was to maintain those audience. That was the main reason, okay.
Speaker 2:Of course, but see guess what. This is why I go back to what I made my statement for a time. I will take the Bound arc over a lot of what was in Naruto.
Speaker 1:Because guess what?
Speaker 3:When you realize over a lot of what was in Naruto Over a lot of what was in Naruto.
Speaker 2:Because guess what, when you realize that, look at everything how it was, you can see it's more forced in Naruto versus a lot of other places. It was way more forced out there and I'm like why you ain't got to have it here. You ain't got to have this here. Like you don't have to have this episode. Like, don't get me wrong, I said that with Bleach too, but I'm just saying it was like why is this episode here? Like I know, we are not sidetracking, especially in Bleach. Bleach had a bad habit of doing this too. We're not sidetracking, especially in Bleach. Bleach had a bad habit of doing this too. We're not sidetracking for four episodes talking about oh, look, and Bleach. I'm going to pick on you right now Talking about a stuffed animal, b-o-r.
Speaker 3:Don't talk shit about Cone. Cone is still cool.
Speaker 2:I'm going to talk enough trash about Cone, because Cone got on my nerves from the game alone, aka Cone's Bonanza, ladies and gentlemen, because that's where you had to go to get leveled up, and every time I get tired of seeing Cone's Bonanza. But I say again right, we had an entire what three, four episodes when all them stuffed animals, All them dolls and stuff that was dead together with Cone.
Speaker 3:Cone was willing to do what Ichigo couldn't Cone was ready to clap cheeks. But Ichigo was like no, I'm too respectful Cone said I'll take your body and do it myself, since you can't do it.
Speaker 2:Cone out here, and then not only that, but then Cone out here, and then not only that, but then call out here what? What was the other character's name? I forget his name. He looked like a circus dude.
Speaker 1:In Bleach. I know who you're talking about With the top hat and shirt.
Speaker 3:Yes, him, him right oh yeah, the dude that also could see ghosts and everything, but he was like turning them into hollows by saying he was exercising yeah, no, no, that's what I'm saying like why do we have an entire four episodes and then with them?
Speaker 3:it was supposed to. That one was supposed to be based onto a storytelling, but it was a. I I do remember, uh, who was it? I think it was mr tomo that wound up talking about it. It might have been him or it might have somewhere I read so forgive me if it's inaccurate into this one there was supposed to be something more to that okay can I add something on before you?
Speaker 1:um, explain, uh, honestly, it kind of felt like to me when I was re-watching it because maybe this is me just got through doing the fairy toast stream review uh, it kind of felt like how not to had happy and each go had cone. It's almost like, okay, let's give the other full bring. You know, I know we're not going to be bad. Let's give them their own like pet character for them to follow around.
Speaker 2:That's what it felt like that was like the only, but like I can see that, hold on Before a couple of thoughts ago, legit, it wasn't the pet characters that bothered me. Like I said, if we're going to talk about it legit, let's hit the actual elephants in the room, and we're going to hit on you for it.
Speaker 1:It did feel like they wasted four episodes.
Speaker 2:Not even just that. It's on the general premise of if you're going to do stuff like that, why are we wasting episodes on the goofiness? I get it Once again. Shonen, it was for the kids, but, man, you could have did it without that.
Speaker 1:You could have did it without that, just a perfect example of how there are folks where I'm like, okay, we want more serious shit, which I'm all for. And sometimes there are people that like don't mind the goofy shit, and I'm like, okay, that's for them. My whole thing was it's funny how we're talking about this and we were talking about this for a while now, how I had this big gripe about how I keep telling people animation is not just for kids. But I can also understand how you gotta like add some goofiness so that it can still have some appeal to kids. But I'm like I'm just saying like eventually those kids gonna have to grow up, so maybe they're gonna be exposed to some adult content, but not too adult, you know, not that adult, but you know like there's gonna be like some violence and like they're gonna be slashing.
Speaker 2:There's gonna be like some violence and like they're gonna be slashing. They're gonna be bloodsletter. Yeah, they're gonna be shit like that.
Speaker 2:See, TJB, here's his thing. Right, I want you to hear me. I want you to hear me clearly, because you see, you know I normally don't just use your initials like this. I want you to hear me clear. Right, it's not about the goofiness. I can take some goofy, I can take some goofy, I look forward to some goofy. But when you have stuff that just literally, as Coco Gotsou even said just don't make no motherfucking sense Like why is it even?
Speaker 3:in here.
Speaker 2:Why does this fall in here at all? Like yeah, like, even if it's in a filler part, why is it even falling in filler? Like, yeah, even if it's in a filler part, why is it even falling in filler? Like, come on now, Come on now. So that's the part that I'm saying. Okay, and I will reiterate this wholeheartedly throughout the big three that was their major problem. Their major problem was you have parts in them, because it doesn't even in one piece. You have parts in there that literally make no sense. They make no sense and they're like why is this here, even if it's in a filler part, why is this here?
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's my hot take I don't actually have to.
Speaker 3:It was just going to be just what I was going to say was going to be five seconds. It was supposed to be an additional story to that guy. He was supposed to play a more of an important role, kind of similar to like how chad all of a sudden becomes a full bringer type thing. But we don't understand what a full bringer is. Yet there was supposed to be more to this guy. There's a reason that he's able to see these spirits and interact with them. It was this. It was just a dropped story. That was that actually all that I was going to say.
Speaker 1:From what I heard, I don't know if it's true or not though, you're fine, that's what I'm saying, like legit.
Speaker 2:From what I heard, I thought they were saying like he was another Soul Reaper, but that part just got dropped out of nowhere. Yeah, yeah, it was supposed to be where he was going to be another Soul Reaper.
Speaker 3:But it might even be the case that he would have been probably something pertaining to what happened with Ichigo's dad type of thing, but then it wouldn't have made sense for him, forcing him to be Hollows Like we don't know. There was supposed to be more to him. It just got dropped. It got dropped because I think Kubo was like I'm not seeing it going the way I want it to. It's not quite fitting. I need to make a different character to kind of do this type of thing. So it just got dropped altogether. So that's pretty much why we have it there.
Speaker 3:And then it's gone and it's just like Kubo just kind of just wrote it off pretty kind of just into him off really quickly. So that was just kind of what happened. So, but again, like there's not much more details into that, there's not many people most people forgot about him so they never brought him back up again. That's exactly what it is that Kubo kind of wanted was that nobody would really remember and bring it back up. So it was like he's gone, we're just moving on right now.
Speaker 1:Let's see.
Speaker 3:Was there anything about these four seasons? That Okay, so look the Bount Art. They're not vampires, they're Shang Tsung. That's who they are. They steal people's souls To be immortal. That's all they want to be, and not even good Shang Tsung at that. Look, hey.
Speaker 2:I'll take that. I'll take that. I'll take that over. Just call them Vampires, because the full brings Are what are. Look, hey, I'll take that. I'll take that over. I'll take that over. Just calling him a vampire, because the Fullerbringers are what are and I don't care what nobody say. I'll fight y'all on this here and I'll die on it. I'm going to be honest with you.
Speaker 1:It just didn't help that Gene Carrier, the lead bound, looked more Well. I won't say who was the main guy. From all the full brain it was like uh jugo yeah, something like that I know something like that. I mean, he kind of looked like one too, but it just didn't help that with karya he was looking more vampire. Like he was looking more vampire like than like fucking edgar marco from um, but see them but see them full bringers.
Speaker 2:Outside of uh, outside the fullbringer leader, everybody that was a fullbringer. Their abilities made them seem like they were Twilight characters.
Speaker 3:Honestly, I'm sorry. That's why I said I'll fight With the dude who could rewrite History or something.
Speaker 1:See, that's the thing, that's the crazy part. When I said vampires, I wasn't even thinking of Twilight vampires with the bounce. I would think of the more classic vampires, the ones that you know, the ones that we grow up with, the kind of vampires like the ones that you really gotta watch out for, the one Batman anime movie where he far as drag.
Speaker 2:it was that serious. Yeah, I hear you, but I'm just saying, I'm just saying right, when I look at it it's just like I said, it's just me as a fan.
Speaker 2:When I look at it, I'm like Bounce and Fullbringers had so much potential, why did they not just combine them together and you would have made something freaking awesome, versus separating the two? Why did they not just combine them together and you would have made something freaking awesome, versus separate the two? And now you have one that relatively seem like emo puppeteers. Bounce Versus oh look, we're paid to sparkle, we don't do nothing else. Fullbringers why, like, why, why?
Speaker 3:I mean, let's be honest, let's think about the explanation of the powers too. Because you were in close proximity with the hollow, you have the ability to kind of just change up reality for a moment. Specifically, like honestly, my biggest thing about the full bringers thing was making or he may and chad full bringers, I guess I feel, that's all it was full brings was, I think, was supposed to just be a way to explain how chad got powers, which I'll be like, okay, that's fine, that's fine, but hey hey, for real.
Speaker 2:For real, right on, like I said, because I don't want to hold a such long, but for real though. Right Cocktape legit. I would rather Odehime been a bounce user and Chad just been the full bringer, or vice versa, than to be trying to be like oh no, we just got to make an explanation for their power, so we're going to make both of them full bringers.
Speaker 3:Look, in all honesty, if you had made it to where, all of a sudden, orihime was just somehow descended to the soul king at some point, that would have been. I mean, keep in mind is this her ability is to make it as if nothing, as if it never happened.
Speaker 3:And keep in mind is this they wreck is to make it as if nothing, as if it never, happened and keep in mind this they wreck kubo, retconned that that was her, that was the explanation for her power, all the way up until the thousand year blood war arc. And then, if you read the manga because it hasn't been inside the anime you read the manga. Uhaba actually says something different. Yeah, it's the explanation. So they kind of retconned that entirely, which is really really sucks, which is stupid, because that made her the strongest thing out there Because, legit, she was the strongest healer for an entire time.
Speaker 2:Because of those words, hey, she literally makes things Seem as if nothing has ever happened. Any damage that anybody takes If she heals it, it's non-existent.
Speaker 1:It's a thing Like. I know it's kind of unfair to say, but it's funny, so I'm going to say it anyways. You know how we have that whole Naruto dynamic To where it's funny, so I'm going to say it anyways. You know how we have that whole Naruto dynamic to where it's like okay, there's two guys and there's the chick, but in Bleach it's not the case, because it's more like three guys and one chick. Well, actually three guys and two chicks if you count Rukia. But whole point being is that at least in their dynamic the chick is not useless. More soccer slander, huh.
Speaker 2:I will agree. I will agree because because Sakura was intentionally made to be useless, even though I understand why Kishimoto literally did that, because he based her off of a character that he did, off of a girl that he liked but didn't like him, so he made her look as ugly as it was and made her basically be useless. I ain't never heard that before that kind of implies that he was useful.
Speaker 3:I ain't never heard that before. Yeah, no, I ain't never heard that before.
Speaker 2:Yeah. No I never heard that before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought he said that he did it based off oh, he wants soccer to be based off the normal teenage, normal girl. I'm like, okay, I guess.
Speaker 2:No, okay. No that sounds even worse way back here, right way back here, right here. I wish I could find it. It was an interview done because I was in atlanta when this, when this literally dropped out because a lot of folks asking like why? They asked him like why is sakura useless, why is he, why is she made the way she's made? And Sakura is kind of like the whole Naruto group, at least Naruto's group, team 7, they're based off of him.
Speaker 2:It's like Naruto's him, sasuke's his friend and Sakura literally is a girl that he liked. She didn't. The girl that he liked apparently didn't like his friend either. Liked, apparently, didn't like his friend either, but she didn't like him and he was literally kind of like chasing her around for a hot minute when he was younger. So he based Sakura off of her.
Speaker 1:Bro, that just sounds cringe, because I'm like oh, they always like these bad boys.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to write this Like when he came up with the character, it was just like he came up with her to be that way. But round about this time they were getting into Shippuden and it was like hey, she's going to grow out of it, because Literally how it happened For Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, basically the girl grew out of it, but by the time when she grew out of it he moved on.
Speaker 1:So it was like Okay, she had her grow up and everything else, while we see sakura that explains the part where you remember I know we're gonna talk about it later in the naruto review anyways, but uh, it reminds me of that one scene to where, uh, you know, they were like deep into like the fortune obi war war, or they were like leading up to it, and then Saka was like saying I love you, naruto.
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh well, you know that's nice, but let's go ahead and get Sasuke back, because I know that's what you really like, yeah. I'm like oh man, you know what. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, like I said, that's why it was like okay, when I heard that and I was watching that part and I thought, wait, this explains why this part makes so much fucking sense here age, where it got right here, where she kind of was trying to get back with him or get with him, and he was like, nah, you really don't like me, you just saying that now and I kind of see it. So I grew up and moved on versus okay, I get it. Now I get it.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to look this up. I won't be honest with you. The only thing I have found is that Kishimoto talking in the interviews, that he purposely made Sakura not to be super overpowered and strong. She's not supposed to be made like Naruto and Sasuke. She was purposely made just to kind of be a book nerd that just had to understand the harsh realities of life, who was very ignorant. He did purposely make her ignorant to the way that life is per se. Whereas Naruto takes things extra goofy, but he has the ability to do so, sakura can't because she doesn't have that overpower, nature and stuff. That's all that I'm finding.
Speaker 2:Believe me, I wish I could find it out because, like I say, I remember me and my brother and we were in Atlanta at the time when this gym dropped and I was like bro, wait a minute, the fuck, like we were. I know this was a while back, this was a good while back. So, like I said, I was like yo. If this, if that's the case, then I see why he made her like me, but I also see why he kind of got her to be where okay, yeah, you see, you saw her grow up or whatever. So you made it where sakura would grow up, instead of being that childish, childish one all of the time and relatively dense and not useless, you make her grow up and become this. But throwing that back over here to Bleach, right, I'm not going to hold you, I'm not going to hold you, I'm not gonna hold you.
Speaker 2:I feel like Kubo almost Tried that with Otohime, with some of her goofy moments, like tried to make her seem like she was just overly dead. And I'm like you can't quit playing, quit playing in my girl face like this. I can't let you do that. Like, please, don't, don't do that. Kubo, I love you, but don't do that she Like please don't Don't do that. Kubo, I love you, but don't do that. She's not Sakura. Don't do that. We're not going to do that Like, because I felt like they were doing that with everybody at some point. I'm going to throw out one piece here too. I feel like they tried to do that with Nami in the first beginning, before the time skipped.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I was thinking like getting like major Gold digger vibes from all Nami. But like she got some art, like she's not that artless.
Speaker 2:It was like they were trying to make her like just a gold digger and relatively useless and I'm like, good and well, y'all are not gonna make her. No, no, no, no, no. So yeah, that's what I said, like legit, legit, right it? Just Going back over Into Bleach Within these First parts, yeah, young me when I first saw this stuff, when I was first Watching Bleach oh, oh oh, the action Is what captivated me. Young me when I first saw this stuff and I was first watching Bleach. Oh, oh, oh, the action is what captivated me. I was hee, hee, ha, ha At the funny parts and everything else. Me now Taking those Pan glasses off. I can see where there was. There should have been improvements. I can see where, like Kubo wanted but he couldn't do because, hey, I'm not feeling good, I'm sick, we're being rushed and Shonen Jump, I blame you Because y'all had a very bad habit of rushing, a rushing offense.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, most definitely to try to push them numbers out.
Speaker 2:They were very bad About that y'all have very bad habit of rushing off and that's another thing.
Speaker 1:Like here's the thing I know we're gonna talk about anyways. But listen, first of all, the fact that I just found out yesterday, or either earlier today, where apparently it's gonna be a part four of thousand year blood war and I was thinking like fuck, I plan on reviewing where apparently it's going to be a part four of Thousand Year Blood War art, and I was thinking like fuck, I plan on reviewing Thousand Year Blood War art in January. So that way, I thought it was going to be like three parts and we're done. Nope, there's going to be more. Okay, I'm cool with that, I'm glad there's more, but at the same time that just means that the Thousand Year Blood War arc is going to be much later when that concludes. But man, you know what With Bleach, I just feel like it is great. But not going to lie, sometimes I just like I was just kind of skipping over some episodes not all of them, but some episodes just to get to the parts where okay, here's the parts where this feels more integral to the story. Like I'm kind of getting to understand that what's going on outside of that. Uh, some episodes. I'm not they're bad, but more like I just don't care for these episodes, yep. But hey, hey, listen, let's not take away from the fact that, like Kogatsu said earlier, visually, like the character, design-wise, very good, very beautiful, very distinct in the anime world. But also, before we close this out, we gotta mention how fucking banging the music is, because it got some pretty good openers and closers and even original sounds, right like you get a little background noise, like the violin on going fucking crazy in the background whenever someone's gonna use their shikai or bankai, and I'm like yeah, yeah, that's why I can believe that at least definitely deserves to be big three because it definitely got sauce. When it comes to visual design music, the plot is good. Once you know it, actually we actually piece the plot together, it's actually good. Like you know it kind of get like a the plot together, it's actually good. It kind of gets a little fluffed up with the filler and that's the main thing. But when you actually understand the plot Of what happened with Bleach From the major parts, once you piece all those together, okay, I see how great Bleach is as a story, but you know, like what Kogasa said, kube is more visual than storytelling. Okay, fine, fine Characters, like what Talos was saying they could have been cooked more, like I feel like they could have had more exposure more.
Speaker 1:I mean, we can kind of see that a little bit more, a little bit more in the later um arcs, like, in fact, I feel like, if you're gonna have filler arcs, make it so.
Speaker 1:That way those arcs aren't exactly like the kind of arts where, okay, they can have this arc but it doesn't really change anything.
Speaker 1:That's what pisses me off to to where it just seems like what if there was like major character development in this arc? To where it was like, okay, like for instance, the one with Hisugaya and the other, uh, hiro and Maru, uh that whole um Rugen Moro that we're gonna talk about later, like there was like major character development in that. But then you go to the major art lawyer, like, okay, none of that character, better development matter, it's just more like fan service. So that way the character, the audience, will feel more endeared to the character. I mean, yeah, but I kind of want to see that a little continuity where like, oh, so you really did learn something from that art, you know that kind of shit. I would appreciate that more. But I still want to say it's a five star anime because it does a lot of things right. I just can't say with full confidence that there were some things where I can gloss over and say like I don't know.
Speaker 3:I would say the only thing that probably made that I've learned, even when watching Bleach and reading the manga, is Kubo has probably made the only mistake of making too many characters, because when you make so many characters, the biggest thing about it is that you have no idea who fans are going to say is your favorite character. I know I think y'all talked about that, like in Kanto before too, where Disneyney made in console and everyone was like, oh, there was like oh, yeah, mirabelle is going to be the favorite character. We need to make mirabelle toys. We need to do this and this focus on mirabelle and then come to find out no, she wasn't even the favorite character, was the sister, one of her sisters, and it's like no, it's just one of her cousins, sorry, one of her cousins. Wands of being the um, the favorite character, the strong, like the stronger. I can't remember her name, but um, and it's like yeah, luisa.
Speaker 3:So it's like, literally, you don't know who's going to be your favorite character and because you don't know who fans favorite character is going to be, you have to try to spend time to flesh out each individual character and it's like it becomes. It comes kind of crazy and it's great, honestly, because in fact, all of us here play dnd and, like talos, you and I have dm before. Well, you know, with dms, it's one of those ones that we understand that you can create a side character in a random town and all of a sudden your players are just hawking all over that character. They want that character to travel with the party, they want them to stay there, and it's like this was supposed to be a one-off character.
Speaker 1:And now I'm having to continue this on DBZ, did it? You didn't mention me.
Speaker 3:My bad. But then DBZ did it with Vegeta. Vegeta was supposed to be a one-off character, became a fan favorite and now he had to stay as a main character. He was never supposed to continue on, and it's like whenever you make a story, you have no clue what's going to happen.
Speaker 3:So you have to take that time to flesh out, um, to be able to flesh out your people, and so it's like it was one of those things that bleach has a significant amount of characters and it's like there's so many people to have to flesh out, it's so much structure that is to everything.
Speaker 3:You can't just move on to one person, be like, oh, I'll just mention this person and then move forward. Everyone's gonna want to know. Like, we wanted some backstory for ronka q, and then we finally get a ronka q backstory and it's like, oh, okay, it actually pertains to jen, it pertains to aizen, somehow, cool, and so you're like backstory. And it's like, oh, okay, it actually pertains to Jyn, it pertains to Aizen, somehow, da, da, da, da cool. And so you're like, okay, but it's like you just never know. That's probably one of the biggest things that happen with Bleach is that you, there are so many characters and so there, because there's so many characters, there's a chance you're gonna have somebody. You're not gonna get background ground or backstory or anything for it. That's just you just gotta accept that.
Speaker 1:Or, at the very least, it's harder to keep track of each of the characters and the development of those characters when it just seems like, okay, it's kind of like a roulette type thing, okay, who are we gonna focus on this time? Pretty much, pretty much. Otherwise, that's all I have were like, okay, who we gonna focus?
Speaker 3:on this time pretty much, pretty much, but otherwise that's all I have.
Speaker 2:I just wanted to mention that until closing, since I'm like you know gotcha anything you want to add on, anything at all yeah, I was gonna say remotely same thing, like, yeah, it's just way too many characters, like, as much as I love them, you know, I love all the characters, don't get me wrong, it was just way too many characters. A lot of them could have been flipped out more, but because it was a lot of characters, some of them fell through the cracks at certain points. So, yeah, you know, overall, though, yes, it's a five-star anime, one of the five-star animes out there is definitely top tier.
Speaker 3:Let me say this on behalf of Talos Mixel sorry to grade again.
Speaker 2:No, it's not even that. Like I said, it's just more so of hey, look for Aizen to be the villain that he is. Aizen had a point. Every great villain, the great villains out there they have a point, megatron had a point, madara had a point.
Speaker 3:Not even Don't talk about Megatron after that movie just released out, because, oh my goodness, people have started siding heavily with Megatron after the last one.
Speaker 2:Like legit. I'm just saying those villains that you know had points, had a point.
Speaker 1:Magneto.
Speaker 2:Like Magneto had a point, like great villains have points. So all I'm saying is like, legit, when you actually figure out and find it, because, like I said, I don't want to spoil everything. But when you actually figure it out and you see, oh shit, yeah, this man had a point, yeah, uh-huh, I told you so. I told you so because it was there, it was beyond there, it showed truth in it. But overall, like I said, yes, five stars.
Speaker 2:The anime is deserving of the spot that it's in. Do I care that it gets some of the crap that it takes? Not really, because some of it comes from people which every fandom has, those who are not actual fans and just want to gripe because, oh, it wasn't written in the way that I like bitch, it wasn't for you. Then I say that whole heart, it wasn't for you then. Or for those that just want to be like oh, you know, this character here is the strongest. No, they're, they're not, they get beat by other folks. Just stop it. But other than that, it's just simply put. You know, hey, it's there, it was great, it's one of the greats I give it. As far as for what we've been given so far, I give it a within the first two arcs here that we covered. I give it a, I'll say an eight. The first two arcs get an eight. Don't get me wrong. That very first part though I ain't going to be in front of you that very first part got on my nerves.
Speaker 2:I was like like I know damn well like he carrying this goofy ass sword. But you know once again you see it got better you, you see it got better, but I was like he carried this goofy ass sword that he came that gross so and it never comes back.
Speaker 3:It never comes back. The sword is gone forever, so we can leave it alone.
Speaker 2:I think Kubo actually did that.
Speaker 3:Because Kubo actually liked guts From Berserk. I think that was probably the reason it was supposed to be like a dragon slayer type thing. If you look at the design for it, it looks like it was probably supposed to be like a dragon slayer type thing. So I really think that might have been it. It looked like one of those knives type thing. If you look at the design for it, it looks like it's probably supposed to be like a Dragon Slayer type thing.
Speaker 1:I really think that might have been it. It looked like one of those knives that the Asian restaurants be having, One of those oversized ones. I'm sorry but I just gotta say, especially having cooking experience, it just looks like one to me.
Speaker 1:With that being said, yep that's all I have to say on bleach right now. Uh, we're gonna be talking about the next four seasons, uh, relatively soon, uh, but then again, uh, let's just be real here at this point from now on, when we're doing extreme reviews, I'm just putting all the parts out like a day after each other. So, in other words, by the time you even see this part or listen to this part, all the other parts gonna be like coming out right after each other. So until the next part, just stay nerdy and we'll be right back. So let's just go ahead and zoom out of here and get ready for part two, where we talk about the arun car art, where we're going to talk about boy, uh, green gel and uki or and all them. So stay tuned for that.
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