220https://m.mediaamazon.com/images/I/61nFCJI+CjL.ACSL1500.jpg My favorite Shonen manga turns 20 this yearcouldnt find a better time to write my first ever review.Its my first so kinda rough and all over the placePardon my mistakes. Will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible. Bleach is a Shonen manga serialized Weekly Shnen Jump from 7 August 2001 to 22 August 2016 with its 686 chapters collected into 74 volumes written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. 220https://externalpreview.redd.it/j9PnTvdsX1QGbsnDMJV4kdhMxPtfgBJPpnXZXhcJszo.jpg?auto=webps=5ce810fb2e72a6ff5596107e9517977cea70b24f STORY 9/10 Bleach is not an underdog story it revolves around Ichigo Kurosaki heavily or at least presented to revolve around him and one of the strongest point of his character is his origin how he came to being.Him realising who he is is the point of his journey. In a battle shounen development of a character mainly revolves around the fights Bleach I think does a great job in doing thatalthough it is not entirely perfectit still is praiseworthy. For instance our main character Ichigo goes through an amazing development throughout the series while fighting against enemies for protecting what he loves or is important to him. He fights his one of the most important fights in Soul Society arc which is the final fight of the arc to save his friend because he was saved by him/her once and changed his fate.In this fight Ichigo strengthens his goal of protecting whats important to him which is 220https://i.pin.com/originals/39/fb/e1/39fbe119a93f28ea0d79833c0eb4671f.jpg his reason to fight for the span of next 3 major arcs being Arrancars Saga Lost Agent and Thousand Year Blood War. All the themes and aspects surrounding his character amazingly rounds up in the final arc. The Arrancars saga is the longest arc where the main antagonist puts his plans to motion with a group of army consisting of 10 major characters known as the Arrancars. The Lost Agent Arc is heavily misunderstood arc.This arc shows a more human side to Ichigos character which then works as a resurgence to his goal of protecting whats important to himhe realizes what his powers meant to him like legit there was a part where chad tells him that he needs to remember when he was proud of having the soul reaper powers and then he tells himself that he couldnt cant remember a time he wasnt proud of having them.If I had to describe it in a sentence it would be When psychology meets Shounen.The final arc is what the story was building up to until now and also touches the 1000 year old history of Soul society.Sadly it was cut down to almost half due to health issues of Tite Kubo. . It also has amazing foreshadowings which were turned into amazing plot twist and reveals very later on in the series. Later various novels expand the storyhighly recommend those and I consider them canon since they tie in and pick up from the end of TYBW 220https://m.mediaamazon.com/images/I/71XnCeoZh3L.ACSL1500.jpg CAST 9.5/10 Bleach has an amazing cast and it is one of the strongest points of the series.Primarily the main cast consisting of our Main Character Kurosaki IchigoDeuteragonist RukiaOrihime InoueSado YasutoraRenji Abarai and Uryu Ishida 220https://static0.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2020/02/BleachCastofCharacters.jpg?q=50fit=cropw=960h=500dpr=1.5 220https://64.media.tumblr.com/f2b7cecacb40a9f9e158f53351620112/7c9745769d5dbda303/s500x750/93e1ade134f4803bab7e7156ed4a5394bc8f029f.gifv Ichigo is a very unique and well written protagonist.Many find him boringwell I kinda get where they are coming from but I dont think boring is really that much of a criticismif you dive deep into his character writinghe is an amazing protagonist and nongeneric too.Also his dynamic with his inner hollow is my favourite in all of manga. 220https://novembrepleut.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/bleach1589264.jpg The Gotei 13 consists of mainly 13 captains and vice captains assigned to each division for protecting Soul Society. 220https://preview.redd.it/rvhs2smkp4c41.jpg?auto=webps=1ca9007702c83ef51004e1faf13e49e849676df2 They play a huge role in the story and captures some of the dopest moments in the series.My favourite captain would be KyorakuZaraki or Byakuya. The group of antagonists namely ArrancarsFullbringers and Sternritters 220https://static.zerochan.net/Espada.full.2663110.jpg are one of the captivating parts of the seriesespecially the Espada.Some of them were really well written and received amazing character conclusion.UlquiorraSzayelaporroGinjoStarkJugramBazz B etc. are great characters with depth.Ulquiorra is my favourite and he is one of the deepest and most well written antagonists of all timehe carries the theme of Nihilism and Human Heart beautifully.He has a short origin story called UnmaskedI highly recommend that. 220https://files.catbox.moe/y53rnj.jpg If you wanna get a deeper look on the sternritters and espadas and their character writingi recommend some rs like DBZimran or MrTommo2304. Yes there are a huge amount of characters in Bleach and its not possible to focus on all of them but the side characters I think many do get their fair share of development.ByakuyaGinUlquiorraZarakiMayuriTosenAizen etc. were all amazing and lovable characters with great developments.Many deep themes were addressed through different characters which I think was a huge reason for the cast being so enjoyable yet having a depth to their character at the same time. . Women in Bleach are top tier tho. . There is a huge misconception and misunderstanding about Orihime being useless but Noshes far from it. https://youtu.be/GmtwHm9DZJE ART 10/10 Bleach has great panelling firstly which is why the fights play out nicely. It has some of my favourite art in all of manga and also character designs which helps highlight the hype moments in the series because Tite Kubo is an absolute genius when designing his characters.A common criticism about his art is the white backgrounds but he is sometimes heavy on the black tones that make his characters stand out more and generate more hype.Overall amazing art and art style. ENJOYMENT 10/10 Bleach is a wild ride from start to finish.Amazing fights and characters make the story enjoyable and fun to read while addressing deeper themes that many tend to overlook. Also it has some of my favorite peaks in all of Shounen. ANIME Is the anime worth watching? Both yes and no. While the adaptation wasnt amazingit still is a good adaptation and some fights were amazingly done.The Soundtrack is 10/10 and my favourite in anime.I highly recommend skipping fillers for the first go and watch the Zanpakuto Rebellion and Reigai Filler arcs later on.It is up to you. All I did was discuss good aspects of the series some flaws that caught my eyes would be Firstlyhe makes his writing way too vague for many people to understand and so he often gets shit for that although thats not a flaw lol but coming to the flaws some characters dont get justice because the cast is Huge e.g. Yasutora Sado Coyote Stark : .Kubo has so many amazing ideashe throws them all at once which becomes a bit tough to maintain sometimes and might seem messy to some people me too a few times ngl. Also you might not care about some character but doesnt mean that the character is bad Bleach isnt a super emotionally or dramatically presented.Many stuff he built upwere wasted due to the rush because of his declining health during the final arc.So even though the ending was very satisfying and wholesomethe events leading up to the ending was rushed because of health issuesso many things remained unexplained which were later explained in the novels like I mentioned abovemainly a 3 volume novel Cant Fear Your own World and a few others and the novels were also made canon by kubo himself and written by Ryohgo Naritasearch up who he is. Bleach has a great reread valueyoull find a lot of small details and foreshadowings that are impossible to notice at hindsight. Lastlythe power system was handled in an amazing wayjust perfect.Props to him for this because it didnt become a mess and go out of hand. https://youtu.be/EcNVJfX3oE It is a 2 Hour long video but it was amazingly done.It can change your perspective on the series.