-PREFACTION
In this review there aren't filler arcs or filler episodes in general, since I just watched only a dozen of them.
I decided to do this review on the occasion of the new animated saga that will airing in October, so I decided to rewatch Bleach (having seen it like 2 years ago) and these are my final considerations.
-ARCS
I will start by describing and rating all the main canon arc I have seen, the first is:SOUL SOCIETY ARC:
It is divided into 2 main parts: the first, in the world of humans, where Ichigo acquires shinigami powers for the first time, and the second, in the Soul Society, where ichigo and his friends go to save rukia.
I found the first part quite nice and quiet, in fact, after acquiring the powers, Ichigo and Rukia seem to have fun in the world of humans, killing some occasional hollows and having a good time with their friends, but the whole thing is not destined to last, because Rukia must return to the Soul Society.
This is where Renji and Captain Byakuya first appear, in my opinion this is where things start to get interesting, the Captain easily defeats Ichigo and brings his "sister" back to the Soul Society.
From here on the second arc begins, after regaining his powers, Ichigo and his friends (thanks to Urahara) will go to the SS to save Rukia facing a thousand dangers and fights.
Personally I found this saga really beautiful, especially the second part, where we will get to know the world of the SS in general and with the main characters of the saga, all accompanied by different fights, including those with the captains.
The ending is rather unexpected (for those unfamiliar with Bleach), so let's get to know the real enemies who, by escaping from SS, give the input to the new arcs of the series.
In this saga Ichigo is really strong, without even using the power of hollow he manages to defeat 2 powerful captains. We do not know why, but in the following saga, even with the power of the hollow, Ichigo is incredibly nerfed and the captains become very strong, this fact was rather irritating, at least for me.
HUECO MUNDO ARC:
In the second arc, the Espada make their appearance, causing several fights in the human world, and as the SS prepares for the winter fight against them and Aizen, Orihime is kidnapped.
Ichigo and friends must then go to Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime this time. So, after another training session, they head to Hueco Mundo (thanks again to Urahara).
This arc is also full of fights, some not really necessary I gotta say, which only serve to unnecessarily lengthen the arc.
After the final battle against Ulquiorra, which marked the end of the arc, the protagonists suddenly realize that they have no clue how to go back from the Hueco Mundo (-_-), while Aizen and the remaining Espada headed to Karakura Town to activate the power of Hogyoku.
I also found this arc very beautiful and interesting, too bad that Ichigo is nerfed (or the captains have become very strong), the levels of power in fact are completely different from the first arc. There are a lot of interesting characters and battles in this Arc too, but I'll talk about that later.
The OSTs of Hueco Mundo are also beautiful and the setting in general reflects very well the territory of the hollows in my opinion.
Also nice to use Spanish terminologies and names for this arc, in the new arc maybe we would have OST and German terms (?).
FAKE KARAKURA TOWN ARC:
From here begins the arc of the real war, with the Espada and Aizen against the captains and ex-captains, this saga is also full of fights, some really to waste time, like those to protect the pillars of the fake town.
In this arc we get to know the strongest Espada, including the king of the Hueco Mundo and the Primera, I must say that at the end of this arc the numbers of the Espada were placed random, in fact, Ulquiorra was much stronger of the third and first Espada, also other members had higher positions than they should have.
In this arc we will also discover the real power of Aizen and the first commander of the SS brigades, which even surpasses that of Aizen, a pity that in the end he loses anyway.
At the end of the first part of this arc we see a victorious Aizen who goes with Gin to destroy Karakura Town, and only Ichigo is left to stop him.
After another training session (3 months), Ichigo suddenly becomes very strong only because he has acquired his final technique, so he decides to challenge Aizen in the final battle by defeating him thanks to Urahara.
I also liked this arc very much, with many interesting fights and powers, with the revelation of the character of Aizen and Gin. The thing that irritated me was the sudden change of power of Ichigo after a few months of training. Before training, with the hollow form did not scratch Aizen, after instead he manages to stop Aizen's sword awakened with his bare hand, yet they decided to make him lose all his powers with his "final move", completely unnecessary, in fact he could very well defeat Aizen without using it.
I guess the loss of powers set the stage for the start of the next and final animated arc.
FULLBRINGER ARC:
The latest animated arc currently available in the bleach series. This arc the first time I saw bleach did not impress me much, in fact I did not remember it well. I must say, however, that rewatching was the right choice.
In this arc they make the appearance of spiritual powers called Fullbrings which change from person to person. These powers also have names, making them real Jojo's Stands. All this arc revolves around Ichigo who is betrayed by the fullbringers who, once having made him awaken his powers, steal him and strengthen themselves.
At that moment it is revealed that the SS has infused a sword with a lot of spiritual energy to return the shinigami powers to Ichigo once again, and from there, after a few fights, it turns out that the SS has always controlled Ichigo via the his badge, ath the end Ichigo decides to stay on the side of the SS and kills the other shinigami substitute.
As I said, I re-evaluated this arc during the rewatch, very nice, a bit random at the beginning, but then it proves to be a good arc in my opinion.
-ZAMPAKUTO
One thing that certainly characterizes the anime are the Zampakuto, or the swords of the shinigami, which change shape and powers according to the user. There are Zampakuto with really strong ability, such as the Aizen sword.
Personally, I really liked how they introduced and continued this power over the course of the series, not to mention the form of the bankai, where the sword becomes even more powerful.
Surely there is a good power and combat system on this show, even thinking about the spiritual energy of the more powerful characters.-CHARACTERS
There are many interesting characters in this series, here is a list of my favorites:-OST
I've seen a lot of reviews who liked the bleach openings, and I absolutely agree with them, but in my opinion one thing even better than the openings are the amazing OSTs.
In particular, the Hueco Mundo OSTs and some other OSTs that I will now insert have really impressed me:
-COMEDY
A particular feature of the show is the presence of many comic scenes during the episodes. Now, I have to admit that I like them, but these scenes are also used very often during fights, sometimes causing him to lose the tense atmosphere that was created.
-FINAL THOUGHTS
The first time I saw this anime I found it good, but it didn't particularly impress me, instead I must say that, rewatching it, I appreciated it much more, noticing things I hadn't saw before.
A lot of things, from the story to the good characters have a positive mention from me.
I definitely recommend watching this anime (skipping the filler arcs), also to prepare for the vision of the new arc that will be released in October.
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