The Problem With Bleach

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One thing I have always given Kubo is that he has an amazing talent for immediately presenting a case, so to speak, for a character when you meet them. Straight away you can get a vibe for the cast, from the biggest players to the most minor, and have an idea if you'll like them or not. It's like seeing a buffet spread in a new fighting game; the idle stances alone can sell you on someone, and Kubo manages that same kind of conveyance almost effortlessly.

Ichigo is a magical girl in an isekai story. I have never been more delightfully horrified to contemplate such a self-evident fact.

I think people would actually appreciate a deep dive in Bleach's power systems and lore

I literally started watching this video, then stopped it halfway and read the entire manga and now three days later have come back to say that yes, I loved the worldbuilding of this show!!

Rukia's poor drawing ability always was hilarious, must have been a fun addition for the artists!

I was about to question how years could pass between you watching Ichigo vs Ulquiorra and your friend telling you about the round 2 of that, then it occurred to me just how many filler arcs there actually were

Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra is still one of my favorite shounen fights to this day. Imagine fighting a Souls boss that has a phase 2 once their hp bar goes to 0 but if you take ages to actually get some decent damage in they just go "fuck it, I'll do it right now."

So the "problem" with Bleach... the world building, which was my main gripe... is not that it's shallow but actually the author was happy to go over our heads with it? I'm salty about that, but also really impressed.

"...anyone who's a fan of Tatsuki can attest to that" Hahahaha, I am in great pain

When you mentioned the mesoamerican influences in hollow's characterization, I really thought you would talk about how Aizen's whole deal with Hueco Mundo it's really just an animefication of Hernan Cortés and "The New World". I'm Mexican, so it was pretty obvious to me. Powerful guy from an imperialistic civilization sets foot in an "other worldly land"and suddenly decides he's the ruler. He builds his palace in the middle of the desert, finds the strongest native habitants of the place and through different schemes makes them his soldiers. Gives them new clothes, new habits, new hierarchies, all under his mand. "Educated man conquers the dessert and tames the savages that live in his new land", where have I heard that before? I think that is one of the reasons I found the Arrancar arc so fascinating. Aizen gave them "evolution", but took everything else. Hollows where no longer free, they became a sociopath's personal guerrilla. For me, it's too perfect for it to be just a coincidence. Arrancar is a Spanish word after all, and their powers are in Spanish too. All that "power" thanks to who? Exactly, Aizen. Not every Arrancar seems to be hispanic-coded or latino-coded, for example Grimmjow is very clearly a German name, but curiously enough, his powers (the representation of his very being) are not in a language that relates to HIS origin, they ended up having a Spanish Name: Pantera, because who gave that power to him? Aizen, again. Everything that Aizen conquers get homogenized under his very Spanish-coded empire. Even the music that represents them, Spanish flamenco. Notice how that's the only music we relate to Hueco Mundo? Because that's the music AFTER Aizen, after we actually engage with Hollows in a deeper level. What was Hueco Mundo's music before that? Maybe mesoamerican inspired music? We'll probably never know. EDIT: I now know that Grimmjow is not German, It's English and Swiss, but still, the point holds itself.

"nobody in bleach says anything for the sake of the audience"..except when they explain their abilities to their enemies

I've never watched Bleach, but I would 1000% love to watch a lore video about the magic system, whether it was 20 minutes or 3 hours long. I love that kind of stuff.

Ok but as someone who goes full “no thoughts, head empty” when I’m really enjoying reading something, I would be 100% here for that 40-minute spoon-feeding session

smiles contently he gets it. he's gone on the bleach fan journey of loving bleach, hating it, and then realizing that there's actually a LOT to love about bleach after all. now time to become a sonic fan!

My favorite mathematic aspect of Bleach lore is the SOUL BALANCE: human + shinigami + quincy + hollow = balance human + shinigami = no problem shinigami + quincy = opposite side of the spectrum quincy + hollow = soul suicide hollow + human = predator and prey human + quincy = no problem shinigami + hollow = executioner and to be executed / if mixed will cause soul suicide shinigami + hollow = quincy + human And that's how the Ichigo is still alive and kicking, his multi-breed is not only to make him op but to also make his whole being acceptable. If he's only a shinigami and hollow, then he's a mindless monster waiting for his soul to collapse, and so we needed that quincy blood plus human blood to balance out the collapse of his soul.

When this man said, "Anyone who is a fan of Tasuki can attest to that," - I legitimately almost cried 😭

I read “Problem with Bleach” and ready to blindly reject out of pure nostalgia. I’m ready Mother’s Basement

Geoff as a fellow Canadian, thank you for bringing me back to a simpler time when I didn't know what sub vs dubs meant and "guy has a giant sword to slice up monsters" was a brand new concept to me

Now that you mention it, the thought never crossed my mind that the power of Ichibei's Ichimonji was actually a parallel for how the author (as in, the author of the manga itself) manifests the world through "black" (that is, "black" is what the mangaka adds to the "white" that is a blank page).