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Bleach Manga |OT| Return of the King

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Bleach_logo.png


Welcome to the Bleach manga thread! Bleach was considered one of the "big three" of shonen manga, along with One Piece and Naruto, for quite some time. While the height of its popularity has long since passed, the series is still ongoing and is currently in its final story arc. There are open spoilers for the manga beyond this point.

Bleach (ブリーチ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Kurosaki Ichigo after he obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper (死神 Shinigami, literally, "Death God") —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Kuchiki Rukia. His newfound powers force him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife, and set him on journeys to various ghostly realms of existence.

Bleach was first conceived from Tite Kubo's desire to draw a Shinigami in a kimono, which formed the basis for the design of the Soul Reapers in the series and the conception of Kuchiki Rukia. The original story concept was submitted to Weekly Shōnen Jump shortly after the cancellation of Kubo's previous manga, Zombiepowder, but was at first rejected. Manga artist Akira Toriyama saw the story and wrote a letter of encouragement to Kubo. Bleach was accepted for publication a short time later in 2001, and was initially intended to be a shorter series, with a maximum serialization length of five years. Early plans for the story did not include the hierarchical structure of the Soul Society, but did include some characters and elements that were not introduced into the plot until the Arrancar arc, such as Ichigo's Soul Reaper parentage. The series was originally meant to be named "Black" due to the color of the Soul Reapers' clothes, but Kubo thought the title was too generic. He later tried the name of "White," but came to like "Bleach" more for its association with the color white and that he did not find it too obvious.

Current Arc:

Quincy Blood War - The Wandenreich, a Quincy organization, invades Soul Society, targeting the Soul King. It is revealed how Kurosaki Isshin lost his powers, and Ichigo regains his own over the course of the story arc.

490Wandenreich_symbol.png


Important players in the current arc:

Kurosaki Ichigo - (黒崎 一護) is a Human who has Shinigami powers. He is also a Substitute Shinigami. Ichigo is the son of Isshin and Masaki, and older brother of Karin and Yuzu. Ichigo is the main character of the series. While he lost his powers after the battle against Aizen, he has recovered them since.

Ishida Uryu - (石田 雨竜) is a Gemischt Quincy residing in Karakura Town. He is a student at Karakura High School, where he is a classmate and friend of Ichigo Kurosaki. He is a member of the Wandenreich with the designation "A", as well as Yhwach's future successor.

Chad - (茶渡 泰虎, Sado Yasutora), also known as Chad (チャド, Chado), is a Human teenager who lives in Karakura Town. He is a student at Karakura High School, where he is in the same class as Ichigo Kurosaki. He helps Ichigo fight the Wandenreich.

Inoue Orihime - (井上 織姫) is a Human living in Karakura Town. She is a student at Karakura High School, where she is in the same class as Ichigo Kurosaki and her best friend, Tatsuki Arisawa. Like her friends, she becomes involved in the fight against Yhwach and his underlings.

Urahara Kisuke- (浦原 喜助) is the former captain of the 12th Division, as well as the founder and 1st President of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute. He currently lives in the Human World after being exiled, where he owns a small convenience store, "Urahara Shop", which doubles in selling Shinigami items. The shop is maintained by Urahara himself, as well as his employees Tessai Tsukabishi, Jinta Hanakari, and Ururu Tsumugiya.

Kurosaki Isshin - (黒崎 一心), formerly known as Shiba Isshin (志波 一心), is the former captain of the 10th Division, husband of Kurosaki Masaki, father of Kurosaki Ichigo, Kurosaki Karin, and Kurosaki Yuzu. Isshin is the former head of a branch of the Shiba Clan and the current head of the Kurosaki family.

Gotei 13 - The Gotei 13 (護廷十三隊, Goteijūsantai; 13 Division Imperial Guards, 13 Court Guard Companies in the English manga) is the primary military branch of Soul Society and the main military organization most Shinigami join after leaving the academy. They are tasked with protecting Soul Society from its impending invasion.

Royal Guard - The Royal Guard (王属特務, Ōzokutokumu; translated as "Royal Special Task Force" in the English dub, literally translated as "King Subordinate Secret Service") also known as the Zero Division (零番隊, Zerobantai), is an organization that is dedicated to the protection of the Soul King, the Royal Family, and the Soul King Palace. While referenced earlier in the series, they finally make their appearance when Soul Society is threatened.

Yhwach - Yhwach (ユーハバッハ, Yūhabahha), often referred to simply as "Your Majesty" (陛下, heika) by his underlings, is the monarch of the Wandenreich and Father of the Quincy. He also possesses the designation "A".

Jugram Haschwalth - Jugram Haschwalth (ユーグラム・ハッシュヴァルト, Yūguramu Hasshuvaruto) is a Quincy and the Wandenreich's Sternritter Grandmaster (星十字騎士団最高位 (シュテルンリッター・グランドマスター), shuterunrittā gurandomasutā; Japanese for "Highest-Ranked of the Band of Star-Cross Knights") with the designation "B". He is also the advisor to Emperor Yhwach and the substitute as the monarch when Yhwach sleeps. He is second-in-command of the Wandenreich.

Sternritter - The Sternritter (星十字騎士団 (シュテルンリッター), shuterunrittā; German for "Star Knights", Japanese for "Star Cross Knight Band/Order") are a specific group of powerful Quincy in the Wandenreich's army, who play a pivotal role in the invasion of Soul Society, being tasked with purging the Shinigami.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
*Crickets chirping*

As usual, there are about a million characters to keep track of. Personally, I think the series peaked at its second story arc (Soul Society) and hasn't been able to get back to the same level of quality since. There was a short flashback arc (Turn Back the Pendulum) that was really good, though.
 

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
So I think I stopped reading around the Ulqorria fight and what not but can I get a rundown what's the main schtick of these crazy Germans I've been hearing about?
 

Raxus

Member
Anime went off the rails, but I'd be interested if the manga got it's form back.

Prepare to be disappointed. Shame too. I like aspects of this arcs but they keep introducing characters. Seems this is approaching its conclusion too but it is at least a year off it seems.
 

Moppeh

Banned
Have we seen Urahara's bankai yet?

I stopped reading it during the Arrancar arc and all of this crazy Quincy bullshit is too much for me.

The first two arcs are super good though. Bleach is what got me super into anime/manga when I was a kid, it sucks that it has gotten so lame.
 
I don't think I've been able to discern anything going on in this manga since the past half year.

Granted, in retrospect I don't think the manga was that great even in it's prime but despite all the chaos it just feels so lifeless :/
 

DeadTsar

Member
I really have no idea what the current battles are for. Just too many characters its hard to care these days. Aizen greatest villain in any anime though
If you count hueco mundo arc up until he starts fighting Ichigo
 

jstripes

Banned
I really have no idea what the current battles are for. Just too many characters its hard to care these days.

AND they just revived half the bad guys they just defeated.

Fucking Bleach. Can't wait for it to end so I can stop reading it.
 
I stopped when Aizen lost.


Someone post those awesome picture of the Bleach characters dressed in every day clothing.



Oh and to get this off to a good start #TeamOrihime.
 

LordCanti

Member
tl;dr: Ichigo was everything.

It's like he willfully tried to turn Bleach into Yu Yu Hakusho.

The last hook the manga had in me was
whether or not his mother was going to be a hollow, or a member of the royal family, and he completely blew it by having her be a Quincy to tie into the horrible arc that is currently ongoing.

Now I just continue to read it to see how it's going to end.

Fucking Bleach. Can't wait for it to end so I can stop reading it.

That's where I'm at.
 

Jarnet87

Member
Still follow it but please let it end early next year. So much nonsense left. Royal Guard and Juha's Elite Squad, Ichigo still hasn't shown up, No Uryu yet, a bunch of other Shinigami yet to show their Bankai (probably won't see all of them) and then the soul king. Could easily stretch for more then a year.
 
I will continue to follow this train wreck weekly. It's been a habit I haven't been able to break for years.

Kubo's biggest issue is that he keeps introducing characters, and never doing anything with them, or trying to do too much. A slimmer cast would work wonders.

And stop focusing on the Soul Society.
 

Rainy

Banned
I watched the anime until the end of the soul society arc, I suppose if I wanted to catch up Id have to start the manga from the beginning. Don't remember shit.
(Will this thread devolve into the shipping thread that the naruto one turned into?)
 
I stopped caring at fullbring. Can someone tell me if they ever explained how these guys grow up after they die but live for fucking ever? I would really like to know that.

Edit: Team Orihime
 
I really have no idea what the current battles are for. Just too many characters its hard to care these days. Aizen greatest villain in any anime though
If you count hueco mundo arc up until he starts fighting Ichigo

Pretty much how I felt about the penultimate Naruto arc, even though I think there are many who disagreed with me. It was like Kishi kept pulling a "hey, remember when they mentioned that one really powerful character that existed 50+ years ago? welp here he is"

I'm saddened by Bleach. It was legitimately good during the Soul Society arc, then lost its footing during the Vizard, Hueco Mundo, and whatever the one after Hueco Mundo is called. The Lost Substitute Shinigami arc was just a hot mess. I stopped after that arc.

I was hopeful that this topic was going to talk about how much better it had gotten, but from the responses, it doesn't look like it has improved enough.

I'm still sad over the Hunter x Hunter situation and trying to fill the void. ;_; (yes I read One Piece too, it's just not enough)
 

Seesaw15

Member
I gave up on Bleach when Kubo all but gave up on doing backgrounds. It just turned into a bunch of overblown fights occurring in white space. First couple of arcs were great shame it lost its footing.
 
Where he at tho?

icNpUke.gif

4DNUoSm.gif


And what the big deal with the soul king? Someone mentioned in the Naruto thread that the S.K is shown, what was the big deal? Was it a full blown hollow or something?
 

Khezu

Member
Remember Ichigo and Rukia and all those characters you grew to like during the SS arc?

I wonder what there doing right now.

Oh well lets just focus on these million other boring dudes who no one cares about.
 

Jonnax

Member
I still read it but I just don't care about what is happening any more.
If you look back at the start of Bleach it was about the characters and their interactions, you cared about what happened because they had personality. But nobody got development, like seriously who is Chad?

Now it's just a million uninteresting characters being introduced and then being killed off almost immediately. I've got no reason to care about the Sternritter, they're just cannon fodder which last weeks chapter proved oh so well. In fact it shows that months were wasted on them. With how little happens each chapter it feels like Kubo just doesn't have any respect for his audience's time.

Also don't care about all these pointless battles, pretty graphics are great and all but if it doesn't mean anything then why bother?

Bleach would have been brilliant if it ended at the end of the soul society arc after he had rescued Rukia, everything after that was downhill. The author has no clue how to write yet I can't stop reading it every week. :(
 

Rojo

Member
It's gonna be either Orihime or nobody that Ichigo ends up with.

And if it is indeed Orihime it will happen after a timeskip.

I feel like it has to be her just to kinda go full circle like his dad did. As for aizen i haven't been keeping up with the manga i thought he was in custody.
 

SalvaPot

Member
I powered through the fullbring arc but by the love of me I just couldn't keep track of all the quincys.

They are just so many of them and they all look so samey.

Also Kubo said this was the last arc, so I said to myself I would just wait for it to be done and read it later.

That mas what, a year ago?
 
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