Bleach is Netflix’s third attempt at making a live-action adaptation of a popular manga/anime. First, there was Deathnote, then there was Full Metal Alchemist, and now there is Bleach. Bleach is one of my favourite manga/anime. Spanning 16 seasons and 74 volumes, Netflix had A LOT of content that they could choose from to include in their adaptation.

To make things easier for themselves, they chose to adapt (pretty much) the first season of the anime.

Bleach follows hot-tempered Ichigo Kurosaki (Sota Fukushi) who has the ability to see spirits who are unable to rest in peace. Because of this, soul reaper Rukia (Hana Sugisaki) senses him and enlists Ichigo’s help to destroy a Hollow – which is a soul-devouring spirit. When Rukia gets injured in a battle against a Hollow, she transfers her power to Ichigo so that he can carry on fighting. However, this is against the soul reaper code, and suddenly, Rukia and Ichigo find themselves battling not just Hollows, but other members of the Soul Society.

 

 

There were a lot of things in this live-action adaptation that stayed true to the original content. Because Netflix used the first season of Bleach as their guidelines and then wrapped up the ending so that there weren’t any loose ends, it worked very well as a standalone movie. However, there are rumours that Netflix is going to turn this into a trilogy. How they will do this, I have no idea. They kind of kicked themselves in the teeth by closing off the ending, and the only way that they could make a sequel is by putting Rukia in danger so that Ichigo has to go to the Soul Society to save her.

 

 

I really did love the casting. I felt like they had it spot on, minus the fact that a few certain characters didn’t have the same hair colour as they do in the anime, but that’s not THAT big of a deal. And for those of you who have watched the anime or read the manga, no, they don’t include the teddy bear. Just in case you were wondering. Whilst we’re on the subject of casting/characters, I really did want to see more of Chad (Yû Koyanagi) as he’s one of my favourite characters in the anime/manga. But like I said, there’s 16 seasons, and 74 volumes of Bleach, so there’s a lot more time to develop characters than there is in a 2-hour movie. I also didn’t really like the character of Renji (Taichi Saotome). He seemed like a caricature, always licking his lips and having this weird smile on his face… But those are my only complaints about the characters. OH WAIT! THERE’S ONE MORE! I LOVE the character of Urahara (Seiichi Tanabe) because he’s so quirky and sarcastic, but in the movie, HE WAS SO SERIOUS which was a massive shame. But at least Netflix kept his iconic hat and cardigan. If they didn’t, I would have been so mad.

 

 

 

 

But let’s move away from the negatives because this really was a brilliant adaptation. I loved that Netflix showed the family dynamic between Ichigo, his father and his sisters. It’s such a pivotal thing in the anime/manga, and I would have been so upset if Netflix didn’t portray how much Ichigo loved his family and wanted to take care of them. I also really liked that Netflix started out the film showing (sort of) what happened to his Mother. If this is your first time watching Bleach, then you do get clarification of what actually happened to her, which is one of the brilliant things about this movie: people who have never heard of Bleach, who have never read the manga, can watch this live-action adaptation without any prior knowledge of the world and its characters.

 

 

 

 

One of the things that I was really worried about what how Netflix was going to show the Hollows. Obviously, they work really well in anime and the manga because it’s all ‘cartoon’, and you’re not mixing it with reality. However, when it came to Rukia and Ichigo to face their first Hollow, I LOVED how Netflix used CGI for them. I loved the masks and the way that hey moved… My only problem was with how the Grand Fisher Hollow looked. Netflix had made the replica of how it looked in the anime, but it didn’t transfer as well in a live-action. It just didn’t look as good as the previous two Hollows that we had seen in the film. But that’s my only critique for the Hollows.

 

 

 

I know that this is a very long review, but there are so many aspects of the film that I want to talk about since Bleach is a favourite of mine.

Now, let’s talk about including the Quincy in the film. To keep it short and sweet, I don’t think that it was needed. The character of the Quincy was just thrown in there for Netflix to say ‘hey look, we’re keeping to the original material.’ But it wasn’t needed. it didn’t add anything extra, it was completely underdeveloped. The Quincy plays SUCH a bigger part in the manga/anime, so it was a bit annoying that they didn’t develop that character more – especially because they could have used that character int he supposed sequels.

 

 

 

 

And last, but certainly not least, we have the final fight season between Renji and Ichigo, and then Ichigo and Byakuya. The fighting season between Ichigo and Renji was superb. I couldn’t fault it at all; I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, it was so tense. Yes, this fight scene comes A LOT later in the anime, but it was pretty cool to see in the ‘season one remake’. However, the fight between Ichigo and Byakuya felt comedic. Which isn’t right at all. Byakuya is this powerful member of the Soul Society, he should have been portrayed as a sort of God-like figure, but instead, his screen-time with Ichigo just left me feeling a little ‘meh’. Do you remember the Tom and Jerry cartoon? Tom would go after Jerry and try and ‘kill’ him, but then Jerry would keep coming back? That’s exactly what happened in the fight between Ichigo and Byakuya. It was silly. Ichigo would keep getting back up, and I know the look that Netflix was going for – he wanted to protect Rukia like he didn’t protect his Mother – but it didn’t work at all. it was laughable.

 

 

 

 

Overall, this was a brilliant adaptation. Yes, there were a few hiccups along the way and I really don’t see how they’re going to make a sequel if Netflix decides to, but it was such an enjoyable 2-hours, and I might even end up watching it again! Considering Netflix’s previous adaptations (don’t get me started on how awful Deathnote was), they’ve done really well with Bleach.

Have you ever watched the anime or read the manga of Bleach? Have you seen the live-action re-make? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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