Bleach

Bleach (ブリーチ Burīchi?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of the soulless ginger kid Ichigo Kurosaki 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, Rukia Kuchiki. 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 has been serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 2001, and has been collected into 65 tankōbon volumes. The series has spawned a media franchise that includes an animated television series that was produced by Studio Pierrot from 2004 to 2012, two original video animations, four animated feature films, ten rock musicals, and numerous video games, as well as many types of Bleach-related merchandise. English-language releases of Bleach are coordinated by Viz Media, which has released several volumes of the manga each year since 2004, and published chapters of Bleach in its Shonen Jump magazine since November 2007. 63 volumes were released in English. Viz Media secured foreign television and home video distribution rights to the Bleach anime in 2006. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim began airing dubbed episodes of Bleach in the United States that Fall, and Hulu later began to stream subtitled versions of the anime a week after each episode aired in Japan. Viz Media has also released each of the Bleach feature films in English. Bleach received the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen demographic in 2005, and is among the best-selling manga in both Japan and the United States. Bleach has sold more than 84 million copies in Japan since its publication, and continues to perform commercially despite significant downturns in both the Japanese and English manga markets. Among critics, Bleach is most commonly praised for its action scenes, character designs and art, but considered to have a relatively stereotypical plot, oftentimes sluggish pacing, and draws widely variant opinions as to the quality of its characterization. Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Themes 3.1 Religious and cultural 3.2 Characters 4 Media 4.1 Manga 4.2 Anime 4.3 Soundtrack CDs 4.4 Films 4.5 Musicals 4.6 Trading card game 4.7 Video games 4.8 Light novels 4.9 Other 5 Reception 6 References 7 External links Plot[edit] See also: List of Bleach characters Ichigo Kurosaki is a teenager who can see ghosts, a talent which lets him meet supernatural trespasser Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia is one of the Soul Reapers, psychopomp soldiers trusted with ushering the souls of the dead from the World of the Living to the Soul Society (尸魂界（ソウル·ソサエティ） Sōru Sosaeti?)—the afterlife realm from which she originates— and with fighting Hollows, monstrous lost souls who can harm both ghosts and humans. When she is severely wounded defending Ichigo from a Hollow she is pursuing, Rukia transfers her Spirit Pressure (霊圧 Reiatsu?) to Ichigo so that he may fight in her stead while she recovers her strength. Rukia is thereby trapped in an ordinary human body, and must advise Ichigo as he balances the demands of his substitute Soul Reaper duties and attending high school. For aid in hunting the Hollows, the pair ally with a trio of other spiritually empowered teenagers: Ichigo's high school classmate Orihime Inoue, best friend Yasutora "Chad" Sado, and the Quincy Uryū Ishida. Eventually, Rukia is arrested by her Soul Reaper superiors and sentenced to death for the illegal act of transferring her powers into a human. Ichigo and friends move to rescue her, and in order to enter the Soul Society they enlist the help ex-Soul Reaper scientist Kisuke Urahara, who enables Ichigo to access his own Soul Reaper powers. Shortly after the party's arrival in the Soul Society, conflict raises among the captains of 13 Court Squads when it seemed that captain Sōsuke Aizen is apparently murdered. Learning more of a Soul Reaper's capabilities, and dealing with a Hollow-based secondary persona that manifested from his training with Kisuke, Ichigo fights his way through Rukia's childhood friend Renji Abarai, Squad 11's unsurpassed warrior Kenpachi Zaraki ,and ultimately Rukia's final jailer, her brother Byakuya Kuchiki. It was only at the climax of the rescue and the Soul Society on the verge of civil war that Aizen reappears, revealed to have faked his death and arranged Rukia's execution to obtain the Hōgyoku that Kisuke planted in Rukia's Gigai. Aizen is then joined by his follow conspirators, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen, as they use Hollows to cover their escape into the Hollows' world Hueco Mundo (虚圏 （ウェコムンド） Weko Mundo?). From this point, Ichigo and Rukia are reconciled to the Soul Reapers, who view Ichigo as a powerful ally and officially designate him as an official Substitute Soul Reaper. Ichigo soon finds himself and his friends in escalating skirmishes with Aizen's army of humanoid Hollows, the Arrancars, as they are joined by the Vizards, Soul Reapers who were among the victims of Aizen's experiments in creating Soul Reaper/Hollow hybrids. The Visards proceed to help Ichigo control his inner Hollow as he developed a personal rivalry with the Arrancar Grimmjow Jeagerjaques of the ten Espada. When the Espada Ulquiorra Schiffer kidnaps Orihime, Ichigo and his allies enter Hueco Mundo to invade Aizen's palace Loc Noches. However, as Ichigo rescues Orihime, Aizen reveals her abduction was a distraction as he and his strongest warriors launch an attack on Karakura Town as part of his plan to sacrifice the souls of the living to create an Ohken for his true goal: killing the Soul King who reigns over the Soul Society. Though the Vizards join the Soul Reapers that remained to face their mutual enemy, Gin revealing his own agenda of assassinating him, Aizen reveals he used the Hōgyoku to become a Hollow-like being and overpowered everyone. But Ichigo, learning his father is a Soul Reaper and that Aizen has been manipulating his progress since birth, is ultimately able to subdue Aizen at the cost of his Soul Reaper powers and becomes a normal human. Months later, preparing for life after high school, Ichigo is called back into action when Xcution, a gang of Fullbringers – supernaturally aware humans like Chad – manipulate him and his loved ones in a scheme to siphon his Fullbring abilities. After his Soul Society allies restore his Soul Reaper status, learning that Xcution's leader Ginjo Kujo was his predecessor and that the Substitute Soul Reapers are not fully trusted, Ichigo defeats Ginjo while resolving to continue fighting with the Soul Society against any threat. In the final arc, an army of Quincies known as the Wandenreich appear and declare their own war on Soul Society after enslaving the Arrancars. The group is led by Yhwach, the ancient progenitor of the Quincys who was once worshiped as a god on earth. Yhwach has returned from long hibernation in the afterlife, and seeks to kill the Soul King like Aizen. In their first invasion, the Wandenreich killed many Soul Reapers with Head Captain Yamamoto among the deceased. Furthermore, as Uryū is recruited into the Wandenreich, Ichigo learns the truth that his abilities as both Vizard and as a Fullbringer were because his mother was a Quincy who was indirectly affected by Aizen's experiments. After coping with the revelation, Ichigo and his friends aid the Soul Society in fighting the Wandenreich's second invasion as Yhwach proceeds to reach the Soul King's Palace in the ensuing chaos. Production[edit] 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 Rukia Kuchiki.[3][4] 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.[5] Manga artist Akira Toriyama saw the story and wrote a letter of encouragement to Kubo.[4] 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.[4] 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.[3] 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.[6] Kubo has cited influences for elements of Bleach ranging from other manga series to music, foreign language, architecture, and film. He attributes his interest in drawing the supernatural and monsters to Shigeru Mizuki's GeGeGe no Kitaro and Bleach '​s focus on interesting weaponry and battle scenes to Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya, manga that Kubo enjoyed as a boy.[3] The action style and storytelling found in Bleach are inspired by cinema, though Kubo has not revealed any specific movie as being an influence for fight scenes. When pressed, he told interviewers that he liked Snatch but did not use it as a model.[7] Kubo has also stated that he wishes to make Bleach an experience that can only be found by reading manga, and dismissed ideas of creating any live-action film adaptations of the series.[4] Bleach '​s fight choreography is instead constructed with the aid of rock music, which the author listens to while imagining the fights in order to give him a sense of pacing for the panel cuts and change of angles through the scenes.[8] Kubo prefers to draw realistic injuries in order to render the fight more impactful, by making the readers feel the pain the characters are feeling.[9] Bleach's fight scenes are often broken up with brief gags, which the author inserts when he grows bored during the illustration process.[8] Bleach '​s plotting process is focused around character design. When writing plotlines or having difficulties generating new material, Kubo begins by thinking of new characters, often en masse, and rereading previous volumes of Bleach.[3][9] Kubo has said that he likes creating characters that have outward appearances that do not match their true nature—an element that can be found in many Bleach characters—as he is "attracted to people with that seeming contradiction" and finds an "urge to draw people like that" when he works.[10] The terminology used in Bleach has a variety of inspirations, with each category of characters bearing a different linguistic theme. Many of the names for swords and spells used by Soul Reapers were inspired by ancient Japanese literature. Hollows and Arrancars use Spanish terms. Fullbringers use English vocabulary, with names referencing rock music, and finally, both Quincy and Bounts draw on the German language. This multilingual terminology, along with the variety in apparent character ethnicities, emphasizes the international nature of the Bleach settings.[10] Themes[edit] Religious and cultural[edit] Von Feigenblatt describes Bleach as being culturally and religiously aware.[11] Bleach '​s plot incorporates the traditional Japanese belief of spirits coexisting with humans and their nature, good or evil, depends on the circumstances.[11] An example is Orihime's backstory: she was raised from the age of three by her brother Sora, and prayed for his soul's peace after he died in a car accident.[12] As time went on, she prayed less and Sora became jealous and turned into a Hollow and attacked Orihime. Drazen says this is a reminder to the audience to not abandon the old ways or risk the spirits taking offense and causing problems in the world.[13] Bleach also incorporates Shinto themes of purification of "evil spirits through charms, scrolls, incantations, and other rituals."[11] The manga also draws upon Christianity and Caribbean Santería.[11] Spanish terms are prevalent throughout the realm of Hueco Mundo, meaning abyss world, and its officers are the Espada, literally "sword" in Spanish.[11] Kubo says he chose the terms because they sounded "bewitching and mellow" to him.[10] Both Quincy and Bounts have been known to associate with the German language, making Kubo's world of characters diverse in race and language as well.[10] Von Feigenblatt notes that the Quincy "are clearly inspired by the Roman Catholic Christian Orders of Knighthood such as the Sovereign Order of Malta and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre whose influence is shown in terms of the uniform worn by the Quincy as well as by the symbolism of the cross."[11] Many of the names for swords and spells used by Soul Reapers were inspired by ancient Japanese literature.[10] Characters[edit] Kubo likes creating characters that have outward appearances that do not match their true nature.[10] The character Orihime is a complex character who has been both praised and criticized for her appearances. Her role has developed from a "big-breasted bimbo" throughout the story, but the way in which she uses her power has been deemed as stereotypical.[14][15] Rukia was initially set to be the protagonist of the series, but the early development of her character resulted in it being changed. Kubo drew Rukia based on his concepts of a Shinigami and wanted her to have an appropriate Shinigami sounding name.[16] Kubo's choice of the name is deliberate, eventually decided upon the last name "Kuchiki" (朽木?, lit. "rotten wood") and chose her first name based on the Latin name for cosmos, which in Latin means "light".[16] Kubo sees her as "a ray of light for Ichigo."[16] Rukia's English voice actress, found Rukia to be a "survivor", due to how lonely she initially was and how she has been developed through the anime series as she had to start trusting people.[17] Melissa Harper notes that Rukia is not a stereotypical shōnen heroine, noting Rukia's loss of her powers and subsequent dependence on Ichigo were "a great source of both drama and comedy in the show."[18] Carlos Alexandre noted that she is "less of a foil to Ichigo and more like the other side of the same coin".[19] Media[edit] Manga[edit] See also: List of Bleach volumes The chapters of the Bleach manga are written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. In Japan, they have been published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump since 2001.[20] Since Bleach '​s premiere, over 600 chapters have been released in Japan. Most chapter names are written in English and have katakana above them to indicate how they are read in Japanese, similar to the usage of furigana ruby characters with advanced kanji characters. The total count of published Bl