By Tite Kubo
Published by Viz
Rating: Teen (13+)

Since this is PCS’s first review of this ongoing shonen epic, let me preface my comments by saying that if you haven’t read Bleach, you cannot jump in here! You can leap into some amazing series like Golgo 13 or Black Jack at any point because of their episodic nature. For better or for worse, Bleach follows one continuous storyline through several plot arcs that constructively build on each other. Since we’re kicking off our reviews of this series so late in the game, I intend for this review to be more a retrospective on this series’ overall quality, rather than a look at volumes 24 and 25. Because of the retrospective style of this review, there will be massive spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

Like Naruto, Bleach has consistently dominated US manga sales since its first release. Both series are easy to pick up and leave you waiting with bated breath for each new volume/chapter. But Bleach has other key strengths as well. First, the art is detailed, attractive, and perfectly suited to the action-heavy story. Second, the fighting, especially in the Soul Society arc, is just plain cool. Third, the large cast of characters is fun and easy to connect with despite their quantity. Fourth, and most importantly, the conceptual universe woven by Tite Kubo is truly masterful. Whether it’s the organization of the Gotei 13, or the mechanics of the Zanpaku-To, or the different planes in which the characters exist, the conceptual thought put into Bleach is mind-boggling.

Like any long series, Bleach operates in a series of story arcs. In the first arc (and my personal favorite), Ichigo is granted temporary Soul Reaper powers by Kuchiki Rukia in order to protect his family and later his town. In this arc, we are introduced to the main human characters and have a solid and highly entertaining monster-of-the-day manga formula — a formula that gets shattered when Rukia’s superiors come to kill Ichigo for using Soul Reaper powers. Though Ichigo miraculously survives, he has been confronted by power on a completely different plane from the hollows he has been dealing with.

In the second arc, Ichigo goes off with his two manly pals Chad and Ishida to rescue the kidnapped and now helpless Rukia from her tower of doom in Soul Society. Along the way, Ichigo has tons of badass fights with the various denizens of Soul Society, and we’re introduced to a huge cast of characters to get to know, love, and sometimes hate. At the end of this arc, we’re introduced to a whole new villain whose deeds dominate the next three arcs. After saving Rukia, Ichigo returns to the human world in the third arc, where volumes 24 and 25 take place. Now, Ichigo has little time to settle in before his new enemy’s Super-Hollow hoodlums attack Ichigo’s town. Realizing his inadequacy to deal with the new threat, Ichigo undergoes–surprise, surprise–training to increase his skills.

Or, in fewer words, I could simply quote a friend: it’s like DBZ with swords. The series is immensely entertaining, has the formula down to a tee, but also suffers from basic flaws.

The first flaw is that Ichigo suffers from terminal Shonen Hero Inadequacy Syndrome. If I hear Naruto/Ichigo/Yoshimori/etc. etc. complain one more time about not being strong enough to defend their friends, I’ll be forced to shank somebody. Second, Tite Kubo clearly picks favorites among his characters. He introduces a ton in the Soul Society arc and then heavily uses characters like Hitsugaya and Matsumoto (gag) while all but ignoring the rest. Third, this series has gone on for far too long. I read the manga weekly, and it’s now in its fifth gigantic story arc. I see potential for the series to end afterwards, but Tite Kubo sadly revealed in an interview that he won’t move on to a new story that hasn’t had all of the fun already milked out of it. Profit over originality, I suppose. These complaints, though, are minor in comparison to how stellar this series has been so far.

My main complaint that does seriously detract from Bleach’s quality is the sexism. That’s right: sexism. In both second and fourth (not yet released stateside) arcs of Bleach, Ichigo and his manly compatriots must go and save the helpless female protagonist from the tower where they’re being imprisoned by evil (and masculine) forces. The fact that this inane plot device is hammered into our skulls twice overrides the presence of a handful of compelling female characters in Bleach. At least the characters are compelling when they aren’t locked in a tower. Both Rukia and Orihime, strong and capable female characters (though Rukia more so) become helpless and submissive damsels in distress that can do nothing but wait for their Ichigo in shining armor to rescue them once they’ve been captured.

What does this kind of sexist BS lead to? Well for one, it encodes the traits of heroism, bravery, constitution, and power as masculine. It is the masculine characters who embody these positive attributes as they save the helpless female characters that elect to do nothing but pray for rescue. Secondly, this constant undertone of saving the helpless women becomes Ichigo and company’s never-ending mission, and as we follow them it becomes ours as well. In Laura Mulvey’s classic 1973 essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Mulvey states that authors and filmmakers don’t show their works to their audiences through an unbiased lens, but rather through an invariably male gaze. What this leads to is a reinforcement of societal standards, women as the perceived and objectified. Even female audiences perceive the work through the creator’s male gaze. By using the meme of the helpless female vs. the strong male rescuers so constantly, Tite Kubo is highly guilty of subjecting the readers to a strongly tilted male gaze. Intentionally or no, the women of Bleach are commoditized and objectified, from Matsumoto for her looks, to Rukia and Orihime for their inability to take care of themselves without male intervention. Bleach helps perpetuate negative gender stereotypes about women in a genre aimed at impressionable male children–something I take great issue with.

Even though I have big problems with Bleach as you can see, I still recommend the series. Though its flaws are great, Bleach has some of the most riveting and original action seen in a long time, and has a beautifully constructed universe. The series, like many of its ilk, has begun to seriously wane in these later arcs though, as is evidenced by the recycled “save the kidnapped girl” fourth arc. It’s been a fun ride, but I hope for all our sakes, Tite Kubo ends it soon.

If you’ve bought the series up to this point, it’s probably worth sticking it out at least a bit longer. The action is still great, and it’s hard to part with the characters we’ve invested so much in. For newcomers to the series, definitely go the library route. It’ll save you money—money which could be spent on superior shonen series like Kekkaishi or Black Jack. Unlike the series itself, I do recommend without reservations Viz’s excellent printing of Kubo Tite’s Bleach artbook All Color but the Black. It’s gorgeous, and a must-buy for any fan of art that simply reeks of cool.

The first twenty-five volumes of Bleach are available now, as is All the Colors But the Black.