So…Bleach is coming back.
Not gonna lie, I knew this was gonna happen eventually but I stopped
wondering if it would actually happen a long time ago. Low and behold though, the tail end of 2021
brought us the first official look at Bleach: The Thousand Years War Arc, the
continuation/conclusion to the original Anime that ran from 2004-2012. Bleach was a mega hit back in the day,
becoming a Shonen Legend almost overnight.
So a lot of people are pretty hyped about its return. Me though?
Am I excited? Worried? Has it been too long to care anymore? Well I’m a little more split on the matter
and today I’m gonna talk about my Top 5 Thoughts on Bleach: The Thousand Years
War Arc. Here’s hoping I don’t ruffle
any feathers, bear with me.
The original Bleach Anime concluded…or kind of just
stopped…in 2012 at the conclusion of the “Lost Agent” Arc. The Bleach Manga was still 4 years away from
completion and became one of the few Anime to end before the Manga. Ten years is a long time to wait for new
material. Inuyasha had a similar
situation but we had to wait half the time for Inuyasha: The Final Act. I’d ask if after such a long wait does Bleach
even matter anymore…buuuuuuut the response to the teaser for the Thousand Year Blood War was met with near unanimous praise, so guess it does. Here’s hoping the final arc has been properly
planned out with all this extra prep time.
Which actually brings me too…
#4-Will Filler still be an Issue?
Filler, the natural enemy of Shonen Anime. This is what you get when your Anime catches
up to the Manga and you need to keep a show going. Naruto, Bleach, even Dragon Ball Z all had to
resort to this from time to time, with some arcs stretching far longer than
needed. Nowadays, shows like My Hero
Academia and Attack on Titan have taken year long breaks in between seasons to
plan out what’s next from the Manga directly, leading to more faithful and straightforward
adaptations. There is only one more arc
to tell in the grand story of Bleach…so here’s hoping we don’t cut things off
in the middle for a needless filler arc for old times sake grins.
#3-The Bloodiest and Darkest Bleach Arc
I stopped watching and reading Bleach a long time ago
(more on that later) but I did peak at a later volume or two every once in a
while at the bookstore. And wow, if you
thought the neverending war with Aizen was intense, well to quote Hot Fuzz, “This
s*** just got real.” The final arc will
see Ichigo and the Soul Reapers going up against adversaries so powerful that
they can walk right through any Captains Bankai. What’s gonna happen when even the strongest
attacks of Byakuya, Kenpachi or even Yamamoto fail to stop this new threat? Things are gonna get pretty desperate and
everyones gonna get pushed to their limit.
Something tells me any little bit of levity from the humor department
will be welcome but will also be little and far between.
#2-The Big 3 Back Together Again
Now I know I cant be the only ones who’s noticed that
when Bleach returns in October 2022, it’ll be airing alongside some old
friends. Back in the day, we had “The
Big 3”, three mega popular Shonen titles that were the big gateways for new
Anime fans: Bleach, One Piece and Naruto.
Since the end of the 2000’s, Bleach and Naruto both ended while One Piece
kept sailing on. HOWEVER, Naruto
continued right away with Boruto and since Naruto is still a major player…well
I still say Naruto is still ongoing and you cant change my mind. Point is, these three juggernauts will
reunite for the first time in over a decade making this Falls Shonen offerings
(likely to also include new My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen) the
strongest its every been.
#1-Everyones excited…me? Ehhhhh…
Ok…my real thoughts…I’m curious but not excited. Like I said, I stopped watching and reading
Bleach long before either Anime or Manga ended.
It just kept going on and on and on and everything that made it so
awesome in the first three seasons just lost a lot of its luster for me. Looking ahead at the Thousand Year Blood War Arc
in the Manga only made my head spin more with another hundred new characters
and my favorites getting curb stomped for the sake of making this final enemy
the most dangerous. The Manga concluded
at 74 Volumes (2 more than Naruto) and the original Anime ended at 366
episodes, more than half of which were filler that didn’t matter to me. Don’t get me wrong, Bleach has some of my all
time favorite Anime characters like Byakuya, Kenpachi and Renji…but I don’t know,
maybe my interest in Bleach took off a long time ago. Like I said, I’m curious and I do hope it
ends things right for this Anime Legend.
Whether I’ll watch any of it…well I can say there’ll probs be a Special
First Impression Friday feature on it for sure.
Til then, I wait.
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