Bleach, Volume 1: Strawberry and the Soul Reapers

Another great manga series that inserts itself nicely among my other reading, giving me a surprisingly enjoyable taste of action, characters, humor, and story.

Ichigo Kurosaki has always been able to see ghosts. It's been an unusual, useful, and slightly annoying talent to him, but otherwise the life he lives above his father's clinic with his two sisters is normal.

And then a strange girl, who calls herself Rukia and claims to be something called a Soul Reaper, comes through his window in the middle of the night. And when a nightmarish spirit called a Hollow attacks Ichigo's family, it doesn't take him long to realize that Rukia has brought a whole new world along with her; the world of spirits and souls, swords and energy from beyond show more the realm of the living.

From Ichigo's quiet Japanese hometown, to the perilous realm of the Soul Society and beyond, this story is amazingly well-crafted for something I originally expected to be nothing more than fights. The art is sharp and bold, the characters drawn so uniquely that despite the massive cast it's easy to tell them apart. More than that, the characters are each well-developed with their own histories, motives, and personality quirks, from Ichigo and his assorted group of friends to the Soul Reapers of the spirit world.

Overall, a well-balanced manga that includes both bloody fights and comedy, touching relationships and epic confrontations. In essence, something for everyone. show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/strawberry-and-the-soul-reapers-by-tite-kubo/

It’s a fairly basic story of Ichigo Kurosaki, a kid with red hair (unusual in Japan, to say the least), who finds himself drawn into the grand supernatural battle between the good guy Soul Reapers and the evil spirits called Hollows. Rukia Kuchiki, the character on my phone case, is one of the immortal Soul Reapers (based on the traditional Japanese shinigami, only cuter), but ends up giving her powers to Ichigo and having to become a normal(ish) schoolgirl.

I wasn’t blown away by it, though I can see why the core audience (which I’m not in) would like it. I would have liked to see more sensitive exploration of Ichigo’s abusive family situation, and I show more was sorry that the promising character of Orihime was introduced and then apparently got dropped. (Though I believe she comes back in later volumes.) Those who like this sort of thing will find it the sort of thing that they like. show less

It is hard to believe Bleach started 20 years ago. It’s even harder to believe I have slept on this series that long. Why did I never pick it up? It is so good and now I need the next volumes. Soul reapers send hollows to their resting place. Ichino didn’t know this. He only knew that he has been able to see spirits his entire life. But danger lurks around every corner, and he will need the help and the powers of a Soul Reaper to survive and keep his family alive. This book was action packed, not too gory, but a little bit, and all over a fun read. I know there is an anime as well, I will be checking that out as well. But I think for now, I shall be requesting the next books.

Back then, I was about to start an English course. The level? A basic level—or more like an advanced basic level, if we want to be more specific. So, to warm up for the course, I started reading books whose stories I was familiar with.

Like the anime, the manga starts slow, but what bothered me more was the backstory of the side characters; it dragged the story a bit.

However, this was my favorite manga at the time, and I was reading its chapters weekly as they were released. The story was nearing its end, and we were exactly one year away from the ending.

I may pick up this one again in the near future, or I may just stick with the new anime, especially if the author fixes the rushed ending he left us with.

In Bleach Volume 1, Ichigo Kurosaki, aka "Strawberry" who is an average kid except that he can talk to ghosts. A late night encounter with a hollow introduces Ichigo to Rukia Kuchiki and the Soul Society. Before he knows it, he's a shinigami, enfused with Rukia's power and charged with chasing down Hollows.

I come to Bleach having seen the first few DVDs of the anime series of the same title. It's fun to spend a little more time with the characters and get more involved in the story and in Ichigo's world. We watch the anime with the Japanese language track and I don't always read all the subtitles, so it's nice to read the translated manga.

Okay, I’m a little behind on my Goodreads reading challenge and need to make up some ground. So I have switched to Manga for my next review. Bleach Vol 1 starts the story of Ichigo Kurosaki, a boy who sees ghosts. An unexpected encounter with Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper, hunting evil spirits that eat the souls of humans with psychic energy.

The Bad Stuff: For some, the reading from right to left, starting at what we from the western world would call ‘the back of the book,’ may be hard. Other will enjoy this and find it adds to their enjoyment. For me, there is nothing bad about this, it’s manga! Oh… yeah – I’ve found that you either like manga or you don’t. I like it, so it’s all good news for me. If show more you are one of those that dislike it, you’re probably not going to read it anyway.

The Good Stuff: This is manga at its best, it’s easy to read, well illustrated and witty, providing some laugh out load moments. The characters are fun and will keep you amused as you follow them through the book.

I loved Vol 1 and I’m looking forward to moving through the next 20 volumes on my book shelf. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 Golden bookmarks. show less

Bleach has become very popular so it may become easy to over look it as over hyped, but it really is a fantastic Manga. The characters are extremely well developed and nuanced for a "boy" or "action" manga, that being said the action is still great. Ichigo (strawberry) has to be one of my all time favorite characters as is Chad a big guy who like all things cute. Bleach is worth the investment such a long series entails.