Bleach Info (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=4240)
Tracking Thread (http://www.soulriders.org/forum/index.php?topic=1268.0)
Reviews Thread (http://www.soulriders.org/forum/index.php?topic=2417.0)
Discuss the series here.
Sincerely,
Shuten
I'm at 47 in this currently.
It's gotten better than where it started, though it still isn't quite at YYH levels.
Dracos
Personally, I've got really annoyed at it's pacing, though that might just be because I've read the manga twice. As of now I'm intending to wait til they reach the end of the Soul Society arc and marathon it.
I've been following this series pretty closely since I've been "Bleach" headed of late - following the anime and the manga - and it's been fun so far.
I'm enjoying being able to place voices with the characters and watch the sword moves in motion. My inner-fanboy cheers at the nifty attacks, even if a small voice whispers that all the spiritual energy rolling off the characters in waves and all the property damage being done is scarily, DBZ-like.
I almost wish they had a series of stories/episodes that focused primarily on the lives of the introduced Shinigami members while they progress through the academy. That may just be my odd fancy, but I'd watch/read that if it were available.
Sadly, that'll probably have to be solely a fanfic project. *sniff*
Quote from: baka-kenPersonally, I've got really annoyed at it's pacing, though that might just be because I've read the manga twice. As of now I'm intending to wait til they reach the end of the Soul Society arc and marathon it.
Yeah, the pacing is really lagging with the amount of backstory eps they're doing. Most of them really unnecessary.
Dracos
Quote from: Liddo-kunI've been following this series pretty closely since I've been "Bleach" headed of late - following the anime and the manga - and it's been fun so far.
I'm enjoying being able to place voices with the characters and watch the sword moves in motion. My inner-fanboy cheers at the nifty attacks, even if a small voice whispers that all the spiritual energy rolling off the characters in waves and all the property damage being done is scarily, DBZ-like.
I almost wish they had a series of stories/episodes that focused primarily on the lives of the introduced Shinigami members while they progress through the academy. That may just be my odd fancy, but I'd watch/read that if it were available.
Sadly, that'll probably have to be solely a fanfic project. *sniff*
That actually would be more interesting then the 'backstory everything between fights' bit that they're doing at the moment.
Dracos
As for the DBZ power levels, oh yes. OH yes.
Right, this thread is clearly marked ~Spoilers~, so I'm gonna say whatever I want :p If you're following the Keep subs though, I don't think they've reached this, so stop reading if you care about who fights who.
The Ichigo/Zaraki Kenpachi and Ishida/Kurotsuchi Mayuri fights were... extreme. Insane amounts of crazy light shows flying around, and the number of times you thought each fighter was gone for in the Ichigo/Kenpachi fight... Bah. Possibly this is why I can't stand to be reading/watching the series several times.
I thought we were all lunar brats here =P
Dracos
So...who is actually still following this?
The pacing has sort of moved from slow to abysmal, even with the recent hour long special. They're practically insulting with the number of 30 seconds of ichigo eps. Really, they've grown their cast size too large. Even with many of them being interesting, they all are moving so slowly.
Dracos
I'm still watching it. The only problem I have is that the show is suffering from Robert Jordanism. WAAAAAAAY too much world building when the story should have maintained focus of the main character/s.
Just like Rand pretty much disappeared while he was gaining a handle on both his political and magical power, so too does Ichigo get marginalized while he's training. It isn't really the show's fault, though. Thst was build into the manga, too.
I just wish they had continued following Sado and the other humans instead of getting knee deep in Soul Society Politics. They could have gone a different way than the manga, making the lesser cast get powered up fighting the SS people for a while until Ichigo was ready to come back and Main Character their crazy, dead asses. ^_^
I can't say I even care about the rest of the human cast anymore. They've been entirely marginalized during the last half of this arc. The soul society politics are getting silly as well. They continually trot out new captains and powerhouses and it is hard to care. A few were enough really.
Dracos
If they didn't have a bunch of super powered bad-asses you'd begin wondering how they could be protecting the world from the hordes of Hollows running around.
Hollow were those skull-headed monsters of the day back before they jumped into Soul Society, just in case anyone forgot. ^^
THe problem largely remains that they had Ichigo wounding gigantic hollows earlier and they've indicated since then that they have dozens of characters of such power or higher. Of course, they do have the block that Renji laid out that everyone is five times stronger.
Dracos
I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks it's been ridiculously slow-going. I actually just sort of skimmed through something like episodes 40 through 54.
Frankly, I think that my favorite part of the show pre-Soul Society was watching Ichigo and Rukia duke it out. Now, of course, they've pulled that almost entirely by keeping them apart, and thrown in so many characters so fast that I fail to care about every single one of them.
Things started getting better again in 54, though the most recent episode I watched (59) is kind of sitting in the WTF files in my head. This bit about Ichigo and his-- what, Hollow-self? Other self? Whatever it is, I'm glad to see it, since it kind of indicates that there's actually going to be significant plot in the future.
As opposed to "Look! Ichigo's fighting someone who is just a little bit stronger than him! Hey look, Ichigo learned something and became JUST strong enough to beat his opponent, sweet!"
Seriously, it almost felt as repetitive as Bewitched for a while there...
Quote from: giaSeriously, it almost felt as repetitive as Bewitched for a while there...
You go for the low blows, eh? ~_^
Quote from: thepandaQuote from: giaSeriously, it almost felt as repetitive as Bewitched for a while there...
You go for the low blows, eh? ~_^
"Why waste your time above the belt when you can go below" is my modus operandi XD
Episode 60.
This episode is awesomely awesome. sadly, 4chan spoiled it for me months ago. >_<
Bah. Anyway, I can still appreciate tbat they pull off the plot twist exceptionally well.
I dunno. I think it is made weak by fact of sheer distance in episodes and time from the start of it. The political manuevering to make it happen took too long, and it didn't even reveal yet a reason 'why' this was happening. Maybe that'll make it work but really there's this huge sensation of 'what, but why? What's the point?'
The problem at this point with the whole soul society upper leadership is its hard to see how it was holding together at all with so many folks ready to go traitor, switch side, whatever.
We've got this scenario here at the moment where 1/4th of the active captains are in on a traitor scheme and have hypnotized most the top captains such that they can obliterate them at will. They've also been doing this whole deal for years at the least. A little much.
Dracos
Quote from: DracosA little much.
I agree-- this hypnotism thing seems kinda cheap. We'll see how they play it out.
Anyhow, watched through 62 now. The 'explanation' of his entire plan was...really something quite lame. Yes, I know they needed to do it because they'd revealed this extremely convulted behind the scenes traitor setup but...
It was grossly out of the character. You've got this guy who has been maintaning an effective alter ego for tens to hundreds of years, who specializes, if in anything, in misdirection and manipulation to an extreme degree.
What's the point of elaborating on the intricate way in which they screwed over soul society to Ichigo? I'm not seeing how it fits at all with the recent 'revealation' of the character.
I think they revealed yet another new character last ep too, in a two second 'huh' bit. I dunno, but I think they're really quickly approaching the character limit. We've got more characters out there than I can remember names for.
I'm solely watching for the fights currently though. Which is sad since they could do neat stuff with the whole deal if they weren't contradicting or retconning once every three episodes. Pull the age bits in a bit. Read your plot a little further ahead and have the character actions fit their backstory closer. Keep an eye on the power levels so that the awe is proportionate to what it should be. etc.
Dracos
Is anyone still watching bleach?
I mean what I said last time...and now it feels like they removed the kickass fights.
Removing Bankai after like ten episodes of build up for it was assholic as well. I don't care if it's 'extra powerful' or not. The reasons given were really lame and seemed really out of touch with the whole concept behind it.
Dracos
Da doot doot.
I'm still watching it.
I dunno, I think I don't give two shits about the fighting stuff (so he can't use bankai? Fine, whatever, don't care).
I'm interested in seeing where this arc goes, and I like the plushies because I'm silly like that.
But I'm definitely not watching Bleach because it's amazing storytelling or anything-- just halfway decent entertainment.
Well, I like the fighting but it's gone. It'd not be a problem if there was character personality or story to take its place but...
The plushies are cute, but...they're another mark in the direction of before. They overshadow the characters and the whole training filler was retarded to begin with. The characters who were there have old flaws blasted up a notch to make room for the others. There's so much emphasis on the little 'catostrophes' that there's not much room for the characters to shine. Ishida which was much more than just 'quincy blasts' has become pretty much helpless human running along with them, despite the fact they once in a while say 'look at his skills!". Ichigo has been acting far more clueless these last few eps only to allow the plushies to step in and provide the 'common' sense. Zangetsu, who was cool, has been totally phased out the last 8 eps and the original plushie is now comic relief with three 'better' comic relief characters in front of him (and Renji who's now comic relief). The whole training thing in general comes awkwardly and out of the blue after how 'humble' the trainer was after the shinigami arc.
As you said, the storytelling isn't there. I personally can't really give two shits about the Bount. I reflexively ask "What happened to the hollows which have been wiped off the face of the anime for 50 eps now?" They had neat stuff and cool characters and they dropped both of 'em. They've been keeping the vast horde of characters but the lion's share of them aren't doing anythhing. "Here's a five second clip of the captain filing papers so you remember them!"
Bleh @_@
Dracos
So now that Lunar and Hell have dropped the show, who is the best group to get subs from?
Quote from: thepandaSo now that Lunar and Hell have dropped the show, who is the best group to get subs from?
The only other group I know of that's doing it is Dattebayo.
Quote from: giaQuote from: thepandaSo now that Lunar and Hell have dropped the show, who is the best group to get subs from?
The only other group I know of that's doing it is Dattebayo.
I'm sure someone else must be doing this show.
... Oh lord, PLEASE let someone else be doing this show! >_<