The Start of a Journey

Anime has slowly become more mainstream in the West with it now becoming a big part of our entertainment. While 10 years ago if you asked someone if they heard of Demon Slayer they’d make fun of you, now those same people will say that it’s the best anime to ever exist. And while it is a great anime, I can’t help but feel that praising it like that ignores the long history of great anime out there. This is the issue with anime mainstream though as doing so means that the old greats will usually be overlooked. So that’s why I’ve decided to talk about one of the anime that is considered to be a part of “the Big 4”. Bleach Part 1: Substitute Shinigami Arc.

Our story follows Kurosaki Ichigo, a normal Japanese high school boy. He lives with his father who owns a small clinic and his two sisters. What makes him unique though is the fact that he’s able to see spirits of the dead. For most of his life, he lives occasionally helping spirits while continuing to be a highschool student. This all changes one day when he meets the Shinigami (Soul Reaper) Kuchiki Rukia. After an intense battle with a spirit monster known as a Hollow, Rukia’s back is against the wall with Ichigo coming in to save her.

Seeing no other choice, Rukia decides to give him her powers so that he can fight Hollows in her place. With this Ichigo becomes a Substitute Soul Reaper with the power to fight back against these monsters.

From here on, we follow Ichigo as he learns more about what it means to be a Soul Reaper while also protecting his town in place of its previous protector, Rukia. As the battles rage on, we are also introduced to another character and faction: Ishida Uryu, the Quincy. While similar to Soul Reapers in that both fight Hollows, he still starts off hostile towards Ichigo as Soul Reapers and Quincys are considered mortal enemies mostly due to the way the two fight against Hollows. As time goes on, though, some of this animosity starts to vanish with the two even working together at times to fight against Hollows.

However, just when Ichigo has finally started to get the hang of being a Soul Reaper, things take a sudden turn when more Soul Reapers come from the home souls, Soul Society, to have Rukia executed. While Ichigo does his best to try and fight back and protect Rukia, in the end, their skills and experience far outmatch his own, resulting in him even losing his sword. With no way to continue fighting, all he can do is watch as Rukia is taken away right in front of him. Thus ends the first arc of Bleach.

Bleach is considered one of the Big 4 of anime for a variety of reasons, standing together with the likes of Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto. The biggest reason why, though, is because of its influence on anime as a whole after its debut. While I can understand why people would like modern anime like Demon Slayer, I can’t help but feel that just saying it's ‘the greatest anime ever’ without even watching the greats that came before it ignores so much of what makes anime great. So that’s why I hope these series will help open your eyes to what is out there and even get you to watch the show for yourself one day.

 

 

Logan Floyd-Mcgee | Writer
POP-COOLEDTURED SPECIALIST
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