Bleach

A very good adaptation of the first arc of Bleach(well half of it anyway). Just go see this movie when you can.

We all know feature films of animes are trash. Dragon Balls, Full Metal Alchemist, Attack on Titan etc. But this one is decent. I think Japanes just starting to find that grey area between movie and anime. /Blade of Immortal, this one/ I would give this movie about 7 stars, but I gave 8 because, I know there are people who would just give a star only for sake of being picky.

For a 'Live-Action' adaption from an anime-series, it was in my opinion a very well made movie contrary to my expectations.

Many movie adaptions, be they from games of animes, usually leave me dissapointed. This mainly while they can never really translate the story or feeling behind the original work as well on the big screen. Which made me very dubious about the quality this movie would be when I spotted it on Netflix today.

While Bleach (the movie) is not a cinematic master-piece like 'The Shawshank Redemption, or any other Hollywood movie in that regard, it should actually not be compared to those standards. While Bleach is a 'from-anime-to-movie'-adaption, it had me very sceptical at first. Those doubts where quickly expelled a few minutes in, when I really became engrossed and decided to grab a bag of popcorn to watch it with.

The story and characters were believable, and the typical japanese over-dramatical acting kept to a minimum. The movie tried to put about a seasons worth of anime into roughly two-hours of movie, and I got to say they did it quite well! Within the time constraints a movie is expected to last, and the budget they had available, I can positively say that this is the best movie-adaption of an anime-series I have seen to date.

This may not be the most enjoyable movie for those wanting realism, expecting a cinematic master-piece (or perfect copy/paste of the animes plot), or generally not into asian/anime-themed plots. Everyone else I would definitely recommend giving it a try, and seeing it for yourselves!

The movie focused on the 1st arc of the anime-- it remained loyal to the story, but changed some things too, so there's something to look forward to. Acting was not that great, but decent. Some plot holes and underutilized characters, but those can be forgiven. However those who haven't watched the anime / read the manga will have difficulty in understanding certain parts of the story because some of the explanations were incomplete (I think the writers assume viewers should have at least watched the anime already before watching the movie). When I first saw the trailer months back, I was worried that the CGI will be disappointing, but I was wrong. CGI was excellent and the hollows were awesome! This is a must watch for anime / manga fans!

Yeah sure, there were things I disliked and casting that I couldn't quite digest (Byakuya and Renji look like home made cosplay, I won't go there), but It was fun watching this movie. I have mixed feelings, but the "good old Bleach feeling" is there. It's certainly better than most, if not all, anime/manga live action adaptation, it's not quite on Rurouni Kenshin live action level, but I like it. I also think, when doing live action, that they have to respect certain absolute things in manga/anime storyline, but also change a few things, and that's exactly what this live action adaptation of Bleach did. I also hope there will be sequel since the whole saving Rukia and soul society arc is the best arc in Bleach.