Bleach: Burîchu

I happened to find the live action movie "Bleach" on Netflix. But I am only familiar with the franchise by its name, as I haven't read the anime, nor have I watched any of the animations. So I sat down to watch "Bleach" with a blank canvas left open to impressions, so to speak.

And not being familiar with the franchise, I have no idea how true the movie is to the animations or anime in general. So I will not even venture there.

I found "Bleach" to be entertaining enough for what it turned out to be. Sure, it had some shortcomings, but it was an overly entertaining enough movie.

The storyline was nice and quite straight forward. It required very little attention from the audience actually to stay up to speed with the movie. Perhaps it was a little bit too simplistic and streamlined. But hey, it made for adequate entertainment, which is why we watch movies after all.

I liked the characters - well most of them anyway. I think they had a good ensemble of actors and actresses to portray the individual characters on the screen.

The CGI in the movie was actually quite good, and that was something that I was really impressed with. Because for a movie such as this, CGI was a make or break situation. Luckily they opted to throw cash into proper CGI and the result was fantastic. They had some great creature designs and the creatures looked very realistic and actually turned out menacing on the screen.

One of the drawbacks of the movie was the music they had in it. It felt somewhat out of place given the presentation and mood of the movie. But music can easily be tuned out, so it wasn't something that dragged the movie down.

Has this 2018 live action movie placed a seed in me that urges me to start delving into the anime or animations? No, not really. It was a good movie, good but not fantastic.

Personally I don't really understand the title of the movie and franchise; "Bleach". It made absolutely no sense to me, and it wasn't explained throughout the course of this 2018 movie.

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

Taking into account how much live action movies based on manga have disappointed me in the past, I came into "Bleach" with low expectations (probably not the only one). However, this movie adaptation is funny, with acceptable action set pieces and relatable characters (on top of not stretching its running time endlessly and pointlessly (even if it falls a little bit into this trap in its third act)). And, even if you don't know anything about the manga, it is easy to jump into the story, as the movie does a great job of introducing the world and building it up from scratch. Totally worth watching!

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.

Bleach (2018) wisely plays with a much smaller, and focused scope than most anime adaptations, and comes out as an enjoyable, and cohesive film that fans can enjoy.

Thankfully, the writers did not try to cram every story arc in season 1 into this film like Death Note did, but instead focused on the important stuff like Ichigo and Rukia. The actors all do a fine job, and as long as you dont expect a 1 to 1 recreation, i think fans will be pleased with how much respect it pays to the source material.

Now sure, its still extremely cheesy to see some sequences translated to live action. There isnt the iconic BANKAI sequence where you really see the outrageous power of a Reaper, nor do you get amazing action sequences. Plus, the PG 13 rating makes the action sequences surprisingly bloodless and tame by comparison. But what is here is more than serviceable, and its still pretty entertaining for what it is. Most of the humor also lands, and at its core the film has an emotional center along with an arc which it completes.

I doubt we will get a sequel since the Soul Society arc would be insanely expensive and effects heavy, but the ending wraps it up pretty neatly so there is at least closure at the end for new fans who just came into the series. It doesn't break new ground, nor is it amazing, but it is a rock solid adaptation of the first season.

The best praise i can give the film, is that it made me want to re watch the animated series again. Not because the live action remake was trash, but because it reminded me of why i liked Bleach in the first place.