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At this point in time, is a Bleach review necessary among the masses? Well, probably not. But it’s my day off and I feel like writing a Bleach review.
Honesty time. I haven’t followed Tite Kubo’s Bleach for long years like a lot of fans. In fact I’ve probably only been reading the manga and watching the anime since 2014/2015. In any case, I think I’m familiar enough with it for my two cents worth of input.
I like Beach, I do, truthfully. But unfortunately and inevitably, this review will be forced to not ignore the many flaws that the series presented.
If this review had ... to be titled something: Suitably it would be something like, the Downfall of Bleach. Because this series went on a serious decline like something chronic.
Ain’t no Arrancars and the almighty Aizen sama stopping that sweet decline.

Okay, let’s go back to the year 2001. Bleach began its run in weekly Shonen Jump.
It was like a cool new Yu Yu Hakusho, but with it’s own style, of course.
Ichigo Kurosaki can see ghosts. Simple enough.
Ichigo is given new found powers by Shinigami, Rukia Kuchiki, sure why not? He must now defend humans from evil spirits, and such.
The thing that immediately separated Bleach from the other immensely popular shonen battle manga at the time, such as Naruto and One Piece, is that it was still based in a real world setting. With Ichigo and co. attending school.
Bleach continued a solid 70 something weeks until it soared in popularity because of a genuinely incredible story arc.
The Soul Society arc (let’s rescue Rukia) provided real threatening antagonists. Beforehand, it was basically on a monster of the week type style. Now the stakes were high in a whole new world unfamiliar to our main characters.
This arc presented great new characters and the art was seriously on point. The battles were drawn wonderfully which left no confusion as to the choreography, something that unfortunately would not remain forever, but more on that later.
With the end of the rescue arc, came a great plot twist, introducing the real villain. With this, Kubo set up immediately for the following arc.

Now let’s look at what would come to follow. The Arrancar arc, the dealing with Aizen and his Espada. Let’s outline this arc and by doing so, the first real problem for Bleach can be found.
One of Ichigo’s friends is taken captive to a foreign land in which Ichigo and his friends must break into and fight powerful enemies in order to save her. Sound familiar at all?
This arc simply was too repetitive of the last, which took away some of the spark that it could have perhaps been.
This is where Bleach began to fall from the top of the rankings. The art became a little less focused too, with some fights being hard to follow and backgrounds being entirely left out in panels at times.
At this point, Ichigo’s power ups were seemingly out of control and getting to the plot no jutsu stage.
For many years the Arrancar arc continued and finally an Ichigo vs Aizen showdown happened.
However, many fans agreed that this final battle was lacklustre. Whether it was because it was pretty damn too one sided, or if maybe because at this stage, fans were ready to move on. Kubo isn’t a mangaka that speeds through his story.

Perhaps to a degree, Bleach should have ended after this arc. This is where the most brutalising decline for the series happened in the rankings.
A tiresome arc about Ichigo regaining his powers, and then a long final war arc. Because it wouldn’t be a real shonen battle series without some kind of a war, right?
Bleach resulted in simply always being about good vs bad. There was never any depth to the story after the Soul Society arc. Sure there were moments to get excited about, but the story never really went anywhere unique in particular.
Another issue I would like to point out is directly about our main character, Ichigo himself.
Let’s look at our other big three main characters for a second here in comparison. Luffy dreams of becoming the pirate king and finding the one piece. This goal motivates him throughout the series.
Naruto dreams of becoming the hokage and being respected by his village after years of torment. This goal motivates him throughout the series.
Ichigo dreams of, well…we don’t know. We aren’t sure of his goals, of what he really wants in life. Without this aspect, the character is derived of personality. It’s probably not the greatest credit to know that after being with Ichigo for more than 700 chapters, I still feel like I don’t really know him very well. This is problematic for a main character in a series.
I’m not even going to write about Bleach’s ending because as abysmal as it was, the creator isn’t to blame here. It would be impossible to present a satisfying conclusion when given only three or four chapters to wrap up the series at the very beginning of a final fight. Closure inevitably is left out for many characters, and it’s damn unfortunate.

I’m going to wrap this up on a positive note, because through thick and thin, I’m still a Bleach fan.
And if you’ve read this far, I really appreciate it. It’s been fun.
Feel free to comment on my profile, we can talk about Bleach.
Sure the series had its many problems, especially the third half…but Bleach has some of the most enjoyable battles I have had the pleasure of reading, and essentially that is where it shines.
With a strong start and an incredible first third, Bleach soared through popularity with Naruto and One Piece. But unfortunately due to repetitive story structures and a blank main character, the downfall of the series was more damaging than Orihime’s chest is big.
This was: Let’s Talk About Manga #2 Bleach

Well instead of giving my two cents worth about a series such as Tokyo Ghoul or One Punch Man, I’m going to talk about one a lot less known.
Red Sprite is a manga that ran in Shonen Jump for three months late last year. Unfortunately, for creator Tomohiro Yagi, this was his second serialisation to be cancelled without given the appropriate time needed for complete story fruition.
Before I dive into this review, there is one thing I believe we need to take a minute to think about, and this factor is the only background information I’ll take up your time with providing.
As most ... of us know, the famous manga Bleach had been on a serious level of decline in the Jump rankings for the last few years. Due to this, creator Tite Kubo was forced to wrap up the final fight and conclusion of the series in only three or four chapters.
What resulted from this was a cringeworthy final battle, and an ending that left out a lot of closure. Oh and of course a tonne of pissed off Bleach fans.
Shonen Jump as of lately has been set on bringing in as many new series’ as possible with Toriko having recently received the Bleach treatment too.
Where does this all tie in? Well Red Sprite was the manga to replace Bleach. The manga that Jump were so quick to shove Bleach out of the equation for its’ arrival.
There is a lesson here and I believe that as much as business is obviously an important factor for Jump, I believe there should be a bit more respect for a mangaka who has shown Jump mostly success for the last 15 years. Come on Jump, at least try not be such dicks in your desperate quest to find the next One Piece.

However, moving on.
Red Sprite was essentially a battle manga.
It based on the concept of the advancement of technology but at a sinister cost. I won’t dive further into the story as I feel that is not what a review is written to provide.
This concept set up for a classic morally right vs morally wrong in fine print, which I will further examine later on.
After reading the first chapter of Red Sprite, I immediately found a few problems.
Don’t get it twisted, it wasn’t a horrible piece of story telling, but the flaws were easily evident.
The debut chapter decided to go via the route of; MC and said side characters share their lives a little differently to the rest of the world but all is okay and manageable. MC and side characters learn that everything they have ever known is wrong and is immensely fucked up. Oh the horror of it all. Ignorance is bliss, right?
New Shonen Jump series, The Promised Neverland delivered a similar first chapter, however with the latter being much more attention grabbing, I found.
The first initial problem that came to mind with Red Sprite was… well, after reading chapter ichi, I probably could have dropped the series and never really reflected back to it.
Unfortunately, shonen battle manga is becoming more and more repetitive with typical clichés, character traits and plot devices.
The series Black Clover, for example, immediately screams Naruto x Fairy Tail.
Red Sprite didn’t so much remind me of another series so bluntly, but it’s set up felt somewhat flat.
Nevertheless, I decided to continue reading.
After fourteen chapters, Red Sprite was removed from Shonen Jump.
I’m going to present some points which I believed caused this cancellation.
By the end of the manga, I had realised two things.
Realisation #1 The MC couldn’t be anymore MC.
To further explain my point: Kentaro Miura’s Berserk is the perfect example of a unique MC because Guts isn’t so self-righteous. The dude has killed an innocent little kid, somewhat accidentally, be that as it may.
And I realise I am comparing a shonen to one of the darkest seinen manga to ever exist. But what I am trying to demonstrate is that with a main character that defies the cliché traits, uniqueness and interest can often immediately be noticed in a refreshing light.
Realisation #2 This is straight up good vs evil.
If there is one thing that mangaka Yoshihiro Tagashi is great at (besides playing Dragon Quest) is his portrayal of villains in his two-well-known series’ Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter. (the ‘x’ is silent, n00bs.)
Villains that cause readers to contemplate if the villains are really even villians, or simply share conflicting interests with the protagonists, creates intellectual rich story telling.

In terms of the side characters, 14 chapters is certainly not enough time to expect any kind of development so I feel it is only fair to leave them unjudged at this point in time.
At times it felt like the story wasn’t really going anywhere in particular, and due to this, cancellation or not, I cannot imagine how the story would have progressed past 20-30 chapters.
A lot more depth would have definitely been necessary for the story to flourish. Interesting world building could have helped dramatically, though again, fourteen chapters simply could not provide this, respectfully.
The conclusion was predictable, but not horrible for a forced ending. I mean, good won over bad, what more can I say.
And that’s just exactly where this manga fell flat. No one will remember it in a year’s time.
The art was itself a metaphor for this manga. Not bad, but nothing to write home about.

At this point, I feel like I’m starting to become repetitive (though not as repetitive as Hiro Mashima’s trolls) so I’ll wrap this up.
If you’ve read this far, I appreciate it. It’s been fun.
Feel free to comment on my profile, we can talk about Red Sprite.
In conclusion, it’s unfortunate to see that mangaka Tomohiro Yagi, can’t quite get it right just yet. With Red Sprite failing for different but still similar reasons to Iron Knight.
I’ll still be looking out for his next try and honestly, I hope his next series passes the yearly mark. Ganbatte, Tomohiro Yagi!

This was: Let’s Talk About Manga #1 Red Sprite

With this review, I am hoping to attract attention to the highly underrated anime that is Space Brothers, or I should say, Uchū Kyōdai. I can confidently rate this anime an easy 10/10. In the following paragraphs, I will go into detail and explain why.

Uchū Kyōdai is a Seinen, Slice of Life. That being said, it is almost suitable for all ages. In the beginning, the story itself is not so much original, but it is how the events play out with a wonderfully charming cast of characters, that makes this anime unique. I have a huge interest for astronomy, and I obviously love ... anime and manga. So when I discovered Uchū Kyōdai, it seemed too good to be true. It was my two main interests in one package, so I felt inclined to give it a try. During the first episode I immediately liked it, and then only a couple of episodes later, I loved it. Now instead of talking about myself, I will go into the specifics of why I feel every anime and manga fan should give Uchū Kyōdai a chance. Whether you have a strong, mild or even a zero interest in astronomy, this is a very enjoyable anime. There is no need to feel overwhelmed, as this anime does not attempt to drill astronomy facts into your brain. For the most part, this anime is very character driven, but I’ll get to that in the next paragraph. I don’t want to waste your time with a summary of the story plot as that can be easily seen above on the anime’s page, so I’ll just get straight to the analysis. I can guarantee that you will laugh while watching this anime. The main character, Nanba Mutta is hilarious. It’s always a joy watching the new situations he finds himself in. In terms of comedy, the anime is written very cleverly. Better more is the fact that the show is very unpredictable. From what I thought would continue to be an easy going, funny series, at one particular point had me at the very edge of my seat in suspense. A bunch of very suspenseful episodes, out of nowhere, had just been thrown at me and I was in awe. And that is the beauty of Uchū Kyōdai’s storytelling. It successfully transcends from easy going comedy, to pure suspense, adding in some beautifully written touching scenes. I won’t lie; Uchū Kyōdai has made me shed a fair amount of man tears from time to time. Some of the scenes are so beautifully written, and I can’t stress this point enough, as this is one of the story’s biggest strengths. It becomes obvious I’ve stumbled across an amazing series when I am presented with storytelling that makes me feel all kinds of different emotions. This is what I believe makes an anime, what I would consider a masterpiece. The simple fact that I know that Uchū Kyōdai has what it takes to; make me smile, make me laugh, make me thrilled and make me cry.

I will now move on to the characters. I absolutely love the main character, Nanba Mutta. In my opinion, he is the perfect main protagonist. He has quite a goofy appearance, which helps immensely in his ability to make you laugh. A very funny character, but also a very true character. I love when we hear his sarcastic or pessimistic thoughts because they are easily relatable, as he innocently reveals his many annoyances. Mutta also somehow knows the right thing to say to those around him, which helps him, and many of the side characters that he meets along his journey. When Mutta does this though, it doesn’t feel forced but instead very natural. His voice actor, Hirata, Hiroaki, who has been in many different anime, fits the role perfectly and does an exceptional job. Mutta will certainly make you laugh many times, but most importantly, he’ll make you fond of him within a heartbeat. Mutta’s brother, Hibito, is more of a serious character. This suits the series well however, because when there are a bunch of episodes that mostly focus on him, the show itself shifts to a more serious nature. I find this to be clever because as an audience, we are more concerned with the events and struggles of what is happening, instead of relying on Hibito to say something funny. Both brothers are easy to love, though Mutta is more charming and entertaining as a whole. I won’t go through the other characters in detail, as that would take up too much time; however I will say that there is very sufficient variety of characters and side characters to keep the show in order. Examples include; a very cute and innocent, but smart, love interest for Mutta. A very sincere, likable and hard working man. (Mutta’s best friend.) A witty, confident and tough, but down to earth guy. (One of Mutta’s colleagues.) And a couple of smartasses (I mean this in a positive way, as it adds great comedy to the series), who may seem annoying at first, but you easily, grow to love. There are many more, but I’ll leave that for you to discover after hopefully viewing this show. Something which is very well done in Uchū Kyōdai is the depth that is explored in each character. There have been many times in which a character is introduced and due to the very detailed exploration of said character’s past, a new feeling of care is now added to the audience. Uchū Kyōdai is great with flashbacks because they aren’t too long, they’re informative, and most importantly, enjoyable. A great feature of Uchū Kyōdai is the continuous flashbacks of Hibito and Mutta as children, which will then resume to the present and connect brilliantly to the story.

When it comes to the quality of the art, Uchū Kyōdai is quite impressive. I feel that A-1 Pictures have done a very nice job with the series, and the art is always beautifully presented. The art style of the series itself is very realistic, and I find this to be a nice breath of fresh air. Serika, one of the female main characters looks very life like, and this is a nice change as we all know that females in anime can very often look quite unnatural. One of the very few flaws of the series is the soundtrack. Don’t get me wrong, I think the soundtrack is great, and fits the mood of the series wonderfully. However, the problem I have is the limitation of the soundtrack. There are not very many themes at all; in fact, two of the most commonly played pieces of music can be heard in every episode. The soundtrack can become a little too repetitive and over played unfortunately. However, this is basically the only gripe I have with Uchū Kyōdai. And this alone, is not nearly bad enough for me to feel obliged to deduct a point from the overall rating.

I definitely feel like I could go on for much longer, though I don’t want this review to seem too overwhelming in its length. Overall, I have made it obvious that I adore this series and will continue to watch until its finale. As of now, I have shown this anime to my sister, my cousin, and my best friend, all of whom find the series very enjoyable. Unfortunately not many of my friends are into anime and manga like I am. However, there’s one thing that I will continue to do with anyone I meet in the future, with the same passion for anime and manga. I will certainly, without a moment’s doubt or hesitation, recommend this gem that is Uchū Kyōdai.