Bleach: Season 2

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre anime Starring Johnny Yong Bosch, Michelle Ruff, Stephanie Sheh, Jamieson Price, Derek Stephen Prince Directed by Various Publisher VIZ Media

I love me a good old prodigy. I’m just a sucker for the Odysseuses and Anakin Skywalkers of the world. When these phenomena reveal their surreal talent, my heart beats a little bit faster. It’s just so exciting to watch a talented, loud-mouthed kid with all the potential in the world develop into the hero he’s destined to become. And hearing so many of their opponents’ exclamations like, “Impossible!” or, “It can’t be!” really just makes me feel like I’m seeing storytelling at its best. And when I sat down to begin the journey in the second season of Bleach, I had no idea what I was in for.

I had never seen Bleach before this, and when I began watching it, I had no clue what was going on. All I knew was that a know-it-all talking cat was bossing around four people—one attractive yet elf-like nerd, one big, shaggy-haired muscle man with a Sylvester Stallone voice, one extremely busty redhead, and this spiky-haired guy with a chef’s knife as big as his own body. I felt a bit lost, to say the least. But it didn’t take me long to get caught up to speed enough to begin to enjoy the storyline.

In the second season of Bleach, our resident prodigy, Ichigo, is on a quest with his posse to save his beautiful doe-eyed friend, Rukia, from her death sentence. In order to do this, they must enter the Soul Society, where their presence is immediately regarded as an immense threat. They soon must fight squad captains and lieutenants whose “spiritual power” is unlike anything this pack has ever encountered. Ichigo is the strongest member, and his development throughout this season is an absolute work of art. The great thing about having this entire season at your fingertips is the ability to see Ichigo’s transformation seamlessly. Not having a week’s lull in between each battle makes it all the more apparent when his internal conflicts make him assess his mistakes and grow into a powerful Soul Reaper. Another great advantage to having the series on DVD is that these endings are the epitome of cliff-hangers! I’d be going crazy if I was left with these endings with a week without answers lying ahead of me.

The obvious main attraction of this series is the stylized fighting style. Most of the battles come across like a ferocious ballet of sorts. The colors, camera angles, and Matrix-like poses make the fight scenes extremely enticing. One of the most exciting elements of the fight scenes is the opponent lineup. The squad captains in the Soul Society are all very different, and very different-looking. My personal favorite was Renji, a tall glass of water with long, red hair and tribal-like markings on his face and body. To add some drama into the mix: We learn that Renji was a childhood friend of Rukia, whom Ichigo and gang are trying to rescue. But there are so many more: You’ll encounter a silver-haired, slick-voiced creep with a permanent smile; a SUPER spiky-haired, scary beast with a scar down half of his face and a little pink-haired pixie on his shoulder; a devastatingly handsome skinny boy whom Rukia refers to as “Brother”; and the list goes on and on. Not to mention our heroes themselves: the Sylvester Stallone guy is way more interesting than I let on before. He is quite beautiful and ridiculously strong, and we get a lot of background information on his life that makes him that much more captivating. At one point we learn why he is so adamant about keeping his promise to follow Ichigo. That was one moment that made me begin to love the show (but I won’t give anything away!). The cat is the token “master” character. He pretty much knows everything in that British teacher sort of way, but he also doesn’t get in anyone’s way at crucial points of the story, which would be really annoying. We don’t hear too much from the elf-like character, but what we do see from him is startlingly impressive. You’ll know the scene I’m referring to. And the sole little lady, with the squeaky school girl voice and busting bra, reminds me a lot of Quinn Morgendorffer. Most of the time, she seems to be the ditziest girl alive, but she has huge knockers, so I guess it’s okay. If it weren’t for her magical barrette fairy warrior thingies, she’d pretty much be an utterly useless groupie. Her distress noises sound alarmingly like sex noises, which gets on my nerves after a while. But the girl does have a good heart. I’ll give her that. She wants the best for everyone. That doesn’t mean she can’t be annoying as Hell. Luckily, she isn’t a main focus, so the show shall prevail!

And that brings me to our prodigy, Ichigo. Oh, Ichigo. At first, he seems to be a rebellious kid with too much self-esteem for his own good. But as time goes on in the story… he becomes an absolute force. He has to encounter battle after battle with captain after captain, never being spared of ridicule and doubt. But what makes Ichigo different is that he learns from every single battle, and he becomes that much stronger. And that’s what we love to see—progress. Maybe that is what we love: the evolution of a prodigy. We love to see someone learn from their mistakes and hardships and overcome their enemies by being smart enough to do so. We love progress, because it’s something that we can all relate to and strive for. And Ichigo, by the end of the series, has mastered that. He has a bright and terrifying future ahead of him. Rukia is a lucky girl to have someone as determined as Ichigo on her side.

When I finished the first episode of Bleach, I wasn’t sure if it was for me. I felt too out of the loop in terms of storyline, and I wasn’t at all amused by the moments that were supposed to be funny. But as the season progressed and the storyline became more and more involved, I really began to emotionally invest in these characters and their quest for Rukia’s rescue. By the end of the series, I was blown away and hooked. The story is very captivating, and the fight scenes are so entertaining and artfully done. I highly recommend switching between Japanese and English audio once in a while, so that you can hear what the original characters are supposed to sound like. If you are not yet convinced about whether or not this series is for you, I would go poking around the “Bleach” page on adultswim.com, or any other website that may have some character breakdowns or episode clips. The show’s wild popularity should also speak volumes about its quality. But all I can say is that I definitely approached this series with doubt, and I’m leaving with a new found respect for it. I love a good old prodigy, and now I get to see one blossom.