Whether or not you are a fan of the manga/anime version, watching the live action of “Bleach” would be at the top of your list the second it was advertised on Netflix.
This story is about Kurosaki Ichigo, portrayed by Sota Fukushi, who inhertited his mother’s ability to see ghosts. However, an evil spirit lured Ichigo when he was a kid and this resulted to his mother’s death. In short, in honor for his mother and to avenge her death, he became a shinigami in order to protect the people he loves (or just the people, generally) and to end the lives of evil spirits. At least that is what it was at first (after several seasons, he seemed to change his goal and lost sight of this one).
BUT, this article that you are reading right now is NOT a recap or summary of the movie/live action.
Instead…
If you are a fan of Bleach, would you be satisfied or disappointed after watching this on Netflix?
The start of the movie is like the summary of the first season to which I personally call a “good season” and a “logical season”. That’s why I’m very happy that they made a live action movie only based on the good season…or else it’s going to be hard to explain everything in few hours worth of live action series. If you haven’t yet watched all the seasons of Bleach, please do so you’ll have an idea of what I am talking about (or watch at least the first 3 seasons, you’ll get it).
Anyway…
Since it’s the summary of the good season, the first hollow — or evil spirit — that you saw on the first and second episode of the anime series will likely appear. Thanks to technology, it looks exactly like the hollow on the anime series and looks legit and not like someone wearing an ambitious costume. I know, it IS almost Halloween.
I’d also like to point out, that either on this live action or on anime series, how Ichigo suddenly learned to use the big shinigami sword the second he turned into a shinigami really baffles me. In real life, you might be struggling to even get on your knees with that thing…or probably die the second Rukia pierced you with that sword.
Other Characters
Let’s not deny how cute Orihime is in anime and I can say that Erina Mano must’ve learned the character by heart because she really nailed it — the behaviour, expression and voice of Orihime is just what every fan had imagined. As expected of an idol singer (like Orihime, she’s pretty poppular too!)
Unfortunately, it’s not what I can say about Rukia, portrayed by Hana Sugisaki. It’s not that I hate it…I don’t hate it but I don’t think she’s willing to cut her hair and make it look exactly like the character she’s portraying.
Maybe this is the reason why the teasers only show Chad and Orihime.
Now, Chad portrayed by Yu Koyanagi , the Quincy Uryū Ishida portrayed by Ryo Yoshizawa, Byakuya Kuchiki played by the one and only Miyavi and Renji Abarai portrayed by Taichi Saotome are some of the characters who will surely bring the anime characters to life.
My review for this live action is —- good.
It’s not bad and it’s not perfect at the same time…but it’s not a disappointment at all, if a minor detail wouldn’t discourage you. If you’re up to shinigami, exaggerated punches and how far a person can fall from that, Bleach is available to stream right now on Netflix.
