Many would call Kubo to be a man milking a dying cow or simply money hungry. I for one would disagree with them, I'd say that he is just your everyday human being. Although I do agree that Bleach should have ended with Aizen's defeat, I do understand why the series is continuing despite the decent ending it could have had. The reason is simple, it's his job. Who in the right mind would choose to quit their decent paying job for a gamble on a new job that may or may not do well. I know I wouldn't. There is a reason why you usually see only one popular series from a verteran mangaka, while the other series are usually not as good or unheard of. I'm sure it's hard to get back to the top once you've started over. So in my opinion Kubo chose to do the sensible thing, and chose to stick with Bleach instead of gambling on a new series.

Another thing people fail to realize is that Kubo may not even have the full rights to Bleach. He is but a hired worker in Jump. I'm sure the publisher i.e Jump wouldn't let Kubo end Bleach whenever he wanted to. It would a huge blow for both parties. Another factor that may hold him from ending is a powerful device that many people over look. It's called a "contract." This basically means that if he were to violate that contract and its terms, he can face legal issues which is something most people wouldn't want to deal with.

Wow, I seem to have gone way off topic. Oh well, now on to my review of the series. Well to be blunt, it's your typical shounen. Once the hero beats a enemy, a stronger one comes out. If he loses, he'll train and eventually overcome the stronger opponent. Bleach is pretty much an endless cycle of win, lose, powerup, win, lose, powerup, and so on and so forth. So if your in to a long series with no definitive end in sight, then I recommend Bleach for you. If you however hate a long series, then I suggest you turn another direction and find another series. Overall I'd have to say that I like Bleach, although it's not one of those series that I would scream with glee at sight. I do enjoy it enough to continue reading it every week.

... Last updated on September 9th, 2011, 6:41am

Bleach: That manga that could have ended on a good note, but didn't. They should have ended the series after they beat Aizen. Now it seems like the mangaka is just money hungry and squeezing every last yen out of a dying series. Since I'm an ironic, hipster asshole, I wasn't really interested in Bleach, but I started reading out of boredom. Now, I regret it as it has fallen to new lows. On top of that, I hate their volume covers. For example, the volume 51 has that girl holding a doughnut like a chest-beating, muscular dystrophy having retard spelled "loath" as "loth". Apparently it's an alternative spelling, but it looks wrong and fucking stupid, just like these "fullbrings" that all the new characters have. Where the fuck were these strong people when Aizen attacked? So many plot holes. Super strong people just jump out of the woodwork. It was tolerable when I was 10 watching DBZ, but this is ridiculous.

I used to love this anime and manga. But I feel since Ulquiorra died there hasen't been too much greatness to the manga. It has been awesome seeing Rukia and the others again but it still doesen't feel the same as it did in the old days. The Aizen fight to me was the most boaring fight I ever seen ever in a manga.

As most people would agree, I would have to say that Bleach started out quite strong and the idea of shinigami and hollow was original and fresh. I love the Soul Society arc, when Ichigo and the gang goes to save Rukia and we get to see the Gotei 13. The arc with the Espada was not bad either, but the quality of originality of this manga dropped but it was still worth reading... that is, before they introduced all new characters and fullbring. It just seems like a desperate move of Kubo Tite, wanting the prolong the series instead of ending it with Aizen. I no longer read Bleach because the plot is so banal now, but I have enjoyed the series thus far up to that point.

This manga is really great, but like all mangas that last for a long time, the storyline ends up getting forced. The first couple hundred chapters are pretty great, but later, it starts to drag. Tite Kubo is doing what he has to do, since he obviously planned everything out from the beginning. Don't expect too much romance in this manga though! Nothing really happens. Still, as a girl I can say that it's still something worth reading! There is still plenty of mystery surrounding the main character, Ichigo Kurasaki. So much that you can't help but read it every week when it releases.

In manga, I generally go for a decently well-developed plot, memorable and strong characters, and nice art. I don’t care as much for action scenes or badassness, and if I had to choose, characters would be more important than plot. So I'm just first saying the rating will vary extremely based on what you care about.

Bleach was best at the Soul Society arc, which I'm pretty sure 95% of people would agree with, but like most mainstream shounen series, it falls in overall quality/pacing as we go hundreds of chapters in. The plot at the beginning was more interesting, and the progression was suspenseful and exciting, but then Kubo-sensei kinda loses it a little and starts writing random arcs. The HM arc was pretty much a repeat of SS, so that was tedious to wait through, but I managed. As for the art, it’s pretty solid in my opinion, and I like the style much better than Naruto's. More depth and much better anatomy.

Here's the meat of my opinion of Bleach. To me, certain characters and relationships alone make Bleach worth reading. For other series I’d complain about the plot or pacing or this or that, but Kubo has made me shut my mouth. I know, this series doesn't probe challenging moral issues like in Death Note or Code Geass ect, nor does it artfully deal with characters with severe psychological problems like those in Neon Genesis Evangelion, but I adore Kubo’s storytelling style the most. His word choice and dialogue convey the characters’ emotions very well - I can feel connections with characters in Bleach more than any other series I've read. The way he goes into the characters' minds is quite deep and realistic and though there are a bit too many to keep up with, most people can identify with at least a few.

Personally, I adore Rukia's character and her unique relationship with Ichigo. Rukia is an absolute breath of fresh air – her personality can’t be found anywhere else and she puts all other heroines – shounen and shoujo alike – to shame (with very few exceptions). An extremely strong character, not necessarily physically, but mentally/emotionally. Every time Ichigo loses his cool, she can kick him in gear again because they are in such synch with each other. It sounds contrived in words, but is portrayed very naturally and uniquely throughout the manga. Simply unparalleled. I absolutely love the artful subtlety and even though they don’t share screen time often, Kubo has never lost his touch with their interactions. I honestly feel like Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship is the backbone of the entire story, and the main reason I kept reading all these years. If I had to quit every manga series but one, I’d hold onto Bleach just for this one reason. But that’s just me. And though emotional elements play a bigger part in this series than most mainstream shounen, I don’t think it gets distracting for people who are more into action. Not at all. (Well, maybe the action is sucking at the moment, but that’s a different story.) Bleach has gotten worse from a critical standpoint, but it’s going back up, and I will never complain about anything because I believe in Kubo’s skills to recover. I read his story because I appreciate certain skills of his, so I am perfectly fine with ignoring the flaws of Bleach in exchange for its better elements.

I don't really care what other people say about the manga supposing to end. Naruto should've ended when they defeated the evil snake guy, but no they are STILL GOING ON. You just can't deny it, good manga should be as long as it can. Just like Detective Conan, it's like at 780 chapters and it's still going strong. Bleach is great, that's all there is to it.

Okay I agree that the new arc doesn't seem as interesting as previous ones but to me bleach has been very good and they still try to keep it up. Lots of people would be satisfied if there manga did good and just finish it there but bleach keeps on going even though its been very good. I think its admirable that it keeps trying even though it would be difficult to to be as good as previous arcs.

The people (or person, I don't really check the who does the manga) are still going and I respect that they are trying to keep the manga enteraining. There are many people who don't want it to end including me.

You may not like how it is developing but you need to understand that not only do they need to keep it good but they also need to continue from what has already happened and after what has happened in the manga so far that would be hard for anyone. Most of you probably wouldn't even know how to continue it without just saying


I like the fact that they keep trying and keeping the manga going even though they have already done a very good job with it. And for the people who want it to end you can always pretend it did and keep reading out of curiosity or if your so dead set against this good manga from continueing then you can just plain stop reading it, no one if forcing you.

So in the end. It's a good manga thank you for keeping it going.

I really enjoyed Bleach but it just seems to be going down hill. It feels like the story is being forced to go on and the arc right now feels like one of the bad fillers in the anime. In my opinion it should of ended in the last arc.

hi there.....bleach was good at the beginning with the generals and all that when they were saving rukia, after that it became a piece of shit, how many times has that guy train and become way stronger, now you see the big bad guy and you think great he will have a special training and bye bye bad guy and with the fullbr... i dont know the name but its the biggest piece of shit i have ever seen in a long time