Bleach is the one long-running manga, out of the big 4, which I kinda don't understand why is so popular.
I think the art-work is brilliant, better than the other 3. But plotwise you get sooooooooo much less. I can't begin to explain how many times I've sat to read the new bleach chapter and thought, 3/4 of the way through, "Oh god, in 16 pages they've said about 10 words in total and 9/10 panels are images of sword slashes and speed lines..."
I actually really enjoyed reading the first couple of arcs. But the ideas behind them became very repetitive and the world of Bleach just isn't immersive enough to keep my interest and make me not care that it's just going to be a bunch of shinigami with different sword powers facing off individually against another group of enemies with their own set of powers. I am really into super power plots, but the story has to be more than "Aaaaaand once they finish beating this group up, ANOTHER group comes along to attempt to do the exact same thing..."
I do understand though that fans' love for the manga comes more from the characters than it does the story, but for me I just enjoy Naruto and One Piece and Fairy Tail so much more.
I thought that on beating Aizen it was the perfect time to stop. The only problem is, with so little actual content in all the chapters, I feel so little of the story has been told. If most of the sword slash panels were turned into Gamaran style explanations of the fights that were going on (I know bleach isn't a technique based martial arts manga but i think there is some scope for that) I wouldn't get so bored looking at the pages, I wouldn't mind them showing EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER FIGHT THEIR OWN INDIVIDUAL BATTLES, and the story up to now could have been half the chapters in length and I wouldn't be sitting here waiting for it to get on with things. The story now is, i'm sure, meant to elude to the story behind the quincy's and (without spoiling too much) a few of character backgrounds. But I don't feel in the last half a year or however long since this arc started at I have learned all that much. Again the story is very good at showing the characters get stronger, but it seems to forget that there is an underlying plot that has to progress at some point.
And unfortunately, while I'd like to say that it will end after this quincy arc, because of how little plot progression i feel there has actually been, i can see Kubo deciding to do another arc and feeling justified in doing so.
I'm sorry if i sound bitter. I have pretty strong opinions on Bleach because i find it so infuriating to watch a good concept not go anywhere. It also grates on me a little when people's perception of all manga and anime is based on Bleach, with it being so popular.
Topic: Where Bleach should have ended? (Read 17216 times)
