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Watching - 'Bleach' (2018)

A Look at the 2018 Live Action Japanese Adaptation of the Popular Manga

By BoblobV2Published 5 years ago 5 min read
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The Japanese live action adaptation of Bleach is based on the popular Shonen Jump manga that was written and illustrated by Tite Kubo, which ran from 2001 to 2016, and has collected over 74 volumes. The story was adapted into a long running anime series, which ran from 2004 to 2012, accompanied by four stand alone anime movies. At the height of its popularity in the mid to late 2000s, Bleach was a legitimate worldwide phenomenon with a fan base that is still active today. In addition, it was hailed as one of the "Big Three" alongside Naruto and One Piece.

Bleach or Bleach: The Soul Reaper Agent Arc (the second title all but screams "sequel ahead") is directed by Shinsuke Sato, who also directed the live action Gantz films, which were themselves adapted from manga. Sota Fukushi plays Ichigo—Sota who was also the male lead in the live action adaptation of Say "I Love You." With Hana Sugisaki playing Rukia Kuchiki—Hana who was also in the live action adaptation of Blade of the Immortal and provided the voice for Mary in Mary and the Witches Flower. Both of whom were accompanied by a strong cast that included Miyavi who has previously appeared in Kong Skull Island.

Ichigo Kurosaki is a high school student with the ability to see ghosts, living in a household where his two younger sisters are far more mentally mature when compared to their single father after the loss of their mother. One night a soul reaper named Rukia enters his life while she is hunting a hollow. Getting injured in the fight, she transfers her power to him. She then takes refuge in Ichigo’s house while her power returns to her. Hunting hollows together surrounded by a cast of characters who are all distinct from each other both on terms of their looks and personality.

The film clocks in at 108 minutes including credits, and the opening of the film is strong, being nearly an exact recreation of the manga, save for establishing Ichigo’s mother being killed. What the film loses along the way is the focus on many characters introduced at the start, only for them to fall by the way side by the time the second act starts. The focus then shifts further from Rukia and Ichig to relegating Rukia as a superficial stock character, with her character development and progression being increasingly put on hold. The film tries to balance this with an increased focus on his family, only to have that fall to the way side as well. This ultimately left me with only Ichigo to care about.

What the film suffers from most of all is the fact that the filmmakers were too reluctant to cut plot points from the original manga and instead crammed as many iconic moments from the first arc—to a far less satisfying degree in comparison—into the film as they could. Being less than two hours, a lot of story was crammed in making it feel as if they wanted to get this part of the story over with so that they can get to the arc that helped bring Bleach the popularity it had, the "Soul Society Arc."

With regards to the performances of the actors, Sota Fukushi and Hana Sugisaki brought an Ichigo and Rukia extremely reminiscent of the manga and anime. Yosuke Egushi (who was in the live action Rurouni Kenshin films) stole every scene that he was in. Miyavi gave a good attempt at bringing Byakuya to the big screen, and it would have been a task any actor would have found difficult as a result of his detached and emotionless nature; as such, Byakuya falls short despite a valiant effort. That being said, Miyavi did hold himself up in a regal manner befitting Byakuya. The weakest link in the performances came from Taichi Saotome who played Renji Abarai. His over-the-top performance constantly took me out of the film and constantly felt out of place with the rest of the film.

The visual effects of this film are interesting, giving the hollows a unique texture that makes them feel otherworldly yet physical in the world that the film takes place in. This gives them a natural weight to a CGI creation, which is very difficult to do. More often than not, the CGI and the practical meld almost seamlessly.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the entire film is the spectacular soundtrack composed by Yutake Yamada (who also composed the original soundtrack for Tokyo Ghoul). Much in the same vein as Tokyo Ghoul, this music deserves to be in a film of far better quality as it manages to be unique and individual while at the same time harken back to the early soundtrack of the anime. If nothing else, seeing this film is worth it for the soundtrack alone.

While I have spent a large portion of this article highlighting the many setbacks of this film, it is one that I ultimately enjoyed. Having been a Bleach fan for over a decade, I am rooting for this film franchise to succeed, which is why I am being overly frank in this piece. It is something that I would recommend you watch if you are Bleach fan because, as far as anime adaptations go, it is one of the far more neutral ones, which has, as stated earlier, a fantastic soundtrack and a great performance from Yosuke Egushi. If you are not an existing Bleach fan, it is still one I would recommend when you have two hours to spare on Netflix and not one to go out of your way to watch.

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About the Creator

BoblobV2

Writing about anime, and anything else I find interesting.

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