New Bleach Anime!

[Swithin]

The really odd thing is, I finished reading what I have of Bleach this afternoon, just kinda decided it was time. Checked to see if any more's been translated, and instead I find they've made an anime and the first ep just came out yesterday. My life is filled with these kinds of coincidences, seriously.

 

Anyway, not sure if anyone else cares, but it's worth checking out. It seems to be a pretty literal translation, which is a good thing. Animation is... well, it's Ok. Satisfactory at best, but then Naruto got a lot better with a budget-boost, didn't it? Let's hope this also gets popular very quickly.

 

Spoilers ahead (but hey, it's the introductory chapter, can they really even be classified as spoilers at this point?)

 

The pros: voice-work seems pretty good, camera angles are fairly intelligent to maximize the looks for the budget they've got, and on a second pass some minor inconsistencies in the manga seem to be cleared up (as in, the ghost-girl going visible to normals in the first chapter, when normals can't *ever* see ghosts again, whether they want to be seen or not.) I guess it's also a pro that the manga is *so* far ahead there won't be any filler eps for at least a year.

 

The cons: Production value. It's not the greatest, but meh. Some odd stuff inserted which wasn't there originally, perhaps an effort to 'unify theories' that are revealed over time in the manga (like floating kanji in the air to show demon-magic and spiritual power... err, wtf?)

 

At the moment I'm not sure whether this is a pro or a con: everything is very terse. I generally love that, because it speeds the story up and condenses the character moments and action (and you don't get three episodes of 'powering-up for the big fight' or whatnot.) However, at the moment the animators and voice-actors don't quite have the hang of displaying the character behind the characters in quick cut-aways, facial expressions, or single-lines... so maybe some of the "show, don't tell" that is so well-done by manga-artists is a little bit lost.

 

However, and I've saved this for last, the FIGHT SCENE MUSIC is TERRIBLE. Seriously bad, ALL CAPS LOCK BAD. It's a kickass scene, right? In fact, the FIRST kickass scene in the story, and you're supposed to be clenching your fists while your eyes dry up 'cuz YOU are in the mood for some fightin' too! And a Japanese Prince wannabe starts crooning to a one-legged toothless old hooker at the other end of the bar. Yes, it's J-PRINCE. Hell, if you're going to invent a new genre of music for your anime, at least get Yoko Kanno to approve it, dumbasses! And if you don't have the budget to come up with something stellar, just RIP OFF NARUTO you dumb ****s! GRARHH! It's like that puddle of ooze around a public toilet has seeped into my brain after hearing that ****, and it JUST WON'T GO AWAY.

 

Otherwise, a fine freshman effort. Can't wait for things to *really* get up to speed.

 

That is all.

 

[edit: oh yeah, and they ripped off Ciel's telephone-pole thing. Oh well, it's still pretty cool.]

 

[edit2: Hey, it's being made by Pierrot, animators of Naruto and Hikaru no Go. They really SHOULD rip off Naruto's music. <In the odd case the musicians/studio are reading this, it's not that the music is all that bad, just that the music is mind-bendingly inappropriate for a fight scene. No hard feelings, k?>]

Edited October 7, 2004 by Swithin

[i l l m a t i c]

Just dled the first episode of bleach and its pretty good...i didnt read ur post btw...cuz it was too long to read ...i also got da 1st episode of Mai HiMe, its pretty good also..

[Ryuken]

i saw bleach too and i liked the end but wha't's Mai HiMe ?? i've never heard of it

[Bluestinger X]

boring... i dont know why but these 2 animes seem so boring right of the bat. Its like u have already seen them before cause there is so many animes like them. I dont know maybe im weird.... anyone seen paranioa agent? that was different also really into samuria champloo