December 28, 2004

random bleach thought

ohhhkay - so is it just me or are Ishida and Orihime being paired up in the merchandise? first there was the figurine set, now there's the pin set...Personally I think they're cute together because Orihime's so bubbly and Ishida's so... not.

Also, Ichigo and Rukia are also being paired up more. And Renji is being paired with... Byakuya - now that is simpwy adowable.*snrk*

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2004

BOHAHAHAHA!

Since my favorite subbers are all having finals blues (good luck, guys!) I've only been able to watch the raw of Bleach 10. And what a trip it was. Again, much more was orginally in English than I expected ("Supiritsu aru oruwaysu vizu yu!") And the pacing was superb. That was a really fun episode! (I wonder if they're going to animate the "Kon runs away" omake at some point. I really want to see that in motion.>:D)

Where does Rukia keep her paper and markers? She must draw at the speed of light to do those flip-animation doodles. I wonder what kind of marks she got in art in Shinigami school.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2004

Bleach PSP screenshots

Hurrah! they're doing this in 2D animation! And what cool 2D animation it is!

However, I beg to differ with the fight pairing in these screenshots.

After all, she's the one who has to heal his wounds afterwards...

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2004

Yay for filler

Ep 8 of Bleach has some long-awaited filler (and may there be more! Stave off that overlong Soul Society arc!) that really doesn't feel like filler at all - more like an unseen event from the manga. I wonder how much influence KT has on the anime storyline (or if they gave him Kon's role to shut him up XD).

Read more of "Yay for filler" [possible spoiler alert!]

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)

November 19, 2004

Bleach goods machine in high gear

I knew it wouldn't be too long before you could get your very own Kon plushie (attitude/KuboTite voice chip not included).

Ichigo fangirls are not forgotten; his studly image is available in a form suitable for pressing against your face every morning if you so choose. $16 is awfully expensive for a facetowel though.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2004

drive-by bleaching

Even if the manga is at a standstill, at least the anime is moving along briskly. Sometimes I wonder if KT only plotted out the first 5 volumes and is currently making the rest up as he goes along. Plus he is having way too much fun as Kon.

Someone pointed out that the seiyuu for Orihime was also Osaka in Azumanga Daioh. Talk about typecasting (personality-wise, that is.).

Vol 4 is scheduled to come out Nov 24 (rightstuf), Dec 7 (amazon), or Dec 9 (viz). I can't seem to find two street dates that agree, and Viz's is usually the least likely to be right. At any rate I hope they translate that wacky "Bo ha ha ha ha!!!" correctly.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

November 15, 2004

argh

I really really really want to throttle Kubo Tite right now. Who freakin' Cares about Soi Fon vs Yoruichi? Back to Ichigo! or at least Rukia! NOW!!!
:calms down:
OK, they're his characters, and he can do whatever he wants with them, and I really don't want to be dragged back into the sordid world of fanfic. But... pacing, kiddo, pacing. The characters we grew to love and who we really care about what's happening to them are Ichigo and Rukia. Chad. Ishida. Possibly Orihime. And what is Kon up to back in the real world with the Kurosaki family?! Have they figured out yet that he's not Ichi-nii? (I really love that in Japanese, Ichigo's little sisters call him Ichi-nii. that's so sweet.)

Basically, I rant because I care. really.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:53 PM | Comments (0)

November 04, 2004

we need a Jump store

Messing around on eBay today, I found this nifty Bleach Pencil Case. Very cool. When I go to Japan, I must find me one of those Jump stores.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 02:31 PM

October 07, 2004

Color Bleach

Okay, finally got around to watching the first episode of Bleach. Me like. Some things got changed around, but the important stuff didn't. Rukia and Ichigo sound abfab! Kon is, uh... well, he's not even supposed to be there yet, but he's narrating the previews and it sounds like he's having the time of his life (ganbatte KuboTite! Fight-O! Fight-O!)

Things that were surprising: Soul Society and Hollow were originally English terms. There is a lot of English in this series. Even staff titles in the opening are in English (though names are in kana).

The ED sequence was really... sad. Foreboding much?

I really really hope the anime takes the Kodocha approach.

Read more of "Color Bleach" [possible spoiler alert!]

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2004

1 day to Bleach!

Technically it's Oct 5 in Japan, so... less than 24 hours? Whatever. We won't get to see it till Wednesday at the earliest.

However I did get to see the 30-second promo [torrent] and... um... yeah. Weird background song (in eigo, and not nearly as attractive as "Life is Like a Boat."). But the animation looks clean and smooth, more like later Kubotite than earlier Kubotite. Also, no dialogue from the show, just the narrator yapping.

It was also interesting to hear how the Japanese pronounce "Bleach" (i.e. "bleechi"). I've never been able to figure out the logic behind that title myself - always thought that a more suitable title would be "Bridge" - but hey, who am I to argue with a god?

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2004

it's about time he showed up

OK, now I understand what all the screaming was about over at soul_society. Yes, yes, very nice indeed.

(I'm glad I resisted the tempation to look at it while at work.

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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)

Bleachy Goodness!

I've just beeninformed by my secret sources that the Official Bleach site has launched! Booyeah! And the navigation is actually in Eigo! Booyeah squared!

Now I wonder what that un-live "Movie" link is all about... probably clips. must not hope. must not hope.

:update: The ED is in English and Japanese. (the performer is Rie Fu, who's bilingual I believe.) It's... unexpectedly... sweet. I think they need to amp up the bass.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2004

bleach stings!

Well, I finally caught up on the most recent chapters of Bleach thanks to grubbing in the recesses of memory for IRC download protocol, the soul-society LJ (hi Airy!) and the Toriyama World forum. Can't remember the last time I expended this much energy on a series. Aaahhh, makes me feel young again.

IN ANY CASE... since volume 7 the plot appears to have degraded into one long DBZ-style fightfest interspersed with training, healing from injuries, and repeated variations on the theme of "I MUST GET STRONGER!!!" and "He's gotten stronger!!!" (I actually skipped a couple chapters by mistake without noticing, only to find that the characters hadn't moved from where they were for those chapters anyway.) The opponents are all interesting personalities, though, so it's not that monotonous. Kubo Tite is an equal-opportunity manga-ka, seeding the cast with several different types of people so, really, anyone can cosplay Bleach...OMG! HE'S SECRETLY PLANNING BLEACH COSPLAY DOMINATION!!!

There are hints of a conspiracy afoot, so GOOD. I like when a manga-ka knows where he's going, and I'm getting sick of all the fighting. The art style has improved significantly too. I think drawing all those fight scenes has helped. Still... Rukia's been locked in jail, and in a white tower (geez, can this get ANY more shounen) and hasn't had much to do aside from look pensive ) and swoon. Bah.

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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

August 26, 2004

Bleach TV

Oh happy day! A Bleach anime is scheduled to begin October 5.
Alas, Viz is being coy about when vol 3 will be out. phooey on them.

(Fumiko Orikasa will be Rukia. According to ANN she was Kim Hotaru in RahXephon, Hikari in Haibane Renmei, Pacifica in Scrapped Princess, and is currently Kirara in Samurai 7, among many other things. Busy girl. I have a very good feeling about this.)
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

August 21, 2004

The power of Bleach

I heard the young moderns talking about this one before it was picked up by Viz. And seeing the first 2 volumes at $7.95 AND having a coupon for 25% PLUS it being triple Replay point weekend, I just couldn't pass it up.

Story: Orange-haired Ichigo (yes, "strawberry" - those wacky Japanese) Kurosaki is a high school boy who can see ghosts. One day a girl appears in his room to fight off a "hollow" - those evil spirits who devour souls - and is incapacitated while saving Ichigo. Desperately she passes half her shinigami powers to Ichigo so he can save his family, but after the beast is dispatched, they find that she's accidentally given him all of it. The girl, Rukia, decides that until her powers can be restored, Ichigo has to take over her shinigami duties. So she takes human form, moves into Ichigo's closet, and begins the training. Violence and hilarity ensue.

At the center of every great manga are the personalities of the main characters, and there's a nice mix in this one. Ichigo tries hard to be a badass, but he just can't stop helping ghosts and small animals. Rukia has lived at least ten lifetimes and is all experienced and cool, but is fiercely devoted to protecting human souls and is helpless in the face of cute bunnies. It's sort of like seeing Kyo and Hana team up to fight evil spirits.

Because this is a shonen manga, there has to be some fanservice. And so Ichigo is secretly crushed on by the girl with the biggest boobs in class who in turn is being pursued by the resident class lesbian. But she actually gets a good story early on and the fanservice is not as persistent as a Ken Akamatsu manga (since, after all, the fanservice is not the point of the story, as it is in all of KA's stuff). So I suppose one can live with the spandex school uniform blouses.

In between the fights with hollows and the spats between Ichigo and Rukia, there are some intriguing ideas about the disposition of souls after death. The sketchy artwork takes some getting used to, but the intriguing premise more than makes up for it. I look forward to seeing how this proceeds - apparently it's still running in Japan's Shounen Jump, so there's a ways yet to go.

I wonder why evil spirits in Japan are always covered in stripes?

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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)