BLEACH (2018)

What a fun ride!

I've watched this around 4 or 5 times so far. This is one of my absolute favorites to watch when I need to take a break. I have no experience with the original manga so I came into this with no expectations. The movie has everything I love about this genre of Japanese movies/series. Awesome eye candy, incredible music, unbelievably good sfx. Sota Fukushi is so good as Ichigo in this. He completely lives his character. Hana Sugisaki is fantastic as Rukia. The montage of her teaching him how to fight is just so fun. I only wish there were more movies and/or a series with the same characters, especially since they mention the Soul Society Arc. Give it a try and hopefully you'll find it as fun as I did. ?

NOTE: I'm definitely not an impartial reviewer. I tend to leave reviews and ratings for only things I love which means almost everything is a 10 for me ?

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I've finally finished watching this at last. Fair to say, when the live action adaptation was announced, I was worried about how would they approach the show and adapt it into a movie. Since I'm not sure that there would be any plans for any other subsequent continuation and I'm a bit biased as I'm really fond of the live action musical casts.

But the movie turned out to be fine, not really what I'd expected it to be concluded but it was fine enough to be a standalone movie adaptation. Love the CGI effects and the cinematic setting. It would've been nice if there were actually plans to adapt the Soul Society Arc as well, but at least there's the old Rock Musical Bleach to fill that hole.

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Too Serious & Not Enough Fun

I was super excited to watch this after I saw the trailer but I wanted to watch the anime first. I should not have watched the anime first! I mean I just binged watch the first 3 seasons of one of the best animes I have ever watched and thoroughy enjoyed it. Like EVERYTHING about it! and here in lies the reason this movie is just average.

Unfortunately, it was just too much to cram into an 1 hour and 45 minutes. I did not like the changes to the storyline at all. Plus the movie just lost the levity of the anime which is one of the main reasons the anime for me is so good.

However, what the movie did extremely well was was casting. I loved the actors playing, Ichigo, Byakuya, Renji, Ishida, Chad and Tatsuki. I loved the costumes too except Ishida's. Where was the white Quincy outfit?? Too bad Inoue and Rukia didn't match what I was looking for. It sucks too that side character storylines were left out all together.

At any rate, I will say if you've never seen the anime this is an ok movie and worth at least one viewing and the CGI wasn't terrible either.

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To be fair, Bleach is the type of anime that’s difficult to adapt into live-action. I’m not saying it’s impossible, okay. But Bleach features a huge world. There’s Karakura Town, the place where our main character lives and that’s the human world. Then there’s Soul Society where most souls dwell until they are reincarnated. At the centre of that place is a city called Seireitei where Shinigami (Soul Reaper) live. There’s also Hell where wicked Hollows reside and Hueco Mundo, the space between the human world and Soul Society. This is where most Hollow and Arrancar are situated.

One wrong decision in the storyline can mess everything up. Thank goodness, Kubo decided to be involved ensuring its faithfulness to the manga and anime. I can definitely say that both old and new fans can enjoy it. I really enjoyed seeing everything come to life (sort of)!

The only problem for me is Rukia’s role in the movie. I’m a big fan of Kuchiki Rukia, the shinigami that came into contact with Kurosaki Ichigo. Though Ichigo was the centre of it all, Rukia is a strong character and plays a vital role. I just wish they gave Rukia a little more focus. I urge you to watch the TV series to get my point. But overall I appreciate what Bleach (2018) offered and hope there would be more in the future.

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Blech

Story: something something ghosts monsters reapers super clan this super clan that

Acting: posturing, more posturing and even more posturing. But actors were good at it especially the Brother and his red-haired boyfriend.

Music: hard rock. This type of music in fantasy movies is meant to tell you that you should not take the story seriously. As if we didn't get it already.

Rewatch value: low. This felt like a pilot that never spawned a proper series.

Overall: I would have awarded this movie higher marks had it not been for interminable borefest that was the last 1/3 of the movie. SPOILERI hate CGI driven action scenes and this had the most ridiculous giant green-haired monster that ruined everything. SPOILER ENDS Without that, it would be a diverting fluff but ending really dropped the ball and made me look at the watch.

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