Bleach: Manga & Creator Tite Kubo – Review
Written and edited by John Darius:
Born June 26, 1977 in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japanese creator Tite Kubo grew up in wanting to become a manga artist since his early childhood due to the love he had for the popular manga titled Saint Seiya. His first one-shot was Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine written for the Weekly Shonen Jump in 1996, & in 1999, he later went on in writing his first manga titled Zombiepowder, which ran for 27 chapters. “Telling the story of a teenaged boy named Elwood Shepard who joins mysterious criminals Gamma Akutabi and C.T. Smith in their search for the rings of dead. Artifacts that grant immortality and resurrect the dead to anyone that collects 12 of them.” According to Kubo, Zombiepowder originated as an idea for a samurai manga which initially would have been titled “Samurai Drive.” This conception of the story had very little in common with the end product as it did not feature any kind of western elements at the time.
Now professionally known to many as japanese artist and character designer, Tite Kubo went on in creating what later would become his most popular illustrated work yet in the manga titled BLEACH. An epic tale following the adventures of teenager Ichigo Kurosaki who inherits the ability to see ghosts, and obtains powers by the hands of soul reaper Rukia Kuchiki. Tasked with fighting creatures known as hollows and protecting the world of the living from the forces of evil.
Receiving the 50th shogukokan manga award for the shonen category in 2005, & having went on in selling 130 million copies worldwide, Bleach ran for 15 years reaching over 698 chapters in total from 2001 to 2016. Making it one of the best selling manga in history. Additionally a few years later, an anime adaptation was broadcast in TV Tokyo for 8 years running from 2004 to 2012. Along with a recently new anime adaptation released in 2022, following the stories of the last story arc titled: Thousand Year Blood War, and acts as a direct sequel to the original anime series.
Putting aesthetic first, Tite Kubo was greatly inspired by traditional japanese death gods that wore black robes and collected souls. Instead of having the core design of shinigami’s clothing in bleach based on the hero Ichigo kurosaki, kubo created rukia as the first character for his manga with her appearance being an significance to his inspiration. Kubo took special influence from the villains that Dragonball’s Akira Toriyama designed. Which taught him that all antagonists must be either “strong, scary and cool,” without exception and added that to this very day no other fight scene has shocked him more than Dragonball’s Trunks first appearance.
Kubo does an excellent job throughout his writing showcasing with his characters, the importance and meaning of life, and how is it possible for one to become a figure of peace and stability in a world already consumed by war. Are we capable of evolving past our own ideals? Can we aspire to something greater beyond our own existence? How do we go about change and what our roles in a society broken by the corrupt. It is an amazing form of storytelling paced out beautifully, and gives an idea of what humanity is capable of once stacked against those in power.
This is a manga that is sure to win over many fans that are lovers for the supernatural or cinema as a whole in films such as: Seven Samurai, 13 Assassins, & Kill Bill. Creating in the end, a whole a new perspective on Japanese culture while also giving fans a story based on the morals we stand by and how we choose to live together as a society.
An amazing form of art that I recommend anyone give a chance. Check out the two latest trailers down below and send in your comments telling us your thoughts on this article, and be sure to check out the premiere for the Thousand Year Blood War arc on hulu! Thanks for reading and take care!
Bleach Trailer 1:
Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War Trailer 1:
GRADE: A
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