Shonen anime and manga have a tendency to feel larger than life–and not always in a good way. The biggest conventions of the genre include sweeping, near-endless stories, singular fight scenes that can last weeks or months, and rosters of characters so sprawling that learning who’s who at any given moment can feel like a monumental task. But even so, there’s a reason shonen series have maintained such a foothold in pop culture, even outside of niche anime fan communities. For as daunting and arcane as they can feel on the outside, once you’re in, you’re usually hooked for life. It’s the getting in part that can be tricky.
This is why it’s critical to find the right gateway–and thankfully, we’re here to give you just that. What if I told you there was a perfect, immediately accessible shonen masterpiece ready to be binge-read immediately with one measly little $2.99 a month subscription fee? What if I also told you that the series was complete, clocking in at a very modest (seriously, don’t panic) 686 chapters–so there’s no need to worry about loose ends never being wrapped up, hiatuses interrupting the flow, or even just maintaining a week-to-week reading schedule?
Please, look no further than Kubo Tite’s Bleach–one of the greatest and most criminally underrated shonen epics of all time.
The story itself isn’t that complicated. Teenage protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki’s quirky, extremely anime lifestyle of practicing martial arts with his eccentric father and siblings and being the only student in his high school with inexplicably neon colored hair is interrupted one day when he spots an incongruously dressed figure fighting a giant monster. The figure is a Soul Reaper (Shinigami) sent from the spirit realm (Soul Society) to fight against Hollows (creatures born out of corrupted human souls that were unable to pass into the afterlife). Her name is Rukia Kukuchi and humans like Ichigo aren’t supposed to be able to see her, or Hollows for that matter, so you can imagine her surprise.
One thing leads to another and eventually Rukia is injured and forced to make a split-second decision, officially deputizing Ichigo as a “substitute” Soul Reaper in her stead while she recovers. From there, the story briefly becomes very monster-of-the-week as Ichigo figures out the ins-and-outs of Hollow slaying–but the formula doesn’t last. For all Bleach could have stayed on the rails, it quickly subverts itself, dragging Ichigo, Rukia, and an ensemble cast of their friends into a tangled web of political intrigue and sprawling lore as Soul Society’s government and bureaucracy eventually come to call. See, instituting “substitute” Soul Reapers is illegal, and for all the people Ichigo and Rukia have helped in their self-contained anti-Hollow crusade, they’ve still been breaking the law.
It’s one part X-Files, three parts Game Of Thrones as the story really hits its stride, layering subplot on top of subplot to execute some of the most masterful and shocking twists, reveals, and payoffs you’ll find in the shonen genre across the board.
All of which is to say, if you’ve gone this long (Bleach started in 2001 and ended in 2016) without being spoiled or even learning too much of what the series is actually about–that’s great (and maybe not that surprising). Bleach’s number one competitors during its heyday were juggernauts like the still-ongoing One Piece and the zeitgeist-shifting Naruto (which may be complete but is currently in the middle of its sequel series, Boruto: Naruto Next Generation). Against those behemoths, Bleach was a relatively quiet phenomenon–popular, and certainly financially successful, but never quite as loudly beloved as its peers.
That’s not to say Bleach didn’t make an impact–Kohei Horikoshi, creator of My Hero Academia, actually got his start drawing Bleach fanart–but if you’re going to visit Tokyo on the hunt for anime merch and collectables any time soon, finding Bleach stuff to buy is a bit of a challenge (trust me, I speak from experience). That’s a shame, really, because in addition to having an absurdly satisfying, rich, complicated story, Bleach also happens to be one of the most stylish mangas around. From completely bonkers character designs to high fashion color spreads, Kubo Tite’s art grew and evolved over the series’ run into something you won’t find in any other manga.
Fortunately, it’s genuinely the perfect time to use Bleach’s understated success to your advantage. We’re coming up on the 20th anniversary, which will finally see the anime adapting the manga’s final story arc; we’ve all got probably more free time than anticipated given the roster of event cancelations thanks to COVID-19; and reading the entire series really is as easy as copping a subscription to the Shonen Jump app for the affordable rate of $2.99 a month–a price point that also grants you access to any other Shonen Jump titles, past and present, you might want to jump into once you’re finished, if you’re into that sort of thing. Or, you know, you could just read Bleach again and it’d definitely still be worth it.