The Secret of BLEACH's Success?

And now, I’ve officially rounded out my experience with the Holy Shonen Trinity. Again, just as it was NARUTO #1, I feel like I’ve missed a few episodes
of back-story, even though this is supposed to be the pilot.

The whole premise of a teenager
who can see ghosts and intervene in their affairs is already a solid enough
premise for a show (hell, that was pretty much the first arc of BLEACH’s “spiritual
predecessor,” YU YU HAKUSHO, wasn’t it?). The fact that it’s treated so
matter-of-factly, as if it were just incidental to Ichigo being a normal 15-year-old,
is a little… strange? It’s as if the show’s taking for granted that the
audience is already familiar with most of its premises. Even the Hollows don’t
get that great of explanation.

== TEASER ==

Again, coming at this with no attachments or nostalgia for what BLEACH
is (or what it was), I have to conclude that a shonen series must hit two
perquisites from the starting gate to be a juggernaut success. It has to immediately
get to the cool stuff, even if doing that is jarring, and it must immediately
earn sympathy points for the hero. This is demonstrated quite succinctly in Ichigo’s
introduction. What’s he doing when we meet for the first time? He’s beating the
shit out of some dumbasses who just disrespected a little ghost girl’s street side
memorial. BAM! There you go.

Maybe another requirement is comic relief - - even if it feels shoehorned
. Viewing BLEACH from the outside, it really looked like the most dour of the
HST. So grim as to be humorless, even. As
such, seeing chibi slapstick in this episode was totally unexpected. It doesn't work for me - - it never really works for me - - but I'm not the target audience, am I?

Lastly, I’m quite amused that my observation about the Soul Society
essentially being the afterlife version of the Green Lantern Corps continues to fit,
even at the very beginning. Rukia getting wounded
right after dropping into Ichigo’s life, and her more-or-less promoting him to be a Soul Reaper
on the field, is pretty much exactly what happens between Abin Sur and Hal Jordan in the standard GREEN LANTERN origin story. Perhaps these requirements aren't specific to shonen series' success then? Perhaps they're even more archetypal?

This is my take, anyway. I'm sure we've got plenty of mega-fans in the community - - what's your take? What did this show do right from the beginning? What's the secret of BLEACH's success?

Watch, "The Day I Became a
Shinigami" and decide for yourself.

About the Author

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk