Bleach, ep. 01-09

[oyceter]

I swear, my brain hasn't entirely been sucked up by anime and manga! Maybe just 90%?

*headdesk* It's like high school all over again... (that was the first time my brain was fried by anime and manga)

I watched this on a half-deflated air bed in Mariposa and giggled so much during some episodes that I couldn't figure out what just happened. Also, rachelmanija fell off the bed. Twice.

Kurosaki Ichigo is a normal teenage guy, if by normal, you mean normal by shounen standards. Aka, he has been able to see spirits since he was young, has a tragic past (sort of), is grouchy beyond belief, and possesses many skills that he really shouldn't. Also, he manages to get himself a job as substitute Soul Reaper, thanks to an unfortunate accident with Kuchiki Rukia. Rukia's not too happy, since this turn of events leaves her without Soul Reaper powers.

There's a great deal of fighting, since one of the main duties of Soul Reapers is to prevent Hollows (unhappy dead spirits turned malevolent) from eating other, good, dead spirits (pluses) or from eating other people. I have to say, Hollows are really creepy, particularly when they look sort of like No Name of Spirited Away -- a mask on a large blobby body, but even worse, because they're usually vaguely buglike and the masks are really freaky.

But! Forget the plot for now! I'm not really watching this for the plot so far, though I can see how it'd get interesting later. I'm watching for Rukia, who is extremely cool! First, she wears hakama!!!!!!!

(see above re: high school and first manga ever read being Kenshin and OMG hakama!!!!! I joined kendo solely because of the hakama. Well, I also joined so I could bop people over the head and carry a bokken around but... hakama!!!)

But! She is cool even without hakama! She's very short and grumpy and serious, though she's not quite as grumpy as Sanzo. But I love that she talks like a guy and uses all the uber-masculine casual forms. Although she still refers to herself as "watashi," so I guess the creators or something didn't want to go with "ore"? Someday I will watch anime where a woman refers to herself as "ore" and it will be nifty. Anyhow. She gets herself a body and starts hanging around Ichigo because he's got to do Soul Reaper stuff. And whenever other people talk to her, she morphs into Super Shoujo Mode and starts tacking hyperfeminine endings on and I swear, her voice goes up an entire octave.

And she gets Shoujo Sparklies as well!

Other things that I was particularly amused by were the insane teddy bear of DOOM and the parakeet (also of DOOM).

In one episode, there's a talking parakeet whose owners all apparently have something absolutely awful happen to them. I do realize that being a parakeet is rather tragic, particularly when one's owners keep dying off, but every time I'd start taking the episode seriously, they'd have this dramatic shot of the parakeet in its cage, silhouetted against a red background, wtih loud, tragic, ominous music! And then Rachel and I would look at each other, say, "Parakeet of DOOM!" and cackle insanely.

I mean... parakeet! Of doom! HEE!!!!!

Whenever someone would put the parakeet's cage down and in all seriousness say, "Stay where you are! I'll come back for you!" we'd start giggling madly again, because... parakeet! In cage! Of doom! And being cautioned to not move even though it was in a cage! Then, of course, the owner very kindly put the parakeet's cage on a wall in case said parakeet got run over by cars.

That's when Rachel fell off the bed.

The parakeet had a suitably tragic backstory, and I'd feel bad for him, except I was too busy being totally amused by the fact that he was a parakeet.

In conclusion, I am twelve.

Comments

[jinian.livejournal.com]

In conclusion, I am twelve.

No, no, I am wrong. I adore Oyce.

*laughs and laughs*

[oyceter]

You should see Rachel's notes down below!

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

You've probably already heard, but in both the anime and the manga, Rukia goes MIA for a loooooong time :( I've posted some Bleach thoughts recently on my LJ.

[oyceter]

Oh, I didn't actually know that!

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

Clearly you and rachelmanija have plans to ruin my life, or at least feed my addiction for grumpy antiheroes.

[oyceter]

Muhahaha!

Speaking of addictions to grumpy antiheroes... Pssttt, have you finished Saiyuki? (want more people to squee to!!)

[rilina.livejournal.com]

This is probably already obvious to you, but I am completely filled with glee by your and Rachel's Bleach posts. And Rukia and Ichigo are both awesome.

[oyceter]

This is all your fault, you do know? ;)

I think a good portion of it was seeing Rukia in all your icons, which, btw, I adore!

[oyceter]

Oh! I also totally forgot that Rukia's little drawings of the Soul Society and Hollows vs. the good ghosts were hilarious!

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Rukia's drawings--and her love of bunnies--never fail to amuse me. Hrm, I need to make an icon out of them. One can never have too many Rukia icons.

I have some Bleach icons here (http://pics.livejournal.com/rilina/gallery/0000fwqf?page=2). Er, there will be some characters unfamiliar to you there, but nothing's really spoilery unless you click on the icons of those people to read the description.

[oyceter]

Love of bunnies? Hee!

I have a feeling I'll need to do mad Bleach iconning as well. I love yours though! Especially that last one of Ichigo's dad.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Love of bunnies? Hee!
Yup--take a closer look at Rukia's pictures. ;)

I think I definitely need more icons with Bleach chibis.

[oyceter]

Oh, that's right! *snork*

So much Rukia love!

I also forgot to mention how much I loved watching Rukia be confused by "modern" things like juice box straws!

[hysteriachan.livejournal.com]

. . . I really need to get around to watching this. I've been downloading it since it premiered (eps. 75-76 are downloading as I type), but it's just been added to the long list of anime-lying-unwatched-in-a-binder. >.>

[oyceter]

rilina says that the manga is better, but so far the anime is pretty good (so the manga must be wonderful).

But yeah... I still need to finish watching FMA -_-;;.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

The manga does some things better, but I think Rukia's voice actress is so wonderful that it pushes the anime to a whole new level.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

You forgot to mention how the parakeet would madly flap its tiny wings at dramatic points, and also the big dramatic-tragic climax, in which the Hollow proclaims, "So to get revenge, because I am EEEEEEEVIL, I put your soul into... a parakeet! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

I mean, do Hollows commonly put souls into parakeets? Is this a standard revenge method?

Also, I loved how when Kon was in Ichigo's body, Ichigo would suddenly get this totally out of character genki expression, which Kon would then have to stifle if anyone was looking. At one point he complained about having to force his face into Ichigo's habitual expression of extreme crankiness: "How does he do this all the time? Doesn't it tire him out?"

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I also love the time when Ichigo is worried about Orihime and asks if she's okay, which scares her so much she takes off running.

Ichigo: Huh?

Tatsuki: It's 'cause you scare the crap out of people, man.

[oyceter]

Oh yeah, that was great!

Oooo, I also forgot to add that Orihime has frighteningly large breasts along with her mild-mannered personality. The combination is probably a shounen trope. (um, yes, I was obviously not taking notes on symbolism or anything serious like that)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Orihime is more interesting in the manga, though she's still not one of my favorite characters.

The part where the Brother-Hollow encircles one of her immense breasts with his claw was bizarre beyond words.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

There are even bigger breasts to come. In a later volume, there is a cover of a woman I misidentified as Tatsuki, and wondered why she was dressed like that and how come her breasts became so huge. In fact, I suspect that looking at her breasts is partly to blame for my backache a few days ago. (I suspect some combination of sleeping in a funny position, overexerting myself playing disc golf, and reading/watching Bleach manga/anime with poor posture.)

A little after that, there is a Soul Reaper, Matsumoto (sp?), who likes to flaunt her cleavage. At one point she doesn't notice someone sneaking up on her, and when she starts, she complains "They almost popped out!". I can't decide whether the mangaka needs to receive a smackdown from an Amazon or if Matsumoto is bit too vain. I mean, wouldn't she have to worry about them moving about and getting in her way or getting cut during a fight? Unless her clothes are impregnated with stypics, it seems really stupid that she doesn't bind her boobs when fighting.

Happily, these two women are not so mild-mannered, especially the first.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Actually, I was kind of happy about Matsumoto's breasts, because there's a bit after one of the anime eps (some of which have omake) in which she explains that if she ties them down too much she can't really move freely or swing a sword, but if she doesn't do anything they hit her in the face, so it's all about this perpetually inadequate clothing balance... and then the camera pans out to show that she is a) drinking and b) earnestly telling all this to her (male) squad captain, who DOES NOT WANT TO KNOW and is really, really trapped. It's a thing of beauty.

[oyceter]

*snork*

I am definitely looking forward to meeting her!

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Oops, I think I missed that, and it does sound way funny. (I skipped the start and end of each episode because when you're watching a dozen or two episodes in a row, saving a few minutes on each episode adds up. For example, saving two minutes per episode means after 11 episodes, you've saved enough time to watch another episode.)

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Okay, I missed this omake and must hunt it down. Being familiar with the captain in question, that has to be really, really funny.

[oyceter]

I totally forgot to add that!!!

Damn you, now I'm sitting in my cube trying really hard not to giggle maniacally.

And I forgot to mention Rukia's absolutely awesome drawings of everything!

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I love the fact that you can always tell when Kon is in Ichigo's body purely by the absence of (or clearly fake version of) Ichigo's habitual grumpy expression.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I think Rukia uses watashi partly because ore would sound weird for a woman, but also because that's the personal pronoun of choice for characters who are in the military or practice military-like discipline and/or are of high rank. I think Jin also uses watashi, because he is an upright, disciplined samurai.

[oyceter]

Mm, that does make sense.

I think someone should put Jin, Rukia and Sanzo together in a room just to see what would happen.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Have you watched any Invader Zim? I forget what train of thought led me to the following idea, but I'm trying to imagine a crossover where Gir gets mixed up with a Soul Reaper and acquires Soul Reaper powers, and maybe gets into brawl with Teddybear Kon....

[oyceter]

Hrm... no clue, sorry =(.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

My God! Jin at least is fairly retiring when no one's pushing his buttons, but with Rukia and Sanzo present... and Rukia and Sanzo in the same room... well, at the very least, there would much shouting and gunshots and throbbing cross-hatches on faces. And then the world would end.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

There are two separate women in Bleach who use 'ore' and one who uses 'wasshi'. This makes me VERY VERY HAPPY. Rukia just doesn't happen to be one of them.

(Icon used not out of any kind of annoyance but because it is funny.)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Oh, huh. Interesting. "Wasshi," what does that one signify? I know I've heard it before but forget the context. Is it regional? I vaguely recall hearing it in real life from a couple elderly guys in Osaka.

I just put up two, count 'em two, Bleach posts, by the way, one spoilery and one introductory.

Your icon is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

[oyceter]

I think "washi" (no small tsu, I think?) is usually used by older guys or an older generation. And it's regional. So right on both counts!