The world-building and story arcs in Tite Kubo’s Bleach have always enchanted the global audience, providing rich characters and epic developments. But still, it is usually taken as the least appreciated of the Big 3 manga titles together with Naruto and One Piece. This irony comes from Kubo’s extraordinary talent, which also turns out to be a double-edged sword.
His innovative storytelling, unique art style, and imaginative blend in the world-building mesmerized every single reader. Then how did exactly Bleach’s own brilliance ultimately seal its fate at third place among the Big 3?
Tite Kubo Never Really Plans Out Any Of His Ideas Beforehand
Tite Kubo works in a completely different way from his peers, Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Contrasting with Oda’s long-range planning, which can go out for decades, and Kishimoto’s skillful creation of characters, this one comes from pure instinct. He writes down ideas the moment they appear, during routine activities or casual talks, as he himself mentioned in an interview with Masakazu Morita (the voice actor of Ichigo).
I don’t go to a specific place to think. If I think of something, I make a note of it. It happens while I’m talking to people or even doing completely unrelated activities.
It facilitates the making of so many iconic moments in Bleach, but at the same time, it deviates pretty far from being the most well-structured story. Kubo’s reliance on spontaneity and word association has made for a rather scattered storyline, especially prone to plot holes and inconsistencies.
Kubo‘s ideas often come from anywhere, including completely tangential sources, like watching a movie.
For example, while watching a movie, I might suddenly hear a word, or a word will pop into my head. I’ll look it up and expand upon it. I think of it as kind of like an association game.
While allowing for creative storytelling, it sometimes hampers structure and flow in the larger narrative. Without a firm direction towards a goal, Bleach often stumbled a few times, declining both in quality and consistency. Abrupt tone shifts within the manga, rushed story arcs, and underdeveloped characters are clear signs of Kubo’s creative approach to writing, and it all hampers the reader’s experience.
Bleach Might Be The Weakest Among The Big 3 Shonens
Despite its immense popularity among readers, Bleach is probably the weakest of the Big 3 Shonens. It presents itself with a weak world-building that is relatively less detailed compared to others. Further, major characters like Ichigo Kurosaki lack a proper goal or motivation that has meaning, which is very much necessary if readers are going to become invested in the story.
It also fails to establish iconic and memorable monsters, landscapes, and fighting moves that the Shonen genre is known for. It couldn’t ignite the imagination that Naruto’s Team 7 or even One Piece’s Straw Hat Pirates did. And with so few combat moves, Ichigo can lead to only some limited fight scenes.
The above-mentioned shortcomings, combined with the pace and poor planning of the story, have relatively brought down Bleach’s popularity and overall effect. While always retaining its insane fan base, Bleach’s demise in both of these important respects has now solidified the series as the weakest of the Big 3 Shonens, a title long argued over between the aforementioned fans and even some critics.
The Bleach series is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
