LogFAQs > #901967404

Bleach, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Genre: Shonen, fantasy?
By: Tite Kubo
Whose fault is this: Wifebolo's I *think*
https://imgur.com/a/3LDmfaf

A rare departure from the norm for both of us- I don't have the attention span for super long series and am not that into ghosts and horror-adjacent stuff, while Wifebolo doesn't really like shonen or super popular things. And yet somehow we both gave this one a shot, mostly independently of each other, and both of us made decent progress. She got annoyed with something about it eventually, and I stopped when the library didn't have the next volume. I think I got farther than the three volumes we apparently own, but don't remember many specifics about what to expect. I like Rukia, Ichigo's dad, the hat guy's sidekicks, and maybe Chad. That's about all I've got for ya going in.

We meet Ichigo "Strawberry" Kurosaki (that's...one way to localize it, I guess) as he beats up some punks. He can see and talk to ghosts, so that's fun. His dad's weird and super into his dead mom, and his little(?) sisters have a lesser ability to see ghosts. Suddenly a SOUL REAPER (Rukia) appears and gives us some exposition about how humans aren't supposed to be able to see her, and how she's supposed to send good ghosts on to Soul Society and bust bad ghosts, called "hollows." There's more slapstick than I remember, giving me kinda a Ranma 1/2 vibe while the rough nature of Ichigo and ghosts being a thing reminds me of Yu Yu Hakusho at the same time. A hollow attacks in the middle of Rukia's lecture, and Ichigo continues to do things he shouldn't be able to do by sensing it before Rukia and breaking out of her paralysis spell. Rukia takes a nasty wound protecting Ichigo and his family, forcing her to give some of her power up to Ichigo so he can fight in her place. ...Except he sucks ALL of her power somehow. He's just the specialest. Monster go splat.

The next day, Ichigo's family have no lingering wounds or memories of the encounter, which is good since they were all on death's door. Time for school, and characters we might meet there! We meet Orihime the moeblob love interest, Tatsuki the tomboy, and Mizuiro the non-descript. (Mizu...iro...does that mean something along the lines of "clear"?) Rukia has transferred into the class to inform Ichigo that he has all her powers so he has to do her job. He agrees when he sees a ghost in danger, but he's gonna be cranky about it. I guess he has to leave his body to do the soul reaping?

Orihime interrupts Ichigo's training session while holding a leek. That should be a meme or something. Info dump time: Ichigo's family clinic failed to save Orihime's big brother, and Hollows all used to be humans so HEY GUESS WHO SHOWS UP TO ATTACK? Luckily Rukia has been hiding in Ichigo's house like a creeper for just such an occasion. She's the best. More info: Hollows first seek to eat their surviving loved ones, as big bro is currently doing with Orihime, before moving on to random attacks. So if Ichigo's mom is dead, then.....??? That didn't occur to me on my first read, although Rukia speculated the Hollow was after Ichigo's immense energy.

Tatsuki manages to look cool while getting wrecked, and buys enough time for Ichigo to make the save for Orihime....or not, since she's already dead. Awkward since she's gonna be the main love interest IIRC. Her soul is chained up outside of her body. Ichigo's having a rough time and we get some tragic backstory about how Big Bro Kakei basically raised Orihime after they fled their abusive parents. Now he feels lonely, and blames Orihime's relationships with Ichigo and Tatsuki. Also turns out that he gave Orihime her signature hair thingy the day he died, right before they had a fight and he left for work on bad terms. They talk him down, and send him on. I guess reaping the Hollow purifies them rather than killing them?
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Look at all those chickens
There's a hunger in the land, there's a reckoning still to be reckoned