This is a strange little post, I admit. It’s just that I haven’t watched any Bleach since the summer, and I’ve been considering starting it back up again. Not that this, on its own, is particularly strange; I typically fall off watching a show for months at a time. I mean, until last week, nearly as much time had gone by between episodes of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which I think is a much better show than Bleach. I just get busy, or get sick of the show and need time away from it, whatever. But it did get me to thinking. So far as I can tell (or at least, so far as lelangir has told me), the Bount arc — which is what I’m officially in the middle of watching – is universally reviled. It’s not doing much for me, either. I was just wondering: given that I’ve pretty much enjoyed everything Bleach has thrown at me up to this point, why did the Bount arc fall over so badly?
And yes, it could just be that “it sucks.” But it behoves the thinking consumer of entertainment to, at times, consider why something doesn’t please, just as much as it helps to consider why it does. Also, given my previous comments, go ahead and discount “it wasn’t in the manga.” I don’t much care whether or not it was in the source material.
Why oh why, then, does the Bount arc suck so bad? I suspect it’s because the Bount arc is Bleach trying to do something very out of character.
What does Bleach involve, mostly? A lot of cool characters doing very actiony things while they grit their teeth, struggle, and generally “kick reason to the curb.” Ichigo Kurosaki is really the idol of this kind of thing. I thought Goku, of Dragonball Z (which is different than Goku of Dragonball) was the epitome of the shounen action hero until I met Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo is funny — or, at least, amusing. He’s not actually funny himself, but his comedic fury provides the best quick gags this side of a Rukia sketch — and oh, Rukia, how I love your sketches. You try.
The rest of the cast is pretty samey. Each has a vaguer reason than than the last for wanting to be more powerful; it generally gets boiled down to protecting folks — pretty much Harry Potter’s “saving people thing.”
The Bount arc doesn’t really represent that for any of the characters. Yes, I know they keep trying to make Ishida and the crazy Bount woman into a “must protect YOU” unit, but it’s not really working, as there’s no good fucking reason for them to give two shits about each other. The series could invent some in the future, like maybe she’s his mom or some bullshit, but as it stands they are trying to act as though they want to protect each other when they are essentially strangers. I mean, Ishida hasn’t even really thought about whether or not she’s hot; Christ, I would accept that he has a crush and wants to save her, that would work for me.
Okay, yeah. So, no one’s actively protecting anyone close to them in this arc, aside from generic “save the world because Orihime’s in it” stuff. So why are the protagonists doing all this? Well, it becomes more and more difficult to answer anything other than, “it’s their job.” Which isn’t actually the premise of Bleach.
And who are they fighting? Adaptations of Japanese cosmological figures? Uh, no. They’re fighting vampires. Basically vampires. Because enough hasn’t been done with vampires. Oh, but they’re vampires that have superpowers, compared to other vampires. And they have weapons like the Shinigami, for no fucking reason. Yes, super good.
Okay, this didn’t turn into much more than me bitching. Sorry about that. Hopefully I’ll have more proper content for you after Christmas — the blog’s year anniversary is coming up, after all. Ultimately all this post really says is that, yes, the Bount arc is probably why your dog got so sick. But maybe there was some fun in there, with the bitching? Bitching can be fun.
All right, I blame it on the tonsillitis. It makes me crotchety.
Tags: bleach