“Bleach” the Best Anime?
Naruto, One piece, and Bleach are known as “The big three of anime”. They are called this because these three anime were always included in the cover of Shonen Jump magazines, and were the foundation to the overall popularity of anime now. Bleach however for the past 12 years has been on a hiatus, but just recently returned with the “Thousand Year Blood War” arc. In other words the anime has been gone for a very long time, but it is back now. For the past few years many comments have been made about Bleach. For example in a reddit review a user by the name InterviewFabulous704 talks about how Bleach “Fell off the map”. Back in 2015 Andrew Kincaid wrote an article critiquing Bleach. The article’s name is: Bleach-A Critique. In this essay discourse analysis is used on Kincad’s article on Bleach to interpret his word choice and determine his feelings on the anime.
In this article critical discourse analysis is used to interpret the author’s words. Discourse analysis is when an author’s words are used to interpret their opinion. Little words such as issue or problem from the author can show their bias. Using discourse analysis on Andrew Kincaid’s article we will find out whether he supports Bleach or not.
Some basic background information is the article was published by Andrew Kincaid on March 22, 2015. Kincaid is a well known anime reviewer, and this certainly not his first article. Kincaid loves books even as a kid he always checked out large amounts of books at each trip to the library. Bleach is an anime that has been popular for many years, but also has been shown some hate until recently with its return after a long 12 year wait.Bleach aired for the first time October 5th 2005.
To start the article off the author refers to Bleach to be “cleaner overall” than One Piece. This can be interpreted as that Bleach is far more visually appealing for the author than one piece. In this line the author is supporting Bleach to be better than One piece, which is another anime that is a part of “The Big 3”. The author also talks about how he “likes how characters like Ichigo matured” Again here he is giving Bleach credit for its overall appeal. Based on the first few comments reviewed with critical discourse analysis the author seems to support Bleach quite well. However later in the article Kincaid goes to say “some characters are annoying and pointless” what the author means by this is some characters in the anime are unnecessary to the point and can be removed or replaced. The author feels like characters like Don Kanoji (A phony exorcist) are unnecessary comedic relief to such a serious anime. This doesn’t mean the author no longer supports Bleach, but they did find some aspects unnecessary and annoying. Also the author believes Bleach “suffers from many plot and pacing issues” The authors point here is that Bleach is too slow paced sometimes and sways from the main plot a lot. Again the author goes back to this by calling the plot “muddled”. What the author means by this is that the plot is very disorganized. The author says “Bleach can go from a good show to a classic”. What this means is that the author already believes Bleach is a good anime but with a few changes it becomes better.
Kincaid has seen many good anime, but based on this article Bleach might be one of the best he has seen. He compares bleach to popular anime such as one piece. He critiques Bleach and gives it fair and honest review, but in the end he says its overall good. We find out Kincaid’s true feelings on Bleach using rhetorical analysis.
Works Cited:
Andrew, Kincaid “Bleach-A Critique” March 22, 2015 https://www.japanpowered.com/anime-articles/bleach-a-critique
InterviewFabulous704 “ Here’s why I believe Bleach fell off the map” 2019 https://www.reddit.com/r/bleach/comments/fewla5/heres_why_i_believe_bleach_fell_off_the_map/
In this essay I felt like I did well with my thesis statement, and it connected really well with my overall essay. My thesis was strong and related to the information I provided in my essay. My introduction also went well. In my introduction I gave a really good background on Bleach. Also in Paragraph 3 I was able to get more background information on the author. I also gave plenty of background information of Bleach itself. My paragraph 2 could have been longer and more detailed. My conclusion also was short and it could have had a stronger ending. My 4th paragraph was built well and had a lot of information. Overall my essay was really organized but could have more information in certain sections.