The BLEACH live-action adaptation was better than I expected.

 

I was dreading this. As you may know, live action adaptations of anime and manga are very much hit and miss with the vast majority being misses. The Rurouni Kenshin series is the best adaptation to date with it being faithful to the source material and just brilliant all-around movies. At the opposite end of the spectrum lays the Netflix bastardisations of Cowboy Bebop and Death Note. Those should be purged from existence and never spoken of ever again. For today's blog post, I wanted to finally watch another adaptation with Netflix being attached to it. I'd put off watching this movie for a couple of years because I love the manga that it's based upon and didn't want to see it potentially being ruined by a terrible movie. I am referring to the 2018 movie adaptation of Tite Kubo's stylish manga, BLEACH. 

The movie follows the very first story arc of the manga. Protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki is a student at Karakura High with orange hair and the unique ability to see ghosts. As a child, Ichigo's mother Masaki was killed in front of him as she protected him from an attack by a seemingly unknown entity. This tragic event helped to shape Ichigo's character, particularly his very protective nature. He spends his days trying to help ghosts to find solace in the afterlife. On a night after helping the ghost of a small boy, a mysterious woman suddenly intrudes upon his bedroom. As it turns out that woman is none other than the Shinigami, Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia was tracking a dangerous hollow in the human world when she met Ichigo in his room. Hollows are souls of people that died with a grudge and as such they come back as deadly creatures that regular humans cannot see. Shinigami destroy hollows and help usher souls to the Soul Society to maintain balance in the universe. A hollow known as Fishbone attacks the Kurosaki household, injuring Rukia as she defends Ichigo and his family from the attack. Left with no other option, Rukia transfers her powers to Ichigo and transforming him into a substitute Shinigami. This action has very severe consequences as it sets off a series of events that involve some of Rukia's fellow Shinigami and the hollow that she was pursuing known as Grand Fisher. The Shinigami want to take Rukia back to the Soul Society whilst Grand Fisher is attracted to the spiritual pressure exuded by Ichigo. 

Shinsuke Sato is no stranger to live-action adaptations. Afterall he was at the helm of several decent projects such as Gantz, I AM a Hero and the excellent Inuyashiki. It's no surprise that the direction of the BLEACH movie is on point with Sato being well versed in movie making. He managed to get the most out of a decent cast even when constricted by the limitations of adapting a complex manga story into a movie with less than 2 hours run time. I have mixed feelings about the script as it doesn't really allow much chance for beloved characters such as Chad, Karin, Orihime and Uryu to develop or do too much other than say a few lines. Uryu does at least get to look cool whilst firing his Quincy bow and have some involvement in the movie's climatic battles. There's none of Orihime's trademark silliness, so no scenes of her bizarre taste in food. Karin isn't as sassy as in the anime and manga. Chad also only gets a few lines and one moment to shine when he saves his fellow students from a flying piece of debris by catching it, looking like a badass! On the positive side, the interactions between the characters felt pretty natural and I enjoyed the classroom scenes and the dynamic between the characters within.

Then there's the overall look of the characters. I think Ichigo is pretty much spot on with his trademark ginger hair. Of course his hairstyle was altered from the original, but it's a necessary change because trying to get that exact original hairstyle would possibly look ridiculous in live-action and would be a pain to get right. I feel like the final look of Ichigo in the movie really works and gives him a little more of a realistic look. Chad is a tough character to get right and I think that the movie did a good job in terms of casting and costuming. Once again, his costumes and hairstyle was altered slightly, but gives him a much more grounded look. As far as Orihime is concerned, I have mixed feelings. There's a distinct lack of her trademark orange hair and her hair pin lacks a few petals. Now, there was an attempt to make Orihime's hair a little orange, but it's very subtle to the point that it appears to be a slightly light brown until light shines on it. The hair is actually auburn, but again it's very hard to notice. What this look does is give her a more realistic look and helps her to fit into the setting. Then there's Rukia, she's missing her hairstyle as well. I love her hair in the anime and manga, but the movie version of her looks like it could be any old character. I just wish that they tried to get a closer cut than the one they ended up with. Urahara comes across like a cosplayer and his hair is also subtle in regards to his blonde look. Byakuya has a weird side cut going on and the fact that his hairpieces are not in the centre of his head bugs me. Renji is on point though, as close to the manga as one could get. 

As I previously stated, events of the manga had been altered in order to fit the runtime of the movie. The script therefore forgoes many of the story beats that help to flesh out characters such as Chad, Orihime and Uryu. There's no Chad and bird story nor the impactful tale of Orihime and her dead brother. Instead, we get a very condensed, compact and coherent story. We meet Ichigo, get to know him a little and then move onto him meeting Rukia and the transference of power. From there, ishida confronts Ichigo at school on the rooftop before he uses the hollow bait. The subsequent fight doesn't turn into the full on skirmish that it did in the manga and instead evolves into an encounter with Renji.  

The lack of the subplots actually helps the movie to keep a good pacing all throughout the runtime. Instead of being bogged down with dealing with a wide variety of characters, we get more of a focus on Rukia's plight. We get to see her become Ichigo's sensei in regards to the ways of the Shinigami and her growing attachment to him. No mention of him being Kaien Shiba's lookalike though, which could be a mixed opportunity. I always felt that it was strange that Ichigo's resemblance to Kaien wasn't brought up until the Seireitei arc. I think that one of my favourite things about the movie that the changes brought about by the script introduced was the full on training montage. We get to see Ichigo training to become a better Shinigami and sparring with Rukia. This emphasises the fact that Ichigo is not a Gary Sue and must train to become better which often involves being struck by the better swordfighter, Rukia. 

The chase sequence towards the climax of the movie was something that I didn't particularly enjoy. Ichigo runs away from the hollow into a crowded public area which is not something he would do. It just seemed super out of character for him a he wouldn't put the innocent people in danger. Of course this chase sequence did serve a purpose as it led to the climatic showdown which takes place immediately after the hollow is defeated. It also gave Chad his one heroic moment to shine and so, I can't be too harsh. 

Another negative in regards to the movie and a rather nit-picky one I must admit, is the lack of the anime's soundtrack. The music in the movie isn't exceptionally bad or anything, in fact it's pretty decent, but it's just not as memorable as the original soundtrack found within the anime. Ichigo's battle music is top tier and adrenaline pumping in the anime and that was something that the music of the movie lacked. None of the music made me truly pumped. I am incredibly biased there though. 

My singular favourite thing about the movie is the fight scene between Ichigo and Renji. The camerawork is on point as every single action is perfectly framed and clearly visible to the viewer. Then, there's the choreography which is beautifully crafted by the master fight co-ordinator, Yuji Shimomura. It's reminiscent of the fight scenes within the Rurouni Kenshin movies and that's a good thing. It does get a little more CGI-heavy when Renji unleashes his Shiki, Zabimaru and I preferred the previous part of the movie due to the choreography, but the SFX was pretty good and did a solid job of bringing Zabimaru's wacky nature as a physics breaking Zanpakuto into live-action. The hollows were also quite well done, props to the SFX team. 

I also greatly appreciated the showcase of Ichigo's sheer determination, willpower and desire to protect his friends and family. The guy never gives up and the movie does a great job showing it, especially in the climatic showdown. The protagonist takes a lot of punishment and yet refuses to stop fighting for the sake of Rukia. Yeah, it's not the most realistic thing in the world as Ichigo gets repeatedly slashed with a katana, but it is cinematic and I have always found stuff like him repeatedly getting back up in order to save Rukia whilst heavily wounded pretty darn badass and cool. 

Performance wise, Sota Fukushi was great as protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki. He nailed the badassery of the character when it comes to the action sequences and delivered just the right amount of emotion when necessary. Likewise, Hana Sugisaki was delightful as Rukia Kuchiki. She wouldn't have been my first choice to portray the role, but she did a wonderful job in the role. Her emotional outpouring at the climax of the movie is a highlight and she had good chemistry with Sota Fukushi. I also appreciated Yosuke Eguchi as Isshin Kurosaki despite him having very little to do as he's a fantastic actor.  

Despite being a bit negative of certain aspects of the movie, I would recommend it to open-minded fans of BLEACH that don't mind some alterations to the plot that are somewhat necessary due to the limitations of the movie's runtime. I'd also recommend it to anyone looking for a decent live-action adaptation to cleanse the thought of the terrible ones. Lastly, I'd recommend it to those who just want a solid movie experience and those who enjoy action.