- ANIME -

-Bleach-

As November starts, I wanted to share my views on a piece of entertainment that is known as Anime. And of these countless anime's that have been created, there has only been one that has caught my attention in such a way, that I am a loyal fan, and will be for a very very long time.

The Storyline of Bleach starts with a 15 year old guy who can see ghosts. He goes to school at the local Jr. High and is about to Graduate into High School...If someone had told me that was how it started, which is a tad cliche, I would have never started watching.

He sees Rukia Kuchiki, who is a "Death God" - which is a spirit form person who's job is to fight Hollows (spirits who never left the earth and have become corrupted). This Death God is injured and transfers her powers to Ichigo to finish fighting a rather mean Hollow. Ichigo becomes quite adept at killing Hollows, through sheer brute strength, and the fact that his Spirit Sword is about as tall as he is :)

Each and every "main" character from Kurosaki Ichigo, to Orihime have a way of getting you really attached to them personally. This varies from the norm, in that most anime series, I really could care less if ANY of the side characters die, let alone the main ones. When they are threatened you care, when something silly happens, i find myself laughing...and yes...there is a Fantastic Sountrack! From the opening credits, you are bombarded with a well thought out well constructed musical score that toys with your emotions as every "movie" should...and this is just an anime series :)

To say the animation quality is superb would be an understatement. The attention to detail lets your eyes relax and draws you into the environments that Ichigo finds himself in.

Although it is subtitled, as many actually prefer with "non english" anime titles, the voice acting in Japanese only adds to the emotion of what's happening. The truly twisted voices that are used for the "Hollow's" gives me the creeps...not in the way "The Ring" did, more like how I felt about the aliens in "Pitch Black", where you hate the Hollows, but still respect their power. Ichigo also conveys a very real sense of Determination and Anger when fighting what would threaten to hurt his family.

Just when you thought the story could start getting boring the farther you get, (as most anime series get)the creators explain more and more about "Soul Society" and also the truth of Ichigo's Spirit Power. You then also see struggling characters that felt weak earlier in the series, find that they too can help to fight evil and grow in strength, making each one from Chad, Yuzu(Ichigo's sister), and Orihime into formidible foes to the threatening Hollows. They just keep reinventing and making fresh episodes of Bleach.

Anyone who has not seen Bleach and enjoys anime of any sort, is missing out. The website that I get them from, which is completely legal I might add, is:

http://animepsp.luminpro.com/torrents

for information on torrent downloads see

http://bittorrent.com

these are in the MP4 format which is Sony PSP(very small format) standard(which Quicktime plays on your PC), but if you'd like the episodes in regular format you can get them from most torrent sites.

Here is a brief introduction of Bleach found on the AnimePSP website

"Kurosaki Ichigo has the uncanny ability to see spirits. In fact, it seems to run in his family. But Ichigo's powers seem to dwarf the powers of anyone around him. This comes in handy when a god of death named Kuchiki Rukia enters his life... and changes it forever!"

Currently there are in circulation 55 episodes, and it just keeps growing in popularity. I for one, hope to share and enjoy Ichigo's adventures.