Live-action adaptations of anime are infamous for not living up to the mark for very apparent reasons. There are many factors in anime that become a hurdle to portray on the big screen with all their complexity.
This becomes more of an issue for an anime like Bleach, where we get plenty of fantasy elements and a variety of characters. There are also monsters and elaborate power structures that are essentially the soul of the story and are tough to reimagine in reality.
Perhaps this is why Netflix’s Bleach adaptation missed the mark and could not do justice to the legacy of Tite Kubo as faithfully as the audience wanted. It was definitely not terrible, but it was not the greatest, either.
Bleach was a decent movie that had both positive and negative aspects
A live-action movie of Bleach was needed because it kept the hype about the franchise alive when we were deprived of any new material after the ending of the manga.
It also did pretty well with its casting, as Sota Fukushi as Ichigo Kurosaki was a delight to watch. And though Hana Sugisaki as Rukia was not as convincing, Ryo Yoshizawa looked pretty good as Uryu.
The decision to stick to one arc for the movie rather than trying to cram a huge chunk of episodes was also well-thought-out. However, this still forced the movie to cut back on crucial scenes and elements from the anime.
Despite not being the main characters, Chad and Orihime, are really important to the overall story and had a clear impact even at the beginning of Bleach. However, in this adaptation, they are sidelined and reduced to just background characters.
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On top of that, the ending was also modified to suit a movie format, in which Ichigo returns his powers to Rukia, who goes back to Soul Society while Ichigo gets his memory wiped. In the original, Ichigo was left to die and then he later returned to Soul Society to save Rukia.
Again, if we compare this live-action to literal disasters like the movies on Dragon Ball or Death Note, this was decent.
Bleach suffered from the usual live-action limitations
When we see something in an anime or manga, the things that feel great can seem outlandish when witnessed in reality. This is why, some scenes from the movie also felt exaggerated to the point of being cringy.
The costumes were adequately faithful, but again, they did not look as nice as in the anime because of their subpar quality. On top of that, as the ending was changed, if we do get a sequel, the plot elements will be widely different than what they actually are.
This is not entirely the movie’s fault as it cannot be absolutely precise to its source material, but it does disappoint fans when the makers try to do things their own way. The overarching sentiment is that a live-action film or series can never truly surpass a very well-made anime if it does not have an unnatural amount of budget.
Bleach‘s live-action adaptation was definitely not the worst, but it did not do anything groundbreaking as well. Thankfully, now that the Bleach anime has returned, we do not have to settle for anything less, as the new season looks absolutely breathtaking.
Watch Bleach on Netflix.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
