Anime [Vireyda's Woolgathering] Anime: Bleach 1

I've been salivating over this show (Yay! Anoher cool shounen show with fights, rawr!) for a while now. While I like Bleach, I admit I'm not fully caught up to the manga. I've only read the first three volumes as I'm collecting the english ones from Viz and I didn't want to completely spoil myself :x However, after watching the show and getting my interest in Bleach reinvigorated, I think I'm going to sit down and plow through the rest of the scanlations this weekend Fansubbers: Lunar, AKeep/ANBU (I haven't watched IY4Ever's yet)I'm probably going with AKeep/ANBU on this series. I'm always a fan of the AKeep/ANBU combo which almost always has incredible typesetting, karaoke, & timing (Yes. I'm shallow) The translation differences between the two are extreme in some cases and not so much in others. I like how Akeep/ANBU didn't 'translate' the zanpakutoh or Kidoh. I'm also one of the few people that actually PREFER shinigami translated as Soul Reaper for this series. Soul Reaper in english holds more weight I believe and has some strong connotations associated to it in our mentality. Besides, it's what they do! They reap souls for the Soul Society. OP: * by Orange RangePersonally, I didn't like the OP at first. I'm not fond of the animation either. But, after replaying it a few times, I find it really does fit the "mood" of the series fairly well. The animation still is not top notch (Sorry, I'm spoiled too much by the incredible OP4 animation of FMA) but does have some nice scenes and actions. It vaguely reminds me a lot of Saiyuki's 2nd season OP animation - okay but nothing impressive. The song however, I've found, does get addictive; I've caught myself singing it a few times at work :x My initial dislike of it has definitely faded. The opening cresendo of sound after the chorus really fits the show well (before they start rapping). On a side note, the translations by Akeep/Anbu and Lunar are vastly different. (Side note: Orange Range is of Naruto fame - Viva Rock)ED: Life is Like a Boat by Rie FueI really, really love this song. The single for it came out early so I'd had some serious time to listen to it well beforehand. I absolutely fell in love with the soft quiet feeling from it. The singer's incredible; the combination of English and Japanese lyrics is very nicely done (The singer is bilingual and lives in England! Woo!) The accompanying animation for this song is rather quiet matching the song well; it shows Rukia holding a long red ribbon (!!!, implication much?) and looking pensive til a final soft smile and release of the ribbon. Very nice match to the lyrics and follows most EDs in being soft, slow, with minute levels of animation.Episode:Overall, I enjoyed the episode. However I felt it was definitely a case of the animators trying too hard to make a success often overgoing "style" for substance :X. Perhaps it's my action show loving part but the blurred "bleached" out effect of the later animation left me cold. It didn't give me that atmosphere that it did in the first scenes (with Rukia overlooking the city) primarily due to ... MUSIC. The 70s music during the final action scene of the series, the moment Ichigo becomes truly badass, totally derailed the mood of the scene and made me cringe. WHY didn't they include the incredible, Crow-esque riffs from the first scenes of the episode which would have effectively tied the episode into a nice loop. The beginning blue washed scenes were incredibly mood-defining especially when followed by the orange filled (teehee) hilarious scene when we meet Ichigo for the first time (I always liked these cliched badass introductions of main characters, sue me).On voice-acting, the seiyuu were incredible. The voices for Ichigo and Rukia are so appropriate and well-done. I was really impressed. You get a taste of Kon's voice in the preview for the next episode (snicker). Again, good stuff There were some minor changes from the manga; this episode btw, is basically all of Chapter 1: Strawberry and the Soul Reapers. However, as noted on many forums etc... The changes actually improve and tighten the macro-plot of the series (switching Karin and Yuzu etc) Either which way, they were almost unnoticable for the first part and actually will assist the series later on. Kudos for most of the changes.Overall, I'm definitely following the series I loved the manga volumes I've read and the first episode was great. I'm a touch disappointed that it wasn't as incredible a first episode like Naruto's (Sorry, the comparison had to be done sometime!). However, despite the "trying too hard" part of the animators here, and the sometimes spotty animation quality, I really enjoyed the episode. I've watched it several times and am awaiting the next expectantly.

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