I’ve lost steam so I’ll leave it there for now but this embodies The Thing to Know About Me. So thanks for reading ✌️

Can’t tell you how happy I am more people are being vocal about enjoying and understanding it too. That I can have a playlist saved of video essays people have made about why it all works so well and hits so hard. There’s so much here if you just look. People are finding that out more and more.

I’ll hold off for now about getting into more specifics in case someone who genuinely skipped it somehow ends up here. Don’t worry I’ll talk about it all again, but the arc benefits from a blind first read. Just trust me for now.

He’s Ichigo’s own Ichigo. One tells you more about the other. He’s used to toy with the audience’s genre expectations. He raises so many questions and also answers so many others.

When I say Kugo Ginjo is my favorite character of all time I do not mean “within Bleach.” I mean “Of All Time.” This has been the case for almost ten years and I’m not joking. He’s so brilliantly done on a meta level, and so beautifully faceted and human in his own right.

And yes it’s enhanced by reading Can’t Fear Your Own World, and I recommend that too if you can, especially between repeat readthroughs. But even on its own these six volumes of manga are a gut punch the more you get to know them.

I have read it through start-to-finish probably 20 times over the years, and jump around in it even more, and I still find things I never noticed before. I still cry, in fact probably even more now than I used to. Like. This is THAT piece of media for me. It’s been years and it never leaves me.

If you came to Bleach strictly for fight scenes then I understand it may be a slog for you. I beg you to try anyway. This arc is pivotal for Ichigo as a character, not just a vehicle for one plot point. If you like literally any narrative aspect of the series I promise you this is worth it.

I cannot emphasize enough that this arc is built to get better upon rereads. IMO you can enjoy every arc of Bleach by reading it through again but this arc is just. So full of payoffs and subtleties and is some of Kubo’s most exceptional character writing/emotive drawing.

Fuck it, watch it too. The anime cut stuff but it added some things I like and it’s the best the animation looks prior to TYBW (movies aside). The final fight is considered one of the best-animated pre-TYBW too. The music is used well. The direction has some good moments (not that I usually care).

I am begging anyone who likes Bleach but thinks the Fullbring arc sucks to reread it. If you only watched the anime version, read the manga. If someone said skip it bc the arc is “filler” or bad, they lied to you. Go read it for the first time. And then either way, read it again immediately after.