By: Jonathan Tran
★★★½
The live-action Netflix adaptation of Bleach is not terrible. I can’t even call it bad. As surprised as I am to admit this, Warner Bros. (contracted by Netflix for the movie) managed to create a decent two-hour movie out of a manga spanning 15 years. Most of the important details are correct, and the only changed ones were done for the sake of creating a coherent stand-alone movie. I would encourage anyone to give it a watch, whether they’ve watched the original work or not.
Something that I really liked about the movie was the choice of narrative Warner Bros took when writing it. In the original manga, the overarching plot of the current season was always emphasized, almost to a fault. Anything and everything the characters did was solely to advance the plot. This movie instead uses the little time it has to create meaningful character-driven arcs that attempt to show real growth in said character over the movie. I say attempt because some characters exhibit a complete reversal of character much too quickly to be logical. In addition, because not as much time is devoted to the actual plot, the characters occasionally have to partake in conversations composed almost completely of boring exposition.
The costumes the characters wore were pretty faithful to the original anime. Some of their looks from the original manga would have been physically impossible to reproduce in real life (such as neon orange hair), but the studio still did an admirable job recreating them. The CGI was actually one of the most shocking things about the movie. I thought it looked really good. The monsters looked genuinely spooky and ethereal, as though from another world (and they are), so I have to give kudos to Warner Bros here as well. The fight scenes occasionally bordered on goofy due to awkward choreography, but for the most part, it wasn’t too distracting.
When I was watching the movie, something I kept asking myself was if I felt like I was watching a meaningful adaptation of Bleach. Was the tone correct? Did it invoke the right mood? I would have to say no, but to be fair, the first season of Bleach (which is what the movie covers) wasn’t the most interesting watch ever. Several of the supporting characters, such as the protagonist’s friends, felt 2D and lifeless in the movie, just like they did in the manga. In both adaptations, these characters felt like they were there just to be there. I understand that they’re side characters, but I couldn’t get invested in them. The live-action adaptation fell into some of the original’s pit traps as well, making the same mistakes in an effort to be faithful.