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Bleach - Anime Club · Anime Club Podcast

• 0:25
  Fair. Hello.
• 0:27
  And if you want to see some action, welcome to Academy Club.
• 0:36
  My name is Chris and I'm joined, as always by Phoebes.
• 0:41
  Yeah. You're right, Sir.
• 0:44
  I sprung that on you, didn't it? You did?
• 0:47
  Yeah, because you always do. And I don't know why I get
• 0:49
  surprised anymore. Like, at this point, I'd be more
• 0:52
  surprised if you were like, Sophie, we're going to go 321
• 0:56
  and we're live. But you don't do that.
• 0:57
  Why would you do that? That would be too generous.
• 1:00
  Exactly, exactly so. So this week, right?
• 1:05
  And spring is sprung. The sun's getting out longer.
• 1:11
  Gorgeous. You can, you see I've got some
• 1:14
  like a little bit of red on my forehead when I was out in the
• 1:17
  sun today. I got I got moon burn.
• 1:23
  I was out in the sun for 5 minutes, full 5 minutes, 5 by
• 1:28
  red space. It's been like 18.
• 1:30
  Well, it's been 12° a day, but it's a glorious 12°.
• 1:34
  I've seen none of it because I've been at work but.
• 1:37
  Oh, you've had a brutal day at work as well.
• 1:41
  Yeah, but I want to forget about that now because because I've
• 1:47
  picked an anime that takes us back to my childhood, 2006.
• 1:52
  I was a a spry 16 year old laddie and browsing the Internet
• 1:58
  and I thought, what's this? Is this like a toilet cleaning
• 2:01
  product, an anime about that or what?
• 2:04
  And it's one of the greats. It is, I think, one of the best
• 2:10
  animes I've made. It's definitely in my top.
• 2:13
  I was working out. I have a top five of anime
• 2:16
  series and Bleachers in that top five easily.
• 2:20
  Take a drink every time Phoebes mentions Mushishi.
• 2:23
  Was what else's on your list? Naruto.
• 2:28
  Naruto. Yeah, Ghost in the Shell gun was
• 2:31
  Wing Bleach Mushishi. What's number 5?
• 2:37
  Or was that in? Order.
• 2:38
  Not in that order, No, no, no, no.
• 2:41
  It's impossible to pick between those because it depends what
• 2:43
  mood you're in as to which one is best to watch.
• 2:46
  Yeah, that's fair. I'm guessing Mushisha more of a
• 2:48
  a wintery. It's getting cold out cosy.
• 2:52
  That's when it's I. Think mushy.
• 2:53
  She's like, very autumn because it's also kind of a bit spooky.
• 2:56
  So it's like, good for the Halloween season.
• 2:59
  Yeah, You know, the days are getting shorter.
• 3:03
  Bundle up and get ready for winter.
• 3:04
  Watch the mushy she. Yeah, See this, this just takes
• 3:09
  me back to the summer of or 6 or whatever it is when you're like,
• 3:13
  you've got nothing to do. You're going to play out with
• 3:15
  your mates for six weeks. You're just going to watch
• 3:18
  anime. It's going to be warm outside if
• 3:20
  you went short, that kind of that kind of vibe.
• 3:24
  Bleach is 100% a summer anime and also just the just the theme
• 3:29
  tunes alone. I was getting like hit waves of
• 3:33
  nostalgia because I can remember having them on my iPod shuffle
• 3:37
  and like walking to work and not walking to work, walking to
• 3:40
  school in the summer. Yes, on like my little red iPod
• 3:46
  shuffle that I think I've still got kicking about somewhere.
• 3:49
  And I probably like downloaded the tracks online wire.
• 3:53
  Obviously you've got to pay for the manager.
• 3:55
  I don't think you could. I don't think you could.
• 3:58
  I don't even think you could watch this very easily and I
• 4:03
  remember it coming out and like having to watch, like having to
• 4:07
  watch the Subs because the dumps hadn't been done yet.
• 4:11
  Yes as well. And do you know what?
• 4:14
  You couldn't have been having to what, the DVD?
• 4:19
  I'm sure this wasn't out till like 2010 or something.
• 4:23
  They never they never quick for UK releases for anime doped.
• 4:29
  And you used to get like regional locked DVDs as well, do
• 4:32
  you remember that? Yeah, I remember going on trying
• 4:36
  to buy some on eBay and I genuinely thought I was buying a
• 4:40
  genuine UK dope version of them. I think it was Elfin lead in a
• 4:45
  case. Yeah, it was in a.
• 4:46
  Homemade DVD case? Yeah, dodgy is fucking.
• 4:50
  It someone had printed it off and I had like 6 episodes with
• 4:53
  disk and it was, it was a high quality fake, but it was still
• 4:56
  fake. Yeah, yeah, Fan sobs at the
• 4:59
  beginning. You know that advert that's like
• 5:02
  subbed by bloody blah? Subbed by some dude in his
• 5:06
  basement. Yeah, yeah.
• 5:08
  You know, but yeah, takes us back to our time and what's
• 5:13
  because we've both, I think we've both watched all of
• 5:16
  Bleach. I haven't watched the the newest
• 5:18
  one. The dog was out in 2022.
• 5:22
  Yeah, we say new, but newish. Four years, because, yeah, it
• 5:28
  says tells us it was 20 years. 20 years ago. 12 years, no. 22
• 5:35
  years ago, no. Yeah.
• 5:38
  What does it say? No 20 or 2000.
• 5:40
  I thought it was 2000 and four, 2006.
• 5:43
  OK, that's not too bad. We're not as old as I feel.
• 5:50
  Time rubbishes us all. Rubbishes hot.
• 5:55
  I thought I looked hot today. I just had my hair done.
• 5:57
  Rude. I'm slowly dropping a bit.
• 6:00
  Oh, I was at work today and I was I had like a 10 minute break
• 6:03
  between lifting some heavy things and I got a text from me
• 6:06
  doctor. Just reminders.
• 6:07
  Oh, you haven't remember you need to do your three month
• 6:10
  sleep blood tests or else just to see if you're dying anymore.
• 6:14
  So cheers, makes you feel better while I have my cigarette and
• 6:18
  kind of monster. I think I reminded you to drink
• 6:24
  water today as well. Yeah, I had coffee though.
• 6:27
  That's got water in it. It's fine.
• 6:31
  So I do we we've both watched this.
• 6:33
  What was your Yeah first experience of beach like?
• 6:37
  This was one of the ones that I think I'd So actually hang on.
• 6:42
  Sorry. Eddie now needs a treat,
• 6:43
  otherwise he's going to start barking.
• 6:45
  I'm so. Yeah.
• 6:46
  So what was my first experience of bleach?
• 6:48
  So I remember I think I became obsessed with this when it was
• 6:54
  first releasing in my teens. It was like my anime friends
• 6:59
  were really into it as well. And we one year for my first, I
• 7:02
  don't know, my second ever anime convention.
• 7:05
  The first year I didn't go dressed up.
• 7:08
  I just wore a pair of Helsing gloves because I was also really
• 7:13
  into Helsing at the time. And then the year after we went
• 7:17
  to Anime Expo in London, the one that's held like in a big
• 7:22
  convention centre, like down on near Canary Wharf, and I went
• 7:28
  dressed up as Renji from Bleach and we were all dressed up as
• 7:34
  characters from Bleach and it was amazing.
• 7:37
  That's Renji's an interesting choice.
• 7:40
  Renji is a fucking boss and I love him as a character.
• 7:44
  I think he's great. He's so cool and I stand by
• 7:49
  that. I think he's still one of my
• 7:50
  favourites. Still snake sword.
• 7:52
  I thought Chad. I also love Chad.
• 7:58
  I do. I love Chad.
• 7:59
  I think Chad. Like I don't particularly find
• 8:02
  myself crushing on anime characters because they're not
• 8:05
  real, but if I was going to crush on anyone as a teenager it
• 8:09
  probably would have been Chad. Yeah, well today was about I
• 8:14
  don't know for me because what was the first 3 episodes and
• 8:17
  this was my first time watching them.
• 8:19
  Dope. Oh.
• 8:21
  OK. Real and so chant was in it and
• 8:25
  I did not realize how deep his voice for said English.
• 8:27
  His dose is so deep. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:31
  He's like, real. You should go.
• 8:34
  He gives real Assumer because Assumer I think always has a
• 8:37
  crazy deep voice in the dub in Naruto and it's like Chad's got
• 8:42
  a symbol like very like Desi Tombra.
• 8:46
  Yeah, but they're like 15 year old kids and.
• 8:49
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. But sometimes you like walking
• 8:52
  past. I've got a couple of schools up
• 8:54
  the road and I see like 15 year old kids walk past and they
• 8:57
  can't grow a beard but they're huge.
• 8:59
  And I'm like, what are they feeding kids these days?
• 9:04
  And then I and then I realised I sound exactly like my own
• 9:07
  mother. Yeah, yeah.
• 9:10
  Because I'm sure she used to say the same stuff about me.
• 9:14
  It's starting when you see a policeman as well, and you're
• 9:16
  like, you're not old enough to be a policeman, Yeah.
• 9:20
  My dad always says it's when the judges start looking young,
• 9:23
  that's when you got to worry, which I think, heck up.
• 9:29
  He's not wrong. Yeah.
• 9:36
  So yeah, no, it's it's I just, I just love it as a series.
• 9:39
  I love. I've just got such a fond spot
• 9:42
  for me. I've had like in the past, I had
• 9:44
  a con plushie as well. And for a long time I had a
• 9:48
  Uraha Urahara key chain. And actually last year Jake went
• 9:53
  to an anime convention. I actually think he he went to
• 9:58
  one of the ones in London. Yeah.
• 10:01
  And he sent a message being like, are there any characters
• 10:04
  that you want to keep an eye? Like want me to keep an eye out
• 10:06
  for? So I've got a little chippy
• 10:08
  Urahara that he found for me on my key chain.
• 10:13
  Yeah, which was really cute. He's because he got me.
• 10:19
  Yeah, cute. Oh, which is currently on the.
• 10:22
  And then I think we we returned the favour by hunting something
• 10:25
  down for him at Sonny Con, I think because he was at a
• 10:29
  wedding and couldn't come to. Yeah, you should be coming this
• 10:34
  year. I know I'm looking.
• 10:36
  I'm starting to get a bit excited.
• 10:37
  I booked my train ticket. Oh amazing.
• 10:41
  It's going to be fun. I can't wait spend time with
• 10:44
  friends, and it's one of them because I'm still quite new to
• 10:49
  the anime convention thing. I never wanted them grown up
• 10:51
  because I don't think we really had anything up north or not
• 10:56
  that I was aware of. There might be the small one,
• 10:58
  but yeah, well when I was young so I wouldn't have went anywhere
• 11:03
  and it was a private thing where I watched anime in my in the
• 11:08
  bedroom on the family. Yeah.
• 11:11
  I think that's the thing when you're in like the commuter belt
• 11:14
  of London, which I think it's like the surrounding Home
• 11:17
  Counties, yeah, I think you have a lot more access to stuff like
• 11:23
  conventions, etcetera. And bands, I mean for sure.
• 11:26
  So yeah, I found and I'll go to a convention was I even go to
• 11:30
  London was but a dream for Northern Christ child.
• 11:34
  It's like. Yeah, like going to see like.
• 11:37
  Old. Prodigy at the Brixton Academy
• 11:40
  or something. And chop not chop suey.
• 11:44
  System of a down. So all of this is all of that
• 11:48
  era. I went to see Mano Ball at
• 11:52
  Brixton Academy. What's nice?
• 11:56
  Who were very old. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:00
  Also, I can remember going to see so also when I was around
• 12:03
  16. So this is like, basically it's
• 12:05
  taken me back into my teenage years of like, just, I've
• 12:09
  realized now and like, I just so desperately wanted to be an emo,
• 12:14
  but I just was too cheerful by nature.
• 12:17
  Like, really pull it off. Yeah.
• 12:20
  Like, just like I really wanted to be a goth, but I also really
• 12:23
  like rainbows. Like, it just like there are
• 12:25
  some things that are just inherent.
• 12:27
  I would like. I was, yeah, kind of too into
• 12:30
  fairies. I cared a bit too much.
• 12:32
  And I liked Fairies Fairies a bit too much to be like a proper
• 12:37
  goth. And I would, but I was desk like
• 12:41
  Green Day was one of the bands where I like, that's the peak of
• 12:44
  coal in like, the emo days and like, going to see Green Day.
• 12:51
  What's it called? Bricks.
• 12:54
  Wembley. Wembley.
• 12:56
  Yeah, Yeah. And the other one was My
• 13:00
  Chemical Romance. I ain't seeing them, but I see
• 13:06
  when I was at that age, I was oh this my come up and run to a bit
• 13:12
  pauses on though they're not metal and I'm only a lot like
• 13:15
  metal. Oh yes, I was very much in that.
• 13:18
  Like I I think I probably would have wanted people to think I
• 13:21
  was into metal, but I was really like in the emo space.
• 13:25
  And I think like in our pre pre game discord chat, she was like,
• 13:30
  this is so emo this series. And I was like, I know and isn't
• 13:33
  it great? Yeah, because I think there's
• 13:36
  bleach, like sits in that space of like, it speaks to a very
• 13:41
  specific time in the naughties where Panicky at the disco was
• 13:47
  hanging. I've I've noticed as well,
• 13:50
  listening back to the to the to the English dub of this, I don't
• 13:53
  notice in Japanese because I don't speak Japanese and because
• 13:58
  anime back then was much more camp, I think.
• 14:03
  Yeah. And over expression in the the
• 14:06
  way that animated and everything.
• 14:08
  And this just I think when you get animated from that era, it's
• 14:11
  just over emphasized that bit more.
• 14:14
  They've toned it down a bit now and the the classic opening with
• 14:18
  the I don't know, the really happy guitar and it goes with
• 14:22
  any scene and it's I don't know, just it's this told you I know
• 14:28
  and. I kind of because also, yeah,
• 14:31
  because they have battle music in this, which is like proper,
• 14:37
  it is like proper rock opera style.
• 14:39
  It's very over the top, very melodramatic, very on the nose.
• 14:44
  At one point I think they even have like, like there's like a
• 14:48
  line which is like go itchy, go go.
• 14:49
  Like it's like it gets crazy on the nose.
• 14:52
  They're just singing about what you see in the in the scene, but
• 14:57
  there's one that's like, if you want to see some action, then
• 15:01
  you got a paper traction do. You know when that is.
• 15:05
  Now remember exactly what it is Is.
• 15:07
  It when he transforms for the first time.
• 15:10
  It's it's when he's goes to see Rukia in the tower and he's
• 15:13
  rescuing her on the bridge and it's just like a the guitar
• 15:18
  kicks in. And then you get the the weird
• 15:21
  Muse opera singers where it's like, well, well, well.
• 15:26
  Yeah, yeah. But I'm.
• 15:28
  But they they still have those kind of like over the top battle
• 15:32
  music in the lead up. But you're right, it does peak
• 15:34
  at that moment where he's rescuing her from the Soul
• 15:37
  Society execution platforms. It's it's a big moment, but
• 15:42
  we'll have been Cushing over this for about 15 minutes.
• 15:47
  As haven't said anything about what's actually happens in the
• 15:50
  first 3 episodes. I mean as a call because
• 15:54
  there's, there's quite, quite a lot of episodes, yes, there's,
• 15:57
  there's even stuff coming out modern now when there's films.
• 16:01
  But in these first 3 episodes, what is?
• 16:04
  Can you tell us what the general plot is?
• 16:08
  Yeah, so I made some notes because I thought you were going
• 16:12
  to ask me and I wanted to get it right.
• 16:13
  So episode 1. And they have different names
• 16:16
  depending on what translations you're watching or what, where
• 16:19
  you like, what platform you're watching on the one.
• 16:22
  And both actually because I have the the DVD inserts.
• 16:26
  Oh that's good, we can compare them to the ones I've got.
• 16:29
  So episode 1. I know this as the day I became
• 16:32
  a Shinigami. In this one, it's called a
• 16:36
  Shinigami is born. There we go.
• 16:39
  So Ichigo meets Soul Reaper Rukia, a young young and
• 16:45
  mysterious woman who Rukia Kuchiki who his family get His
• 16:52
  family are attacked by this strange creature that no one
• 16:54
  else can see but he can and Rukia appears and something odd
• 17:00
  happens and he accidentally steals her powers.
• 17:05
  So he fights the hollow and Rukia is kind of stranded on
• 17:10
  earth, and you discover that she's a shinigami, which is like
• 17:14
  a death God, and her job is to usher souls into the afterlife
• 17:18
  and also to cleanse hollows from the earth so that they can't
• 17:23
  harm humans. And Hollows are spirits who have
• 17:27
  stayed like longer than they should have and lingered for
• 17:32
  some reason and slowly their humanity has been eroded away
• 17:37
  until they become a hollow soul like hollowed off their humanity
• 17:41
  and often will try then try to harm the ones they love.
• 17:47
  Which leads us into episode 2 where you start to meet some of
• 17:51
  Ichigo's friends at school. So he like basically him and
• 17:54
  Rukia have to figure out a way for Rukia to like so she starts
• 17:58
  living in his wardrobe. It's a weird choice because she
• 18:02
  needs to stay near him to try and get her powers back and he
• 18:07
  starts like they basically together start fighting hollows
• 18:12
  and she she very quickly stops really trying to get her powers
• 18:14
  back and just starts helping ich go fight hollows.
• 18:18
  She doesn't seem to want to immediately go back to the sole
• 18:21
  society for some reason. You kind of get a sense that
• 18:23
  she's like finding being on earth like slowly more and more
• 18:27
  compelling. And then so she starts.
• 18:33
  So she start inhabits a guy, which is like an artificial
• 18:36
  human body and starts going to school with it.
• 18:40
  You go, you meet his friends and one of them is so he has to act
• 18:46
  as like a substitute shinigami. And then you meet one of his
• 18:52
  friends, Orihime. So Orihime is this kind of very
• 18:55
  cheerful character. She's the in our that way.
• 19:00
  She's over here, the ginger last.
• 19:02
  Eddie on our shoulder. Who?
• 19:04
  Just as a side note, if Molly was into anime, this is the
• 19:07
  person that I would say that Molly should cosplay as because
• 19:10
  I think she'd be such a cute or a he may, don't you think?
• 19:15
  Would but she every so often she Molly goes through a stage where
• 19:20
  she wants a fringe put in and she says if I ever asked to say
• 19:25
  that, I'm going to get a fringe again, stop us because I hate it
• 19:27
  every time. Yeah, yeah.
• 19:29
  We could get clicking bangs though, and just blend them into
• 19:32
  her natural hair. It'd be fun. 2 seconds.
• 19:35
  What are bangs? Are they not the?
• 19:37
  Fringe Edge. That's a fringe.
• 19:39
  Oh, I thought they were like the sideburn things, the hair that
• 19:43
  comes down like. Yeah.
• 19:45
  So that would be that would be your face framing layers or your
• 19:50
  sideburns if you're a fella mutton.
• 19:52
  Chuck FLLS. FLS.
• 19:56
  FLS sometimes people refer to like any hair that's at the
• 19:59
  front as the money piece because it frames the money maker, which
• 20:03
  is your face. We we hang up in very different
• 20:07
  circles. Anyway, from my glamorous life
• 20:14
  back to the world of bleach. So, yeah, so you meet Orihime
• 20:22
  and some of some other of Ichigo's friends, including
• 20:26
  Chad. And I don't think you meet
• 20:31
  Ishida just yet. He's like episode 5 or 6.
• 20:35
  I think he's episode 5 or 6. Chad you kind of learn more
• 20:39
  about in episode 4, but in episode 3, it's very much about
• 20:42
  Orihime. And she's this really lovely,
• 20:45
  cheerful, sweet natured girl who's obviously desperately in
• 20:49
  love with Ichigo. There's like a classic anime
• 20:51
  love triangle. Ichigo is obsessed with Rukia.
• 20:54
  Rukia kind of doesn't know like is incapable of having feelings
• 20:59
  for anyone. And Aura, he made it in love
• 21:02
  with quietly in love with Ichigo, but in like a really
• 21:06
  lovely way where she doesn't get all weird and toxic with Rukia.
• 21:09
  She just becomes Rukia's friends and it's kind of cute.
• 21:11
  And wouldn't it be nice if we were like that in real life?
• 21:14
  And. Technically isn't this a a
• 21:17
  harem? I don't think you can, no,
• 21:21
  because there's too many. I think there's because it's
• 21:23
  pretty much even split between male and female.
• 21:26
  It's not like all if if Chad and well, it depends.
• 21:29
  Do you think that Chad and Ishida are part of Ichigo's?
• 21:36
  I've read some fanfics that would say that maybe it is so a
• 21:40
  bisexual harem. Ichigo and Ishida, they, they
• 21:46
  love, hate each other. They love each other and maybe
• 21:50
  our soul mates. Sometimes I think probably angry
• 21:54
  angry kiss behind the bike shed. I mean it's not in the anime,
• 21:57
  but probably. It's not that, well, it isn't
• 22:00
  the anime, but you have to look for it anyway.
• 22:05
  Kisses implied angry kisses behind the bike sheds.
• 22:09
  And maybe Orihime and Rukia are doing like less angry kisses.
• 22:14
  You know, in, in, in the sport in well, whatever's happening,
• 22:21
  whoever's kissing who Orihime, you learn, is like actually has
• 22:25
  like this kind of for being such a lovely cheerful character, has
• 22:28
  this kind of very sad. She's quite lonely and she
• 22:32
  recognises like a like a sense of grief in Ich Go because she
• 22:36
  lost her brother who was her only family not that long ago.
• 22:43
  And you discover that Orahime is being haunted by her brother
• 22:45
  who's slowly turning into a hollow.
• 22:48
  So then that's where you start to learn a bit more about what
• 22:50
  hollows are and how, like, people become hollows.
• 22:53
  And you've discovered that the shinigami don't destroy them.
• 22:58
  They cleanse them so that they can then reside peacefully in
• 23:02
  the Soul Society and, like, be helped to pass on, which isn't
• 23:07
  the case for everyone who fights hollows.
• 23:10
  Yeah. So it's, it's cool.
• 23:11
  And I like it. And, you know, it's got like,
• 23:14
  for like, like emo for emo kids. It had, like, deaths.
• 23:17
  It had big swords. It had like, like love dynamics,
• 23:22
  but they weren't too much. There's not too in your face
• 23:25
  like the romancey stuff, it kind of just bubbles away in the
• 23:28
  background. But really it's more about the
• 23:29
  friendship and the kind of there's a lot of stuff about
• 23:34
  family as well. I would say like Ichigo and his
• 23:37
  family and his sisters especially.
• 23:39
  Like later on you get like whole episodes about his sisters and
• 23:43
  you discover that like all of his family have some sort of
• 23:46
  weird kind of connection to the spirit world.
• 23:49
  So like one of his sisters gets like premonitions, another one
• 23:54
  of his sisters can also see hollows or starts to develop the
• 23:57
  ability to see hollows and there's an epic.
• 24:01
  I think it's the actually the episode with Chad where like she
• 24:05
  ends up like riding around on Chad's shoulders and like
• 24:08
  pointing him in the direction of where he needs to punch.
• 24:10
  Yes, yes, which is like a really great episode.
• 24:15
  I really love it. I like, I actually Chad is
• 24:18
  probably up there with the best characters, but I think it's
• 24:20
  like classic ensemble where it's really hard to pick a favorite
• 24:24
  character. You can pick characters that you
• 24:26
  don't like very much, but actually they're like different
• 24:29
  characters just have moments where they're all amazing.
• 24:35
  Yeah. I was, I was thinking because
• 24:37
  the the first 3 episodes kind of sets the scene it's it enters
• 24:43
  the Shinigami tells you about the Soul Society and that it
• 24:46
  introduces hollows and it reduces like how other people
• 24:51
  can have powers as well. All this kind of stuff.
• 24:54
  It doesn't give you very much plot is in to move forward with.
• 24:58
  It's kind of just stuff and establishing plot and no sorry,
• 25:02
  establishing the world and characters.
• 25:05
  And I think I was looking ahead a bit because I've seen this,
• 25:09
  but a long time ago I forgot how fast it goes into it because I
• 25:15
  can't remember Chad stay being in it this early same or a human
• 25:21
  which it's she's in the second episode and I'm like, I thought
• 25:25
  was a bit later on. I can remember some more.
• 25:27
  Yeah, Kia and a bit more like because with her being stuck in
• 25:32
  a human form and having no shit economy powers, she's almost got
• 25:37
  like a like a root to follow in this city.
• 25:40
  So she takes Ichigo on her like security route to like clean
• 25:45
  spirits and defeat hollows and stuff.
• 25:47
  It's just constantly getting orders and it just see it's a
• 25:51
  lot faster than I remember it being an ideal wise.
• 25:55
  I think it's the pacing of it's really quick.
• 25:57
  Also you don't actually find out about Rukia so a like quite a
• 26:03
  while it really you don't really find out about her and her life
• 26:06
  until after she's been taken to the Soul Society and arrested.
• 26:10
  Because basically what you discover is that she, by staying
• 26:13
  in the human world and not reporting in when Ichigo stole
• 26:17
  her powers, and by not arrested like her taking him to the Soul
• 26:21
  Society to be dealt with, she's like broken one of the
• 26:25
  fundamental laws of Shin, the Shinigami society.
• 26:29
  Yeah, which is called the Soul Society.
• 26:32
  She did because the way that she gave him Ichigo powers is she
• 26:37
  said stab yourself with my sword.
• 26:40
  Yeah, through your through your, I think it's abdomenal, your
• 26:44
  chest anyway. And I'll give you some of my
• 26:46
  powers so you have enough to defeat this hollow that is
• 26:49
  attacking your family. And then he just somehow like
• 26:52
  sucks it all into him because he she's got a lot of spirit
• 26:55
  energy. I was only meant to give you
• 26:57
  half, but you've took nearly all of it.
• 27:00
  And this all and he he sure puts, I can't remember what it's
• 27:05
  called, but it's like a magic spell And she's it's a paralysis
• 27:08
  1. So he's like bound so he can't
• 27:10
  move and he breaks out of it. And she's like, oh, this guy is
• 27:13
  a special one kind of thing. Yeah.
• 27:16
  And it does kind of eek into it. But yeah, she gets forgiving him
• 27:21
  that any amount of that power. Yeah, and, but I, and I think it
• 27:26
  kind of what it does quite, I think with the pacing, what it
• 27:29
  does is quite, it's quite clever.
• 27:31
  So it takes a while for you to learn about Ichigo and Rukia.
• 27:36
  Oh, there's a small boy barking for attention.
• 27:40
  So it takes a while for you to learn about them, but very
• 27:43
  quickly you learn about lots of other people.
• 27:45
  So. And once they start going to the
• 27:47
  Soul Society, you also Start learning about the different new
• 27:50
  tenants and like it feels like a very full world with very
• 27:54
  interesting characters in it. And by being and by kind of
• 28:00
  introducing interesting stories about individuals, you kind of
• 28:03
  get like that kind of monster of the week energy because it's
• 28:07
  like each episode focuses in on a different character and like
• 28:10
  whatever they're struggling with.
• 28:13
  And you also are able to delay the reveal.
• 28:16
  The big plot reveals for the 2 main characters, which I think
• 28:20
  are Ichigo and Rukia at this point in the in the story.
• 28:24
  And she's got a whole load of stuff with her brother in as
• 28:29
  well, which you don't find out for ages.
• 28:32
  Yeah, Flower blossom guys, cherry blossom guy, but you said
• 28:36
  some sakura blossom at the start.
• 28:39
  It is a ensemble anime. And then it's kind of like this
• 28:43
  when you get later on, it's the same but with different
• 28:46
  characters as well. So it's like.
• 28:50
  They mix it up a lot. Yeah, it's just you've got the
• 28:54
  the human friends, then you get the the Soul Society squad guys
• 28:58
  and then stuff going on between them.
• 29:00
  There's enough politics there and this maybe not so nice
• 29:04
  captains or people you think aren't so nice but actually are.
• 29:09
  Yeah, and you have the sexy cat lady who's like a spy who's
• 29:13
  awesome. What's Euroichi?
• 29:17
  It's just got so many good characters in it.
• 29:19
  So because you have like so each they're like and the way this
• 29:22
  the Soul Society, I'm going to skip well ahead because I think
• 29:25
  the Soul Society arc is one of the best arcs in Bleach.
• 29:28
  It's like the cell lock in Dragon Ball.
• 29:30
  It's just like, it's what? It's just.
• 29:32
  Remember. It's just so good.
• 29:34
  And you have like this really fleshed out world where you've
• 29:39
  got like on the outsides of this, of this like City of the
• 29:43
  Dead, which looks like a kind of old fashioned Japanese city from
• 29:51
  from the Edo area. Yeah.
• 29:53
  You have like all the all the souls living kind of in like
• 29:56
  very peaceful lives. And then you have like a walled
• 30:00
  city in Turley where you have the Shinigami and that's where
• 30:07
  kind of all the money and nobility are are in in this
• 30:11
  walled city of the Shinigami. And, and the way that the Soul
• 30:13
  Society is organised is you have different squads and all of the
• 30:17
  squads have like these crazy captains and then they also have
• 30:20
  like a right hand Lieutenant with them as well.
• 30:25
  And it's like the relationships between the different captains
• 30:28
  and their lieutenants is really interesting.
• 30:31
  And then also the different, there are relationships like
• 30:33
  this. It does become almost like a
• 30:35
  political drama where you also have like the politics between
• 30:38
  the different squads showing up because you have like the heat.
• 30:42
  The like the is it squad nine who were like the healers who
• 30:47
  kind of come in like are always at like the aftermath of all the
• 30:50
  battles with people for like you see like you see them show up
• 30:55
  and they're quite a fun one. You also have squad 10, my
• 30:57
  personal favorite, where you have Makoto and the little guy
• 31:05
  with what's his face. Oh, from his name.
• 31:10
  I like the Why is it the? Is it the research or
• 31:14
  experimentation division? The weird guy.
• 31:17
  Oh, they are weird. They're super creepy.
• 31:19
  Where he's got like the squad captain is this like really
• 31:23
  unsettling, like a mad scientist.
• 31:28
  And his Lieutenant is an is a kind of artificial shinigami
• 31:33
  that he's created who just like dies over and over again for
• 31:38
  him. It's that's that's your
• 31:41
  favorite. That's that's.
• 31:43
  One of them. That in them that they are very.
• 31:46
  Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, he's kind of.
• 31:53
  He's the best captain. Sorry, he's.
• 31:56
  He might be the best captain. He's really fun.
• 31:59
  I also really love Renji, like Renji's great as a like a
• 32:03
  deputy. Like he's this like punk St.
• 32:06
  Kid who's like worked his way up to try and because he just wants
• 32:09
  to like be beside his like best friend the.
• 32:13
  Start yes, but he's kind of the equivalent of an early game
• 32:18
  level boss that joins your side and he isn't strong from then.
• 32:23
  Do you know do you know what I'm even saying?
• 32:24
  Oh. Yeah, he gets very quickly.
• 32:27
  And it's like, oh, he's got a, he's got a snake.
• 32:29
  So what else he got? Don't know.
• 32:30
  That's it. Yeah, yeah, he gets a bit Garra
• 32:34
  because Garra in Naruto is a bit like that.
• 32:37
  Like it like starts off crazy, crazy strong, becomes your
• 32:40
  friend and then very quickly is surpassed by Naruto.
• 32:43
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you.
• 32:47
  Struggle with him a bit, yeah. Oh well.
• 32:52
  Yeah, it's cool though, and they will have like different shaped
• 32:55
  swords and stuff as well, which I kind of love.
• 32:58
  It's yeah, it's like an anime. It's an anime fans dream.
• 33:02
  If you like anime swords specifically, this is where like
• 33:06
  a like a lot of like very iconic weapons are made.
• 33:12
  Definitely. Do you have a favorite?
• 33:17
  Actually no, right from the first 3 episodes from characters
• 33:22
  that you've seen, who's your favorite?
• 33:24
  Because I know you could see a lot for the whole sceneries.
• 33:31
  So I think my favorite, I mean, good question, Chad.
• 33:39
  I mean, you don't really see him until episode 4.
• 33:43
  Do you know what? It's hard.
• 33:44
  Like it's hard. I don't know if there's like a
• 33:46
  favorite in the first 3. Aurihime is kind of cute, but
• 33:50
  she's like a bit Mary Sue at this stage.
• 33:52
  She doesn't get fun for a few episodes.
• 33:55
  I. Think so I I think.
• 33:58
  Because of like a mint, because she gets run over by a car,
• 34:01
  right? And then she's like, Ichigo runs
• 34:04
  over and did you just get hit by a car?
• 34:06
  And she's like, yeah, do you need a hub walking home?
• 34:10
  Nah, it happens all the time. It's fine.
• 34:13
  Yeah, it's not great. It's I know this is like a
• 34:20
  playing like a ditzy character, but this is a bit.
• 34:24
  Yeah, it's a bit too much. I get that, I get that.
• 34:29
  But I mean, yeah, do you don't see, you don't see Sandalhura in
• 34:37
  the first 3 episodes, do you? He also comes in a bit later.
• 34:41
  Yeah, I've seen Chad. Yeah.
• 34:44
  Con's fun. He's quite fun right from the
• 34:47
  start. A pervert though again, not it's
• 34:51
  hard to beat If it's hard for him to be my favorite, do you
• 34:54
  know? I think it like it's a basic
• 34:55
  bitch choice. I think Ichigo is my favorite in
• 34:58
  the first 3 episodes and you can't, I kind of feel for him
• 35:01
  because he just is trying to like go to school and shit, you
• 35:06
  know? And then he just like, gets
• 35:10
  whammied by the universe. Yeah, well actually Speaking of
• 35:15
  getting bombed by the universe, my weirdly favorite character in
• 35:19
  the first 3 episodes is his dad. His dad, Yeah, no, you're right.
• 35:24
  His dad's awesome. And his dad also gets better
• 35:28
  later on as well. Like his dad is a character who
• 35:30
  like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. His dad's great.
• 35:35
  Obviously because you don't always should have got me, but
• 35:38
  like he's like secretly like traded him by like telling them
• 35:44
  not to get his guard down and like smacking him every now and
• 35:49
  then. Yeah, yeah he's also his dad is
• 35:52
  like so his dad is a Doctor Who is raising 3 kids by himself and
• 36:01
  just try to do his best. Like, he's his dad has like a
• 36:03
  very human and relatable like story in the Thing.
• 36:08
  And he's also seems to want to try and bring them together a
• 36:11
  lot as a family. He kind of like, yeah.
• 36:17
  As much as he can, yeah. As much as he can.
• 36:19
  Single dad who works long hours to cut.
• 36:22
  Yeah, and, and, and also it feels like everyone in the
• 36:27
  family, and I think this is true in like when you know, when your
• 36:31
  parents are working a lot because they have to.
• 36:34
  I think you as a kid, you learned early on that there are
• 36:37
  certain things that you have to like do.
• 36:39
  So whether that's like work hard at school so that like your
• 36:42
  grades are good or like do the cooking or whatever.
• 36:46
  Yeah, exactly. Like there are certain
• 36:48
  activities that you and it feels like a very like weirdly, it
• 36:51
  feels like a very relatable picture of family.
• 36:55
  His dad, you're right. His dad's the one of the best
• 36:57
  characters. Also the middle sister, the one
• 37:01
  with the black hair. Mirren who never is it Mirren
• 37:05
  who never cries? Is it the one that doesn't
• 37:11
  believe in, believes in ghosts but sees them?
• 37:14
  And she said. I'm just in denial.
• 37:18
  It's it's the tough one who's like a tomboy.
• 37:23
  Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, so she does see them.
• 37:26
  Yeah. Who's?
• 37:26
  And she ends up like fighting with Chad.
• 37:28
  She's also a really good character.
• 37:31
  I kind of love her. Yeah.
• 37:35
  So she's quite fun. Karen is Karen and Yuzu are the
• 37:40
  sisters so I just had to look up their names.
• 37:44
  I think we've been gushing about Bleach off too long.
• 37:49
  What the worst characters? What characters he like is I'm
• 37:54
  going to give you so the whole of the the whole of the M series
• 37:58
  up to the Quincy arc, just after the Quincy arc, actually.
• 38:04
  Ishida's father, he's just shit, isn't he?
• 38:08
  Yeah. That's just a, he's a, he's a
• 38:10
  shit guy. Yeah.
• 38:12
  I, I kind of like Ishida. I think Ishida has his moment,
• 38:18
  and I like that he makes everyone battle outfits.
• 38:22
  Yeah, I think Ishida is a theatre kid, that's the thing.
• 38:25
  So I like I would be. It wouldn't be right to pick him
• 38:29
  for me. He's the brooding emo in a in a
• 38:32
  very emo anime. But I think that the only reason
• 38:36
  why I don't like the quinces, I think is because this is my
• 38:40
  first proper introduction to proper sellers.
• 38:45
  I watched. Yeah, right.
• 38:47
  And it is about 100 and 100 episodes or something.
• 38:51
  It's a long old arc. It's very long.
• 38:54
  The fight a big fish at one point and it finished.
• 38:58
  And then it was to say, oh, by the way, no, no, that counts.
• 39:00
  By the way, that was just filler.
• 39:02
  And I was just like, I've just wasted so much time.
• 39:06
  Do you know how many hours I spent downloading that from
• 39:09
  Limewire? I don't think that's fair to say
• 39:13
  that it's just filler. Like, I get what you're saying
• 39:15
  in terms of like the whole like arc of the story and like where
• 39:19
  it sits in the Canon, etcetera. I get why you would be annoyed.
• 39:24
  And I also think that the Quincy arc is, I think you'll do so
• 39:29
  like because I was like I knew you'd, I knew you'd bring up the
• 39:32
  Quincy arc because I know that that is for you.
• 39:33
  That's where you part ways with Bleach.
• 39:38
  No, I've, I've, I've, I've watched it all and yeah, I just,
• 39:42
  I. Just watched, if you were doing
• 39:44
  a cut you would cut all of the Quincy arc out.
• 39:47
  Whereas I quite like the Quincy arc.
• 39:48
  I think it's fun. Seebs Imagine at the end of The
• 39:52
  Lord of the Rings, Rudo's in his bed, everyone's around him and
• 39:56
  he just woke up in the Shire and he was like, sorry Sir, you've
• 39:59
  slept in a long time. Twas all a dream.
• 40:01
  And then they just went on a life in the Shire.
• 40:03
  That's what it's like. Twas all a dream, Sir, All
• 40:08
  right. Twas all a dream.
• 40:09
  Come back to bed, Frodo. I'm imagine it stamps.
• 40:13
  I'm imagining Sam's in the bed with Frodo in this, obviously.
• 40:18
  Marine Pippin along the bottom. Yeah, yeah, it's a bit.
• 40:31
  It's also a bit like, what's that show Dallas where they
• 40:33
  decide in like Series 10 they'd written themselves into a
• 40:36
  corner, so they just make all of the previous series.
• 40:40
  Yeah. Yeah, it is a bit of a, it is a
• 40:43
  bit of a shit. It is a bit of a shit writing
• 40:46
  device and I get that. And I also still think it's some
• 40:50
  fun TV. So OK, so it is fun.
• 40:54
  It is just I think it's because it was my first proper
• 40:58
  experience with yeah fella Ark's like obviously everyone's seen a
• 41:01
  beach episode or an episode where to say what could nobody
• 41:05
  doing this for an episode and. I mean, you're currently
• 41:08
  watching One Piece, which has. I know some people will say that
• 41:11
  One Piece doesn't have any filler.
• 41:13
  I would argue that One Piece has a fair amount of filler.
• 41:17
  It was, but it does. They spread it out a lot.
• 41:21
  I was talking about this the other day.
• 41:23
  They do get this place like Impel Down where it's like this
• 41:26
  big dramatic jailbreak. And then it's just like a
• 41:29
  actually, should we not just put an episode of Luffy in set in
• 41:33
  Edo, Japan where he plays a policeman That has nothing to do
• 41:36
  with the actual story. Let's let's do.
• 41:38
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if I was reaction this week
• 41:40
  to week as it was coming out, I'll be like, what is happening?
• 41:43
  I want to know if I want to go back to Impel Down because I'm
• 41:46
  sure when the Quincy arc starts something's happening in the
• 41:49
  background. I can't remember where it leaves
• 41:52
  off. I think they've just, well,
• 41:54
  what's happened is I think they've just rescued Rukia and
• 42:00
  kind of temporarily saved the Soul Society.
• 42:03
  But your man has escaped with like a very ancient Shinigami
• 42:08
  power. You know, like the the squad
• 42:10
  Lieutenant of like, is it Squad 2 or the guy who's like betrayed
• 42:18
  the Soul Society is him. He's that's just concluded, I
• 42:21
  think in the Quincy arc starts. So it's like you're like, but
• 42:25
  what happens to everyone? Yeah.
• 42:28
  And I remember looking up, it's kind of like, yeah, it was the
• 42:34
  first time I was a psych, right? What happens in the manga?
• 42:37
  Actually, this is oh, no, this is in the manga.
• 42:39
  Then I realized, oh so none of this this is just on the anime.
• 42:44
  It doesn't matter when it goes back to the main story.
• 42:47
  Nope. Yes.
• 42:48
  But anyway, rant over about that seller Quincy arc and why I
• 42:53
  don't like them. Yeah.
• 42:56
  The other character I don't like who isn't in the first 3
• 42:59
  episodes talking of like it's the so I'm trying to remember
• 43:04
  what his name is to give me two seconds.
• 43:08
  What describe them? So you've got the guy who
• 43:11
  portrays the Soul Society who's like this very like supposed to
• 43:15
  be like, very charming, intelligent guy.
• 43:19
  He's one of the squad captains, not the guy who looks like a
• 43:23
  snake or a fox with the purple hair.
• 43:26
  The other guy, he's got a Lieutenant who's like this
• 43:30
  really cutesy character who then goes mental after he dies and
• 43:34
  she discovers his body and she kind of goes mental and starts
• 43:39
  causing loads of chaos. Momo, that's it.
• 43:47
  She's got a really cutesy name. And Momo literally I think means
• 43:50
  cute. Like MO is like the like a cute
• 43:54
  thing. Yeah.
• 43:59
  Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yes, Momo Hinamori.
• 44:02
  I find her that whole thing I find really frustrating and
• 44:05
  annoying because I'm like, she's literally helping no one.
• 44:08
  Her grief is insane. She kind of falls apart without
• 44:11
  him. It's like, come on lady.
• 44:13
  Like you're supposed to be. She's like the squat, the
• 44:16
  captains and the the lieutenants are supposed to be some of the
• 44:19
  like strongest fighters of all time.
• 44:22
  And she literally falls apart and becomes like nearly useless
• 44:27
  in that moment. And I'm just like, how did you
• 44:30
  even? Maybe you say it's weakness?
• 44:36
  I do do better. Do better, be stronger.
• 44:43
  So it's a bit of a weird question or an obvious question.
• 44:47
  Would would you say this was be a good start anime for someone
• 44:55
  in 2026? Because.
• 44:59
  Ashton. I know when we were mentioning
• 45:02
  this before in the Discord, Tony was saying, Oh yeah, I was going
• 45:06
  to watch this and I was thinking, I don't know.
• 45:09
  I think, yeah, I think I would say that Tony would.
• 45:12
  I think it depends on if what kind of anime you like.
• 45:16
  So because I think this is the thing I think people like.
• 45:19
  Like there are some animes that university are great starter
• 45:22
  animes. Cowboy Bebop is one of them.
• 45:25
  Other animes I think are good starter animes depending on what
• 45:28
  kind of media you like. I think if you like a bit of emo
• 45:34
  and a bit of like rock opera melodrama.
• 45:37
  Yeah. I think Bleach is a good starter
• 45:40
  anime. I also think that if you are a
• 45:43
  really big fan of My Hero Academia and you want to
• 45:47
  understand where all the tropes that you love in My Hero
• 45:50
  Academia come from, go back and watch Bleach.
• 45:53
  And like if you want something like kind if you want to
• 45:55
  understand like the history, like if you want to get a bit of
• 45:57
  vintage with it and you're like an mAh fan.
• 46:01
  Bleach is kind of establishes as like a lot of like moments and
• 46:06
  like types of characters that you would fall in love with if
• 46:10
  you have fallen in love with those characters as well.
• 46:14
  Yeah, OK, So I was like, the only thing that stopped me
• 46:18
  recommending this to Lee, it's because he would be sucked into
• 46:22
  a hole. He would try.
• 46:23
  He would try to watch it all in one night.
• 46:28
  I know he's busy out with it as well.
• 46:31
  Yeah, yeah. I think Lee would like this
• 46:34
  though in terms of like the ebow E Nos.
• 46:40
  The boobs. Yeah, yeah, same.
• 46:44
  I think he would too. And yeah, so I think.
• 46:50
  Do you have anything more to add to the Bleach episode?
• 46:55
  I think if you are, yeah, like check it out.
• 46:59
  Also come look at us on Instagram and follow us because
• 47:05
  I'm going to be cosplaying as a character from Bleach in the
• 47:10
  summer. And if you want to see pictures
• 47:13
  of that, come follow us and kick around.
• 47:16
  And we might probably also do some like vloggy type videos as
• 47:21
  we get into the as we get towards closer towards June.
• 47:26
  Every year I get a thing of Galloway fudge and mystery bags
• 47:33
  and anime merch and spend all my money and get hell yeah yeah,
• 47:43
  but yeah. I think that's it for the beach
• 47:46
  episode then. Do you decided what you want to
• 47:50
  do next week? Are you pulling out the top of
• 47:53
  your head or? No, we've had a conversation
• 47:56
  about it, but you've clearly remembered.
• 48:00
  I never remember anything. That's fine, that's my job.
• 48:04
  And so we got, I got very excited last week when we were
• 48:09
  talking about certain anime that we had watched and had been
• 48:11
  sleeper hits for US, one of which was I.
• 48:15
  I died and was reincarnated as a vending machine or reborn as a
• 48:18
  vending machine. And now I wanted the dungeon.
• 48:21
  We then discovered that we were behind.
• 48:23
  They've released a whole second series of it and are now on
• 48:27
  their third series. So what we said was we're going
• 48:32
  to next week will be you'll be watching something from the
• 48:35
  archives. You're going to watch us talk
• 48:37
  about the first series of that anime, which is so much better
• 48:42
  than it had any right to be. Like it was a proper, I think
• 48:46
  maybe the biggest surprise for us last year was that anime.
• 48:51
  So we're going to, we're going to pull that out of the archives
• 48:54
  because we're going to watch Season 2.
• 48:56
  So next week we're going to talk.
• 48:58
  You'll see us talk about Season 1 and then the week after we're
• 49:02
  going to come back and talk about Season 2.
• 49:05
  And if I remember rightly, I did some amazing obs magic effects
• 49:10
  in that episode. I think, I think it's like, I
• 49:14
  actually think that might be the episode where you first started
• 49:17
  doing special effects. So yeah, that's what we're going
• 49:21
  to be doing. So like, give us a follow.
• 49:23
  Also, you can find us on Spotify.
• 49:25
  If you're listening to this on Spotify, come have a look at it
• 49:27
  on YouTube because you'll get the video of it.
• 49:30
  Although I think we can do videos on Spotify as well,
• 49:32
  right? Some of them are, some of them
• 49:35
  aren't. Because when uploading things to
• 49:38
  Spotify, it takes 10 minutes to do audio, or it takes about two
• 49:43
  hours to upload video. Yeah.
• 49:45
  So Spotify for audio, but next week, it's worth coming and
• 49:49
  following us over on YouTube if you're a Spotify listener, if
• 49:53
  you're one of our 5500 Spotify video listeners, that we hit our
• 49:58
  target, which is so lovely. So thank you as well for
• 50:02
  everyone who listens to us. It's very kind and we're glad to
• 50:06
  stick with it and come learn about the different types of
• 50:09
  vending machines. Yep, till next week.
• 50:13
  What's that? Till next week.
• 50:15
  Love you. Bye bye.