Bleach was one of the first anime that I ever watched. I didn't know that it was a manga for a long time. When I saw that there was a 20th-anniversary edition coming out, I was so excited! I really loved reading this fantastic manga again. It brought back a lot of great memories. If you're an action or supernatural manga fan then I highly recommend checking this out!

This was a fantastic first volume! I can not wait to continue on with this series. It nicely blends action, friendship and funny moments to create an entertaining read.

I missed Bleach the first time around and I can see from this volume why it was a hit. Brooding protagonist, ghost combat, skill progression, love, family, creepiness, high school; it's all here! Fun first volume.

Bleach 20th Anniversary Edition, Vol.1. By Tite Kubo. 2022. VIZ Media (ARC eBook).

Bleach vol. 1 is a nice mix of action, intrigue, and friendship. Its a story that still holds up after 20 years. A definite recommendation for those looking for an entertaining coming-of-age story.

My favorite Anime ever! but I'd never read the manga. Love it so much. The characters are great and you get more development faster than with the anime. Ichigo is a highschool kid, but meets a "soul reaper" who gets injured and he borrows her powers to put to rest the soul terrorizing his family.

“I’ve been able to see ghosts for as long as I can remember. I see the dead as well as I see the living. So… the existence of soul reapers… had never crossed my mind.”

Bleach used to be a favorite of mine, back when I was a teenager. I’ll admit that I didn’t love the last arc in the series, which I think is why it’s taken me so long to reread the manga. But when I saw that the 20th anniversary edition of Volume 1 was available on netgalley, I figured that was a sign to start my reread at long last.

I’d forgotten just how much I love Rukia and Ichigo, they always were my absolute favorite characters and this brought all those feelings back. The art is a bit clunky but that’s to be expected and if I am remembering correctly it gets much better. I’m looking forward to rereading this series and seeing how I feel about that last arc now.

However, if you are looking at this for new material, unfortunately the only new thing about this edition is the cover art.

I love Bleach and am excited its getting a fancy new reprint. Story is just as good as i remember. Really like the cover!!

Before I read this, I had heard of Bleach, but had never read it before.

Yeah, THAT was a mistake. This was so amazing! I am most definitely going to be reading the rest and recommending this in the store, though I think I may have been the only person living under a rock for the last 20 years, lol.

Lots of action, clear artwork and believable characters. I like the mystery of what is happening and want to see how the story progresses.

5, highly recommended, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media LLC for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

4.5

I reviewed this on my booktube channel! I discussed how Bleach by Tite Kubo has transended pop culutral in every way. Ichigo is still the same loveable main character as he was over a year ago. This story has a lot of emotional depth and heart about wayward spirits. I've been a hugge fan of Bleach for a really long time so to go back and reread it was really nostalgic.

The cover is really cool but I certainly wished that this 20th anniversary edition offered more than just a reprint of Bleach V.1. Unlike other Viz Media collections, this one doesn't have any extra art, author commentary or anything besides a nice new cover. The cover is nice though even if it's not a hard cover.

"Celebrate 20th anniversary of the hit Bleach with exclusive edition." This was what had me so excited to read this book, but when I read it I did not notice anything different. I was expecting something more like what is being done with Soul Eater's special editions. Those are one and a half volumes with special colored photos inside.

That being said if you have not read Bleach yet. Get it! I love this book so much. It was one of the first manga I read from start to finish so that certainly had an effect on my review. This book holds a lot of nostalgic value to me.

5 stars

First time reading this series, and I know it's been out for years. Saying so, the story still keeps me entertained. And has interesting elements. I like that everything is described as it is happening, but not the whole history, so you learn what you need to know as the story progresses. I would recommend it to older middle-schoolers and high-schoolers even adults that want a hero action fantasy.

5/5 stars for the manga itself
1/5 stars for the 20th anniversary edition

So I'm a huge fan of Bleach and was very excited to see that Viz Media was releasing a 20th anniversary edition of the manga. Sadly upon reading this volume I discovered that the only difference between the original and 20th anniversary edition is the cover. Typically I would have expected to at least see a new forward from Tite Kubo or a few color pages, so I was more than a little disappointed by this.

The manga is still great, Tite Kubo's art is still some of the best out there and the story holds up 20 years later.

Thanks to NetGalley and Viz Media for this advance reader copy!

“Bleach” Vol 1 20th anniversary edition.
Tite Kubo

I can’t say if Bleach will hold up to the memories of its many fans but I will caution anyone that this Anniversary reprint may hook you like it did me. Tite Kubo’s long running ghost hunting manga has a solidly written beginning that has been worth multiple readings for me. Viz Comics have a great summary which I’ll attaché here:

“Ichigo Kurosaki has always been able to see ghosts, but this ability doesn’t change his life nearly as much as his close encounter with Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper and member of the mysterious Soul Society. While fighting a Hollow, an evil spirit that preys on humans who display psychic energy, Rukia attempts to lend Ichigo some of her powers so that he can save his family; but much to her surprise, Ichigo absorbs every last drop of her energy. Now a full-fledged Soul Reaper himself, Ichigo quickly learns that the world he inhabits is one full of dangerous spirits and, along with Rukia—who is slowly regaining her powers—it’s Ichigo’s job to protect the innocent from Hollows and help the spirits themselves find peace.”

Ichigo is cut from the delinquent with a heart of gold mold and the more I read the more I like him. We meet him beating up some skater thugs because of a ghost. The compassion he shows leaves a real impression. As the story develops we see how that caring spirit gets him deeper and deeper into trouble. It does not make him unique as a hero but the way Kubo writes him and draws him he is totally earnest. Sure he protests and acts the reluctant hero but it’s largely an act for himself.
Rukia seems like she would have been a seriously cool hero had she not lost her powers right away. Instead she becomes the irritable mentor who slowly comes to know that her student is worth teaching.
The few story arcs in this first volume are a bit of a slow burn as we learn about the characters and the world. All of them build on our knowledge of the mythology that Tito Kubo is building. The most gripping on the arcs follows Orihime, a friend and classmate of Ichigo who’s life seems plagued with embarrassing friends and terrible accidents. She is a bright and shiny foil to Rukia’s seriousness. The chemistry in the story works so well when all three of them are together. The tragic story surrounding her family is pretty emotionally affective and the Hollow that haunts here teaches us a lot about the nature of ghosts in this fascinating world. I’ll leave it there to avoid spoilers but all the tales here a solid and haunting in their own way. The only let down is the final story that introduces multiracial Chad and stops at a pretty hairy cliffhanger. It’s all in print and available to read though.
Tite Kubo’s art in these seven chapters is richly detailed and interesting and pretty unique to him. The way he designs characters is really appealing. Most of them not only are teenagers but they actually look young. I’m not sure if it’s the way he draws faces in this volume or the proportions but you can buy them as high schoolers. His adults are subtly different in proportions and are most pearly adults. His pages feel more full than modern manga somehow and I think his storytelling here is much more compressed than many books are on the beginning. He has a deft hand at action and his story flows pretty clearly from panel to panel. The neat thing about his art that stands out other than the way he draw the planes of the face is his use of screen tones, ink and shadow. No one else draws faces quite like Kubo. Likewise I’ve not see screen tone and inks layered in such a pleasing way to create texture on the page. It creates an feeling to the art that is pretty unique to Bleach.
All in all important sad I missed this twenty years ago but I’m glad to have gotten the change to encounter it now.

Bleach is one of those comic books whose popularity got kneecapped by the limits of legal digital distribution during its previous heyday and an anime adaptation that went off the rails. Rereading an official digital release feels nice; even so you can see the grittiness since it was most likely drawn on pen and paper. If the nostalgia cycle is getting shorter and shorter, Bleach is definitely due for its turn back in the spotlight.

Thank you Netgalley and Viz media for providing me with an ARC ebook of this manga, This is my honest opinion.
So as a fan of Bleach I was happy to hear they were releasing a 20th anniversary edition of volume 1. Upon reading it I was disappointed that they have only just put a fantastic new cover on the manga and nothing else, there isn't even any colour pages inside.
Story wise this is a great start to an amazing and sometimes complex story about a boy who can see ghosts and stumbles upon the world of Soul Reapers (shikigami's) when he meets Rukia, after taking all of her powers Ichigo fights to protect his family and friends from the evil Hollows.
This is your typical shonen manga with flashy fight scenes an nonchalant protagonist who gets stronger each fight.
In volume one we are introduced to Ichigo, his family and friends; if you are new to the manga it's a good intro to the world of Bleach the story moves at a good pace but doesn't overload you with terminology and world building.
Ichigo, Rukia, Chad and Orihime are all likeable, each character adds to the story in this first volume. Highly recommended series that is a all rounder, balance humour and action. I love Tite Kubo's artwork and it gets better with every volume.
4 stars due to it not having any additional content for a 20th anniversary edition.

I received an eARC of this title through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This was a nice revisit to the manga Bleach. I had not read it in a while so it was nice to get back into the series with this anniversary edition. To me, it seemed like they updated the translation, but I could also be wrong since I haven't read the first volume in a while.

I would be interested in seeing what the 20th anniversary edition physical copy looks like.

If you are wanting to revisit this series, this is a pretty good edition to start it back up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viz Media for a free advanced copy in exchange for a honest review.

Does this make me feel old! 20 years of Bleach! I was a great romp down memory lane with this special edition of the first Vol 1. This was one of the mangas that first introduced me to the art form. The story does feel a bit out dated when compared to recent releases but it was still enjoyable. Besides the cover nothing differs content wise from the original run. I would have liked to have seen some new content of some type, but it doesn't detract from the offering as a whole.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viz Media for a free advanced copy in exchange for a honest review.

As a longtime Bleach fan, I was excited about this book's announcement. The special anniversary cover art is especially eye-catching and really showcases Tite Kubo's solid sense of style.

The interior pages do not differ from the original printing of Bleach Vol. 1 (save for the first edition that used "Kakei" in place of the name "Sora"), but I can see this being a nifty addition to a collector's bookshelf or a shiny new addition to a library's collection.

Since digital lettering has come a long way since the early 2000s, it would be fun to see a printing of Bleach with updated lettering. (This is not to discount Andy Ristaino's excellent work. His sound effects treatment and text placement still hold up all these years later and are especially good to note given the technological limitations of the time.) Although this is not that book (and it's unlikely that it will ever happen, save for a new licensing agreement), it was wonderful to revisit a longtime favorite manga series in this updated packaging.

Story and Art by Tite Kubo
English Adaptation :Lance Caselman
Translation: joe Yamazaki
Touch-up Art & Lettering; Andy Ristaino
Cover, Graphics & Design: Sean Lee
20th Anniversary Edition Cover Design: Jimmy Presler
Editor: Kit Fox