Bleach Vol. 1: The Substitute Review

 
        In the second episode, Ichigo is coming to grips with being a soul reaper and what exactly it means. To help him along with this, the soul reaper Rukia enrolls in his school… though mostly because Ichigo accidentally stole most of her powers the night before and she needs to recharge in a temporary body and his first real mission as a soul reaper is to destroy the soul of his classmate's brother who has been turned into an evil hallow.
 
        The third episode continues the story of Ichigo taking on the hallow that used to be his classmate's brother, he beats the hallow once but he must beat it again before it can destroy Orihime, the girl that the hallow's sister in his mortal life.
 
        Last episode of the volume is all about a cursed parakeet, it seems that this bird has a lot of owners in the past and all of them have died rather nasty deaths. So while everyone in the school starts speculating about why Rukia and Ichigo spend their time together, they must investigate the bird with a lonely spirit inside of it and Ichigo's classmate Chad and his run of bad luck and injuries.
 
The Good And The Bad
 
There really isn't a whole lot to dislike about this series. Right from the start we are introduced to very fun characters that are animated in a very lively fashion. The character designs are very well done with both Ichigo and Rukia being characters that you can see yourself getting along with and wanting to cheer for the next 122 episodes (plus three movies and a musical special… thus far, the series is still running in Japan).        
 
        The pacing is also very well put together. Not once in the entire volume did the series feel like it was dragging. I believe the first thought that went through my head when the first episode ended was 'Is that it?', after confirming that I had indeed watched a full episode that was of normal length I continued on and found the rest of the volume moved at the same brisk pace but it still never felt like it was rushed.
 
If you're really squeamish about blood you'll probably want to avert your eyes during the dramatic fight scenes but then you might as well skip the series because you've eliminated a good portion of the anime right there.
 
Music
 
        The music in this series is fine. I really wish that I could say more about the background music other than its fine but it's always just so subdued or quiet that it is barely even noticeable. There is one piece of music that I noticed at the end of the final episode of the volume that was well done for the tense nature of the scene but other than that nothing really stood out.
 
Dub vs. Sub
 
        The dub cast well done and I really enjoyed the performances. In particular Michelle Ruff as Rukia was absolutely wonderful and Stephanie Sheh did just as great of a job in the smaller role of Orihime.
 
Extras
 
        Fairly standard issue items such as clean animations, a production gallery and a preview for the manga.        
 
Overall
 
        This was a good opening volume to a series that has a very long ways to go and I'm going to enjoy the ride. What's unfortunate though is that I can't give this series a high rating because while I did completely enjoy it and loved every episode, it never really grabbed me. At the end of every episode, there was never a deep need to see what happens next. I was actually more than happy to take a break and come back to another episode at a later time without ever feeling like I was cheating myself or missing out. Perhaps the series just needs more time but it's just lacking that factor thus far which is a shame.