Fun and informative! A special one shot featuring many one or two-panel color sketches featuring the characters of “Bleach” and an informative data guide book for those who are interested in the captains and assistant captains for each of the Thirteen Court Guard Companies. If you are a hardcore fan of “Bleach”, “Bleach Official Bootleg: Color Bleach Plus” is definitely recommended!
© 2007 Tite Kubo. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: Bleach Official Bootleg: Color Bleach Plus
STORY AND ART BY: Tite Kubo (ä¹…ä¿ å®£ç« )
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: SHUEISHA, Inc.
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC/Shonen Jump Manga
RATED: T for Older Teen
RELEASE DATE: August 10, 2010
An indispensable guidebook to the Soul Society, Color Bleach+: The Bleach Official Bootleg takes you behind the scenes in the shadowy world of the Soul Reapers. All 13 Court Guard Companies are covered in great detail and even popular how-to columns are reprinted inside, making this an essential manual for any Bleach fan. The book includes 72 pages of full-color manga.
“Bleach”… It’s definitely one of the most successful anime and manga titles in Japan and well-known to anime/manga fans all over the world.
“Bleach” has a strong fan following and since its run began back in 2001, series creator, writer and illustrator Noriaki “Tite” Kubo has been hard at work, continuing to crank chapter after chapter for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan and with the success of the series extending out to films, OVA’s, feature films and video games and other merchandise, one wonders if Kubo has the time do anything else.
So, as Kubo wrote in the introductory panel to “Bleach Official Bootleg: Color Bleach Plus”, Kubo said, “One day the ‘V Jump’ editorial department asked me to do ‘a one-page, one panel rough sketch of something I wasn’t able to draw while working on the regular series’. For the first two that I drew, I followed the instructions and kept them to one panel, but before I knew it they had grown to seven panels and even to a two-page manga…it’s already been two years since I was strangling myself over that first series. But a graphic novel has been released at last.”.
“Bleach Official Bootleg: Color Bleach Plus” is one of those titles that probably shouldn’t be thought of as regular manga but more as a bonus for fans of the series.
The first half focuses on “Illustrated Manuscript of Daily Idleness” which are color illustrations of the characters from “Bleach” and are one or two-pagers that deal with several topics. For example, a scene of the Kurosaki family eating Korean BBQ. In “Nanase Ise’s Valentine’s Day”, Captain Shunsui Kyoraku wants to have Valentine’s Day with her. Another features Renji and Kaien talking about what happens if their Zanpaku-to breaks. Another with the female soul reapers talking about “Jump Festa” or New Year’s at the Kurosaki’s or New Year’s at the Shiba’s.
Pretty much, hilarious one or two pagers that are not canon with the series but just Tite Kubo having fun with the characters.
The second half of “Bleach Official Bootleg: Color Bleach Plus” is probably what many of the hardcore fans will enjoy and that is “The Complete Guide to the Thirteen Court Companies”. A guide to all the Captains and Assistant Captain soul reapers. Each character is featured with their battle data, character data, special notes and more.
Also, included is information on the Thirteen Court Gard Companies and what each Captain is looking for in hiring new soul reaper candidates. A “Seiretei Report” featuring the real story of the intrusion of Ichigo Kurosaki to the Soul Society, a “Soul Reaper ABC Lesson” which is a general FAQ on soul reapers answered by Shuhei Sensei and finally a “Renji Abarai’s Let’s Do Shikai!!”, a guide to Zanpaku-to.
“Bleach Official Bootleg: Color Bleach Plus” concludes with a “Soul Reaper Academy Entrance Examination Question” quiz and a Thirteen Court Guard Companies Aptitude Test.
Overall, “Bleach Official Bootleg: Color Bleach Plus” is a pretty fun, informative book and for hardcore “Bleach” fans, the guide to the soul reapers and the Thirteen Court Companies is well-worth it. It’s a pretty diverse book with a lot of fun and information and definitely a wonderful resource for fans of the popular manga and anime series.
Definitely recommended!