The Perfect Movie on Netflix for Harry Potter Fans (And You Probably Haven’t Seen It)
Asian culture is increasingly popular throughout the world, occupying levels previously exclusive to North Americans. Before, comics had legions of fans. Now manga lovers dominate reading spaces. Animes like “Pokemon,” “Dragon Ball Z,” and “Sakura Card Captors” occupied a good portion of our childhood mornings, amid Disney, Warner Bros. and Hannah Barbera. Doramas, South Korean soap operas, are big audience hits for streaming, matching American series. And finally, today k-pop is the biggest music trend at the moment. For a few decades now, American imperialism has been forced to bow to the successes of Asian countries.
“Bleach”, a 2018 film directed by Shinsuke Sato, is based on the hugely successful manga of the same name, created by Tite Kubo. In the plot, Ichigo (Sôta Fukushi) is a teenager in high school who, since he was a little boy, sees spirits. But until a certain point in her life she had not developed superpowers beyond that of mediumship. Until one night, a Hollow (a giant demon) invades their home and tries to attack their family. Ichigo sees Rukia (Hana Sugisaki), a soul reaper, who is fighting the evil creature. She ends up seriously injured and unable to fight, transfers her powers to Ichigo so he can fight the demon.
Ichigo therefore unwittingly acquires Rukia’s powers, who the next day appears disguised as a human at her school. She needs to regain her abilities to return to the supernatural world. However, Ichigo’s body is weak and could not bear to transfer powers to Rukia again. The problem is that if she doesn’t get them back, she will be punished by death since what she did is considered a crime in the Society of Souls.
Developing a sisterly relationship with Ichigo and rebelling against her own, Rukia must fight with her new friend the high-ranking shinigami (spiritual entities) who arrive in the human world to punish them. It is a true battle of David vs. Goliath, showing the loyalty between Ichigo and Rukia and their courage, endurance and training discipline.
With scenes of humor, melodrama, adventure and a lot of action, “Bleach” is a lot of fun for those who love manga, anime and all kinds of Asian entertainment. From the meticulous and daring battles to the costumes and monsters, there is an ingrained and enchanting Japanese culture that lifts our imaginations to unexplored places.
With a wealth of detail, the story also surprises fantasy fans who are used to giant universes, languages and minimally elaborated fictional ethnicities, such as “Harry Potter”, “Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars”. “Bleach” is also created with a lot of detail and a lot of intelligence and imagination.
The negatives of this production are the special effects, which still look very crude compared to Hollywood, but in no way affect the quality of the story. It was not without pressure and a lot of nervousness that Shinsuke Sato brought this tale to life, which already had very demanding and obsessive fans, although he also adapted the other hit “Death Note”, in 2016.
Movie: bleach
Direction: Shinsuke Sato
Year: 2018
Sex: Adventure/Action/Fantasy
Note: 7/10
