Goodbye Parakeet, Good Night my Sista – Immediately after checking into the Kurosaki Clinic with a mysterious scar on his back, the muscle-bound Chad goes AWOL. Accompanying Chad is a talking parakeet imbued with the soul of a young boy named Yuichi. It doesn’t take newbie Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki long to surmise that a Hollow must be involved – by far the strongest spirit he’s faced to date. Ichigo is about to discover that not every soul is bound for the Soul Society, especially if it’s tainted with innocent blood!
Mangaka Tite Kubo is back with his huge hit Bleach in volume 2, continuing the almost non-stop action that saw off volume 1, with Chad being chased by an unseen foe, Ichigo and Rukia desperately trying to intervene and an underpowered Rukia going up against what is a very powerful Hollow, stalling him until Ichigo can first deal with his problems on the home front!
However, there are a lot of pages in here, and following the first half we get thrown straight into the next arc, featuring a shady shop owner, modified souls, more back story on the Soul Society and yet another headache for Ichigo, one that is literally jumping out of his reach!
Again Tite Kubo comes up with an enjoyable story, mixing all out intense action and “what happens next” moments with his trademark silly humour, to produce a thoroughly enjoyable story to take in. There is a fair bit of character development, more than a couple of reveals in terms of the Soul Reaper situation and of course some great fight scenes with his usual over the top monster creations.
Similarly, his artwork continues to entertain, often over the top, but always capturing the necessary speed, motion, action, and almost as important, comedy, perfectly, even if every now and then he forgets about things like proportion and maybe an eye or two. It is certainly dynamic art which fits the pace and type of the story perfectly.
In summary, Bleach volume 2 is again an entertaining, action-packed read that is well suited to those who enjoy a decent mix of over the top action, monster encounters and of course silly, cheap laughs. Well worth picking up, even if it isn’t going to make you a better person for reading it! :)
Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach_%28manga%29