Cronache dall'aldilà. Bleach: vol.1

Bleach Light Novels #1

by Tite Kubo

Genres: Manga, Fiction, Fantasy

Paperback

First published December 15, 2004

About the author

Noriaki Kubo, known professionally as Tite Kubo ( 久保帯人), is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. His manga series Bleach (2001–2016) had over 130 million copies in circulation as of 2022.

Reviews

[❀ Diana ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

黒崎一護の最初の大冒険 ー 死神一護の誕生！

After months of tremendous reading in Japanese I have finally read the first BLEACH light novel. I'm proud of myself for this language accomplishment. :)

Ichigo's first encounter with Rukia is a crucial moment in the manga/anime that completely changed both of their lives.

Makoto Matsubara's writing is rather simple and self-explanatory, easy to follow. I've always loved Kubo's style and I'm happy to have embarked on reading the light novels.

[Brian McCullar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should preface this review by noting that I read a fan translation online, as the book is officially available only in Japanese, a language I don’t speak. My experience may not align with that of a Japanese native reader, and the translation is likely imperfect.

As a huge Bleach fan, I’ve read the manga, watched the anime and movies multiple times, and have been going through the novels over the last couple of years, admittedly out of publication order. Bleach: Letters From The Other Side is the first novel in the series, and I have to confess that it feels like the most unnecessary so far. It’s not a unique story, but rather a novelized interpretation of some of Bleach’s earlier chapters, chapters that aren’t particularly important to the world-building, narrative, or character development. That’s not to say it’s bad, but compared to novels like Can’t Fear Your Own World or We Do Knot Always Love You, this one doesn’t add anything of substance to the already established story.

The plot revolves around a humorous misunderstanding: Rukia doesn’t realize that all tests in the World of the Living are written, not practical or demonstrative. This leads her to skip studying, only to panic and rush to prepare at the last minute.

I can’t dive into much more detail without spoiling the entire story, it’s that short and straightforward. Honestly, if you’ve already seen the anime or read the manga, this book is entirely skippable. That said, it does have some charming illustrations that are nice to flip through if you’re holding a physical copy or browsing the Japanese PDF.

The writing itself is solid, and the characters feel true to their anime and manga counterparts. The portrayal of Kon, Orihime, and Tatsuki stood out and added some life to the otherwise light material.

Overall, Bleach: Letters From The Other Side is a super-short slice-of-life adaptation of inconsequential source material. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t contribute anything new to the story either. I give it 2.5 out of 5, not because it’s poorly written, but because it simply doesn’t feel necessary. While its existence doesn’t hurt the franchise, it doesn’t add much to it either.

See my other Bleach reviews below!

We Do Knot Always Love You: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Can't Fear Your Own World: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Titan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After struggling through the last couple books it was nice to go back to a story I was familiar with, it was almost a direct retelling of the first arc and meant I could slip into it only focusing on the Japanese rather than worrying about the plot, given I already knew I would enjoy it. That being said, there were a surprising amount of technical samurai-esq words I wasn't expecting, so although the writing was about my level (N2) those terms did have me looking at a dictionary quite often.

[Andrea Cesari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una trasposizione scritta delle prime scene del manga, quasi uno script, abbastanza banale nella scrittura. Un derivato commerciale dell'opera di Kubo. Meglio godersi il manga.

[Samu · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Extra chapter only)

[Ciarra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is addicting and the art is amazing. It's funny and jam packed with action. Sure the the beginning is slow but that doesn't mean it isn't an awesome read! But I really want to know why it's called Bleach. The only thing that connects is that at the beginning of story some charecters suggested that he may have bleached his. Ichigo is a red hed after all. This manga has a really good story line. Though stuff like the soul society, ghosts,shinigami, hollows, and zanpakto can get sort of confusing sometimes. You only get if you search it up on the internet or read it a second time. You should see all the sites that explain it. Oh yeah, if you havn't, READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!