Bleach Volume 1 - Tite Kubo

i've been on a bit of a manga kick. reading the first volumes from a few different series. in most cases it's largely re-reading. i also tend to watch the animes associated witht the mangas, so it's funny to see wherein the differences lie. g. was saying that he likes the animes better because mangas look too unfinished, like storyboards for the anime. probably cause it's just black and white and on newsprint.

well now, back to bleach. what a great series! ichigo is one of my favourite manga/anime characters of all time. bleach is largely ichigo's story. ichigo kurosaki is a high school student in japan. he's weird for a couple of reasons. one is that he's a redhead (ichigo means strawberry in japanese) which means he get picked on a lot. the other is that he's able to see ghosts. when shinigami (death god) rukia kuchiki comes to the human world to destroy a hollow (bad spirit) their paths become inextricably entwined. rukia is injured and so passes on her shinigami powers to ichigo. the first volume is largely ichigo coming to grips with his new powers and a vehicle to introduce the some of the major supporting characters. this is an action packed series with lots of sword fighting. ichigo is always scowling and is considered to be a bit of a bad-tempered punk, but he's really a stand-up guy.