Bleach
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[edit] Introduction
Bleach is a manga series by Kubo Tite, as well as a popular anime series. It is classified as "shonen" and includes the typical trope of a teenage boy with an inexplicable, unexplained talent for super-powered ass-kicking, though it is also fairly well-regarded critically, having won the 2005 Shogakukan manga award in the shonen category.
[edit] The Plot
In most anime and manga, death isn't the end. But in Bleach, it's where all the fun begins.
Bleach is a story about Kurosaki Ichigo, an orange-haired teenager who gets crap for having weird hair (because clearly orange is the strangest hair color to appear in anime) and who has been able to see ghosts since he was a child. One fateful day, he meets Kuchiki Rukia, who introduces herself as a shinigami (lit. "death god"). After being injured by a Hollow (a bad spirit), she gives Ichigo her powers in order to save their lives. He takes over her job for the next two months. Following that, Rukia is arrested for the unauthorized power transfer. The epic rescue mission that follows when Ichigo and supernaturally powered friends go after her reveals a conspiracy to take over the throne of Heaven itself. Expect lots of fights.
[edit] Terminology
Below is a list of terms and their definitions that are used in this fan community.
[edit] Canon:
- Arrancar: Hollows who assumed the qualities of shinigami. Said attributes include higher intelligence, a more human-like appearance, shinigami-esque abilities, and a large boost in power. Easily identified by misplaced mask and hole.
- Bankai: The final release of a zanpakuto – typically, this requires an incredible amount of strength, skill, and understanding of your blade. It is a requirement to pass to Captain level. Frequently used by fans in a sexual sense due to the literal translation of "complete release."
- Espada: Title given to the 10 strongest Arrancar. Each of them receive a number which signifies their relative rank and power. Lit. "sword."
- Gigai: An artificial body with limited capabilities. Shinigamis use this primarily to recover from wounds and exhaustion, though a long-term assignment with the living world/humans may necessitate the use of a gigai.
- Gikongan: Artifical spirit pill that forcibly pulls the user's spirit from the body. Is normally used on souls that have died but refuse to let go of their bodies. It is also useful for shinigami in gigais: it simultaneously ejects the shinigami from the gigai and inserts an artificial soul, so instead of a limp, lifeless body or unused gigai a walking, talking "human" is found.
- Hollow: Formerly human souls that have been swallowed by the Darkness in their empty hearts. They eat other souls to ease their own emptiness, starting with their surrounding family and loved ones, and cannot turn back into normal souls until a shinigami subdues them and purifies them by hacking through their mask. Cruelties delivered after becoming a hollow are cleansed with the soul; souls that were cruel and evil before becoming hollows must face normal judgement and are sent to Hell.
- Hougyoku: Lit. "orb of distortion". It was developed by Urahara Kisuke in order to break down the barriers between shinigami and Hollow, giving one the powers of the other. It is not used by Aizen Sousuke to create Arrancar.
- Huge Hollow: A Huge Hollow is a type of Hollow (thanks, VIZ!) that turns up during the Hueco Mundo (Orihime Recon Mission) arc.
- Kaiencar: SPOILER! Nickname given to the 9th Espada, for reasons that became apparent since Chapter 262.
- Quincy: Humans with extraordinary reiatsu who specialized in destroying hollows. Unlike Shinigami, who purify hollows and send them onto the afterlife, the Quincy utterly destroy hollows, even their spirits. This can result in an imbalance of souls; too many in the living world or Soul Society can destroy reality. Over two centuries before the actions in Bleach, after a long and fruitless disagreement, the shinigami wiped out most of the Quincy. A Quincy gathers spiritual energy from their surroundings and fires them as arrows from a bow of spiritual energy.
- Rukongai: All spirits sent to the afterlife life in Rukongai. They are sent to random locations in Rukongai based on their time of death and their actions in life. Rukongai is split into North, South, East, and West, and each quadrant is then split into 80 different sectors by number. Seireitei is at the center. Typically, the farther the sector is from Seireitei, the higher the number, and the more dangerous and harsh the living conditions.
- Ryoka: Intruders, or souls that enter Soul Society without authorization.
- Seireitei: The Court of Pure Souls. This is where all the shinigami live, and it is further divided into the Thirteen Divisions. Each Division has a headquarters building, training grounds, and other facilities.
- Shinigami: A graduate from the Academy, which means they have at least an elementary knowledge of all shinigami arts. Once a graduate, a shinigami will be assigned to a certain Division or Organization, depending on their skills. As they gain abilities and become stronger, they can climb ranks. The highest attainable rank to most souls that become shinigami through the Academy is Captain.
- Soul Society: The world of the Dead. Soul Society consists of two main sections: Seirei-tai (The Court of Pure Souls) where the shinigami live, and Rukongai, where ordinary souls live. Rukongai is a very poor area, but holds most of the souls. Only select few become shinigami.
- Zanpakutou: Every Shinigami has a unique zanpakutou. In the Academy, they receive an nameless, powerless blade. When the trainee graduates, they receive a zanpakutou from the Central Institute of Spiritual Art, and a spirit that reflects their personality and power will take residence in that blade permanently, or as long as the wielder lives.
[edit] Fanon:
- Bancouch: The secret of Aizen's true power. Or, "why you should never follow a series of panels of people sensing an immense power with a large panel in which someone is sitting on a couch". Capslock Bleach
- Evil Superman: Nickname given in some sections of the fandom to former 5th Division Captain Aizen Sousuke, due to his changing his look at the end of the Soul Society arc.
- Hair Noodles: Byakuya's hairpieces, a signifier of his noble status.
- Pedo McCoughblood: semi-affectionate nickname given in some sections of the fandom to 13th Division Captain Ukitake Joushirou, in reference to both his disease and his tendency to give candy to underage fellow captains.
- Pimp Coat: Zangetsu's trademark clothing item, which Ichigo wears when he uses his bankai.
- Rufflecar: Yet another nickname for the 9th Espada, because of the ruffles in his suit.
- Sailor Ishida: nickname given in some sections of the fandom to Ishida Uryuu during the later stages of the anime-only Bount arc, when he gains the ability to summon a Quincy outfit by channeling ambient spiritual energy.
- Throat penis: The source of Arrancar Nell's special healing powers. Note: Nell is actually referring to her uvula.
- Ukelala: Nickname given in some sections of the fandom to the Espada Ulquiorra, since not everyone can pronounce his name correctly.
[edit] Timeline
Below is a partial timeline of events that took place in this fan community.
[edit] 2001
- On July 4, 2001, the LiveJournal community animefanfic was created. Among the fan fiction communities represented on this community include: Bleach, Clamp, Detective Conan, Fushigi Yuugi, Get Backers, Gravitation, Fruit Basket, Inuyasha, Kodocha, Loveless, Mamono Hunter Yohko, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, Ranma 1/2, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Samurai Troopers, Shaman King, Tenchi Muyo, Weiss Kreuz, Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu Yu Hakusho.
[edit] 2003
- On September 11, 2003, soul_society was created on Livejournal. [1] It became the most popular Bleach community on the site. [citation needed]
- On October 13, 2003, Willful Blindness by RazBerryL was posted to FanFiction.Net. It was the first Bleach story published on the site. [2]
- On December 13, 2003, kurosaki_clinic was created on Livejournal. [3] It became the most popular Bleach fanworks community on the site. [citation needed]
[edit] 2005
- On April 15, 2005, the MySpace group BleachFans was created. [4]
[edit] 2006
- December 8, 2006, the LiveJournal community CAPSLOCK_BLEACH WAS CREATED FOR GRATE JUSTICE.
[edit] 2007
- On April 5, 2007, Of Captains and Assassinations by iced_blood was published on FanLib. It was the first Bleach story published on the site. [5]
- Tekkoshocon, an anime convention, was held April 13 to April 15, 2007 outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Bleach cos-players were one of the largest groups of cos-players represented at this convention. [6]
[edit] Kerfluffles
- February 4, 2006: Romance, schmomance, or, Platonic Wank: Not just for Harry Potter fandom anymore!
- Mid-March, 2006: After a relatively innocuous opening post hoping for more development of Orihime's character, the entire discussion descends into wank. Because discussion of the merits of the two primary female characters is ridiculous unless they are defined by their relationship to the lead.
- Mid-October, 2006: When editing Wikipedia links, plz ensure lists highlight character hierarchy. For instance, ranking alphabetical order by first name, while being unusual in alphabetizing, is less important than the clearly superior character importance rank. And, rather than letting bygones be bygones, accepting alphabetizing is generally done by surname and not given name, and allowing character rank to recede to the background, we should go on about it for ages.
- Mid-late November, 2006: The appearance of the arrancar Nell causes great consternation among translators. Nell has a rather androgynous look, like many young children with short curly hair and a great big skull mask. As Nell travels with two male hollows, and the trio call themselves, among other things, the Great Desert Brothers, it was readily assumed by many that Nell was a boy as well. Much language wank was had, until the majority of fandom came to accept that, yes, Nell is a girlcar. There are still some holdouts, however, and no end to this debate may be found, short of Nell approaching puberty. Eee. Arrancar puberty.
- December 2006: The Grate Troll Wars! Despite initial fapping, eventually, a grand time was had by all! Okay, mainly by the trolls, but eventually real people enjoyed themselves as well. And we all learned to roo the day we crossed them.
- February 7, 2007: HOLY SHIT KAIEN. Also known as the spoilers that ate fandom.
- May, 2007: Shit happens and the pairing FCs at Bleach Forums close down. Everyone blames everyone else. Who's at fault? Everyone. Who cares? Not many. The pairings with larger fandoms flock to their own forums.
- July 12, 2007: And the trolls try again! They fail however to get onto Fandom_Wank this time around.
[edit] Conventions
There have been a number of Anime conventions where Bleach fans have had a large presence.
[edit] Cosplay
There is an active Bleach cosplay community. On February 24, 2005, the LiveJournal cosplay community bleach_cosplay was created. [7]
[edit] Fan Art
This section needs more information.
[edit] Fan Fiction
There is an active fan fiction community in the Bleach fandom.
[edit] Fan Vidding
This section needs more information.
[edit] Role Playing
This section needs more information.
[edit] National Communities
[edit] Spain
On January 1, 2005, Gracias a ti by Schwarz Aka-chan was published on FanFiction.Net. It was the first Spanish language story posted on FanFiction.Net. [8]
[edit] Fandom Members
The BNFs in the fandom are:
This section needs more information.
See also Bleach fans.
[edit] Fandom Size
The Bleach fandom is one of the larger anime fandoms. Its biggest online communities are located at FanFiction.Net, LiveJournal and various fandom specific fansites.
[edit] May 2007
As of May 23, 2007, there are 104 Bleach stories on FanLib. [9]
[edit] January 2008
As of January 1, 2008, there are 11,488 stories, 134 communities and 104 forums on FanFiction.Net [10][11] and 205 fans on FanPop. [12]
As of January 30, 2008, there 113 stories, 50 videos, 29 images, 5 poems and 3 screenplays on FanLib. [13]
[edit] December 2008
As of December 31, 2008, there are 649 fans on FanPop. [14]
[edit] External Links
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
Below is a partial list of articles and academic sources to help you continue to learn about this community.
- Gray, Lisa. "The Fangirl's Crush." Houston Chronicle 12 Mar. 2008. 18 Mar. 2008 [15].
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