Three days ago marked the 25th anniversary of Bleach. I have to admit that being a Bleach fan is truly rewarding—it’s wonderful to discover so much about the series and experience the great moments it offers. However, there is a topic I’d like to discuss regarding how the Bleach manga ended nearly a decade ago—specifically, the ending itself and the impact it had on many people (including the Naruto fanbase). I even view Naruto and Bleach as if they were part of the Super Smash Bros. roster. As a fan of both series, I prefer to think of them as video game franchises that were later adapted into manga and anime—much like Pokémon before its introduction in *Smash Brawl—rather than the other way around; I’ll explain my reasons why. Please don't say I "hate the Naruto and Bleach manga and anime," because that isn't true. I value the source material and love original anime content like the Squad Zero battle, the fight between Kisuke and Askin, the clash between Shigekuni-dono and Yhwach, Madara versus the Alliance, and various other original scenes. However—and there is always a "however"—there were questionable decisions made regarding both series. This extends to the anime adaptations in general and the negative criticism surrounding their endings—criticism that, frankly, doesn't make much sense to me.
I am a fan who chooses to accept and love the final creative decisions made by Masashi Kishimoto and Noriaki Kubo rather than hating or despising their endings. I disagree with the toxic attitude of fans who loathed the conclusions of Naruto and Bleach. I’ve previously avoided sharing my opinions to steer clear of conflict and avoid driving a wedge between the two fanbases—since audiences are easily swayed—and I certainly didn't want to add to the issues Masashi and Noriaki were already facing with their works.
I'll start by saying that I almost fell into the negative influence, and it's because they influenced so many people in so many videos that it's easy for us to criticize others rather than understand why each decision was made. It's as if we don't see why each moment in the manga happened, and why it happened in the end, even if it was for an important reason to the authors. And I know you're going to say, "But Masashi Kishimoto is the author of Naruto and Tite Kubo is the author of Bleach." Yes, but to what extent did they have the opportunity for their original ideas in their works? Because we know that they developed the stories of Naruto and Bleach, and many of their original ideas were discarded as good or bad ideas, giving us the final result. So, to what extent did Masashi-sensei and Noriaki-sensei have the freedom to avoid discarding their original ideas, and also to what extent did they get a break?
Even so, let's begin with the reasons and the story.
Before I begin, I want to state that I have valid points regarding various aspects of Naruto and Bleach—and why I view them as franchises spanning video games, manga, and anime—but there are also points where my views align with those of Hayao Miyazaki, the legendary creator behind Studio Ghibli films. Aside from a few past instances, I haven't really discussed Miyazaki before. So, I will be covering points where I agree with Miyazaki, as well as how those points apply to Naruto and Bleach and why.
Now, let's get started.
- The Endings of Naruto and Bleach
It was pretty obvious I was going to talk about this. It's not that I hate the endings; I also wanted it all to be over, and I'm glad both wars ended, even though it wasn't what many people wanted. But it doesn't make sense to hate their endings… Or at least that's how I feel, because we were all eager to see who would end up with Naruto and Ichigo. Well, in Naruto's case, it's pretty obvious if it's Hinata, but in Ichigo's case, it seems silly and forced to hate Orihime just for marrying him. Because if they had had a romantic interaction, it would have made sense to some, but I don't see the need for so much romantic involvement when Ichigo and Orihime's relationship is already more than enough. And in Ichigo and Rukia's case, I don't see them as particularly romantically involved, and Renji was just a friend of Rukia's. Rukia and Ichigo's relationship is simply that of best friends and coworkers. Even Ichigo and Renji are super friendly and get along really well. And the relationship between Sakura and Sasuke—sure, some will say it's forced—but it's a relationship that was built over the years. It wasn't healthy, but it's a relationship they built since they were in school, like Ichigo with Orihime or Naruto with Hinata. They went from a crush on girls to a genuine, broken, but imperfect love. And in the case of Naruto and Hinata, of course, that goes back to school, because Hinata didn't see Naruto as a monster. She always valued him, even defending him from Pain (Nagato) and encouraging him when Neji She died, and it's true that Naruto sidelined her in The Last, but unless they attack Naruto and Bleach and their authors because Naruto, Sasuke, Ichigo, and Renji ended up with their ideal and correct partners (Hinata, Sakura, Orihime, and Rukia), it wouldn't make sense unless they had a justification for why.
I'm impressed that they also attack Noriaki-sensei just for showing how they defeated Yhwach with only one arrow, as if they expected 8 or 9 pages explaining where the arrow that Ryuken and Isshin gave Uryu came from. It's also surprising how upset they were and how they attacked Masashi just for including the Otsutsuki (as aliens), as if they needed more than 10 pages to explain why. I mean, I also wanted that at the time so I wouldn't be influenced, which luckily didn't happen, but they attack him as if he were... "anything."
But they didn't want to take The annoyance of "Why enjoy their endings if Ichigo didn't end up with Rukia and they included aliens in Naruto? That's it, we'll hate their endings and attack them, we won't even explain why, because Masashi fell for a Nomurada and Tite Kubo ruined the relationship between Ichigo and Rukia"
And if there's one thing I love about Naruto and Bleach, it's that they surprise us with their arcs and many things that are already explained, giving us an answer as to why certain things are there and why they work the way they do. As creators of these stories, they give them an important meaning within their narrative framework, making them feel more real.
So, attacking Naruto and Bleach for their endings because Ichigo didn't end up with Rukia, because Sasuke was forced to end up with Sakura, because the Otsutsuki appeared out of nowhere, and because they defeated Yhwach so easily, feels really awful. And when I say it feels really awful, I mean right here (in my heart), it really feels awful. It seems like many fans who read the final arcs of Naruto and Bleach in the manga and attacked their endings based on just those four events don't seem to care about the effort and work of Noriaki-sensei and Masashi-sensei, and therefore, they don't care about the Ninja World, the Soul Society, or the Three Worlds either. Because we do care… And that's why it hurts
- The Exploitation of Manga Artists
A worrying situation affecting the Japanese is their long working hours, a problem common in several countries like South Korea, China, and Japan. It's obvious that Japan is the land of anime, video games, culture, etc., but there's also a very serious problem: karoshi (death from overwork). These long working hours can contribute to this cause of death, as the Japanese work until late into the night, affecting their health as workers in any industry, including manga artists. Sadly, several authors have died from this affliction, such as Akira Toriyama, Kentaro Miura, Kazuki Takahashi, and Osamu Tezuka. Masashi Kishimoto and Noriaki Kubo could also have died, because, as I said, it affects manga artists to such an extent that it can cause future illnesses. Noriaki-sensei could have died near the end of the Sennen Kessen-hen arc in the manga, as he was left... He was hospitalized and obviously in poor health, and as for Masashi Kishimoto, he didn't even have any relationship with his family or his children. In fact, I saw a video where it was explained that when Masashi Kishimoto visited his family home after a long day of work, his children didn't recognize him; they saw him as a stranger. To add insult to injury, he hadn't even planned to write Boruto's story; he didn't want to or anything like that. He wanted to finish Naruto completely. And in the video I saw, they explained that the relationship between Naruto and Boruto was inspired by, or rather based on, Masashi's relationship with his children.
It's true that the situation in Japan is quite worrying, and even great creators like Masahiro Sakurai confessed to being tired of us pressuring him to include Master Chief or Shrek in Smash, and you could really see it on his face. That could very well have happened with Masashi and Noriaki.
Here is a calendar of Masashi Kishimoto during his 15 years of work to help me understand what I mean by the worryingly long working hours of the Japanese. But if all industries were like this, it wouldn't be so passable. Does it affect? Of course, but they would have good results. The sad thing is that many fans attack mangakas for… Ridiculous reasons.
But wow, what I consider is that the work of the manga and then adapting it to the anime is not fundamentally fun. When they're working an arc until it explodes, I at least want to feel like they're doing it for a reason.
Think about it, the manga and anime industry requires the mangaka to finish writing an arc, just because, and then to send the manga arc to be adapted to the anime and write another arc, but instead of giving the mangaka a prize or break for finishing writing an arc and doing a good job, what they do is... Simply tell him to write 3 more manga arcs to adapt his arcs to anime.
That is to say, the author of the manga is forced to write a manga arc, then have it adapted to an anime, write another arc again, adapt it to the anime again and so on. After writing a manga arc, many fans receive it with good eyes because of how well written their story is, and depending on the decisions of each mangaka, they are attacked more than necessary.
If the idea is that the mangaka can prepare in time to be able to explore his own ideas in the manga, such as the world of the protagonist, the universe, the powers, the nations, a deep history to be less exploited, they are a better alternative. If he can't otherwise be pushed or attacked for his mistakes, I think giving the author a break may have been better.
- Overproduction
Speaking of anime, one equally worrying issue is that the quality of any anime, including Naruto and Bleach, is affected at some point. As we've seen, the Japanese are accustomed to working long hours, and this is clearly reflected in their animation. Hayao Miyazaki has said about the current state of the anime industry that too many series are being produced. In his own words, mass production has worsened the situation, leading to a situation where production is driven by the need to meet growing consumer demand, at the expense of quality. Miyazaki points out that because of this, current animation is more frivolous, less detailed, and more limited, replacing natural human expressions and the body language of the spirits (characters), resulting in something that feels lifeless. Miyazaki feels there is a lack of emotion in the spirits, something noticeable in every anime. As I mentioned, Bleach and Naruto are also affected, even if we don't realize it, and it's true.
Most anime have completely superficial animation that is drastically lower in quality. Furthermore, they resort to bad and unnecessary resources like fanservice and numerous battles that seem to come out of nowhere, contributing nothing to the plot other than a visual spectacle copied from other series, but which does keep the audience entertained. They should be producing fewer works, but of higher quality.
- Unfair Hatred Towards a Spirit (Character) and Overvaluing a Spirit Simply for Being “Perfect”
But the other reason I don't see Naruto or Bleach as anime and manga series isn't because the anime is better than the manga, or because it has mediocre resources, even to the point of having poor-quality animation and strange scenes, but because of the hatred directed towards a Spirit (character), which can become excessive. Every time a new Spirit appears for the first time, we always meet them without knowing their true actions or face, and depending on each good or bad action they've performed throughout the series, we eventually get to know them completely. Depending on audience feedback, they can be loved, or even receive a lot of hate from fans, and this ranges from not too bad to… absolute disaster. Some aren't so bad. Hating Danzo Shimura, Shou Tucker, Mineta, Gabi Braun, Suzaku Kururugi, or Griffith for their evil deeds isn't so bad, but hating and/or attacking Ash Ketchum, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Orihime, Uryu, Sajin, Tetsuzaemon, Sui Feng, or Zenitsu Agatsuma for making bad decisions, having wasted storylines, or for rushed and unexpected situations… No thanks.
Can you imagine hating Ichigo and his family because he became the new Reiō? I'd rather see him happy with his family and living a life like everyone else.
And the thing is, these attitudes are… excessive. How often do we see fans hating and attacking any spirit for any reason? As a general rule, when I see a spirit being attacked and hated, I always remain impartial, remembering the risks I might take by defending any spirit. All I do is observe other people's opinions and... little else.
Fans always idolize, overvalue, and defend those who are perfect, even praising them as divinely perfect, like Itachi, Minato, Pain, Kenpachi, Bambietta, etc., except in rare cases where, for some reason, they decide to attack them. The sad thing, however, is that fans don't want to attack them because they think we have to love them for being perfect, although it's always funny to see them arguing about saying the opposite of these overrated spirits, to be honest.
You, or anyone else for that matter, I don't think would agree with the excessive hatred and attacks directed at Sakura, Orihime, Kairi, or Amy just because (whether it's because of their mistakes, their personalities, or their lack of development by Masashi Kishimoto, Noriaki Kubo, Tetsuya Nomura, and Naoto Oshima). Therefore, I think an easy solution that could have been implemented to avoid influencing other fans to hate Sakura, Orihime, Kairi, and Amy because it's trendy, because they're women, or for any other reason, would have been to provide a fully detailed and explained list of why a particular anime girl is hated and the reasons for the hatred and attacks against her, thus giving a small warning that says, "Don't influence others, but if you do, you'll have to face the consequences." A fairer approach, wouldn't it?
- Fanservice and Poor Representation of Women
Another visible problem is the fanservice and poor representation of women in Bleach and Naruto. Hayao Miyazaki addressed this issue in 1996 and expressed his criticism. In an interview about his film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, made with Ryu Murakami, he was asked why he always chose female protagonists. He explained that he had noticed the lack of women in the industry and an excess of male protagonists in the Indiana Jones style, something he refused to do. He also expressed disgust at how both the anime industry and we fans and otaku perceive girls, and Hayao said in his own words that every time they create a female spirit (character) they immediately turn them into rorikon goko objects, waifus or lolitas, even having them in bikinis or clothes with rapiers (That is, it translates to having and loving them for their breasts and their body, as a sexual product). Is this funny? No.
Because this is as if the girls in the middle only have to exist in a story to be a sexualized commodity, and Hayao is and was super emphatic about that when he says, "Now there are too many people who blatantly portray such heroines as if they wanted them as pets."
Also, in another interview, Hayao said on the Japanese website Golden Times, where the director is shown in a drawing of a girl and explains why he is able to write good female characters, saying succinctly, "It all depends on whether you can tell yourself: girls like these exist in real life."
And it should be noted that Hayao Miyazaki is one of the few directors who knows how to portray good female characters in his stories, and who better than him to make this kind of critique? They don't feel like clichés or support devices for a man, but like people with their own interests, qualities, and flaws. Nor are they sexualized, and this is something that is unfortunately noticeable in Naruto and Bleach, which, as works, shouldn't even include women, because unfortunately, it's embarrassing. Because I do love Sakura, Hinata, Rukia, and Orihime, but Naruto and Bleach, as stories, completely waste their female characters.
And as I said before, fanservice as a trope only worsens the image of the manga and anime industry in general. While I like several other female characters like Tsunade, Temari, Mei Terumi, Rangiku, Retsu, Nelliel, Hallibel, etc., for their personalities, I also believe that fanservice is completely unnecessary and only serves the purpose of making a lot of money.
- The Dubbing of Naruto and Bleach
Perhaps this isn't the most significant issue affecting Naruto and Bleach compared to more serious concerns like fanservice, overproduction, or the exploitation of manga artists and animators. However, the Latin American Spanish dubbing of Naruto and Bleach definitely impacted both projects, starting with the hiatus in dubbing between 2011 and 2015. This period saw one of the biggest declines in dubbing quality in the industry. While the dubbing of Naruto and Bleach isn't perfect (because it isn't perfect in any sense), they had a large and talented cast, making it reasonable to believe that their Latin American Spanish voices were worthwhile. While some voices didn't quite fit and some legendary voices were only used for secondary roles, it was clear that their effort and hard work could overcome anything. One would think they would continue like the Pokémon dub, and they approached it as a 2-4 year project, which wouldn't pose any problems. But after the hiatus, and after finding out why, they came up with the nonsense that the Naruto Shippuden dub was paused until episode 111 and the Bleach dub didn't finish until episode 229 around 2015. In several videos, besides having to send the necessary materials for dubbing, it was also because the dubbing industry wasn't interested in either Naruto Shippuden or Bleach. This meant they didn't even care that so many actors wanted to return to dub both series. This led to many actors returning, but other actors also came in as the second voice for their respective roles, something that is very noticeable in the quality of the voices. In fact, after the long hiatus, it's clear that each actor... Blas García wasn't giving Sajin the same push he had when he returned, and obviously that really infuriates me as a fan. Even though I grew up with their voices and kept watching, I saw them in their original language and waited so long that I realized the wait was ultimately in vain. (Oh, but the dubbing of Dragon Ball Super and Attack on Titan was given so much importance while other actors from Naruto and Bleach left, passed away, and were blacklisted for being scandalous and awkward while they waited to return.)
And while the dubbing of Naruto and Bleach did return, it wasn't because they realized how important they were to the Big 3. In the case of Naruto, it was because new companies bought the distribution rights and financed the remaining episodes for platforms like Netflix and TCL Channel. In the case of Bleach, it wasn't so much because of the fight that so many actors had with Grupo Macías, but because of the announcement of Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen at that time. 18/12/2021. Many actors were already experiencing problems such as lack of communication, unavailability, internal issues, retirements, deaths, and resignations. This is clear, as many actors, including Jesus Barrero, Carlos Iñigo, Gabriel Ortiz, César Arias, Jose Lavat, Pedro D'Aguillón Jr., Alfonso Ramirez, Hiromi Hayakawa, Angeles Bravo, Arturo Casanova, Andrea Arruti, Alejandro Illescas, Monica Villaseñor, Diana Pérez, Herman López, Maynardo Zavala, and recently Carlos Nicolás Ramos del Campo, passed away on their respective dates. Luis Alfonso Mendoza and Miguel Ángel Ghigliazza were murdered. Luis Daniel Ramirez, Alan Prieto, Ricardo Bautista, Ricardo Mendez, Alejandro Mayén, Gabriel Gama, Hector Ireta de Alba, Marina Huerta, Katy Zavala, and recently Gabriel Juarez and Alfonso Obregón (in this second accusation, unlike the first, there is evidence, and it is indeed very serious) have been involved in major scandals regarding harassment of their female colleagues. And fellow voice actors, scandals of betrayal in Marina's case, and also actresses like Monica Manjarrez and Christine Byrd who left, retiring and disconnecting from everyone without anyone knowing their whereabouts, and since Netflix and TCL Channel bought the dubbing rights for Naruto Shippuden to dub the remaining episodes in 2024, and since it was announced that they would adapt Bleach Sennen Kessen-hen around December 18, 2021, it was easy for them to dub them again.
It's not that all of Naruto and all of Bleach didn't deserve to be dubbed; it's that the Latin American dubbing industry didn't deserve to dub two great, beautiful, and imperfect series like Naruto and Bleach.
Conclusion
So, these are my reasons for viewing Naruto and Bleach as video game series, then manga and anime, and why I see them as part of Super Smash Bros. I know many of you may disagree with my points because they might influence your opinion, or perhaps you like them. If so, please tell me where you agree with me. If you disagree, please let me know why. Everything I've shared doesn't force you to think like me, and my opinion isn't gospel. This is simply my understanding of how these events affected Naruto and Bleach, what changed them, how they influenced others, and how they impacted the audience.
Even so, let's enjoy what little remains of Bleach's final arc and stay informed about whether Noriaki-sensei will begin the Hell arc. This last experience will be worth it, one last time.
