Over the last month or so, Madman Entertainment have been asking their fans to vote for their favourite anime releases from the company (Along with other releases which due to their diversity, most likely won’t make it into this top 20) and giving away on-the-spot prizes to those who provided interesting vote justifications. The intention of this is to generate what fans would consider the companies Top 20 series releases.
While I have not watched the series much at all…. if you consider “not much at all” to be a couple of episodes and a game published by NIS America / Namco Bandai Partners (North America / Australia) last year, but it was doubtful that Bleach would not be receiving a spot on Madman’s top 20 anime titles. What has surprised me would that be given its apparent popularity, I was expecting it to score a bit higher…. however instead this title takes 8th Spot on the companies countdown.
What does Madman Entertainment have to say on this?
In at #8 is BLEACH. What can we say about this title that you don’t already know? Action, adventure, the supernatural… Is it enough to say that BLEACH is a modern classic that will remain with us for years to come? Based on the amount of BLEACH cosplay we see every year and your comments on the Top 20 website, BLEACH is undeniably one of the all time greats.
BLEACH introduces us to the conflict between the soul reapers, the Espadas and Aizen – an epic story arc. But as Siahna Graham wrote, it’s the characters that make this just so compelling: “There is a character whom everyone can relate to. Mexican born Chad is strong, but grew up with no friends because of that, until he met Ichigo. Ichigo is bullied and constantly gets into fights because his hair makes him look different from everyone else. Orihime is your typical teenage girl (as typical as a high schooler with powers is anyway); she’s in love with Ichigo (who isn’t?), is very happy among her friends, and struggles with her emotions.”
