Customer Reviews

All Colour but the Black: The Art of Bleach

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Length:: 0:14 Mins

This is a soft cover book with a dust jacket. The first page is a multi-fold page that unfolds into a small poster, both sides printed.

Full page coloured illustrations dominate most of the pages. The paper stock is good and the colour reproduction great. You can see the details in inking, and in colouring , the gradations and texture of the water colour. Most of the illustrations included come from the Weekly Jump.

At the end are 13 title page illustrations for the caption, which are in black and white.

All illustrations are annotated. Short captions are also included by the artist Tite Kubo to explain the background story.

Great book for fans of Bleach.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

You will be amazed at how vivid the colors are in this book. Any fan of the Bleach Manga will be dazzled by the colorful artwork. Not much, if anything, from the Bleach Anime Series is in the book.

Many of the pages look familiar. Some are larger versions of the color cover artwork from the series. Some drawings appeared as black and white content. Some I have never seen before. The book has both Chapter 13 covers on side by side pages. Decide for yourself if there is too much gore.

There are only a few words on the pages outside of what may be drawn in the pictures. No page numbers either. An index at the end gives a brief description of the plates. Be warned that much of this book comes from existing work that hardcore fans may be familiar with. But the quality of images and the size of the book are the selling points as much as the content. The book is in the Japanese Right to Left format, just like the manga, but there isn't any warning on the last page to remind you to start with the other end.

The book is just under 12 inches tall and a bit wider than 8 inches. About the same dimensions as Newsweek magazine. It has about 70 pages printed on very high quality glossy paper, similar to a magazine. The painted graphics in the book are beyond description of how lively the colors are. Black is still the color of choice for the Soul Reapers.

There is a Tri-Folded, double page in size, two sided poster that has a group shot of all the Court Guard Lieutenants and a group shot of Ichigo and friends in the "land of the living". The book has a nice dust cover. The title on the jacket says "All Colour But The Black" "The Art of Bleach". The author is Tite Kubo.

This book would make a great gift for anyone you might know who loves Bleach and it isn't even that expensive.

Anyone who's read "Bleach" knows that Tite Kubo has a pretty distinct art style, and that he's as likely to have fun with it as to strike a pose.

Turns out it's even more amazing in brilliant, vibrant colours than in the usual black-and-white of a manga. "The Art of Bleach" showcases a number of Kubo's artwork, ranging from dramatic promotional work to fun little doodles of female characters with little wings, along with plenty of pictures of protagonist Ichigo in a variety of poses.

In fact, most of the pictures here center on/feature Ichigo -- our hero even gets a two-page spread of him slashing with his sword, smiling cheerfully, looking grumpy, making faces, and so on. And there are plenty of vibrantly coloured pictures with him posing with a sword -- as well as with Rukia, his little sister, and even a posteresque picture of him and Renji attacking one another (with close-ups of their faces).

But though most of the pictures are about Ichigo (unsurprising, since he is the hero), Kubo doesn't neglect the rest of the cast. The captains are all given individual illustrations, and some of them such as Byakuya (seen looking sadly at Rukia) and Zaraki (seen in mad-grin mode, both with and without blood spatters) get extra illustrations. And though the lieutenants and villains tend to get less focus, we get to see Renji, Kira and Momo as students.

There's also a lot of main cast pictures -- usually slumping around in urban punkywear and tracksuits (including a bandana that completely covers Renji's face). Kubo does manage to soup it up with some funny twists, such as showing Ichigo, Kon, Renji and Rukia on the tops of three CDs.

Kubo also includes some of the color pictures from the manga (such as Rukia's abortive execution and Ichigo's flying rescue), and the final few pages are devoted to his take on each picture. In a short paragraph or two, he describes the origins and intent of each picture, and what the receptions to some of them were.

"The Art of Bleach" shows it all stages -- the relatively rough earlier stuff, the more polished later illustrations, and even some funny little side-pictures like Santa Kon, or Orihime dressed as a frolicking Valentine's Day angel with a giant chocolate heart. There's little more to this book than Kubo's pictures, but those pictures are beautifully done.

Kubo's art has always been unique, full of long thin limbs, angular bodies, strong-boned faces with wide mouths (not to mention prominent Adam's apples for the boys), and complicated slouchy clothes. It's interesting at the best of times, but the bright colours and odd layouts add a whole other dimension to his artwork. And there's some humor to some of these pictures, such as a rather PG-13 picture of the bikini-clad girls of "Bleach" enjoying the beach, and Ichigo and Orihime playing at kung-fu in suitable costumes.

If there's a flaw in this art book, it's that the supporting cast is rather sidelined -- Ichigo's sisters and friends, most of the captains and lieutenants are sparsely represented. But we do get some nice Ganju Shiba pictures.

It's a relatively small flaw in an otherwise lovely "Art of Bleach" book, where Kubo's relaxed, eccentric approach to his action manga keeps things colorful.

All I can say is WOW. If you are a fan of the Bleach manga or anime this is a MUST HAVE. Tite Kubo is a stand-out manga artist and this collection of his art is worth every penny. For us in the states it is a treat to see some of his drawings that were featured in the Shonen Jump magazine in Japan. Tite Kubo lists little facts, musings or thoughts on each drawing featured in the book and it was cool to read his words about his work. Well priced and I can only hope this is one of many art books released.

Being a huge fan of Bleach and all that it includes, I was first drawn in by Mr. Kubo's amazing talent. The illustrations in this book are no less than amazing. As a fashion illustrator I found his illustration acuracy and talent refreshing.

This is definitely a book to own if u are a major bleach fan... every single page has amazing art and one could not be happier with each art piece... a MUST BUY!!

Great quality, love the the Japanese anime. Wasn't expecting it to be in Japanese format left to right whereas in the US right to left is typical format. A little hard to get use to but love it all the same. Great product.

I can't say more to what alrady have been said about this Art book but to insist on the word Art and Beauty. Kubo is a brilliant artist who loves his characters and fans. The drawings are amazingly done and colored. It's a precious art book for all Bleach fans.

This art book is perfect for any avid Bleach fan! It has amazing pictures of many of everyone's favorite characters such as Rukia, Ichigo, Renji, Toushiro, etc. The pictures are great for those who like to draw or just need some posters for their walls. Each picture has a description at the end of the book, by none other than the artist himself and the creator of Bleach-Tite Kubo!

1st book started to fall apart at the seam before 30 days was up and Amazon, who is terrific to buy from, replaced the book for my daughter.