Bleach and One Piece are extremely different from one another. While One Piece is shonen to its core, the same can’t be said about Bleach.
SUMMARY
During discussions about Bleach, it’s often pointed out how Tite Kubo deviated from typical shonen progression, setting Bleach apart from its contemporaries.
There is a stark difference between how Aizen and Zoro perceived battles, which is also the key difference between One Piece and Bleach.
Aside from Ichigo, there were many other aspects of Bleach that highlighted how it often dabbled in morally grey themes instead of segregating the world by good and evil.
When someone says shonen, Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach are the first titles that come to mind. The Big Three anime are the representatives of the shonen spirit that is now being carried out by the modern lot. They all handle popular tropes differently from one another, especially Bleach.
Aizen during his fight with Yamamoto in Bleach anime | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.
Whether it’s the protagonist or the world-building, Bleach sets itself apart from most mainstream series. Tite Kubo often deviated from the typical plot progression usually seen in shonen stories. Fans pointed out one such instance that makes one wonder if Bleach was ever truly shonen. We believe it was not, and here’s why.
The difference between Zoro and Aizen’s ideology
The characters in One Piece have a strong set of values, from Luffy to Bon Chan, everyone has a belief system that they usually don’t defy. Eiichiro Oda made this revelation fairly early on in the series with Zoro’s brief face-off with Mihawk. At that time, Mihawk was evidently stronger than Zoro. The latter was hardly a match for the strongest swordsman. To remember that battle, Zoro asked Mihawk to attack him on the chest so that he could forever remember his weakness.
Zoro is the kind of character who would never turn his back to an opponent, or attack them while they have their back towards him. He believes in fighting fair and square even if it means death. Fans pointed out how Aizen’s ideology was completely different from Zoro. During his battle with the Soul Society, Aizen highlighted the importance of protecting what truly matters.
Instead of abiding by virtues and values, fight dirty if you have to, as long as you achieve your goal with the fight. For Aizen, that included attacking an opponent from behind or catching them by surprise. The difference between how these characters think highlights how morality can be highly subjective. Most shonen characters would not be able to follow Aizen’s approach. Similar to this, Bleach does many things differently from other shonen series.
Bleach often set itself apart from most shonen series
Ichigo in a still from Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War arc | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.The world of Bleach was divided into three realms, and none of them were portrayed as wholly evil or good. They had valid reasons behind the fights they fought. Ichigo was the connecting thread as he belonged to all those realms in some way or the other. We could empathize with all of them at some point, which made it hard to take sides.
Even though we were supposed to perceive the Bleach world from the lens of the Soul Reapers, their flaws, and evil were more than apparent. Similarly, the Quincies who were supposed to be the ‘villains’ were victims themselves. Bleach often defied typical shonen tropes, but many aspects of it were definitive of the shonen spirit like Ichigo’s perseverance.
All the other characters had their own character arcs and stories, that were far from the noble and virtuous shonen characters. What made the difference were the paths and battles every individual chose for themselves.
