Even if it is imitated, it is difficult to say that there are any works that are enough to shake the status of the “God of Fashion” in the “Grim Reaper” comics industry.
In March 2012, the TV animation of “Bleach” announced the suspension of the animation after the broadcast of “Bleach’s Disappearance” (commonly known as “Wanxiu” in China), and the series that had been broadcast for 8 consecutive years stopped at “366”. talk”.
The protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki left a “goodbye” at the end of episode 366
As one of the “sea of dead fire” that is also known as the “Three Migrant Workers”, “Death” is the first to bid farewell to the TV screen, but this is not a happy end – at this time, the comics of “Death” are still serialized, and the animation The suspension in the middle is undoubtedly a bad ending.
The decline in the ratings is the main reason why the animation project was stopped-compared to the former glory of 7%, the average viewership rate of “Fantasy” in Japan is less than 2%, and even falls below 1% at the low point, as a prime animation. Really depressed.
But the audience fans of “Grim Reaper” were quite optimistic at the time, and believed that “Grim Reaper” would soon be seen on TV again. After all, the “Complete Art” is just a transitional chapter. At this time, the manga has just entered the final chapter “Millennium Blood War”. Everyone also thinks that it is better to wait for the manga to end soon, rather than let the original animation that was added to drag the time further consumes popularity. Animate again in one breath.
As a result, the wait is ten years.
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After the animation was discontinued, the popularity of the “Grim Reaper” comics also went further and further downhill. Two years before the end, “Reaper” has been at the bottom of the readers’ voting list of “Weekly Shonen Jump” for many years, and it has long been unworthy of being compared with “Naruto” and “One Piece”.
Readers who had already abandoned the pit at this time talked about the “God’s Tail Continuation of the Sable” when talking about “Death”, and felt that the story should end after “defeating Aizen”; and readers who are still chasing the update also have little interest in the “Millennium Blood War”. Good reviews, often complaining about the protracted plot and chaotic story line, many people’s mentality has turned into having fun.
The author Kubo led people to live up to expectations, and really made a rare “table flipping” plot in the history of juvenile comics, which has been criticized to this day.
In this final chapter, Habach, the ancestor of the Quincy, and the “Invisible Empire” he founded are the main enemy forces. Just like the previous “Guardian 13th Division” and “Broken Face and Ten Blades”, Kubo arranged a large number of elites named “Star Cross Knights” for the boss of Yohabach, and they have also carried out quantitatively. Largely expanded, numbered according to the English alphabet, more than 26 people.
Yohabach and his Star Cross
Kubo spent a lot of time creating these new characters, and arranged for past characters to fight against them. But while he was painting, he seemed to lose his patience suddenly, and Yuhabach Tang suddenly activated a skill called “sanctification”, directly sacrificing most of his men (many of them were still in unfinished confrontation) game), forcing the story into the “final battle of the final battle”.
The title of Youhabach’s “Holy” is titled “What the hell”, and the imported version is translated as “what the hell”
Although the characters in the play are still laying out the rationality of “sanctification” through various lines, this is obviously not enough to convince readers to accept such a plot development; it can be said that this is a “half-cut” bridge caused by external pressure. Come on, the manga will continue to be serialized in a serious manner for nearly three years before it comes to an end.
Such an outrageous and casual approach may really only happen to works like “Death” that once reached the peak of popularity, but no one cares at this time. During this period, Shueisha and “Weekly Shonen Jump” allocated less and less publicity resources to “Grim Reaper”, as if the continued serialization of its pages was already a favor to the old minister.
In the second year after the end, “Reaper”, which was often ranked C, did not even show its face in the annual “JUMP FESTA” main poster.
When it officially ended in 2016, “Reaper” jumped into the public eye after a long time, but the focus of people’s attention at this time was not how Kurosaki Ichigo finally defeated Yuhabach, but the controversy caused by the “CP party dispute”—— Many people refuse to accept the marriage endings such as “Ichigo x Orihime” and “Rukia x Renji”, which further makes “Death” labeled as “unfinished”.
The repercussions caused by the ending “La Lang Pei” can be described as sorrowful
So for a long time, no one mentioned the restart animation of “Grim Reaper”.
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Compared with “Naruto”, which ended two years earlier, it is not difficult to feel the loneliness after the end of the “Reaper” comic.
The former is almost seamlessly connected to the descendant’s work “Bo Ren Biography”, and the comics and animation “two blossom”; and “Death”, which also arranges the protagonist’s descendants to appear at the end of the story, just provoked a lot of scolding, but it was delayed. There can be a sequel.
In 2018, “Reaper”, which had been in the cold for a long time, caught up with the manga-reformed movie craze of the past two years, and was adapted into a live-action movie starring popular Xiaosheng such as Fu Shi Sotai and Sugi Sakura. The leader has also been absent for a long time to appear on his platform.
But the actual response of the movie let alone the second spring of the work. The box office revenue is not even comparable to any previous theatrical animation of “Reaper”, which is another knock on the coffin board of this work nail.
The box office and word of mouth of live-action movies are both violent
Perhaps it is this silence that gives “Grim Reaper” a chance for a turnaround.
In the past few years, the development of “Boren Biography”, which is far less than expected, has been criticized for squeezing the value of the original work, and Kishimoto Masashi himself has further “fallen from the altar” with the newly serialized “Ji Shi Hachimaru Biography” being cut in half. In contrast, “The Grim Reaper”, which has released several rumored novels in a hurry, has ushered in a “reversal” in a small area.
Comic-derived novels like this that are ghostwritten by others often have the nature of “peripheral commodities”, and the stories usually try to bypass the core content of the original work to avoid conflicts. However, these small books of “Grim Reaper” are just the opposite. With the deep participation of Kubo himself, many setting foreshadowings in the comics have been completed and recovered, and the “good and evil” positions of various forces in the original work have been broken, and further revealed The allegorical nature of the entire work.
Several novels written by Ryogo Narita filled a lot of holes in the original comics, such as the identity of the Spirit King and the political structure of the Soul Society.
After reading these works, many readers began to feel that the “unfinished end” of the year was not entirely a matter of Kubo’s personal ability or attitude, but an irreconcilable contradiction between the genre of “Weekly Shonen Manga” and the “grand world view”.
At this time, there are more and more voices questioning that “Grim Reaper” was unfairly treated by the editorial department at the end of the serialization. After all, a work that sold more than 100 million copies in a single book, no matter how much you pull your hips later, it will not even have a theme cover at the end. Can’t get along.
The issue of “Weekly Shonen Jump” that ended “Grim Reaper” only gave Ichigo a display space in the upper right corner of the cover, and the words “End of the Legend” seemed extra ridiculous.
On the other hand, Reaper didn’t go as thoroughly as expected on a mass level.
Although it was the last in popularity among magazine readers at the end of the serialization, the single volume sales of the last few volumes of “Reaper” still maintained a high level of about 500,000, and after the end, it showed the long tail effect of being a masterpiece, and the total sales of the recently updated comics That’s an increase of 10 million copies from 2018.
“BLEACH Brave Souls” is a mobile game that was launched at the end of the manga in 2016. It was originally thought to be a typical IP game made by fans who want to get a ticket and run away. As a result, this game was supervised by Kubo himself, and it was able to make up for it. It has completed many plot stories and character forms that were not shown in the original work, and it has been operating vigorously for a few years.
Because word of mouth and income are good, this mobile game is still in operation for a few years and reversely logged on Steam and the host platform
All signs show that although “Death” has been labeled as “unfinished”, it still maintains a fairly broad mass base many years after its conclusion. This was finally confirmed in 2020 – as soon as the news of the “Millennium Blood War Chapter is about to be animated” came out, “Bleach” quickly became a global hit on Twitter, and animation fans from all over the world were carnival like a festival. The scene can be described as “In the past, everyone shouted unfinished, and now they are shouting Ye Qinghui.”
It’s good to say that it’s thanks to my peers to set off, or it’s worthwhile to find a good follow-up. In short, a few years later, when everyone mentions “Grim Reaper” again, it is no longer just repeating the “unfinished tail”, “combat power collapse”, “CP stewing”, and more Many people began to miss that unique “fashionable” temperament.
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“オサレ” is a modern word derived from the Japanese word “fashionable, chic”. Although it is usually translated as “fashionable”, the meaning of this word is actually closer to the “tuku” in the Chinese context, referring to the kind of Mixed retro and avant-garde, in the eyes of most people can’t describe the “trend” aesthetic.
It was through Reaper that this new term was widely spread.
While Jump’s previous combat comics were trying to portray rigorous combat power settings, polish coherent action storyboards, and pursue the “realism” of fighting, the characters in “Reaper” always showed some coolness in battle. The dazzling appearance, some convoluted lines, full of “killing Matt” temperament, and their fights are also like a turn-based game where they take turns to make moves, often inexplicable to decide the winner.
Classic “I second you, you second me, I second you”
The readers of “Grim Reaper” further created the concept of “OSR value” (fashion value) to explain the unique combat power system of this comic.
According to this set of theory, the battle of “Death” is like a dress-up PK like “Nan Nuan Nuan”. The key to determining the outcome of the two sides is not who can fight better or whose tricks are more destructive, but who plays the role. Cooler poses, flashier tricks, and more styled demeanor.
A character may have strong hard power, but as long as he makes cheap behaviors such as taunting his opponent or bullying the weak, his “fashion value” will drop sharply, and he is often defeated immediately; “I’m very strong”, the fashion value will drop, and it is easy to be beaten, but if you read some obscure sentences to vaguely express “I’m very strong”, the fashion value will rise, and it will be more difficult to be defeated.
Aizen’s classic “hairspray hand” made his “fashionable value” soar to the ceiling
Obviously, this statement was originally a joke about “Grim Reaper”, but as the serialization progressed, “fashionable” gradually became a positive evaluation of this work.
First, Kubo’s painting skills improved by leaps and bounds during the serialization, and the characters in “Death” became more and more beautiful, and there was no longer the sense of disobedience of “hard-boiled and handsome” in the early days. Kubo also often draws painted illustrations for the characters that look like hard photos of fashion magazines.
Kubo has designed a lot of uniforms for each character
And once you accept Kubo’s narration of lines that sound like haiku poetry, with various names and terms mixed in German and Spanish, as well as the unique free and easy storytelling in juvenile manga, it is not difficult to feel what this work has. The overflowing “literary sense” has a unique flavor.
The famous preface of the fifth volume Chadu Taihu: “If I don’t have a sword in my hand, I can’t protect you. If I keep holding the sword, I can’t hold you tight.”
Also contributing is the TV animation of “Grim Reaper”. Although the action scenes are often criticized as “PPT”, the animation of “Reaper” in charge of the Joker Club has always maintained a very high standard in terms of art color matching, light and shadow performance, font design, and soundtracking.
This is especially prominent in the many OPs and EDs of the animation of “Death”. These scenes are accompanied by popular songs, which often make people feel that “the original animation OP of juvenile comics can still do this”, even after more than ten years. It doesn’t look out of place.
The OP of “Grim Reaper” is often concise and unique, which has a great effect on improving the “fashion value” of the character
In addition, Kubo himself always appeared in the fashion of “yellow-haired sunglasses” in his early years, which made “Death” earn the title of “fashionable god” in all aspects.
The fashionable appearance also caused Kubo to encounter a lot of spoofs later
The “turn-based fighting” of “Grim Reaper” was actually largely influenced by “Saint Seiya”, and Kubo’s avant-garde and modern “fashionable style” eventually became the object of imitation by later generations. In recent years, the popular “Curse Back to War” has never shied away from paying tribute to “Death”.
“Spell Back to War” will re-enact the famous scenes in “Death” from time to time
But even if it is imitated, it is difficult to say that there are any works that are enough to shake the status of the “God of Fashion” in the “Grim Reaper” comics industry. More and more people feel that no matter how unfinished the plot of “Grim Reaper” is, the viewing experience in some aspects is still unique.
Everything after that was smooth sailing.
In August 2021, Kubo published the 20th anniversary commemorative short story of “Death” on “Weekly Shonen Jump”, which instantly became the number one hot search on the daily push;
At the JUMP FESTA at the end of 2021, Ichigo Kurosaki once again returned to the center of the main poster;
On October 10, 2022, the animation of “The Thousand Years of Death” will be broadcast, and the three works of “Reaper”, “Naruto” and “One Piece” will be reunited on the TV screen after ten years.
Ten years later, Tiansuo Zhanyue reappears on the screen
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At the end of the “Grim Reaper” manga in 2016, Kubo posted a few sketches on Twitter, telling that at the end of the serialization he wanted to give up the serialization many times because of the pain and stress, but at this time he received a letter from a seriously ill boy. In the letter, I thanked Kubo, saying that “Death” supported him through the last difficult time, and encouraged Kubo to finish the manga according to his own ideas.
“For the first time since I was hospitalized, I began to look forward to tomorrow because I was thinking about seeing the next volume of Reaper,” the letter said.
At the end of the letter, Kubo learned that the letter was sent by someone else and that the boy was no longer alive. This letter became the spiritual driving force for Kubo to finish painting “The Grim Reaper”.
Kubo also collected clues about the sender from netizens, hoping to have the opportunity to express his gratitude to the relevant people, and a year later found the person who sent the letter on his behalf-the patient of the deceased boy at the time.
Postmarks and envelopes were pretty much the only clues at the time
After the broadcast of the first episode of “Millennium Blood War” yesterday, in addition to the discussion of the animation itself, the most popular related topic on Twitter was a message written by a “Grim Reaper” fan in the comment area of the animation promotional video half a year ago.
The fan said with emotion that he was mixed with joy and sorrow. He was so happy that he could see “Death” back on the screen in his lifetime. Unfortunately, he was suffering from cancer. . He said that he would wait for everyone to tell him how wonderful the animation was in the world of souls.
Everyone found the user’s YouTube homepage, and his activity stayed two months ago. People left messages telling him that the first episode of “The Thousand Years of Blood” was fantastic.
Not everyone believes in the authenticity of these stories. Some people question these are self-acting hype, and some people emphasize that no matter how moving these off-site stories are, it will not change the fact that “Reaper” is unfinished.
But from the very beginning, the theme discussed in “Death” is “life and death”, telling the story of “the living miss the dead”. Everything in it begins with human creation, and countless people are still moved by it. .
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