Clash of The Titans: Naruto Vs. Bleach!

WARNING: POST CONTAINS MINDNUMBING NERD RANT ABOUT JAPANESE COMICS. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE BOMBARDED BY SUCH IDIOCITY, PLEASE LEAVE THIS PAGE...NOW!!!

Okay, I admit. I'm a manga freak. I like reading a good manga now and then. It helps me unwind after a long hard day, and also fills up my time during the boring hours of nothingness.

So during this holiday, I made full use of my time and read the whole of Naruto's 400+ manga chapters.

Now, I've always been a Bleach fan. Byakuya, Kyoka Suigetsu, Suzumushi, Renji, Rukia, Omnisukido; If the manga has it, I'll know it. The cool zanpakutos, shuunpo, taichos, hadou, reiatsu. My gosh, I can go on and on and on...

I always thought Naruto was kinda... childish. I mean, a protagonist with whiskers? Gimme a break!

How wrong I was.

After reading through all the existing chapters starting from the first, I have to admit Naruto is a waaaay better manga compared to Bleach. Essentially, I'm a convert!

I love the storyline, the plot, how the characters are fleshed out, and the humanity behind the entire series. Basically, a connection is formed between the fictional characters and the reader.

So instead of rambling on and on about how great a manga Naruto is blah blah blah, let me condense it down into point form for easy understanding:

NARUTO

Likes:

1. Every character is given a chance to shine and show their prowess.
2. Even though the story obviously centres around Uzumaki Naruto, he does not overshadow the others.
3. A huge variety of bunshins, jutsus and techniques are applied, with each opponent having a specific set of fighting style, elemental attack and individualized tricks.
4. Great storyline.
5. Artwork is nice.
6. Characters are fleshed out very convincingly.
7. Characters die!! (I'm not a sadistic or morbid person. I hate mangas where everybody lives happily ever after - sic. Bleach, Dislikes)
   

Now for the Dislikes:

1. Whiner Sasuke is still NOT dead.
2. Fight scenes are somewhat messy.
3. Explanation of skills, plans etc. are sometimes TOO LONG AND DETAILED (boring!) or there is NONE AT ALL (WTH??).
4. Names are confusing, some characters look too much alike. *Brain problem on my part, haha*

BLEACH

Likes:

1. Cool characters, I especially like the rankings - Taicho, fukutaicho, soutaicho. Gives it kinda like an elite squad-feel.
2. Interesting array of zanpakuto techniques and skills.
   
3. The storyline is quite arresting.

Dislikes:

1. Whole story focuses too much on Ichigo (Why won't he die already??!!!), it's getting very tiresome.
   
2. You'll know with a sure heart that certain characters will NOT DIE, regardless of how strong their enemy is *coughcoughIchigocoughHitsugayacough*
3. Ichigo and other manga-immortals always gain some stupid nonsensical power-up that saves their sorry asses in the nick of time from death. Example: Ichigonator when battling Ulquiorra. WTH was that??!
4. Some interesting characters are killed off too fast (Top 3 espadas) while the lame shits are all the victors (Ichigo, who else?).
5. Some characters are not protrayed properly and not described thoroughly. Maybe it's the plot, but hey, readers can't connect with characters that have no proper past or are just thrown in for fodder!
6. Fight scenes sometimes messy.
7. Story is not that complex, but too draggy. Lots of boxes where characters are just standing there looking emo or cool.
8. I dread chapters with Ichigo in them. Enuff said.

So there. Those are my views against these two very different mangas, in terms of portrayment and artistic direction. So I can't exactly compare between the two. However, I can list out things I liked and disliked about them, and tell you which one I enjoyed most.

Till date, it's Naruto.

Yay!