Bleach: Gokui Meimei-henBleach: Special One-shot Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links   516e3a

Well, a one-shot but oh boy! My hype for Bleach has risen to new heights! Art is still good! Also, I think it's safe to assume that this won't follow the Naruto -> Boruto route.
Seeing some of the old characters with their new looks (especially Rukia and Lisa) just made this new chapter a really refreshing start. Of course, I can't forget the appearances of the new Shinigami, like the 8th division vice captain (yes, that gyaru).
Also, judging from the title of this one-shot alone, it's pretty obvious that the Bleach manga's plot will explore on another realm called Hell. It's a good thing that ... Bleach made a comeback so that the current lore we have concerning Hell will be expanded.
Last but not the least, this one-shot presented us a shocking revelation. To think that some of the dead characters will make a comeback, and possibly all of them being villains.
And yes, this ended in a cliffhanger, but all the more reason for the hype of a new story arc!

Bleach: No Breathes from Hell is a one shot which takes place after the Bleach manga (which ended in August 2016). It's mainly made for the fans as a celebration for the 15th anniversary of Bleach and that's why I'm mainly reviewing it from a fans perspective. In my opinion Kubo definitely succeeded and for his reason I will try to be spoiler free to not ruin your enjoyment.

Story 8:
The story structure hasn't changed that much, but in this instance it's done well. The story is about balance and Kubo balanced the peaceful moment and the action moment very well. Many who heard the ... news expected a slice of life story regarding what our casts has been doing as a fanservice. At first our expectation turned out to be true. It starts out warm and nostalgic but during the second act, it stepped up and it will definitely satisfy you if you've been a fan of Bleach. Kubo is great at bringing back old established ideas out of nowhere and expand on it, which as always creates hype. You cant please everyone but this One Shot definitelly got many fans excited for a reason.

Art 8:
In my opinion, Kubo has an amazing artstyle. Art is subjective but it's pretty common to hear Tite Kubo has one of the coldest artstyle in the manga industry. There were some critiques regarding lack of backgrounds in Kubo's past works and this One Shot had more detailed backgrounds, so perhaps those who wanted more backgrounds will enjoy the art as much as most of the fans does. Regardless, I'm sure you will enjoy the art even if you want more backgrounds.

Characters 7:
Nothing much to say in this department for new readers. If you don't know these characters, you will most likely not enjoy this character since the one shot is too short to make you like a character or not. If you read the original manga, you will enjoy seeing how the characters has been matured. There are also two newly introduced characters. Both of them looks promising and I hope Kubo will use them well, especially one of them which has the potential to be an interesting character if Kubo uses his disability as a strength instead of a weakness.

Enjoyment 9:
Overal I personally enjoyed the one shot. The nostalgic feeling when reading this, the plottwist and exceeding our expectation of this One Shot by making it the introduction of a whole new arc of Bleach is something no fans will dislike.

Overall 8:
This one shot is great for the fans.
For none fans, you unfortunately will not enjoy it as much as the fans will because there's no way you would care for the characters in just a One Shot nor would you care about the story itself if you have no experience or barely any memory of the original serie.

I was quite excited when I heard news of Bleach One shot, despite still having murky after-taste of chaotically written last arc in original manga. And I am happy for many fans who still feel the same, but this seemed as underwhelming revival.

Whole one-shot danced between "hey you are long time fan, you know these people" and "Let's make it totally new". For me, this didn't work out. All the faces I knew felt like complete strangers to me, while newcomers felt gray-ish.

Pacing itself was all over the place. Yes, author wanted to set up base for new arc, but at same time ... it tried to connect with its predecessor. In doing so, it felt like TK was eager to return and repair damage from original series, but at same time wanted to move on and "restart" it in a better way. Either direction would be fine, but trying both at the same time didn't click for me.
Plot(twist) itself was okay-ish. Idea was good, but it has issues blending with already established world. Made me wonder how such a big thing had such weak dealing with it and how pessimistic whole ordeal sounds.

It is unclear whether author can (clearly want) proceed with more than one shot; can he make this a series. Despite having of fans, if I was well informed - Bleach was only one of Big 3 that ended up getting axed by Shonen. In any case, with news of anime returning (and fans talking about repairing damages) and this one-shot being announced, I was hoping more for return to stuff TK wanted to fix. He is immensely talented writer and I know if he were to return back, he could've done things way better.

Reason I am leaning more toward repairment is mostly because this whole one-shot gives some sort of Boruto vibes. Not that I mind having key character going from dad to kid, but I don't know would it work for Bleach.
From looks of things many were quite satisfied with this one shot, I wish I was too. Bleach was what got me into anime, yet it never reached its full potential.

In any case, time will tell. His art-style and character design are still amazing.