User blog:Lemursrule/BLEACH 344 Review: Ikumi Unagiya has a van

Hello Bleach fans sorry I'm late. I had a horrible headache yesterday, and I could not even sit up straight without falling over, and today I have a lovely case of sinusitis. So sorry again for the delay on with the review!

Another good episode, not amazing, but still good. I know a lot (translation: people on the "fan" forums) complained about some scenes being cut and changed. (Sigh) look the anime is an ADAPTATION, not a frame-by-frame recreation. When you adapt a book or a comic into a film or TV show, some things need to be changed or modified in order to work. Now you really think that a fantasy story like Bleach would not have this kind of problem...well it does, I mean look at Harry Potter. Especially in Deathly Hallows: Part 2, some things had to be changed and certain events were moved around to help with pacing, the same thing goes with Bleach. I am glad that the anime team is being more flexible with the adaptation and moving and slightly changing certain events to work in the context of the anime. This is a good change in my opinion, because when they essentially animated the panels, what did we get...FILLER! Perhaps this way, filler could be avoided for a longer period of time. It would have been nice to have the Giriko and Riruka scene, but we were introduced to them last week, so the scene was unnecessary. Would it have been nice? Yes! Was it needed? No, it would have been a waste of time. Plus everyone is talking about an "Ichigo chocolate line" and apparently they were ready to kill Studio Pierrot. I do not remember that at all, and if I don't remember it, then it was not really that important, so I'm glad that it was cut. I also liked the added moment with Tsukishima, and how Studio Pierrot added the tension between Uryū and Tsukishima.

Now, this is not really directed towards anyone here, but I feel I needed to address this. One of the main reasons I joined this wiki was to get away from people who act like they know Japanese after watching a view anime, and act holier than though and trash everything that isn't "Japanese" enough. The reason I am brining this up is because people continue to complain about Viz's officially translations of Bleach, because they leave out honorifics and it "does not capture the original Japanese." First, you are going to take the translation of a fan scan group like manga reader over Viz who has been translated manga for 25 years. Now, I know sometimes Viz can be iffy, but they are still pretty good. For those who do not know, the reason why honorifics such as san and Kun are not translated is because we do not have them in the English language. Kun as in Kurosaki-Kun in English would translate to young Mr. Kurosaki, now would you run around and call a close friend that...no that would be weird. But the point is that these fan "experts" do not know Japanese, and Japanese to English is not a direct translation, there are certain things that do not translate to English. Translation is more of an art form, some people will like it, some will not, that's all there is to it. This video describes these "fans" perfectly.

I am not trying to be mean, but I want this wiki to continue to have the kind of users we have now, and to continue to be nice to each other.

Final Rundown

 * Story 8/10
 * Art/Animation 10/10
 * Sound Effects 10/10
 * Music 10/10
 * Acting 10/10
 * Omake 7/10

I give Bleach episode 344 a 9.2 out of 10. Remember to join me next Tuesday when I review Bleach episode 345, and join me on this Saturday when I review Bleach 227 dubbed.

Until next time!

--Lemursrule (talk) 21:02, October 19, 2011 (UTC)