Bleach/Narm

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


As such a long runner series, there are MANY moments in Bleach that are supposed to be dramatic or tense...yet you can't help laughing.

ANIME

  • When Byakuya kills the Espada Zommari, Zommari loses it and starts yelling for Byakuya to...er... "Take my love from me!" It makes more sense if you know that he had a voodoo-based power called "amor," which is funny to begin with. This was a holdover from the manga. The anime lampshaded the "Take my love!" narm in the Post Episode Trailer: Isane stated that she didn't interrupt because she thought Zommari was proposing to Byakuya.
    • Add to that the revelation that he represented intoxication.
  • Zommari in general was one big narm, from his immobile pumpkin-like release to his "BANZAI! AIZEN-SAMA!" upon death. He was colored pink, which didn't help matters.
    • Making it even worse, one translation of that part had the line as "LIVE LONG AND PROSPER, AIZEN-SAMA!"
    • What you get when you cross Byakuya's pink flower petal bankai with Zommari's pink pumpkin sea urchin release is this [dead link] truly epic image from a dead serious fight.
    • Things get downright silly when the black Espada tries pulling the Fantastic Race Card.
  • Ichigo's Image Song, "Number One". Whenever Ichigo's about to kick major ass, this song starts up. It's sung in English, and it sounds like an R&B track from the Disney Channel. The only time it fits is when it's played during the episode with Don Kanonji because he's comic relief. Maybe Ichigo hears it in his head, and that's why he's frowning all the time.
  • The episodes that go into Nel's backstory as the third Espada lose drama because Nel retains her high-pitched kiddy voice even after she switches to her adult form. It's impossible to take the story seriously when she sounds like that.
    • It sounds a little better in the dub. The child and adult forms have the same voice actor, but her voice sounds appropriately more mature (although still high-pitched).
  • The opening Shoujo S is one of those openings that has a lot of dancing, like what Kyoto Animation has done. The problem is it looks like they based the dances off strippers, and it hardly fits Bleach at all.
  • Episode 155 has Espada 9, Aaroniero Arraruerie, disguised as Kaien, giving Rukia instructions to kill her friends. Rukia is kneeling down as in awaiting orders from her former lieutenant, and Aaroniero walks right up to her with his crotch-area practically in her face.
  • When Ichigo transforms into a shinigami for the first time, he screams "Feel the WRATH of my BLADE!"

Ichigo: Fiskfejs! Så här går det...när man fuckar med min familj! (Fish face! This is what happens...when you fuck with my family!)

  • Big Bad Aizen's transformations have steadily increased the Narm factor; he's gone from Bedsheet Ghost Aizen (leading people to joke that Kubo's finally let the assistant responsible for backgrounds design a character) to Mullet Aizen (the only difference between his normal self and this form is a mullet and inverted eye colors) to Butterflyzen.
  • Tousen's first words after he uses his resurrection are already hard to take seriously. The anime decides to make his voice high-pitched when he says them. Seriously, one almost expects him to shout "HELP ME, HELP ME!"
  • From the English dub's recap before episode 187:

Narrator: Renji delivered Makoto's Bakoto to Head Captain Yamamoto.

MANGA

  • Chapter 349 may well have set a record for the longest Big No in a manga, going on for two pages and forcing the speaker to take a breath before concluding it. Granted, the event in question is extremely traumatic, but Big Nos are seldom effective.
  • One moment toward the end of the Soul Society arc was turned into a Narm by sub-par amateur translations of the manga chapter. As Aizen advances on Rukia, who's practically paralyzed by his spiritual pressure, he tells her, "You must be paralyzed by my overwhelming power." Seriously, everyone knew he was a narcissist, but...
  • In Chapter 356, Barragan explains that each Espada embodies an aspect of death. While most of them are serious, he reveals his to be old age. Although it is an aspect of death, it seems out of place and breaks the serious tone.
    • In Real Life, society has tried to decouple death from old age for a long time. Thus, this is like the Mobile Suit Gundam anime's salt shortage.
  • The title of Chapter 363 - "Superchunky From Hell".
  • When everyone is fighting against Aizen all at once, Hitsugaya says he wants to "do violence" to Aizen. It's a line victim of a Blind Idiot Translation.
  • In chapter 393, it was revealed that Wonderweiss' - as in the dopey, childish arrancar - exists solely to counter the abilities of Yamamoto. It did not help that Wonderweiss' new form looks like a butterfly.
  • Chapter 403. What's supposed to be an awesome moment for Aizen is ruined by his RIDICULOUS new form.
  • The Heart. This phrase gets an entire page to itself. That might be overkill.
  • "I can see you...I CAN SEE YOU, KOMAMURA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
  • The series has spent the past 2-3 years building up to Aizen using a super-powered plot device to...grow himself a mullet.
    • And before that, we got the penultimate form of all evil in the universe, a tube sock, or as other people have called it, "the walking condom".
    • For what it's worth, Kubo finally managed to nail the One-Winged Angel thing in the iteration after that. Eldritch Abomination Aizen is genuinely terrifying.
    • Aizen's always been a smooth talker. His interaction with Ichigo in Chapter 388 has him talk about how he could easily stab Ichigo through the heart. But he lays it on so thick that it sounds more like he's hitting on him than threatening Ichigo with death.
    • The panel focusing on Aizen's finger as he tells Ichigo "Don't raise your voice like that, Ichigo Kurosaki."
    • Bondage Aizen. That is all.
  • In chapter 438, Ichigo begins working on getting his power back. When he finally has a breakthrough in this? His powers manifest as a swastika. It's not an actual swastika, being backwards, but the chapter it debuted in was actually entitled "Swastika Break."
    • I haven't seen it, but it might be a manji, which is this Buddhist religious symbol or something. That doesn't explain "Swastika Break" though....
      • "Swastika" is just a name for the symbol. It's not like a rainbow is suddenly called something else when it's not used in a gay pride parade.
  • This scene with Riruka pointing a weapon to Tsukishima's back would be more dramatic if not for the focus on the aggressor's legs and how her weapon looks like a fucking toy gun.
  • Chapter 456: The fight between Ichigo and the brainwashed Chad goes from a very tense one to pretty much Narm once Chad attempts to both fight and talk to Ichigo, pretty much repeating the lies implanted by Tsukishima in his mind. Good going, Tsukishima, now Chad almost sounds like a mix between a broken record and a complete moron.
  • Chapter 457: Moe's appearance would be a Crowning Moment of Awesome (and is still kinda is)... if not for how you can't help recalling the huge Idiot Ball he had glued to his hands when he appeared. The contrast is so stark that it makes his most recent scenes freaking weird.
  • Chapter 459: This scene is supposed to be dramatic, yeah. But not when Ichigo looks like he's giving Ginjo head all out in the open and the injured Ishida looks at them in envy.
  • Chapter 462: Ginjo's HORRIBLE new outfit. Did he take up fashion clues from Aizen?!
    • Also the Engrish title: "Why me sad".
    • Then there's the scene where Urahara knocks Orihime out and catches her so she won't fall to the ground...but the way it was drawn, it looks like he's about to grab her by the breasts from behind.
  • Chapter 463: It's not easy to take the Fullbringers seriously as they get ready to fight Ichigo and the shinigami...thanks to Riruka's Nice Hat looking more and more like bunny ears.
  • Chapter 468: What should be Ikakku's Crowning Moment of Awesome via giving Moe a speech in which he urges him to shake off his Undying Loyalty to Tsukishima is totally ruined when you notice that his face looks a LOT like his infamous Rape Face
  • Chapter 419, where Aizen enters the throes of Villainous Breakdown and begins shouting "Abandon your arrogance, human!" Also, his creepy Hollow form is made hilarious when we see that the skin of his face had been tied under his chin like a bonnet.
  • Komamura's reaction to Tousen-fly, telling him he is far uglier than he had imagined. Tousen previously being blind and Komamura having severe self image issues.

Komamura is not amused.

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