Bleach 1: Strawberry and the Soul Reapers

Back then, I was about to start an English course. The level? A basic level—or more like an advanced basic level, if we want to be more specific. So, to warm up for the course, I started reading books whose stories I was familiar with.

Like the anime, the manga starts slow, but what bothered me more was the backstory of the side characters; it dragged the story a bit.

However, this was my favorite manga at the time, and I was reading its chapters weekly as they were released. The story was nearing its end, and we were exactly one year away from the ending.

I may pick up this one again in the near future, or I may just stick with the new anime, especially if the author fixes the rushed ending he left us with.