| FSS Bleach Abridged | |
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Created By: |
Xelrog |
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Cast: |
Axell Noland |
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Episodes: |
4 episodes |
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Run: |
January 2016–Present |
Overview
Fourth Seat Studios' Bleach Abridged (abbreviated as FSS Bleach Abridged or FSSBA) is an ongoing abridged series parodying Tite Kubo's manga and anime series, Bleach. It was created and written by Xelrog and Jack Anderson, the founders of Fourth Seat Studios, both of whom also voice characters in the series. They also partner as the directors, with Xelrog being the editor as well. As of episode 3, Jack has taken over sound design, which was handled by Xelrog in episodes 1 and 2. The series is currently ongoing.
Xelrog and Jack were longtime friends who had been kicking around various jokes and headcanons for years, but they never quite got as much material out of any of the series they watched as Bleach. Eventually, these jokes evolved into something of a continuity, and the idea of an abridged series came up. In mid to late 2015, Xelrog scripted up some episodes, and the pair hosted a local casting call in the Vancouver, WA area. Through this, they recruited the rest of the cast of the series, who are all local and record their lines on site. After quite a bit of editing, and some learning along the way, episode 1 was released in January of 2016.
The series is heavily inspired by Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged, and deviates from the "rapid fire" humor used in many other abridged series in favor of a more paced satire. Because of this, however, the series has experienced difficulties being published on YouTube thanks to Content ID, and is currently only viewable on other video hosting websites. Fourth Seat Studios still maintains their YouTube channel, however, where they upload various FSSBA extras, their Fourth Seat production podcast, and their many video game livestreams.
Cast
Xelrog: Yasutora "Chad" Sado, Grant "Grand" Fisher, Soul Reaper, Tessai Tsukabishi, Tetsuzaemon Iba, Extras
Jack Anderson: Isshin Kurosaki, Acidwire
Washougal_Otaku: Ichigo Kurosaki, Kon, Keigo Asano, Mizuiro Kojima
Eli Omans: Rukia Kuchiki, Jinta Hanakari, Karin Kurosaki, Tatsuki Arisawa, Numb Chandelier
Wisp: Orihime Inoue, Chizuru Honsho, Ururu Tsumugiya, Yuzu Kurosaki, Extras
Axell Noland: Uryu Ishida, Kisuke Urahara
Marion Morrison: Don Kanonji, Extras
Rom_Black_Hart: Extras
Episodes
Episode 1: Ichigo and His Half-Ghost Friend
Ichigo meets Rukia, a shinigami/soul reaper, after she unceremoniously phases into his bedroom. As she reluctantly explains her job to him, the house is attacked by the hollow Fishbone D. Ichigo decides it would be a good idea to charge it head-on. It isn't. Rukia is seriously injured while protecting him and must give Ichigo some of her power in order to fight the hollow himself. Thus, Ichigo becomes a soul reaper.
Episode 2: Sora the Heartless
Ichigo's friends, Chad and Orihime, make their first appearances as Rukia announces that she's going to have to stay in the human world for a little while to regain the power Ichigo took from her. Later, after a suspicious encounter with Orihime, Ichigo is attacked by a hollow resembling her dead brother. The fight moves to Orihime's house, where Ichigo defeats the hollow and saves the day like the big damn hero he is.
Episode 3: The Fisher of Men
Ichigo suffers a nightmare about his mother's death, then goes to visit her grave with the rest of his family. He is pulled away from the trip by Rukia's appearance, and the two are attacked by a soul reaper sent from the soul society to retrieve Rukia. This fight is interrupted when a hollow again attacks Ichigo's family. It is revealed to be the hollow that killed Ichigo's mother, resulting in a dramatic confrontation between Ichigo and the hollow. Oh, and Rukia and the soul reaper help, too, I guess.
Episode 4: Cool Guys Don't Look at Soul Reapers
Rukia's soul pager shows hollows appearing and disappearing throughout the city constantly. The culprit reveals himself to be Uryu Ishida, a cool-guy vigilante with a decided beef against soul reapers. While Rukia gathers intel from her go-to guy, Kisuke, Ichigo and Uryu challenge each other to a duel. Hollows are lured to Karakura Town en masse, one of which attacks Orihime, hurting her friends and awakening her own spiritual powers.
Links
Fourth Seat Studios
On YouTube
On Vimeo
On Vidme
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Twitch
On Discord
Trivia
- Most of the recording for episodes 1 through 4 was done in a single day, with all of the cast gathered at a small church which had been rented for use as a recording space. Since then, cast members have recorded their lines individually at Xelrog's home sound studio.
- Episodes 1 and 2 were originally uploaded to YouTube with their full audio, but with a static screen covering the video with the message, "YouTube doesn't want you to see this video." When episode 3 was released, these versions were taken down and replaced with short, lighthearted messages from in-universe characters explaining the situation.
- In interactions with fans, Tite Kubo has listed several songs that he considers to be the unofficial theme songs for various characters in Bleach. These songs are often used in FSS Bleach Abridged during character introductions, as an homage.
- The title of episode 1, Ichigo and His Half-Ghost Friend, is based off of the Netflix description for Bleach when it was first offered on the streaming service. It described the series as "the adventures of Ichigo and his half-ghost friend, Rukia." The half-ghost joke is also made in the episode, but the reference is not made explicit.
- Episode 1's script originally called for Rukia to enter Ichigo's room, then fart, thinking that she couldn't be seen or heard. This was rewritten, as Jack thought it was in bad taste to include a fart joke in the first episode.
- A running gag in the series is that Rukia never seems to get anything she says right. The idea came up of employing a "Rukia Was Wrong" counter, but this idea was abandoned as it would be too similar to the "Krillin Gets Owned" counter in Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged.
- As a result of Ichigo Kurosaki, Keigo Asano, and Mizuiro Kojima all being voiced by Washougal_Otaku, there is a scene in episode 2 mostly composed of him talking to himself, and even speaking in triple unison once.
- In episode 3, when the hollow utters the line "My type," it is a reference to a similarly unsettling piece of dialogue from the Dragon Ball anime in which General Blue encounters a very young boy with glasses and thinks it to himself. This line was changed in the dub to be less... pedophile-y.