Yes, the hugely popular animé Bleach has aired in the USA on Cartoon Network. I have watched episode one and I must say… I'm impressed. Its not often you would hear me say this about a dub ^_^ Why am I impressed? Its not so much the quality of the dub itself in terms of voice acting (however it is solid), it is the fact that a lot was left intact. Original Japanese Opening and Ending? Tick. Japanese text left in? Tick. Swearing? Tick. Blood? Tick. Good translation? Tick. So far so good.
Studiopolis really have captured how a dub should be handled after the horrors of One Piece done by other firms. The pronunciation of the terms are pretty much spot on and the term Grim Reaper is used instead of the Japanese word Shinigami. The voice actor for Ichigo Kurasaki is done by Johnny Yong Bosch (Vash the Stampede, Kaneda and Kiba from Wolf's Rain) and does a convincing job conveying Ichigo in an English light. Rukia is voice acted by Michelle Ruff (Rabi-en-Rose in Di Gi Charat and Aoi Sakuraba in Ai Yori Aoshi) and while it is different from the Japanese original, she has brought her own flair. While not as deep and forceful as the original Japanese voice actor, Michelle does a good job overall including the pronunciation of the spells and of Zanpactou.
In some quarters people are slating the dub of Bleach but for me it marks a huge step up in quality for a large animé series. They even had the Japanese producer come over to help with the correct pronunciation of terms and names. As for a dirty comparison to the Naruto dub, this one is far better (Believe it!) and I hope the good work continues in episodes to come.
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