Shonen anime and manga have a tendency to feel larger than life--and not always in a good way. The biggest conventions of the genre include sweeping, near-endless stories, singular fight scenes that can last weeks or months, and rosters of characters so sprawling that learning who's who at any given moment can feel like a monumental task. But even so, there's a reason shonen series have maintained such a foothold in pop culture, even outside of niche anime fan communities. For as daunting and arcane as they can feel on the outside, once you're in, you're usually hooked for life. It's the getting in part that can be tricky.

This is why it's critical to find the right gateway--and thankfully, we're here to give you just that. What if I told you there was a perfect, immediately accessible shonen masterpiece ready to be binge-read immediately with one measly little $2.99 a month subscription fee? What if I also told you that the series was complete, clocking in at a very modest (seriously, don't panic) 686 chapters--so there's no need to worry about loose ends never being wrapped up, hiatuses interrupting the flow, or even just maintaining a week-to-week reading schedule?

Please, look no further than Kubo Tite's Bleach--one of the greatest and most criminally underrated shonen epics of all time.