Ichigo Kurosaki is a 15 year old high school student with the ability to see, hear, talk, and touch spirits. While sitting in his room, a spirit of a samurai girl enters. Ichigo reveals that she's actually visible to him, and the girl named Rukia Kuchiki explains her identity and purpose. Rukia is a Soul Reaper, which are a group of spiritual samurai's from The Soul Society whose mission is to help wandering souls pass on. These wandering and harmless souls are called Wholes. However, another being of souls exist called Hollows. These are evil spirits with an endless hunger to devour souls and can even kill the living. The devoured souls eventually becomes Hollows themselves.

After a battle with a Hollow, Rukia is wounded protecting Ichigo. Unable to continue battle, she lends Ichigo her powers, thus turning him into a substitute Soul Reaper armed with an over-sized sword. After the battle, Ichigo must continue her mission to help all souls pass on plus defend the world from the Hollows.

Previous Seasons:

Bleach - The Substitute: Season One

Bleach - The Entry: Season Two

Bleach - The Rescue: Season Three




Bleach - Memories of Nobody: Movie One


Ichigo and Rukia are on a routine mission exterminating Hollows. They suddenly feel a huge spiritual pressure in another area and begin to investigate. A horde of spirits are passing by harmlessly on earth. Soon, a mysterious and unknown Soul Reaper appears and quickly disposes of the spirits. The Soul Reaper introduces herself by the name of Senna. Back in the Soul Society, intelligence reveals a new threat that will devastate both worlds. An unknown enemy is causing The Soul Society and the Earth to collide with each other. What exactly does this have to do with the mysterious spirits and Senna? -summary

Bleach: Memories of Nobody is the first movie of the long running 200+ episode series Bleach, and like all movies of any long running series that I've seen. The viewer MUST have knowledge of the series before coming into it. Those who are new to Bleach and are interested in it definitely need to see at least the first three seasons(episodes 1-63) before approaching this movie. Those who choose to come into it anyway with the hopes of "wetting your feet" to see if you should continue further, more than likely will see the movie as nonsensical, or whatever "cons" you can think of. You've been warned.

The movie has quite a bit going on for it. One thing I must point out immediately is the movie at no time clashes with the series storyline. Something Dragonball Z almost never got right. This movie can actually take place in the storyline and it feels official. To be exact, it feels as if it can take place between seasons three and four.

I have to admit, when coming into this I did set my expectations low, because these shonen type movies follow a certain formula; such as delivering a whole lot of story, then later dive into the action fest it's meant to be. For the most part it does follow that formula, but it keeps things interesting.

The addition of some of the new characters added a lot to the story. The writing is pretty solid, in the way that it gives the characters a real purpose instead of them merely being plot devices. The background story is rather tragic concerning the mysterious spirits that are later called Blanks, and the puzzle that is finally pieced together by the end turns out to be some very good storytelling. The ending itself is very good but really, one should see it coming. I found it to be too predictable.

One very bad aspect of the movie would be the villains. This is a huge blow for me. I always expect a charismatic villain that feels like a true threat. I just love tough and very evil villains. Unfortunately, the villains are nothing more than filler characters, with a purpose to die in battle with style, while fighting against the Soul Reaper Captains. Now speaking of the Captains, this is one part of the writing that I must also give credit to. Once again, unlike Dragonball Z(when concerning this particular movie) this movie doesn't display the side characters as weaklings to only get beat up, just so the hero can save the day. The characters are used quite well. Overall, the writing is pretty good but far from perfect.

The visuals are very good with the standout being the well animated battles. Some of the fights move fast, but the action is detailed and very little short cuts are taken. The battles are quite the spectacle. Artwork is every bit as good as the series and consistent. The soundtrack I feel is the only part in the style department that is lacking. Almost all of the songs from the series are used. For me, this actually nullifies the possible epic feel of the movie, and it feels like an extended episode.

Bleach: Memories of Nobody is a solid movie that will mainly appeal to fans of the series. It contains the usual violence and comedy of the series. The movie is 90 minutes long. The two disk collection comes with Japanese trailers of the movie, and two interview segments; which are Japanese production interviews and behind the scenes footage. The behind the scenes footage is the most interesting. You will get a small detailed recap of the series, interviews with English voice actors, plus a visit into Viz studio. Some good stuff, but mainly valuable to fans.

Pros:
-Nice battles, good story & ending, annoying cliches abandoned

Cons:
-Very uninteresting villains, not for casual fans, ending is predictable