Bleach: Series 2 Part 2

Introduction

I don't know how it's reflected in the sales figures, but the move to boxsets from a reviewer's point of view has been delightful. Trying to form an opinion on a series based on just 3 or 4 episodes is a big ask, especially when a series decides to get all experimental and divergent for a spell, but when you get 8, 12 or even all 24 episodes of a series to savour in one go, then that makes life so simple. It seems that audiences appreciate this as well, as the majority of new series from Manga Entertainment are being released that way. With their new arrangement with Funimation, it looks as if that policy will continue, and the half season boxset may soon overwhelm single-disc releases on shop shelves. But then you come across a series that gets all experimental and divergent for over 20 episodes, and you're back at square one. I really enjoyed season 1 of Bleach, but then everything changed for season 2. Four of the characters walked into the 'other' world, which brought with it new rules, new stories, and an army of new characters, and my appreciation began to wane. Here's hoping it will pick up again with the final two-fifths of the second season of Bleach.


You'd think that a teenager's life would be complicated enough if he could speak to ghosts. But that was only the beginning for Ichigo Kurasaki. When he literally bumped into a Shinigami named Rukia Kuchiki, he was introduced to a whole new world. The Shinigami's mission is to guide forlorn spirits known as Wholes to the Soul Society, and protect them and the living from Hollows, perverted spirits that have become monsters that prey on other souls, living or dead. They are not supposed to let the living know about this supernatural world, but not only does Ichigo see Rukia, circumstances force her to give him her powers, and train him to be a Shinigami while she regains her strength. Through their adventures, Ichigo learns that his classmates Orihime and Chad are similarly bestowed with spiritual abilities. He also meets Uryu Ishida, the last Quincy, heir to a tribe of spiritual warriors from the human world that once sought out and destroyed Hollows, before the Shinigami in turn eradicated them for disrupting the balance.


But Rukia's sojourn in the human realm wasn't sanctioned. She broke the rules by giving her powers to Ichigo, she broke the rules by teaching him how to be a Shinigami, and she broke the rules by staying in the human world to support him. Her own brother led the team to capture her and take her back to the Soul Society, where she now waits for the death sentence to be carried out. Ichigo wasn't going to stand for this, so guided by the talking cat Yoruichi, and after a couple of episodes of training montage a la Rocky, he, Orihime, Chad and Uryu set forth, through the gates of the Soul Society into the next world to rescue their friend. In the previous instalment, Ichigo and his friends had managed to break into the Shinigami stronghold of the Seireitei, with the aid of spiritual explosives expert Shiba Kukaku and her brother Ganju, who tagged along for the ride. They were split up on entering the complex, and Ichigo and Ganju got unlikely assistance from a member of the Soul Society named Hanataro Yamada, who got to know Rukia during her imprisonment, and is determined to help free her. But the arrival of the heroes in the Shinigami realm has provoked an unlikely response, with the Shinigami squads now on a war footing, and at each others throats as they race to deal with the interlopers.

Manga Entertainment offer the final 9 episodes of season 2 on two discs.

Picture

Bleach gets a 4:3 transfer that, other than the usual NTSC-PAL conversion issues, is unproblematic. The image is clear enough, the colours strong and vibrant, and the picture is as sharp as you would expect. It's a fun, colourful animation, heavy on the primary colours, and the character and world designs have universal appeal. Given that it is a long running show, you wouldn't expect a great deal of detail and frippery, but though the animation is simple, it's also very dynamic, especially in the action sequences.

Sound

You get a choice of DD 2.0 English or Japanese with a sole translated subtitle track to accompany them. The dialogue is clear, the show has some nice music, and it is all presented as vibrantly and competently as you would expect from stereo soundtracks. I've also noticed that while there is only the single subtitle track, the on screen text continues to be translated, which is an improvement over the first season.

Extras

These still appear to be the Australian individual releases from Madman simply ported over and bundled up in a hemi-season boxset. These two discs correspond to volumes 9 & 10.

Disc 1 has a textless closing sequence, along with 14 line-art images in a gallery.

Disc 2 has the new textless closing sequence, 20 line-art images in a gallery, and trailers for Naruto: The Movie, MAR, Buso Renkin and Death Note.

There may be additional goodies in the packaging, but having received the review discs only, I cannot say.

Conclusion

Bleach has all gone a bit Yu Yu Hakusho for me. Yu Yu Hakusho was another long running spooktacular anime that had a great premise, and appeared to follow it for a few episodes, but then it degenerated into a tournament format that to me was the animated equivalent of World Wrestling Entertainment. Bleach had an excellent start, 20 episodes that not only introduced a set of characters and created an interesting world for them to inhabit, but told a damned interesting story into the bargain. Then with the start of the second series, the format changed, as did the story, and for me the momentum of the show was lost. I ended my last review with the hope that Bleach would get back to that promising start quickly after ditching the Soul Society arc. That's not to be with the end of the second series, indeed I'm now getting the feeling that this is actually what Bleach's writers truly intend, and that first series was just an aberration that got out of hand.


This isn't a tournament anime by the way, but it is one of those running around, defeating opponents, upping the stats anime, which sees the main characters repeatedly brought to the verge of death, suffering blows that would mince any lesser mortal, but then instantly healing seemingly fatal wounds through sheer willpower alone, to once again come back and defeat their opponents. So it's pretty close to a tournament. There's one fight in this set between Ichigo and Kenpachi that boils down to a litany of one-upmanship, ever increasing explosions of chi, as the two compete to prove who is the more determined. I was expecting one of them to explode like a nuclear bomb half way through. At no point while watching an anime should you swear at the TV, once that happens, there's no hope for a show.


That said, there were two moments when I was happy during this two-disc set. One was the first episode, which took us back to the real world, to see what was happening while Ichigo and his friends are off in the Soul Society. It's an entertaining diversion that sees a stray cat that Ichigo's sister Yuzu has picked up, attracting a horde of Hollows to their town. TV super-psychic Don Kanonji returns (Bohahaha!) to start up a superteam of spirit defenders, and he's recruiting from the kids of the town. Ichigo's sisters Karin and Yuzu are recruited, as well as the little helpers from Uruhara's shop. It's a fun diversion that shows some of what made the first season of Bleach so interesting for me.


We're back to the Soul Society after this to see what is happening with the rescue attempt. Not a lot apparently, as while Ichigo, Chad, Orihime and Uryu may be the most interesting of the Bleach cast, the show makes the mistake of splitting them up when they enter the Seireitei. Of Orihime and Uryu, we see neither hide nor hair during these nine episodes, while Chad has a one on one battle with a camp looking Shinigami Captain that lasts a couple of episodes. The rest of the time is spent with Ichigo, Ganju and Hanataro as they make their way to the tower, facing whatever obstacles arise in their path. That and the politicking and backstabbing that go in the Soul Society, as the various Shinigami Squads vie for power. Except that Bleach has given me no reason to care about any of that.


The fighting through sheer willpower, increasingly tough end-of-level bosses, and constant levelling up of abilities is pure Naruto, but Bleach isn't a patch on Naruto in the way that it accomplishes this. Naruto always takes the time, however much of a distraction it may seem, to actually build up the characters and fill in their back-story, so that by the time the actual battle arrives, you're invested in the characters. Not so with Bleach, which gave us character overload as soon as we entered the Soul Society, with at least 26 new characters among the Shinigami ranks to keep track of. While you can do that at leisure with the manga, with the anime you only have 22 minutes an episode to try and take everything in. Something has to give, and the way that Bleach does it, it's impossible for me to care a whit about anyone in a fight with our heroes. We get an explosive and well-animated fight sequence, followed, when one of the combatants is at death's door, by a flashback that tells us who they are and what their motivation is. For me, by that point it's too late, it's fixing the barn door after the horse has bolted. I don't care about any of these new characters, and I certainly don't care about the story that has been unfolding in the higher echelons of the Soul Society, I just want Ichigo and his friends to find Rukia and get back to the real world.


And then in the final episode it happens. After Ichigo comes back from death's door for like the fourth time in this set of episodes, and Yoruichi undergoes a transformation that reminds me strongly of Manimal, Ichigo is reunited with Rukia. It's just a few minutes worth, but the byplay and the character interaction finally reminded me of why I enjoyed Bleach in the first place. I'm probably being hopelessly optimistic, but I hope that the third season can at least bring the main characters together again, as it's the byplay between them that makes the show strong, and having them separate for these nine episodes has been the most detrimental thing about the show. If you were hooked by the first season, then there's no return to that on the horizon just yet, but if the Soul Society arc is what appeals to you most about Bleach, then these discs are probably a must have. They made me swear at my TV though.