Bleach: Memories of Nobody

I was skeptical about this movie because of my experience with this companies other hit anime, Naruto, and the horrible movies they have put out. However, Bleach: Memories of Nobody fortunately breaks free of the pitfalls it's brother seems to. Bringing with it the characters you know and love it throws in a great story introducing new elements to the Shinigami (soul reaper for those English dubbers) realm, and creating a new character you can't help but like from the beginning. Granted, the enemies are a bit stale, and for the first 3/4 of the movie I was awaiting the revelation of perhaps some misguided ideal just to find out that nope, sorry, it's just as we said. I was just looking for something a bit deeper I guess, but Bleach hasn't really been about deep, just entertaining.

Anyways, it's a great movie, voice acting and story are wonderful, fight scenes seemed a bit lackluster to me (movie seemed more character oriented, which I actually like), and it wasn't until the end that you actually understand the name of the movie. Or maybe I'm just slow.

Anyways, good film! Definitely see it if you even just passively watch Bleach, it's a good movie for a rainy day, but people who haven't seen it before will probably be a bit lost.

The first feature length animated project based on the popular Shonen Jump manga proves to be a forgettable and redundant entry into the Bleach anime franchise. Instead of weaving an epic tale that would be a crucial turning point for the beloved Bleach characters and do justice to a heightened movie-styled animation budget, the production team decides to churn out what is in essence an extended TV series episode in which, rather conveniently thanks to a plot twist, nothing that happens in this movie has any place or effect in the main anime storyline. One could easily find a better way to spend 90 minutes and not miss a thing.

The story begins during a routine "Hollow" hunting when Ichigo and Ruika encounter strange spirits know as "Blanks". Initially confused by their sudden appearance, the plot thickens with the appearance of a mysterious new Soul Reaper named Senna who quickly befriends Ichigo. Slowly, the nature of Senna and the strange appearances of the spirits are revealed culminating with Ichigo and gang having to stop a age old feud by a group of Soul Reaper exiles who intend on destroying the world and the Soul society.

Face it, "Bleach: Memories of Nobody" is just an extended filler episode of the popular Bleach anime series. None of the characters get any further development and the cast of new characters do not add much to the soup. Senna especially was no doubt written to be a spunky yet likable girl with a carefree outlook on life, but thanks to either the script or the seiyuu (Japanese voice actress), she comes across as quite an irritant with her "sad" back story feeling forced into place to milk a few tears from the audience. Thankfully the returning cast from the TV series all deliver some adequate performances that fit their character personalities.(note: i have only watched the Japanese version thus far but i hear that the English dub has had much positive reception)

Despite having a movie sized budget, the animation still suffers from the same flaws that plague the TV series. Stiff character motion, flat backgrounds and frequent use of lazy looking animation short-cuts make this movie look even more like a glorified episode of the TV series. There are even a couple of scenes with very obvious "off-model" or disproportionate character art. Along with the overly bright cheery color scheme and minimally detailed artwork, the only "improvement" there is seems to be a greater usage of CGI for some backgrounds and special power effects.

Unless you are an existing fan of Bleach, this movie would fail to satisfy. As if the story were not confusing enough, No introductions or exposition is given hence newcomers would find it really difficult to watch this show and understand the various terms and Bleach lingo. As an anime movie, the production standards are sub-par and the story is plagued by some pacing issues. Top it off with one major cop-out ending(no it was not all a dream, but it is something close to that), and what you get is one major disappointment.

Basically, if you thought the TV series was good, "Bleach: Memories of Nobody" would not change your mind, but neither would it be increasing your impression about Bleach as a whole. If you thought the TV series was not up to expectations, this movie would only prove you right once more as you will find the same flaws here. A real treat for hardcore Bleach fanatics, and a real let down for fans of good anime movies.

I had never seen the Bleach series before, but I kept hearing great things about it. I got the opportunity to see this movie and was completely blown away. I was a little confused on some elements of the story, but they were easily cleared up by watching the first episode of the series.

The voice acting is incredible here, as is the animation. Everything about the movie is really well done. The story keeps you gripped the entire time, and you will wish to see more when the credits start to roll.

Definitely check this out, whether you are a big Bleach fan, or haven't dabbled in the series yet. It's a great film.

(2006) Bleach- The Movie : Memories Of Nobody JAPAN ANIMATION FANTASY/ ACTION ADVENTURE

To fully appreciate this Japan animation film, one would have to be familiar and enjoy the long running syndicated animation series which gives the notion of a 'grim reaper'- like powers and people's souls if a person were to already been dead or is already dead- what happens to their souls! The first film from the popular series which can be very moving at times, centers upon another alternate universe and the title character, Ichigo building a rapport with a young care-free girl he's never seen before, whose associated with that other universe and of course, people with unique capabilities coming after her, and why! What I love about this series and other Japan animations is that "one" would not have to spend, waste money to collect the comic series to enjoy this, since the story is faithfully taken straight out of the comic series from the creator himself, even though the two formats are slightly different, as opposed to other super hero characters that are English, and are milked completely from what they're worth. The other plus are the notion of the variety of weapons, mostly swords, except that they'll have it's own identity with unique abilities that 're not supposed to make sense, but are neat to look at whenever they're fighting!

There seem to be a huge important place for Japanese animation in today's world market. By now they have built a very solid, interlinked set of creative industries, and successfully spread them to a global scale. That industry has 3 vortexes: comic books, TV animation series, and films. The safety net for such an industry is that (as with Hollywood's bad films) there seems to be a hard core vast group of fans who will turn to these products and hysterically support them no matter what the product is. Well, the thing is, they would be careful if they want to stay in business for more than a few years, that strategy (ask Hollywood) wears out unless quality is taken care of.

I saw this in a kind of discreet student's moved session, where some of the hard-core blind fans were present.

Knowing the comics and the series seems to en richen the experience of this. I didn't know any of them. But that allowed me to understand how poor minds of dire fans work, as they weaved and clapped at things only because they knew it from the series, while the scene in itself was completely uninteresting.

The thing here had some legs to walk. The idea that memory creates time, and fills space, and having none is wandering with no objectives, in an uncertain land, with an uncertain fate. In other words, the idea that having a past can create your future.

But they were only interested in exploring the movements, the fights, and the cool side of having handsome characters with big weapons and big powers.

this probably has the same visual aspect of the TV series, unless the series production is rather poor.

My opinion: 1/5

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