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We’ve been a bit spoiled recently when it
comes to Blu-Ray. Manga have released several anime films on Blu-Ray
over the past few months, and even more are planned over the remainder of the
summer including this week’s triple hit of the first three Bleach films. |
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Bleach The Movie 3: Fade to Black hits the shelves alongside Blu-Ray re-issues of the first two Bleach films, and once again the film is a side story to the main Bleach series. This time almost all of the action takes place in Soul Society, and the human characters like Chad, Orihime and Uryu don't appear. Instead the story focuses strongly on Rukia and Ichigo, with the other main Soul Reaper characters filling out the cast as they try and apprehend Ichigo, believing him to be involved in disrupting Kurotsuchi's experiment. This leads |
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the story into two strands, the first is Ichigo trying to track down Rukia, and the second is Rukia's attempts to come to terms with her life with her siblings in the Rukon district. As the two stories converge there's plenty of drama, but it's the bonds that Rukia made with others that form the emotional heart of the film. The influence Rukia has had on Soul Society through her existence are profound, and those closest to her have lost the most. However, it's Rukia who suffers the most, she has vague memories that remain tantalisingly out of reach and the siblings' real goal remains ambiguous until the very end. Most of Manga's Blu-Ray
releases have been films, and there's generally good reason for it.
Films usually have a better visuals and sound than a TV series, they
often stretch the boundaries of established franchises in order to make
an impact on the big screen, and they often include spectacular set
pieces that they couldn't normally afford to make. Strangely
though this film kind of lacks the cinematic punch you might expect.
The animation is decent enough and the visuals are a step up from what
you see in the series, but there's nothing particularly spectacular
about them. The storyline is also a bit of a letdown, it's
interesting enough and has a couple of twists but it's nothing that
couldn't have been covered in a short story arc from the TV series.
The new characters are a bit bland, and the returning ones are largely
reset to how they were when they first appeared, treating Ichigo like an
enemy and attacking him on sight. On the plus side this means
there's plenty of action, with most of the Soul Reapers unleashing their
powers to combat both him and the Reishi creature created by
Kurotsuchi's failed experiment. Admittedly when the multi-tentacled
Lovecraftian Reishi monster turned up and started spraying jets of
creamy liquid over everyone and everything I started to wonder if I had
accidentally put on Urotsukidoji instead of Bleach, but
still, at least there was some decent action. |
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As is often the case with films based on long-running TV series, Bleach The Movie 3: Fade to Black is completely impenetrable to anyone who’s not familiar with the franchise. There’s little explanation as to who anyone is or what their powers are, and apart from a handful of grainy flashbacks there’s little background given on the events of the story so far. The film is aimed at fans of the series, and despite this there are some confusing inconsistencies that fans will pick up on. When all memory of Rukia is removed abilities relating to her time |
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as Soul Reaper are forgotten, for example Renji forgets his bankai as he learned it in order to save her. However, Ichigo loses none of his powers, and it's never explained why Kon doesn't forget who Rukia is. Kisuke is able to re-enter Soul Society with ease and even wears his old captain uniform despite being banished, and the only captains to use their Bankai are the ones we have seen do so in the series - despite the fact they are facing a threat that could destroy Soul Society. Captain General Yamamoto - the most powerful of all Soul Reapers -strikes the first blow against the Reishi beast created by the out-of-control experiment, and then does nothing else. You would expect him to continue fighting with so much at stake, but instead he does one thing and then disappears for the rest of the battle. It makes no sense. Bleach The Movie 3: Fade to Black is an entertaining enough film, but it doesn’t really step beyond what would be possible in the TV series. The storyline feels like one that could easily have been covered by a filler story arc, and it doesn’t really take advantage of the scope or budget the cinematic medium provides. As such the Blu-Ray version isn't as impressive as some of Manga's other releases, although the visuals and sound are improved there is less detail in the artwork than in films like Akira or Mardock Scramble, and everything takes place in largely familiar surroundings. This isn't a problem with Manga's encoding or anything like that, the film itself is lacking the kind of punch that makes a Blu-Ray release truly worthwhile. It's not a bad film despite the inconsistencies, there's some decent emotional scenes and the film re-affirms several of the key relationships that sit at the heart of the series. There's plenty of action, some decent drama and as spin-offs from long running anime franchises go it's certainly better than most. However, there's nothing particularly special about it, although it's the first part of the franchise where Kon is not totally annoying, so that has to count for something. Fans will no doubt lap it all up, but there could have been so much more to it. Extras: None on either the Blu-Ray or DVD, although there are some front-loading trailers if you select French as the menu option on the Blu-Ray. You expect more on Blu-Ray, and Manga's film releases generally have quite a lot of extras. Disappointing. Ratings Feature:
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