Bleach: Memories of Nobody

Bleach: Memories of Nobody
The promotional poster for the film.
Directed by	Noriyuki Abe
Written by	Masashi Sogo Tite Kubo (original manga)
Starring	Japanese: Masakazu Morita Fumiko Orikasa Kentarō Itō Ryōtarō Okiayu Romi Paku Shin-ichiro Miki Fumihiko Tachiki Tomoko Kawakami Chiwa Saitō Masashi Ebara English: Johnny Yong Bosch Michelle Ruff Wally Wingert Dan Woren Steve Staley Michael Lindsay David Lodge Karen Strassman G.K. Bowes Troy Baker
Cinematography	Toshiyuki Fukushima
Edited by	Hidetoshi Okuda Junichi Uematsu
Music by	Shiro Sagisu
Distributed by	Toho Company, Ltd.
Release dates	December 16, 2006 June 11, 2008 October 20, 2008
Running time	90 minutes approx
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Bleach: Memories of Nobody is a Template:Fy animated film adaptation of the anime and manga series Bleach. Directed by Noriyuki Abe and written by Masashi Sogo, the film was first released in Japanese theaters on December 16, 2006. The DVD was released in Japan on September 5, 2007. To promote the film, the opening and closing credits for episodes 106 through 109 of the Bleach anime use footage from the film. The film's theme music is Overcome the Thousands of Nights (千の夜をこえて, Sen no Yoru o Koete) by Aqua Timez. The film had a limited theatrical release in America from June 11, 2008 to June 12, 2008,and in Canada on October 20, 2008 and was followed by the DVD release on October 14, 2008.

Plot

In Karakura Town, unidentifiable spirits begin appearing en masse. While attempting to deal with these strange souls, Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki meet Senna, a mysterious Soul Reaper who wipes out most of them. Senna refuses to answer any questions, so Ichigo is forced to follow her while Rukia tries to find out what's going on.

Meanwhile, in Soul Society, the real world is suddenly reflected in the sky, so Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Rangiku Matsumoto are sent to investigate. They meet up with Ichigo and discuss the events at the Urahara Shop, where Kisuke Urahara explains that a dimension between Soul Society and the real world, known as the Valley of Screams, has expanded to the point that it is connecting the two worlds.

The souls Ichigo saw earlier are known as "Blanks," souls that were lost in the space between the worlds and have been stripped of their memories. The Valley of Screams is composed of these Blanks, but they alone could not be responsible for the size to which it has grown. He goes on to explain that the lost memories of the Blanks will have formed into a single being known as the "Memory Rosary," and he has Ichigo track this being down.

Senna is eventually revealed to be the Memory Rosary, and a fair amount of the Gotei 13 shows up to deal with the problem. However, a mysterious group appears, identifying themselves as the "Dark Ones," and set their sights on Senna. The ancestors of the Dark Ones belonged to the Ryuudouji clan, who were one of the strongest noble families in Soul Society before they were exiled. Despite Ichigo's efforts, they succeed in capturing Senna.

Within the Valley of Screams, the Dark Ones attach Senna to a device powered by the Blanks. As concurrently explained by both the Dark Ones and Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the Blanks are naturally attracted to memories, which they lack. Senna, being composed of nothing but memories, will attract the Blanks, causing a chain reaction that will collapse the entire dimension. This in turn will cause the real world and Soul Society to collide, potentially annihilating both. The Dark Ones explain that their actions are to get revenge on Soul Society: they were Soul Reapers over a millennium ago, but were exiled and have since adapted to the Valley of Screams.

Unwilling to give up on Senna, Ichigo finds the portal into the Valley of Screams on the river. As he enters it, Rukia heads to Soul Society to get reinforcements. Since the only available portal into the Valley of Screams exists in the real world, and the process that will destroy both Soul Society and the real world will complete within an hour, General Yamamoto orders that the Kidō Cannon be fired at the dimension to obliterate it first. Yamamoto refuses to order a rescue mission with such a tight time frame.

Within the Valley, Ichigo finds himself overpowered by the sheer number of Blanks the Dark Ones have at their command. He is saved by the timely arrival of Kenpachi Zaraki, with lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi on his back. Aside from Zaraki, Soifon, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Izuru Kira, Byakuya Kuchiki, Rangiku Matsumoto, Tetsuzaemon Iba, Shūhei Hisagi, Ikkaku Madarame, and Yumichika Ayasegawa have also arrived to help. The group makes short work of most of the Dark Ones, leaving Ichigo to battle their leader, Ganryu. Though it takes Ichigo longer and takes a larger toll on him, he is victorious as well.

Despite having stopped the collapse of the Valley of Screams, the process is far enough along that the effect persists. Senna, now in control of the Blanks, sacrifices herself to use their power to push the two worlds apart once more since she did not want Ichigo to die, thus saving the inhabitants of both Soul Society and the real world.

Extremely weak, Senna asks Ichigo to take her back to the graveyard so that she can see her name on her gravestone. Though the gravestone does not have her name, Ichigo tells Senna that her name is on it, and as her vision is weak due to her life fading away, she believes him. Content that she once lived in the town and assured of her own separate existence, Senna evaporates. Rukia explains that once the power of the Blanks has faded, their memories of Senna will fade along with them. However, after the credits, Ichigo seems to remember Senna when the red ribbon he bought her floats down from the sky to him, and a girl resembling Senna is seen running past him.

New characters

Senna

• Voiced by: Chiwa Saito (Japanese); G.K. Bowes (English)

Senna (茜雫) is exclusively introduced in the movie. She is made completely of memories, created when souls were ejected from the circle of life, and is called the Memory Rosary. Despite her spunky, upbeat, and carefree personality, she is also haunted by the many memories that reside in her. In her gigai form she is dressed in a school uniform. When she transforms into a Soul Reaper, she wears the standard Soul Reaper uniform with a large red ribbon tied around her waist. Her Zanpakuto, called Mirokumaru (弥勒丸, lit. Maitreya circle), can summon and freely control small tornadoes containing lightning and adorned with many fall leaves swirling about. Its release command is "Call forth the twilight" (夕闇に誘え, Yūyami ni izanae, English: "Bring Them to the Twilight"), and takes the form of a Shaolin staff when released. Senna appears in the PSP video game Bleach: Heat the Soul 5 as a playable character.

Ganryu

• Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (Japanese); Troy Baker (English)

The leader of a banished clan from the Soul Society, his clan was sent into the Valley of Screams, the same place where the lost souls known as Blanks reside, where they learned to survive the restricted current that swallows everything it touches. He plans to use Senna, who is known as the Shinenju (the memories of the Blanks turned into a single soul), to use as a power source to set the world of the living and the Soul Society in a crash collision course to destroy either one if not both worlds. Ganryu truly believes that he should be the one to rule the Soul Society and would destroy anyone who gets in his way, especially Ichigo Kurosaki.

Reception

Bradley Meek of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews had expected to dislike the film, and found himself pleasantly surprised that he enjoyed the film. He felt that the film was made purely to please fans, and that those fans would. He criticized the opening sequence and some other scenes are excessively confusing and incoherent, but praises the character Senna as "a sweet character who is likeable from pretty much frame one." Anime News Network's Carl Kimlinger agreed that the film was primarily for series fan and would be confusing to newcomers to the franchise. While he felt the film followed the basic formula for "theatrical adaptations of long-running shounen series" and attempts to cram a lot in a short time, he also felt it was "unfailingly entertaining throughout" Fellow ANN reviewer Carlos Santos described it as "an extended filler episode" will the addition of new "disposable characters", however it notes that with a theatrical production budget the film is became "a jaw-dropping, fist-pumping 'Best Of' compilation of all the shikai, bankai, and fighting styles that make the series so dynamic". He had mixed feelings about the film's soundtrack, noting that most was lifted from the series while praising the few new musical pieces as being "well-written" and well used.

Beth Accomando of KPBS praised the film's artistry and the complex mix of themes and idealisms presented in the story. In particular, she found the films concept of "Blanks" conveyed "a deep spiritual sadness that provides unexpected depth to this supernatural action thriller." Chris Beveridge of Mania.com, felt the film met his expectations with its "high production values, a solid if predictable script and some really neat designs", yet noted that its weakness was its lack of relevance to the series and offers no permanent character growth.

External links

• Bleach: Memories of Nobody webpage Template:Ja icon
• "IGN - Bleach Movie Coming Stateside"