Bleach: Series 2 Part 1 (3 Discs) (UK)

Introduction

Paradigm shifts can be problematic endeavours. People are generally not too keen on change, and suddenly shifting the focus of a story can throw people out of the experience. With care, it can be made to work, and a good example is Aliens, an action movie that followed the sci-fi horror of Alien. But usually it feels like the creators are just tearing up the script and starting over, and if you have become invested in the first way of doing things, then the new way will have to overcome a degree of alienation to gather viewers back into the fold. That happens to a certain extent with Bleach in this second season. The first season introduced the characters, laid the ground rules and painted a complex world that I was enjoying exploring. The idea of supernatural battles taking place in the background of the real world was interesting, and the character dynamics that were introduced were certainly entertaining. But at the end of the previous volume, one of the characters was captured and sent to the Soul Society for punishment. With this new volume, only four of the familiar characters travel to the Soul Society on a rescue mission, and we wind up having to learn the rules of a new world, and get introduced to a gallery of new characters. It's almost like starting from scratch again with a brand new series, and much as I enjoyed the first season of Bleach, I really haven't been looking forward to this release.

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. Which is where we are at the start of this boxset.

Manga Entertainment, following the precedent of season 1, offer the first 12 episodes of season 2 on three 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, in this volume some of the on screen text has started being translated, which is an improvement over previous volumes. Also notable in this volume is the introduction of two new theme tunes and credit sequences.

Extras

Once again, these appear to be the Australian individual releases from Madman simply ported over and bundled up in a hemi-season boxset. These three discs correspond to volumes 6, 7 & 8.

Disc 1 has the second textless closing, Disc 2 & 3 have the third end sequence, Disc 1 has 19 line images in a Production Art gallery, and Disc 2 has 18, and disc 3 has 15. Disc 3 also has a handful of the usual Manga trailers, as well as trailer for the Wii Bleach game. Only one of the new textless closings is there. I say one, as the credit sequences vary in this arc, each focussing on a different Shinigami team.

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

Conclusion

I didn't appreciate the action moving from the interesting 'real' world to the wholly fantastical realm of the Shinigami. I didn't appreciate dropping all of the established characters except four, Orihime, Chad, Uryu and Ichigo. I didn't appreciate having a whole new world to get acquainted with. I didn't appreciate new character overload, so many that keeping names and faces straight is a thankless task. I didn't expect to enjoy this first half of the second season nearly as much as I did. From a whole heap of negative expectations, a positive glimmer appears, but it's a tentative and ephemeral thing. These twelve episodes of Bleach are distinctly average shonen fare, something of a let down compared to the awesome opening arc, and it's really just the strength of the characterisations that still keep me gripped. Ichigo, Orihime, Chad and Uryu are arguably the four most engaging of the Bleach cast, and the new characters we do encounter certainly match up to them. When the story starts to drag, the characterisations keep up the momentum.

There is a whole lot of filler to this arc, but then again, these shows that reach three figure episode runs do so for a reason. With Rukia imprisoned by the Shinigami, you'd think that it would be a simple rescue mission, go in, break out the condemned, and get out again. Not here, as there is a whole lot of running around, training, character confrontations, and emotional angst to expend, not to mention the requirement for our heroes to 'level up' at each opportunity. It turns out that the Soul Society is a bigger and more complex place than they had reckoned. The Shinigami are holed up in Seireitei, a complex boasting strong spiritual shields that our heroes have to break through. The other districts of the Soul Society, where different social strata of Wholes exist in the next world equivalent of Edo era Japan, surround Seireitei. Heaven ain't all it's cracked up to be, and getting into Seireitei is problematic when all four gates are guarded. The first thing that Ichigo and friends need is help cracking through the shield, and looking for that help they learn that the Shinigami aren't exactly revered in the Soul Society. They are more like the untouchable elite who aren't concerned with who they walk over.



They get help from the brash and busty Shiba Kukaku and her brother Ganju. Shiba is a spiritual explosives expert who can crack the shield long enough to get Ichigo and his friends through. Of course it means Ichigo will have to learn how to focus and control his spiritual energy, and as per convention, his mojo is bigger than everyone else's. Ganju has reason to hate the Shinigami, but when he sees how Ichigo differs from the usual bunch, he agrees to help. The four become five, or six if you count their feline guide Yoruichi, and once through the shield, the group ends up separated. They have to head for the tower where Rukia is being held in order to free her, but Seireitei is laid out like a labyrinth. Here's where the overload begins. The Shinigami are divided into 13 squads, and notable figures in each squad include the Captain and his or her Lieutenant, but there may be notable characters even further down the ranks. When Ichigo and his friends break in, all thirteen squads are scrambled after them. I've sat through 12 episodes and I still can't figure out just who is who. Ichigo gets to see most of the action, teamed up as he is with Ganju, and he faces several combats which follow the tried and trusted maxim of 'whatever doesn't kill me, makes me stronger'. His ultimate confrontation in these episodes is with Renji Abarai, Lieutenant of Squad 6 (led by Rukia's brother), and whom Ichigo bested in the real world when Rukia was apprehended. It's the ultimate rematch and well worth waiting for. Uryu and Orihime have their own enemies to face, while Chad takes care of himself with ease.

After four episodes of introduction to the Soul Society, what follows is pretty much fight and flight, but the action is always engaging, and the characterisations raise it above the level of a lightshow. It gets interesting around the final disc of the set. Abarai obviously has a past with Rukia, and his antagonistic behaviour with Ichigo is spurred by an irrational jealousy. We get to find out why in the final episode on this disc, as we see his past with Rukia. We also meet a lowly and wimpy member of Squad 4 named Hanataro Yamada, whose duties included tending to Rukia as she was held prisoner awaiting sentencing. His conversations with her led him to learn about Ichigo and the world from which he has come. Fascinated by this, he agrees to help Ichigo and Ganju storm the tower. And this is probably what is strongest about this arc, the back-story. All is not well in the realm of the Shinigami as we learn. Rukia's crimes are not such that they warrant the death penalty, but tantalising hints in Abarai's flashback episode, as well as the political manoeuvrings between the Shinigami Squads, layer intrigue and complexity on what is really quite a simple action fighting show. There is more than meets the eye to this arc, and hopefully the next boxset will shed some more light on the situation. I was also wondering what has been going on the human realm all this time, and the preview for episode 33 offers to answer that question, so it isn't all Soul Society.



While I did enjoy this arc more than I expected, one thing did disappoint me. I loved the Rukia Ichigo byplay in the first season; her abrasive and sarcastic personality invariably rubbed the morose Ichigo the wrong way, and made for some of the show's more delightful character moments. Not any more, as for the duration, Rukia is in prison, reflecting on and awaiting her fate. She's hardly the life and soul of the party anymore, and it was one reason that I had hoped that Shiba Kukaku would accompany Ichigo on his journey, as she has a similar effect on him. For some reason, I feel Bleach is lessened without a dynamic of that sort and it really does tell in these episodes.

Season 2 turns Bleach on its head, and nearly everything I liked about Season 1 is gone. Fortunately the story develops in such a way as to almost make up for the change in direction. It's still enjoyable and exciting. The characters are fun, and the action sequences are animated with energy. It just doesn't feel unique and original any longer. Solid anime entertainment though.