Review for Bleach: Series 5 Part 1 (2 Discs) (UK)

Introduction

I've been trying to find a suitable analogue for the shonen anime genre. It's relatively easy with most other anime; you can equate mecha to sci-fi, harem to romantic comedy and so on and so forth. But these long running, interminable shows, with fights that last for several episodes, where the lead spends most of his time levelling up, and where there is oodles of melodrama, where enemies are defeated through superior willpower; they're a little harder to categorise. Then I realised… They're soap operas. Bear with me, for in your average soap opera, there are a similarly large number of characters to follow, lots of ups and downs, oodles of melodrama, lots of angst, and they fully engage the viewer in the small minutiae of the character's everyday lives, but if you stop to look at them objectively, you realise that nothing much happens overall. Your average soap opera runs for hundreds, if not thousands of episodes, and you may be utterly hooked by them, but if you make the mistake of stepping back from them, taking a break from the lives of these individuals, you may not be able to get back in. Ok, there aren't too many characters swinging big swords around, but I think that the comparison holds water. The only difference is that no one has thought to bring out Eastenders on DVD from episode 1. Anyway, today on Bleach, Jason Donovan will play Ichigo Kurosaki…


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 Kurosaki. 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.


It's been a while since we last saw a Hollow though, enamoured as we are of the Bount arc of filler. The Bounts are a tribe of humans gifted with spiritual powers much like the Quincies. Unlike the Quincies though, they derive their power by sucking the souls of humans, much like vampires, and for that reason they are considered bad. Especially now that under their leader Kariya, they aren't harvesting the recently departed as they used to, instead they are preying on the living. At least they were until they thoroughly kicked the butts of Ichigo and his friends. It was just a means to an end, and that end was the invasion of the Soul Society, where Kariya wants to exact his vengeance. The extended Season 4 saw the end of the Bount arc, and now Season 5 is the Bount vs. Soul Society arc. If you are tiring of filler, and would like to see the back of the Bounts, it may come as some comfort that Season 5 is comparatively short, at just 18 episodes in length.


The Shinigami of the Soul Society are in a heap of trouble when the Bounts invade, for Bounts live and prosper by sucking the energy of souls, the reishi. In the living world that is a finite resource, but the very fabric of the Soul Society itself is pure reishi. Simply by being there the Bounts may as well be invulnerable. Also, there may be something to the Bounts' search for revenge, as it turns out that the Bounts were created in the Soul Society a thousand years ago, by a now ostracised researcher named Rantao. Ichigo and his friends arrive hot on the heels of the Bounts. While they alone have the mod souls that allow them to detect the Bounts in the Soul Society, it's hard to tell what they may be able to do against Kariya and his cohorts.

The first eight episodes of Season 5 are presented on two discs courtesy of Manga Entertainment.

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

We get new menu screens from this instalment onwards, although the content on the discs remains the same. Each episode ends in an Illustrated Guide to Soul Reapers Golden comedy sketch.

Disc 1 has a textless closing sequence, along with 11 line-art images in a gallery.

Disc 2 has the closing sequence again, and 13 line-art images in a gallery, as well as trailers for the Bleach the Series, Bleach the Movie 1: Memories of Nobody, and Bleach the Movie 2: Diamond Dust Rebellion.

Conclusion

What we have here is three hours plus of people running around, waving swords at each other, with the occasional talky bit to insert a different flavour of monotony inside the monotony sandwich that is Bleach, the Bount filler. I can't believe that I once compared Bleach favourably to Naruto, as it is by far the dullest, most tedious example of a shonen action soap opera that I have encountered. I don't know if it is the filler, or if it is the story in general, but all of the personality, the style, and the energy that I noticed at first has vanished. Instead we have a repetitive cycle of boss battles, which may be inventive in how they are presented, may be animated well, and visually thrilling, but emotionally they are as meaningful and as relevant as sawdust.


I miss season 1. That had interesting characters, and an interesting storyline. Ichigo's sisters were a hoot. His classmates were lively. God! I even miss Don Kanonji, which is really saying something. I can't even remember the last time we saw a Hollow, which as I recall was the mission statement of a Shinigami.

In this set, the Bounts arrive in the Soul Society, where they have an infinite life cheat mode because of all the Reishi energy around. The Soul Reapers are rushed off their feet trying to defend, so it's a good thing that Ichigo and the others aren't too far behind. The first fight between Rukia and Yoshi, the woman with the sword and fan dolls is really quite enjoyable to watch, as it has a very Spaghetti Western feel to it. But the next battle is one of those ridiculous, ever-escalating explosions of power battles, with Rukia's brother Byakuya facing the Bount leader Kariya, until Ichigo crashes the party. It gets even more outlandish when Zaraki faces the renegade soul reaper Ichinose, and they start lobbing the spiritual equivalent of nukes at each other.


Comedy moments include Ganju getting beatings from his sister for wasting his time in the world of the living, working as a convenience store clerk, and Chad and Orihime learning to ride a pig. Also notable is that Ichigo goes Bankai mode during his fight with Kariya, he holds aloft his magic sword, calls out 'By the Power of Grayskull' and turns into Neo from the Matrix. Which is odd, because I seem to recall at the start of the Bount filler that he couldn't do it anymore. If there is a dramatic development to relate, it's when Ichigo and Uryu encounter the one who created the Bounts in the first place, Rantao, and she turns out to be the spitting image of Yoshino, the Bount that Uryu was sweet on before she was killed by Kariya. You'd think there would be some character moments here, some emotional development, but Rantao falls asleep instead.


Hardcore fans of Bleach will lap this up, filler or not. Casual fans really ought to think twice about how much they want this meaningless diversion in their collections. I thought I was a casual fan, but I'm finding it harder than ever to remember why I liked this show in the first place. Oh, well, at least the new theme tunes are nice.