Ranked #423

Bleach - The DiamondDust Rebellion

Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion takes place in the Bleach universe, as the title may suggest. It focuses mainly on 10th squad captain Hitsugaya Toshiro, so if you're a fan of him, you'll enjoy this movie, and if you're not, you might not find it interesting. If you're neither of the former, like me, you'll probably enjoy it too.

The story isn't the most original story you'll see, as it follows the theme of revenge based off of a grudge from the past. Said revenge will be executed by obliterating everything. So there's nothing special in that department. Toshiro gets involved in this act of revenge because he has a connection to the man who holds the grudge against Seireitei. One day, the King's Seal, a mysterious and powerful artifact, gets stolen from right under the noses of the squad protecting it (the 10th squad), and Toshiro ends up missing. Now, events that may change Seireitei begin to unfold. And that's where the movie starts off.

It gradually explores Toshiro's past with the man who wants to take revenge on Seireitei with sporadic flashbacks, that doesn't make a lot of sense at first, but they become more and more clear as the events in the movie unfold, and you soon get to learn the reason behind this man's grudge against Soul Society. While this way of telling the story is not something unseen, it works very well with this movie, and does give it some extra tension and entertainment value.

Long-time Bleach fans will probably enjoy this movie because we get to see many characters we've not seen fight for a long time fight. Among others, there's Zaraki at his craziest, Yoruichi and Soi Fon with their Shunko, and Ikkaku with his bankai. Of course, there's a lot of icy fighting courtesy of Toushiro.

Another thing I believe long-time Bleach fans will find enjoyable is the animation quality, which is at the very least astounding. With awesome lighting effects, very fluid character movements and high attention to detail, it surpasses the normal quality of Bleach's animation by many levels. If I could, I'd set the score to 15/10.

The soundtrack is awesome as well, with astounding tunes that fit right into the mood of the movie, amplifying the scenes and events as well as a soundtrack should. DDR's soundtrack is one of the few that gets the honor of being downloaded to my computer.

All in all, if you're a Bleach fan, don't hate Toshiro, and if you don't mind a classic revenge-based story, chances are you'll enjoy this movie.

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =) read more

Story: I don't want to give any spoilers, but basically if you've seen the trailer, you've seen the majority of the plot. It's not that the plot was bad at all; there were just a few random plot devices that were a bit strange, especially in the beginning with Ichigo's initial involvement in the story. If one compares it to the first Bleach movie (which of course is inevitable), this movie's plot was much better. There were a good amount of flashbacks which were done nicely as well.

Art: You can really see the difference here between the TV series and the movie. There were some excellent camera angles, scene changes, and special effects. At times, the camera took Ichigo's viewpoint; other times it took a grand, panoramic view of the scene. Of course, other movies have done that, but with such camera work/framing it gave the movie a more serious, artsy feel to it. It's good if you're like me and enjoy that stuff.

Sound: It has all the major themes of the series, plus a choral piece that gave me shivers, and several distinctly Japanese pieces that set the tone of the film exactly right. The seamless blending of sound and sight was perhaps the best part of the movie for me.

Character: Well, of course all of the Bleach characters are in character...with almost every soul society member and human (and quincy) making at least a cameo appearance. The villain was suitably well developed and somewhat sympathetic since he is featured in most of the flashbacks. Hitsugaya fans will enjoy getting a glimpse under his "icey" exterior during the flashbacks as well. I wasn't so fond of how emo he was, but it was at least tolerable and not too overdone.

Enjoyment: The reason why I didn't give a 10 for enjoyment (and why the overall score is a 9) is because there's not very many good battles in the movie. Let's face it, one reason Bleach is so great is because of the epic fights. I went to the movie specifically in the theater to see that epic quality on the big screen, and was a bit disappointed. There were a few somewhat boring "henchmen" fights, and the final battle was kind of anti-climactic. However, I did like the fact that the climax took place in Soul Society, where the captains could show off their full powers (though again, you don't get to see anything new or really exciting stuff happen).

In all, however, I very much recommend seeing this movie, whether you be a die hard fan or new to Bleach, or even if you don't like the series very much. This movie takes most of the good points from the series and puts it into one and a half hours of good entertainment. read more

Bleach - The DiamondDust Rebellion is the 2nd movie of the Bleach series. As a fan of Bleach, I dare not write this review until after I've re-watched the movie twice to be sure I did not miss anything crucial. If you just want some recommendation from someone who have watched this movie, I would watch it if you've read/watched Bleach before, otherwise you should skip it.

Story:
The main spot light of the story revolves around Hitsugaya's past when he was still a student in the spiritual academy and how he (and his friend) obtained their zanpakuto. The movie is full of holes to me for a number of reasons. Please excuse my use of language in the following spoiler.


1. How the hell can Hitsugaya bleed from the start to the end? His wound was never treated, in fact it got worsen after the encounter with Kira and Hisagi. Speaking of Kira and Hisagi, what happen to them after they got beaten the crap out of?

2. How the hell can a noob (I am referring to Kusaka) take out the 8th squad caption, Shunsui Kyoraku, when he does not even have bankai? I understand it was a "surprise" to Shunsui when he took off Kusaka's mask. Don't say because Kusaka was in possession of the King's Seal, because if the Seal is that powerful, Kusaka would not be defeated in the end.

3. Who the hell are those two arrancars following Kusaka? The story never mentions how they meet up with Kusaka and why the two decide to follow him on his quest for "revenge". Were they attracted to his personality, his "dream", or his "beauty"? Nothing was mentioned at all!

4. Why the hell can't there be two users using the same zanpakuto? The rule, as the excuse used by the central 46, was a very lame one to get the friends to start fighting. If it weren't for the central 46, this whole incident would never have happened. Come to think of it, I should be glad that Aizen took care of those good for nothings.

The list can go on and even extend to some of the ridiculous battles but we'll leave it at that.


Art:
As to be expected from a movie, the quality of the animation is much better than its TV counterpart. Nice camera angles and detailed battle scenes definitely one of the movie's strong point.

Sound:
The production crew decided to reuse quite a few battle themes from the TV series that we are all familiar with. In fact, there was only one or two new themes beside the ending song. The music has a nice melody and suits the varies scenes that they are accompanied with. The only downfall for me was the ending which I had a very hard time accepting.

Character:
It was nice to see some of Hitsugaya's past and we definitely see his character develop as the story unfolds. Most characters in the TV series made an appearance, which was quite hard to do considering the number of casts. It was good to see some action from Soi Fon and Yoruichi, Byakuya, and Kenpachi.

What was lacking was some background information on the two arrancars following Kusaka and how did Kusaka just manage to get reincarnated in Hueco Mundo .

Enjoyment + Overall:
The story, those a bit slow at times, was very attention-grabbing. It was easy to follow, and made me think a lot at the same time.

I would recommend this to any Bleach fan out there, especially those who like Hitsugaya. However, if you've never seen Bleach before then this movie will be a pile of confusing BS since characters come and go very quickly. read more

I'm going to have to disagree with the various positive reviews posted here.

First off, as a quick and painless summary, I must say that this movie does not in any way measure up to the quality of the first. By the end, I can honestly say I was bored. View a breakdown of the various subsections below.

The plot was not overly interesting. I, being a rather strict advocate of manga canon, was not overly enthused by "One zanpakutou, two owners" idea. In the movie's defense, however, I appreciated their portrayal of the Central 46 as strict and unwavering in their ideology. There were plot holes, as well as various cliched themes which recur commonly in anime, which would not have required that much effort or good writing to fix.
Ichigo going to Soul Society to fix all their problems for them is a theme which has been much overdone by this point, and frankly, is no longer interesting.

The animation was very underdone. At several points during it I found myself saying aloud, "Is this not a movie?" Let alone other animes, Bleach itself has had better animation during certain episodes. A large portion of the movie had standard "Bleach filler" animation quality. Even the more high budget scenes could have been better.

Why does Yoruichi pop into Soul Society whenever she feels like it?
Character stereotypes were whored to the point of being annoying. Yamamoto was a thick-headed idiot until the truth had clearly come to light. Soi Fon was still a Yoruichi fan girl who seemed to enjoy ripping off her robes every time something provoked her slightly. Hitsugaya was cold and unfriendly. Ichigo yelling at people solved all their problems once again. Ikkaku would NOT use bankai in that situation. And of course, the enemy is ridiculously powerful by some unknown means or by very little effort.

I did not particularly enjoy this movie. Compared to Memories of Nobody, I would consider it a near write-off. Memories of Nobody had a solid story, a worthy enemy, and emotional connection, all of which were simply absent in DiamondDust Rebellion.

Fade to Black, I shall hope you don't disappoint me. read more

I'm not going to be giving out any spoilers, either, but here's what I thought about the movie:

Overall, the plot was much better than the last movie's, but it was also a tad predictable and confusing at parts for me. Generally, though, it was alright, but I think Hitsu-haters will dislike this movie in general. But the fight scenes weren't as great as one would hope them to be.

The art is practically what you'd expect to see in the anime, though some parts were awkwardly drawn out and looked kind of funny to me...Like the artists tried way too hard to make a Hitsugaya as a child all cute and adorable.

My favorite part about the movie was the music. The music was intense! Some of the songs were so pretty, like the ones from the flashbacks. But this one song had some weird opera thing going on and it kind of made me go, "Um, okay?"

Character: Everyone's in character, obviously, but I disliked Hitsugaya's personality throughout the majority of the movie. Those of you who have seen it, I think we can all agree that he was actually ratther bratty and annoying at times. I think they did a good job with the villain, too, warping who used to be a good guy into a shady, plotting, vengeful character. Unlike the last movie, I actually liked the OC.

I enjoyed the movie overall, though the "final battle" came as a real disappointment and could have been so much better thought out. But it was pretty good other than that. read more

Diamond dust rebellion is about the robbery of a royal artifact whereby Hitsugaya, the 10th squad captain, is the main suspect and the real thief happens to be his old friend who was supposed to be dead.

The story was quite cliche in my opinion, typical story of revenge and manipulation. The idea of twin zampakutous is probably why i gave it a 7 in terms of originality. Other than that, i felt that the story did not fit so well with the anime, in terms of the capabilities of the characters as some of the characters' personalities were altered slightly to fit the stereotypical story of revenge and betrayal. It's as if there is no one stronger than Ichigo and he has to do everything. I would have actually preferred it if Hitsugaya got to have more action.<SPOILER> I mean for those who watched it already, how could the captain of the 8th squad be defeated so easily by a guy who hasn. even learnt his bankai?!<SPOILER>. I think the first movie invoked better emotions and feelings than this one. I felt no attraction to the show but at least the action is still good, i'll give it that much.

The art was ok, not the best that i have seen in bleach animation though. But got nothing bad to say either so moving on...

Sound was probably the best part of the show, the inserts were well timed to help create the atmosphere, i would expect no less of a movie anyway. I always liked the bleach inserts so maybe it's just me, some are recognizable from the anime...others not. (By inserts i'm refering to insert songs)

The characters were of a good standard, of course the focus is on Hitsugaya and Ichigo, but the other characters are not neglected at all. I would say for such a wide cast of characters, they do fit them quite nicely into the story and for that i would give it 7. Because i can't help but feel that Ichigo is the one always being singled out as special even when it's not about him.

I could only enjoy the show show for it's impressive display of action throughout, that's probably what kept me watching it. there was never a boring moment in the show as it carries along at quite a fast pace. However, the focus on ichigo and lack of comedy may have prevented me from giving a higher score.

Overall, the movie had better action than the first movie but the constant need for ichigo to be the center of the story makes it a bit boring and unintersting. There was no special factor that makes it stand out so i would say it's just an average show. Note that i'm looking at this movie from the point of view of someone who has watched the anime so there may be some biasness. read more

This movie is very much like a magic show put on to distract people from the steaming pile of garbage that is the story.

I love bleach the anime, but the story for this movie was really poorly done. There were huge logical loops, the pacing was confusing and jarring, and the final resolution made little sense in the larger context of sub creation. However, if you treat this as a non canon excuse for gorgeous fight sequences and more explosive action from your favorite characters, then heck yeah it's a ride. The fight choreography is, as usual, spot on, the voice acting is fine, the characters are, for the most part, the same lovable group you remember from the series (with the exception of that cardboard cutout of a villain placed there just to create opposition to the good guys, and the sound was very fitting stylistically, as it always is for the show.

The crime here is that without the story, the rest of it seems a bit empty. There was potential with investment, to create a great spin off story that would fit into the canon sub creation, and would simply deepen our understanding of various fan favorites, like Ice boy and his frozen dragon of awesome!

All in all, the movie is a bit like cotton candy, which is great for a carnival but not so good when it makes up all of dinner. I mean, even if you do a really good job cooking it, who really wants a cotton candy pork chop? read more

Story. Among all my acquaintance in my real life who watched bleach, I can pretty well describe myself as one whos properly the most fanatical fan of bleach among them. This movie had failed to hold onto my liking just because of the storyline

Art. There were some great animation of hitsugaya, as many should know, Hitsugaya Toushirou is one the most popular character among fans in Bleach. Thanks to it, this movie can at least be enjoyed by some hitsugaya fans. The movie would had better potential if the story was more well planed.

Sound. Its not like it turns horrible just cause of the storyline, its always nice to hear the roar of Hyorinmaru, it always helps to bring the excitement up, thus like I said, the only part where this movie gains popularity is all via attracting the fans of Hitsugaya Toushirou, owner of Hyorinmaru. The voice/Seiyu/tone of Hyorinmaru when it talked to Kusaka suits Hyorinmaru imo too. Hyorinmaru fans will fancy even more after watching the movie. I hope they will use the same Seiyu if Hyorinmaru happens to speak in the main series.

Now the characters, all the characters existed in the main series remains the same in the movie of course. Though I kind of dislike the purple Hyorinmaru Kusaka had. I mean since they are making having the same Hyorinmaru a crime, why not make it the same(white ice) all the way, thus it look more weird and unacceptable to the audiences as well rather than just Central 46 yelling 'NOT ALLOW!' 'NOT ALLOW' But as I said, I'm a big fan of bleach for years, so I will just leave it at 7. Since theres the appearance of others captains at the ending fight, each given the role to fight as well. Though I hate the fact Ikkaku released the bankai, just telling people around him to keep it a secret, like its a loose secret now..


In conclusion, I did not really enjoyed the story. It lacks a convincing storyline. To me the scripts was too randomly wrote.. I will never want to think this was actually wrote by Kubo Tite. This movie will truly brought me some bad impression of him if this was indeed his work and I will hope this was heavily edited due to certain limitation at resources during the production even if its really written by Kubo.

The following spoiler summary I wrote for the movie can describe why I thought so.



1.Bleach - The Diamonddust Rebellion describes 2 Shinigami in the past, Toushirou and a good buddy of his with flashbacks, where they left some regrets.. Heres how the flashback plot goes. Toushirou happens to acquire a similar Zanpaktou of his friend. (Not explained why the exception occurred -_-, they just said there were a duplicate Hyorinmaru and leave it at that) So the central 46 happened to learn this and decided this is not allowed. [Heres where the downhill starts, they just said, its not allowed, theres no further flashback/better elaboration on why its not allowed, they just left it not allowed just cause traditionally, its not allowed and the 2 friends are being forced to fight each other to the end so as to keep only the stronger owner of the similar Zanpaktou]

2.Then another part that make the story worse was when Kusaka announce he was revived as an arrancar(I assume hes one since he said he revived in Hueco Mundo, though theres no further elaboration what he had became) in Hueco Mundo, while his outfit was much more like a 'Vaizard?' more than an arrancar to me, THeres were even a hilarious part where he actually took off his entire mask and fought like a regular shinigami at the end. I mean, the story just went out of point from the original bleach series to me, how could arrancar took off their mask completely? He ends up more like a vaizard than an arrancar to me, even if he were to be the rare Vasto Lorde, they should had at least keep a portion of his mask, or at least elaborate why he is able to strip off his mask completely. An arrancar who can took off his mask completely goes out of my bleachverse belief.

3.Why does he still have his Shinigami Shihakusho even though hes no longer a Shinigami as he had a hollow mask, is he a vaizard not? or just some other something rasied in Hueco Mundo? even at the main series, only the few vastro lorde and a few arrancar are known to acquire human forms after becoming arrancars. Even if they did get human form, none of them are still able to completely strip off his mask, I mean look at Grimmjow, Nnoitora, the strongest of the Arrancars.. even they had a portion of their mask left.

4.Then follow the defeat of Kyouraku Shunsui. Shunsui was a captain level Shinigami for godsake, during his fight with Kusaka, he was like getting pwned by Kusaka in like a move.. I mean how could this happened? That Kusaka can barely take on Toushirou's bankai at ending even with the King Seal. Shunsui on the other hand lost like in a move.. till the ending there are still tons of questions marks on Kusaka's hollow background.

5.Now to the Ikkaku at the ending, the real Ikkaku I knew only used his bankai once, when he was in a near death situation, now at this movie, he just use it like no hesitation.
The movie tried to mark a peaceful ending, little did they know, many things are actually left unanswered..

When I discussed this movie with friends in my school (classmates of age 17-18), many, or should I said 'All' agreed with me, the previous movie, memories of nobody is definitely the better level to this movie, with the better story, emo part and convincing fights. So if you are around our age, I'll definitely recommend you the first movie rather than this...

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I'd like to keep my review for this one short and sweet, and summed up -

It just takes itself too seriously. Bleach doesn't need to get into pop psychology, people watch it for fights including shiny balls of reiatsu. This movie suffers, like the series, from the constant, unrealistic emotional problems facing the characters, portraying a very plain and cliche message of "you can count on your friends".

The story was nothing special. The art was, for a movie, quite unimpressive (Not really any better than the normal series). Sound was decent.

All in all this just felt like any average arc in the bleach series. Problem arises, solution comes in the form of Ichigo yelling emotionally and swinging his sword around. If you're into that, then by all means, give this movie a watch. read more

I just finished watching this movie, so it is still pretty fresh in my mind.

First off, I thought that the story was alright, nothing too amazing here. It's a pretty generic story, imo. Soul Society believes that someone has betrayed them and try to capture the culprit, without listening to anything that the person has to say and everything turns out to be a big misunderstanding, where Ichigo, as usual, comes to the rescue and saves the day.

The art and soundtrack is alright, pretty decent. However, it was nothing that really blew me away, pretty average.

The character development is pretty non-existent, considering that this is a Bleach movie and, therefore, has nothing to do with the actual storyline. Nonetheless, we do get to see into the past of Captain Hitsugaya, a bit. It did feel, though, as if it lacked something.

Overall the enjoyment factor of this movie, at least to me, was so-so. It was a movie that I could have waited for. It was not something that I had to see right away, after watching it.
The basic story is that the Captain's past caught up to him and he wants to correct it, and, in turn, the entire Soul Society misconstrues his intentions. Ichigo saves the day and that's pretty much it.

If you're watching this because you think that it will further advance the Bleach series storyline, then you're wrong. However, if you are an action buff then you should totally watch this because it has plenty of action sequences, but none that are too impressive.

I would rate this a 7/10. read more