Ranked #363

Bleach - Fade to Black: Kimi no Na wo Yobu

Cliched? Overbearing? Far too full of machismo? Has more plot holes than a colander?

I must be talking about Bleach.

The one thing that has always bugged me about most of the long running shounen anime is how creatively deficient they become over time. Bleach, like Naruto et al, is a prime example of the "anime-turned-cash-cow" phenomenon that seems to be occurring more and more these days, and this latest effort, Fade to Black: Kimi no Na wo Yobu (FtB: I Call Your Name), represents the series at it's worst.

Since this is a movie, I won't go into the details of the story proper as I don't want to give anything away. That said, I would dearly love to know how and why Takahashi Natsuko, who wrote the screenplay for shows like "The Daughter of Twenty Faces" and "Moyashimon", and worked on the script for the first two seasons of "School Rumble", could ever claim that the screenplay for this movie was some sort of achievement? The plot, which any long term, reasonably intelligent, watcher of the series will know is more of a secondary consideration these days, actually had a lot of potential. But, like so many other things that Bleach has touched upon during it's long run, the more interesting things are never explored as there MUST be a scene where Ichigo comes flying in to save the day. People don't really watch shounen anime for it's cerebral nature, but there such a thing as going too far in the other direction.

Anyway, the plot is full of holes. Period. There isn't any real way to hide or disguise that fact, and frankly, the movie doesn't even try. Here's one example, and this one has bugged me for so long that I'm throwing this question out to everyone. Seireitei is supposed to be protected by a barrier of some sort (if I remember the whole rescue Rukia from certain death arc correctly - oh wait, that describes 70% of the episodes), so if that's the case, how the hell do the bad guys keep getting in? In particular, how does something like a hollow from Hueco Mundo get in to Seireitei? One would think that they'd guard against that in particular, especially after the whole Aizen thing.

The movie touches upon a number of themes, the typical shounen themes of friendship and never giving up are there, but the driver for the story is Rukia losingher memories of being a shinigami. One would think that this was simply a case of supernatural amnesia, but for some reason the cause is able to affect existence on a near unviersal scale. If that's the case, then the cause of Rukia's memory loss is potentially more powerful than Aizen, the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13 Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni, all of the Bountos, the Vizard, the Arrancar, and just about everyone else in the world.

See what I mean about holes?

As it stands, the movie is actually better if you don't know anything about the series, which is unfortunate as I thought the whole point of things like this was to add to the whole instead of being a glorified advert for the series (congratulations marketing department, you win this round).

The art and animation is decent enough on the whole, however there's some glaringly obvious problems, one of which is the fact that the characters look angry or constipated for a lot of the movie (especially Ichigo, even when he's "happy" he scowls). The faces are sometimes unnaturally distorted when the character is feeling some deep emotion (grief, for example), something which is only exacerbated with close ups of the character in question. There's also a number of scenes that feature something I call "unnatural body position", which simply means that on occasion the characters will look "odd" in some manner (the most common one I've seen involves the shoulders - watch and you'll see for yourself).

Animation-wise the movie manages to at least attain some respectability. The characters do move quite well, and the various combat sequences are pretty decent, but Bleach fans will know that the series is capable of much better than can be seen in this movie.

Most people will be familiar with the voice actors, especially if they're regular viewers of the series. The cast do a decent job overall, but in the end this is still just another episode of Bleach so there is a distinct lack of passion in the characters, however this is mainly due to the scripting and screenplay rather than the cast's acting ability. Morita Masakzu (Ichigo), for example, has a problem in that his character is supposed to be almost perpetually angry at something, and lives with a huge chip on his shoulder. This may seem like an interesting character at first, but after playing the role for this long without any real development to Ichigo as a character, it's understandable how one would be "bored" by now.

Which leads me neatly on to the characters themselves. Oh look, the gang's all here (minus Chad, Orihime and Ishida - surprisingly). The problem with Bleach as a whole is that it never really looks at developing it's characters in any meaningful way, and this movie is no exception to that tried an tested (on morons), method. As a single movie it can get away with lacking anything in the way of real character development, even though there was a feeble attempt to highlight the "bond" between Ichigo and Rukia. As part of the greater series though, the lack of any real progression makes this seem more like just another episode of Bleach - it's just a bit longer than normal.

I will admit that as an action movie this isn't too bad. If the purpose of the movie is to "entertain" then it does just that - barely. One of the problems with Fade to Black is that it has a tendency to ramble at times, especially during the conversations (no one seems to have heard of getting to the point). There's also a distinct lack of urgency about the characters, almost as if they're trying a bit too hard. Since this is a movie I can forgive a lot more than I would have if this were a series episode, and it's only because of this that I didn't give Fade to Black a lower score.

On the whole though, this is not the best effort to come from the Bleach stable. Diamond Dust Rebellion was actually superior to this in many ways, so this is effectively a step down for the series. That doesn't mean it's not enjoyable, it's just that there's an almost juvenile feeling to the movie, almost as if it was designed to cater to wide-eyed 13 year old fanboys than the more hardened anime fan.

It's sad, but it seems like Bleach has finally run out of steam. read more

Bleach: Fade to Black is the 3rd Bleach movie, after Memories of Nobody and Diamond Dust Rebellion. The main premise of the plot is Rukia has gone missing and everything she’s done has been forgotten by everyone in Soul Society, and characters in the real world as well, except Kon and soon Ichigo. The story then unfolds with Ichigo trying to find Rukia and attempting to force his former friends, who have lost all memory of him, to remember both him and Rukia.

The story is well written with very few, if any, plot holes or gaps that might leave the viewer slightly confused. While the main themes running through are simple, there is a lot of backstory, both created for the film, and from the original series, when Rukia first met Ichigo. The story also tends to focus on a few supporting characters as well, but the story does centralize around Rukia and her relationship with the other characters.

The art in Fade to Black is brilliant throughout. It all looks fantastic, both the character detail and the background art. The animation is smooth and fluid; with some great fight scenes portrayed flawlessly. This has some of the best art you’ll see in any of Bleach, however, when flashbacks occur to the original series, they don’t remain updated, but they look as they did when you first watched them. Some may like this, some may not, however, I thought it added a nostalgic feel to these scenes, and preferred this to if they had recreated those scenes.

The soundtrack is, again, very good. Taking the best pieces from the series soundtrack and using them as they should be. The background music always fits the mood and never once seems out of place, with emotional scores for the more expressive scenes, and fast paced classics for the fight scenes. The music being recognisable generally helps the feel of the film. The voice acting is done very well by all characters as expected of these voice actors who now must know these characters like the back of their hand. All the necessary emotion is there when it needs to be, and the characters really come to life because of it.

The central characters to the plot are, of course, Ichigo and Rukia. However, a large cast of supporting characters is brought in to help. Each character’s reaction to what’s occurring is portrayed very well, matching the character’s personality in the original perfectly. The main introduction of many of the secondary characters is for the fight scenes, be it with Ichigo throughout the course of the movie, or for the big fight at the end, but this doesn’t take away from their time on screen, as many of these characters are ones we don’t see enough of in the series, so seeing them in a proper fight is always exciting. The villains in the film are well written and interesting. Their motives are clear and understandable. They’re not just some mad people out to attack everyone because they feel like it; they’ve got a back-story and relations with other characters.

Overall, this movie was thoroughly enjoyable. It’s approachable if you’ve never watched an episode of Bleach before, but is better if you’ve seen at least the first 3 series (the whole of the Soul Society arc) and would perhaps help if you’ve seen further through to the Arrancar arc. It is fairly reminiscent of Ichigo’s first trip to Soul Society and the first story arc of the series, arguably the best point of Bleach so far, which works in it’s favour, and to any fan of Bleach, or this style of shonen anime in general, this film should be very pleasing to watch. read more