Bleach Movie 4: Jigoku-hen

When a soul has committed irredeemable sins, it is removed from the cycle of reincarnation monitored by the Soul Society, and the gates of Hell open to condemn the soul to eternal damnation. From this place from where no one has ever come back, three tormented souls who refer to themselves as Sinners of Hell burst in Karakura Town, where a ruthless fight involving them against the substitute Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends ensues. In the aftermath of the fight, Ichigo's sisters are abducted, with the aforementioned group's leader Shuren hoping to lure Ichigo to be finally freed from the chains of Hell.

Helped by a Sinner named Kokutou, Ichigo and his friends head to Hell for a rescue mission. However, the Soul Society opposes the journey, in fear of threatening the balance between worlds. As the lines between friends and foes get blurred, Ichigo will have to face his most challenging dilemma yet—a decision that may well engulf the three worlds into chaos.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kurosaki, Ichigo Main

Morita, Masakazu Japanese

Kuchiki, Rukia Main

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Abarai, Renji Main

Itou, Kentarou Japanese

Ishida, Uryuu Main

Sugiyama, Noriaki Japanese

Kokuto Main

Nakai, Kazuya Japanese

Cifer, Ulquiorra Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Hitsugaya, Toushirou Supporting

Park, Romi Japanese

Kuchiki, Byakuya Supporting

Okiayu, Ryoutarou Japanese

Inoue, Orihime Supporting

Matsuoka, Yuki Japanese

Matsumoto, Rangiku Supporting

Matsutani, Kaya Japanese

Kobayashi, Noriko Producer

Simone, Jamie Producer

Hagino, Ken Producer

Ishikawa, Tetsuya Assistant Producer

Reviews

Feb 21, 2024

Drakestalker

Recommended

Hell Verse is one of the few non-canon shounen movies that I can unreservedly say is good and worth watching.

My experience with the overwhelming majority of shounen movies is that none of them really have an engaging story. As kids, we would watch them strictly because they held the promise of better animation than their afferent TV shows. But at no point did we ever think, oh, man, what an amazingly engaging story Naruto’s Legend of the Stone of Gelel had! Wow, the plot of One Piece’s Clockwork Island Adventure really kept me on the edge of my seat.

Besides, filler movies typically are put in ... the position of having to cover a lot of ground early on, since they have to introduce completely new characters and concepts in order to tell a, so to speak, fresh story. Consequently, the first and second acts usually end up feeling like boring, meandering bullshit in the overwhelming majority of them. I dare you to tell me what happened for the first 60 fucking minutes of Memories of Nobody – before Ichigo and the main cast went to the Valley of Screams. I dare you, I double-dog dare you. The first and second acts took up a whole hour of runtime, and literally nothing of note happened.

Hell Verse, on the other hand, has 3 clearly defined acts and not a single one of them is boring. It wastes no time at all igniting the spark of its intrigue within the first 10 minutes, and from there on, it really offers nothing in the way of dull moments, with the exception of the 2 mercifully short scenes that separate the 1st and 2nd acts, and 2nd and 3rd acts respectively from each other. It is a story with a clear purpose that is always moving forwards. It comes as no surprise that it is the highest rated Bleach movie.

The opening scene is a flashback once more depicting the finale of the Ulquiorra vs. Ichigo fight from the Hueco Mundo arc, but with animation an order of magnitude better. To this day, it honestly holds up as some of the best battle animation I’ve ever seen outside of the Heaven’s Feel movies.

Granted, that scene is massive bait. It announces itself as self-evident that the movie will not maintain that level of godlike animation throughout its run. The production value does, however, remain consistently fantastic for the entirety of the film.

During the previous movies, while I could tell that studio Pierrot went the extra mile for the significant action scenes – the money shots, as it were – the films were otherwise chock-full of rough frames in their more mundane moments. Facial proportions would often make no sense, and in some cases, characters were unrecognizable as themselves. Let's call a spade a spade. The preceding movies had a penchant to look like garbage at times. All of that led me to draw the conclusion that significant parts of the material was being submitted under the mantra of “good enough”. Why? Why would you do that? Why try to get away with “good enough”? This is your theatrical release, isn’t it? Can't you dial in for once and put your best foot forward for this one 90-minute production?

Hell Verse does not share this problem. Make no mistake, I'm not suggesting that every scene and shot is prefect. I did, however get the distinct impression that the effort was put forth to make every single scene and shot look as good as reasonably possible. There are countless sakuga scenes that have made me come back to this movie again and again over the years. To this day, it holds up as one of the best-looking action anime movies ever made.

The cast of Hell Verse is also an order of magnitude better than that of any of its predecessors. Be it because Kubo played a role in designing them, however minor, or because of the performances of the voice actors, or just pure luck this time around, say, a stroke of inspiration, they are the most Bleach-feeling non-canon characters in the entire franchise, with the possible exception of Amagai from the new captain arc and Kusaka from DiamondDust Rebellion. Shuren and his cronies are not as good as those 2, but even the worst of them is still better than any of the bounts put together, or the nimrod clan from Memories of Nobody, or those 2 cretins from Fade to Black.

I would, nonetheless, put Kokuto, Hell Verse’s deuteragonist, above even Amagai. I fucking loved this dude. I would probably even go so far as to call him one of my top 10 favorite Bleach characters of all time. Everything about him, from his design, to his attitude, to his backstory, to his voice actor, all the way down to the look of his weapon and fighting style, it all came together to create a fantastic original character. He is voiced by Kazuya Nakai, the VA of Zoro from One Piece, so you know this motherfucker is a fucking G.

Broadly speaking, other than the extremely strong visual presentation, I believe that the success of Hell Verse can largely be credited to 2 fundamental factors.

Number one, no new cosmology or apocryphal backstory needed to be invented. The movie made use of cosmology that had already been established in the canon as early as episode 5, but then never expanded on. Bleach’s realm of Hell had captivated the fandom’s imagination for years. There was no better choice to stir curiosity and hype.

Number two, everybody and their mothers had a weebgasm when they saw Ichigo transform into the iconic Vasto Lorde form during his fight with Ulquiorra. We were all clamoring to see it happen again. It is precisely that desire that Hell Verse satisfies. No MacGuffin is needed, because Ichigo’s Vasto Lorde form in and of itself is the central plot device of the film. Will it be the answer to all of your prayers? Will it be as cool as in your fantasies? Will he perhaps learn how to control it and become godlike? These were all questions that obsessed the fandom at the time. Watch to find out!

I only have minor complaints about the movie.

For instance, Hell really doesn’t look all that sinister. You are served plenty of exposition assuring you that it is indeed a dreadful place, and – make no mistake – if you really think it through, it would truly be dismal experience to spend eternity there. Now, that's all fine and dandy, but what I take exception to isn’t the tell. It’s the show. All I'm saying is that the aesthetic of the place is nowhere near as dark or horrifying as I would have imagined- or wished it to be. At the very least, One Piece’s Impel Down was an order of magnitude more hellish than Bleach’s actual Hell. For what it’s worth, I did find it hilarious that the first level of Hell is basically an infinite expanse of Jewish brutalist architecture. Never change, Japan. Never change.

My one other complaint is that I would have simply liked the movie to be longer. Compared the rest of the motion picture, the third act is regrettably short. Some very cool shit happens at the end and I would have liked to see more of it.

To whom it may concern, Kubo released a one shot manga that acts as a prologue to the movie called Imaginary Number 01: The Unforgivens. In a nutshell, the chapter tells the story of Espada Aaroniero (#9) and Szayelaporro (#8), who end up in Hell following the events of the Hueco Mundo arc. The pair have a brief encounter with the movie’s antagonists. Still, neither the movie, nor The Unforgivens are to be considered canon, for Kubo has released a new one shot chapter teasing a new Bleach arc or sequel known as the echoing jaws of Hell arc. This shows us an entirely different concept of Hell, which will obviously be the canonical version going forward. Assuming the upcoming Hell arc will eventually get animated – and given the massive success of the TYBW sequel, I don’t see why it wouldn’t – it would mean that the anime’s continuity being broken in an obscene way.

This is effectively unprecedented. Filler arcs and movies have always existed as separate from the canonical content, but never outright contradicted it. You may have had the odd anachronism here and there, but nothing to this meaningful of a degree. While unfortunate, there is a reason for this departure from the norm. Let’s talk about it.

I mentioned earlier that Tite Kubo may have played a minor role in the making of the 4th Bleach movie. Beginning with 2009’s Strong World, Eiichiro Oda started a tradition of mangaka being more closely involved in the productions of movies based on their franchises. Following this trend, Kubo-sensei had been announced as overseeing production for Hell Verse. Point in case, he is credited as an executive director in the film. The Japanese DVD release of the movie, however, included a message from the man himself. In it, he claims that, well before the movie came out, he met with the scriptwriter and they had an incandescent exchange of great ideas about the possible directions in which they could take Bleach’s 4th theatrical installment. Alas, the final product revealed that pretty much none of the ideas they had discussed had been passed on to the director, and as such, were woefully missing from the movie. It is for this reason that Kubo-sensei has been very vocal about his desire to have his name be removed from the credits, but here we are. Whether this is evidence of Japanese humility, not wanting to get credit for something he doesn't believe he was involved with enough in order to deserve it, or whether he is honest-to-God resentful about the way the movie turned out, that's up to your own interpretation.

All of this is to say that we potentially missed out on an even better version of the film, but I am perfectly satisfied with the version we got. I've long said that the people pretending that Bleach is anything more than Dragon Ball Z with swords are delusional. That's exactly what it is. Bleach lives and dies with its flashy fights and cool character designs.

Hell Verse is just about the best that the original Bleach anime has ever looked, and if you're a fan, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 31, 2025

kirA_-_

Mixed Feelings

This is the last Bleach movie released so far, and like all of them, I think it’s just okay. Which is understandable there simply isn’t enough time to tell a complete story that includes good fights, well-written characters, and an engaging plot. In my opinion, every Bleach movie is missing at least one of those elements, usually more than one. As for Jigoku-hen, it has some solid fights, but it lacks in the other departments, especially the storyline.

The movie begins with Yuzu getting abducted and taken to Hell. Ichigo and his friends head there to rescue her before she’s turned into a soul doomed to ... remain there forever. I’d say the beginning is handled well we jump into the story quickly but it doesn’t feel confusing. We meet the villains early and get a basic idea of their goals. But from that point on, the story starts to fall apart.

The biggest issue for me is Hell itself. We have almost no understanding of how it works, and by the end of the movie, that doesn’t change. In the main series, Hell is only briefly mentioned, so there’s not much groundwork to build on. As a result, most of what happens in the movie feels random. Things just happen without any clear logic, rules, or explanation. I won’t get into heavy spoilers, but I will mention one thing from the synopsis,the chains. Why does removing them free the prisoners? Why can’t Hell put them back? How do we even know any of this is true? Because we know so little about Hell, these questions remain frustratingly unanswered. I’m not saying the movie gives us no answers at all, but it doesn’t give us enough.

Another issue is the power level of the villains. It doesn’t make much sense. These were once ordinary people—how did they get so powerful in Hell? The movie doesn’t explain that either, and it really should.

Even though this movie isn’t canon, Hell itself is. So as the first major introduction to it (assuming Kubo eventually writes a Hell arc), it feels like a weak one.

As for the characters it’s the same pattern as every other Bleach movie. A lot of characters are significantly weaker than they normally are (ehem ehem Ishida), and Ichigo is too, for some reason. That gets annoying pretty quickly—at least for me. We also don’t see many captains this time, aside from Hitsugaya and Byakuya, because apparently, they need to appear in every movie for some reason.

Overall, the movie is watchable and has good fight scenes. But if you’re expecting a deep, meaningful story, you’re in the wrong place. This is a watch-and-forget kind of experience. The animation, though that was great. No complaints there.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 4, 2023

ThatAnimeSnobRE

Not Recommended

Funny

Spoiler

The movie is supposed to take place in a timeline where the Fake Karakura battle never happened and Ichigo didn’t lose his powers. It starts with a flashy opening where Inner Hollow Mark 3 and Super Demon Clown Release Mark 2 are fighting over a pair of breasts called The Kurosaki-kun bimbo. If any of you are Ulqi fans and expect a rematch later on, SUCKEEERS NO MORE ULQI THEREAFTER. In reality this entire introduction scene is completely irrelevant to what follows next. Introductions are meant to foreshadow what comes next, but this is Bleach we are talking about so we might as well say ... it was very fitting after all. The really intelligent viewer will realize that THIS WILL BE RANDOM SHIT AS USUAL! ARE YOU REALLY EXPECTING SOME PLOT IN THIS MOVIE AND NOT COOL ACTION?

Anyways, after the flashy opening, the filler plot kicks in and we see Ichigo having a normal day in his life. Kicking random bullies, being kind hearted to dead kids, fighting with his father… Hey wait a second, why do all that seem so familiar? HEY, IT’S THE EXACT SAME THING THAT HAPPENED IN THE PILOT EPISODE! Damn Kubo, you ran out of ideas to the point you are repeating THE EXACT SAME PLOT from the series? … TWICE? … IN JUST TEN MINUTES?

Anyways, after that he goes to school where the only thing that is not happening is studying and learning. Such concepts do not exist in the Bleachverse and schools are places young people gather just for lame humor and piss poor romance that never leads anywhere waiting to happen. And indeed, random stuff start dropping and nobody suspects a thing. Yeah, some students almost got killed by the debris and the whole incident went by like nothing much happened. That makes sense, especially since the whole town has always been oblivious to all the mass destruction and murders that take place every three days.

Anyways, the school eventually blows up and these evil dudes attack, so Ichigo and his gang go to stop them… Hey, wait a second, why didn’t his sword fire that laser beam when he went bankai? Damn, more inconsistencies! Well whatever, it’s not like there are rules or restrictions in this show and as expected a flashy but completely random battle follows. For some reason the villains want Ichigo’s sisters but blow up his school instead. And when one of them is defeated he is taken to hell by that gate we haven’t seen since episode 5. Yeah, I guess every single Hollow that was defeated after that episode was not evil enough to deserve the gate… or Kubo just forgot about it until he decided to make this movie, which is nothing but a rehash of scenes from the main series. THIRD SCENE THAT REPEATS!

Ah Rukia is in this film too. Is she going to be kidnapped for the nth time so Ichigo can have something to do? … Nah, it can’t be, this time it’s his sister that needs saving, so we already have the same old objective. Rukia’s role is to kindly explain what happens in hell with her amazing drawing skills. Oh, and as usual she is useless in battle and thus she had to be saved by Sado… who appeared on that roof out of nowhere despite the fact he can’t fly with the speed of light like everybody else and was in the other side of the city ten seconds ago. Lovely consistency.

After that they are taken to hell by a guy from that place who claims he wants to help them get her back. They get to fight all the goons there and once again we see Kubo repeating scenes from the main series (*cough* Rukia defeats Espada 9) before it is revealed he is the big bad of the film and all that was a trick for Ichigo to go berserk and destroy the gate permanently so there will be no chains to keep them there. Surprisingly Ichigo’s sister is saved but Rukia gets captured in her stead, and now is all naked in chains and tortured by the big bad. Oh I see she finally got her real place in this movie and once again ICHIGO NEEDS TO SAVE HER! He goes to fight the villain and gets yet another power up just when he is about to be killed (yeah Kubo, that is the only thing you do to save your protagonist), and with it he magically beats the big bad and fixes the gate in a minute. The end. Isn’t it lovely when the main villain goes through all the trouble of setting up an elaborate plan against a complete idiot hero, who just storms in and never thinks anything, yet loses because the hero has plot armor? Doesn’t than make all efforts pointless if you are not the main lead who wins no matter what even with no brains or strategy? Am I overthinking this for a show called Bleach?

I must say this movie had by far the least amount of context. While the other three had some sparks of drama by focusing on a secondary character, over here we get squat. The main villain tries to offer some sort of drama over his grim existence in hell but who cares; he is a generic Big Bad for the sake of having something to fight. Plus it was as I described a collection of scenes from the series, thus not even the plot was anything new. So ok, they showed how hell looks like and gave Ichigo his SSJ4 form, all of which will be rendered useless when the main story will ACTUALLY be about hell.

The best part is of course the action scenes and only in terms of hollow (lol) entertainment. I can’t say I was thrilled with the coloring or the animation as they felt too blobby at times and less detailed and with less cinematics in shading than the previous movies. The soundtrack also felt weak this time as it was too much pop and too less cool in the sense it doesn’t make you feel anxiety and unrest.

There are still the usual clichés you find in any fighting shounen movie, it is still to the most part a parade of special attacks. Surprisingly, for the first time ever it was not about “Let’s save Soul Society for the millionth time” theme but “Let’s close the gates of hell” for a change. It even fooled us for awhile to think it was about saving a girl other than Rukia or Inoue before it finally returned to the good old Rukia… Plus now she was naked and chained; so double the service (and lol, she is the only one naked when the other captured males are still dressed; phallocracy ftw). Even the big bad’s identity is deceiving. The final showdown though was rushed and a cop-out; extremely disappointing even for the few remaining Bleachtards. Even this new form he gets looks rather lame; I was misled to think I was watching Saint Seya for a few seconds… Hey wait a second… Hell? Golden armor transformation? A rescue mission to save a chick? DAMN KUBO; LEAVE POOR SAINT SEYA ALONE!

Value and enjoyment ain’t much, and this time are even lower than usual because of the complete lack of personal drama. In all, Bleach went to hell with this movie (not that it was that far away from there the way it went under after the SS arc). If only there were Blanks and Sheena in the main series, which Aizen was going after in order to make the key, if only the Fake Karakura war was depicted like in Diamond Dust Rebellion and if only there was an Espada like those two kids in Fade to Black to give Rukia further role in the series, before hell breaks loose...
...if only...

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Bleach: Jigokuhen Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) SerB3128 - Aug 24, 2011	129 replies	by JackCompletes »» Nov 20, 5:45 PM
	Story? KaeroSnow - Oct 9, 2010	8 replies	by HozayfaHB »» Aug 15, 4:35 PM
	For those who have watched the new theatrical run of Hell verse... MKTun - Aug 25, 2022	3 replies	by cchigu »» Aug 26, 2022 7:53 AM
	Do i have to watch episode 299 first? El-Psy__Congroo - Aug 17, 2022	4 replies	by zyume »» Aug 17, 2022 11:13 PM
	Hell-Verse anniversary AMC theatres re-release?! Zen98 - Jul 2, 2022	2 replies	by YusufRed »» Jul 2, 2022 10:46 AM

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