Bleach Movie 1: Memories of Nobody

Memories of an Irrelevant Movie

If you're a fan of the bleach series, this movie plays like an extended episode. For this reviewer, therein lies the problem.

While this movie is to the untrained eye mediocre, I find it to be tacked-on. At the end of this movie the story has progressed no more than where it started. In fact it may have regressed, leaving more questions than answers,questions that surely will never be brought up again in the series.

I am certain that no facet of this movie will even be mentioned by any primary, secondary, or even one of the huge numbers of 2D characters ... made up on the spot by the creators when they are needed to fill a plot-hole. The nail in this coffin is the fact that in the end of the movie, this is ensured.

This movie is a morbid waste of time if you are looking for a good story, I would recommend renting or borrowing it, this by no means implies that you should spend any money to watch it. Furthermore, I would recommend playing Pong in the time you have allotted to watch this movie, as it has a better plot.

A movie I find difficult to believe anyone would truly enjoy. The hardcore bleach fan will see it as a drawn-out filler episode, the shounen fighting fan will see the action as predictable as it can possibly be, and the rest of anime fandom will see it devoid of any production value whatsoever.

[b]Art[/b]
This is a movie. We have characters that don't blink, that each have their own permanent expression plastered on their face. There are many scenes in which the background is completely static while displaying people in the midst of conversion or actions. And this while 'rustling and mumbling' background ... effects play. It looks ridiculous and akin so something the History channel does when it displays still photographs. Again, this is a movie, not some episode they had 2 weeks to pump out. The shortcuts are distracting and ill-used.

[b]Story[/b]
There isn't anything you wont understand even if you only have the most cursory knowledge of Bleach. I have nothing more to add that wasn't already said in the opening statements. Plus, I am not a fan of spoilers.

[b]Character[b]
Typical Bleach. If you don't know what that means, then substitute bad shounen action a la Naruto. The dialogue is predictable. The reactions expected.

[b]Overall[/b]
For a 2006 production, this movie falls well below the standard. We are talking about the year of Haruhi and Code Geass. This movie seems as though it took about zero time to throw together, and as such is a poor final product.

Memories of Nobody is the quintessential example of everything that’s wrong with non-canon shounen movies.

Bleach’s worldbuilding is not exactly top tier to begin with, but that’s fine. It’s not that kind of story. I mean, there are no two ways about it. Tite Kubo’s ambition as a youth was to be a fashion designer. It’s not an accident that the element Bleach is best known for is its character design. The guy is a visual artist, first and foremost. Storytelling and worldbuilding are very much secondary skillsets. So far, in the canon, we’ve got the World of the Living, our world, Soul Society, the world ... of pure souls, Hueco Mundo, the world of corrupted souls, Hell, the world of sinful souls, and the Precipice, a sort of in-between world that separates it all. In principle, these are just fancy sets for Kubo to showcase his cool ass characters wearing all manner of fancy clothing in various locations and environments. They’re paper-thin and mostly just for show.

However, such as it is, Bleach’s worldbuilding works just fine for the story Tite-sensei wants to tell. It’s serviceable.

Alas, on top of that already tenuous worldbuilding, Memories of Nobody attempts to tack on even more cosmology. The movie adds 1 extra realm, the Valley of Screams. The problem with the Valley of Screams is that it’s just completely ill-conceived and doesn’t mesh with the larger Bleach cosmology. Urahara explains what the Valley of Screams is and how it works fairly early on. I listened to him, paid attention, and by the end of his monologue, it still didn’t really make sense. After listening to him explain it for a second time, I just gave it up as a bad job. Shit just doesn’t make sense. It’s exactly the kind of thing I would expect a fanfiction writer to come up with. “Hey, what if I came up with a new character called Sailor Sun???”

I also can’t really analyze any of the movie’s unique elements, because to talk about them would be to spoil them, and truth be told, the mystery of all of the new shit is the only thing keeping Memories of Nobody alive. Without you constantly asking “What the fuck is this? What the fuck is that? Who the fuck are you?”, the movie’s story instantly dies. Every aspect of the film is one-dimensional. As soon as something is explained, it’s like “Oh.” and that’s it. It doesn’t ever get any more development or complexity.

This is especially true of the villains. They’re neither Soul Reapers, nor Hollows, nor Arrancar, nor Quincy, nor regular humans. As such, you may find yourself thinking, oh, wow, I wonder who they are and what they’re about. The reveal is just about as generic as you can possibly think of and goes no further afterwards.

Have you ever looked at the way a character is designed and thought to yourself, man, you look like a filler character? That is effectively the malady plaguing all of Memories of Nobody’s villains. The main dude looks kind of not terrible, but also not exactly someone you will remember by tomorrow. “Hey, you know that guy Aizen? – Yes. – Well, let’s make that guy again, but worse in every way.” That’s how I roughly imagine the main bad guy’s design meeting went.

You have some limited involvement from the larger Bleach cast, but in true filler fashion, you get fanservice showing off only powers and abilities you’ve already seen in the show, but nothing beyond that. Additionally, the reason I call it fanservice is because I, at no point, got the impression that the Captains who used their bankai needed it. Are they weaker than the Caps who won their fights without using their bankai? No, it’s just that the latter group hadn’t gotten theirs revealed, whereas the former did, so you get to gratuitously see them again. It’s not difficult to hypothesize how these filler fight scenes are conceived. The studio cba coming up with a compelling reason for you to get hyped up about the action, so they’d much rather you just gawk at the shiny thing they’ve already shown you before, but now with 0 effort behind it. “Ooo, they did the thing!!!” Don’t ask questions. Just consume product and get excited for next product.

I would also like to comment specifically on the Supreme Commander. Fillers seem to have no idea how to write the guy. In almost every single Bleach filler I’ve seen, he seems to exist to just be an asshole and to antagonize Ichigo (and by extension, the audience) from the background. I say background because he never actually does anything, of course.

That leads me to another point. Memories of Nobody starts the tradition of Bleach fillers reinventing some kind of conflict between Ichigo and the Soul Reapers of Soul Society. “Hey, you know how everyone loved the Rukia rescue arc back when Ichigo and the Soul Reapers were enemies? – Yes. – Let’s do that again, but worse in every way.” That’s how I roughly imagine every single filler arc plot meeting goes.

Just about the only sorta good thing about the movie is the newly added main heroine, Senna. Again, I can’t really talk about her without spoiling, and the mystery of her identity is pretty much the entire lifeline of the movie, but a good chunk of the fandom seems to be fairly enamored with her. It’s not difficult to see why. She has a pleasant design that feels very derivative of Yoruichi. That’s not criticism, mind you. Yoruichi looks great, so it stands to reason that any character inspired by her would be nice, too. Bitch could very well be her daughter.

My only issue with Senna is that I found her personality and temperament obnoxious. This is not to be confused with me saying she’s unrealistic or anything. She is very realistic, but that’s part of the problem. I have entirely too much personal experience with women who are just as fickle and self-centered as her to have any patience left for the character. The perennial expectation is for everyone else around them to deal with their mood swings, whims, and tantrums, and if you don’t, you’re the asshole. Why? Because they’re hot? Yeah, sorry, she was cute, but not that cute.

Her entire character arc essentially amounts to Ichigo saying “Hey, please help us, this is serious! The fate of the world is at stake!” and her going “Lolno, watch me dance, teehee!”

In conclusion, if a movie that lives solely on the notion that it is confusing and mysterious sounds appealing to you, then I could potentially see you being tempted to watch Memories of Nobody, but given that every reveal feels ultimately pointless and superficial, I can’t recommend it in good conscience.

A fair number of people seem to like the film, but I can only guess it’s a consequence of not really having seen that many anime. Sure, if Bleach and Naruto are the only anime you’ve ever seen, perhaps you could watch this and have a milquetoast time, as I did when I first saw it in high school, but why would you? There is so much better content out there for you to occupy your time with.

If you’re not already a Bleach fan, would this sell you on the franchise? Doubtful.

P.S.: The supernatural shit that was being thrown around by the main bad guy during the climax (no pun intended) of the movie was some kind of white paste that looked like... well, you know exactly what it looked like.