BLEACH – THE ENTRY (ANIME VOLUME 6)
September 15th 2008 22:34
Category: Videos, Television
Based on the original Bleach manga by: Tite Kubo.
Director: Noriyuki Abe.
Screenplay by: Masahi Sogo et al.
Producers: Noriko Kobayashi (TV Tokyo), Yutaka Sugiyama & Ken Hagino.
Starring: Johnny Yong Bosch (Ichigo Kurosaki), Michelle Ruff (Rukia Kuchiki), Stephanie Sheh (Orihime Inoue), Derek Stephen Price (Uryu Ishida), Jamieson Price (Chad), Terrence Stone (Yoruichi cat form) & Wendee Lee (Yoruichi human form).
Produced by: TV Tokyo, dentsu & studio Pierrot.
English version produced by: VIZ Media LLC.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 100 minutes. Rating: M.
Usually most anime series run for a double figure count of episodes, a rare few only go single digit and even fewer still go for a triple figure count of episodes. Of these Naruto has been going for over two hundred plus episodes and with the advent of Naruto Shippuden the count could be getting up around the triple century mark, pretty impressive, the anime series of Bleach is another triple figure series. Interestingly both shows air on the same network in their country of origin, TV Tokyo, and both are made by the same group of people TV Tokyo/studio Pierrot. Perhaps this combo knows some secret to the success of making long running anime series, no doubt tied into the original manga on which each series has been based. After all both the Naruto and Bleach manga series have reached double digit figures in volumes so for an anime series there is plenty of material to work with.
Ichigo Kurosaki is a high school student who on the surface apart from his bright orange hair would seem to be like any other fairly average male high school student at any other similar school anywhere else in Japan. But Ichigo is not an average high school student, he can see dead people and even communicate with them, he can also see Soul Reapers and it is an encounter with one particular Soul Reaper in question that inadvertently and drastically changes the entire fabric of Ichigo’s life from that point on. He agrees to substitute as a soul reaper whilst Rukia who has lost all of her spirit energy in the clash in which she first met Ichigo recovers her powers. At first Ichigo isn’t too keen on the idea but he eventually comes round when he realises that he does own this strange woman his life and that of his family.
It precisely because he has this debt of gratitude that when he realises that Rukia has been sentenced to execution by her fellow soul reapers for various offences that he knows he has to rescue her. It seems that in the eyes of her fellow soul reapers, in particular the big wigs in charge of the Soul Society, her actions in the mortal world are at the very least questionable if not punishable. Her failure to return back to Soul Society once her initial mission was completed along with transferring her powers and various other offences have landed her in hot water, but it seems as if the punishment far outweighs that reserved for her offences. In fact even amongst the ranks of the soul reapers there are misgivings in regards as to how Rukia has been judged and sentenced.
Enter Ichigo and his friends, Chad, Orihime, Uryu and the talking cat Yoruichi. Girding their proverbial loins the group dares to enter the Soul Society itself and attempt to rescue Rukia from the clutches of her captors. It’s a dangerous undertaking to say the least and it seems that even the very act of actually making it into the Soul Society is fraught with terminal menace. After all this is not a place that can be entered by the living, so the four friends are there in spirit form and if that spirit form should be destroyed then its very much all over bar the singing. Their opponents are well aware that they are coming; in fact the very first thing that opens this volume in the first episode is a warning being sounded and soul reapers rushing to meet the danger. Then the drama swiftly moves to Ichigo and his friends racing through a collapsing tunnel behind Yoruichi in black cat form.
For an alleged expert on the Soul Society Yoruichi isn’t to cluey on the cleaning schedule for the various tunnels leading into the Soul Society, as to make things more complicated the tunnel down which the five are running is also being cleaned by the Cleaner, a large ball with a blazing light that makes the rolling boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark seem tame in comparison. Rule one when attempting infiltration into enemy territory – know their routines, know the dangers, this is something that Yoruichi has seemed to have forgotten. Still with the quick thinking of Orihime they manage to make their egress into the Soul Society, the realm of their foes. Things are definitely looking up for their rescue attempt. But in reality their endeavours are only just beginning…
Landing in the region of the Soul Society known as the Rukon district, the poorest part of this enigmatic realm yet paradoxically the one with the greatest freedom for those who reside their. Strangely though for a place that should be teeming with souls and life it seems very much silent and deserted. You get the feeling of it being like a Wild West ghost town or a village before a major landscape altering confrontation between two samurai of immense spiritual power and strength. Which is a nice segue as Ichigo taking in his surroundings suddenly notices that one part of the area is different from the Rukon district, then it suddenly clicks the area where he’s looking must be the one where the soul reapers dwell, the Seireitei.
The structure of the Soul Society is essentially that of a circle within a circle, the outer perimeter comprising of districts like that of the Rukon whilst the inner circle is the Seireitei, the abode of the soul reapers. Upon catching a glimpse of their ultimate destination Ichigo naturally bounds towards the place, totally oblivious to the warnings of the black cat Yoruichi. Ah the boundless enthusiasm and confidence of the youthful, unfortunately ichigo gets a whole lot more than he bargained for, as he gets close to the fringes of the Seireitei a huge wall manifests itself, falling from the literal heavens and landing with a tremendous gale, and don’t get me started on the gatekeeper, the humungous Jidanbo, Gatekeeper of the Hakuto Gate.
Obviously rescuing Rukia from the Seireitei is not going to be a cake walk by any standards, and Ichigo and his friends are only on the fringes of this region. If Jidanbo is anything to measure soul reapers by those on the other side of the wall must be something else entirely, especially the Captains who command the various squads of soul reapers that carry out the task of defending the soul society and their Hollow fighting duties in the mortal world. I was glad I managed to get a copy of this anime volume, I’ve been a fan of the manga and wanted to see how it played as an anime and was impressed. It was blind chance that I managed to come across it, walking around in the local shopping precinct I came across in the most unlikely of spots and purchased it post haste. Well worth the money I spent and if you get a chance to catch it its well worth sitting back to watch for some easy viewing pleasure.
Director: Noriyuki Abe.
Screenplay by: Masahi Sogo et al.
Producers: Noriko Kobayashi (TV Tokyo), Yutaka Sugiyama & Ken Hagino.
Starring: Johnny Yong Bosch (Ichigo Kurosaki), Michelle Ruff (Rukia Kuchiki), Stephanie Sheh (Orihime Inoue), Derek Stephen Price (Uryu Ishida), Jamieson Price (Chad), Terrence Stone (Yoruichi cat form) & Wendee Lee (Yoruichi human form).
Produced by: TV Tokyo, dentsu & studio Pierrot.
English version produced by: VIZ Media LLC.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 100 minutes. Rating: M.
Usually most anime series run for a double figure count of episodes, a rare few only go single digit and even fewer still go for a triple figure count of episodes. Of these Naruto has been going for over two hundred plus episodes and with the advent of Naruto Shippuden the count could be getting up around the triple century mark, pretty impressive, the anime series of Bleach is another triple figure series. Interestingly both shows air on the same network in their country of origin, TV Tokyo, and both are made by the same group of people TV Tokyo/studio Pierrot. Perhaps this combo knows some secret to the success of making long running anime series, no doubt tied into the original manga on which each series has been based. After all both the Naruto and Bleach manga series have reached double digit figures in volumes so for an anime series there is plenty of material to work with.
Ichigo Kurosaki is a high school student who on the surface apart from his bright orange hair would seem to be like any other fairly average male high school student at any other similar school anywhere else in Japan. But Ichigo is not an average high school student, he can see dead people and even communicate with them, he can also see Soul Reapers and it is an encounter with one particular Soul Reaper in question that inadvertently and drastically changes the entire fabric of Ichigo’s life from that point on. He agrees to substitute as a soul reaper whilst Rukia who has lost all of her spirit energy in the clash in which she first met Ichigo recovers her powers. At first Ichigo isn’t too keen on the idea but he eventually comes round when he realises that he does own this strange woman his life and that of his family.
Enter Ichigo and his friends, Chad, Orihime, Uryu and the talking cat Yoruichi. Girding their proverbial loins the group dares to enter the Soul Society itself and attempt to rescue Rukia from the clutches of her captors. It’s a dangerous undertaking to say the least and it seems that even the very act of actually making it into the Soul Society is fraught with terminal menace. After all this is not a place that can be entered by the living, so the four friends are there in spirit form and if that spirit form should be destroyed then its very much all over bar the singing. Their opponents are well aware that they are coming; in fact the very first thing that opens this volume in the first episode is a warning being sounded and soul reapers rushing to meet the danger. Then the drama swiftly moves to Ichigo and his friends racing through a collapsing tunnel behind Yoruichi in black cat form.
For an alleged expert on the Soul Society Yoruichi isn’t to cluey on the cleaning schedule for the various tunnels leading into the Soul Society, as to make things more complicated the tunnel down which the five are running is also being cleaned by the Cleaner, a large ball with a blazing light that makes the rolling boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark seem tame in comparison. Rule one when attempting infiltration into enemy territory – know their routines, know the dangers, this is something that Yoruichi has seemed to have forgotten. Still with the quick thinking of Orihime they manage to make their egress into the Soul Society, the realm of their foes. Things are definitely looking up for their rescue attempt. But in reality their endeavours are only just beginning…
Landing in the region of the Soul Society known as the Rukon district, the poorest part of this enigmatic realm yet paradoxically the one with the greatest freedom for those who reside their. Strangely though for a place that should be teeming with souls and life it seems very much silent and deserted. You get the feeling of it being like a Wild West ghost town or a village before a major landscape altering confrontation between two samurai of immense spiritual power and strength. Which is a nice segue as Ichigo taking in his surroundings suddenly notices that one part of the area is different from the Rukon district, then it suddenly clicks the area where he’s looking must be the one where the soul reapers dwell, the Seireitei.
The structure of the Soul Society is essentially that of a circle within a circle, the outer perimeter comprising of districts like that of the Rukon whilst the inner circle is the Seireitei, the abode of the soul reapers. Upon catching a glimpse of their ultimate destination Ichigo naturally bounds towards the place, totally oblivious to the warnings of the black cat Yoruichi. Ah the boundless enthusiasm and confidence of the youthful, unfortunately ichigo gets a whole lot more than he bargained for, as he gets close to the fringes of the Seireitei a huge wall manifests itself, falling from the literal heavens and landing with a tremendous gale, and don’t get me started on the gatekeeper, the humungous Jidanbo, Gatekeeper of the Hakuto Gate.
Obviously rescuing Rukia from the Seireitei is not going to be a cake walk by any standards, and Ichigo and his friends are only on the fringes of this region. If Jidanbo is anything to measure soul reapers by those on the other side of the wall must be something else entirely, especially the Captains who command the various squads of soul reapers that carry out the task of defending the soul society and their Hollow fighting duties in the mortal world. I was glad I managed to get a copy of this anime volume, I’ve been a fan of the manga and wanted to see how it played as an anime and was impressed. It was blind chance that I managed to come across it, walking around in the local shopping precinct I came across in the most unlikely of spots and purchased it post haste. Well worth the money I spent and if you get a chance to catch it its well worth sitting back to watch for some easy viewing pleasure.
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