Bleach: Fade to Black

By: Robert Murphy

As Mayuri Kurotsuchi is hard at work in the twelfth squad laboratories, he is mysteriously attack by two shadowy figures leaving his memory erased and his project in the hands of two unknown enemies. We then come upon Rukia Kuchiki who is also attacked and has her memories erased just like Mayuri, she then wakes up to two characters who seem to know her so well and act as though they are her best friends. Ichigo, who all a sudden has a horrible feeling about Rukia goes to the Soul Society to investigate things only to find that nobody knows who he is or has any memory of Rukia what so ever. What’s happened to everyone’s memories and who are these two mysterious new characters? We find out in Bleach: Fade to Black.

I had love for this movie right from the get go as it was such an enjoyable premise and seeing Ichigo fight some of the Soul Society’s most powerful shinigami again is always something of a fan favorite for people and myself. Obviously Ichigo is a little apprehensive about the whole thing but we once again see a return to the old ways of the Soul Society where if anything that isn’t supposed to be there gets killed or removed, no questions asked. This also comes up as a point during the movie where Urahara points out how much the Soul Society has changed, thanks to Ichigo, he has changed a 100 years if Soul Society rules and doctrine and even swayed the Captain Commander in his old ways. This was something I enjoyed because it showed how far we’ve come in the series, all the change and progress that all the characters in the show have gone through and just how much Bleach has done in it span.

The story all over is very enjoyable, it doesn’t waste any time to link storylines, we are given a story about some of the shows more solid characters and that’s exactly what we want. We get to dig into the past of Rukia, who has always had a complicated life and someone who always makes an interesting story to tell because of it. Then we throw Ichigo into the mix, fighting his way to protect Rukia once again and we have a solid movie to watch. The “bad guys” in the movie aren’t really that, they are those enemies in movies who aren’t meaning to do anything wrong but end up doing wrong anyway because they care about Rukia and would do anything to have her back. This leads to trouble as it always does in these sorts of situations but then again if it didn’t it wouldn’t be very entertaining and Ichigo wouldn’t be able to throw out a couple Getsuga Tensho.

To wrap things up, Bleach: Fade to Black is more than worth the watch for any Bleach fan and not so complex that anybody just starting out will be lost with it. The story and concept are overall solid and get stronger as the movie goes on and focuses around some of the show’s more favorable characters. We also get to see a good deal of action from them all and using there impressive techniques in a final battle and with Bleach this is always enjoyable because the show never fails to put on a good fight scene. So in conclusion we can find nothing but a slam dunk here with this third Bleach movie and definitely on par with others like Diamond Dust Rebellion. 

Good:

- Great story, delving into Rukia's enjoyable back story

- Solid action that we expect of Bleach

- Doesn't get muddled down in connecting story arcs and focuses on what fans love about the show

Bad:

- A so-so bad guy

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10