Series: Bleach: Series 05: Part 02
Release date: 1st November 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 199 mins
Director: Noriyuki Abe
Starring: Johnny Yong Bosch, Masakazu Morita, Fumiko Orikasa, Yuki Matsuoka
Genre: Anime
Studio: Manga
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Bleach has long been considered a huge success in manga entertainment. The franchise which grew out of a publication in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 2001 has now expanded to encompassing volumes of graphic novels, an animated series, video games, seven rock musicals, three films and two video animations. The series of Bleach is now on its 47th volume and has produced 293 episodes over fourteen seasons. Cartoon Network’s airing of Bleach brought the show to a whole new audience around the world.
Bleach chronicles the adventures of teenage boy Ichigo Kurosaki who accidentally obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper, which are similar to that of the grim reaper. His new role means, along with being an average teenager, he must now save humans from evil spirits (hollows) and help the deceased pass through to the afterlife. He joins the ranks of other Soul Reapers who regularly fight evil spirits that put humankind in danger.
Series 5, subtitled ‘The Assault’, focuses on the invasion of the Soul Society - home of the Soul Reapers - by the Bount, vampire-like soul sucking humans that consume souls to extend their lives. The powerful Bount have arrived at the gates ready to destroy the Soul Reapers. Armed with their fearsome ‘dolls’, and powerful from gorging on souls, they present a worrying challenge. The battle must commence between the two groups, and the duels will last for the whole season. The question is will the Soul Reapers’ Zanpakuto swords give them the power to overcome these fearsome foes, or will the Bounts be victorious and destroy the Soul Society?
Bleach utilises many different influences, from classical literature to architecture and rock music. The world of the Soul Reapers becomes a battleground in this series, and the staging of each of these duels is a juxtaposition of classic and modern Japanese architecture. With so much of the action being focused around these individual battles, the visual landscape which surrounds them often pales in comparison to the action. But the landscape proves an important part of creating the atmosphere of the show.
The characters of Bounts and Soul Reapers create an interesting dynamic. The Bounts as vampiric soul eating humans speaks to the current media trends. The prevalence toward vampire narratives in entertainment like Twilight, Vampire Diaries, etc., is illustrative of the resurgence in popularity of this idea. The inclusion of a vampiric element in these episodes will no doubt quench the thirst of any monster lovers in the audience.
The characters are quite formulaic for anime, with the season firmly focused on battles and less on character development or an overarching narrative - the show has a good pace but there is nothing new brought to the characters. The character of Ichigo again has to deal with the constant pressure of taking on the role of Soul Reaper as a teenage boy. As his acquiring of the skills was accidental, the pressure upon him to protect the Soul Society and try and live up to his role as a Soul Reaper is dealt with again - although rather unsuccessfully - here.
The comedic escape is brought through the modified souls. The modified souls were created by the Soul Society in an experiment to reanimate dead bodies. With the moral ramifications of this being so pertinent they were destroyed - apart from four, who were housed in plushies along with their powers. The plushies are literally odd looking plush toys which are able to talk and move. The modified souls can move outside of these forms. The most prevalent of them is Kon the lion. As a character, its role is a welcome distraction from the sometimes overbearing fight scenes. Kon and the other modified souls are often found in their plushie form on the soul reapers shoulders. They are the voices of humour. They often criticise their soul reapers and make jokes at their expense, adding a welcome sense of humour to the seriousness of the reapers and the drama of the season.
The show has four pieces of theme music which change as the season progresses. The music is extremely catchy, and changes from very upbeat pop music to Japanese punk rock. The idea of this is unsurprising as the show has spawned many soundtrack albums and seven musicals. The show has also been used previously as a vehicle to showcase new music and bands. The use of such a wide variety of upbeat catchy music instantly draws the audience in by allowing them to sing-along with riotously upbeat music, often in direct juxtaposition to the action of the show.
This second instalment of series five sees Bleach move into a different direction. The formulaic coming of age narrative has been replaced by a duel orientated war between the Soul Reapers and Bounts. Occasionally, this becomes too overbearing, and often the rest of the story comes second to the duels. This is a shame because there is a lot of very interesting plot devices used in the show. Many of the character’s dolls and zanpakuto swords draw on Japanese history and myths which goes unaddressed often at the expense of any real cohesive narrative.
Bleach - Series 5: Part 2 continues to chronicle the long battle. Those with a penchant for Dragonball Z and other fight based anime won’t be disappointed, but it’s pretty hard going for newcomers and those looking for a decent story. DHA
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