A fascinating storyline after the Arrancar arc, we knew life would not be the same for Ichigo Kurosaki, and this latest volume shows how life 17-months later has been tough on him since losing his powers. If you have stayed with this series for the long haul, this second-to-last volume of “Bleach DVD: Original & Uncut” is worth watching!
Image courtesy of © Tite Kubo/Shueisha, TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Pierrot. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Bleach DVD Set Twenty-Five – Original and Uncut
DURATION: Episodes 343-354 (288 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: 4:3, Bilingual Japanese & English, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: VIZ Media
RATED: 13+
Release Date: June 23, 2015
Originally created by Tite Kubo
Directed by Noriyuki Abe
Music by Shiro Sagisu
Character Design by Masashi Kudo
Art Director: Natsuko Suzuki, Sawako Takagi
Anime Production by TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Studio Pierrot
Featuring the following voice talent:
Fumiko Orikasa/Michelle Ruff as Rukia Kuchiki
Masakazu Morita/Johnny Yong Bosch as Ichigo Kurosaki
Hiroki Yasumoto/Jamieson Price as Sado “Chad” Yasutora
Kentarou Itou/Wally Wingert as Abarai Renji
Masakazu Morita/Johnny Yong Bosch as Hollow Ichigo
Noriaki Sugiyama/Derek Stephen Prince as Ishida Uryuu
Satsuki Yukino/Wendee Lee as Shihouin Yoruichi (human form)
Shinichiro Miki/Michael Lindsay as Urahara Kisuke
Yuki Matsuoka/Stephanie Sheh as Inoue Orihime
Kaya Matsutani/Megan Hollingshead as Rangiku Matsumoto
Nobuyuki Hiyama/Vic Mignogna as Ikkaku Madarame
Jun Fukuyama/Brian Beacock as Yumichika Ayasegawa
Romi Paku/Steve Staley as Toshiro Hitsugaya
A year has passed since Ichigo lost his Soul Reaper powers and resumed the life of a normal teenager. But those ordinary days come to an end when Ichigo meets a mysterious man named Kugo Ginjo, who offers to help him get his Soul Reaper powers back-and gives him only a day to decide! Ichigo is dead set against it, until Uryu is injured by an unknown attacker. Ichigo, powerless to help, turns to Ginjo and is introduced to the group Xcution, whose Fullbring powers Ichigo must face in battle if he ever hopes to get strong again!
Ichigo Kurosaki, a teenager who has developed incredible powers has lost it all during his battle with Aizen 17-months earlier. Since then, he has kept him distant from his family and friends.
No powers, unable to feel the hollow’s spiritual energy, Ichigo Kurosaki feels that he is no use to anyone anymore. But will Ichigo ever recover his powers?
Find out what happens in “Bleach DVD Set Twenty-Five” which features season 16 (episodes 343-354)!
So, what is “Bleach”?
“Bleach” is one of those titles, alongside “Naruto” and “Dragon Ball Z” that has managed to capture the attention of anime fans and continues to reinvent itself with new sagas and characters. Created in 2001 by mangaka Tite Kubo, the manga has been published on Weekly Shonen Jump and the animated series has been airing on Japanese television since 2004.
The series has manged to grow its fandom worldwide, especially in the US as the series has aired on television on the Cartoon Network and the various video games for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP have also been popular among the fans as well.
The manga series revolves around teenager Ichigo Kurosaki, who has the ability to see Soul Reapers (a military group that escorts the souls of the dead) and in this case, Ichigo has seen a female Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki. One day, a hollow (a monster that was once a human soul) has come to attack and when Rukia was injured, she transferred her spirit pressure to Ichigo in order for him to fight the hollow.
The series focused on Ichigo and Rukia’s friendship as somehow nearly all her spirit pressure had been transferred to Ichigo and stripping away her soul reaper power and thus Ichigo now has the power to take on the hollows while Rukia helps guide him through the battles with her knowledge. As Rukia temporarily lives with Ichigo, the two together battle hollows.
With the release of “Bleach DVD Set Twenty-Five: Original and Uncut”, while the manga series continues after this arc, the anime series ends. So, this volume begins the 16th season and vol. 26 will be the final season of “Bleach” for the time being (these episodes were released in Japan back in 2012) and there may be a possibility of more episodes with the completion of the manga series.
In this latest volume, Ichigo has lost his power. While his friends continue to fight against the Hollows, including his sister Karin who has developed the power to see and fight Hollows, 17-months later and Ichigo is still down in the dumps. Feeling that the loss of power, he can’t do greater things to help the world like he used too. He also misses seeing his friends from the Soul Society and all he can do is participate in school activities and go to work.
But there is someone keeping his eye out for Ichigo and even Orihime senses that he is being followed. As does Uryu, and when he goes towards Ichigo’s home, Uryu sees someone running with unbelievable speed. And the person is not a Soul Reaper.
And by the time Uryu goes to catch him, the assailant injures him.
What is going on and who are these people with special abilities and who is following Ichigo?
The main characters of “Bleach” are:
- Ichigo Kurosaki – The main protagonist. A teenager who becomes a substitute soul reaper after absorbing Rukia’s powers. Accepting his new powers and wanting to protect everyone around him. Ichiro manages to grow in power with every battle he gets involved in.
- Rukia Kuchiki – A Soul Reaper who transferred her spiritual power to Ichigo.
- Orihime Inoue – A longtime classmate of Ichigo who is very caring and manages to develop her spiritual awareness and after her brother is killed by a hollow, she has managed to grow in power which is tied to a hairpin that her brother had given her.
- Yasutora “Chad” Sado – A friend of Ichigo and very quiet. Developed a sense of seeing hollows and eventually gaining a power of strength and a right arm that is literally a weapon to fight against hollows.
- Uryu Ishida – A classmate of Ichigo and a descendant of a priest group that hunted hollows known as Quincy. Earlier on, Uryu was a rival of Ichigo due to his hatred towards the Soul Reapers and eventually becomes friends with him.
- Kon – A modsoul who’s life soul is put into a stuffed lion. When Ichigo is a Soul Reaper, Kon takes over Ichigo’s body, so no one including Ichigo’s family knows that Ichiro is actually not there. Mostly a comedy-driven character known for his perverseness and always complaining about something.
- Kisuke Urahara – Owner of the Urahara shop and a former captain of the 12th Division in the Soul Society. He caught Aizen converting Soul Reapers to Visoreds but before he can save them, Aizen framed him for the crimes and Urahara fled to the real world.
- Yoruichi Shihoin – An old friend of Kisuke Urahara who can turn into a black cat. She is the former captain of the 2nd Division and former Commander in Chief of the Secret Mobile Corps.
- Renji Abarai – Lt. of the 6th Division in the Gotei 13 under Captain Byakuya Kuchiki. Known to be cocky about his skills, Renji cares deeply for Rukia and thus the reason why he is seen with Ichigo and friends.
- Byakuya Kuchiki – 28th head of the Kuchiki Clan and Captain of 6th Division in the Gotei 13. Stepbrother of Rukia.
- Toshiro Hitsugaya – Captain of the 10th Division in the Gotei 13.
- Rangiku Matsumoto – Lieutenant of the 10th Division of the Gotei 13.
VIDEO:
If there is one thing that I’ve always enjoyed about “Bleach” is that for a TV series that is cranked out in Japan, the TV series features a good amount of detail in the background art. The series tends to really showcase quite a bit of locations and thus, not always reusing scenes.
Also, the character designs, despite not always being detailed, is shown great care by character designer Masashi Kudo who definitely respects the original illustrations of Tite Kubo. Some closeups are really well done and there is a good amount of focus on the actual animation during the battle sequences.
For a TV series, especially knowing how in Japan, many of these studios tend to crank them out because they have other deadlines taking on other series, “Bleach” continues to look very good.
As for picture quality, of course on DVD, you are going to see some softness, banding and edge enhancement but for the most part, picture quality is very good on DVD.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Bleach DVD Set Twenty-Five – Original and Uncut” is presented in stereo English and Japanese. Both dialogue tracks are clear and understandable. For those with a modern receiver may want to set their setting to stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundtrack.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Bleach DVD Set Twenty-Five – Original and Uncut” comes with the following special features:
- Clean Opening and Ending – The clean opening and ending themes.
- Omake – The ending omake for episodes 343-354.
17-months after his battle with Aizen and losing all his powers, it’s interesting to see how dissatisfied he is with life because he can contribute and help out his friends. Being normal is starting to get on his nerves and he is starting to push family and friends away.
Without spoiling anything with this volume, what I can say is that someone is following Ichigo and there is a new group of supernatural people that have their eyes on not just Ichigo but also his friends. Something bad is going on and when one of them makes contact with Ichigo, looking for his father. Suffice to say, it’s driving Ichigo crazy because he can’t do anything to protect his family.
But when Uryu is severely injured, this puts Ichigo in a problematic situation. What can he do? And who are these mysterious individuals?
With this latest volume of “Bleach”, it sets up the final volume on DVD for now (the anime series ends with this season/arc). The storyline is no doubt a new chapter in the life of Ichigo Kurosaki. Powerless and now just a normal human being, you know that the lead protagonist can only be powerless for so long. The question is how will he get his powers back? These new mysterious people in town may have the answers that Ichigo has been looking for.
If you are a fan of “Bleach” and stood with this anime series from the very beginning or have followed the anime/manga series for a very long time , “Bleach DVD Set Twenty-Five: Original and Uncut” features a new storyline not featured on the manga series and no doubt will entertain “Bleach” fans! A fascinating storyline after the Arrancar arc, we knew life would not be the same for Ichigo Kurosaki, and this latest volume shows how life 17-months later has been tough on him since losing his powers.
If you have stayed with this series for the long haul, this second-to-last volume of “Bleach DVD: Original & Uncut” is worth watching!
