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Bleach
Japan 2018
produced by Kazutoshi Wadakura, Hiroyoshi Koiwai (executive) for Warner Brothers (Warner Brothers Japan), TX Network, Shueisha, Pierrot, Universal Music Japan, Dentsu, Ken-On, KDDI Corporation, Pony Canyon, GyaO, Cine Bazar/Netflix
directed by Shinsuke Sato
starring Sota Fukushi, Hana Sugisaki, Ryo Yoshizawa, Miyavi, Taichi Saotome, Erina Mano, Yu Koyanagi, Seiichi Tanabe, Yosuke Eguchi, Masami Nagasawa
screenplay by Shinsuke Sato, Daisuke Habara, based on the manga by Tite Kubo, music by Yutaka Yamada, visual effects by Picture Element, Digital Frontier, Shirogumi, Spade & Co., Annex Digital, TMA Works, Zinou Pharmaceutics, Tsumiki, Voxel
Bleach
review by Mike Haberfelner
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All of his life, high school student Ichigo (Sota Fukushi) has had the
ability to see ghosts, and he would even fight for the poor souls of the
dead - but nothing prepared him for his first meeting with both a Soul
Reaper, Rukia (Hana Sugisaki) and a Hollow, let alone the fight that
ensued. Now to explain, Reapers are per se benign beings who serve to lead
the lost souls of the dead to a better place, while Hollows just devour
souls - and it seems Ichigo has really strong soul power so he attracted
the Hollow. Rukia fights valiantly, not only to save Ichigo but also to
suck up the Hollow's power (because that's what Reapers do), but
eventually she is wounded, and to not be killed by the Hollow, she
transfers her Reaper powers over to Ichigo, who promptly kills the Hollow.
Problem is, because of his strong soul powers she has accidently
transfered all of her Reaper powers to him and now can't get them back -
so she tells Ichigo she has to train him to perform her Reaper duties in
her place. He's not really interested but Rukia's persistent, and she
becomes both the new transfer student in Ichigo's class and moves into his
wardrobe as she has nowhere else to go. And eventually, Ichigo starts to
understand why he needs to be trained to be a Reaper, as one classmate of
his, Uryu (Ryo Yoshizawa), is a Quincy, who just happen to be the deadly
enemies of the Reapers, and he's quite handy with bow and arrow. Oh, and
then there's another reaper, Renji (Taichi Saotome) who wants to kill him
for his Reaper powers, Rukia's brother Byakuya (Miyavi), who insists on
Rukia killing him - and of course, there are plenty of Hollows out there,
including a super-Hollow, and it's less than certain that Ichigo, even
with Rukia's training, is up for the task ... In narrative
approach, over-the-top-ness and complexity, Bleach can't deny its
manga roots - and in this case that's a good thing, as it really succeeds
to translate the story from paper to screen without relying on the
knowledge of the source material at all (and I had none), and tells a
rounded out and homogenous story with plenty of action, rather inspired
effects, and quite a bit of comedy as well, carried by a competent cast
playing very likeable characters, which all makes up for some rather cool
genre entertainment. Of course, it's not the re-invention of the wheel,
but a fun ride for sure.
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