Bleach The Movie: Memories of Nobody

**Bleach The Movie:  Memories of Nobody** is an action, adventure, drama, tragedy, romance, comedy, r

   omantic comedy, fantasy, Japanese anime movie, and is the first anime movie to be added to the Bleach franchise.  It was directed by Noriyuki Abe, written by Masashi Sogo, musically composed by Shiro Sagisu, cinematography by Toshiyuki Fukushima, edited by Hidetoshi Okuda and Junichi Uematsu, produced by Studio Pierrot, distributed by Toho, and it starred Masakazu Morita, Fumiko Orikasa, Chiwa Saito, Kentaro Ito, Romi Park, Ryotaro Okiayu, Masashi Ebara, Dai  Matsumoto, Yoko Somi, Daisuke Egawa, Hajime Iijima, and Takashi Kondo in the sub, and Johnny Young Bosche, Michelle Ruff, G.K. Bowes, Wally Wingert, Steve Staley, Dan Woren, Troy Baker, JB Blanc, Wendee Lee, Kirk Thornton, Kyle Hebert, and Vic Mignogna in the English dub.  It was originally released in Japan on December 16, 2006.

## Plot

Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki are Soul Reapers, soldiers trusted with ushering the souls of the dead from the World of the Living to the afterlife realm known as Soul Society and with fighting Hollows, monstrous lost souls who can harm both ghosts and humans. After defeating a Hollow in a local park, unidentified ghost-like spirits begin to appear, before a mysterious Soul Reaper named Senna appears and destroys the spirits. Ichigo and Rukia confront her, but she refuses to answer any questions and leaves. Ichigo follows Senna, while Rukia returns to the Soul Society in search of answers.

While pursuing Senna, Ichigo meets Soul Society's envoys who are on Earth to investigate the mysterious reflections of the human world that appears in the Soul Society. They discover that the spirits seen earlier are "Blanks", a group of amnesiac souls that were lost in the space between the Soul Society and the real world, and whose memories combine to form a single entity, the "Shinenju". In this in-between space, the spirits form the "Valley of Screams"; although it is a natural phenomenon, its colliding with the two worlds, which is not natural. So they deduce someone is doing it to obtain the Shinenju, and the Soul Reapers assembled separate to find it. Later, Senna is attacked by the mysterious group and Ichigo fends them off, without their motives.

After Ichigo and Senna reunite two lost souls, several Soul Society's officers and some armed forces declares that Senna is the real Shinenju and orders Ichigo to hand her over, but Ichigo refuses, valuing her as a being. The mysterious group calling themselves the "Dark Ones", exiles from the Soul Society seeking revenge for the past, arrives and captures Senna, while fighting off the Soul Reapers. The Dark Ones take Senna to the Valley of Screams and attach her to a device powered by the Blanks that can cause the Valley to collapse, resulting in a collision between the real world and the Soul Society that would destroy both.

Rukia goes to get reinforcements from the Soul Society, but their head-captain wants to destroy the Valley before it collapses and refuses to order a rescue mission with only an hour left. At the Valley, Ichigo fails to defeat the large number of Blanks and the Dark Ones, but he is saved by the arrival of his Soul Reaper counterparts. In the meantime, the head-captain is convinced to prolong the destruction of the Valley so that the Soul Reaper force in there may complete the mission and escape the Valley beforehand. The Soul Reapers quickly defeat the Dark Ones and Blanks, while Ichigo defeats their leader, Ganryu. The Soul Reaper force then quickly leave the portal of the Valley and return to the real world, content in finishing the mission.

However, the process of the collapse continues, before Senna sacrifices herself to push the two worlds back apart. Afterwards, when both worlds have been saved, Senna, weakened by her efforts asks Ichigo to take her to the graveyard so she can see her name on her gravestone, which had it one of a Blank whose memory Senna had; Ichigo lies and tells her that her name is on it. Believing him, she expresses contentment that she once had her own life before fading away. Rukia notes that once the power of the Blanks fades away, so will all memories of Senna. After the credits, Ichigo walking on the bridge, sees a red ribbon that he bought for Senna, floating down from the sky and sees a girl who resembles her running past him. He happily keeps their memory to himself.

## Why It Rocks

1. Amazing animation.
2. The new character this movie introduces, Senna, is incredibly interesting, likable, and sympathetic.  She's become so popular among the fanbase that many Bleach fans have voiced their interest in Kubo making her canon within the manga, which will sadly never happen due to the manga having ended.
3. Great voice acting in both sub and dub.
4. Considering that Bleach has never really focused on romance, it's very surprising that the relationship between Senna and Ichigo is as emotionally grippnig and believable as it is.
5. Very appealing art style and character designs.
6. The storyline involving the Blanks and the Valley of Screams is one of the most intriuging that Bleach has ever exhibited.
7. Excellent soundtrack.
8. The end of the movie is very tragic and emotionally devastating, yet also appropriate given the plot and the pacing.
9. Good pacing.

## Bad Qualities

1. The villains in the movie are kind of one dimensional.

## Reception

**Bleach The Movie:  Memories of Nobody** has a 3/5 on Letterboxd, a 7.3/10 on the International Movie Database (IMDB), a 7.55/10 on MyAnimeList, a 4/5 on AnimePlanet, and a 73.39% community approval rating on Kitsu.