Bleach: The Movie 2 – The Diamond Dust Rebellion

Bleach: The Movie 2 – The Diamond Dust Rebellion

Bleach: Diamond Dust Rebellion
Label:
Manga Entertainment
Certificate:
15
Format:
DVD
Discs:
1
Running time:
89 mins approx + extras
Subtitles:
English
Video:
16.9 anamorphic
Sound:
English 5.1, Japanese 2.0
Release date:
6th September 2010
RRP:
£39.99 - Amazon - Play - Manga UK

Brief synopsis:

Squad 10 have been tasked with protecting a top secret convoy which is transporting a valuble and powerful artifact known as “The King’s Seal” through the Spirit World, but when it’s stolen from right under their collective noses, Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of Squad 10 breaks protocol to pursue the culprit alone. When the head of the 13 Squadrons learns not only of the theft but also how the Captain Hitsugaya has abandoned his post, suspicions arise and the entire 10th squadron is confined whilst every other Shinigami available is sent out to capture the mastermind and to bring the rogue Captain in for questioning about his part in the theft.

Bleach: Diamond Dust Rebellion
The Head of the 13 squadrons suspicions are partially correct as there is a connection between Hitsuguya and the masked and cloaked figure behind the theft, just not in the way that is suspected and it’s now up to Ichigo Kurosaki – along with Rukia and Renji – to uncover the truth and return the King’s Seal before the pursuing Shinigami catch up to Captain Hitsuguya … and execute him.

Comments:

Unlike the first BleachMovie – Bleach: Memories of Nobody – which to be brutally honest was little more than a glorified filler episode from the TV series dragged out to feature length, this second big screen outing for the franchise has a lot of what it’s predecessor lacked; namely a decent plot, some character development and best of all, some actual time and cash spent on it.

Bleach: Memories of Nobody tried to give almost every single Bleach character – and boy there’s plenty - some screen time and at least one line but ultimately ended up losing focus and spreading itself way too thinly. In this case they’ve chosen a single established character – the ever popular Captain of the tenth squad - to “co-star” with Ichigo and have actually given him some character development and an decent sized portion of back story for the fans to chew on. And this is a movie “for the fans” as there’s no time wasted on setting the scene and introducing characters, instead it hits the ground running and if you’re not up to speed with it then it’ll leave you behind.

The extra time and budget over the first film show through making this arguably the strongest of the three current Bleach movies. While the first Bleach movie felt like an elongated filler episode, the third Bleach movie - Bleach: Fade to Black - seemed to be little more than a chance to show off some flashy visuals and as a vehicle for Japanese voice acting starlet and all-round flavour of the moment Aya Hirano to guest star in. While this movie does spend quite a bit of money on it’s visuals – the backgrounds especially owing more to a Ghibli movie than to the Bleach TV series – it doesn’t let them overtake proceedings and spends a healthy chunk of it’s runtime exploring both Hitsuguya and Ichigo and it’s ultimately the similarities between the two that Ichigo discovers that clues him in on how to help the rogue captain and save the day. Though, let’s face it, there was never any real doubt that he wouldn’t.

Bleach: Diamond Dust Rebellion
Musically this outing’s very impressive with mostly new rock and j-pop compositions. They’ve done their best to make it sounds different from the TV show but it seems the urge to include the occasional piece such as Ichigo’s power up music was just too strong to resist

Many of the voice actors for the Dub version have benefited greatly from their God-only-knows-how-many years of performing these characters and they handle their roles with the grace and ease of a heartfelt reunion with old and much loved friends Others however still sound stiff and stilted even after all these years and give the impression that they’re reading their lines off of cue cards, often phonetically. It’s also painfully obvious that a number of the Dub cast have been pulled in to perform two or more characters, most likely a cost cutting exercises on the part of US Distributors Viz Media, and while this isn’t to say that the same doesn’t happen with the original Japanese cast - as it does - it’s just that they’re much better at hiding it.

And speaking of the two voice casts, while Captain Hitsuguya’s voice actors are excellent in either language, it’s his Japanese Seiyuu Romi Paku that really takes the crown with her performance showing that broody, scrappy, bad tempered teenage lads with height complexes (did I mention she’s also Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist) are really her forte.

Bleach: Diamond Dust Rebellion
And onto the Dub/Sub scripts, which are, as is often the case with Bleach, two completely different animals. As usual the dub script is more about the machismo and the shouting and the power of friendship and all that and that’s cool. The Sub script on the other hand is more the Bushido and the doing what’s right by Honour and Duty, and that’s cool too. Both work well depending on what you’re looking for but it’s really worth watching both to get the full Bleach picture.

Extras:

There's an impressive number of extras to be found like several behind the scenes interviews with the crew; A production art gallery; Trailers and the original Japanese promos. The only thing I’d complain about is that there’s no “Signs-only” option to the subtitles, which means that those watching the dub version will occasionally miss out on something important.

Bleach: The Movie 2 – The Diamond Dust Rebellion is available now from most high-street and online retailers. A trailer for this release can be found here at Manga UK’s official site.

Around the web