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Bleach: Fade to Black
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Japanese theatrical poster
Directed byNoriyuki Abe
Written byNatsuko Takahashi
Starring<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
CinematographyToshiyuki Fukushima
Edited byHidetoshi Okuda
Junichi Uematsu
Music byShirō Sagisu
Production
company
Distributed byToho
Release dates
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • December 13, 2008 (2008-12-13)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box office$6,032,296(Japan)[1]

Bleach: Fade to Black (BLEACH Fade to Black 君の名を呼ぶ, Burīchi Fade to Black Kimi no Na o Yobu, Bleach: Fade to Black, I Call Your Name) is the third animated film adaptation of the anime and manga series Bleach. Directed by Noriyuki Abe, the film was released December 13, 2008 in Japan, later to be released in the US.[2] The film's theme music was "Koyoi, Tsuki wa Miezu Tomo", performed by Porno Graffitti and its screenplay was written by Natsuko Takahashi, who is a screenwriter for the anime series. The DVD was released on September 30, 2009 in Japan, with additional footage of Ichigo, Rukia and Kon leaving for the World of the Living. The English dub was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 15, 2011 in the United States and on May 28, 2012 in the United Kingdom.[3]

Plot[]

In the Soul Society, Soul Reaper[lower-alpha 1] scientist Mayuri Kurotsuchi is attacked in his laboratory by a pair of mysterious siblings wielding a scythe that erases his memories. In a frightened panic, Kurotsuchi damages one of his machines, causing a massive spirit energy explosion that covers much of Soul Society, killing or freezing many Soul Reapers. Rukia Kuchiki is the next to be attacked by the siblings, erasing her memories and those of everybody that has memories of her, and is carried away to Soul Society's Rukon District by the siblings.

In the real world, one of Rukia's friends, Ichigo Kurosaki, briefly forgets her but Kon, being a modified soul, is unaffected by the memory wipe and reminds him. Ichigo and Kon go to former Soul Reaper Kisuke Urahara for information; but Urahara does not remember Rukia. Ichigo and Kon travel to the Soul Society with all the captains unable to remember Ichigo, believing him to be a threat. Meanwhile, Rukia wakes up in the Rukon District with no memory of being a Soul Reaper. The nameless siblings, a sister and a brother, remind Rukia that they used to be close friends living together and she was to give them names, although she has forgotten them. Ichigo seeks the help of Rukia's adopted brother, Byakuya, but he does not remember Rukia either. After another confronting with Renji Abarai, Rukia's chilhood friend, Byakuya directs Ichigo to his wife, Hisana's, birthplace, where they are briefly reunited with Rukia before the siblings flee with her from Ichigo and Kon.

Ichigo and Kon are attacked again by other Soul Reapers, but are saved by Renji Abarai, who follows his instinct to trust Ichigo. When Soul Society's head-captain and other captains arrive to capture Ichigo, Urahara interferes. He sends Ichigo, Renji and Kon off to save Rukia, and explains to the captains that he studied a parasitic Hollow which could erase memories with its scythe-like tentacle, but it escaped and appears to be influencing the siblings' actions to an extent. Meanwhile, the siblings go to Kurotsuchi's laboratory to fully destroy the Soul Reapers with another spiritual machine of Kurotsuchi's, under the belief that the Soul Reapers were responsible for taking Rukia away from them when they were younger. Rukia suddenly objects to this, and Ichigo and Renji's arrival prompts her to remember them and her entire past, with both the siblings and her time as a Soul Reaper. The female sibling succumbs to rage, and she forces herself, her brother and Rukia to all fuse into one, creating "Dark Rukia".

Dark Rukia, seemingly hollowified, unleashes the machine upon Soul Society before battling Ichigo. The machine takes the form of a monster, and the Soul Reapers fight against it. Ichigo fights Dark Rukia and holds back initially to refrain from injuring her. Byakuya arrives and claims that he should be the one to finish this, but Ichigo intervenes and manages to free her with his own similar spirit energy, destroying the Hollow; Byakuya and Renji also destroy the monster. Rukia regains her memories, but the siblings are left mortally wounded, though they are regretful for their actions. Urahara arrives and explains that the Hollow attacked Rukia and the siblings while controlling a Soul Reaper's body previously, but when the body was destroyed, the siblings trapped the Hollow in their bodies and were sent to Hueco Mundo—the Hollow's world—for a time, managing to escape to reunite with Rukia because of their desire to be with her. Rukia tells the siblings their names, Homura and Shizuku, but the two die from their wounds, much to Rukia's despair. Later, Ichigo asks Rukia at the hill shrine where she previously visited before, about the shrines were made in remembrance of her childhood friends who died during adolescence due to poverty, reminding her that her memories of the siblings will not fade.

Cast[]

Character Japanese voice actor English voice actor
Ichigo Kurosaki Masakazu Morita Johnny Yong Bosch
Rukia Kuchiki Fumiko Orikasa Michelle Ruff
Homura Aya Hirano Laura Bailey
Shizuku Hiroshi Kamiya Richard Cansino
Renji Abarai Kentarō Itō Wally Wingert
Byakuya Kuchiki Ryōtarō Okiayu Dan Woren
Kisuke Urahara Shin-ichiro Miki Michael Lindsay
Mayuri Kurotsuchi Ryūsei Nakao Terrence Stone
Kon Mitsuaki Madono Quinton Flynn
Dark Rukia Fumiko Orikasa
Aya Hirano
Hiroshi Kamiya
Michelle Ruff
Laura Bailey
Richard Cansino

Novelization[]

A full coloured novelization has been published.[4]

Reception[]

The film opened in second or third place at the Japanese box office (sources vary)[5] and held a top ten location until its fifth week.[6]

Notes[]

  1. In the Bleach universe, Soul Reapers are 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

References[]

  1. "Japan Yearly Box Office (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 18, 2010.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  2. Animage Editorial Staff (January 2009). ""Bleach Movie: Fade to Black, I Call Your Name" I Will Not Fail to Bring You Back! (「劇場版BLEACH Fade to Black 君の名を呼ぶ」お前を必ず連れ戻す!, "Gekijōban Burīchi Feido tsu Burakku Kimi no Na o Yobu" Omae wo Kanarazu Tsuremodosu!)" (in Japanese). Animage (Tokyo, Japan: Tokuma Shoten) 367 (April 2009): 52–56. 
  3. "Third dub movie". Anime News Network. 2011-07-02. Retrieved 2011-07-02.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  4. http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/guest/cgi-bin/wshoseaohb.cgi?W-NIPS=9984005402&AREA=06&LANG=E
  5. "Japanese Box Office, December 13–14". Anime News Network. 2008-12-21. Retrieved 2009-04-17.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  6. "Japanese Box Office, January 10–11". Anime News Network. 2009-01-18. Retrieved 2009-04-17.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

External links[]

Template:Bleach

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