Bleach-Volume 02 (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Audio Gallery-Production Art Featurette-Clean Closing Credits Trailer-Madman Trailers
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	91:44 (Case: 100)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (56:54)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Noriyuki Abe
Studio Distributor	Viz Media Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Shirô Sagisu Junichi Uematsu Natsuko Suzuki

Bleach: Agent of the Soul Reaper, the first volume of which is reviewed here, continues. The story picks up immediately where the episodes on the first disc left off.

The episodes on this disc present episodes that are still very much setting up the world and introducing significant side characters to the story. Most notably in this lot is the hat and clog wearing Kisuke Urahara, who runs a magical shop, and a Hollow that may have been involved in the death of Ichigo's mother.

This disc features four episodes. They are:

• 5. Beat the Invisible Enemy! - The muscle-bound Chad discovers that he can har Hollows with his punches even though he cannot see them. With a little guidance form someone who can, he holds off a Hollow until Ichigo can dispatch it.
• 6. Fight to the Death! Ichigo vs. Ichigo - Kisuke Urahara, the good natured but shifty proprietor of a magic shop, is introduced when Rukia orders a replacement soul to populate Ichigo's body so that his soul can step out as a Soul Reaper. Unfortunately Ichigo is accidentally given a mischievous "modified" soul and has to battle to get his body back.
• 7. Kon-nichiwa from a Stuffed Toy - Ichigo befriends the modified soul that has possessed his body as they fight a Hollow together. Ichigo places the modified soul inside a teddy bear whilst not in his own body and names the soul Kon. Meanwhile the Soul Society sends an agent to find out why Rukia has been in the human world for so long.
• 8. June 17, a Memory of Rain - Ichigo visits the grave of his mother with his family in memorial of the day she died. Rukia and Ichigo encounter the agent sent to track Rukia down, but their meeting is interrupted by a Hollow attack.

Video

The show is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio and is, rightfully, not 16x9 enhanced. The video generally looks very good.

The image is sharp and clear throughout. The animation is reasonably basic, maintaining generally maintaining static or simple backgrounds with limited character animation, but its simplicity evokes a good feel for the manga upon which the series is based. There is no noticeable grain or low-level noise in the image.

The colour in the transfer is bright and appropriately cartoonish. Colour levels are consistent throughout the show.

Interlacing artefacts are present every third or fourth frame, but they are never really noticeable due to the fairly basic animation style of the show. No compression-related artefacts or film artefacts are noticeable at any point in the transfer.

Bright Yellow English subtitles are present for the show. The subtitles are a direct translation of the Japanese audio and occasionally present a slightly different emphasis to the English dialogue, however the story is fundamentally the same despite these minor differences.

This is a RSDL disc. The layer break occurs mid-way through the third episode at 56:54 but was not noticeable on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

A Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 Kbps) audio track and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 Kbps) audio track are present for the film.

Both tracks sound crisp and clear. The audio is generally well enough synchronised to the video, less so the English than the Japanese.

The series features a great opening theme from J-Rock band Orange Range and fairly stock orchestral stabs throughout the show itself.

There is no noticeable surround or subwoofer usage.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Textless Closing (1:01)

The closing credits without credits. More or less a dull music video for the closing credits song Life is Like a Boat by Rie Fu. Identical to the featurette of the same title on the first volume of Bleach.

Production Art Gallery

A so-so collection of character sketches and background art images. This gallery is similar to that found on the first volume, but the images themselves are different.

Reversible Cover

Identical to the regular cover, minus the classification warning that many see as an eyesore.

Madman Trailers

Following a skippable anti-piracy trailer, there are trailers for Spectobes, Full Metal Panic and Eureka Seven.

The US Region 1 release of Bleach (this volume, at any rate) is identical to the Region 4 edition, save for PAL/NTSC formatting and a handful of trailers for other anime releases that are featured on the Region 4 edition.

A box set is available in both regions that collects the first 5 discs in the series, including this one, which is the most economical way to purchase the series.

A highly addictive anime series that strikes a good balance between action, melodrama and weird afterworld-related storyline. This second volume sees the series still very much in the introductory stage.

The video and audio are very good, though not the sort of stuff you would look at as demo material. The extras are negligible.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall