With a franchise as big in the anime community as Bleach, a movie was inevitable. As of present, three have already been made, with this, Memories Of Nobody being the first.

The story begins with Ichigo and Rukia taking down a local hollow, and judging by their current state i'm guessing that this takes place canonically after the Bounts arc. As they leave, they bring up something i'd often joked about, namely what happens when Ichigo leaves his body lying around. Whilst continuing the day as usual, all of a sudden, a crowd of strange, white, ghostly creatures flood the streets. Confused as to what they are, having determined that they are not hollows, nor human souls, Ichigo and Rukia are suddenly interrupted by a Soul Reaper attacking the strange creatures. What follows, rather than the obvious beat-em-up you'd expect from Bleach, is actually focused as something of a love story about Ichigo and this new Soul Reaper, Senna. Sounds terrible, right?

Prepare to be pleasantly surprised.

Yes, I entered Memories Of Nobody expecting it to dissapoint. After all, it is essentially a feature-length filler arc, when it comes down to it. But Memories of Nobody is surprisingly entertaining. Of course, I suppose it doesn't have that whole "We interrupt this interesting story arc to bring you unrelated crap that no-one cares about" aspect that makes people hate filler arcs so much, but it still surprises me that the movie managed to be better than the show often is.

I think what I liked best was that the characters were actually commited, for once. Ichigo actually sticks out as a character here, something that has been getting more and more scarce as time goes along. Also, new character Senna is a treat, being a goofy Cloudcuckoolander-type girl that generally gives the movie a sense of fun to it. I suppose there is an exception in that the villains for the movie are utterly forgettable and completely uninteresting, but frankly the movie wasn't about them anyway. The movie, at it's core, was about Ichigo and Senna, and it does a damn good job of it too.

As for the technical aspects, the animation is perhaps a bit weak by movie standards, although by Bleach standards it's pristine brilliance. In a way, it really serves to highlight the depths of poor qualty to which the TV series' animation dwindled, through constant, neverending production giving them absolutely no time to iron out the creases. At this point, i'm not even sure if Studio Pierrot actually makes anything else. It wouldn't be surprising if they were just one entire studio devoted entirely to the creation of Bleach.

But anyway, the movie manages to be one of the more entertaining moments in Bleach's patchy history, full of ups and downs of quality. I hope they keep it up for The DiamondDust Rebellion, but considering that Captain Overrated himself, Toshiro Hitsugaya is the star of it, I doubt it.

Final Words: Definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the series.

Animation/Graphics: 9/10
Story/Plot: 8/10
Music/Background: 7/10
Voice Acting: 5/10

Overall: 8/10

For Fans Of: Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto.