BLEACH: JIGOKU-HEN

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ONE SHOT ActionBleach: Jigoku-hen Special - The Unforgivens
ANIME ActionBLEACH
NOVEL ActionBLEACH: Jigoku-hen

REVIEWS

• 

  WhatAGoodShow

  70/100
  A movie with lots of potential, but fails to reach it.

  Bleach Movie 4: Jigoku-Hen or Hell Verse is as the name implies a story that takes place in Hell.

  The requirement for watching this movie is finish watching/reading the last battle against Ulquorra since it takes place afterwards. However, storytelling wise it is impossible to fit this movie to the main story but an argument can be made it fitting after Aizen's defeat in the anime continuation.

  The main story involves sinners that kidnapped Ichigo's sister to lure him into hell as Ichigo possesses a power that can free them. With the aid of another sinner Kokuto, Ichigo and his friends enter hell to fight Shuren and his henchmen and free Yuzu.

  The main appeal of the movie is obvious:

  1. Finding out more about hell since it only appeared once in the story and nothing was done with it. The only place established that didn't get explored yet.
  2. Ichigo using his Full Hollow Form that Ulquorra got defeated by. The idea that an enemy can push Ichigo to use that power and put up a fight sounded intriguing
  3. Ichigo using a movie exclusive form

  But there are a few things that didn't translate well into the movie. Number 2 and 3 didn't live up to the hype and while hell looked impressive, it didn't give much for the viewer to care about. Hell itself did have some affects to the powers characters used and it gave some unique visuals cues. The villains as they are death use their "immortality" in a unique way to their advantage.
  In a certain sense hell itself give interesting ways for the enemies to combat the good guys as in certain situation they were willing to lose on purpose to revive somewhere else.

  One of the issue the previous Bleach movies suffered are the immense amount of characters. There are 10 Captain remaining after Aizen's betrayal and each movie just a few of them fighting and using their powers took much of the runtime. So many movies couldn't shine by their unique features considering Hitsugaya and Byakuya would just Bankai around.
  In his movie the captains are not involved in the fights. However, since the main cast consist of 5 characters of which 4 went to hell, they still felt too crowded and it felt like the directors couldn't fit in a lot of badass scenes with Ichigo's hyped up forms.

  The antagonists were rather bland and most of them hardly have anything that make them memorable.
  Kokuto was a pretty predictable character for the viewer if you watched Bleach at all. His motives aren't very clear and how he ended up in hell but his backstory hints fleshed him out as a believable character.

  All Bleach movies are well animated and the fights have great choreography. But many lack a distinct feature that make them memorable like the main story fights. Sadly this movie despite having that unique feature lacks for not using its unique feature to its advantages. The final fight was very fun to watch and engaging, but it left the viewer starving for a better done conclusion. It wasn't a bad ending however. Non of the Bleach movies end terrible.

  Regarding fan service, like stated previously, non of the captains fight meaning many fan favorites aren't invovled in this movie. Also there is a missed opportunity to have some old enemies appear like Shrieker or the Espada. From the characters fans know only Ishida, Sado, Rukia, Renji and obviously Ichigo are involved. If these aren't your favorites, you may be underwhelmed despite the well animated fights and stellar soundtrack.

  This movie left a lot to be desired but by no means it is bad. It is worth recommending.

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