Series: Bleach is the story of a fifteen year old high school kid in Japan named Ichigo Kurosaki. He has the ability to see ghosts and they listen to him in return as he tries to assist them in various ways. One day while beating up some bullies that desecrated the grave of a kid that just died a violent death, he is confronted by an evil spirit trying to claim the ghost of the kid (that no one but he can see). As he helps it run away, they come across a gal by the name of Rukia Kuchiki, who ends up being a Soul Reaper; a protector of the dead whose mission is to fight evil spirits and assist lost souls in finding peace by sending them to a place called the Soul Society. The evil spirit is called a Hollow and with Ichigo's help, Rukia manages to dispel the being but at great cost to herself.

She ends up giving her supernatural talents to the already impressive array of skills young Ichigo possesses, making him an almost invincible force as he fights in her place against other hollows. Ichigo follows the tradition of the reluctant anime warrior, preferring to live his own life while Rukia seeks to find a way to recover her abilities while posing as a transfer student at Ichigo's school (upon losing her powers, she became visible to all). Upon a crisis that threatens Ichigo's family and one of his classmates, he decides to embrace his destiny as a soul reaper in hopes of helping others in great peril from the hollows that appear from time to time. The premise explored briefly is that his vast stores of spiritual energy had been unlocked by the initial confrontation and serve to guide hollows to feed upon him and those around him so he figures out the responsibility of protecting them while Rukia thinks of a way to revert to her old form. While not every episode had a unique hollow to fight and the battle scenes seemed better than average to begin with, the appeal of the characters went beyond the usual stereotypes in these early episodes, with the promise of a lot more fun to be had in the future.

One of the most interesting things about the show is that the series has been very popular in Japan, springing forth from the manga by Japanese creator Tite Kubo; the original 24 volumes now supplemented by hundreds of new chapters in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine as discussed in previous volumes of the Anime Talk column here at DVD Talk. Okay, there were four episodes this time (#13-#16) and the initial focal point was to wrap up Ichigo's contest with the Quincy as they continued to battle the hordes of hollows that poured in from Uryu's mechanizations. Their scores grew ever higher as they dispatched the numerous demons intent on wreaking havoc but at some point, it became clear that something else was afoot because more hollows seemed to be attacking than was possible with just his meager little device. Needless to say, the secondary characters also had their hands full as they tried to assist keeping the school from destruction and protecting each other, some of them developing powers thanks in large part to the aura Ichigo was projecting at such a massive rate. The turning point of the battle came as Uryu discovered that as many hollows as he finished off, his arrows of light were having less impact; almost as if he was running out of steam.

That point required the two rivals to work as a team (when prodded of course) and the arrival of the most powerful hollow ever to exist in the form of the Earth shaking Menos Grande forced them to devise a new strategy as their schoolmates tackle the lesser hollows for awhile. The greater scheme of things reveals a lot more about the Quincy's and Ichigo as they begrudgingly work together to save the day. That Uryu discovers how powerful Ichigo really is will almost certainly factor into their future interactions as classmates and rivals but the volume ends on another high note as Rukia is forced to pay the ultimate price for her involvement in Ichigo's taking of her role as a Soul Reaper; leaving it up to the powerful young man to save her from a skilled assassin that won't listen to reason as he prepares to deal the kind of swift justice the Soul Society expects of him.

I know a lot of familiar territory was worked here as the kind of rivalry between Ichigo and Uryu is about as clichéd as you'll find in anime but the manner in which it was handled definitely provided food for fodder and the amount of skillful writing handling it better than usual saved the day in that regard. I thought a rating of Highly Recommended was in order because of the entertainment and replay value; proving the legions of fans to be correct on this one as well. I honestly look forward to checking out the rest of the series as it comes out, showing that just because Viz Media isn't the biggest company releasing anime in the USA does not mean it can't beat the big boys at their own game by providing a superior effort.

Picture: Bleach V4 was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as shot by director Noriyuki Abe for domestic distribution by Viz Media. The colors were accurate, it used a lot of shading to layer the look of the characters, and the mixture of static shots to actual motion were nicely balanced to give it a different feel from many other anime releases available these days. The basic characters looked similar to many others (Ichigo looking like one of the leads from the Saiyuki series in fact) and some of the battle sequences took on an almost surreal look at the display was done with some fisheye effects and dreamy haze, but it worked here like never before. I won't say it was the best looking anime release I've watched of late but it was definitely top notch in terms of telling the story with that slight bit of comedy woven in along side the serious aspects of the drama. There were no compression artifacts that I saw and while I would have liked more episodes on the disc, it was a quality title in the visual department.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of 2.0 Dolby Digital in either the original Japanese or a newly created English language dub track with optional English language subtitles. While I'm not a subtitle snob or a big fan of dubs (too many of you are devoted to one side or the other), I found both tracks to be enjoyable this time with some slight variations between the dub and the subtitles indicating that they were loosely translated. I can't say how accurate the translation of either of these were but I did like the story and while I thought the vocals sounded more natural in the Japanese track, the dub had a lot going for it too. There was some separation between the tracks, a few times making me think I had my wires crossed (right for left and vice versa) but the music was largely the same on both tracks, as well as the special effects. There did seem to be a slightly elevated bass response on the dub but each was equally clear in all other ways for me as I alternated between the tracks for this review.

Extras: The extras here included some trailers for Shonen Jump Home Video, a clean ending, a preview of the manga, and some production art. Inside the DVD case was a paper insert, a set of stickers, and the sum of the extras was a decent collection but not the best I've seen of late.

Final Thoughts: Bleach V4 continued the adventures of my favorite reluctant teen warrior as he fought against impossible odds to stop harmful spirits from killing those around him. The writing of the story and overall quality of the technical aspects were such that I enjoyed it as a step off the beaten path even if this volume did show a bit more of the usual conventions fans have seen in other shows. Still, Bleach V4 added to the enjoyment of the series as a whole and provided some insights as to the past of the lead character as well as advance some of the others so if you're as new to the show as I am, you'll probably find it worthy of your time and money like I did.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, Best of Anime 2005, and Best of Anime 2006 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.