Bleach: Memories of Nobody

Plot

Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki rescue a plus soul and defeat a hollow in a local park. Afterwards, they send the soul off to Soul Society. Comically, Ichigo finds his body under custody of local paramedics, (having turned into a Soul Reaper) without placing an artificial soul within his body. With Rukia's assistance, Ichigo successfully flees. Soon after, unidentified ghost-like spirits begin to appear in Karakura Town, before a mysterious Soul Reaper named Senna appears and destroys the spirits. Ichigo, Rukia and Kon (a mod soul inside Ichigo's body), then confront her, but she refuses to answer any questions and leaves. In the midst of said battle, Kon stumbles upon a shadowy figure equipped with dark armor, standing amongst the spirits. Ichigo follows Senna, while Rukia returns to the Soul Society in search of answers.

While pursuing Senna, Ichigo meets Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Rangiku Matsumoto, whom are on Earth to investigate the mysterious reflections of the human world that appears in the Soul Society. At the Urahara Shop, Kisuke Urahara explains that the dimension between the Soul Society and the real world is colliding with the Valley of Screams that expands to the point that it connects. The spirits seen earlier are "Blanks", the group of amnesiac souls that were lost in the space between the two worlds and that comprise the Valley of Screams. Their memories combine to form a single entity, the "Shinenju." Deducing through the use of Kon having witnessed the armoured figure from before, he instructs the Soul Reapers assembled to find it before the mysterious group. Ichigo spends time with Senna at the mall. At the cemetery, Senna is attacked by the mysterious group and Ichigo fends them off, without their motives.

After Ichigo and Senna reunited Tomoya to his father at a monastery, the officers of the Gotei 13, Renji Abarai, Jūshirō Ukitake, Soi Fon, Tōshirō, Rangiku, Rukia and some armed forces declares that Senna is the real Shinenju and orders Ichigo to hand her over, but Ichigo refuses, valuing her as a being. The mysterious group calling themselves the "Dark Ones", identified group of exiles from the Soul Society seeking revenge for the past, arrives and captures Senna, while fighting off the Soul Reapers and Ichigo who is mortally wounded, but Orihime Inoue heals him back at the Urahara Shop. The Dark Ones take Senna to the Valley of Screams and attach her to a device powered by the Blanks that can cause the Valley to collapse, resulting in a collision between the real world and the Soul Society that would destroy both.

Rukia goes to get reinforcements from the Soul Society, but Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto wants to destroy the Valley before it collapses and refuses to order a rescue mission with only an hour left. At the Valley, Ichigo fails to defeat the large number of blanks and the Dark Ones, but he is saved by the arrival of his Soul Reaper counterparts, Soí-Fon, Izuru Kira, Renji, Byakuya Kuchiki, Tōshirō, Rangiku, Kenpachi Zaraki, Yachiru Kusajishi, Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa. In the meantime, Jūshirō convinces Yamamoto to prolong the destruction of the Valley so that the Soul Reaper force in there may complete the mission and escape the Valley beforehand. The Soul Reapers quickly defeat the Dark Ones and Blanks, while Ichigo defeats their leader, Ganryu. The Soul Reaper force then quickly leave the portal of the Valley and return to the real world, content in finishing the mission.

However, the process of the collapse continues, before Senna sacrifices herself to push the two worlds back apart to save Ichigo, using the power of the blanks to trigger explosions between the Real World and the Soul Society in order to stabilize both. Afterwards, when both worlds have been saved, Senna, weakened by her efforts asks Ichigo to take her to the graveyard so she can see her name on her gravestone, which had it one of a Blank whose memory Senna had, Ichigo lies and tells her that her name is on it. Believing him, she expresses contentment that she once had her own life before fading away. Rukia notes that once the power of the Blanks fades away, so will all memories of Senna. After the credits, Ichigo walking on the bridge, sees a red ribbon that he bought for Senna, floating down from the sky and sees a girl who resembles her running past him. He happily keeps their memory to himself.

New characters

Senna (茜雫)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō (Japanese); G.K. Bowes (English)A teenage girl with purple hair, created from the memories of souls ejected from the circle of life and is called the Shinenju. Despite her spunky, upbeat and carefree personality, she is also haunted by many memories of her childhood that she and her parents were happy spent time together before they died and buried in their grave. Her gigai form is dressed in a school uniform, while a Soul Reaper one does with a large red ribbon tied around her waist while she wields her arrow pointed khakkhara Zanpakuto, "Mirokumaru". She uses her power to sacrifice herself and push two worlds apart. She also appears in three PSP video games Bleach: Heat the Soul 5, 6 and 7 as a playable character.

Ganryu (厳龍, Ganryū)

Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (Japanese); Troy Baker (English)The leader of the Dark Ones banished from the Soul Society. He and his clan head to the Dangai Precipice World, where they survive the restricted current to swallow everything it touches. He attempts to use Senna to set the world of the living and the Soul Society on a collision course to destroy both, but is killed by Ichigo Kurosaki.

Jai (ジャイ)

Voiced by: Dai Matsumoto (Japanese); J. B. Blanc (English)The dark-skinned member of the Dark Ones. In his fight with Ichigo, he managed to absorb a Blank to increase his strength. He lost his right arm in the first fight, but later regenerates it upon absorbing some Blanks. He is killed by Byakuya Kuchiki.

Benin (ベニン)

Voiced by: Yoko Somi (Japanese); Wendee Lee (English)A female of the Dark Ones who wields a crossbow. She is killed by Soi Fon.

Riyan (リャン)

Voiced by: Daisuke Egawa (Japanese); Kirk Thornton (English)A member of the Dark Ones wearing a pair of rocket launcher packs on his back. He is killed by Tōshirō Hitsugaya.

Bau (バウ)

Voiced by: Hajime Iijima (Japanese); Kyle Hebert (English)The largest member of the Dark Ones who wields two large tetsubos and wears a veil over his face to cover his horrible skin and teeth. He is killed by Renji Abarai.

Mue (ムエ)

Voiced by: Takashi Kondo (Japanese); Vic Mignogna (English)A small, pale member of the Dark Ones who wore the standard armor of all the Dark Ones. Like Ganryu, Mue wields a sword in battle. Mue has displayed a variety of arsenal in his disposal including a broadsword from which a thinner sword can be drawn, a thin sword that can separate as explosive projectiles, and a whip-like weapon with a hook at the end that can catch an opponent's sword and transmit a spark to produce an explosion. He is killed by Kenpachi Zaraki.

Reception

Bradley Meek of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews had expected to dislike the film, and found himself pleasantly surprised that he enjoyed the film. He felt that the film was made purely to please fans, and that those fans would be pleased. He criticized the opening sequence and some other scenes as excessively confusing and incoherent, but praises the character Senna as "a sweet character who is likeable from pretty much frame one." Anime News Network's Carl Kimlinger agreed that the film was primarily for series fan and would be confusing to newcomers to the franchise. While he felt the film followed the basic formula for "theatrical adaptations of long-running shounen series" and attempts to cram a lot in a short time, he also felt it was "unfailingly entertaining throughout." Fellow ANN reviewer Carlo Santos described it as "an extended filler episode" with the addition of new "disposable characters", however it notes that with a theatrical production budget the film is "a jaw-dropping, fist-pumping 'Best Of' compilation of all the shikai, bankai, and fighting styles that make the series so dynamic". He had mixed feelings about the film's soundtrack, noting that most was lifted from the series while praising the few new musical pieces as being "well-written" and well used.

Beth Accomando of KPBS praised the film's artistry and the complex mix of themes and idealisms presented in the story. In particular, she found the film's concept of "Blanks" conveyed "a deep spiritual sadness that provides unexpected depth to this supernatural action thriller." Chris Beveridge of Mania.com felt the film met his expectations with its "high production values, a solid if predictable script and some really neat designs", yet noted that its weakness was its lack of relevance to the series and offers no permanent character growth.