REVIEW FOR BLEACH SERIES 13 PART 1

 
Bleach Series 13 Part 1
Released By: Manga Entertainment
Rating: 12
Running Time: 313 Mins
Audio: English & Japanese: DD 2.0
Release Date: 7/4/2014
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes

Series 13 starts with a recap of the previous Arrancar Arc where Aizen and his men enter the world of the living to destroy Karakura Town in order to create the Ogen, the King's Key. As Aizen's substitute chief he has left Ulquiorra in charge while he, Gin and Tozen face-off against the Soul Reapers they betrayed - Ichigo and his friends had entered Hueco Mundo to get Orihime back only to find they were kept captive there instead.

As the world of the living was left defenceless, four pillars were erected that span the town as Tenkai Kecchu had been erected fooling Aizen into thinking where they went was the real Karakura Town when it was a fake replica. The real one was safe.

As Aizen and his men enter through their Garganta, Head Captain Yamamoto arrives just in the nick of time with his own men to fight him and his Espadas. Even though Aizen is cocky, the head captain has other ideas, using the power of his zanpakuto, Ryujin Jakka to create a blazing ring of fire around the three of them. He seems to want to see if his best Espada are up to taking them on. Meanwhile Mila Rose, Sun-Sun and Apache created Ion from their limbs and set him onto Matsumoto and Momo for attempting to tackle them. They underestimated their power and it took others to help them stay alive. With the Fracciones down later, the Soul Reaper captains and lieutenants are left with Halibel, Barragan and Stark and they wonder exactly how powerful they are.

With all this fighting going on, Ulquiorra thinks he is going to have it nice and easy in Las Noches, but when Ichigo returns to continue their fight, and protect Orihime from his clutches, he doesn't think he will have to take very long to bring Ichigo down. As Icchigo fights, we also get to see the others fight within each episode it keeps cutting to the other Soul Reapers fighting and back again. What is interesting to see is how Ulquiorra has obviously trained under Gin Ichimaru at some point as he pulls off one of his key moves.

When Ichigo fights Ulquiorra he knows he is up against a powerful enemy, but unlike some fighters, he doesn't act cautious. He dives straight in and hacks away at the fourth Espada, not letting him get too powerful a series of hits in. As Ulquiorra shows he is the stronger fighter, he gets the bonus of being a higher ranked Espada and it makes you think of how powerful the other three Espada above him are. And while they battle, you can feel Ichigo being thrown into buildings and towers and how close he is to losing, which will have dire consequences for his friends who are watching, Uryu and Orihime. The power of the battle is amazing, but it is Ichigo's relentless devotion to his friends that keeps him strong and still alive, and Ulquiorra's taunts only make him angrier as they continue to thrash it out. Bleach always has the capacity to surprise with its comedy, graphic style and great fight scenes but is this is the thirteenth series it really manages to excel itself.

Bonus Material: Opening and Ending.

Verdict: In this series of three discs we get to see Ichigo fighting at his best.