Product Description

The day of Rukia's execution draws ever closer, and to save her, Ichigo and his loyal comrades must navigate the madness of a Soul Society on the brink of collapse. Ichigo and Renji face the most difficult training of their Soul Reaper careers as they struggle to achieve bankai, without which they have no hope against the most powerful captain of the Seireitei--Byakuya Kuchiki. While all the players converge at the site of Rukia's imminent execution, in the background, a group of Soul Reapers slowly uncover an unimaginable betrayal at the hands of one of their own--a betrayal that will shake the Soul Society to its very core.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1927 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2009-07-07
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Original language: Japanese, English
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 550 minutes

Features

• The day of Rukia's execution draws ever closer, and to save her, Ichigo and his loyal comrades must navigate the madness of a Soul Society on the brink of collapse. Ichigo and Renji face the most difficult training of their Soul Reaper careers as they struggle to achieve bankai, without which they have no hope against the most powerful captain of the Seireitei--Byakuya Kuchiki. While all the playe

Amazon.com
The third season of the hit fantasy-adventure Bleach marks the conclusion of the story arc that began in "The Substitute" two seasons earlier. Orange-haired, hot-tempered Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends--Chad, Orihime, Ishida, and Master Yoruichi, the talking cat--pass through the inter-dimensional portal linking Earth to the Seireitei, the stronghold of the Soul Society. Although they’ve come to rescue Rukia from execution, the arrival of the teenagers precipitates a deadly civil war within the Soul Society. Amid the growing chaos, Yoruichi reveals she was a princess in the Seireitei before she fled to Earth. When she realizes Ichigo isn't strong enough to survive the impending battles, Yoruichi spirits him away. He must be able to achieve Bankai, the ultimate power over his Zanpak-tô sword, which he learns by dueling with Zangetsu, the spirit of the sword. Despite exhaustion and the wounds he's received, Ichigo fights with grim determination. While Ichigo trains, some of the Soul Society's most formidable officers join the teenagers, including Toshiro, the child-prodigy captain, the fantastically tattooed Renji, and the spiky-haired Kenpachi. Ichigo arrives just in time to save Rukia. Drawing on the grueling training he's just completed, Ichigo fends off the clouds of murderous blades summoned by Rukia's haughty brother Byakuya. During the battle, Ichigo begins to grow a half-mask that resembles the monstrous Hollows. Horrified, he rips it away and renews his attack. But Ichigo has no time to celebrate his narrow victory: he, his friends, Rukia, and the Soul Society Captains have all been used as pawns by an unscrupulous villain. Director Noriyuke Abe once again shifts from dramatic derring-do to broad comedy as he sets the stage for the next story arc. Ichigo's time in the Seireitei made him stronger--but is he strong enough for the adventures that await him? (Rated "Teen," suitable for ages 13 and older: violence, grotesque imagery, alcohol use, risqué humor) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

If that's the only way, then I'll just have to do it
Now that they've gotten into the Soul Society and the Seireitei, Ichigo and Co. have ANOTHER problem: rescuing Rukia and escaping with their body parts intact.

Unfortunately, it's not going to be that easy. "Bleach: The Rescue" kicks everything about this brilliant anime up a notch -- lots of blood, sword-fights, a fiery climax at the execution grounds, and some amazing character development. But the best part is that the treacherous conspiracy merely hinted at in prior episodes, which sparks a minor civil war within the Seireitei.

Yoruichi starts the badly-wounded Ichigo on a special new training regimen -- to rescue Rukia, he must achieve achieve bankai (the ultimate release of a zanpakuto) in three days. In the meantime, Uryu has encountered the most horrendous of Soul Reapers, who is responsible for the death of a loved one, and Captain Hitsugaya is confronted by an old friend who tries to kill him -- accusing him of murdering Captain Aizen.

But the chaos really starts when Rukia's execution day rolls around: mass murder is revealed, captains turn against one another, and Renji fights a devastating battle against the implacable Byakuya. Ichigo appears on the execution hill with devastating new power -- intent on rescuing Rukia and defeating her brother once and for all. But when he seems to be losing, a horrific new change comes over him.

And in the meantime, the conspiracy that's ripping apart the Soul Reapers is revealed -- the identify of the Big Bad and his sidekicks, the reason he wants Rukia dead, and how many people he'll coldly destroy to get what he wants.

"Bleach: The Rescue" is a turning point for the entire series -- everything before it has built to this point, and everything in the future will spring from it. For an action anime, it is also quite heavy on the plot as it sets up the Big Bad: faked murders, real murders, conspiracies, hypnotic tricks, betrayals, a clever triple-cross perpetrated by Gin Ichimaru, and Urahara's hidden motive in helping Rukia.

There's also lots of brilliantly explosive action using ice dragons, black fire, razor-sharp cherry blossoms, exploding Soul Reapers, a giant bone-snake, and a firebird the size of a submarine. The action only serves to underscore the tension that is building throughout the entire season, until it explodes on Sokyoku Hill. It's also got solid dialogue, some quiet moments for Ichigo's pals (hanging out in prison) and some flashbacks to Renji, Rukia, Kira and Momo's days at the Academy.

Fortunately, all this dark stuff is speckled with funny moments like Ichigo's relaxation in a healing spring ("I AM GOING TO DROWN YOU!"), and an entire episode in which the characters unwind and recover after the events of "the rescue."

Our Hero really shows his stuff in this season -- Ichigo puts his life on the line to reach an incredible level of spiritual power, and rescue Rukia no matter what happens. Too bad he turns out to have a freaky dark side (and Johnny Yong Bosch has a brilliant demon cackle). And Uryu inadvertently gets to the bottom of his grandfather's death, and goes to devastating lengths to get revenge for what happened to him.

But most of the characters get to shine in this, although Chad and Orihime are somewhat neglected: the Yoruichi-obsessed Soi Fon, the kindly Ukitake and his best buddy Kyoraku, the happily hyperaggressive Zaraki, boy-genius Hitsugaya, and the fusty and arrogant Head Captain Yamamoto (among many others). We also learn how far Renji will go for Rukia, as well as the true reason why Byakuya has been so cold and seemingly cruel.

"Bleach: The Rescue" is a brilliant arc of action-packed, tightly-wound anime, with a shocking twist at the core of the story. Definitely a must-see -- especially for everything that comes later.

The Conclusion Of The Rukia Rescue Saga
This third box set has the final episodes of the Rukia rescue story-arc saga, and it's greatly entertaining as you see Ichigo and his friends battle the captains and their subordinates of the seireitei. The action is fast paced and entertaining to watch and seeing the hidden agenda of one of the characters come to light will shock many on who it really is, I feel that not only the action and battles that make Bleach such a great series but many of the characters of the show grow on you as well, and that is what truly makes a great series when you see a character you like prevail and cheer them on to victory. The extras are a nice touch as well seeing some of the English voice cast during their takes, and some commentaries with a live plushy Kon in the U.S.A. as well as the standard sneak peeks and textless intro/ending songs. Again the animation is clear and sharp no distortions, blurriness, or skips to talk of and the cast for both the Japanese/English crew were of course great VIZ Media like Funimation Corp seem to know just which actors/actresses to get for their shows. So if you've already gotten the first two box sets the third one is awaiting you...

The Definitive Bleach Experience
Bleach: The Resuce continues immediately after the ending the previous boxset Bleach: The Entry. Before I continue, I will say that newcomers to the Bleach series will most likely want to either start with the previous boxset. It is possible to enter into the Bleach universe at the first episode in this set but there are so many characters presented here and Bleach mythos that it may be quite difficult to catch up.

Where this set opens up is immediately after the end of the previous set which had Ichigo finally reach Rukia. He meets up with Byakuya Kuchiki but the transformed Yoruichi evades Byakuya and escapes with Ichigo to train him for a future encounter with Byakuya.

This season raises the bar on the Bleach universe by finally introducing many of the other members of the court guard of the soul society. The greater plot theme that has been running since the entry into the soul society is also encountered. The final 5 episodes are the most CRUCIAL to this boxset and present many answers to burning questions.

This set also contains the most anticipated fight in the Bleach universe.

Boxset wise, there are 22 episodes in this set spanning five discs. Three discs contain four episodes respectively and the final two discs both contain five episodes respectively. The previous boxset decorated the disc with red artwork, this set uses blue artwork. Bonuses included are two Bleach postcard type items. I think I would rather have preferred to receive a poster, since you can never have too many Ichigo posters. Overlooking each of the disc are larger sized pieces of artwork featuring a major character of the episodes at hand.

Audiowise, two opening themes are used. The first few episodes continue to use the amazing theme "D-technolife" by Uverworld. The next opening used is "One Lone Flower" (I prefer to call it Ichirin no Hana) by High and Mighty Color. The ending themes are the odd "Happy People" by Skoop on Somebody and Yui's Life. Background music does not seem to have been change nor anything else added to any of the scenes.

English Audio and Japanese audio are both included. Bonuses include "Kon's US Tour" (feature of Kon going around the United States), and "Behind the Scenes of Bleach" featuring Yoruichi's English voice actor, Gin's English voice actor, Zangetsu's English voice actor, and Ichigo's English voice actor.

The reason why this is the definitive Bleach experience is that there is no other way to see all of these Bleach episodes in this quality with no waiting time. In a package such as this it is a great alternative to other methods and the production quality and bonuses make it worths its weight in gold.