Product Description

Ichigo and his friends make the perilous journey to the Soul Society and are promptly set upon by the guardians of the spirit world. As they dodge one foe after another, they gradually draw nearer their goal: to rescue Rukia from the tower cell where she awaits her death sentence. But their presence threatens the very order of the Soul Society itself, and they must face the ultimate opponents--the captains of the guard squads whose Spiritual Pressure is unmatched, even by Ichigo himself!

Special Features Include:
* Bonus Materials: Behind the Scenes of BLEACH
* Bilingual (Japanese & English)
* Contains Episode 21-41 (Original and Uncut)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3604 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2008-08-19
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 525 minutes

Amazon.com
In the second season of the popular fantasy-adventure Bleach, Ichigo,Chad, Ohime, Ishida, and Master Yoruichi the talking cat pass through the inter-dimensional portal linking Earth to the segregated world of the Soul Society. Lost souls are consigned to the run-down Rukon ("Drifting Spirit Town"), where Yoruichi obtains help from pyrotechnician Kukaku to get into the stronghold the Seireitei. Although the teen-agers have crossed space and time to rescue Rukia, no one knows where she's imprisoned--or where they are--in that city-sized compound. Ichigo and his new ally Ganju seize timid janitor Hanataro: He knows where Rukia is and secret ways to get there. Director Noriyuke Abe skillfully mixes overlapping movements, slow-motion, unusual camera angles, reverse colors, and black-and-white to heighten the drama of the sword fights between Ichigo's team and the bizarre-looking officers of the Soul Society. But the internal conflicts often prove more compelling than the external ones. Viewers learn why Chad never uses his awesome strength in his own interest; Ichigo discovers that he must use his sword as an ally, rather than as a tool. By submitting to Zangetsu, the spirit of the sword, he acquires greater power. But Bleach never stays too serious for too long: Ichigo and Ganju squabble, even in dire straights, and an overhead shot of Ichigo fleeing a squad of Soul Reapers looks like a table-top Pac-Man game.The satisfying balancee of comedy, adventure, and well-choreographed battles has made Bleach a smash hit in Japan and America. (Rated "Teen," suitable for ages 13 and older: violence, grotesque imagery, brief nudity, alcohol use.) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Review on translation and DVD set itself
While there are several other reviews regarding the show itself, I'm going to focus primarily on the technical aspects of the box set. After all, I figure if you're looking for season 2, you already know what the show is about.

The box set itself is sharp looking and made the same as the first season. It's made in 'book' format, which, in my opinion, is a lot more easy to handle than the usual fold-out box sets. While the first season had a poster of Ichigo with character reference sketches on the back of it, this Ichigo poster is blank on the back. There is no inclusion of a paper with the episode titles, which I wish they did. While all you see on the screen are episode numbers, each one does, indeed, have an official title that would make locating favorite episodes much easier.

The special on this set focuses on four voice actors: Michelle Ruff (Rukia), Wally Wingert (Renji), Spike Spencer (Hanataro), and Dan Woren (Byakuya). They discuss their opinions on their characters, as well as voice acting itself. I'm not sure how long it was, but it was long enough to enjoy.

If you are looking for good subtitles, these are mediocre. They pretty much keep to the dubbing 'rules'. For example, they don't keep character names as the Japanese VA says them, but always their first name. Chad is always put as 'Chad', even if Ichigo is not the one speaking. They also leave off any honorifics (-kun, -san, -chan, etc) in the subs. If you're picky about that (as I am), it can be pretty irritating. Viz releases always seem to be this way, however.
They sub the opening and ending themes as well.

While they claim the episodes are uncut, and the main body of the episodes are indeed whole, they do not include the Shinigami Golden shorts. I'm not sure if the Japanese DVD releases have them, but I know that they've started by now, even if all these particular episodes only are character introductory ones. I only hope that when they actually are little side stories, Viz includes them on the DVDs. This complaint is particularly confusing as they even dubbed Kon's announcement that they would start soon in one of the episode previews.

All that aside, $40 (as of today) is a fantastic price for an entire season of a great anime.

Entryways
The first season of "Bleach" ended with Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, Orihime and the cat Yoruichi leaving the living world for the Soul Society, intent on saving Rukia.

But getting there isn't the least of their problems. The second major arc of the "Bleach" series -- called "The Entry" -- continues our heroes' quest to rescue Rukia from a death sentence, but they run into a new set of obstacles. It's pretty divided between action, slapstick and exposition, as well as a series of mysteries and conspiracies -- and a lot of likable new characters.

Ichigo and Co. narrowly make it into the Soul Society, almost losing Uryu along the way. And unfortunately -- between lethal captains and a building-sized Gatekeeper -- it's almost impossible to get inside the Soul Reapers' fortress, the Seireitei. Their only way inside is to ask an eccentric friend of Yoruichi's, a fireworks expert called Kukaku Shiba, to blast them (and her rough-edged brother Ganju) inside the Seireitei from the sky.

But surprisingly, being shot into orbit with a giant cannon isn't the worst thing that happens. The little group gets split apart -- and Ichigo finds himself facing an increasingly strong series of opponents, including the enraged Renji Abarai and the battle-hungry Captain Zaraki. Facing defeat and death, Ichigo is forced to call upon an ally he never knew he had -- and face a horrible inner enemy.

When a murder is committed in the Seireitei, the Soul Reapers are thrown into chaos, as they automatically blame the "ryoka" intruders for the death of one of their own. Orihime, Chad and Uryu are trying to fight their way in, but it's Ganju and the timid Soul Reaper medic Hanataro who make it to Rukia's cell -- only to reveal a horrifying secret from her past.

If the first season of "Bleach" was all about introducing the main characters and the concept of Soul Reapers, then the second season is all about Ichigo and Co. causing as much mayhem as possible in the Soul Society. Well, the Soul Society is not as pleasant and peaceful as Rukia led us to believe -- in fact, it has even more weirdos than Ichigo's hometown.

And while the storytelling is well-balanced, the second season is much more violent -- there's floods of blood, massive near-fatal injuries, and Byakuya Kuchiki's ability to shred opponents from a distance with tiny "cherry blossom" pieces of metal. And the storyline takes an unexpected twist halfway through, when a character is apparently murdered and the lieutenants start turning against each other. And since there are hints of a conspiracy involving Rukia, it's pretty obvious that something is rotten in the state of the Soul Society. Just what it is remains to be seen, but it promises to cause even more chaos in the Seireitei.

But not all is doom and blood in the second "Bleach" season -- it's still liberally peppered with funny dialogue ("That's a pretty cute name for someone who takes himself so seriously." "MY NAME IS NOT CUTE!") and physical goofery (Yoruichi's true form is revealed to Ichigo). Though our heroes spend a lot of time running around causing mayhem, they also create a lot of humor as well -- such as when Ichigo screams for Ganju, only to realize that he just alerted several off-duty Soul Reapers to his location.

Ichigo has to learn a bunch of new skills in this season, including getting closer to his inner, um, sword. Uryu's chivalrous side gets a workout when Orihime is threatened. And Chad's history is finally revealed in full, such as how this gentle giant became determined never to fight for his own sake, and how he became fast friends with Ichigo.

There are a couple of new characters too: we get to see Renji's miserable youth with Rukia, and why he's hellbent on defeating Ichigo. And our heroes team up with an adorably timid Soul Reaper medic named Hanataro, who serves as tour guide/comic relief for much of the season ("See how full of life and energy and vitality I am?") as well as the boar-riding Ganju.

While most of the Soul Reapers aren't fleshed out, they are given enough quirks and personality to seem very realistic -- narcissists, child prodigies, bookworms, battle-o-philes, bombshells and little creepy girls with pink hair. Two particular standouts are a laid-back, sake-chugging captain named Shunsui Kyoraku, and Rukia's captain, a sickly hunk named Ukitake.

The second "Bleach" season takes our heroes straight into the heart of the Soul Society, and a lot of new trouble as well. Definitely worth checking out -- but expect one heckuva cliffhanger.

Excellent Box Set
What I fdind consistantly entertaining and fascinating about this series is the seemingling endless umbers of extremely intreresting charters and they are well developed even you don't know it yet yu get sense that eac has an extensive backstory. In fact I have found myself getting as engrossed with the backstories of Renji and Rukia and Momo as I am with the main plot of saving Rukia.

The fight scenes are excellent as epic and well executed as one could hope. And Ichigo's growth as a warrior and as a person is brilliantly executed, and on their ow would make this series on not to be missed.

But it's the bredth and depth of this world and its immense variety of characters that really make this series particularly great.

Picture and sound quality are excellent. There's a nice featurette introducing the English voice cast and this really is the best way to buy these. Not only is it muh easier on the wallet, but you dont really want to have to wait two or three weeks between sets of episodes. The way this series runs, you really want to go on to the next epiode after the previous one is done.