Bleach Series 2 Complete Box Set [DVD]

Things really pick up pace in Bleach season 2 as it excels in everything that made the firsts series great. Ichigo and his friends have infiltrated the soul society and with the goal of rescuing the soul Reaper Rukia. After the events of the previous series, Rukia is being held captive by her fellow soul Reapers and is condemned to die. Her crime - giving Ichigo Kurosaki her soul Reaper powers and therefore betraying the rules of the soul society. Unable to let his friend die at the hands of the soul reapers, Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, Uryu and Yoruichi stop at nothing to save their beloved comrade.

For all you action anime junkies out there, this is just the series for you. Bleach is a character driven action adventure shonen (boys) anime that has been growing in popularity for some time now. This DVD set sees the release of season 2 and the next 21 epsiodes (21-41). If you have seen the previous series then you will notice that this second installment is way more action packed and intense. The fight scenes are simply incredible and I feel lost for words when I think about them. There is loads of action flying about all over the place i this season but the main focus frequently shifts to major battles mainly between spiky haired protagonist Ichigo and a soul Reaper. Fights to look out for are the fantastic rematch between Ichigo and Renji Abarai, and the edge-of-your-seat fight against the unbreakable powerhouse Kenpachi Zaraki.

With this series comes a plethora of brand new characters, mostly in the form of soul reapers. Some stand out characters Ganju Shiba (who accompanies Ichigo and co on their mission), and Ikkaku Madarame, a bald headed soul reaper who creates some great comic moments. This character is simply superb and is definetly one of the best new characters to enter the fray in season 2. In the english dub he is voiced by Vic Mignogna who is a prolific and well known voice actor and singer. One of his better known roles being the tragic protagonist Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist.

You will notice hat throughout this season, many of the secondary and tertiary characters that we grew to love in the first season do not appear as much in this outing. Characters such as the grouchy teddy bear Kon, the tomboyish Tatsuki and Kisuke Urahara do not get much screen time at all. In fact, most of the season focuses on Ichigo, Ganju and a load of new soul Reapers. Even primary characters like Chad, Orihime and Uryu arn't seen as much as they were in the previous season. Personally, this didn't really bother me because I was too busy being blown away by the great action, story and suspense, but fans of these characters may not enjoy this season as much as the last one. I have to be honest that I initially found it hard to keep up with all the new characters; especially all the new soul reapers, but as all the characters are so likeable (...well most of them) and unique in their own ways, it is hard to forget them.

Once again, the animation is up to a high standard, as it is done by the studio behind Naruto, Tokyo Underground and E's Otherwise. The unique Pierrot style is what makes Bleach look as beautiful as it does. Most of the music found in the episodes remains the same, with the excpetion of a few new tunes, however there is a new opening theme song...and it is awesome. Japanese electronic rock band UVERworld produce a fantastic song entitled D-TechnoLife that goes well with the opening credits of Bleach season 2 and has been on repeat on my laptop for weeks.

Japanese and English language tracks continue to be superb, However I mainly watched Bleach in the English dub. The reason behind this is because it has such a great vocal cast. Johnny Yong Bosch from the popular kids program Power Rangers provides an exceptional voice for the hero Ichigo, and Kyle Herbert who was the narrator in the funimation dub of DragonBall Z voices Ganju.

Bleach is a series that needs to be watched by all anime fans. The action and suspense of season 2 will keep you on the edge of your seat. The journey of the entertaining and lovable characters really grows on viewer and ultimately makes Bleach a series that you will want to see right through to the end. Bleach season 2 is where the story really begins to get good and from what I've seen, there are no signs of it losing momentum in the next season.

I bought this almost a month ago now and I'm very satisfied with the product, when I bought it I was afraid it might only be in Japanese or in English dubs but I was very pleased to find you can choose from Japanese, Eng dubs AND Eng subs and change it as you please, it's a very high quality dvd picture and it's nicely packaged and presented, overall it's well worth the buy if your a fan of the Bleach series!

A very good series in general, however you will need to see series 1 to understand it and you will need to get series 3 to find out what happens in the end. There is one episode that seems very out of place, but I'm guessing it will make more sense in the next series.The animation is generally very good, though it is a little bit simple in a few places. This is more than made up for by the in depth story line.