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Review

by Theron Martin,

Bleach Season 4 Box Set 2:

The Bount

Synopsis:
Bleach Season 4 Box Set 2
In the wake of Yoshino's death the gang recovers and regroups, with the Mod Souls even laying elaborate anti-Bount traps to protect the Kurosaki domain. Jin gives them little down time, however, for the Bitto created by Yoshino's passing have a mission: to suck the souls from living humans, concentrate them, and feed them to the Bounts to empower them further. Desperate attempts to stop the Bitto eventually lead the gang into a series of confrontations with various Bounts out to test their newly-expanded powers. Fortunately Captain Hasegawa has gathered and dispatched to the World of the Living a squad of top-seated officers to help in the defense of Karakura Town, but will even the likes of Rangiku, Kira, Shuehei, and Yumichika, as well as the re-empowered Uryu, be enough to thwart Jin's ultimate plans for the Bounts?
Review:

At this time Viz Media is still using single DVD volumes to lead the way on its Bleach releases, with partial seasons composed of a trio of volumes released in boxed thinpack format as the second wave and broader seasonal boxed sets as the third wave. This is one of the middle options. Its three thinpacked disks, which cover episodes 80-91, are just volumes 20-22 of the original singles releases in repackaged form, complete with the original on-disk Extras for each volume: some production art, a manga preview, and a clean opener or closer. In other words, if you already have the singles then there's absolutely no point in buying this set other than to save a bit of shelf space. However, if you never got the singles but intended to own the series then this option delivers a significantly better value for your money.

Of course, whether or not this set of episodes is actually worth owning is another story. Although the Bount arc as a whole fares pretty well as filler arcs go, this run of episodes, which constitutes the period between the release of the Bitto to gather live souls and the Bounts' departure into the Soul Society, is arguably its weakest part. Granted, fans finally get to see the rest of the Bounts in action, as all of the remaining Bounts except Kariya reveal their Dolls during this span, and granted, we do get choice revelations during this span, like what Kariya's objective actually is and what the true origin of the Bounts actually is (and the two are, of course, related). Ichigo also re-realizes his Bankai form and Uryu is (temporarily) back in the game during this span, too, and we get to see plenty of Lieutenant-level Soul Reaper action.

However, conspicuously lacking here is the sense of excitement which characterizes much of the series. For all that the battles try to be creative and flashy, they often feel like they are just going through the motions. Bleach has always been a series which focuses primarily on mano-a-mano battles (or several combatants simultaneously going head-to-head), and its minimal familiarity with how to stage mixed Soul Reaper-level battles shows in the weak and sometimes awkward fight choreography. This is not a constant problem, to be sure; the fight Chad, Rangiku, Noba, and Ururu have against Sawatari actually displays an atypical level of teamwork, coordination, and use of skill rather than just relying on raw power to plow through the opposition, but that is the exception in this set rather than the rule.

That this run of episodes represents one of the series' artistic nadirs does not help matters. Bleach has always had at least a bit of trouble with consistency in its character designs, but here the rendering quality fluctuates widely, resulting in an unusually high number of poorly-drawn scenes. Rangiku is a particular trouble spot, as the artists do not seem to know how to handle her when she makes combat moves. Animation is an irregular mix of cuts and complex moves and certainly is not consistently good enough to cover for other artistic flaws.

The soundtrack turns in a typical quality effort, though it never quite reaches the bold, rich sound it achieves in the series' best scenes. The Bount-specific themes, with their ominously-whispered words, set a good mood for the content but lack the dramatic punch of heavier themes used in other arcs. Opener “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight,” which is used throughout this run, is another solid rock opener for the series. The closer changes from the seventh ending them “Hanabi” to the eighth ending theme “MOVIN!!” beginning with episode 87 – arguably an upgrade.

While English performances of the regular recurring cast members are as solid as usual, the Bount performances impress much less. Troy Baker gives Jin Kariya a suitably mannered, laid-back feel which easily makes him sound like the smug mastermind that he is, and Karen Strassman makes Go Koga's doll Dalk sound appropriately like a middle-aged playgirl with an evil twist, but the rest of the Bount and doll cast members fail to distinguish themselves. The English script is close enough that it should generate few complaints.

These episodes are not without their merits, as the comedy-focused episode 80 is quite funny, the “Illustrated Guide to Soul Reapers – Golden” bits at the end of each episode are sometimes a riot, and some of the action bits do work. This set is too thin on plot, and too lacking in creative effort, to warrant an overall recommendation, however. The main reason for watching these episodes is simply to maintain a sense of continuity between the arc's better earlier and later episodes.

Grade:
Overall (dub) : C+
Overall (sub) : C+
Story : C
Animation : B-
Art : B-
Music : B+

+ Good funny moments, some important truths revealed.
Frequent quality control lapses in artistry, oft-weak fight choreography.

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Production Info:
Director: Noriyuki Abe
Series Composition:
Tsuyoshi Kida
Kento Shimoyama
Masashi Sogo
Script:
Kazuyuki Fudeyasu
Miho Imamura
Mio Imamura
Rika Nakase
Masahiro Okubo
Masao Ōkubo
Kento Shimoyama
Masashi Sogo
Natsuko Takahashi
Michiko Yokote
Genki Yoshimura
Storyboard:
Noriyuki Abe
Masami Anno
Koji Aritomi
Tetsuya Endō
Manabu Fukazawa
Kiyomu Fukuda
Shigeki Hatakeyama
Yasuyuki Honda
Masashi Ishihama
Satoshi Ishino
Shigenori Kageyama
Jun Kamiya
Rei Kaneko
Akio Kawamura
Masahiko Komino
Chiaki Kon
Junya Koshiba
Masashi Kudo
Hodaka Kuramoto
Toshihiko Masuda
Tadahito Matsubayashi
Hitoyuki Matsui
Yasuhiro Matsumura
Yukihiro Matsushita
Yuzuru Mitsui
Shigeyuki Miya
Kazunori Mizuno
Yūji Moriyama
Minoru Murao
Takehiro Nakayama
Yasuto Nishikata
Hiroaki Nishimura
Satoshi Nishimura
Mitsutaka Noshitani
Tetsuhito Saito
Masami Shimoda
Ogura Shirakawa
Yoshifumi Sueda
Natsuko Suzuki
Hideki Tachibana
Yuzuru Tachikawa
Jun Takada
Hiroki Takagi
Motosuke Takahashi
Takahiro Takamizawa
Shinichi Tōkairin
Sanzou Tsuyukida
Shigeru Ueda
Atsushi Wakabayashi
Shinichi Watanabe
Hideyo Yamamoto
Minoru Yamaoka
Episode Director:
Noriyuki Abe
Eitarō Ano
Koji Aritomi
Matsuo Asami
Kiyomu Fukuda
Shigeki Hatakeyama
Tomoko Hiramuki
Tetsuo Ichimura
Akane Inoue
Yasuo Iwamoto
Akira Iwanaga
Taiji Kawanishi
Takushi Kimura
Chiaki Kon
Harume Kosaka
Junya Koshiba
Masashi Kudo
Hodaka Kuramoto
Yasuhiro Kuroda
Keizou Kusakawa
Tadahito Matsubayashi
Nobufumi Matsuda
Yasuhiro Matsumura
Yuzuru Mitsui
Ryo Miyata
Kazunori Mizuno
Geisei Morita
Eiko Nishi
Yasuto Nishikata
Hiroaki Nishimura
Kazuo Nogami
Mitsutaka Noshitani
Yoshinori Odaka
Rokou Ogiwara
Yukio Okazaki
Masaya Sasaki
Kazuma Satō
Yuji Sekimoto
Akira Shimizu
Kazunobu Shimizu
Ogura Shirakawa
Yoshifumi Sueda
Yuzuru Tachikawa
Hiroki Takagi
Takeshi Tomita
Shigeru Ueda
Takeshi Yamaguchi
Minoru Yamaoka
Mitsue Yamazaki
Unit Director:
Noriyuki Abe
Masashi Kudo
Shingo Ogiso
Yuzuru Tachikawa
Music: Shirō Sagisu
Original creator: Tite Kubo
Character Design: Masashi Kudo
Art Director:
Natsuko Suzuki
Sawako Takagi
Art:
Tsuyoshi Fukumoto
Masaya Hamaguchi
Yuki Kasahara
Hideaki Kudo
Katsusuke Okamura
Mayu Shirai
Sawako Takagi
Shinobu Takahashi
Mayu Usui
Norihiko Yokomatsu
Animation Director:
MANASITA
Chiaki Abe
Yoshie Anzai
Shigemi Aoyagi
Eiki Arasato
Eri Baba
Bum-Chul Chang
Manabu Fukazawa
Akihiro Fukui
Yeong-Hun Han
Daiki Handa
Kenji Hattori
Yūri Ichinose
Shin Jae Ick
Hidenori Igari
Hiroaki Imaki
Keiichi Ishida
Masashi Ishihama
Tomomi Ishikawa
Nobuyuki Iwai
Gil Soo Joo
Akio Kawamura
Toshihiro Kikuchi
Gi Nam Kim
Hyon Ok Kim
Hyun Ok Kim
Il Bae Kim
Sang-Yeob Kim
Seong Beom Kim
Yong Sik Kim
Yoon-Joung Kim
Seiji Kishimoto
Akemi Kobayashi
Ryo Kobayashi
Yukari Kobayashi
Ryou Kodama
Makoto Koga
Masahiko Komino
Atsushi Komori
Mitsuki Kosaka
Fumiaki Kouta
Tsuguyuki Kubo
Masashi Kudo
Manabu Kurihara
Shinichi Kurita
Boo Hee Lee
Sung Jin Lee
Shuji Maruyama
Ippei Masui
Tamami Miura
Shuuji Miyazaki
Kazuya Miyoshi
Joo Yeon Moon
Minoru Morita
Yūji Moriyama
Tsutomu Murakami
Keiya Nakano
Shingo Ogiso
Masaya Ōnishi
Shigetsune Ōsawa
Chang Hwan Park
Hye-Ran Park
In-Hee Park
Jong Jun Park
Tomoko Satō
Yang Kwang Seock
Sanae Shimada
Makoto Shimojima
Jae-Ik Shin
Kim-Young Sik
Sayuri Sugitou
Natsuko Suzuki
Shin'ichi Suzuki
Shinichi Suzuki
Yoko Suzuki
Hiroki Takagi
Motosuke Takahashi
Akira Takeuchi
Yukari Takeuchi
Masaya Tanaka
Seiki Tanaka
Takashi Uchida
Miyuki Ueda
Tomomi Umemura
Masaru Yamada
Asuka Yamaguchi
Keiko Yamamoto
Osamu Yamamoto
Yoshimitsu Yamashita
Naoki Yamauchi
Teruhiko Yamazaki
Takeshi Yoshioka
Director of Photography:
Toshiyuki Fukushima
Katsufumi Sato
Producer:
Shunji Aoki
Ken Hagino
Kyoko Kobayashi
Mai Nagai
Yutaka Sugiyama
Jun Takibuchi
Yukio Yoshimura
Licensed by: Viz Media

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