Bleach the Movie: Fade to Black

An explosion in Soul Society is followed by everyone forgetting Rukia. Her name is gone from the records and her friends do not know her. Ichigo remembers, but his memory is starting to go too and his powers are weakening. The two siblings who took her believe they are her family. The subject is not an abduction but a person becoming unrememberable. The film centres the bond rather than power: because even Ichigo's sword came from Rukia, her being forgotten disperses his strength too. That connection is the functional payoff of something the series built over a long time. The form is more emotional than the other films in the series. There are fights, but the weight sits in the two-handers; the late section leans on character history and means nothing to anyone outside the show. It is the third Bleach feature and is counted the one that touches the main relationships most, while connecting to the canon not at all and never being referred to afterwards. Noriyuki Abe directs. Masakazu Morita voices Ichigo and Fumiko Orikasa voices Rukia. Who it is for: viewers following the series who care about Ichigo and Rukia. Who it is not for: newcomers; the film's entire emotional weight rests on a bond you are assumed to know.