Bleach: Memories of Nobody

Bleach: Memories of Nobody is a 2006 animated film adaptation of the anime and manga series Bleach. Directed by Noriyuki Abe and written by Masashi Sogo, the film was first released in Japanese theaters on December 16, 2006. The DVD was released in Japan on September 5, 2007. To promote the film, the opening and closing credits for episodes 106 through 109 of the Bleach anime use footage from the film. The film's theme music is Sen no Yoru wo Koete (千の夜をこえて, Overcome the Thousands of Nights) by Aqua Timez. The film exists outside of the main Bleach continuity, and is not intended to fit into the existing storyline. This movie had a limited theatrical run in the US for two nights only on June 11th and June 12th 2008 and was released on DVD on October 14, 2008. It aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim Block on September 5, 2009 in Bleach's normal time slot.

Taglines

 * One hour remains until the world collapses. (世界崩壊まで残り一時間., Sekai hōkai made nokori ichijikan.)
 * Shinigami, protect the world. (死神たちよ、世界を護れ., Shinigami-tachi yo, sekai o mamore.)
 * Shinigami, release your spirits. (死神たちよ魂を解き放て., Shinigami-tachi yo tamashii o tokihanate.)

New Characters
Several one-shot characters are introduced in this movie:
 * Senna
 * Senna is created from the memories of souls ejected from the circle of life, and is called the Memory Rosary. Despite her spunky, upbeat, and carefree personality, she is also haunted by the many memories that reside in her. In her gigai form she is dressed in a school uniform. When she transforms into a Soul Reaper, she wears the standard Soul Reaper uniform with a large red ribbon tied around her waist. She sacrifices her life to push the two worlds apart. Senna appears in the PSP video game Bleach: Heat the Soul 5, Bleach: Heat the Soul 6, and Bleach: Heat the Soul 7 as a playable character.


 * Ganryu
 * Ganryu is the leader of a banished clan from the Soul Society and the film's main antagonist. His clan was sent into the Dangai Precipice World where they learned to survive the restricted current that swallows everything it touches. He plans to use Senna to set the world of the living and the Soul Society on a collision course to destroy either one if not both worlds. Ganryu believes that he should be the one to rule the Soul Society and is ready to destroy anyone who gets in his way. He is killed by Ichigo Kurosaki.


 * Jai
 * Jai is the dark-skinned member of the Dark Ones. In his fight with Ichigo, he managed to absorb a Blank to increase his strength. He lost his right arm in the first fight, but later regenerates it upon absorbing some Blanks. He later fights Rukia Kuchiki in the Valley of Screams and is killed by Byakuya Kuchiki.


 * Benin
 * Benin is the female of the Dark Ones who wields a crossbow. She is killed by Soi-Fong.


 * Riyan
 * Riyan is a member of the Dark Ones who appears to be wearing a pair of rocket launcher packs on his back. He is killed by Toshiro Hitsugaya.


 * Bau
 * Bau is the largest member of the Dark Ones that wields two large tetsubos. Bau wears a veil over his face to cover his horrible skin and teeth. He is killed by Renji Abarai.


 * Mue
 * Mue is a small, pale member of the Dark Ones who wore the standard armor of all the Dark Ones. Like Ganryu, Mue wields a sword in battle. Mue has displayed a variety of arsenal in his disposal including a broadsword from which a thinner sword can be drawn, a thin sword that can separate as explosive projectiles, and a whip-like weapon with a hook at the end that can catch an opponent's sword and transmit a spark to produce an explosion. He is killed by Kenpachi Zaraki.

Summary
The movie begins with Ichigo and Rukia destroying a hollow chasing a girl's spirit in a park. Easily dispatching of the hollow, Ichigo performs a soul burial on the girl's soul, convincing her to go along with it despite her argument of her "having something to do", by stating that "more monsters will come after her if she stays". Afterwards, in Karakura Town, unidentifiable spirits begin appearing in masses. While attempting to deal with these strange souls, Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki meet Senna, a mysterious Shinigami who wipes out most of them by using her Shikai. Senna refuses to answer any questions, so Ichigo is forced to follow her while Rukia tries to find out what's going on...

Meanwhile, in Soul Society, the Human World is suddenly reflected in the sky, so Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Rangiku Matsumoto are sent to investigate. They meet up with Ichigo and discuss the events at the Urahara Shop, where Kisuke Urahara explains that a dimension between Soul Society and the Human World, known as the Valley of Screams, has expanded to the point that it is connecting the two worlds. The souls Ichigo saw earlier are known as "Blanks," souls that were lost in the space between the worlds and have been stripped of their memories. The Valley of Screams is composed of these Blanks, but they alone could not be responsible for the size to which it has grown. He goes on to explain that the lost memories of the Blanks will have formed into a single being known as the "Memory Rosary," and he has Ichigo track this being down.

Senna is eventually revealed to be the Memory Rosary, and a fair amount of the Gotei 13 shows up to deal with the problem. However, a mysterious group appears, identifying themselves as the "Dark Ones," and set their sights on Senna. Despite Ichigo's efforts, they succeed in capturing her.

Within the Valley of Screams, the Dark Ones attach Senna to a device powered by the Blanks. As concurrently explained by both the Dark Ones and Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the Blanks are naturally attracted to memories, which they lack. Senna, being composed of nothing but memories, will attract the Blanks, causing a chain reaction that will collapse the entire dimension. This in turn will cause the real world and Soul Society to collide, potentially annihilating both. The Dark Ones explain that their actions are to get revenge on Soul Society: they were Shinigami over a millennia ago, but were exiled and have since adapted to the Valley of Screams.

Unwilling to give up on Senna, Ichigo finds the portal into the Valley of Screams on the river. As he enters it, Rukia heads to Soul Society to get reinforcements. Since the only available portal into the Valley of Screams exists in the real world, and the process that will destroy both Soul Society and the real world will complete within an hour, Captain-Commander Yamamoto orders that the Kidō Cannon be fired at the dimension to obliterate it first. Yamamoto refuses to order a rescue mission with such a tight time frame.

Within the Valley, Ichigo finds himself overpowered by the sheer number of Blanks the Dark Ones have at their command. He is saved by the timely arrival of Kenpachi Zaraki, with lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi on his back. Aside from Zaraki, Suì-Fēng, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Izuru Kira, Byakuya Kuchiki, Rukia Kuchiki, Renji Abarai, Rangiku Matsumoto, Tetsuzaemon Iba, Shūhei Hisagi, Ikkaku Madarame, and Yumichika Ayasegawa have also arrived to help. The group makes short work of most of the Dark Ones, leaving Ichigo to battle their leader. Though it takes Ichigo longer and takes a larger toll on him, he is victorious as well.

Despite having stopped the collapse of the Valley of Screams, the process is far enough along that the effect persists. Senna, now in control of the Blanks, sacrifices herself to use their power to push the two worlds apart once more since she did not want Ichigo to die, thus saving the inhabitants of both Soul Society and the Human World.

Extremely weak, Senna asks Ichigo to take her back to the graveyard so that she can see her name on her gravestone. Though the gravestone does not have her name, Ichigo tells Senna that her name is on it. Content that she once lived in the town and assured of her own separate existence, Senna evaporates. Rukia explains that once the power of the Blanks has faded, their memories of Senna will fade along with them, with Ichigo stating that he can still hear her voice. However, after the credits, Ichigo seems to vaguely remember Senna when the red ribbon he bought her floats down from the sky to him, and a girl resembling Senna is seen running past him.