Reception Bradley Meek of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews had expected to dislike the film, and found himself pleasantly surprised that he enjoyed the film. He felt that the film was made purely to please fans, and that those fans would be pleased. He criticized the opening sequence and some other scenes as excessively confusing and incoherent, but praises the character Senna as "a sweet character who is likeable from pretty much frame one." Anime News Network's Carl Kimlinger agreed that the film was primarily for series fan and would be confusing to newcomers to the franchise. While he felt the film followed the basic formula for "theatrical adaptations of long-running shounen series" and attempts to cram a lot in a short time, he also felt it was "unfailingly entertaining throughout." Fellow ANN reviewer Carlo Santos described it as "an extended filler episode" with the addition of new "disposable characters", however it notes that with a theatrical production budget the film is "a jaw-dropping, fist-pumping 'Best Of' compilation of all the shikai, bankai, and fighting styles that make the series so dynamic". He had mixed feelings about the film's soundtrack, noting that most was lifted from the series while praising the few new musical pieces as being "well-written" and well used. Beth Accomando of KPBS praised the film's artistry and the complex mix of themes and idealisms presented in the story. In particular, she found the film's concept of "Blanks" conveyed "a deep spiritual sadness that provides unexpected depth to this supernatural action thriller." Chris Beveridge of Mania.com felt the film met his expectations with its "high production values, a solid if predictable script and some really neat designs", yet noted that its weakness was its lack of relevance to the series and offers no permanent character growth. Other media The light novel adaptation of the film was published on December 18, 2006. Senna appears as a playable character in three PlayStation Portable video games, Bleach: Heat the Soul 5, 6 and 7. Some plot concepts from the film would go on to be incorporated into the main Bleach literary media, such as the Valley of Screams, which was later introduced in the original manga series, and the Ryuudouji clan, which was directly mentioned in the Bleach novel series Can't Fear Your Own World. Notes References External links 2006 anime films Anime films composed by Shirō Sagisu Memories of Nobody Films directed