Besides Naruto, one of the hottest manga/anime properties on this side of the ocean is Bleach, a story whose name makes no sense. I mean, where does Bleach come from anyways? Despite the nonsensical name fans love the adventures of Ichigo and the other Soul Reapers, but so far they've had little chance to play as their favorites outside of an imported game here or there. Well, Bleach has finally made it to consoles across the pond, and now you can swing your Wii remote like your very own Zanpaku-to.

THE STORY SO FAR
I've got good news, bad news, and ugly news. The good news is that Bleach: Shattered Blade (Bleach from here on) contains a new story with a brand-new character not seen before in the manga or anime. On the bad side of things is the fact that there really isn't much of a story, as they practically all unfold in the exact same way, with the exact same boss fight, and you'll likely skip through the cutscenes (in-game dialogue moments) just so you can beat that character's episode and hopefully unlock something cool. On the ugly side of things comes the fact that if you've only seen Bleach up to where it is currently in the American dub, you're going to have plot moments spoiled for you. Have you been waiting around eager to see what Ichigo's bankai looks like? Be prepared for it to be spoiled! If a few of those spoilers don't matter to you it won't be a big deal, but to those who hate spoilers you might come away pretty peeved.

The basic story has each of the various episode leads going around looking for shards of a sword so they can do something (that something would technically be a spoiler, so hush hush). Of course, there is no actual finding, as you just end up queuing up the next fight, and it appears they just so happened to have a part. The story unfolds through drawn stills that begin and end the narrative, and usually something like two brief duel monologues that take place before certain battles. Overall, there isn't much of a story mode, which is a shame, as it honestly would've been better to play events we've already seen, instead of do what was done here. But, if you're a Bleach fan, you'll at least play through them to unlock other characters.

GAMEPLAY
All fighting games have the ability for two players to fight each other, and Bleach is no different, but since it doesn't differ from regular single-player fights, we'll just group them all here.

Besides the Story Mode you've also got an Arcade Mode (a typical work your way up the ladder beating several opponents in a row), Versus Mode (battle against a friend or the computer), and then there is a Training Mode to practice your moves and techniques on. All in all the different modes are pretty much what you'd expect, with the Arcade Mode probably being the best since it doesn't have the story elements attached.

Bleach uses both the Wii remote and the nunchuk attachment. The nunchuk is primarily for controlling your character while the remote is used to control your sword (Zanpaku-to if you're a Soul Reaper) or other attacks if you're not a Soul Reaper since some characters use their fists, arrows, fireworks, etc. to attack since they aren't Soul Reapers. Each player has a stamina meter of sorts, which goes down after ever move, but gradually builds back up to full rather quickly. If you find yourself slicing away, however, and you run out of stamina, suddenly you won't be able to perform anymore moves until it builds up again.

Each character has a chop move (up to down), slash (left to right and right to left) and stab (thrusting forward) move at their disposal, which each corresponds to the movement of your remote. So if you want to stab all you have to do is stab your remote forward towards your television. By holding in the A-button you'll still perform the same directional movements, but now you have stronger critical strikes to do more damage with, and an extra uppercut to round things out. You can also hold the B-button in and attack with your usual remote swipes, which will activate even stronger attacks. It might not seem like many moves at your disposal, but the 15 or so regular moves are really enough, and that's not including what happens when your spiritual pressure rises.

Like most fighters, combat has to be balanced well or else there will be flaws and it simply won't be fun. Bleach does a good job of balancing characters, as some are slow but strong, others have longer reaches, some are super quick, and some are great at defending and then attacking. If you're a fan of the series you'll probably pick who you like, but if you're new or just want to mix it up, you'll find many different characters (32 by the end, though you have to unlock a lot of them) who each have their own styles.

Bleach also has some parrying involved to make combat a richer experience, where if you and the other player both throw the same slash, for instance, you'll counter each other and nobody will do any damage, acting like a block, only a block (pulled off with the Z-button) would deal a little damage to the blocker. Another way to counter each other is if you and the other player both hit the same critical attack at the same time. If you both hit the game zooms in for a minigame that is basically a game of paper, rock, scissors that has you trying to throw the move that will beat the other move. The player who gets the most points out of five wins the clash of swords and does damage to the other player. If both players score the same amount of points you just clash weapons and breakaway from each other. It's not that complicated to do, but the visual of the slashing swords still looks pretty good.

Besides the remote action, the nunchuk is used to block, dash (holding in the C-button) and moving your character around with the thumbstick. You'll also rapidly shake your nunchuk in order to build up your spiritual pressure (also goes up naturally be doing and receiving damage), which allows you to activate bankai (if you're a Soul Reaper who knows bankai) or just activate a super mode for your character. In bankai mode your character will move faster, have new attacks, and overall will be stronger. Renji, for example, usually has a sword that can extend and make itself longer, but in bankai Renji's sword becomes a huge skeleton snake that can attack from even farther away and does some frightful damage.

Overall the fighting is very casual, leaning more towards the Smash Brothers type of quick pickup and play fighting vibe than the hardcore intricate moves and rules of a Virtual Fighter. The casual leanings might throw some fans off, but we much prefer this simpler style as it was often a blast to get in there and flail our remote like a samurai sword. The difficulty is a bit easy on the default setting though, so be sure to crank it up a notch.

GRAPHICS
As a fan of the series, I always appreciate it when a developer goes that extra mile to make sure the game looks as close to the source material as possible, and the developers have certainly done that with Bleach. The characters look practically identical to their anime counterparts, and even things like the environments and the special moves are all ripped straight from the source. If you want ultra realism look elsewhere, but if you want to feel like you're playing the anime, Bleach fits the criteria nicely.

SOUND
The grunts and sounds of attacks are nice, but the background music is a little too generic and boring, and the voice acting, though it sounds like everyone from the American anime dub reprises their roles, comes off a bit too annoying at times or certain lines are said way too often. Defeat Ichigo and just see how many times he yells, "Damn it!"

IN CONCLUSION
Bleach: Shattered Blade may or may not gain new fans of the franchise, but for those who are already faithful to the series, they should have quite a lot of fun with the game. Yes, it has some shortcomings, but the motion controls of the remote and nunchuk really help bring you in and get you involved with the game. There are also a bunch of characters and unlockables, so that should keep fans busy for a while too.

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