Fade to Black is a prime example of a Bleach universe expansion that simply doesn’t need to exist. There was not a single reason for this movie to be made other than milking the franchise.

I will elaborate on that.

~~Spoilers ahead but... nothing really happens in this movies so you may proceed anyway. This is not exaggeration.~~

Fade to Black is a filler. Now, fillers can be great assets to a show, especially to one as rich as Bleach – but they must be done right, they must have a purpose. To pull off a good filler it is essential to focus on an already established aspect of the show’s universe, be it characters or the world, and further develop them. Also, fanservice. That is necessary part of a filler too. Simply put, take something from a show and expand it in an entertaining way.

Bleach has a history of fillers and I’d argue some of them are quite decent. Their fatal flaws tend to lie in the timing of the filler and weak characters, but there’s generally a great deal of good filler inputs. This movie is not one of them.

As I’ve stated above, what makes a filler a good addition to the main story is the fact it can go anywhere. Is there a quirky side character who doesn’t get much screentime? Take them and have them go on an adventure! Put them in a stressful situation to show who they are. Let them make decisions of their own. Filler is such a powerful tool since it is able to do all that without affecting the main plot while expanding said plot.

Fade to Black feels like a discount version of an actual filler arc that already aired. It is built on the premise of two characters who can alter other people’s memories. These two mysterious hooligans happen to be interested in Rukia and decide to erase her memories, kidnap her all while commencing an attack on Soul Society as they hate all Soul Reapers. So, as it turns out, everyone forgets about Rukia’s and Ichigo’s (because his powers were originally hers which makes them connected) very existence.

Thus, when Ichigo enters Soul Society to look for Rukia, everyone is after him since they don’t recognize him and suspect him of being the culprit behind the attack on Seireitei.

This has already happened in Bleach. Not to say the whole Soul Society arc is about Ichigo battling Soul Reapers to save Rukia, there is also this weird Shuusuke Amagai filler arc in which Ichigo is drawn into a noble family dispute and the Gotei 13 are chasing him down since they suspect him of intervening in the nobles’ wedding – it’s complicated, the fact remains that the concept of Ichigo having to battle Soul Reapers of Soul Society has been done before. This adds absolutely nothing to our experience with the world of Bleach.

Plot wise there is nothing of substance but Ichigo trying to prove himself as the ally of Soul Society could theoretically be amusing, you might say. Well, there is nothing like that. His attempts are pathetic, the only way in which he demonstrates his knowledge of Soul Society is calling people by their names. To give credit where credit’s due, he does tell Byakuya the name of his late wife, which was good and also (SURPRISINGLY!) worked and second point, he reveals that he knows of Renji’s bankai. Those are the only attempts to convince the Gotei 13 that he, in fact, knows them and they simply forgot about him.

The movie isn’t even entertaining fanservice-wise. There is a 30-second-long scene of Byakuya and Hisane back in the day and that is all. It feels more like – oh look! Komamura’s bankai! Oh, and look there – Byakuya’s bankai! Oh, and this? It’s Yoruichi carrying Soi-Fon!

This movie serves as pointless platform to show popular Bleach characters and that’s it. Literally. Some of those characters make appearance just for the sake of making appearance – we don’t even see them fight, we don’t see them interact with anyone, they are just there. Like hey! Ikkaku and Yumichika! Hitsugaya! Kenpachi! you like them, right?

That is best represented during the ending of the movie. One of the main focuses was the fact that neither Renji nor Byakuya could remember Rukia, their most important person. There is actual build-up for the moment they finally realize who Rukia is. I was genuinely interested to see both Byakuya and Renji deal with the situation and eventually react to the realization.

That doesn’t happen.

Eventually, everybody gets their memories back, obviously, but there is absolutely no conclusion to anything except for between Rukia and Ichigo. We don’t see Renji nor Byakuya react to what has transpired. We don’t see Gotei 13 react to the fact they were hunting Ichigo down. There is no rewarding conclusion to anything that has happened.

For a movie about memories I would expect more sentimental approach yet all we are offered are quick battle sequences and literally nothing but cameos. Fade to Black feels like every famous Bleach character got a cameo and that was all there was budget for.

If only I got at least some fanservice I would have rated this higher, however this movie doesn’t even have that. I definitely wouldn’t recommend watching Fade to Black - and not because it’s that bad, it’s just very empty. I can’t think of a single reason anyone should spend 94 minutes of their life on a movie so devoid of meaning.

That one episode about Yumichika, Rin and Hanatarou baking a cake for the first time had more substance than this.
(I mean it, that is an exceptionally well done filler I absolutely love, because it takes three side characters, places them in front of an unusual conflict, they have to work to resolve said conflict and ultimately it allows them to grow as people. The filler is structured like a regular story, there is build-up and pay-off while it also develops the characters in subtle yet meaningful ways. There is fanservice, humour and action as well. It is a filler with purpose and it's a fucking cake baking episode.)