Bleach: Memories in the Rain

BLEACH Memories in the Rain

7.2(74,478)

MAL Score

Ranked #3755

Popularity #1934

Action
Adventure
Drama
Supernatural

Episodes: 1
Duration: 29 min
Aired: Sep 23, 2004
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Premiering at the Jump Festa 2004 Anime Tour before the television broadcast began in Japan, *Bleach: Memories in the Rain* serves as the franchise’s first OVA and an early pilot-style take on material later adapted in episodes 8–9, eventually receiving a DVD release.

Kurosaki Ichigo, acting as a substitute Shinigami on behalf of Kuchiki Rukia, comes face-to-face with the Hollow responsible for his mother’s death. What follows is a fiercely personal confrontation as Ichigo’s hunt turns into a battle driven by grief and revenge.

Otaku Consensus

Bleach: Memories in the Rain is best understood as a historically important franchise artifact: a Jump Festa-era OVA where Studio Pierrot, Noriyuki Abe, Masashi Kudou, and Shirou Sagisu test the emotional and stylistic vocabulary that would define early Bleach. Its reputation is positive but measured, with MAL's 7.19 and AniList's 69/100 reflecting appreciation for its concentrated grief-driven confrontation and pilot-like novelty, while the common criticism is that its one-episode compression feels less definitive than the later TV adaptation of the same material in episodes 8–9.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Memories in the Rain if you want early Bleach at its rawest: compact, mournful, and closer to a proof-of-concept than a polished franchise victory lap. It is especially rewarding for viewers who like comparing alternate adaptations, because this OVA predates the TV broadcast and handles material the main series would soon revisit. If Yu Yu Hakusho appeals to you for its street-level spirit-world energy, or Jujutsu Kaisen for supernatural combat tied to personal trauma, this scratches a more 2004 shounen version of that itch without asking for a long commitment. The draw is not scale; it is seeing Pierrot, Noriyuki Abe, and Shirou Sagisu establish Bleach's mix of urban fantasy, sword action, and melancholy before the 366-episode TV run turned it into a generational staple.

Key Characters

I
Ichigo Kurosaki(VA: Masakazu Morita)
Ichigo stands out here as an unusually emotionally exposed shounen lead, with the OVA foregrounding the anger and survivor's guilt that later became central to how fans read his heroism.
R
Rukia Kuchiki(VA: Fumiko Orikasa)
Rukia's appeal comes from her clipped authority and quiet concern, giving the early Bleach formula its crucial balance between supernatural procedure and intimate character drama.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
It premiered at the Jump Festa 2004 Anime Tour before Bleach began its Japanese television broadcast, making it a pre-TV snapshot of how the anime staff first framed Kubo's material.
2
The OVA is a pilot-style version of content later adapted in TV episodes 8–9, so it functions as a rare official alternate take rather than a disposable side story.
3
Studio Pierrot and director Noriyuki Abe are already in place here, tying the OVA directly to the creative team that would oversee the long-running 2004–2012 Bleach television series.
4
Shirou Sagisu is credited for the music, connecting this early special to the composer whose sound became inseparable from Bleach's mix of spiritual dread, swagger, and melodrama.
5
Its single-episode structure gives the material a sharper memorial quality than the TV version, emphasizing one emotional incident instead of folding it into the rhythm of an ongoing weekly arc.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Memories in the Rain is the first Bleach OVA and debuted on September 23, 2004, shortly before the main TV anime began airing in October 2004.
Fun fact 2: The special was shown at the Jump Festa 2004 Anime Tour and only later received a DVD release, which is why it occupies an unusual place between promotional pilot and franchise entry.
Fun fact 3: Masakazu Morita and Fumiko Orikasa are credited for the ending theme performance, in addition to being strongly associated with Ichigo and Rukia in the Japanese cast.
Fun fact 4: The broader Bleach anime from the same Studio Pierrot and Noriyuki Abe production line eventually ran for 366 episodes from October 2004 to March 2012.
Fun fact 5: Tite Kubo, credited as the original creator, had previously authored ZOMBIEPOWDER., and Bleach went on to win the Shogakukan Manga Award in the shounen category.