Bleach/Hitsugaya, Roar!

Hitsugaya, Roar!
Season 3, Episode 7
Airdate	September 6, 2005
Production Number	48
Written by	Genki Yoshimura Masahiro Okubo Masashi Sogo Michiko Yokote Natsuko Takahashi Rika Nakase
Directed by	Noriyuki Abe
← 3x06 The Avengers	3x08 → Rukia's Nightmare
Bleach — Season Three

Hitsugaya, Roar! is the seventh episode of the third season of Bleach and the forty-eighth episode overall. Captains Ichimaru and Hitsugaya fight with one another, Ichigo continues his training and Rukia's execution date is moved up once again.

Co-Stars: Steve Staley (Toshiro Hitsugaya), Doug Erholtz (Gin Ichimaru), Grant George (Izuru Kira), Megan Hollingshead (Rangiku Matsumoto), Wendee Lee (Yoruichi Shihouin), Wally Wingert (Renji Abarai)

Plot Overview

Ichimaru and Captain Hitsugaya finally get into their fight to the death, something which Izuru also gets wrapped up in as a result of being so close to Ichimaru when the fight starts. The two go back and forth on offense and defense until Toshiro unseals his zanpakutō and attacks using an ice/water dragon formed from excess spiritual energy. Izuru is caught in the initial attack and finds himself frozen to the ground. Ichimaru is also partially frozen by the attack, but it doesn't stop him from unsealing his own weapon and using it to aim for Momo, who has been unconscious for the entire fight. She's saved by Rangiku, but at the expense of severe damage to her zanpakutō. She demands that he withdraw his sword or else face her as his opponent.

While the soul reapers fight amongst themselves, Ichigo is still training. He's preparing for his second day of fighting with Zangetsu, but Yoruichi is concerned that Ichigo may not be able to reach the bankai level by the time that she originally quoted or even at all, considering that Urahara is the only person to train in such a way and succeed. She considers stretching the training to another day or two even though more than three days could be dangerous, but Urahara himself assured her that Ichigo's potential is far greater than his. She eventually comes to the conclusion that if Ichigo's soul isn't damaged by the third day, then she'll extend his training. Unbeknown to them, Rukia's execution date has been moved up once again, this time to tomorrow. If Ichigo is to save Rukia, he'll have to finish his training on schedule.

Ichimaru withdraws his sword without another attack and leaves Toshiro and Rangiku to take care of Momo. Toshiro considers what Momo said about the letter's contents and receives word about Rukia's execution date. He decides that now is the time to prevent the execution from progressing, just in case Aizen's warning about the destruction of the Soul Society is correct after all.

As he attempts to stop the execution, Ichigo's training is intruded on by Renji, who asks to join in on the training. He tells them about the execution date being moved up and admits that he came to train as well, but he promises not to interfere with Ichigo's training. Instead, Renji goes off to a distant part of the training grounds to work towards bankai with his materialized zanpakutō. Yoruichi voices her concern over Ichigo's progress and the impossibility of reaching bankai by noon the next day, but (in typical form), Ichigo resolves to meet the point by the end of the day.

Meanwhile, Rukia recalls a nightmare she had the night before about Kaien Shiba's murder and decides to request Ichigo's safe return to the mortal world.