BLEACH

As Ichigo continues his Bankai training, Renji emerges from his own Bankai training to save Rukia. But standing in his way is none other than his own captain -- Byakuya Kuchiki. Does Renji have the strength to defeat his one-time comrade or will he be ripped to shreds?

As Rukia Kuchiki is being lead to her execution, she is stopped by the ever devious, Gin Ichimaru. Just when Rukia has prepared herself for death, her concentration is broken by Gin's offer to let her live and her concern over Renji, whose pain she can sense.

Rukia stands on the Sokyoku at the brink of her execution, not knowing that help is on the way. Captain Ukitake, Captain Kyoraku, Ichigo, and his dedicated comrades are all racing to save her life. Will they make it in time or will the power of one million Zanpakuto consume her life?

While Renji hurries to get Rukia out of harm's way, Ichigo stays behind to hold off Byakuya Kuchiki. Though Rukia was wrong about Ichigo's ability to save her from execution, she does not believe that he can survive another battle with her brother. In an attempt to distract Soi Fon, Yoruichi comes to Ichigo's aid and battles her.

Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyoraku face the punishment meted out by Head Captain Yamamoto's Zanpakuto. Ukitake and Kyoraku were the first two men to graduate from the Soul Reaper Academy, but even though they are two accomplished captains fighting as allies, the odds do not appear to be on their side.

Fueled by anger and feelings of abandonment and betrayal, Soi Fon persists in her attempt to destroy her former master Yoruichi Shihouin, but her abilities may be hampered by her cocksure attitude. At the execution site, the battle between Ichigo and Byakuya Kuchiki continues. Ichigo has a newfound confidence that may be the key factor in his attacks against Byakuya.

The fierce battle between Ichigo and Captain Byakuya rages on. Ichigo taunts Byakuya and demands that he use his Bankai against him, while Byakuya remains visibly unmoved by Ichigo's amazing display of power. Meanwhile, Uryu, Chad, Orihime, Ganju, and their new Soul Reaper friend, "Mini Mustache," are having trouble navigating through the Seireitei.

Byakuya Kuchiki may have been impressed by the power exerted by Ichigo, the substitute Soul Reaper, but he's not done fighting yet. With spiritual pressure shaking the entire Seireitei, Orihime, Chad, Uryu, and Ganju wait helplessly nearby, knowing that all they can do is hope that their friend Ichigo will survive this vicious battle.

Central Forty Six is the highest judicial body in the Soul Society. After breaking into Central 46, Captain Hitsugaya and Rangiku discover that the forty Sages and six Judges were slaughtered days earlier. Captain Hitsugaya and Rangiku soon find that they are not the only ones that have come to investigate the scene.

After defeating Hitsugaya, Captain Aizen heads for the Execution Grounds. Renji is dumbfounded as he finds himself facing Captains Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tossen at Sokyoku hill, the very same place that he was carrying Rukia away from. Captain Aizen demands Renji to put Rukia down and disappear, but there is no way Renji is going to abandon his childhood friend.

Furious after hearing the news of the defection of three captains, Sajin Komamura arrives at the Sokyoku ready to beat the treachery out of Aizen and his lackeys. Captain Komamura quickly realizes that deception is even a part of Sosuke Aizen's fighting technique, and the rogue captain proves to be more of a challenge than he expected.

Peace returns as the Soul Society recuperates from the deep wounds left by the treachery of Captain Aizen and his partners in crime. Captain Komamura and Lieutenant Hisagi visit the graves of fallen comrades, while Hitsugaya visits Hinamori and hopes for her quick recovery from the wounds she received from Captain Aizen.

Ichigo and his friends have returned from the Soul Society and are finally able to get back to their "normal" lives. On the first day back at school, Renji shows up unannounced, dressed in his out-dated seventies' fashion. Since things have settled down in the Soul Society, Renji has been sent to Karakura Town to oversee the eradication of Hollows, and Ichigo has no choice but to work with him.

Ichigo and his friends meet at school and set out to look for Orihime the day after her disappearance. It seems that her school chums have lost all memories of her existence. The only clue that Ichigo and the others find at the site of her disappearance is a bizarre, round footprint. Renji gets a call on his Soul Pager telling him, "I have your friend. You'll get her back if you win."

After Chad's kidnapping, Ichigo and the others go to Urahara to explain their predicament. Ichigo receives a phone call from Lirin who instructs Ichigo to bring all of his friends to the Karakura Museum. Though they know they are walking into a trap, they go to the museum and find themselves stuck inside a labyrinth that they must navigate their way through in order to free their friends.

Chad and Orihime are rescued, but when Lirin tells them that one of their friends has been replaced by an impostor, they realize that the game is not over. Ichigo, Renji, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime struggle to figure out which one of them is the phony, and if they don't hurry, all of their classmates will disappear.

Lirin sets in place a giant gate that begins to devour everything in Karakura Town. The only way to have Chad released and save the town is to destroy the gate. Ichigo and the others have only thirty minutes before the gate sucks up everything in the vicinity. Meanwhile, Yoruichi and Soi Fon discover a strange soul wandering the streets of the World of the Living.

New information has come to light regarding an unusual race known as Bounts. Kisuke Urahara explains that Bounts are beings that gain eternal life by absorbing the souls of humans. Urahara warns Ichigo that he and his friends may be in danger because Bounts tend to target humans with high-level abilities.

Ichigo and Lirin find themselves in a pinch when they are attacked by the Bount Yoshino Soma and her Doll, Goethe. An unexpected visit from Rukia comes just in the nick of time, but she and Ichigo appear to be outmatched when the Bount Ryo Udagawa and his Doll, Friede, join the fight.

Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Chad, and Uryu surround the Bount Ryo Udagawa, but they find themselves at a slight disadvantage when he releases the immense power of his Doll, Friede. Friede's snakelike attacks are quickly directed towards Uryu when Udagawa finds out that Uryu is a Quincy.

Upon visiting Uryu in the hospital, Ichigo and Rukia must fight off a wave of rushing water that turns into a water doll belonging to two malevolent Bounts.

As Ichigo and his friends try to fight off Ho and Ban, the two Bounts, Udagawa tries to persuade Yoshino, a renegade Bount, to return to Master Kariya's fold.

Yoshino finds Uryu and takes him back to her home to protect him. There, she reveals to Uryu her difficult life as a Bount and hope she had been given by Kariya.

Thrown together by fate, Uryu and Yoshino find themselves strange allies in a desperate fight against Koga and his feminine killing machine, Dalc.

Ichigo, Rukia, Ririn, Noba, and Kurodo enter Jin Kariya's mansion and come face to face with him and the other Bounts. As Ichigo challenges Udagawa. Rukia rushes deeper into the mansion to rescue Uryu.