A Gentle Right Arm

Facing Ichigo in an alleyway, Uryū produces a lure that draws Hollows once crushed and declares a duel: whoever purifies the most within a day wins. Ignoring Ichigo's outrage at endangering the town, he scatters the bait and immediately picks off the first arrival with a Heilig Pfeil. Realizing that Hollows target those with strong spiritual pressure, Ichigo remembers the earlier attack on his sisters and races off to protect them, while Uryū notes that Ichigo still fails to grasp how many people around him carry spiritual power.

As the sky splits open across Karakura Town, ordinary teenagers with latent senses feel the wrongness in the air. Tatsuki, who has been seeing spirits since a strange incident at Orihime's home, shoos away a taunting Soul; Karin abandons her soccer game, unsettled; and at the Urahara Shop, Rukia watches her tracker flood with impossible numbers of Hollow alerts. Ichigo and Uryū both cut down waves of the creatures, but the real crisis unfolds when Bulbous G crashes down near Sado, who can barely perceive it.

Recognizing that the Hollow is hunting him, Sado leads it away, only to run into Karin, who can see the beast clearly and guides his blind blows. When Bulbous G threatens Karin and her friends, Sado recalls his grandfather Oscar teaching him to use his size to shield others rather than harm them. Channeling that resolve, he clashes fists with the Hollow and blows off its arm, his own right arm transforming into the armored Brazo Derecha de Gigante. A second uppercut splits Bulbous G apart. Karin, embarrassed by his heroics yet worried, runs to fetch Isshin, leaving Sado to marvel at his mysterious new strength as Numb Chandelier watches Orihime from a distant rooftop.

Uryū challenges Ichigo to a Hollow-slaying contest by scattering bait, flooding Karakura Town with monsters. Ichigo and Uryū purify waves of Hollows while Rukia's tracker is overwhelmed. Sado is targeted by Bulbous G and, aided by Karin's sight and memories of his grandfather, awakens the Fullbring arm Brazo Derecha de Gigante to destroy it. Numb Chandelier appears watching Orihime.

This episode adapts Chapters 36 (from page 18) through 40 within the Agent of the Shinigami arc. The next-episode preview is narrated in Orihime's whimsical style. The adaptation reworks how Sado finishes Bulbous G, having him fire an energy blast that bifurcates the Hollow rather than a point-blank punch, and softens several bloody details. *~Asterisk~ opens the episode and Life is Like a Boat closes it.