Duel! Amagai vs. Ichigo

After entrusting Rurichiyo Kasumiōji to Rukia, Ichigo Kurosaki enters Bankai and throws himself at Captain Shūsuke Amagai. Amagai brings his Bakkōtō into play, reminding Ichigo that the weapon smothers a Shinigami's power along with their Zanpakutō, and insists the boy has no hope of saving the girl whose fate, he claims, was sealed the day she was born into the Kasumiōji Clan. Amagai grips Tensa Zangetsu and flings both blade and boy aside, then unleashes waves of flame through Raika Gōen Kaku.

When Amagai lets loose Raika head-on, Ichigo absorbs the strike and emerges untouched behind his Hollow mask, stunning the onlookers. Now far deadlier, Ichigo seizes the advantage, and Amagai realizes the reason his Bakkōtō failed to break the boy: it can only bind Shinigami power, never a Hollow's. The two trade blows that wear them both down, and though Amagai lands a punishing Gōen Ryūga, Ichigo answers with a Getsuga Tenshō that catches the captain off guard. Refusing to fall, Amagai channels still more power into his Bakkōtō.

The duel exposes the flaw in the Bakkōtō, since Ichigo's Hollowfication lets him retain his strength where other users had been suppressed, explaining how he defeated the previous wielders. Rukia notes that the masked Ichigo is now a genuine match for Amagai, and she deduces his plan to strike at the captain's right side where the Bakkōtō sits, a scheme Amagai anticipates yet is distracted enough by to eat a full Getsuga Tenshō. Rurichiyo pleads with Ichigo to stop fighting on her behalf, but he refuses to quit. Amagai speaks bitterly of the hatred and vengeance that have driven and strengthened him over the years.

Episode 188 is an anime-only installment of the New Captain Shūsuke Amagai arc, with no manga chapters behind it. It aired in Japan on September 17, 2008, and in English on January 23, 2011, opening with Chu-Bura and closing on Gallop. A Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book segment shows Renji delivering Byakuya's letter to Sajin Komamura, whose gardening trowel and paper bag turn out to be for walking his dog Goro rather than anything alarming.