Ichigo Becomes a Hollow!

In the Seireitei prison, Byakuya Kuchiki confirms to a stunned Renji Abarai that Rukia Kuchiki has been sentenced to execution in twenty-five days. Left alone in her cell, Rukia vows not to weep over her fate. Beneath the Urahara Shop, Ichigo Kurosaki begins the second lesson bound by a Kidō spell at the base of the Shattered Shaft, with Tessai Tsukabishi and Kisuke Urahara warning that he has seventy-two hours to climb out as a Shinigami before his Chain of Fate finishes its Encroachment and he becomes a Hollow they will have to kill.

Elsewhere, Yoruichi Shihōin drills Orihime Inoue and Yasutora Sado, who cannot summon their powers on command. Teaching that one draws strength from the desire to protect, she has them recall what they were guarding when their abilities first awakened. Sado remembers shielding Karin but botches the memory of her face, while Orihime, recalling the attack that hurt her friends, manifests the Shun Shun Rikka, only for the hot-tempered Tsubaki to scold her for calling them out with no enemy around. Down in the shaft, Ichigo repeatedly tries to sprint up the sheer wall and keeps falling, taunted by Jinta and Ururu, who dangle food and drool over him as the hours slip away.

When the final Encroachment hits, the remaining links devour one another and open a hole in Ichigo's chest as a Hollow mask spreads across his face. Rather than exploding into a Hollow like others, his body resists, and Urahara holds off intervention. Inside his inner world, Ichigo meets Zangetsu, who reveals that Byakuya only destroyed the borrowed powers Rukia gave him and overlooked Ichigo's own dormant Shinigami strength. Guided to hunt for the single red Reiraku among falling boxes, Ichigo grasps the hilt of his Zanpakutō. As Tessai unleashes a suppression spell to destroy him, a figure in a shihakushō and Hollow mask bursts free, shatters the mask, and reveals Ichigo restored. Told that lesson three only requires knocking off Urahara's hat, Ichigo vows to finish him as Urahara draws his own blade.

Byakuya announces Rukia's execution date. Ichigo begins the Shattered Shaft lesson with a seventy-two-hour deadline to become a Shinigami before Hollowfication. Orihime successfully calls out the Shun Shun Rikka during Yoruichi's training, while Sado remains unable to summon his power. Ichigo's Chain of Fate undergoes its final Encroachment and a Hollow mask forms, but his body resists the full transformation. He meets Zangetsu, learns of his innate Shinigami power, and retrieves his sword, regaining his abilities and passing lesson two before the third lesson begins.

This is the nineteenth episode, adapting chapters 62 through 65 of the Agent of the Shinigami arc. The opening theme is *~Asterisk~ and the ending is Thank You!. The Trials of the Shattered Shaft are formally listed as the episode's event. Kidō featured includes Kin and Bankin, both parts of Bakudō #99, along with Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka. The adaptation cut and altered several beats from the manga, including details of Zangetsu's guidance and the exact appearance of Ichigo's forming mask.