Ichigo Dies!

Bleeding and beaten, Ichigo Kurosaki kneels before Renji Abarai, who lectures him on how a Zanpakutō's shape reflects its wielder's spiritual power before moving to finish him. Rukia Kuchiki, hoping a single blow would convince Ichigo to retreat, instead sees him refuse to yield. She grabs Renji's sword arm to buy time, and Ichigo suddenly rises, the tassels of his blade bursting off as a wave of reiatsu erupts from him. Flooded with new strength, he overwhelms Renji, slashing him repeatedly, chasing him across rooftops, and cracking his visor as the astonished lieutenant wonders where this power came from.

Just as Ichigo commits to a finishing strike, most of his blade is severed. Byakuya Kuchiki has intervened from a distance, and he then executes Senka, moving behind Ichigo faster than the eye can track and piercing his chest. Ichigo collapses, unable to tell whether he was struck from front or back. When Rukia tries to reach him, Renji pins her against a pole and warns that touching a condemned man will add twenty years to her sentence. Blaming herself for involving Ichigo, Rukia insists on going to him, but when Ichigo grabs Byakuya's robe, she coldly kicks his hand away, berates him for touching her brother, and asks to be taken back to Soul Society. She tells Ichigo to stay put and live a little longer, warning she will never forgive him if he follows.

Byakuya explains he has shattered the Saketsu and Hakusui of Ichigo's soul, leaving him to die within the hour with no powers even if he survives, then departs through a Senkaimon with Renji and Rukia as rain pours down. Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihōin arrive to save the fallen Ichigo. He later wakes at the Urahara Shop, startled to find Tessai Tsukabishi atop him, and learns Uryū Ishida was treated and sent home. Urahara reveals there is a way to reach Soul Society and rescue Rukia, but only if Ichigo trains with him for ten days. Pinning the doubtful boy with Shitonegaeshi, Urahara insists that charging in now would be suicide, lays out the timeline they have before the execution, and asks Ichigo to stake his life on the training. Ichigo firmly agrees.

Ichigo briefly awakens a surge of raw power and overpowers Renji. Byakuya severs his blade and finishes the fight with Senka, destroying the vital points of Ichigo's soul. Rukia feigns coldness and chooses to return to Soul Society to spare Ichigo further harm. Byakuya, Renji, and Rukia depart through a Senkaimon, leaving Ichigo powerless and dying. Urahara and Yoruichi rescue him, and Urahara offers to teach Ichigo a way to reach Soul Society through ten days of life-or-death training, which Ichigo accepts.

This is the seventeenth episode, adapting chapters 55 through 57 of the Agent of the Shinigami arc. The opening theme is *~Asterisk~ and the ending is Thank You!. Techniques featured include Byakuya's Senka, Urahara's Shitonegaeshi, the Senkaimon, and Renji's Shikai, Zabimaru. The adaptation expanded the rooftop chase between Ichigo and Renji and added flashbacks to Rukia's time with Ichigo, while softening the blood from their injuries for broadcast.