Summer! Sea! Swimsuit Festival!!

The women of the Shinigami Women's Association shop for new swimwear, with Yoruichi cheerfully picking out a garish suit for a horrified Suì-Fēng and Unohana quietly cowing Isane into accepting a revealing one. The whole group then gathers on a beach that Unohana has rented for the day, its refreshment stand staffed by Orihime, Sado, and Uryū. Ichigo learns the outing exists because Byakuya destroyed a secret pool the women dug in his yard, so they invited him along to make him pay. Ukitake collapses from the heat almost as soon as he declares he feels fine.

Once revived, Ukitake announces a sand-sculpture competition judged by Unohana, dangling a cash prize from the Captain-Commander to spur everyone on. Byakuya and Rukia work in silent focus, Renji and Ikkaku turn their castle into a rowdy game until Yachiru drops a crab on Ikkaku, and Rangiku scandalizes Nanao by proposing they haul water in their cleavage. While Ukitake dozes, Sentarō and Kiyone bury him in a flower-filled sand coffin that leaves the others joking it looks like a funeral.

Vine-like tentacles then snatch Nanao and Isane into the air as a towering creature rises from the water, which Unohana claims is a high-Reiatsu Hollow that has haunted the beach. Quincy arrows and Sado's blows are simply absorbed, and with most of the group having left their Zanpakutō behind, panic sets in until Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng arrive to smash the attackers apart. The truth then surfaces: the monsters are Hollow-slaying watermelons built by the Research department, part of a whack-a-melon game the captains dreamed up, and Unohana invented the ghost story purely to excite everyone.

As dozens more melons pop from the sand and Nemu reveals she brought plenty for the whole group, Ichigo can only shout in frustration. Off in the shade of the beach shack, Hitsugaya keeps eating ice cream and insists he is skipping the fun because he detests the heat.

The Shinigami Women's Association buys new swimsuits and heads to a beach rented for the day. Ichigo learns Byakuya was invited as payback for wrecking the women's secret pool. Ukitake stages a sand-sculpture contest with a cash prize. Tentacled creatures seize Nanao and Isane, appearing to be an absorbing Hollow, prompting Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng to destroy them. Unohana reveals the monsters are Hollow-hunting watermelons made by the Research department for a game she and the captains devised.

This anime-original beach episode adapts the omake chapter BLEACH on the BEACH!! and stands outside any story arc. Its opening theme is Shōjo S and its ending is Kimi wo Mamotte, Kimi wo Aishite. It premiered in Japan on July 14, 2009, and in English on October 30, 2011. No true fight takes place. In a Zanpakutō introduction segment, Rangiku presents Hyōrinmaru as a feeble sword good only for making ice, to Hitsugaya's outrage.