Bleach: Fade to Black

The third film debuted in Japan on December 13, 2008, with a screenplay by anime writer Natsuko Takahashi. Its full title translates to a promise to call out a beloved name, and its official tagline bid farewell to Rukia. Porno Graffitti performed the theme, Koyoi, Tsuki ga Miezutomo. Episodes of the television series reused the movie's footage in their credits to promote it.

Where earlier films dropped Ichigo into unfamiliar crises, this one turns on the relationship at the heart of the series, stripping Rukia from the collective memory of Soul Society and leaving Ichigo to prove she exists. The picture is available for streaming on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Vudu.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi is attacked in his laboratory as a strange ooze floods the Seireitei and two siblings, Homura and Shizuku, slash Rukia and carry her off. In the living world Ichigo wakes to find no one remembers Rukia, and only after decoding a coded note she left does his own memory return. Urahara reveals that Mayuri's lab was sabotaged and a portion of everyone's memories has been stolen, prompting Ichigo and Kon to head for Soul Society, where the Shinigami now treat Ichigo as an unknown intruder.

Ichigo fights former allies who no longer recognize him while searching for Rukia, who has been taken to Rukongai and fed false memories by Homura and Shizuku. The pair, who grew up beside her, insist she promised to give them names and vow never to be parted again. Urahara eventually traces the cause to a parasitic Hollow able to shear away a person's memory, explaining that severing all recollection of someone unravels the bonds tying them to everyone else. Because Ichigo's powers originally came from Rukia, the world forgot him along with her.

As Rukia begins to recall Ichigo and Renji, the desperate siblings merge with the Hollow's power, transforming her into a dark, hostile version of herself who tries to shear Ichigo away. Refusing to give up, Ichigo impales her exactly as he once received her Shinigami powers, this time sharing his own back, which purges the parasite. The truth emerges that Homura and Shizuku died as children shielding Rukia and had unknowingly clung to existence out of longing to see her. Rukia finally gives them the names she promised before they pass on, and she affirms that a bond, once formed, can never truly vanish.

The anime's episodes 197 through 201 featured the film's animation in their opening and closing credits as part of the promotional rollout.

A pair of minor slips appear in the finished movie: Kenpachi is shown briefly hovering in midair despite lacking any flash-step ability, and during the credits the voice actor for Sajin Komamura has his name misspelled.