Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion

The second animated feature reached Japanese theaters on December 22, 2007, again directed by Noriyuki Abe, with a screenplay co-written by Michiko Yokote and Masahiro Okubo. Sambomaster's Hikari no Rock served as its theme. Alongside the release, Tite Kubo produced a short manga chapter delving into Hitsugaya's history, and anime episodes borrowed the film's footage for their credits.

Carrying the tagline demanding Hitsugaya's execution, the movie centers on the tenth division captain and a secret from his student days. It opened in North America in September 2009 and later became available for streaming on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Vudu.

A royal procession transporting a sacred artifact called the Oin is ambushed by two Arrancar, Yin and Yang, alongside a masked assailant. Hitsugaya chases the masked figure and then disappears, leading Soul Society to confine his division and treat him as a deserter. Ichigo finds the wounded captain and learns he is pursuing someone named Kusaka, a name that unlocks a painful past: as academy students, Hitsugaya and Sojiro Kusaka both wielded the same spirit, Hyorinmaru, and Central 46 decreed that only one could keep it, ordering a duel to the death that ended with Kusaka slain.

Kusaka, resurrected in Hueco Mundo by the Oin's power, now schemes to seize control of Soul Society and take revenge on the Seireitei that discarded him. Ichigo, guided by a vision of the past that his own Zanpakuto reveals, comes to understand that Hitsugaya has shouldered the guilt alone, deserting his post to settle the matter himself even at the cost of being condemned. Investigators including Shunsui, Nanao, and Byakuya gradually piece together the impossible truth of a doubled Zanpakuto.

Kusaka transports himself and Hitsugaya to Sokyoku Hill, cuts the Oin in two, and swells into a monstrous dragon of purple ice whose power threatens to consume the entire Seireitei. With Ichigo urging Hitsugaya to stop carrying the burden by himself, the captains, Kenpachi, and Ichigo assault the towering form until Ichigo pierces its head. In a final one-on-one clash, Hitsugaya strikes down the fading Kusaka, who thanks him for reaffirming that they were always friends before dispersing. The Oin reforms, and Hitsugaya lays Kusaka's broken sword before a grave.

The promotional push mirrored earlier films, with anime episodes 151 through 154 using footage from the movie in their opening and closing sequences, supplemented by Kubo's tie-in manga chapter about Hitsugaya's youth.

An error slipped into the English dub, in which Rukia mistakenly names Ichigo's Bankai as Tensho Zangetsu rather than Tensa Zangetsu.