Formation! The Worst Tag

'''Formation! The Worst Tag''' is the twenty-sixth episode of the Bleach anime.

Statistics

 * Original Airdate: April 5, 2005
 * English Airdate: March 9, 2007
 * Opening Song: D-tecnoLife
 * Ending Song: Houkiboshi
 * Manga Chapters: Chapter 85, Chapter 86, Chapter 87.
 * Kanji: 結成! 最悪のタッグ
 * Romaji: "Kessei! Saiaku no taggu"
 * Arc: Soul Society: The Sneak Entry arc

Summary
The 5-man-1-cat team has been split into 4: Chad; Ishida and Orihime; Ganju and Ichigo; and lastly Yoruichi. Chad readies his arm, Orihime calls on the Shun Shun Rikka, and Ganju resorts to his sand technique. Ganju and Ichigo land in a sandpit, and emerge coughing out sand like a fountain. Ichigo comments that they are safe thanks to the spell, but Ganju continues to cough out sand, prompting Ichigo to kick him and tell him not to choke on his own spell anymore. Ganju grabs Ichigo’s lapels and they start a small quarrel as usual, but are interrupted by the arrival of 2 Shinigami on the roof behind them. One, a bald Shinigami holding his Zanpakutou over his shoulder, says that he’s so lucky today. They jump down and he says that he was slacking off in a corner as he was finding it a hassle having to go to his post, then right before his eyes, down plops his reward. He starts doing a little dance, saying that luck is on his side today, while they’ve got bad luck.

There is a large, smoking crater in the ground, which a group of Shinigami stare at, wondering what could have caused it. Seeing that there is no dead body, meaning that whatever it is is still alive, they decide to search. But their target is merely sitting in a nearby tree watching as birds sit on his arm – Chad. He asks himself what he should do now.

Another group of Shinigami are running towards one of the arrows falling from the sky, and they are led by a yellow-haired lieutenant. As the thing nears, it suddenly disappears and they start searching. The one in the arrow had been Yoruichi, who now stands on a nearby roof, saying that as it turns out, it’s on its own, which might be a good thing in the end.

Orihime, her arm bandaged, lies on the floor, dreaming about Ichigo, pooh and peter. Ishida watches as she suddenly wakes, sitting up and hitting him squarely on the jaw with her head. Standing abruptly and feeling the pain in her arm, she puts a hand on it and turns to see Ishida blushing and saying that he is okay. He says that they were lucky to fall where no-one was around, and Orihime claps her hands together, suddenly feeling the pain in her arm once more. Ishida tells her that she got hurt from the impact of the fall, but, holding up a first aid kit, he was able to give first aid with the bandages on hand, although he was unable to do anything about the pain. Orihime thanks him, standing and saying that she’s fine. Ishida apologizes, saying that she was trying to protect him, and hence had gotten hurt – if he hadn’t been there, she most likely would have escaped unscathed. Orihime replies that she’s such a dunce that either way, she’d still have gotten hurt, and if it weren’t for him and his first aid, she’d have bled and bled and become anaemic and immobilized. Ishida pushes up his glasses and says that they’d better move off, as they had made quite a sound and someone was sure to come. Sure enough, someone has, but as they run off, gives no chase.

The bald Shinigami whom Ichigo and Ganju met is doing another little dance, singing and tiptoeing across the floor. Finishing with a flip over his Zanpakutou and a nice pose showing off his shiny bald head, he demands to know why Ichigo and Ganju hadn’t gotten out of their sandpit whilst he was doing his “luck-luck dance”, and a little cabbage butterfly flutters past their bored, what-the-hell-is-up-with-you faces. Ganju wants to take this opportunity to run away, but Ichigo does not want to, despite Ganju saying that those two Shinigamis’ spirit powers are nothing like ordinary weakling Shinigami’s. The bald guy interrupts them again, and the other Shinigami, who has red and yellow feather-like eyelash extensions and wears a turtle-neck neck-warmer, says that they must be so scared of them. The baldie tells them to take their time arguing, but the other says that if they wait too long, others might come and steal their reward from under them. Seeing the truth in his words, the baldie says that he will set a time limit for them – he’ll do one more dance so they can take their time to decide. Ganju still wants to run, and tells Ichigo that if he wants to fight, do it alone, and runs off. The baldie asks Ichigo if they’ve split up, and when Ichigo says that it seems so, he asks them not to waste his time, and sends his partner, Yumichika, after Ganju. Ganju, running as fast as he can, sees Yumichika chasing after him and says that he knew one of them was sure to follow him.

Ichigo jumps out of the pit and the bald guy asks him what he didn’t run along with Ganju, who had seen that their spirit power had been greater than his. Ichigo replies that if his spirit power was more than his own, then it’d be pointless to run – he’d catch up for sure. On the other hand, if his own spirit power is greater than his opponent-to-be, then he’ll just have to beat him and move on. The bald guy comments that Ichigo isn’t stupid, then after a while of staring at each other, draws his Zanpakutou with amazing speed and brings it down on Ichigo, who jumps up in time to dodge it. Ichigo grabs Zangetsu and charges at the baldie, who comments that the former handles himself well, and blocks Zangetsu with his scabbard. Using his other hand that holds his Zanpakutou, he tries to attack Ichigo, who then uses the former’s sheath as a platform to jump into the air and evade the attack, somersaulting and landing on the roof beyond. Ichigo launches himself at and attacks his opponent thrice, the latter either blocking the attack with his Zanpakutou or by dodging it altogether. Now it is the baldie’s turn to be on the offensive, and Ichigo is also able to dodge the simultaneous attacks from the baldie’s scabbard and Zanpakutou. On the next attack, the baldie manages to spill some of Ichigo’s blood, but it’s the same the other way around – both have bleeding foreheads now. The baldie asks for Ichigo’s name, and Ichigo tells him. The baldie comments that the name “Ichigo” is a good name, and Ichigo says that is the first time someone has complimented his name. The baldie says that men with “ichi” in their names are said to be handsome men bursting with talent. He introduces himself as the 11th Squad 3rd-Seater, Madarame Ikkaku (“Ikkaku” begins with the same character as “Ichigo), saying that as two “ichi” men, they should be friends, but Ichigo says he doesn’t think so.

Meanwhile, Ganju is running and panting, Yumichika hot on his heels. Ganju picks up speed but so does Yumichika, prompting the former to complain that the latter never gives up. Yumichika comments that Ganju has an ugly running style, and tells him to look ahead. Ganju does so, and sees a dead end, just in time for him to use his technique to turn a section of the wall (a hole) into sand. Yumichika says that he uses such a strange jutsu, adding that it must’ve been Ganju who created the sandpit earlier, and jumps through the hole to continue his chase, saying that Ganju had better be careful now. Another wall blocks Ganju’s path but he does the same as he did with the previous wall, leaping through the hole and continuing on. Yumichika doesn’t bother to follow, smiling and saying to himself that beyond there is… Ganju almost falls into what seems to be a very deep pit with steep sides. As he wonders what this pit is, Yumichika appears behind him and tells him that it is the old execution grounds, where they used to release Hollows brought back alive and criminals to fight while the rest of them watched from the raised platforms on either side. Ganju remarks that Shinigamis have rather disgusting habits, but Yumichika says that none of those habits are as disgusting as his face. Ganju adds that Shinigami’s are such a pity, but Yumichika mishears that as “pretty”, saying that Ganju, too, understands the graceful features and utter magnificence that is he. Ganju mutters that he said “pity” and not “pretty”, and Yumichika replies that he knew that – it was a joke, full of humour and wit. In any case, that disgusting custom is no longer practiced, but any who fall inside cannot climb back out.

Yumichika draws his Zanpakutou, asking Ganju to make a choice: to die here by his blade, or to fall in the pit and die like a dog. However, if he’s going to vacillate, please turn this way and show him his face – no matter what kind of face, he cannot resist faces inundated with this kind of life-or-death decisions. Ganju turns his head and says that he really does have disgusting habits.

Ichigo wipes the blood on his eye, and Ikkaku says that he doesn’t get it – there might be a big distance between them, but Ichigo’s taking a hand off his Zanpakutou’s hilt during a face-off is amateurish behaviour. Ichigo snaps that he was merely trying to wipe off the blood on his eye that was blocking his vision, and Ikkaku calmly replies that forehead wounds bleed a lot even if they’re shallow. He pulls off the bottom of his Zanpakutou’s hilt as Ichigo’s wound lets out a downpour of blood. He puts a finger in the hilt and wipes that finger, which appears to have some paste of sorts on it, on his wound, saying that if he’s not going to stop the bleeding, then there’s no point in wiping. Ichigo shouts that Ikkaku is cheating by bringing his own cauterising cream, but Ikkaku says that he’s simply being prepared, and Ichigo should be more impressed. However, Ichigo is one strange dude – despite acting like a total amateur and not looking like a fighter, his reaction time is first-class (he demonstrates so by attacking Ichigo, who defends himself), his hits are violently strong (Ichigo attacks Ikkaku, who although blocks, staggers a little), and his agility is about the same as his own. Ikkaku tells Ichigo not to make such a scary face – he’s complimenting him. Saying that he’s too good to be written off as a fight-loving amateur with good instincts, he asks who Ichigo’s master is, and when he hears that Ichigo, although only for 10 days, had learnt from Urahara Kisuke, an image of Urahara, hat-less and wearing Shinigami clothes complete with a haori (what the captains wear) pops up in his mind. He says that in that case, killing Ichigo without going all out would be seriously rude.

Putting his scabbard and the hilt of his Zanpakutou together in a straight line, he calls out, “Grow, Houzukimaru!”, transforming his Zanpakutou into a Japanese spear (naginata). Ikkaku shouts out to Ichigo that there is no time to be shocked and not to misjudge as he starts poking Houzukimaru at Ichigo, who blocks each attack with Zangetsu. Ichigo harrumphs, saying that he knows and will not misjudge that a spear’s range is longer. Ikkaku grins and says that that’s not it, spinning Houzukimaru in his hand and holding it up. Ichigo seizes the opportunity, launching himself at Ikkaku, who swings Houzukimaru down on Ichigo, who continues to run toward Ikkaku whilst using Zangetsu to “shave” Houzukimaru’s wooden section. “Split, Houzukimaru!” Houzukimaru splits into three sections divided by a short chain, wrapping itself halfway around Ichigo.

Yumichika asks Ganju once more to turn and face him to let him see his face in his last moment, as each time he sees such a face, his beauty is polished more. He suddenly spots sand drizzling out of Ganju’s clenched fist, but before he can react, Ganju has flung sand into his eyes and made the ground below the two of them into sand. Yumichika jumps up to the side platforms in time but Ganju begins to fall into the pit, surviving just barely with a few fingers on the ledge, all of which are slipping off slowly. Yumichika curses Ganju, asking why he would want to do that to someone as beautiful as he. He laughs and hops back down as he sees Ganju slipping away into the darkness, saying that he is so unsightly – he never thought there were really people living up to the saying “digging one’s own grave”. Ganju skids off and screams as he falls, Yumichika smiling and calling him foolish. Suddenly, a blue light illuminates Yumichika’s face and opening his eyes, he sees Ganju in a cannonball, which Yumichika’s Zanpakutou cannot pierce, holding onto the spirit orb and saying how lucky he was to have brought a spare. He explains that this is a special cannonball developed by the world’s greatest sister, Shiba Kuukaku, which couldn’t be broken by any Zanpakutou with just a tap or two. Yumichika, however, says that Ganju has underestimated him, adding that he too is the 5th-ranked member of the strongest 11th Division, and releases his Zanpakutou so as to not let Ganju compare him to just any Shinigami. Passing his hand over his Zanpakutou (similar to how Renji does his), he chants “Bloom, Fujikujaku!” to morph it into a sickle, saying that he’ll smash that spirit barrier in a single attack. With a flick of the wrist Yumichika separates his Zanpakutou into 4 sickles in a fan-like manner, and smacks the cannonball, successfully penetrating it. Ganju adds as a side note that as soon as one disturbs the concentration of spirit power of the cannonball…

The cannonball starts to crack and in a sizeable explosion Ganju is thrown across to the other side of the pit, where he takes a tumble and crashes into a wall. Yumichika, dusting his clothes, says that there is no way he could be beat by that, and it seems that Ganju seriously wants to anger him. Ganju goads Yumichika by saying he can’t hear him and turning the wall into sand so he can get through, and Yumichika calls after him that he is ugly, too ugly.

Ichigo’s arm is all bloody and Ikkaku withdraws Houzukimaru, resting it over his shoulders as he tells Ichigo that that was what he meant by “don’t misjudge” – Houzukimaru isn’t a spear, but a tri-section staff. He asks Ichigo if it hurts, mentioning that he probably will be unable to hold his Zanpakutou properly now. He adds that he is a kind-hearted guy, who would capture Ichigo alive at this point save for the fact that a reward only comes if he kills the target. Ichigo has finished bandaging his arm with the excess bandage on Zangetsu’s hilt, and runs once more at Ikkaku, who steps aside, allowing the wall next to him to be destroyed. Ikkaku rolls away as Ichigo asks him not to talk like this is over – he still hasn’t shown off his true skills. It’s just the beginning.

Kon-sama's Ultimate Shinigami Illustrated Guide
The featured character is Izuru Kira.