Ikkaku's Hot-Blooded Kendo Tale

Ikkaku's Hot-Blooded Kendo Tale is the one-hundred-thirty-third episode of the Bleach anime.

Statistics

 * Original Airdate: July 11, 2007
 * English Airdate: July 11, 2009
 * Opening Song: Alones
 * Ending Song: Daidai
 * Manga Chapters: None.
 * Kanji: 一角、熱血剣道物語
 * Romaji: "Ikkaku, nekketsu kendō monogatari"
 * Arc: The Arrancar arc

Summary
Keigo’s sister Mizuho arrives at the kendo club to find its members all beat up after having been attacked the previous night by a rival school’s club. The goal of the rival club was to get them to pull out of the upcoming district tournament, and Karakura High School’s club is ready to do just that if not for Mizuho stopping them. She brings in Ikkaku to train the five first-years who didn’t get hurt, and to Keigo’s surprise, Ikkaku agrees to do it. He thus begins the freshmen on a training regiment from hell, and by the end of it, only one of them - a boy named Shinji - still has the spirit to spar with Ikkaku. Seeing him work so hard at this, Keigo asks Ikkaku why he’s doing it, and Ikkaku replies that it’s fun, but he also admits that it’s been a while since he’s seen eyes that desperately want to become stronger like Shinji has. The next day, Ikkaku finds the other four freshmen too injured to continue, and since Mizuho refuses to pull out of the competition, Ikkaku decides to go ask the other Shinigami to help. Unfortunately, both Rangiku and Yumichika turn him down because the kendo gear stinks too badly for them to wear.

Ikkaku eventually coerces Hitsugaya to help and gets Urahara to send Renji, but they’re still short one person even with Shinji included. They have no choice but to use the completely inexperienced Keigo, though Ikkaku isn’t worried because only three of them have to win out of five matches total. During the actual tournament, Hitsugaya easily wins the first round and Keigo loses the second round as expected. Before Renji’s match, he senses a Hollow, so he quickly gets the second win before heading off. The other Shinigami have to go too, leaving just Shinji behind as the fourth fighter. Ikkaku knows that he’ll win even if Shinji loses, but he feels that the person who wants to win the most is Shinji, so he urges him to go become a man. He then fights and defeat a Menos Grande with the others, and afterwards, Ikkaku rushes back to the competition. He arrives in time to see Shinji win, but Ikkaku still wants his own chance to fight in the competition, so he beats up the entire opposing team, including their leader that Mizuho has a grudge against for dumping her.

Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book
The strange behavior of the gigai during the competition is revealed. While Yachiru sits in front of a large TV screen and laughs joyously at the footage, Nemu asks if she did well in creating the oddly-behaving gigai. Yachiru replies that she did, and addresses Nemu as "Replacement Vice President", noticeably startling current Vice President Nanao Ise.