Fight to the Death! Ichigo vs. Ichigo

'''Fight to the Death! Ichigo vs. Ichigo''' is the sixth episode of the Bleach anime.

Statistics

 * Original Airdate: November 9, 2004
 * English Airdate: October 13, 2006
 * Opening Song: *~Asterisk~
 * Ending Song: Life is Like a Boat
 * Manga Chapters: Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15.
 * Kanji: 死闘！一護VSイチゴ
 * Romaji: "Shitō! Ichigo vs Ichigo"
 * Arc: Agent of the Shinigami arc

Summary
Rukia sits atop a building, holding up a lighter-like device that has 4 little windows, one of which blinks. It also makes beeping noises as Rukia continues to stare at it, commenting that there is not much left. Raising her other hand, she proceeds to make awkward movements with it. She stares at her hand and says that there is not much there either – time to go shopping.

Ichigo, a plate of Japanese rice balls in his hand, knocks on his closet door, indicating to Rukia that her breakfast is here. Hearing no answer, an annoyed Ichigo slides open the door violently, but realizes that Rukia is not inside in the first place. He proceeds to eat Rukia’s breakfast, while his sisters, who are downstairs, eat theirs. Yuzu comments that Ichigo has been behaving weirdly recently: eating more and going upstairs immediately. Isshin declares that Ichigo, being 15, is at a sensitive age, and does only one thing in his room that all young men in the primes of their youth do. His sentence is cut short as Ichigo kicks him in the face, accusing him of being a pervert. Isshin replies that that is what true parents think of. A tussle ensues between the two as Yuzu and Karin calmly continue their breakfast, Yuzu saying that the food is getting cold, and Karin saying that it is such a “peaceful” morning.

At the Urahara store, a red-haired boy, Hanakari Jinta is fantasizing about baseball, and is using his broom as a baseball bat to hit a ball. He misses, and the girl, Tsumigi Ururu, next to him who is quietly sweeping looks up at him. Shyly, she warns him that if he does not clean up, Tessai will get angry at him. He points the broom at her and tells her to shut up, as he is not even afraid of Tessai. He then starts to “punish” her for talking back to him by rubbing the broom on her head. He says that she is of lower “level” than him, despite the fact that she is three whole years older than him. The broom is suddenly whizzed out of his hand and flung away. He swirls around, wondering who it is. Realizing that it is only Rukia, he relaxes, as does Ururu. Rukia says that he will never change, calling him “shorty”, then asking if the “manager” is in. Jinta reluctantly welcomes Rukia back and pushes open the doors.

A muscular man, Tessai, carrying a number of boxes scolds him, saying that it is not time to open yet. He then notices Rukia, and tells her to wait a minute while he wakes the manager. An oddly-dressed man walks up behind Tessai and says that it is too bad, as he is already awake. He then lets out a big yawn and puts on his sandals. Rubbing his eyes with one hand and the other in his pocket, he greets everybody. He tells Rukia that they just got stock from “there” yesterday. Rukia buys the cheapest (D-rank) spare fuel rod for her spirit communicator, and 60 bottles of Soma Fixers. The man, Urahara Kisuke, warns her that excessive use of Soma Fixers to align her soul with the faux body will result in hell when she leaves it. Rukia acknowledges this, but mentions that lately, her integration with the faux body has been poor, and sometimes it is hard for her to even move. Urahara happily asks if she would like a check up at a good deal, but Rukia refuses, and asks if the item she had ordered had arrived. Urahara says that it has, and sends Ururu to the storeroom to fetch it, saying that it is in a box which says “new goods”.

Looking around the box-filled storeroom, she spots the box she wants and opens it to retrieve the item inside. Rukia unwraps the item and asks Urahara if this was the only kind he could get. Urahara scratches his neck and replies that even getting this was hard as it is the second most popular. He then tells Rukia that she cannot pretend forever.

Rukia arrives in class late and greets everyone sweetly, saying that she is late due to family matters. She then asks Ichigo if he has a moment, but Ichigo says that if she has anything to say, to say so there and then. He is punched in the stomach and dragged away by Rukia, who exclaims that he needs to see the nurse. Their classmates stare after them, asking themselves if Rukia had punched Ichigo or not. On the rooftop, Rukia hands Ichigo the item she bought today, Gikongan - a medicine that forcibly removes the soul from the body and puts in a fake one. She tells him to use it if he encounters a Hollow without her being present. Ichigo asks why it is labeled “Soul Candy”, and Rukia indignantly replies that the League of Women Shinigami complained that the name Gikongan wasn’t cute, and had it changed. Ichigo then asks why the tube has a duck’s head on it, and Rukia says that even she wanted the most popular, “Chappy the Rabbit” too. Ichigo insults her for that, and she steps on his head as punishment.

She then instructs him to try one, and he does so, pressing the duck’s head so that a green pill is ejected into his mouth. True enough, he sways a bit, then his Shinigami self appears. Ichigo appears surprised, and Rukia tells him that there is now a temporary soul in his body so that no one will realize that he has left. The body moves and greets them, saying that “Ichigo’s” favorite phrase is “Early to bed, early to rise”. As the real Ichigo demands to know how that “Ichigo” is anything like him, Rukia’s phone begins to beep. She drags a complaining Ichigo away as the body waves at them and tells them to leave it all to him.

Urahara wanders into his storeroom and notices the opened box on the floor. Jinta yells at Ururu, asking her to read what it says on the box. She mistakes what she sees for “Infester Goods”. Jinta tells her that it is “Inferior Goods”, and that she has just sold that to a customer. Ururu sighs and hangs her head, and Jinta starts to pull on her bangs, but is stopped by Urahara. Tessai looks at a piece of paper and says that the Gikongan would bring trouble, and Urahara agrees, saying that they had better take care of it immediately, as they know not what “he” might do.

Indeed, Ichigo’s temporary soul stretches his muscles, then experiments with his new body by kicking in a wall. A teacher comes along and recognizes “Ichigo” due to his unique hair, and asks “Ichigo” what he has just done. “Ichigo” walks toward the teacher, then jumps right over his head, landing on a roof a distance away with great ease. The teacher stares after “Ichigo”, who jumps away gleefully. The lunch bell rings and Orihime cheers happily. Tatsuki, who does not think Lunch is such an important event, is told by Orihime that a healthy young high school girl comes to school specially to eat lunch. She pulls out a large loaf of bread and a can of sweetbean paste and asks Tatsuki what she has brought for lunch. Tatsuki ruffles Orihime’s hair and says that she eats a normal lunch.

Another of their friends, Chizuru (a lesbian) asks them if she can eat at their table, and Orihime, who is eating her bread whole and smiling with crumbs on her cheeks, agrees. Chizuru gives Orihime a big hug, exclaiming the Orihime’s way of eating is so cute. Suddenly, “Ichigo” jumps up to class from the first storey, shocking many of his classmates. The real Ichigo quickly finishes up the Hollow and says that he has a bad feeling.

True enough, “Ichigo” is standing on the window sill, his friends staring and asking how he got there. He tells them that he jumped up, though many of them do not buy his story. He is very pleased that all of them, guys and girls, are looking at him. He stares at the girls and comments that they are all very hot and above average. He notices Orihime and her assets and goes up to her, strokes her hair, and in a very gentleman manner, kisses her hand. Tatsuki immediately pulls him away, asking him if he knows what he is doing. “Ichigo” looks at her and says that upon looking closer, she actually is pretty cute.

Rukia asks Ichigo why he is rushing back to class, as the temporary soul is definitely alright. Ichigo has his doubts, and they are confirmed when they hear screams coming from their classroom. A table flies out the window and Rukia decides that he is righ – they had better return quickly. It is Tatsuki who is flinging tables at “Ichigo”, as he had just kissed her on the cheek. Rukia walks into the classroom and stops the fight, and the panicked “Ichigo” runs to the window. Rukia shouts for Ichigo, and the real Ichigo jumps up to the window, cornering the temporary soul, who then begins to rain down on Ichigo a great number of kicks. All their classmates see, however, is “Ichigo” kicking the air repeatedly. As “Ichigo” sends Ichigo flying into some tables with a kick. Their alarmed classmates only see some sort of force push back all the tables – they, of course, cannot see Ichigo. Orihime stares curiously as a table is lifted by invisible hands, and “Ichigo” smiles at Rukia and jumps out of the window, freefalling down to the ground floor. Ichigo and Rukia stare after him, who runs away at extremely high speed. Rukia’s eyes widen as she tells her self that it cannot be what she is thinking. She changes her mind as she continues to watch. He is a modified soul.

Ichigo jumps down out the window, and Rukia runs out of the classroom, their classmates watching her. A flaming Tatsuki declares that she will not let Ichigo off, and Chizuru tries to “comfort” Orihime, who stares out the window. Orihime tells them both that the guy earlier was not Ichigo. Meanwhile, Rukia and Ichigo have arrived at a dilapidated house, but have lost sight of “Ichigo”. Rukia comments that he has a moratorium, and Ichigo retorts that it isn’t the time for incomprehensible jokes. “Ichigo” has to be caught for using his body and kissing Tatsuki and Orihime. Rukia does not see why he is so agitated, because, to her, kisses are merely greetings, and in a book she was reading, much more was happening. Ichigo tells her not to compare the two, as kissing an ordinary classmate is a very serious thing, and asks her what sort of books she reads. He gives a wail of despair and complains that the image he took years to build up is gone. Rukia is surprised that he had an “image”.

Ichigo then asks her about the temporary soul being a “modified soul”, and she explains that in Soul Society, there was a plan called “Spearhead”. In it, souls specialized for Hollow vanquishing were injected into soul-less dead bodies. These souls, or mod-souls, would endow some part of the body with superhuman powers. Rukia uses her crude drawings once again, this time as an animation (flip-book style), to explain to Ichigo. Ichigo understands what she means, but comments that with her drawings, the moment’s tension is gone, earning him red spirals on his cheeks and a smack. Rukia continues, saying that the plan was ditched and all mod-souls ordered to be destroyed due to the inhumanity of making dead bodies fight. Wiping off the spirals on his cheeks, Ichigo asks if that means mod-souls were created and destroyed at the convenience of Soul Society, and if she is satisfied with that. She says that is not the question – the scrapping of mod-souls was one of Soul Society’s laws, which are set up to protect human souls.

They then set off, running around the town trying to find and hence retrieve Ichigo’s body.

As he runs, Ichigo wonders how the temporary soul feels: being created and then ordered to be destroyed against his will, then surviving and finding a body and yet having to run away. However, contrary to what Ichigo thinks, “Ichigo” is having a great deal of fun jumping along fences and jumping over people’s heads and seeking attention. He says that he likes having powers that attract attention, although it is said that there are mod-souls with more power. Leaping off a fence, he notices three school children sitting behind a store room playing video games and decides to go see what they are doing. He lands lightly on the fence behind them, and watches as they, unaware of his presence, complain about P.E. lessons. One of the boys then exclaims that his character in the video game is not performing up to standard. “Ichigo’s” ears prick up as he hears the boy say that he will just delete the character, and does so, adding that he will just make a better one.

“Ichigo” grips the fencing so hard it starts to break, and the boys turn to look at him. He gets off the fence and looks very angry as he tries to kick the children. His kick is stopped midair by the real Ichigo, and he jumps away from Ichigo and smiles.