The Beautiful Patissier, Yumichika!

The Beautiful Patissier, Yumichika! is the one-hundred-thirty-fourth episode of the Bleach anime.

Statistics

 * Original Airdate: July 18, 2007
 * English Airdate: July 18, 2009
 * Opening Song: Alones
 * Ending Song: Daidai
 * Manga Chapters: None.
 * Kanji: 美しきパティシエ、弓親！
 * Romaji: "Utsukushiki patishie, Yumichika!"
 * Arc: The Arrancar arc

Summary
Having been ordered by Yamamoto to send someone to look into making the limit-lifting procedure simpler and to examine Arrancar and Espada spirit residue, Mayuri passes the task along to the Technology Development Bureau. Rin gets the job because only he wants to go to the real world, though in truth he wants to go mainly to eat sweets. Joining him is Hanatarō, and the two first head to Urahara’s shop where Urahara appoints Yumichika to show them where the Arrancar appeared. After Rin manages to get the readings he needs, the two pass by a shop where Rin buys some cake with the help of a machine that lets other people see souls. However, before they can move on, they encounter the soul of a baker who is chained to the store. Yumichika wants to send him to Soul Society, but Rin and Hanatarō want to listen to what the man has to say first. It seems that this baker, whose name is Heita Momoyama, got hit by a car and has a mother who keeps visiting the spot where he died. Since his mother never tasted one of his cakes, Momoyama wants to teach Yumichika and the others how to make a cake so that they can give one to his mother to eat. Rin really wants to do it, so they use Urahara’s kitchen and get going on their first attempt.

After a few problems as the group learns the steps, they finish the cake, but Momoyama wants someone who’s eaten cake before to taste it. Since Hanatarō, Yumichika, and Rin all haven’t, the duty falls to Renji and Sado, who are still in training. When those two find it disgusting, the newly trained bakers are forced to go through several more iterations until they finally get it right. They then make their way back to the bakery and find Momoyama’s mother laying some flowers where he died. When they present her the cake, she surprisingly turns it down, stating that she can’t eat cake anymore because it reminds her of her son. In trying to chase after his mother, Momoyama accidentally knocks the cake to the ground, though it lands right side up and manages to keep its general form. Desperate for his mother not to leave, Momoyama suddenly experiences great pain as his chain starts crackling with red energy. At the same time, a Menos Grande appears, so Yumichika leaps up to fight it. After Momoyama chains up his mother to prevent her from leaving, Hanatarō decides to use his Zanpakutō on the baker’s soul. He stops Momoyama from becoming a Hollow by hitting the chain at the spot where it attaches to Momoyama’s chest, allowing the Zanpakutō to fill up and transforming it into a scalpel. Hanatarō then uses the stored energy of his Zanpakutō against the Menos Grande, and Yumichika finishes it off.

A recovered Momoyama now rushes to his mother’s side, and she can now seem him thanks to Rin’s machine. Momoyama then tells his mother about the cake, so she tastes it and finds it delicious. Afterwards, she apologizes to him and promises that she won’t say it hurts to look at cakes again.