Muramasa sends Sode no Shirayuki away, and Ichigo asks why he wanted the zanpakutō to gain independence over the shinigami. Although he does not give the reason, Muramasa replies that zanpakutōs can seperate themselves away regardless of being the soul of a shinigami, and he is a good example of one. Ichigo cannot accept this view and attacks him. Muramasa uses illusions to overwhelm Ichigo and pins him to the ground, where he proceeds to drag Zangetsu out of him. Once Zangetsu manifests, he immediately attacks Ichigo. Meanwhile, Mayuri begins experimenting on himself in order to research the zanpakutōs' manifestation. After Zangetsu seemingly defeats Ichigo, Ichigo transforms into his hollow form and strikes back. After a while, he transforms into his stronger form and easily beats down Zangetsu. Muramasa tries a sneak attack but Ichigo immediately regenerates and attacks him. Before the hollow form can do anything else, Ichigo manages to return to his shinigami form and falls unconscious at Muramasa's feet.
Elenco: Masakazu Morita , Fumiko Orikasa , Yuki Matsuoka , Kaya Matsutani , Shinichiro Miki , Wataru Takagi , Hisayoshi Suganuma , Kazunari Tanaka , Hideo Ishikawa , Tomoko Kaneda , Akio Ohtsuka , Nobuyuki Hiyama , Toshiyuki Morikawa , Akemi Kanda , Takahiro Sakurai , Hiroki Takahashi , Nobutoshi Canna , Junichi Suwabe , Paku Romi , Susumu Chiba , Daisuke Namikawa , Jun Fukuyama , Katsuyuki Konishi , Toshihiko Seki , Junko Noda , Fumihiko Tachiki , Hiroki Yasumoto , Hisayo Mochizuki , Katsumi Suzuki , Kenji Nomura , Kenji Hamada , Kiyoyuki Yanada , Masaaki Tsukada , Nobuo Tobita , Reiko Takagi , Tôru Ôkawa , Yumi Kakazu , Noriaki Sugiyama , Houko Kuwashima , Hikaru Midorikawa , Tomoko Kawakami , Rie Kugimiya , Tomokazu Sugita , Kentaro Ito , Satsuki Yukino , Ryōtarō Okiayu , Takako Honda , Tomokazu Sugita , Shô Hayami , Ryūsei Nakao , Tetsu Inada , Daisuke Ono , Takuma Terashima , Saki Nakajima , Rikiya Koyama , Taketora , Asami Sanada , Mitsuaki Madono , Kumi Sakuma , Daisuke Matsuoka , Kanako Hattori , Sayori Ishizuka , Rintarou Nishi , Takashi Nagasako , Tsubasa Yonaga , Yoshikazu Nagano .