Bleach/Assemble! The 13 Divisions

Assemble! The 13 Divisions
Season 2, Episode 4
Airdate	March 22, 2005
Production Number	24
Written by	—
Directed by	Noriyuki Abe
ADR Writer(s)	Carl Macek Liam O'Brien Mark Ryan Michael Sorich
ADR Director(s)	Michael Sorich
← 2x03 The Sentence of Rukia, Before the 14th Day	2x05 → Penetrate the Center with an Enormous Bombshell?
Bleach — Season Two

Assemble! The 13 Divisions is the fourth episode of the second season of Bleach and the twenty-fourth overall. Ichigo and the others practice focusing their spirit energies so that they can sail into the walled city by air and the soul reaper captains are called in an emergency meeting.

Co-Stars: Jessica Straus (Kukaku Shiba), Peter Spellos (Koganehiko), Michael McConnohie (Shiroganehiko), Jamieson Price (Yasutora "Chad" Sado), Kyle Hebert (Ganju Shiba), Wally Wingert (Renji Abarai), Steve Cassling (Tetsuzaemon Iba), Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Momo Hinamori), Megan Hollingshead (Rangiku Matsumoto), Liam O'Brien (Ganju's Head Gang Member), Michael Sorich (Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryusai) Doug Erholtz (Gin Ichimaru), J.B. Blanc (Kaname Tosen), David Lodge (Kenpachi Zaraki), Terrence Stone (Mayuri Kurotsuchi), Steve Staley (Toshiro Hitsugaya), Cindy Robinson Soi Fong), Steve Kramer (Shunsui Kyouraku), Kyle Hebert (Sosuke Aizen)

Plot Overview

The outsider travelers have just been told that they're going to get into the Seireitei by being shot out of a cannon into the city. She has her guards open up the ceiling and raise the cannon to the ground level and tosses Ichigo an orb that he's supposed to energize with his spirit energy. However, Ichigo has no idea how to focus his spirit energy and must be taught by Ganju to form a forcefield which will act as a cannonball. The wall is made with an element that protects the Seireitei from all spirit energy, however the cannonball isn't strictly made of spirit energy so it can punch through that barrier. They're taken to a practice room and told that if even one of them loses concentration, they'll blow up in the air.

In the practice room, Orihime is the only one to perfectly focus her energy into a cannonball, while Uryu and Chad make effective but somewhat flawed ones and Ichigo can't do anything at all. Ganju tries to break the practice for dinner, but Ichigo refuses to move until he gets the technique right. After a while, when Ganju hears Ichigo's full story, he tells shows him how he forms the cannonball through imagining jumping into a dark circle. Ganju leaves the room, allowing Ichigo to practice alone. Ichigo forms the ball, but his energy is out of control and his lack of focus nearly brings the entire house down. His victory is short lived and his bubble explodes which he loses his concentration.

Meanwhile in the Seireitei, Renji and his fellow lieutenants are asked to gather in a conference room and await orders from the higher ups. While they wait, the captains all converge with the soul reaper general in a separate room with the exception of one: the captain of Squad 13. However, the true reason for the meeting is that Gin Ichimaru not only faced his opponents alone, but he allowed them to escape instead of killing them as he should have. Aizen interrupts Ichimaru's apology to ask him something else, but he's stopped by a warning siren announcing that intruders have breached the walls.