Bleach/Cursed Parakeet

Cursed Parakeet
Season 1, Episode 4
Airdate	October 26, 2004
Production Number	04
Written by	—
Directed by	Noriyuki Abe
ADR Writer(s)	Carl Macek Liam O'Brien Mark Ryan Michael Sorich
ADR Director(s)	Michael Sorich
← 1x03 The Older Brother's Wish, the Younger Sister's Wish	1x05 → Beat the Invisible Enemy!
Bleach — Season One

Cursed Parakeet is the fourth episode of the first season of Bleach. A cursed cockatiel gains the affinity of Chad, despite causing hollow directed disaster wherever it goes.

Co-Stars: Steve Staley (Harutoki), Brad MacDonald (Shigeo), Jamieson Price (Yasutora "Chad" Sado), Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Shibata the Parakeet), Tom Fahn (Mizuiro Kojima), Yuri Lowenthal (Keigo Asano), John Demita (Shrieker)

Plot Overview

A purportedly cursed cockatiel has found its way to Chad and Shigeo. Although the boys insist that a cursed bird is absurd, a steel beam falls from a ledge above them. The beam nearly crushes the three and the bird, but Chad manages to stop it with his head. To their surprise, the bird thanks Chad for protecting him.

At school the next day, Ichigo's friends relentlessly hit on Rukia while she struggles with piercing a drink with the packaged plastic straw. When Chad shows up with the talking cockatiel, Rukya and Ichigo immediately sense that something is awry with the bird. Later that day at the clinic, Ichigo's family is abuzz with caring for injured people from a car wreck, one of which being Chad and his bird. Chad's wound clearly is the marking of a hollow, which sets Rukia and Ichigo on the path of a hollow that may be targeting Chad's bird.

In the morning, Karin has fallen ill (presumably due in part to the mystery surrounding the bird) and Chad has disappeared from his bed. Ichigo comes up with a plan to follow the ghost that is connected to the bird, a skill that only high level soul reapers are able to perform when the ghost is both weak and far away. The two take off after the spirit in order to find Chad before the hollow gets to him.

Ichigo and Rukia cross paths with Chad, but he flees from a hollow in the opposite direction of them. Before they can follow them, Karin appears and explains that she saw the boy's memories and pleads with Ichigo to save the boy trapped inside the cockatiel. He brings her back to the clinic while Rukya chases after the hollow and Chad, but is attacked by the hollow before she can get to Chad. She attempts to dispatch the hollow, but fails to do much damage with her weakened magic.

While Rukia is cornered by the hollow, Karin pleads with Ichigo to send the soul to the other side, even if it means leaving her.

Trivia

The Show

• Alternate Title: This episode is entitled "And Your Bird Can Speak" in some international versions of the series.

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