Bleach/Greetings from a Stuffed Toy

Greetings from a Stuffed Toy
Season 1, Episode 7
Airdate	November 16, 2004
Production Number	07
Written by	—
Directed by	Noriyuki Abe
ADR Writer(s)	Carl Macek Liam O'Brien Mark Ryan Michael Sorich
ADR Director(s)	Michael Sorich
← 1x06 Fight to the Death! Ichigo vs. Ichigo	1x08 → June 17, a Memory of Rain
Bleach — Season One

Greetings from a Stuffed Toy is the seventh episode of the first season of Bleach. Ichigo and Rukia do what they can to track down the escaped mod soul before it causes too much damage, but the two are called off on duty before they can stop him. Meanwhile, Ichigo broods about the upcoming anniversary of his mother's death.

Co-Stars: Michael Lindsay (Urahara Kisuke), Michael Sorich (Tessai Tsukabishi), Jeannie Elias (Jinta Hanakari), Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Ms. Ito, Michiru Ogawa), Quinton Flynn (Kon), Kirk Thornton (Eikichiro Saido), John Demita (Special Task Force Squad Member)

Plot Overview

Picking up directly after Ichigo saved several kids from an enraged mod soul, the two do battle once again while Urahara and his employees stock up on weapons to contain the chaos which they helped ignite. The soul escapes again, but Rukia gets a hollow alert on her pager. The two go off in search of the monster, but it winds up coming back to the school they were just at to attack he three kids that the mod soul nearly fought. Unfortunately for Rukia and Ichigo, Rukia's soul pager is out of whack and they can't find the hollow. But, the mod soul has a change of heart and decides to save the kids that offended him. The hollow cuts him over the shoulder before Ichigo appears and they both finish it off.

After the battle, the mod soul explains his side of the mod soul controversy. He tells Ichigo that the day after he was "born," the decision to destroy all mod souls was handed down and that it was only a stroke of luck that he was mixed into the soul tablets. He professes that he deserves to live life like anyone else does and explains that he won't kill anyone based on this philosophy. At the end of his speech, Urahara pops the mod soul out of Ichigo's body with his cane and tells him that he'll have to destroy the soul. Rukia takes it back from him under the assumption that since she bought it, then it's hers forever. She gives it back to Ichigo without any trouble from Urahara.

In the afternoon, Rukia tells Ichigo that he needs to insert the pill into a body without a soul, dead or otherwise. He finds a stuffed lion by in a pile of garbage and stuffs the pill in its mouth, causing it to spring to life. Ichigo gets his revenge, but Kon turns out to be far more annoying that Ichigo presumed he would be. After a whole, Rukia leaves for school and Ichigo suddenly becomes incredibly forlorn after he sees that it's June 16th. At school, Tatsuki explains that she knows what's wrong with Ichigo and suggests that he'll skip school entirely on the 17th. At night, he asks Rukia if he can have a day off from soul reaping for the anniversary of his mother's death, an event which he still blames himself for.