Ichigo must take her place as Karakura Town 's Shinigami while she recovers, guiding souls to the afterlife and defending people from attacking Hollows. She tells him that she has lost all of her powers, rather than merely the fraction she intended to give him, and cannot carry out her duties. The next day, Rukia shows up at Ichigo's school as a normal human. When Rukia is injured by a Hollow that attacks Ichigo's home, Ichigo is forced to temporarily take her Shinigami powers to defeat the Hollow. This talent allows him to spot the Shinigami Rukia Kuchikiwhom he inadvertently interferes with during her duties.
Also known by its English adaptation title, "The Substitute" arc, the first Bleach story arc is twenty episodes in length and covers manga chapters 1 through Ichigo Kurosaki is a 15 year old teenager with an unwanted talent for seeing spirits. Those episodes with official English titles have the title shown above the translation of its Japanese equivalent. Most of the later English titles are translations from the Japanese titles. These arcs were produced to allow time for Tite Kubo to advance the storyline in the manga. The list is broken into several story arcs and includes a summary of each story arc and the original broadcast date for each episode. This is a complete list of episodes for the Bleach anime series.