There are not a lot of moments in Bleach anime where Ichigo saves Rukia from distress. It is because there is no power imbalance between the two, and they aren’t playing character stereotypes and checking the boxes.
No, the two have a long history that led to one of the best duos in all of anime. Though, they didn’t start as comrades in arms who are not only willing to die for each other but also support each other in their darkest moments. The two started as strangers, and their story is a long one.
Ichigo was a Yankee when he first appeared in episode one of Bleach, though he is not normal. He can talk and communicate with ghosts, a trait that is common in his family. We see him as a bunch of high schoolers disrespecting a girl’s memorial site( an electric pole where she died).
She had been stuck there since then and had not moved onto another world. Ichigo helped restore the offerings that he brought for her. It is also then that Rukia enters the world of the living to exorcise a hollow.
Rukia’s search led her to Ichigo’s house, to his room. Ichigo is shocked to see her, and Rukia is more than he can see him. So Ichigo asks what business she has, and she tells him he is there for a big hollow. The two bicker for a moment and soon fight the Hollow that Rukia was looking for. But the Hollow is specifically looking for Ichigo, for he wants to eat his soul.
Rukia tries to subdue him but fails. Ichigo offered to help and take her shinigami power ( all of it, to Rukia’s surprise) and defeats the hollow. This could be called the first moment where Ichigo saves Rukia, but here he was helping his family that got caught up. The moment of his saving the soul reaper comes in the soul society arc.
Ichigo Saves Rukia In The Soul Society Arc With His Friends
Rukia gets forcefully taken to Gotei 13 for the crime of involving humans in her job, and our substitute soul reaper trains to get stronger and go to soul society with his friends. But before Ichigo saves Rukia, he has to go through training to get his powers back and become strong. When he does so, he makes for the soul society with his friends and begins a mission to save her friend.
Though he had obstacles and even got badly injured along the way, he was able to save Rukia right before her execution, but it is no longer just him and his friends but members of Gotei-13 as well. However, being the guy he is, he heads straight to the moment when she is about to get executed.
This shocked everyone present on the field as no one could expect something from someone unknown like him. The spear of execution is sealed by 13th Division Captain Jūshirō Ukitake and 8th Division Captain Shunsui Kyōraku. They then engage the 1st division captain, Yamamoto.
Ichigo throws Rukia (literally) at Renji and tells him to run away. All of this happened took three episodes, as the danger was not subdued until the substitute soul reaper had taken care of Byakuya and fought him with his newly activated Bankai. But the moment Ichigo saves Rukia is in Bleach Episode 54, after which he proceeds to fight Byakuya.
Does Rukia Learn Bankai?
Ichigo Saves Rukia only once in the series; after that, the two share a relationship on equal terms. But in the anime, Rukia never goes beyond Shikai and relies on Kido and Zanjutsu to fight. You wonder how strong she is as she survived all those fights without a Bankai.
Though, the truth is she didn’t have to fight too hard against opponents or the ones that required her to use Bankai. In the later chapters of the manga, she is taught to wield Bankai by none other than Byakuya. Her Bankai is the most beautiful among all the soul reapers. Her using Bankai will be one of the hyped moments in the Bleach TYBW anime.
