At least in the earlier volumes, Ichigo doesn't have the ability to seperate his soul from his body at will, so Rukia has to do it for him whenever they need him to use his shinigami powers. I don't know that she necessarily has to hit him as hard as she does, but that's the kind of character she is, and he probably deserves it anyway. :D

if Ichigo's sword is from Rukia does that mean Zangetsu was originally meant to be Rukia's sword's real form?
It could be pretty interesting scene if our small Rukia would use such a big sword like Zangetsu :heh: .

No, Zangetsu is Ichigo's own sword. This part was explained in the manga. Remember when Ichigo first met Zangetsu, Zangetsu told Ichigo to find his own shinigami powers in one of the boxes. He also explained when Byakuya destoryed Ichigo's shinigami powers, he only destroyed the part given by Rukia. Byakuya did not know that Ichigo also had his own shinigami powers hidden inside. Since Byakuya did not destory Ichigo's own shinigami powers (only Rukia's), Ichigo was able to ragain his shinigami state during vol 8, Chapter 64, Back in Black. All the powers used after the encounter with Byakuya should be Ichigo's own.

"Grand Fisher" in Episode 2 ? Maybe i`m wrong..

Grand Fisher does show up for a few seconds, which was quite a surprise considering he's not supposed to show up till later. Turns out they changed it so that it's Grand Fisher and his minions that turns Orihime's Brother into a Hollow. I guess Kubo Tite wanted to fill in the plot hole in how Orihime's brother because a hollow in the first place. It was mentioned in the manga that only spirits who lost their "soul" or have extreme desires to stay in the world of the living would turn into a Hollow. Well Orihime's brother fits none of those catagories. He wan't a insane killer, nor did he have any violent desires still to be fullfilled. He may feel regret not be able to take care of Orihime anymore but it certainly not a good enough reason to turn him evil.

Anyways, we are going pretty fast. At this rate, if there's no fillers, we are going to the Soul Society Arc probably in about 15? 20? episodes? Maybe less/more? haha...I'm pretty bad at estimating.....

Really loving the anime version, I like what they did to turn Orihime's brother into a hollow. Plus it really gives more meaning to when Grand Fisher does show up.

Loving the Rukia voice and Orihime is perfect. I couldn't stop laughing at those sounds as she backs and runs away from Ichigo in the hall...And she looks really cute in the anime too. Tatsuki's voice is pretty perfect too, and from the one thing Chad said he sounds great too.

and wow, DON KANONJI! BO-HA-HA-HA-HA! ;)

Bleach has so many minor characters they could probably keep having one show up early for these next episode previews for about 30+ shows easy.