Bleach Characters
Kurosaki Ichigo is the main character of Bleach, who received Shinigami (Death God) powers from a female Shinigami named Kuchiki Rukia. The power came at a cost, as by making Ichigo a Shinigami, Rukia’s powers were lost.
Ichigo lives with his father, Kurosaki Isshin, and two sisters, Yuzu and Karin. His mother Kurosaki Masaki was killed by a hollow while protecting young Ichigo from being attacked by a Hollow.
Ichigo was born with the ability to see and communicate with ghosts and spirits; as such he was able to see Rukia in her Shinigami form. Ichigo also possess an immense amount of reiatsu (spirit power), which he cannot control well. Due to that, his spirit power is constantly “leaking”, which affects the spiritually-aware people around him. Ichigo’s friends such as Inoue Orihime, Sado Yasutora (Chad) and Ishida Uryuu, are all positively affected by his strong spirit power.
Kurosaki Ichigo’s Zanpakuto
When not in use, Zangetsu is kept on Ichigo’s back with an unusual bandage-like sheath. When in battle, the bandage sheath shrinks and wrap itself as the sword’s grip. This bandage cloth can also be used offensively, as first demonstrated by Ichigo’s inner Hollow, where the bandage cloth is used to swing Zangetsu around and attack from far.
Zangetsu’s special attack is named Getsuga Tenshou, which fires a concentrated blast of reiatsu at the enemy from the tip of the blade. Ichigo first learnt this technique from Urahara Kisuke, and later mastered it after discovering its true name.
The Bankai (Final release) form of Zangetsu is considered unique among all Zanpakuto. Named Tensa Zangetsu (Chains of Heave - Slicing Moon), the sword is now an elegant black katana with a square handguard and a short broken chain dangling as the sword’s tassel. In the Bankai form, Ichigo is capable of incredible speed and agility, far superior to Shunpo (Flash step).
Kuchiki Rukia
Kuchiki Rukia is a Shinigami (Death God) from the Soul Society. During a Hollow attack, she was forced to give up her Shinigami powers to Kurosaki Ichigo, which made it necessary for her to stay in a gigai (faux body) while she recuperates.
Back in Soul Society, Rukia was previously from a lower class. When she was young, she spent much of her time together with Abarai Renji and the rest of their childhood friends. But after she was admitted into the Shinigami Academy, she became adopted into the noble Kuchiki family by Kuchiki Byakuya, and her friendship with Renji became distant. Rukia was then placed under the command of Captain Jushiro Ukitake and Lieutenant Kaien Shiba of the 13th Division.
After spending some time under Kaien, she became close to him. She even had romantic feelings for him, but she tried to suppress them as she knew Kaien was happily married to Miyako, who’s coincidently someone she admired most. Therefore as Byakuya mentioned at one point, the reason why Rukia felt such a close bond to Ichigo was probably due to his strong resemblance to Kaien.
Rukia has a serious personality and is often seen nagging at Ichigo. She is also stubborn at times.
Kuchiki Rukia’s Powers
Inoue Orihime
Inoue Orihime is the classmate and friend of Kurosaki Ichigo, whom she has a crush on. She is a friendly and sweet girl who quickly developed spiritual powers of her own after Ichigo became a Shinigami.
Orihime’s best friend is Tatsuki Arisawa. She hangs out often with her and Tatsuki has made a promise to protect her. Although at one point of the series, Orihime managed to use her new-found powers to protect Tatsuki from a Hollow. Orihime is very sensitive and emotional. She would blame herself for not being stronger and be of more help to her friends. She is also very clueless at times. Orihime also has a somewhat large bust, which is occasionally made the subject of jokes.
Orihime used to stay with her brother, who brought Orihime and ran away from their drunkard father and cheating mother. After her brother died from a car accident, she began wearing the hairpins that her brother gave her everyday.
Inoue Orihime’s Powers
Orihime first realized her powers when she had to protect her best friend Tatsuki from a Hollow attack. And so far, the Hollow has been the only thing that Orihime has ever killed.
Other than her fairies, Orihime knows karate as well. Thanks to Tatsuki, she is able to attain black belt level.
Sado Yasutora
Sado Yasutora, also known as Chad, is the classmate and friend of Kurosaki Ichigo. Chad is a huge and muscular teenager who was brought up in Mexico. He is also extremely tough, protecting Ichigo with his body from punches, recovering from a steel girder falling onto him, and colliding with a motorcycle and still able to carry the motorcyclist to the hospital. Although physically strong, Chad is actually a very quiet and gentle person.
Chad was born in Okinawa, Japan. But during his youth, his parents took him to Mexico. Unfortunately, they died there and Chad was left all alone, until he was adopted by a man named Oscar Joaquin de la Rosa. Chad calls him Abuelo (grandfather in Spanish).
During his youth, Chad was very violent due to his strength and size. Abuelo tried to teach him to be gentle, but was unsuccessful. Until one day, Chad was getting beat badly and Abuelo stepped in to protect him. Abuelo stood there, taking every punch and never fought back. Eventually the enemies left, and Chad vowed that from that day on he’ll never fight, unless it is to protect others.
Chad has a tattoo on his left shoulder that reads “Amore e Morte” (Love and Death). It is made up of a heart, a snake and a pair of angel wings around the heart. Chad is also known to be fairly good with his studies in school.
Sado Yasutora’s Powers
With the armor on, Chad is capable of firing powerful blasts of energy. And after being trained by Shihouin Yoruichi, he learnt to fire multiple blasts a day and hardly gets tired.
Ishida Uryuu
Ishida Uryuu is the classmate and friend of Kurosaki Ichigo. Ishida has a quiet personality, and most of the time he shys away from the crowd, prefering to be alone. And sometimes, he tries hard to act cool.
Ishida is a talent when it comes to sewing. He is a member of the school’s fine arts club, and helps fellow members to fix up things like stuffed toys when they asked. At one point of the seires, Ichigo approached him to sew up Kon, which he ended up going the extra mile and adding fancy clothings for Kon.
Ishida also possess great intelligence, as he tops the school in terms of academic achievement. At one point of the series, Ishida also demonstrated his intelligence by solving a puzzle to a game of illusional maze.
In his youth, Ishida spent most of his time with his grandfather, Soken Ishida. It was his grandfather who trained him in the way of the Quincy. Ishida do not have a good relationship with his father, Ryuken. His father was also against the way of the Quincy, mentioning that he would rather care for his own wealth and income than to protect the people from the Hollows.
And later on during his youth, Ishida’s grandfather was killed by Hollows in front of his eyes, and he could do nothing to save him. And the Shinigami (Death Gods) who were responsible at that time for the protection against Hollows, were late to save his grandfather. This is part of the reason why Ishida came to hate the Shinigami.
History of Quincy
Ishida is known to be the last surviving Quincy. The Quincy are a group of spiritually aware humans who sworn to fight the Hollows, using spiritual bows as their means of fighting. But the Quincy are now near extinction due to the extermination by the Shinigami about 200 years before the main Bleach storyline.The main difference between a Quincy and a Shinigami, is that Shinigami “cleanses” a Hollow’s spirit, sending them back to the Soul Society, whereas the Quincy deals a killing blow to the Hollow, destroying it forever. The Shinigami soon realized that the Quincy’s actions could soon lead to a disruption to the balance of the human and soul worlds. But the Quincy refused to heed their advices, which eventually led to a war started by the Shinigami to exterminate the Quincy.
This tragic past has caused Ishida to hate all Shinigami. Hence, when Ishida first met Ichigo, he had deep hatred for him.
Ishida Uryuu’s Powers
After mastering the Sanrei Gloves, Ishida was able to use a technique named Hirenkyaku, which allows him to move at speeds comparable to that of a Shinigami’s Shunpo. Another rare technique, which is known to typically be usable only by high level Quincy, is the Ransotengai . By using this technique, Ishida was able to control his body as one would a puppet. Strands of spiritual energy strings his body together allowing him to fight effectively even when he is physically paralysed.
