Bleach is the story of 15 year old Ichigo Kurosaki, (Ichigo, literally meaning "strawberries" in Japanese.) Since he was a kid, Ichigo has been able to see spirits and ghost. He's imfamous for his naturally bright orange hair, which most people assume is Bleached*. When he was young his mother died trying to save him, and since then he has never forgiven himself for her death. He lives with his father and two younger sisters Karin and Yuzu. Although Karin can sense entities, neither his father nor Yuzu can see ghosts too.

Recap of EPS #1

One night, while trying to sleep, a girl in traditional black hakama and kimono, carrying a katana, enters his room through the window. Ichigo yells to her, but she acts as if he isn't even there and begins to walk through his room.Without hesitation, Ichigo steps on the girls head and acuses her of being burglar. She is surprised that he can even see her, let alone kick her. She informs him that she is a Shinikami**, and her job is to take the spirits of the dead into the after life called the "Soul Sosciety". She then tells him about the nature of spirits. There are good sprits called "Wholes" and bad spirits called "Hollows", along with assisting the wholes, she is also supposed to defeat the hollows so that they too can rest. Not all Hollows are evil spirits, they have lost their souls and their "chain of fate" which bonds them to this world and their bodies. Hollows eat whole spirits to try and replace the empty space they find missing inside them. When a whole is eaten, it too becomes a Hollow. Ichigo, being stuborn and obstinante, refuses to beleive the girl is really a Shinikami, and as a show of power, she casts a magic kido¢ on him, binding him to the ground. She goes on to say that she has been tracking a Hollow but lost it's signal shortly after her run-in with Ichigo. When she leaves his room, responding to the sound of a scream  she feels a huge rush of spiritual energy and she senses the Holow again While near Ichigo, they became clouded for some reason..Ichigo's sister Karin, lying on the floor covered in blood. When Ichigo sees this, he realizes he has to save Yuzu and breaks the powerfull kido that has been binding him. The Shinikami is amazed that ichigo could break such a strong Kido by himself..when he is only a mere human. He then rushes down the stairs to find a huge monster with a hole in it's chest, a Hollow, holding his little sister Yuzu in its claw. Ichigo, determined to save her, grabs a bat and attacks the Hollow but he is easily brought down. The Shinikami then jumps in and swiftly strikes it with her katana. While fighting, Ichigo asks her why the Hollow attacked his family. She replies, that a human can never see a Shinikami, or break a kido. She has never before heard of a human with so much reiatsu, and since Hollows seek out spirits with high levels of reiatsu, she believes the Hollow came to kill him. Ichigo is stunned and angerd that he put his entire family in danger. He tells the Hollow to take his soul so that his family will be saved. Just as he is about to be eaten, the Shinikami jumps in the way and is severly wounded. While lying on the ground, she asks him if he really wants to save her family. When he replies 'yes' she holds the tip of her Katana, called a Zanpaku-to** to his heart and tells him she will lend him half of her Shinikami power so that he can defeat the Hollow. She then reveals her name, Kuchiki Rukia, and thrusts the katana through Ichigo's heart. In an instant, Rukia finds she has been stripped of ALL instead of half of her powers. Faster then the eye can see, a stike hits the Hollow and it falls to the ground. When the smoke clears, there stands Ichigo, in a shinikami Shihakusho×, with an enourmous Zanpaku-to, as tall as he is.From that day forth, it was no longer just Ichigo "stawberry" Kurosaki, but Ichigo "strawberry" Kurosaki, the Shinikami.

That is a basic recap of the 1st episode/first chapter of Bleach. I will now explain the series, from what I have seen so far.

Rukia, without her Shinikami power, lives in secret with Ichigo as he performs her duties as a Shinikami. More is revealed about Yatsutora Sado' Ichigo's classmate/iron man. He once came to school with his hand bandaged and when asked what happened, he nonchallantly replied "I ran into a motercyle....The driver got hurt real bad so i had to carry him to the hospital"...This line perfectly describes what I mean by Sado being an iron man. There's also Inoue Orihime, the big boobed, somewhat dunce who likes to daydream and may have a thing for Ichigo. Later, another character named, Uryu Ishida approches Ichigo by talking about how much he hates Shinikami. He is from the ancient Quincy clan, a family of humans with rare spiritual powers. Although they wished to destroy Hollows, when they use dtheir powers to defeat them, thgey destroy the soul of the Hollow as well, creating an imballance between the number of souls in the Soul Sosciety and the number on earth. The Shinikami asked the Quincy to cease in erradicating Hollows, and when they refused, they were murdered by the Shinikami. Although at first Uryu and Ichigo seem like enemies, they are both very similar in personality and together defeat the enourmous Hollow, Menos..Although it wasn't really Uryu that defeated it,but a sudden burst of Ichigo's imense reiatsu, which afterwards couldn't be controlled and was absorbed and stabilized by Ishida.

As time progresses, The Soul Sosceity finds out about Rukia living in the human world and her transfer of power to a human, which happens to be a great crime. When she realizes the soul sosciety is comming after her, she leaves Ichigo and awaits her arrest. Her old friend, Abarai Renji and her "brother" Kuchiki Byakuya come to retain her.  Ishida, who happens upon the scene attempts to save Rukia but is easily defeated by Renji, a Liutenent. Ichigo then arrives ready to face them, Although at first he stands no match against Renji, he then finds his inner power and starts to overcome him, but in an instant, his Zanpaku-to is cut in two by Byakuya, a captain, and his god speed. Ichigfo is brought to his knees and Rukia is taken back to the Soul Sosciety, and as she leaves, she tells Ichigo that if her comes after her, she can never forgive him.

Later, Ichigo's wounded body is found by Uhara, a merchant who deals with the Soul Sosciety. He rescues him and brings him back to his shop, the Uhara Shoten. He helps Ichigo get back to health, and then gives him a proposition. In the Soul Sosciety, 30 days are given before the execution of a prisoner. He is willing to train Ichigo and then help him reach the soul sosciety so he can rescure Rukia from her death. At the same time, a talking cat named Yoruichi approches Sado and Orihime and asks them the same thing, they both agree and then ask Ishida who agrees as well (after overcoming the shock of seeing a talking cat). Ishida insist he must train himself alone and Yoruichi begins to teach Orihime and Sado how to use their own powers.

After only a few days of training, Ichigo, Orihime, Sado, Ishida, and Yoruichi set out for the Soul Sosciety, to save Rukia. They will face many challenges and dangers along the way. Will they be able to save her and defeat the powerfull captains of the Soul Sosciety? Read or Watch Bleach to find out the rest!

I described the fist 7 manga here, and there are well over 17 even now. If you want to know more, please read the series as I am not willing to write out 10 pages of spoiler information XD.

Symbol Guide

*= I'm not really sure why the series is called "Bleach", my friends and I guess that it has to do with the color of Ichigo's hair but I've never found a definite answer

**=Shinikami/Zanpakuto=The English translation notes Shinikami as "Soul reaper"(it directly means "Death God")although that is also the word occasionally used translate "Zanpaku-to", or "Soul Slayer" so to avoid confusion between Soul Reapers and Soul Slayers, this outline is written using the Japanese words

¢=Magic spell used by the Shinikami

×= The Black Kimono and Hakama worn by Shinikami

'The Kanji character for "Sado" can also be pronounced "Chado" or "Chad", although Yasutora's name is in fact Sado, Ichigo often refers to him as Chad

Ichigo Kurosaki:

Kuchiki Rukia:

Ishida Uryuu

Inoue Orihime

Sado Yasutora

Urahara Kisuke

Shihouin, Yoruichi