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Story Line

He may look older than he is, and he may also seem like your average student with a bad attitude, but you can rest assured that fifteen year old Ichigo "Strawberry" Kurosaki is far from normal. You see, one day a Soul Reaper (Shinigami, or "death god") named Rukia Kuchiki appeared in Ichigo's town. Only after Ichigo's family is attacked by a creature known as a Hollow does Ichigo believe Rukia is actually a Shinigami.

Rukia gives her power to Ichigo so he could fight for her. Many souls walk the Earth when they do not pass on to heaven (known as soul society in this anime). It has been the job of death gods to send these souls to soul society either through a ritual, or by killing a Hollow.

Anyway, taking Rukia's powers and becoming a death god was never on Ichigo's to-do list, but somehow things don't always turn out like we expect. Now Ichigo must fight the Hollows for Rukia until her powers return so she can go back to soul society... except this all goes a little different than expected... so go see for yourself what happens.

Characters

ICHIGO KUROSAKI:
Ichigo Kurosaki is a Teenager with a bit of a bad attitude and a very short temper. Regardless, he fights others to protect ghosts. (Yes, He can see them.) He keeps to himself a lot and does not like opening up to others. Deep down, he does care about the people around him, even his Dad, who likes to roughhouse with Ichigo.

He is sometimes called "Strawberry" because the kanji for his name, Ichigo, also means strawberry. However, in episode 21 when Ichigo was fighting Jindanbou, guardsman of Gate of the White Way in Soul Society, Ichigo claims that his name translates to "number one guardian" (ichi - first/best, go - "guardian angel").

Alias: Strawberry
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 15 Years
Hair: Orange
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 134 lbs.
Status: High School Student turned Soul Reaper
Quote: "Damn it girl! What the heck do you think your doing?"
Voice: Johnny Yong Bosch

RUKIA KUCHIKI:

Rukia Kuchiki started out as a Shinigami (Death God), but in the first episode she gives her powers to Ichigo Kurosaki. She then enters a faux body and convinces Ichigo to help her in her work as a Shinigami until her powers return.After a while, her older brother comes and takes her back to Soul Society. Giving away her powers was a serious crime punishable by execution. Ichigo and a few others then go to Soul Society to rescue her.

Alias:
Race: Soul Reaper
Gender: Female
Age: About 150 Years
Hair: Black
Eyes: Purple
Height: 4'7"
Weight: 73 lbs.
Status:
Quote: "I may appear young to you...But I have lived ten of your life times."
Voice: Michelle Ruff

ORIHIME INOUE:
Orihime Inoue is a student from Karakura High. She goes to the same class as Ichigo. She likes to daydream a lot which makes her a little hyper. Her crush is Ichigo and her best friend is Tatsuki. Orihime also had an older brother named Sora. (In the VIZ manga, Orihime's brother was named Kakei.)
When Orihime was still a baby her parents would give her beatings to make her stop crying. Kakei is 15 years older than her. When he turned 18 he took Orihime with him and moved to a different place. He then died in a car accident when Orihime was 12 years old. She got angry at him because he gave her some hairclips she didn't like. The day Kakei died is the day she swore to always wear the hairclips.
Because of the overflowing spirit energy coming from Ichigo (particularly during his contest with Uryu), Orihime eventually awakens to her own spiritual power: the Shun Shun Rikka ("Six Princess Shielding Flowers"). The hair clips she wears transform into six spiritual guardians that assist Orihime by creating shields that literally reject enemy forces and energies. They are activated when she summons their names, chants a kotodama (a spirit chant), and calls out, "I reject!", which activates the chant. Three of them (Hinagiku, Baigon, and Lily) create Santen Kesshu ("Sacred Tri-Linked Shield")--a defensive shield that protects from outside attacks. Two of them (Shun'o and Ayame) can form Soten Kishun ("Sacred Dual Return Shield")--a shielded zone that reverses unwanted effects inside it (in essence, it can be used to heal someone from attacks--this particular power will draw some trouble for her later). The last one, Tsubaki, creates Koten Sanshun ("Sacred Solitary Cutting Shield")--in which he enters an enemy then rejects from both sides at once, slicing the enemy in two. With her new powers, Orihime will accompany Ichigo into the Soul Society to save Rukia. Orihime performs very well in high school, and was near to the top of the year in exams. She is also a member of handy-crafty club with Ishida. She also made a promise to Tatsuki to never cut her hair again.

Alias:
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 15 Years
Hair: Brown-Orange
Eyes: Black
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 99 lbs.
Status:
Quote: "Tsubaki! koten Sanshu! I reject!"
Voice: Stephanie Sheh

Byakuya Kuchiki

Byakuya's attitude is just silent in general, he can be cold hearted at times but he sticks to his promises so he's loyal. He does have his soft spots... course, he won't show it.He's captain of the 6th division. His vice-captain is Abarai Renji and his adopted sister is Rukia Kuchiki. You see, Byakuya was married to Rukia's older sister, Hisana, but just before Hisana passed away, she asked Byakuya to do something before she did... she asked him to find her little sister and bring her into the family. Well, he got lucky. He went to do his job as captain and came across Rukia (her and her sister look practically identical), so it was easy. And after that, Byakuya adopted Rukia as his little sister.By the time Aizen betrays everyone, Byakuya ended up the one to save Rukia. Of course, he got pretty badly injured for it.

Alias:
Race: Soul Reaper
Gender: Male
Age:
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 139 lbs
Status: Captain of 6th Divisions
Quote:
Voice: Don Woren

Sado "Chad" Yasutora

Chad is a very quiet and strong type of person. Apparently he was mistreated as a child by the local folk. He was told by his grandfather to always protect people.

He ends up protecting Ichigo's sister with his newly awakened powers. He then trains with a talking cat and Orihime. He then helps Ichigo save Rukia from the Soul Society.

Chad is a really sensitive person. He likes cute things and would not mind going out of his way to protect someone.

Chad's real name is Sado. The Kanji for his first name can be read as either Chado or Sado, and his classmates often call him Chad because it sounds cooler, but his name should be read as Sado. Also, he's originally from Okinawa, but was adopted by his grandfather and lived in Mexico for some time before going back to Japan.

Alias: Chad

Race: Human

Gender: Male
Age: 15 Years
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 247lbs
Status: Student
Quote: "I want to Protect people"
Voice: Jamieson Price

Uryuu Ishida

Ishida Uryuu is one of the main characters in Bleach. He is in a bloodline named 'Quincys'. When he is first introduced he is distant from everyone. To keep himself busy he's in a sewing club. Once he finds out Ichigo is a Shigami he feels that it's his 'destiny' to defeat him. And the reason for this? Even before he was born, the Quincys were regarded as other soul reapers until it was learned that the Hollows they destroyed weren't purified, just disapeared, and apparently that would have led to the apocolypse. So the Soul Society casted a law stating that all Quinceys must be destroyed. Many of them died and then they were taken back to Soul Society to be experimented on.
Once he is born and old enough to learn about the Quincy heritage he wants to become one. When his grandfather finds out, he is happy that someone wants to continue their bloodline. When his father finds out, though, he says 'no' right away. When Ishida asks him why he says that he should become a doctor and forget about being a Quincy. Ishida is then heartbroken and runs to his grandfather. His grandfather says he should listen to his father, but Ishida wants to learn his Quincy powers more than anything. His grandfather then agrees and teaches him in private.
After Ishida learns his Quincy powers and perfects them, his grandfather gives him a box, but tells him not to open it until he's ready. Shortly after, Ishida sees his grandfather killed by Hollows and taken away to Soul Society. Thet Shigami were standing by and allowed the Hollows to kill him. That's when his hatred for Shigami starts.

He later on becomes friends with Ichigo and the rest of his friends. When Rukia gets taken back to the Soul Society by Byakuya and Renji, Ishida agrees to help out Ichigo to save her life. That is when he pulls out the box his grandfather gave to him and learns his even more powerful Quincy powers. Now what he wears is a blue and white outfit with a matching glove.
While in the Soul Society he meets the man who killed and studied his grandfather, 12th Squad Captain, Kurotsuchi. He vows to kill him and almost gets away with it, if it wasn't for Kurotsuki almost killing him. Ishida remembers his grandfather's words about this new power he had. His grandfather clearly said never to break the little stem part of the glove. If he did he would lose his Quicny powers forever. To help his friends Ishida must betray his grandfather and break off the stem. As he does he gets unbelievable power.
After the battle, Ishida can feel his powers leaving him. After he and all his other friends save Rukia and leave the Soul Society, he keeps quiet about his powers being gone. He's able to keep quiet about his powers being gone for a while, until people called 'Bountou' come along. The leader Kairya Jin tells Ishida, Ichigo, Inoue, and Chad that the Bountou need a Quincy to get into Soul Society. The first Bountou to find out Ishida lost his powers is a female Bounto named Yoshino.
Yoshino is later killed by Kairya Jin, since she betrayed the Bountou clan. Ishida vows to get revenge for her death. After that, almost every night and day Ishida works to get his powers back to defeat Jin. Kurotsuki then sends his Vice Captain, Nemu, to Earth to give Ishida a little present. What Nemu gives Ishida is a bracelet that enhances a Quincy's power, or in Ishida's case restores his powers. But unfortunately it's only temporary. When Ichigo fights Kairya Jin to stop him and the rest of the Bountou from getting into the Soul Society; Ishida comes along and helps them get in. He does this because he believes that Jin will be more vulnerable there.

Alias: Quincy
Race: Quincy/human
Gender: Male
Age: 15 years
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark blue
Height:
Weight:
Status:
Quote: "Soul reapers are such useless scum"
Voice: Derek Stephen Prince

Isshin Kurosaki

Ichigo's father, Ishiin Kurosaki, is a soul reaper himself, and is a captain class. That's why Ichigo has soul reaper powers.

He said in an episode that every captain class Soul Reaper should learn to control their zanpakotou's size, or else it would be very huge as the size of the zanpakotou is reflected by the spirit energy a person has. But he is hiding his Soul Reaper abilities. The reason is unknown.

Alias:
Race: Soul Reaper/Human
Gender: Male
Age: Over 40 years
Hair: Black

Urahara Kisuke

Urahara Kisuke is an ex-death god due to his forbidden skills of creating gigai (bodies for death gods that are regaining their powers). For that skill, he was banished from the Soul Society, but was able to keep Benihime (his Zanpakuto).

He currently runs a store called Urahara Shoten, where he and three others (Jinta, Tessai, and Ururu) sell otherworldly merchandise. After Ichigo's Zanpakuto breaks and Rukia is kidnapped by Byakuya (her brother) and Renji, Urahara trains Ichigo for the mission of infiltrating the Soul Society.

Alias: Hat n' Clogs
Race: Shinimagi
Gender: Male
Age:
Hair: Blond
Eyes: Grey/Blue
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 152lbs
Status: Manager
Quote: Wake up Benihime"
Voice: Michael Lindsay

KON

Kon is a real interesting story. It all started when Rukia came to Kisuke's shop in order to obtain some substitute soul pills called Ginkongan. The idea was that Ichigo could take one should the need arise for him to become a soul reaper and no one's around to provide the assist. Not only would the substitute soul allow his own soul reaper soul to come loose so he could fight Hollows, but the substitute would stand in and keep up appearances, so to speak.

What Rukia didn't know was that the package she gave Ichigo was defective. Kisuke's helper, Ururu, had pulled a package from the wrong box (pulling from the Defectives box rather than the New Arrivals box). The pill Ichigo eventually took actually contained what is known as a Mod Soul [Mod Konpaku]. The result of a Soul Society experiment called Project Spearhead, a Mod Soul is an artificially-crafted soul intended to be placed into corpses and the like and used to fight Hollows. However, on the very day this particular soul was made, the project was stricken down because the idea of using corpses was thought to be repugnant and immoral, and the Mod Souls were ordered destroyed. Somehow, this one managed to slip through the cracks and ended up in the pill bottle. When the Mod Soul found itself inside Ichigo's young and fit body, it did what any hotshot with a new ride would do: take it out for a spin. As a Mod Soul, he'd been specially modified to have superhuman physical capabilities when inhabiting a body. In the case of this one, he's got extra power in his legs, so he runs very fast, jumps very high, and kicks like a hangover from hell.

After a wild afternoon adventure which involved running around town, giving Tatsuki a total gross-out, and wowing (and eventually saving) three kids while fighting a Hollow, Kisuke intervened and forced the Mod Soul out. Under orders from the Soul Society, Kisuke was supposed to destroy it, but Rukia insisted on keeping it. When she had told Ichigo about the project, he had been pretty livid about their fate. She decided to let him decide what to do.

Turns out Ichigo and the soul had had a chat after exorcising the Hollow. The soul explained that all he wanted was to live--a chance the other Mod Souls never got. He also explained his philosophy--that no one should possess the right to take the life of another (it was why he had saved the kids despite jeering them earlier). So after learning what to do, Ichigo decided to give the soul that chance--and an earful for the bearing his body endured during his "joyride". Since there were no corpses handy, he stuffed the pill into a stuffed toy lion found near a construction site, and the lion indeed came to life with the soul in it. Ichigo named him Kon (short for Konpaku), and Kon--attitude and all--had to live with it. At least he was actually alive.

The two of them may have their disagreements, but at least they understand each other. And the more adventures they endure, the closer they become. Perhaps that's why Ichigo eventually trusts Kon to fill in for him in his body while his soul (as a soul reaper) is out on his cases. This proves especially critical as Ichigo decides on a lengthy trip to the Soul Society so as to rescue Rukia.

Yoruichi Shihouin
Shihouin Yoruichi, the former Tenshi Heisou Ban of the Shihouin family and also the former Guundanchou (Head of the Military) in Onmitsukidou. Yoruichi has many positive characteristics. She's intelligent, humorous, knows much about Soul Society inside and out, and has accomplished so much in her life. And for a noble, oddly, she certainly doesn't act like a one, considering her childish, witty self (unlike the uptight Kuchiki Byakuya), and she doesn't like being stated as a noble. Like when Soi Fon formally greeted her as "Ruling Commander", Yoruichi insisted that she be called "Yoruichi-san" instead.

Other than that, she can also transform herself into a black cat. When she does, her voice becomes so deep that she's often mistaken for a male (which she seems to employ as part of her disguise). She is good friends with Urahara Kisuke. And being the former Guundanchou, Soi Fon served as her former personal escort.

Yoruichi is also best known in Soul Society as "Shunshin", Yoruichi or "Goddess of Flash", Yoruichi for her mastery in the art of shunpo or flash step. Even though other shinigami are capable of shunpo since it's a basic shiningami skill, she exceeds the limits of shunpo of most shinigami. She also created a unique technique that combines hakuda (hand-to-hand military combat) with kidou (demon arts) called Shunkou (flash release), although she still hasn't mastered this technique yet. It is still undetermined whether Yoruichi owns a zanpakutou or only uses her hakuda and kidou skills for battle, but in certain manga panels she was seen armed with a wakizashi or a kodachi.

Soi Fon is also an important aspect in Yoruichi's life. As Guundanchou, Soi Fon had to serve Yoruichi under family purposes, but also under loyalty. Yoruichi told her once that she was like a sister to her, and they developed a close bond. When Yoruichi left Soul Society to aid Urahara Kisuke in his exile, Soi Fon replaced her and officially became the Guundanchou and the Commander of the Special Forces (Omnitsukidou). It's been said that Yoruichi left behind Soi Fon for her protection.

Even though she has left Soul Society for over a century, Yoruichi was still known as a legend. A woman with the fighting skills of a prodigy. She knows when she can win a fight and she knows when to run away from a fight. Yoruichi has taken younger ones like Soi Fon, Orihime, Chad, and Ichigo under her wing and trained them to become stronger fighters with Kisuke's help. Even if she has committed a crime worth of exile and lost her title as Guundanchou and other ranks, she is still feared and respected by the shinigami as "Shunshin", Yoruichi. Even at this time, no one has yet taken her title as "Shunshin" away from her.

Alias: Goddess of Flash
Race: Soul Reaper
Gender: Female
Age:
Hair: Purple
Eyes: Yellow
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 92.6 lbs
Status:
Quote: "Quit calling me ruler! You can call me something more normal. like Yoruichi-san."
Voice: Terrence Stone (Cat Form)