Bleach

Ichigo Kurosaki is a teenager gifted with the ability to see spirits. His life is drastically changed by the sudden appearance of a Soul Reaper —one who governs the flow of souls between the human world and the afterlife—named Rukia Kuchiki, who arrives in search of a Hollow, a dangerous lost soul. When Rukia is severely wounded defending Ichigo from the Hollow, she attempts to transfer half of her reiatsu (霊圧, literally, "spiritual pressure") energy to Ichigo so that he can defeat the Hollow. However, Ichigo takes almost all of her energy, transforming into a Soul Reaper and allowing him to defeat the Hollow with ease. With her powers diminished, Rukia is left stranded in the human world until she can recover her strength. In the meantime, Ichigo must take over Rukia's role as a Soul Reaper, battling Hollows and guiding souls to the afterlife realm known as the Soul Society (尸魂界 (ソウル·ソサエティ) Sōru Sosaeti). As time passes and Rukia has yet to return to the Soul Society, her Soul Reaper superiors learn about her whereabouts and actions and sentence her to death for performing the illegal act of transferring her powers. Although he is unable to stop Rukia's departure to the Soul Society, Ichigo resolves to rescue her with the aid of several of his spiritually aware classmates, and ex-Soul Reapers Yoruichi Shihoin, and Kisuke Urahara. Once at the Soul Society, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military and strive to reach Rukia before her execution. It is revealed that both Rukia's execution and Ichigo's rescue attempt had both been manipulated by Sosuke Aizen, a high-ranking Soul Reaper previously believed to have been murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of the Soul Society. Aizen betrays his fellow Soul Reapers and allies himself with the strongest of the Hollows, the Espadas. Each member of the Espadas has his or her own motives, ranging from malicious to benevolent from his or her own perspective. Aizen thus becomes the main antagonist of the series and the Soul Reapers form an alliance with Ichigo. At this point, Bleach chronicles the war between the Soul Reapers, the Espadas, and Aizen, who intends to garner souls from Ichigo's hometown in order to create the Ôken, a device able to open a portal to the location of the king of the Soul Society. Many third, fourth, and fifth parties also become involved in the conflict. After each of their eventual defeats, Ichigo undergoes intense training and becomes strong enough to battle Aizen alone. When Aizen is weakened, a spell that Urahara had previously hidden within him activates and seals him, thus ending the conflict and leaving the Soul Society to imprison him. As a result of using all of his Soul Reaper powers to defeat Aizen, Ichigo loses his spiritual power and returns to being a normal human again.

Ichigo Kurosaki

Ichigo looks like a normal teenage boy; the one exception to that is his spiky orange hair, a trait that he has been ridiculed about for years. He is a fairly tall, lean-built person with peach skin and brown eyes. Since becoming a Shinigami he has become noticeably more muscular, as noted by his sister Karin. When in his spiritual form, Ichigo wears standard Shinigami attire with the addition of a strap across his chest. Initially it was a thick brown belt to hold his Zanpakutō sheathe, but it later became a red rosary-like strap. Ichigo's appearance has caused several people, including Jushurio Ukitake, to notice a similarity to Kaien Shiba; the former lieutenant of the 13th Division. After training in the Dangai, Ichigo's hair grows considerably and is noticeably taller, as stated by his friends. However, after Ichigo loses all his spiritual powers, his appearance reverts to the way it before his Dangai training. When he was young, Ichigo considered his mother to be the center of his world. Ichigo always smiled whenever he was with Masaki and he was regularly at her side, holding her hand. Despite crying whenever he lost in a match at the dojo he attended, Ichigo started to smile again as soon as he saw Masaki when she came to pick him up.  At a very young age, Ichigo heard his father saying that his name means "to protect one thing", which instilled in him a desire to protect his mother. When his sisters were born he began attending a dojo for the sake of protecting them, since then the number of people he wished to protect has continued to grow, causing Ichigo to risk his life to protect both his family and strangers. As a Human teenager, Ichigo's personality is much more complex. Stubborn, short-tempered, strong-willed and impulsive, he attempts to maintain a detached and "cool" image, despite claiming not to care about what other people think about him. He generally keeps his face set in a permanent scowl, with his eyebrows drawn together. His outspoken, hot-headed demeanor is a trait Ichigo himself acknowledged, and that if somebody picks a fight with him, he cannot help fighting back. He coldly refers to his teachers as “instructors”. He is shown to be genuinely compassionate and empathetic about others, as seen by him promising to bring a Plus flowers and a toy plane or soothing others when they become upset. Ichigo is also a capable student, ranked 23rd in his high school. He studies regularly and does not neglect his schoolwork, claiming that he has "nothing better to do at home", though he actually works as hard as he does simply to overcome the misconceptions many have about him, which are based on his hair color and fighting. Ichigo hates fortune telling, horoscopes, feng shui, psychics and anyone whose trade involves taking money from people for things that they cannot see. He has difficulty remembering people's faces and names. Ichigo becomes extremely shy and uncomfortable around nude or immodestly dressed women, a fact both Rangiku Matsumoto and Yoruichi Shihoin have teased him for. Ichigo has some trouble with authority and traditional respect, often quite rude and disrespectful when talking to those older than himself, calling Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto "gramps" and referring to several of the Shinigami captains by their given names. When it comes to fighting, Ichigo has a complex sense of honor; he regularly seeks to exact revenge for the actions of his opponent, such as instilling the fear of being murdered in Shrieker and cutting off the right arm of Yammy Llargo in retaliation for him ripping Yasutora Sado's right arm apart. He would often taunt and belittle his opponents when fighting, sometimes even attacking without warning. Ichigo has a strong desire to win his fights and to win them in what he views as a legitimate manner. To this end, he has refused the aid of his inner Hollow, even when knowing that it would allow him to win. Similarly, after regaining control of his body, he tells Ulquiorra to cut off his limbs so that they may have a fair fight and refuses to kill him when he is dying; saying that it was not the way he wanted to win. Ichigo has even shown that he despises those who mistreat their allies in any way, even if they are his own enemies. He is disgusted when an individual berates his/her own allies, such as when Yammy calls Ulquiorra Cifer, Nnoitra Gilga, and Grimmow Jaegerjaquez "trash".. He also expresses anger towards those who go as far as attacking their own allies, expressing that he cannot forgive those who murder their own comrades. Despite Ichigo's strong sense of honor, his will to win can waiver at times, which directly affects his overall energy levels and fighting abilities. His absolute resolve is depicted by his eyes glowing bright blue and his body being engulfed in a bright blue aura. The same is included with his Hollow powers, in which his eyes glow yellow and his aura turns black. Ichigo’s abilities at their peak allow him to hold his own, if not contend, against the toughest opponents. His will to protect his friends is shown to be so great that, even when battle-worn, he can fight at deceptively high levels, as seen when he effortlessly caught Grimmjow’s punch when in his released state.However, at the same time, his lack of resolve to win can also impede his spiritual energy and fighting prowess, shown when he goes into a state of depression and self-loathing when he loses a major battle or lets a friend down; after losing his fight against Yammy and Ulquiorra, thanks to the crippling fear of his inner Hollow, Ichigo's will became so weak, he was unable to even defeat a weak Hollow until Rukia helped restore his resolve.






Orihime Inoue

Orihime is a teenager of average height. She has brown eyes and long, waist-length burnt orange hair. Her most noticeable physical trait is her surprisingly curvaceous figure for a teenager, especially in terms of her large breasts. She wears her hair in bangs tucked behind her ears with hairpins, which she only removes to sleep, as they are worn in the memory of her brother. Orihime initially wears her hair with a full but parted fringe before pulling most of her bangs behind her ears as she was ready to leave for Soul Society, a change noted by Tatsuki. Seventeen months after Aizen's defeat, Orihime doesn't wear her hair clips and her bangs frame her face without them.