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Bleach/Characters

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Characters that appeared in Tite Kubo's Bleach. There are so many that they occupy eight pages. This page is for Ichigo and his True Companions.

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Note: To avoid confusion to people more familiar with the English-language releases, all names are in Western order.

WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.

Ichigo Kurosaki[]

Cquote1

"I'm not Superman. So I can't say anything big like I'll protect everyone on Earth. I'm not a modest guy who will say it's enough if I can protect as many people as my two hands can handle either. I want to protect... a mountain-load of people."

Cquote2


Species: Human / Shinigami
Affiliation: Soul Society / Karakura High School / Xcution (formerly)
Zanpakutou: Zangetsu

File:Ichigo001 2714.png
Ichigo Kurosaki

The main character, a combination of The Messiah and Anti-Hero. Normally an ordinary boy with some... weird sense of spirits, then turns into a Soul Reaper to battle Hollows. But his quest later evolves into beating other Soul Reapers, and later battling upgraded Hollows (also making a deal with the Visoreds by turning as one). Rather reliant upon Heroic Resolve to win his fights or to survive, which earns him some scorn from various observers (until he eventually kicks their ass, anyway). His Zanpakuto is Zangetsu.

After spending at least a year and a half with no powers, Kugo Ginjo approaches him. He has undergone training to fully manifest his Fullbring, which is channeled through his Substitute Soul Reaper badge, and became a temporary member of the organization Xcution. He has since been betrayed and regained his powers via Rukia, Isshin and Urahara. And Kenpachi, and Byakuya, and Renji, and Ikkaku, and Toshiro... And the entire Gotei 13.) . The last arc has him rushing to the aid of BOTH Hueco Mundo and Soul Society as the Vandenreich set their eyes on both worlds, and it also leads to him not only getting new powers, but finding out MANY things about himself...

Cquote1

Voiced by: Masakazu Morita (JP), Yuki Matsuoka (as a child) (JP), Johnny Yong Bosch (US), Eduardo Garza (Latin America), Sergi Zamora (Spain)

Cquote2
  • Angst? What Angst?: He seems to take that whole Big Brother Is Watching thing with Ukitake in stride. His passiveness about it was so frank that it even unnerved both Ishida and Ginjo. Ichigo does provide an explanation: He's in the middle of a fight, so it's essentially a scare-tactic. Ichigo knows this, so he very typically tries to ignore it, which would play this trope straight. However, he has metric buttloads of experience being mindscrewed and manipulated and Ishida's yelling at him, so at least on this occasion he's done some preliminary guesswork and deduces the information's not an immediate threat and thus not a priority and thus not worth thinking about at all, which he explains to Ishida.
  • Anti-Hero: Starts off as Type III and gradually evolves into Type II.
  • Art Evolution: Aside from his face and form, his clothes have wildly varied in theme over the manga's run. He goes from bland traditional shinigami clothing, then adding a heroic mantle to it, to his PIMPTASTIC! coat, to monstrous Dia de Muertos masks on top of the stuff before, to form-fitting bone-armor, back to the old traditional look with some new armor elements, and finally his Bankai's clothes have taken a somewhat retro-futuristic look, while still retaining the classic pimpin' touch.
  • Attack! Attack! Attack!: Ichigo will fight until he collapses. Then he gets up and does it again. And again. And again. Doesn't always work, though, like when Aizen nearly cut him in half and told him that he could have all the guts and courage in the world and it wouldn't matter because his body just would not work. Same situation when Ulquiorra utterly owned Ichigo (at least before uber-hollow form) and Ichigo could not be convinced to surrender. Subverted in the Blood War arc - he can also FAKE this, and in fact he manages to get to Yhwach himself.
  • Back from the Dead: Often with a power-up to go with it.
  • Badass
    • Back-to-Back Badasses: With Ishida when they fought off a mob of Hollows.
    • Badass and Child Duo: Ichigo looked after Nel throughout the Arrancar arc. This paid off when it turned out she was an amnesiac former espada stuck in Sleep Mode Size.
    • Badass Boast: The way he introduces himself to Renji.
Cquote1

"The name is Ichigo. I'm the one who's going to beat your ass. How's it going?"

Cquote2
    • Badass Longcoat: His appearance after Tensa Zangetsu. Nicknamed the 'pimpcoat'.
    • Brought Down to Badass: The insane fights he gets into as a psychopomp have trained his reflexes and strength in his regular body. However, even at the start of the story he was an excellent martial artist before he quit the dojo. It's simply that his later levels rendered his original status irrelevant.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: Ichigo's constant struggle with his hollow self Hollow Ichigo.
  • Battle in the Rain: In both the aptly-named "Memories in the Rain" mini-arcs.
  • Berserk Button: It's an older sibling's duty to protect their younger siblings. Don't threaten his younger siblings and don't be an older sibling that threatens your own younger siblings.
    • He's also VERY protective of all of his friends, but especially of Orihime - and no one should ever threaten her in his presence. So much, that he brought himself Back from the Dead when she was in absolute lethal danger and crying out to him. And some time later, Tsukishima mentions her once when Ichigo was extremely stressed over realizing that Tsukishima brainwashed his sisters and other friends, and he slammed the guy one-handed against a wall.
  • BFS: Even when it was in sealed form in the early chapters/episodes, it was still huge, a sign of his uncontrolled, unusually high spiritual power.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Older siblings mistreating younger siblings is a Berserk Button. He will even consider killing someone who's threatening his own family.
    • The basis of the fourth movie. Yuzu gets killed by the film's big bad soon after said bad guy's reveal which causes Ichigo to utterly flip out and he goes into his super hollow form.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Ichigo has pulled this off despite already being in the room. Several times.
  • Big "Shut Up!": In 475, Ichigo gives one so big, it shatters Yukio's barrier, to his... surprise. It was directed at Ishida of all people.
  • Black Eyes of Crazy: Gets them when his Inner Hollow takes over or when he uses his Hollow mask.
  • Black Swords Are Better: When his sword enters bankai, it's completely black from hilt to tip.
  • Blood Knight: Subverted. He never backs down from a scrap, and he does seem to enjoy fighting, given that it's about the only time that he ditches the perpetual frown and even gives off a few Slasher Smile-like grins (just look at his face while he's fighting Grimmjow), but, to be fair to him, he never actually actively seeks out fights unless they're against someone who's threatening his family. His Inner Hollow, who most certainly is this, seems to indicate that his good side is living in denial.
  • Boring but Practical: His Bankai and zanpakuto in general. The Bankai doesn't give him an expansion of power like most usually do, but instead compresses it, meaning it can be used a lot longer. It also doesn't come with any fancy tricks, merely increasing physical attributes and turning his Sword Beam black and red. It also also compensates for Ichigo's major weakness of giving off too much Reiatsu by filtering it more efficiently.
  • Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Subverted. Ichigo is an impulsive guy who goes through one Shonen Upgrade after another while the show's Big Bad Aizen establishes himself as a Magnificent Bastard who fights through subterfuge rather than raw power. However, when the two meet, Aizen reveals himself to also be MUCH more powerful than Ichigo, and not only has A God Am I attitude, but later on actually tries to literally make himself one. In fairness, Ichigo did try this before during his second fight with Ulquiorra, but it didn't last too long.
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: He and Orihime bounce between this and Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl
  • Brought Down to Normal: Byakuya does this to him fairly early on, necessitating some Training from Hell courtesy of Urahara to get his powers back. Gets hit with it again when he uses his Mugetsu technique, which robs him of his Soul Reaper powers for one ultimate attack.
    • Can't Stay Normal: And then thanks to the machinations of the Big Bad Duumvirate he was brought back to normal for a few moments for the third time...before Rukia and the other Shinigami returned and gave him back his shinigami powers....which leads to Ginjo and Tsukishima setting a new standard for the 'Oh Crap' look
  • Brown Eyes: He fits down-to-earth and stable trustworthiness associated with characters of this trope.
  • Bully Hunter: Don't vandalize memorials or try to beat up Actual Pacifists when Ichigo is in the area. He demonstrates the trope quite nicely in his first appearance, and again in his and Sado's Backstory.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Bankai - Tensa Zangetsu!"
  • Calling Your Attacks: "Getsuga Tenshō!", "Mugetsu."
  • Catch and Return: Does this in his fight against Kirge.
  • Character Development: After the Fullbringer debacle, he becomes much calmer. And while he still won't hesitant to go into a fight, he seems to be more analytical about his situations than he was before. While he still can show a much more brash side, it tends to come out when he's under massive pressure.
  • Chick Magnet: An anime-mostly trope that will attempt to play up Ship Tease with almost any female Ichigo interacts with. It's almost guaranteed with anime-only characters (such as Senna and Ririn) but the anime will even alter canon female behaviour to accommodate this, such as randomly making Child!Nel clingy and jealous of Ichigo in response to Rukia talking to Ichigo.
  • Childhood Friend: He and Tatsuki go way back.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: Inverted. His Badass Longcoat in Bankai seems to work as a Reiatsu Gauge. Lampshaded during the Fullbring Arc when it's revealed his fullbring power is a "clad-type", clothing him in a manner similar to his shinigami (and later Vizard) form. Sado observes it's typical for Ichigo who always "clothed" in power. Playing the trope straight is that when other fullbringers get a hold of it, their fullbrings expand into uniforms and enhance their inherent abilities further.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Has traces of this; while he's not always partial to to the idea of attacking from behind, he's more than willing to attack someone while they're in the middle of talking, most notably against Renji.
  • Conflict Ball: Leeroy Jenkins tendencies as well, but as of 431 he's gone off with the mysterious new character without telling his friends because he feels he has nowhere else to turn. He also did something very similar when he decided to go and see the Visored without telling anyone.
  • Covert Pervert: When Rangiku begins unbuttoning her blouse, he clamps a hand over his eyes and protests against her impropriety. Meanwhile, his fingers have parted slightly, allowing him to peek at her.
    • In the last arc, Urahara tricks Orihime into putting on a VERY Stripperiffic outfit specifically to see what Ichigo will do. Ichigo seems to be indifferent, but at some point Chad confronts him about ti and it's seen that not only he DID notice, but he had been near desperate to not be Distracted by the Sexy.
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The final Getsuga Tenshou technique, Mugetsu. It uses up all of his Soul Reaper powers in a single (extremely powerful) attack, rendering him powerless afterward. He can't get them back easily, either.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: His Bankai.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: His mother got killed and eaten by a Hollow in front of him, what do you expect?
  • Deadpan Snarker: Ichigo is very, very, VERY good at making fastidiated faces and be a bity of an Audience Surrogate in more comical moments.
  • Declaration of Protection: Towards Orihime.
  • Determinator: If he has to win, he'll keep fighting until he wins. Almost as if his Catch Phrase is "It's not because I can win or not. It's because I have to win". His zanpakutou (only not) is also quite focused on ensuring Ichigo continues being a determinator being very angry with Ichigo when his resolve is so shaken his inner world has flooded with despair.
  • Discard and Draw: Seems to be going this route in the X-Cution regarding his Fullbring abilities. But subverted when he lost them, and got his shinigami powers back instead.
  • Dissonant Serenity: After his return from his Training from Hell to fight Aizen.
  • Enemy Within: Inner Hollow. Subverted, the Hollow wasd more chaotic than evil... and his true Zanpakutou
  • Establishing Character Moment: His introduction has him beat the crap out of some punks...only to make them apologize to the ghost of a dead girl for knocking over the vase of flowers that was offered to her.
  • Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: Does this occasionally.
  • Expy: Has a very similar face to Gamma Akutabi, a character in an earlier manga of Kubo's called Zombie Powder.
  • Exotic Eye Designs: His eyes turn blue when he gains Heroic Resolve against Kisuke and Renji, and his sclera turns black when he uses his Hollow mask, along with yellow eyes.
  • Eye Scream: Takes a sword slice across the eyes as part of his training at one point. He learns to fight regardless, and he's healed anyway-
  • Face of a Thug: Ichigo's hair is naturally blondish-red. This is very rare in Japan; most people have to bleach their hair to do so and are considered Delinquents. People always picked fights with him over this.
  • Failure Knight: "I loved my mom. (...) She filled up the center our family revolved around. From that center, I stole mom from them, I did...!"
  • Genius Bruiser: Downplayed. No one is surprised (for long anyway) that he fights on a captain level but they were surprised to find out how he scores on school exams. Keigo called him a 'nerd' for it. He's also quite capable of using common sense and working things out on his own. More than one baddie has underestimated him in this regard.
  • Genre Savvy: Increasingly becoming more and more like this. As of lately, he said it on more than one occasions that he knows that he'll win because he has to win, and was able to successfully deduce that Gin Ichimaru was lying about the true power of his bankai. One could say that Aizen trained him very well. He's also very aware his enemies try to Mind Screw him as a tactic and is very fed up of it; when Ginjo tried to mindbreak him by telling hiom about Ukitake's Big Brother Is Watching plans, he basically says "... Yeah. Guessed it alreadsy. And it makes sense. Now shut up"
  • Gone Horribly Right: Aizen's manipulation was supposed to turn him into a Worthy Opponent. Instead he rocketed right past that into a literal Physical God.
  • Got the Call on Speed Dial: In fact, he gives The Call a ring twice. Once after losing his powers to Byakuya, and a second time after burning them out through the Final Getsuga Tenshou.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: His mother was apparently normal human. His father is a retired Soul Reaper, meaning that he's basically a human/ghost hybrid. And then it turns out his mom was NO normal human...
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: He does his hard work, but the hard work always seems to make him stronger than it should.
  • He's Back: Lampshaded by Gin who, after having assessed his state of mind during the Karakura Town knew he couldn't defeat Aizen, takes one look at Ichigo's eyes after his dangai training session and realises Ichigo's resolve is genuine.
  • The Hero of the Five-Man Band
  • Heroic BSOD: Ichigo is brought to the brink when Tsukishima turns all his family and friends against him, and Ginjo pushes him over that edge by robbing him of what little power he'd managed to accumulate. It takes a Big Damn Heroes moment from Urahara, Isshin and Soul Society to snap him out of it.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Chad.
  • Hidden Depths: Looks up to Shakespeare as a role-model. For all his bluntness and rather one-dimensional approach to strategy, he hides a keen analytical mind as well an urge to understand and empathize even with his enemies.
  • High School Sweethearts: One of his possible Love Interests is Orihime. He's known her from junior high, but they only became actual friends in highschool. They're Happily Married and with a kid at the end.
  • Hot-Blooded: Not as much as others, but he does have his moments. Especially when his loved ones are in danger.
  • Hurting Hero: He blamed himself for his mother's death. He blames himself whenever he fails to completely save the day, and was VERY depressed with Rukia was taken back to Soul Society and Orihime first was severely wounded, then forced into Hueco Mundo. He blames himself if his inner hollow takes control and causes him to do things that are against his beliefs even if he's in the middle of battle. He'll take the weight of the world to spare others suffering if he has to, and he suffers as a result.
  • Identical Stranger: Bears quite a resemblance to Kaien Shiba (both in personality and looks). This has been commented on a few times within the story and has led to some Epileptic Trees amongst the fans. But no, he's not his reincarnation. He is Kaien's cousin through his father / Kaien and his siblings' uncle Isshin, however.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Since the very beginning. He gets his wish at the end of the Deicide Arc. This led to Be Careful What You Wish For in the following arc because his friends get attacked and he hates being powerless, so when he gets an offer to get his powers back, he accepts. And then he gets them |00% back anyway.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In order, Ichigo has been stabbed by Rukia, Grand Fisher, Byakuya once, Kenpachi twice, Byakuya again, Shiro, Ulquiorra twice, Tensa Zangetsu, Ginjou twice, and Rukia again.
  • Ironic Echo: Ichigo's remarks to Aizen after pulling off a Barehanded Blade Block are pretty much exactly the same as what Aizen said after blocking Ichigo's blade in their first meeting. Later he even lampshades their reversal of positions.
  • Irony: After Deicide, Ichigo becomes useless. And he hates it.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed - he's less of a deliberate jerk and more like somewhat grumpy, but VERY kind to those he's close to.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Gleefully ignores the Soul Society's plan to prepare for the Winter War, JUST SO HE CAN SAVE HIS FRIENDS.
  • Lightning Bruiser: His power doesn't simply give him great strength, it gives him great speed as well.
  • Mana Meter: His outfit during Bankai also serves as a gauge for how much Spiritual Power he has left. Apparently if he has half of his clothes remaining he's on par with a captain-level Soul Reaper.
  • Mask Power and Mask of Power: His Hollow mask.
  • Meaningful Name: According to him, his name means "to protect one thing." It's also a homonym of "strawberry" (and his hair is strawberry blond), and can be written as "1-5", reflecting his age at the start of the manga (fifteen is juugo).
  • The Messiah: Despite his protests on the contrary, he's the one who gives hope to others and saves them, and his main motivation is to protect the people he loves and cares for
  • Mirror Boss: Hollow Ichigo loves using Ichigo's powers against him to show how much more skilled he is than him.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Frequently torn clothes notwithstanding, THIS says it all. Wow.. Riruka nicely lampshades it at some point.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: He brings it up only once, but it's chilling. His suggestion to dealing with Tsukishima.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ichigo has a tendency to be used by an Arc Villain in a manner where his powers end up helping the Arc Villain in some way. Cue Heroic BSOD followed by Heroic Resolve moments as he takes the blame and then finds the resolve to fix his mistake. The Anime has a tendency to use this in Filler arcs much more than the manga does but it has been a plot point in the manga, too.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A Human-Fullbringer-Soul Reaper-Visored (And a Visored is already a hybrid of Soul Reaper and Hollow powers). In the fourth movie, he even becomes the Avatar of Hell, which brought a whole new set of powers. Ichigo seems to identify most closely with humanity, which makes sense, since he just wanted to be normal. And then it's revealed that he's also part Quincy.
  • Orange Headed Hero
  • One-Winged Angel: Ichigo has two of these; his Hollow form and his final Getsuga Tensho. And later, he gets to unite the Hollow (aka his true Zanpakutou) and the Old Man Zangetsu (his Quincy heritage) fo get another.
  • Perpetual Frowner: More like perpetual scowler.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: His Getsuga Tensho can do serious damage to architecture. It more or less averts Arbitrary Maximum Range, and the Sword Beam itself tends to be absolutely gigantic. This is the other half of the basis for the Fourth Movie.
  • Physical God: For a short period.
  • Platonic Life Partners: Him and Rukia
  • Please Put Some Clothes On: His default reaction whenever Yoruichi shows too much skin.
  • Power Makes Your Hair Grow: His Super Hollow form and after training for three months to fight Aizen.
  • Precision F-Strike: In the Karakura Town battle, Ichigo's language becomes very coarse at very stressful moments. Examples include when Aizen tells him he's arranged all his battles to date, when he witnesses the captains stab Hinamori and when he witnesses one of Aizen's new forms.
  • Punny Name: In Japanese his name is homonymous with "strawberry." In addition, his name can be broken down into the numbers one (ichi) and five (go). The sign that says "15" on the door to his room is a pun on his name as well as his age at the start of the story.
  • Razor Wind: A new ability he develops after getting his Shinigami powers back
  • Real Men Hate Sugar: Pointedly inverted: he loves chocolate.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Uryu's and Chad's blue.
  • Semi-Divine: His mother was, as far as we know, a normal human. His father is a retired Soul Reaper, meaning that he's basically a human/ghost hybrid. And then it turns out his mom was NOT a normal human, but a Quincy...
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to either Ishida or Chad. The latter has traits common to both types.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: To Aizen.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Although somewhat similar to Karin in personality, the boisterous Ichigo is almost the complete opposite of quiet, thoughtful Yuzu.
  • Sinister Scimitar: His Bankai after the Time Skip looks like one.
  • The Snark Knight
  • Spirit Advisor: Old Man Zangetsu.
  • Sticks to the Back: Zangetsu's released form does this. And it actually makes more sense than when it had a sheath far too long for Ichigo to be able to draw it from.
    • Though actually, the cloth seems to wrap around the sash too and tie it together with the blade.
    • Averted for his Bankai sword, Tensa Zangetsu, which has no sheathe despite being a more reasonable size. To date he has never actually held it at rest or set it aside, preferring to carry it by the handle at all times.
  • Story-Breaker Power: If Ichigo could use Mugetsu all the time without losing his powers, he would give Old Man Genocide a run for his money. Even without Mugetsu there was a reason he had to lose his powers. Ichigo before using Mugetsu cut down a mountain from the aftershock of his blade. This feat is to date the most impressive show of brute force in the series.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: He looks like a younger, more bishonen version of his father Isshin. And exactly like a redhaired version of his late cousin, Kaien Shiba.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: His Inner Hollow. Not really - he's his Zanpakutou.
  • Superpower Russian Roulette: To get back his power, the first time he lost them, Ichigo is forced to go through the hollowfication process.
  • Super Reflexes: Quite possibly Ichigo's greatest strength, one which he retains in human form. It's what lets him duel enemies who are technically far more skilled than him, and saves his life half the time. It makes up for his lack of power by allowing him to get close enough to where he can rely on his weapon to do damage.
  • Super Speed: Part of his bankai ability.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: He sometimes tends to feel bad for his rivals.
  • Sword Beam: His Zanpakuto ability.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: With Rukia. Both have denied it, of course.
    • Downplayed with Orihime; Shinji once asks him if she's is girlfriend, and Ichigo just says "it's not like that" but doesn't openly deny it.
  • Shipper on Deck: A Rukia/Renji fanboy.
  • Technicolor Blade: His Hollow has his completely white.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: "Number One"... anytime when he's about to kick ass. Except when Aizen stopped him AND the song. It's a play on his name as well which, if spelled "Ichi-gou" (doubling the "o" sound at the end), means "Number One".
  • Took a Level in Badass: Ichigo gets his first when he learns bankai, a second when he masters hollowfication, a third when he returned from yet another round of Training from Hell even more powerful, and with longer hair and a calmer demeanor to boot and now after Rukia stabs him again making his shinigami powers return. Even Zangetsu returned with a new changed look.
    • In the fourth movie when 1: Ichigo sees the Hell chain coming from Yuzu's chest (meaning she is dead) and goes berserk and blows up half of Hell trying to kill Kokuto. 2: When one of the Guardians of Hell (a Kushannard) gives Ichigo its powers and he gets golden armor on half of his body, can control the Hell chains and the rest of the Kushannards bow down to him in this state.
    • And HOLY HELL, does he take several of these in the last arc. To the point that he can merge his true Zanpakutou (the "Hollow") and his Quincy side (Old Man Zangetsu)...
  • Tranquil Fury: His Deicide fight with Aizen.
  • Unskilled but Strong: According to Unohana, he has the power of an average captain with one sleeve of his Badass Longcoat left. Said coat is a Mana Meter, which meant that at the time he was well under half power, and this is completely ignoring the power boost from his mask. He seems to fight at a level on par with some of the younger, weaker captains, like Hitsugaya, despite having raw power well above them. When at full power, he eclipses the captains and even Aizen, too. He does, however, display the ability to figure out the holes in an opponent's technique and strategize accordingly. Even as early as his bankai training it was noted that he had an impressive ability to adjust his technique to changing circumstances. It's worth remembering that experience is the best teacher, and Ichigo's learning quite well. That said, sometimes Ichigo can come off as Weak but Skilled (see below).
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Was a very sweet, shy Momma's Boy until Masaki's death.
  • Weak but Skilled: Despite Ichigo's insanely high potential, his lack of training and development often puts him at an explicit power disadvantage with foes, that he gets around by (usually) moving fast and eventually striking a decisive blow. This is mostly a product of his Bankai, which for most Shinigami gives an entirely new powerset more broken than the one before as well as enhancing all their attributes. In Ichigo's case, however, his Bankai just enhances his strength and especially speed and is just enough for him to break even when dueling stronger foes. He has no overpowered special attacks or hidden skills to rely on (apart from an underpowered Sword Beam, his other special attack drains his powers permanently), so all his effort in a battle goes into actually closing with the enemy and dueling them, or dodging their attacks.
  • The Worf Effect: Though sometimes the result of Worf Had the Flu.
    • The Worf Barrage: His Getsuga Tensho has never done any significant damage since his fight with Renji. Until the Deicide Arc and the point of returning his Shinigami powers again.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Ichigo doesn't care what gender his opponents are. It doesn't even have to be for anything important. During his second meeting with Rukia, he got her attention by giving her a swift kick in the backside. And when he fought an Amazon Brigade in the last arc, he cheerfully lampshaded it.
  • You Killed My Mother: To Hollow Grand Fisher.
  • Younger Than He Looks: This speaks the best.


Rukia Kuchiki[]

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"In battles, the ones who get in the way are not the ones that have no power. They are the ones that have no resolve for battle."

Cquote2


Species: Shinigami
Affiliation: Soul Society
Zanpakutou: Sode no Shirayuki


File:Rukia001 1233.png
Rukia Kuchiki

The Deuteragonist, Rukia is the Shinigami that gave Ichigo his power at first and somehow acts like a guide to him; some may even consider her to be Ichigo's first mentor. Until the day when Soul Society dragged her back home, where she spent most of the whole arc as a Damsel in Distress (poor girl), heavily loaded not just by being a prisoner, but because she actually believes she's unworthy of living or being saved, due to a horrible incident in her past. In the Arrancar Invasion arc, Rukia comes back and shows that her power is back by killing Di Roy Rinker, before getting stabbed by Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and training with Orihime Inoue afterwards. She took part in the Hueco Mundo arc, just barely killing off Aaroniero Arruruerie, getting briefly controlled by Zommari Rureaux, defeating Rudbornn Chelute and losing her, Chad AND Renji's fight to Yammy Llargo. Her Zanpakuto is Sode no Shirayuki.

In her absence from the plot pre-Xcution, she became a lieutenant and donned white tekkou, before reuniting with Ichigo. And in the Final Arc, as Ichigo and Co. go back and forth between worlds, she stays mostly in Soul Society and fights there.

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Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (JP), Michelle Ruff (US), Liliana Barba (Latin America), Belén Roca (Spain)

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Rukia: I know the loneliness of being a prisoner. I know the joy you feel when your friends come to rescue you and the fear of them being injured and defeated. Do not fear, Inoue... I'm coming for you now...

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  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Her promotion to vice-captain, likely doubling as an offscreen Heartwarming, too
  • Out of Focus: She started off in the series as the second Protagonist and Ichigo's Mentor. Those days have long since past. She does regain quite the spotlight in the later arcs.
  • Promoted to Love Interest: The anime staff tried to give her and Ichigo quite more Ship Tease than they had in the manga, without making her his official girlfriend.
  • Rags to Riches: From a Street Urchin who barely made it into teenagehood, to the adoptive sister of a high-ranked captain.
  • Red Oni: Although on the surface it looks as though bright-haired Cloudcuckoolander Orihime should be the red oni to Rukia's Ice Person blue oni, the truth is completely reversed, with Rukia being the passionate girl who'll aggressively push people back into their happy place whereas Orihime is much more content to nurse her emotions privately or express them more gently. It's leads to quite the confrontation between the pair when Urahara tries to remove Orihime from the front lines of battle: Orihime already had emotional baggage and thus she backed down for a while, and Rukia was the other one aside of Matsumoto who helped her back on her feet.
  • Relationship Voice Actor: See Ichigo entry.
  • Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: She and Orihime, oh so much.
  • Running Gag: Horrible drawings and obsession with rabbits, plus her getting impaled at almost every fight she's in.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: In the colorspreads, especially. In the first anime, she can also rock a very luxurious kimono.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Mentioned once or twice in the early days of the manga, but not revisited since. The anime plays with it much more, however.
  • She's Got Legs: We get a lot of these shots during the third movie, particularly when she becomes Dark Rukia.
  • Shiny Midnight Black: She occasionally fits this trope, but not consistently.
  • Shipper on Deck: She seems to quite like the idea of Ichigo and Orihime being together. If she wasn't, she would have NOT made Ichigo explicitly promise to protect Orihime, knowing how seriously he takes protecting his loved ones...
  • Ship Tease: With Renji, Ichigo (more in the first anime) and, arguably, Orihime.
  • Sleep Mode Size: She shrinks to a size where she could bath in Ichigo's coffee mug in the pilot.
  • Smug Super: Orders (to refrain from murder) or not, Rukia underestimated Riruka because the latter was "a mere Human with powers", enough that Rukia refused to use Sode no Shirayuki against her. By contrast, Ishida and Sado were both able to fight against Shinigami and Arrancars alike on their own, so this says a lot on how she feels about being a Shinigami.
  • Spoiled Sweet: Her Rags to Riches story has left her the apple of the eye of one of the most powerful aristocrat's in the whole of Soul Society. It hasn't stopped her from being down-to-earth or kind, however.
  • Suicide by Cop: She knew she'd be executed if she returned to the Soul Society, and at the time wished to die to atone for killing Kaien
  • Stepford Smiler: Her outgoing, cheerful, boisterous personality for a long time hid a deep grief and guilt over the death of her mentor and superior, Kaien who she was forced to kill.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Rukia is uncannily similar to her deceased older sister, Hisana. She and Byakuya also look like blood-relatives even though they're only adoptive siblings.
  • Technicolor Blade: Her Shikai is icy white. It's even called the most beautiful Zanpakuto.
  • Terrible Artist: One of her defining traits. Just don't tell her that.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Personality-wise, with Orihime. It looks like she's a straight tomboy to Orihime's straight girly-girl. However, more subtly, Rukia is into dresses, cute things and bunnies, whereas Orihime practices martial arts for a hobby (rather than for the necessity of war like the military characters do) and is into robots, boys manga and sci-fi.
  • Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She's this to a T. She likes drawings of bunnies, wears dresses when off-work, adores plush toys, and in the anime can dress up in super ladylike kimonos. Her bankai invokes the looks of the very beautiful and feminine yukionna spirits, and Rukia herself is seen wearing a pretty white kimono when she uses it.. Her best friend and prospective Love Interest (and ultimately, husband) Renji even lampshades it.
  • The Obi-Wan: To Ichigo, at first.
  • The Obi Wrong: After literally five minutes of her showing herself to Ichigo, Rukia gets depowered, spends the rest of the first story arc being useless in combat, and even becomes a Damsel in Distress afterward, triggering a rescue arc. Her drop in power is revealed to have been due to Urahara giving her an untraceable gigai specifically designed to drain her spirit energy, keeping the Hogyoku inside of her and away from Aizen for good. (At least that was the idea.)
  • You Can See Me?: Word for word her third sentence in the series.

Orihime Inoue[]

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"There are so many things I wanted to do with my life! I wanted to become a teacher! I wanted to become an astronaut! I wanted to own my own bakery, and I wanted to go into Mr. Doughnut's and say, "I'll have them all!" And I wanted to go into Thirty-One and say "I'll have them all!" Ohhhh... I wish I could live life five times over. Then I'd be born in five different cities, I'd stuff myself full with different delicious things five times each, and I'd have five different jobs.... And then for those five times... I'd still fall in love with the same person... Thank you, Kurosaki-kun.... Goodbye."

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Species: Human
Affiliation: Karakura High School
Power: Shun Shun Rikka


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Orihime Inoue

The Tritagonist and heroine (as in lead girl and Love Interest) of the story, she is one of Ichigo's classmates and is quite in love with him. Technically, they met earlier on under rather tragic circumstances: her older brother and guardian Sora was seriously injured in an accident and Ichigo's father Isshin, a doctor and owner of a local clinic, attempted to save him but failed. She is a bit ditzy, very pretty and with big melons, but was said to have the "brains and boobs" since she has the third best grades in her school. She's also rumored to be well-versed in Karate, but never gets a chance to use it, because... well, she's sweet and gentle, so doesn't have much killing intent. This later proves to be a double-edged sword when Orihime does receive her powers: The Shun Shun Rikka. Because their attack power relies upon killing intent, she is a weak attacker; but since she's a gifted healer and defender, she fares well as a The Medic and Barrier Warrior. Until it's revealed that her power was literally Winds of Destiny Change personified.

In the Hueco Mundo arc, she's given the very cruel choice to either see her hometown and her loved ones be massacred, or to go willingly with the bad guys. This seems to have been subverted; Aizen reveals some more of his plans to her, then lets her go and soon she's reunited with the friends who went to Las Noches to save her. But not before she and others get broken to Hell and back because of such ordeals. Thankfully, she comes out of it okay and is back to her happy self after a timeskip, joining Chad and Ichigo's quests with the X-Cution group, and later as they travel through worlds to fight the Vandenreich.

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Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (JP), Stephanie Sheh (US), Claudia Mota (Latin America), Nuria Trifol (Spain)

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  • Abusive Parents: In the manga, it's briefly mentioned that Orihime's alcoholic father and prostitute mother were abusive; it was the reason her older brother Sora left them to raise her himself when he turned eighteen. It's the reason her brother stuck around after he died and it's the reason she lives alone now her brother is dead, only receiving a living allowance off a very distant relative if she performs well in school exams. She tells Riruka that the reason she can smile and talk comfortably about this situation is because she's been saved by Ichigo.
  • Almost Kiss: Famously, to a sleeping Ichigo.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Openly loves Ichigo and Rukia in different ways. One could also add Tatsuki as well.
  • Angst? What Angst?: While the audience knows better, Riruka is weirded out about how casually Orihime mentions that her parents were horrible people to the extent that her brother ran away with her to save her life before dying himself a few years before the story began. This leaves her all alone apart from a distant aunt who pays for her education. What's she doing at the time? Drooling over donuts.
  • Attack Reflector: Her Shiten Kōshun (Defiant Shield of the Four Heavens).
  • Badass Adorable: When she's fighting the hollow that hurt Tatsuki, when she stops and injures Ginjou when he tries to attack Ichigo while he's being healed, and when she stands with Ichigo, Ishida and Sado to fight some hollows.
  • Barrier Warrior: One of her abilities is to bring up a triangle-shaped orange-colored shield to defend either herself or her friends, usually absorbing so much of her enemies' attacks that it near-instantly shatters almost immediately after.But in the second-to-last arc she developed the ability to absorb a blow and send it right back.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: When she first unleashes her powers, she turns the tables on what the attacking hollow thought was the victim (Orihime) and the protector (Tatsuki), killing the hollow in a single strike for daring to harm Tatsuki. Later on in the X Cution arc, Ginjo gets introduced the hard way to this side of her.
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Orihime: Sadistic? I don't mind you calling me that. If you don't want to get hurt... Don't attack me when I say not to."

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  • Break the Cutie: A massive plot point in the Arrancar Arc that led to a huge, but recoverable, Heroic BSOD. She was emotionally blackmailed into entering an Omnicidal Maniac's lair, received a brutal beating by two jealous Arrancar girls and had to watch Ichigo get beat up eight ways to Sunday by Ulquiorra.
  • Broken Ace: She's beautiful, an excellent student, popular at school, good at sports and karate and sewing, and quite friendly and kind. But she's also VERY broken inside from her brother's death, Abusive Parents, bullying, insecurities about her powers and her place in life/love, and is put through an extreme Break the Cutie process while held captive in Hueco Mundo. As such she has huge issues of self-worth that she hides behind a smile and her support of her friends. And it takes her a LOT to get better.
  • Broken Messiah: Her reaction when she realizes she's jealous of Rukia's closeness to Ichigo is this, which actually helps unleash the insecurities she had bottle inside for a while. She gets better with some help from Rangiku and Rukia herself.
  • Gray Eyes: Giving her the healer stereotype that goes with this eye trope, this is anime only as her eyes are brown in the manga.
  • Calling Your Attacks: "Santen Kesshun", "Sōten Kisshun", "Koten Zanshun", "Shiten Kōshun".
  • Catch Phrase: "I reject."
  • The Chick and The Heart of the Five-Man Band.
  • Childhood Friend: with Tatsuki.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: See main entry.
  • Combat Medic
  • Cute Clumsy Girl
  • Dangerously-Short Skirt: She's far from an Action Girl (until recently), but in the Shojo S opening theme, while dancing with Rukia, Orihime swings her skirt to the side, revealing part of her butt cheek.
  • Dead Older Brother: Poor, poor Sora.
  • Death by Falling Over: How she died or rather, was killed by her Hollowfied father, in the pilot.
  • Damsel in Distress: A Deconstruction of the trope. The Hueco Mundo arc is absolutely NOT shy about showing the tremendous emotional and physical strain it brings on a person forced in a hostage situation. It goes to the extreme of causing her an epic Heroic BSOD, since Ichigo and Ishida manage to reach for her, but It Gets Worse immediately afterwards - with Ichigo temporarily dead and Ishida badly injured. And before that she was thoroughly abused by various Arrancar, which brought her a huge mental toll. And she didn't get better until she was completely out of such a horrid environment.
  • Ditzy Genius: She may be distracted and a bit prone to accidents, but oddly, she makes the 3rd highest grades of the rest of her school peers.
  • Dogged Nice Girl: To a degree, though not half as much as her haters like to think she is.
  • Empathic Weapon: Taken to the extreme with six different characters personifying her powers. The two most like her (Shun-o: outgoing and friendly, Ayame: shy and sweet) are her strongest power, the Soten Kisshun. The one least like her (Tsubaki: agressive and bossy) is not only her attack power but easily her weakest. Only by using Tsubaki in combination with others (Hinagiku, Lily and Baigon) she can draw his attack potential... mirroring how Orihime must now fight alongside Ichigo and Chad if she wants to not stay behind..
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Chizuru. Need we say more?
  • Hair Decorations: Her hairpins. She temporarily stops wearing them after the timeskip, keeping them attached to her lapels instead; however, she puts them back on in the last arc.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: She starts wearing her bangs in the style of the above picture shortly before the Soul Society arc. She introduces a different one one after the Time-Skip.
  • Fan Service Pack: Her boobs grow even more after the Time Skip, and there's some more focus in her long legs after all.
    • Fully sealed in the last arc, where Urahara gives her a battle outfit that is VERY Stripperiffic.
  • Flower Motifs: Her hair clips; her clothes also have a lot of floral patterns, possibly to invoke an Innocent Flower Girl image.
  • Fighting From the Inside: Under Shu-Chan's power, she is one of the only ones questioning the memories implanted in her mind - she can't understand why she weeps when Ichigo hit his Heroic BSOD.
  • Genki Girl: Back in the old days of Bleach, she was energetic, which when added to her quirks, led fans and characters alike would think of her as weird or even crazy. After the end of her Break the Cutie ordeals, she's back to her old self.
  • Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She's a very nurturing and gentle Genki Girl, with Barrier Warrior and Healing Hands powers that she summons through her hairpins and her Fairy Companions. However, she also likes karate and robots, and she and her male friends read and comment on shonen manga. This offers quite the nice contrast with her two best friends, the bonafide Tomboy Tatsuki and the Tomboy with a Girly Streak Rukia.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: Orihime does try very hard, but never gets a chance to do much: some of her friends tell her to stay aside, and when they don't or fail her enemies overpower her or force her into a Sadistic Choice. Justified Trope in that her powers are largely based on resolve. Thus her offensive weapon is weak because she doesn't like to hurt people and her healing is reality-defying. And when she decides to fight, her protective shield becomes both offensive AND defensive.
  • Healing Hands:what she's best at.
  • Hello, Nurse!: She becomes extremely popular at school in the last arcs, to the point her beauty completely distracted Shishigawara and allowed her to "subdue" him without almost trying.
  • Heroic BSOD: Almost reaches the Despair Event Horizon when when Ichigo is killed and returns as a hollow. She gets better.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: "Being lonely... isn't nearly as bad as being in the way. If I'm just going to be a hindrance on Kurosaki-kun and everyone, then it's better to be lonely!"
  • Hidden Depths: Started out as a ditzy friend of Ichigo. Then the audience gets to see past the cute little smiles, especially once she reaches Hueco Mundo. Did we mention her power, yet?
  • I Kiss Your Hand: By Kon when he's in Ichigo's body.
  • Important Hair Accessory: Her hairpins, given to her by her brother on the day he died and which she vowed she'd never stop wearing. Cue the time-skip where she's now too old to wear them in her hair, but in keeping with her promise, continues to wear them... as lapel accessories. Until the last arc, where she puts them back on her hair.
  • Important Haircut: Inversion: She let her red hair grow as a signal of her friendship with Tatsuki, after keeping it short due to an incident involving a Traumatic Haircut.
  • Informed Ability: She's a karate black belt (yellow, in the anime dub), but only used those skills once off-screen.
  • Last-Name Basis: Addresses most people by their last names and vice-versa.
  • Longing Look: She has given Ichigo one on a couple of occasions.
  • MacGuffin Girl: How Aizen justifies her abduction. It was a decoy.
  • Madness Mantra: An internal example. "Kurosaki-kun...Kurosaki-kun...Kurosaki-kun...Kurosaki-kun...Kurosaki-kun...Kurosaki-kun...".
  • Major Injury Underreaction: Laughs off getting hit by a car since it was a recent occurrence for her.
  • Meaningful Name: Orihime is the name of the princess from the Tanabata legend.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Well, obviously. This is shonen after all. In a subversion, she's not the most fanservicy of the girls, and her wardrobe is relatively modest, except for her Zettai Ryouiki. Until Urahara fixes it - much to her embarrassment.
  • The Medic: Her other main mission, aside of being the local Barrier Warrior.
    • Healing Hands: By rejecting events up to resurrecting those whose body has been mostly eradicated.
    • Combat Medic: Is slowly developing into one of these. Full-blooded example in the Final Arc.
  • Neutral Female: At the beginning. While she does want to help, she's often shoved aside by her protective friends or gets sheepish in battle.
    • Took a Level in Badass: During the 17 months Ichigo lost his powers, she worked hard to improve herself. And almost at the end of the story, she has become so good at the Combat Medic gig, she she can tank the attacks of a God.
  • Never Got to Say Goodbye: To her brother and ward, Inoue Sora, who died right after their only serious fight.
  • The Nose Knows: She is shown early on (and ONLY once) to possess the ability to detect Ichigo by scent. However, scent is often how sensing reiatsu is described as manifesting (the shinigami often comment on smelling hollow reiatsu) as and therefore was probably nothing more than an early sign that she was developing reiatsu-sensing powers.
  • Personality Powers: An interesting example, in that her most powerful abilities are those related to defense and healing due to her pacifistic nature. While she is capable of using her power to attack, her lack of aggression reduces its effectiveness unless she combines the attack with her shield. Also the fact that her power manifests in the form of fairies is indicative of her Cloudcuckoolander nature.
  • Plucky Girl: After recovering from her HM/Arrancar arc traumas.
  • The Pollyanna: Started off as this, went through a destabilising period during the Arrancar Arc and later is back to being this again.
  • Reality Warper: Her powers are revealed to have this quality to them, by "Rejecting" things. Her healing shield can go so far as to undo death.
  • Blue Oni to Rukia's red.
  • Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: With Tatsuki and Rukia.
  • She's Back: Returns to her good old goofy self after the Time Skip.
  • Ship Tease: She's in love with Ichigo, he is extremely protective of her in return, and is on the receiving end of it from Chizuru.
  • Single-Target Sexuality: She's Ichigo-sexual.
  • Skilled but Naive: Orihime has martial arts ability. In fact, she has black-belt level skill. She also has a one-hit kill ability that could potentially be devastating. The snag is that she is too idealistic and soft-hearted to be able to function as a warrior. The end result is someone who struggles to possess the mentality for battle which affects her skills and power. She's been working on this REAL hard.
  • Sparkling Stream of Tears: Happens when she cannot bring herself to kiss an unconscious Ichigo.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: She does want to be helpful, but gets told off many times by almost everyone except for Rukia (who openly tells her that she's valuable in the group when she thinks she isn't) and Chad (who first tells Urahara that keeping Orihime behind isn't a good idea, and later is very receptive to the idea of her fighting alongside him and Ichigo). In the last arc, he finally gets to kick this trope aside and is able to join Ichigo, Chad and Ishida in their fights, and Ichigo ultimately trusts her abilities so much that he asks her to fight Yhwach with him.
  • Stepford Smiler: She used to hide her issues from the others.
  • Talking to the Dead: Has one last conversation with her brother after he tries to eat her as a Hollow.
  • Tender Tears: Cries a lot after the Soul Society arc. Not for a lack of a reason, though.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Buttered sweet potatoes! Donuts! Hot dogs!
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: With either Rukia, Tatsuki or Riruka.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After the timeskip.
  • Touched by Vorlons: She had power since she was born, but it was locked away and inaccessible until outside influences unlocked it: Ichigo and the Hougyoku
  • Winds of Destiny Change: The core of her powers. The command phrase for her powers is "I reject," as in fate.
  • Wingding Eyes
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Ichigo: How are you doing that? Your eyes look like 3s.

Tatsuki's thoughts: Orihime's really gotten better with her face gags.

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  • Yamato Nadeshiko: She takes up some YN traits around the Lost Agent arc. She does not exactly look the part (has reddish brown hair, is a bit shorter than normal and has quite large Gag Boobs) but does have the nurturing personality, Barrier Warrior skills, the devotion to her beloved and her friends, the Hime Cut, etc.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Starts wearing it after the Time Skip.

Yasutora "Chad" Sado[]

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"I don't believe that an absolute power really exists in any world. Power is unstable. It changes constantly. Small differences will always appear, as one has between you and I. So the one who widens that gap will be the winner!"

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Species: Human
Affiliation: Karakura High School / Xcution
Fullbring: Brazo Derecha de Gigante


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Yasutora "Chad" Sado

The big, stoic friend of Ichigo. Despite his big body, Chad never seemed to initiate a fight. But he has sufficient toughness that he survives being hit by a falling steel girder. Also have a love of cute things. Chad spends his free time by playing in a band (since he lives alone, this might also be a source of income). He develops a power - a mutated arm called Brazo Derecho del Gigante (Right Arm of the Giant), which serves as an attack before it was revealed that it was more suited for defense. Later, he develops the Brazo Izquierda del Diablo (Left Arm of the Devil), which is geared primarily for attacking. Unfortunately, he is also the constant victim of The Worf Effect. So despite getting new powers, it would seem that he really Can't Catch Up. Let's hope he does in the end.

Having finally appeared after timeskip, and his powers are revealed to in fact be a form of "Fullbring" related to his tattoos. He allies himself with the Fullbringer group named Xcution, who Ichigo has gone to to get his powers back.. In the Final Arc, he joins Ichigo in his quests again...

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Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (JP), Jamieson Price (US), Dan Osorio and Carlos Reynoso (Latin America), Oriol Rafel (Spain)

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  • Badass Baritone
  • Badass Normal: Before his powers manifested, he beat up a hollow by tearing a telephone pole out of the ground and beating it senseless. Bonus points because he couldn't actually see it, Rukia was telling him where to aim.
  • The Big Guy of the Five-Man Band.
    • Used to double as The Lancer back in the Soul Society arc, but he's been regulated to The Big Guy following every other arc.
  • Brown Eyes: Stable, trustworthy and down-to-earth, Sado is a leading example of this trope.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Half Mexican.
  • Calling Your Attacks: "El Directo", "La Muerte".
  • Can't Catch Up: Poor Chad has been hit by this stick hard.
  • Character Development: Has been given quite more spotlight in the X-Cution arc, alongside Orihime.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Almost all of his fights put him on the giving or receiving end of one of these, even right after Crowning Moments of Awesome.
  • Friendship Moment: How Chad became friends with Ichigo is very heartwarming, and the lengths Chad will go to to protect his friends is incredibly touching.
    • Also, Orihime doesn't forget to tell Ichigo that during the time he was depowered, both she and Chad did their best to get physically stronger and wait until he gets his powers back. Aaaaaaawwwww!
  • Gentle Giant: Very soft-spoken and loves cute things.
    • Genius Bruiser: Has rather good grades as well, and can make rather sharp observations about what happens around him.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Ichigo.
  • It Got Worse: It's starting to become a tradition in the series; the moment Chad loses a fight the story takes a darker turn.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Becomes this in the Hueco Mundo arc, not that it matters in the long run though since the poor guy often ends up as the series' Designated Jobber.
  • Made of Iron: Shrugged off getting hit by a falling steel beam. And this was before he got his powers.
  • Martial Pacifist
  • Out of Focus: Until the X-Cution arc.
  • Orphan's Plot Trinket: A Mexican coin that his "Abuelo" Oscar gave him, and he outfitted as a necklace.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: The Soul Reapers typically take center stage, so much of Chad's Badass Decay can be contributed to this.
  • Peek-a-Bangs <-> Blinding Bangs
  • Perma-Stubble: Has acquired a nice goatee recently.
  • Platonic Life Partners: Him and Orihime.
  • Power Fist: A good part of his powers manifest through this.
  • The Quiet One: Even his Sweat Drop is subdued.
  • Raised by Grandparents: Toyed with. His parents died when he was a little boy, so he spent a good part of his life under the watch of a Mexican Cool Old Guy named Oscar Joaquin de la Rosa, whom he referred to as "abuelo" (Spanish for "grandfather"). It's not fully known if the "Abuelo" was his real grandpa or just a distant relative/family friend, but Chad considered him as his gramps for all that was worth.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Proud user and wearer of a pink Hawaiian shirt.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Has traits of both types; he's Manly Man to Ishida and Sensitive Guy to Ichigo.
  • Shipper on Deck: From the X-Cution arc onwards, he seems to like the idea of Orihime and Ichigo being together...
  • Tall, Dark and Handsome: Maybe not in the stereotypical pretty boy way, but he does have his dedicated fangirls.
  • Touched by Vorlons: He had power since he was born, but it was locked away and inaccessible until outside influences unlocked it. Ichigo and the Hougyoku Later on, it's explained that his power comes from one of his parents being attacked by a hollow and the residue of that attack being passed on to him via his mother before he was born. This is the explanation for Fullbring and Ginjou convinced Sado his ability is Fullbring, even though Sado himself has speculated that his power may differ in certain ways to Fullbring.
  • The Worf Effect: In Soul Society, he plows through dozens of Soul Reapers just to get one-shotted by Shunsui. While in Hueco Mundo, he gets pulverized by Nnoitra almost immediately after declaring that he's now strong enough to protect his friends.
  • Younger Than They Look: ... He's the same age as Ichigo. REALLY, HE IS.


Uryu Ishida[]

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"I am calm. That's why I can fight you!"

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Species: Human / Quincy
Affiliation: Karakura High School
Quincy Bow: Ginrei Kojaku


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Uryu Ishida

A member of the Quincy, a race of warrior archers. Uryu holds quite a dislike towards Soul Reapers, but eventually he's not above helping his Soul Reaper friend Ichigo, though he never fails to mention that they're not friends and he only helps for his own reasons that nevertheless happen to overlap with Ichigo's. He's also academically gifted and makes sewing look completely awesome.

Currently helping take care of any hollows that enter Karakura. Until he's injured by Ginjo (not Tsukishima, as Ichigo initially thought). He spends a while in the hospital, but after being healed he aids Ichigo to fight Ginjou. In the Final Arc, he at first aids Ichigo, Orihime and Chad to fight Hollows, but is unable to join them in their upcoming quest to Hueco Mundo; later it's explained that he has his own deals with the Vandenreich and especially their leader, Yhwach.

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Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama (JP), Derek Stephen Prince (US), Victor Ugarte and Armando Guerrero (Latin America), Óscar Muñoz (Spain)

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  • Abnormal Ammo: Ishida's battle against Cirucci Sanderwicci in Hueco Mundo took this one, applied Rule of Cool, and made an arrow made of a chainsaw lightsaber.
  • Aloof Ally: And he keeps insisting on being this even after having been through hell and back to help his friends... sorry, his not-friends.
  • The Archer: Like all the Quincys. Ishida really lives up to this trope's Weapon of Choice facets, being tall and thin, cerebral and aloof, etc. Really, all he needs are pointy ears.
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV -> Type III
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: With Ichigo when they fought off a mob of Hollows.
  • Badass Bookworm
  • Bad Liar: He's not out in the middle of the night because he wants to help Rukia, he's just on the way home from the 24-hour crafts store. And he totally didn't grab that bag at home so he'd have an excuse. Not at all.
    • It's even lampshaded when he tells the teacher that his injuries (actually from trying to save Ichigo) are from falling down the stairs. The entire class thinks "What a lousy liar!" and "Who on earth would believe that?"
  • Bishounen
  • Beam Spam/Rain of Arrows: Seriously, firing up to 1,200 shots in a second? Now THAT's something.
  • Berserk Button: Comparing him to or mistaking him for Ichigo in any way. More seriously, Mayuri pressed a major button when he revealed to Uryuu how he had tortured and experimented on his grandfather.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: His bio quote comes from a short exchange with Ulquiorra, who is shocked at the ferocity of Ishida's attacks as he defends Ichigo and Orihime.
  • Bow and Sword in Accord: Uryu does have a melee option. He just doesn't use it often... and even then he has the option of firing it.
  • Bullet-Proof Fashion Plate
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Scores incredibly high in tests. Is a badass example of The Archer. Is very eccentric but some of his quirks border on Fridge Brilliance. Particularly his dislike for buttons.
  • The Chew Toy: Prone to getting some harsh abuse piled on him, both comedic and otherwise.
  • Chainsaw Good: Laser Chainsaw even better.
  • The Comically Serious
  • Crazy Prepared: He carries extra costumes around in case one gets damaged.
  • Creepy Cool Crosses: Many Quincy materials have these
  • Cruel Mercy: Danced around. After he "befriended" Ichigo, he refused to kill some of his opponents, satisfied in depriving them of their powers. He even offered Mayuri to stay alive, if he apologized for his deeds.
  • Cut Himself Shaving: His excuses for turning up in class with bandages/sling are often flimsy, and often lampshaded. Not that the teacher cares.
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: His desperation technique in the Soul Society arc makes him incredibly powerful, but at the cost of his Quincy powers.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Attemps this on Ichigo early in the series. Ichigo's response is more or less to tell him to shut his face.
  • Dysfunctional Family: He has a Missing Mom, his grandpa died in a really ugly way, no one knows what happened to his grandmother, and he and his father don't get along for a long time, to say the least.
  • Energy Bow: His signature weapon is a pure energy bow of the type where both bow and arrows are made of reishi.
  • Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: Repeatedly when he uses Seele Schneider. Thankfully, it's not nearly as much as Izuru Kira.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: During Quincy Final Form, his clothing changes into a quincy uniform on the right side of his body and shinigami on the left side. After the time-skip, his fringe is arranged asymmetrically to fall long on the right side of his face.
  • Face Heel Turn: At some point, there's a very tangible possibility that Ishida could pull one... It's in the last arc - he disappears for quite a while, and when he returns, he has seemingly joined the Vandenreich and becomes the Big Bad Yhwach's heir. To no reader's shock, he's actually a Reverse Mole.
  • Foil: As a Quincy, he's Ichigo's opposite in nearly every way. His power draining Quincy Final Form even ended up foreshadowing Ichigo's similar Final Getsuga Tenshou and his powerlessness afterwards.
  • Freudian Excuse: Doesn't hate the Soul Reaper until he thinks they let his grandfather die. It turns out to be more complicated.
    • Later, it's revealed that his mother, Kanae, was killed in The Purge by Yhwach. Then, he saw Ryuuken performing the autopsy on her lifeless body. Then, Ryuuken tried to keep him from becoming a Quincy. . .
  • Gratuitous German: Some of the more advanced Quincy techniques fall into this.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: Ulquiorra even lampshaded Ishida's calm, aloof personality by observing he would never have expected Ishida to lose his cool in battle. Ishida simply retorts - quite calmly - that he hasn't lost his cool and that's precisely the reason why he's attacking.
  • James Bondage: In the Bount arc.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Very chivalrous and generally well mannered, has a weak spot for women: his best friend Orihime and Yoshino from the Bount arc, also tried to protect Rukia when she was powerless, got pissed off at Mayuri for abusing Nemu even before he knew who Mayuri was, and he even spared the life of his female opponent Cirucci, mercy he doesn't show to others of her kind. Contrary to his popular image, he is also one of the most capable leading characters in the series, having fought tough opponents and held his own against enemies far stronger than himself. The Quincy, people of whom he is supposedly Last of His Kind also had a medieval Christian knight theme given to them by the author.
    • Stood up to Ulquiorra and kept attacking, even when he lost a hand, unfazed. Ulquiorra himself was rather surprised.
  • The Lancer: Fits the traditional concept, even up to implications of a Face Heel Turn.
  • Large Ham: Whenever he tries to act cool. "Tell Aizen that a Quincy has come! For the one you truly have to fear is not a Shinigami, but a Quincy!"
  • Last of His Kind: Uryuu, and most of his friends, believe he's this.
  • Longing Look: Towards Orihime, from time to time, which leads fans to believe that he might have a crush on her. It's not fully clear.
  • Major Injury Underreaction: Having his hand lopped off by Ulquiorra (just badly burnt and broken in the anime, but still looks gruesome), and later being impaled by Hollow Ichigo gets nary a whimper out of him.
  • Man in White: Like all Quincies.
  • Medium Awareness: During the fight against Szayel-Aporro Grantz, Pessche does something that makes him wonder if it's okay for them to air. After the fight, Kurotsuchi does something off-screen, and Ishida claims it was something they definitely couldn't air.
  • Missing Mom: Originally his mother was not even mentioned. She got one brief appearance in the Bount arc, but all we find out is that she had a sad look. Later, however, the Whole-Episode Flashback in the last arc brings her to the spotlight - her name was Kanae Katagiri, she was murdered by Yhwach, and her death is one of the reasons why he and Ryuuken are distanced.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: Sewing has never been so awesome.
  • One-Winged Angel: His desperation technique in the Soul Society arc literally looks like it gives him a single, glowing wing. That is, until you remember the archer motif and realize that it's not a wing, it's a freaking quiver. A realization that increases the HSQ by a factor of 10.
  • Out of Focus: A lot of the time, but he's made comebacks every time he's returned, particularly by tagteaming with Ichigo against Ginjo.
  • Parental Abandonment: He's estranged from his father to the point that he doesn't even call him "father", and as said above his mother died quite a while ago.
  • People Puppets: Somewhat uniquely, he has the ability to do this to himself. When Mayuri's shikai paralyses his limbs, he uses a quincy technique called Ransoutengai to allow his limbs to keep functioning in a manner that's described in-universe and being akin to how a puppeteer controls a puppet.
  • The Proud Elite: He is the last Quincy, the number one student in his class, and very proud of both. That pride plus his unwillingness to appear soft can make him difficult to get along with, and although he often pretends he cares little for the rest of his group, he has always come through for them.
  • The Rival: Has the dubious honor of having been Ichigo's first rival, but they've never fought directly.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Does this quite often.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to either Ichigo or Renji, depending on the fight.
  • The Smart Guy of the Five-Man Band.
    • Doubles as The Lancer, especially once Ginjo betrays Ichigo.
  • The Southpaw: He uses his left hand for sewing and drawing his bow.
  • So Last Season: He does seem to upgrade his bows regularly.
  • Specs of Awesome
  • Stoic Spectacles
  • Strong Family Resemblance: He looks near exactly like his father Ryuuken, but with the mannerisms and the dark hair of his mother Kanae.
  • Student Council President: After the Time Skip.
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky
  • Tsundere: Sort of. It's not like he wants to help Soul Reapers, he just wants to defeat Ichigo later, or he's just passing through, or he wants to restore his honor as a Quincy, or they just happen to have the same goal... and of course they're not friends. Never forget that. Nope, Orihime, don't tell him that he and Ichigo are best friends... or better do so, since he looks so hilariously flustered.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Subverted because the fandom doesn't hate Ishida for what happened: Ishida chose to use hollow bait to attract hollows for a contest between himself and Ichigo. Unfortunately, as a result of those actions, an excessive amount of powerful hollows turned up, including a menos grande which allowed Soul Society to locate the missing Rukia, kick-starting the Soul Society arc. This is causes Ishida consternation as the tiny amount of bait he used should never have caused such consequences. Aizen was responsible. He took advantage of Ishida's contest to set up a Secret Test of Character for Ichigo and was actually the one who kick-started the Soul Society arc.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He was already pretty unhappy before his grandfather died, but after that everything went downhill.
  • Vibroweapon: Seele Schneider is this.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Most of his interactions with Ichigo consist of them snarking at each other, though by now it seems they're just doing it out of habit. Hilariously lampshaded by Orihime.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: One of little Uryu's motivations for getting stronger was to have his aloof father acknowledge that he's doing the right thing.
  • The Worf Barrage: His Sprenger has yet to completely defeat an opponent despite seeming very powerful with the exception of the Captain Amagai filler arc where it basically disintegrates his opppnent and his weapon.
    • Also, Licht Regen does virtually nothing to Ulquiorra. Justified as Ulquiorra's a tank personified. And, in a way, Uryu knew what he was getting into.
    • Subverted in the Fullbringer arc which appeared to have him be a victim of The Worf Effect but which set him up to assist Ichigo in his final fight against the Arc Villain.
  • You Killed My Grandfather: To Mayuri. He never really managed to avenge his grandfather, though, and it's not likely he ever will, thanks to Mayuri being a Karma Houdini par excellence.
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