Bleach Summary

Kurosaki Ichigo is a 15 year old boy that has an ability to see ghosts/spirits. Because of his ability, he is able to meet a female death god (a.k.a Shinigami) named Kuchiki Rukia. To save his family and friends from unwanted soul-eating spirits (Hollows), Rukia transfers her Shinigami powers to Ichigo. As Rukia takes on a human shell, together they solve mysteries involving spirits and hollows until from the spirit world comes 2 other Shinigamis explaining that it is illegal to transfer Shinigami powers to humans and Rukia exceeded the time limit to stay in the human world. After they sentence her death for breaking the laws, Ichigo snaps and swears to everyone he will retrieve Rukia by breaking into the spirit world.

Below are the primary characters in Bleach

Ichigo Kurosaki (Kurosaki Ichigo) is the primary protagonist of Bleach. An orange-haired high school student, Ichigo becomes a "substitute Shinigami (Soul Reaper)" after unintentionally absorbing most of Rukia's powers. His cynical nature at first makes him ill-disposed towards the duty, but, with the passage of time, he accepts and welcomes the strength his Soul Reaper powers give him.

Rukia Kuchiki (Kuchiki Rukia) is a Soul Reaper who is assigned hollow extermination duties in Ichigo's hometown (Karakura Town). Though her physical appearance is that of a teenage girl, in reality she is ten times older than Ichigo. At the opening of the story, Rukia is forced to transfer her powers to Ichigo and assume a temporary lifestyle as a regular human. She registers at the local high school and takes up residence in Ichigo's closet, while teaching him how to be a substitute Soul Reaper in her place.

Orihime Inoue (Inoue Orihime) is a long-time classmate of Ichigo Kurosaki who gains a crush on him later on in the series, linked to him by mutual friend Tatsuki Arisawa. She is effectively an orphan, as when she was 3, her older brother Sora left their abusive parents' home with Orihime and raised her on his own . Later on, when Orihime was in middle school, he died in an accident. Though initially devoid of spiritual powers, she develops spiritual awareness early in the plot and later obtains the God-like ability to warp reality through rejecting past phenomena.

Yasutora Sado (Sado Yasutora), better known as Chad (Chado), is one of Ichigo's friends at school. He is a biracial Japanese/Mexican student who towers over his classmates. Chad has wavy brown hair and is 6 feet 5 inches. Despite his imposing appearance he is quite meek, and refuses to fight unless it is for the sake of another. Chad does not have awareness of ghosts at first, but this changes when he attempts to protect Ichigo's sister, Karin,and her friends from a hollow. He discovers a unique ability that strengthens and armors his right arm, enabling him to fight hollows. He later develops the ability to shoot from his armored arm and also discovers that his left arm holds powerful offensive abilities.

Uryū Ishida (Ishida Uryū) is a Quincy, descendant of a line of priest-like hollow-hunting archers who were historical enemies of the Soul Reapers. He bears a deep grudge against all Soul Reapers, including Ichigo and is an early antagonist in the series. He comes to view Ichigo differently over time, however, eventually becoming a valuable ally and friendly rival.