Bleach
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Revision as of 16:19, 15 November 2006
Bleach
Bleach (ブリーチ, Buriichi) is a widely popular anime and manga series created by manga-ka Kubo Tite. Originally produced in manga form, the series has been ongoing since August of 2001, now containing 24 published volumes consisting of the first 214 chapters, with 251 chapters having been published in the Japanese additions of the Shounen Jump Weekly magazine.
The series began airing in anime form on October 5, 2004, and has since reached 102 episodes produced by Studio Pierrot, airing on the television channel Tokyo TV.
Bleach follows the life of high school student Kurosaki Ichigo, who has the ability to see spirits. Ichigo's life is dramatically changed with the introduction of Kuchiki Rukia, a Shinigami (or "Death God"), who enters Kurosaki's bedroom to send a spirit to Soul Society, a world where good souls are send after death. Surprised by Ichigo's ability to see her, she explains to Ichigo that her job as a Shinigami is to send good souls, "pluses", to Soul Society, and to vanquish evil souls, "Hollows".
Soon after, a Hollow appears at Ichigo's home and begins a rampage. Rukia does not notice the Hollow at first, but it is soon brought to her attention that Ichigo's abnormally larger Reiatsu, spiritual power, had blinded her senses. A confrontation ensues, resulting in a series injury on the part of Rukia. With Ichigo's family in danger, she offers to give Ichigo a small portion of her Shinigami powers by impaling him with her zanpakutou, a spiritual sword. But as a result, her powers become infused within Ichigo, resulting in him taking the vast majority of her power. Ichigo then appears in Shinigami garb with a very large zanpakutou and slays the Hollow.
Contents |
Primary Characters
Bleach consists of a large amount of characters. This list contain primary characters who have played an important role throughout the series. Shinigami, Hollows, Arrancar, and Vizard characters will be listed under their respective catagories.
Races
Shinigami
Shinigami are the souls of the dead who have high reiatsu, and have passed on to Soul Society. Shinigami are physically stronger, more agile, and age slower than normal humans. This is partially due to their ability to manipulate their own reiatsu. Typical Shinigami garb consists of a large, black kimono, with a white belt, white under clothing, and straw sandels. Each Shinigami also wears a zanpakutou, the shape and size of which depends solely on the reiatsu of the individual Shinigami. Aside from using the zanpakutou as a weapon, Shinigami also have the use of Kido(demon arts), which are a style of spiritual combat using reiatsu as the primary weapon. A list of Shinigami from the series can be found here:List of Shinigami.
Hollows
Hollows are hunted by Shinigami in order to protect the living and the "plus" souls of the dead. When a Hollow is defeated, the soul of the Hollow becomes a "plus", and is then sent to Soul Society.
The only way for a Shinigami to defeat a Hollow is to deliver a blow to the head using a zanpakutou or kido that is strong enough to break through the mask.
Quincey
The Quincey are a race of humans who have gained spiritual power in order to combat and kill Hollows. They lived in the Material World, amongst other people. The clan was large in number originally, but dwindles in the storyline of Bleach.
History
200 years before the storyline of Bleach, a war broke out between the Shinigami and the Quincey, spurred by the unbalance caused by the Quincey when they would actually kill the Hollow, soul and all. Shinigami would kill the Hollow, purifying its soul, and then send it to Soul Society. Quincey on the other hand, would destroy the soul, creating an unbalance between the world of the living and the world of the dead. As such, the Shinigami began to hunt down and kill the Quincey in order to regain the stability of the spiritual world. As a result, the Quincey were nearly wiped out.
Weaponry
The primary weapon of the Quincey is a bow of reiatsu, which fires arrows of the reiatsu. The stronger the reiatsu, the stronger the arrows which are fired. It is also possible to fire multiple arrows at once. The over-use of this ability will often lead to bruised and blistered fingers.
The Quincey can also strengthen their attacks using Quincey Gloves, white gloves with a blue cross and metal tab on them. The tap, if broken, releases all of the Quincey's reiatsu at once, generating an enormous strength for a short period of time. The side effect of this however, is the loss of Quincey powers.
Another tool of the Quincey is the Quincey Cross, a pendant which resembles an asterisk. This pendant creates a bow which appears almost to be a spider's web, and releases devastating attacks.
The Quincey also use a coin which, when broken, acts as bait for Hollows, causing massive amounts of Hollows to appear at once at a specific location. If enough Hollows gather, Menos Grande will appear due to the level of reiatsu produced.
Known Quincey
The only known Quincey in the series are Uryuu Ishida, and his father Ryuken Ishida. Ryuken, though having Quincey powers, does not recognize himself as a Quincey, as such, Uryuu is referred to as "the last Quincey".
Arrancar
Arrancar are the creations of Sousuke Aizen, a former captain of the Gotei 13. Using the Hougyoku, Aizen has gone to Hueco Mundo, the home world of Hollows, and begun using it to give Shinigami powers to Hollows. These Arrancar are not 50/50, but are considered to be about 60% Hollow, 40% Shinigami.
The difference between Hollows and Arrancar is great. Arrancar shed off a large portion of their mask, leaving only a segmented part of it. They take on a human form, as well as gain a zanpakutou, a symbol of the Shinigami powers they have obtained. Also, the hole that Hollows have in their chest moves to another part of the body, such as the throat or abdominal area. Arrancar are much more intelligent than their pure-blooded counterparts, and in all aspects think like a normal human. The power of the Arrancar is also greatly above that of a Hollow, though the power gaps amongst the Arrancar themselves are also very large.
Espada
The "Espada" are the top ten strongest Arrancar who serve directly under Sousuke Aizen, Kaname Tousen, and Ichimaru Gin. The Espada are incredibly stong, the 6th of which has beated Kurosaki Ichigo once, and fought on an equal level with him the second time around. Ulqiorra, believed to be the 2nd Espada, has gone so far as to call Ichigo "trash", though believes if Ichigo were to go berserk (i.e. "The Horse" gaining control), Ichigo may be stronger than him.
Here is a List of Arrancar.
Vizards
Vizards are the anti-thesis of Arrancar. They are former Shinigami who have gained Hollow powers, a crime in Soul Society punishable by death. As such, they have fled from persecution to the Material World. They too are not a 50/50 crossbreed, but are guessed to be 60% Shinigami, 40% Hollow.
The distinguishing features are a Hollow's mask which can appear at the whim of the Vizard. They also have a zanpakutou, but the only Vizard to ever release their zanpakutou into its ShiKai or BanKai form has been Kurosaki Ichigo.
Vizards also have the ability to manipulate the power of the Hollow living inside of them, though they must suppress it at all times or it will take over, such as "The Horse", in the case of Ichigo Kurosaki. Depending on how trained the Vizard is, they can stay in this Hollow-manipulative form for a longer period of time.
The Vizards have been living in the Material World for some time, but have only made their presence known to the audience after Ichigo & Co. made their return from Soul Society. Little is known about their motives other than that they consider themselves to be enemies of Shinigami.
Zanpakutou
The zanpakutou is the standard weapon seen in use by most characters of Bleach, with the exception of human characters and Hollows.
A zanpakutou, in its initial form, is merely a katana, with its length and tsuba shape dependant on the reiatsu of the user. A zanpakutou in this state has no special abilities to it. Here is the List of zanpakutou.
ShiKai
ShiKai, or "initial release", is the form a zanpakutou takes once it reveals its name to its wielder. Each zanpakutou has its own name and releasing command, a word or phrase used to release the zanpakutou to ShiKai form.
ShiKai, in addition to a change in appearance, also gain abilities which may be physical or reiatsu-based. A physical ShiKai ability would be Abarai Renji's Zabimaru's ability to extend the blade in the same manner as a bow-staff. A reiatsu-based ability would be Kurosaki Ichigo's Zangetsu's Getsuga Tenshou, a blast of dense reiatsu unleashed by swinging the blade or firing it similar to a gun.
Arrancar ShiKai
The Arrancar ShiKai is far more intricate than the Shinigami ShiKai. Rather than changing into a different form of sword, it becomes bodily armor with offensive features. This is most likely a result of the Hollow which makes up the majority of the Arrancar's reiatsu.
BanKai
BanKai, or "secondary release", is the form after ShiKai, which usually takes upwards of ten years of training to obtain and master. BanKai have incredible power, and are more than often very large in size. This size is in relation to the amount of reiatsu used to release the form. The only exception to this in the series has been that of Kurosaki Ichigo. BanKai is a technique difficult to master, but in return, delivers devastating results.
Kido
Kido is a form of combat used by Shinigami. The basis of kido is to condense reiatsu into a physical form such that it may be used as an attack. Kido is basic knowledge of shinigami, and is one of the first arts to be practice during a soul's training to become a shinigami. Here is a List of Kido.
Story Arcs
Bleach is an on-going series, and as such, this will be updated weekly or bi-weekly.
Hollow Arc
The Hollow Arc is comprised of the first 21 episodes of the anime. It begins with Kurosaki Ichigo receiving Shinigami powers from Kuchiki Rukia. This is the introductory arc for Bleach, which introduces key characters and terms to the viewer.
During this arc, Ichigo spends ost of his time purifying Hollows under the guide of Rukia who has lost her Shinigami powers. Ichigo originally does not wish to assist her, but after Rukia shows Ichigo a Hollow attacking the spirit of a small boy, he steps in and agrees to assist her, stating that he will not simply ignore someone in trouble right in front of him. He decides to do it out of his own accord, not out of any duty.
By means to take care of Ichigo's body as he enters Shinigami form, Rukia goes to the shop of Kisuke Urahara and orders a tube of artificial souls which possess Ichigo's body when he swallows it, forcing his Shinigami form out. She is mistakenly given the wrong package, which contains a Mod Soul, a soul created by Shinigami to inhabit the bodies of the dead, a tactic similar to guerrilla warfare. Do to ethics, the shinigami ordered all Mod Souls to be killed, but several were never found. The Mod Soul obtained by Rukia takes control of Ichigo's body, and goes on a rampage, only to be suppressed by Ichigo, and forced into a stuffed lion doll. This Mod, named Kon, becomes Ichigo's permanent body transering companion.
Several episodes later, the Kurosaki goes to a cemetery on the anniversary of their mother's death. Ichigo becomes very angered when Rukia begins to question whether or now a Hollow killed his mother. Ichigo bursts out that it was he who had killed his mother, though she had died attempting to protect him. Ichigo, then a child, had seen a young girl he believed was falling into a fast-moving river, and ran over to help her. He ran over some train tracks as he moved toward her, just as a train was coming. Ichigo's mother jumped and saved Ichigo, only to be struck by the train. out of the flashback, a Shinigami approaches Rukia about her being a criminal, now that she has given her Shinigami powers to a human. Ichigo and the Shinigami begin to fight as Hollow begins to attack Ichigo's sisters, using them as bait to lure out Ichigo. Both Ichigo and the Shinigami attack the Hollow. During the fight, it is revealed that this Hollow goes by the name Grand Fisher, and has been a target of Soul Society for over 50 years. It is also revealed that Grand Fisher was in fact the Hollow who had killed Ichigo's mother. Ichigo, having been being beaten for most of the fight, delivered a blow to Grand Fisher, and he feld.
Early on, we are introduced to Inoue Orihime as a classmate of Ichigo's, but she is brought into focus as her deceased brother reappears as a Hollow, mistakenly believing Orihime has forgotten about him, and begins to harm her, and then attempt to kill her. Ichigo comes in at the last moment to rescue Orihime, at which time we find out that she has the ability to see Ichigo in spirit form, and Arisawa Tatsuki has some ability to see him.
Next we are introduced to Sado, who has come into possession of a cockatoo possessed by the spirit of a boy who was murdered. A Hollow stalks the bird, and Sado guards it with his better than average strength, and near indestructibility. Rukia originally tries to take on the Hollow alone, using Kido, but Ichigo steps in and takes care of it. Ichigo has also had passed experiences with Sado, helping him out with some thugs who had been causing him trouble not too long before the start of the series.
Another character, Uryuu Ishida, is then introduced, approaching Ichigo stating that he is an enemy of Shinigami. As things turn out, he is a Quincey, who carries much scorn for Shinigami for having wiped out his people. Ishida decides to have a contest with Ichigo, breaking a coin which baits Hollows. The one to kill the most Hollows would be the winner. The situation gets out of hand the two rivals paired up to take down the Hollows. At this point, a Menos Grande tears through the sky, which Ichigo forces into retreat with a large slash of reiatsu from him zanpakutou.
Soon after, Rukia runs away late one night, leaving a not for Ichigo not to follow her. She is then seen walking down a street, cornered by Abarai Renji and her brother, Kuchiki Byakuya. The two tell her that she has commited the crime of giving her Shinigami powers to a human, and is sentenced to death in Soul Society. Abarai Renji attacks Rukia, which she avoids, though she knows he let her avoid it. Ishida then shows up, firing a reiatsu arrow at Renji, and attempts to protect Rukia. He is quickly subdued. Ichigo then shows up and makes his attempt to save Rukia. He fights with Renji, only to have a massive wound inflicted on his shoulder. He has what appears to be an adrenaline rush, and begins to lay waste to Renji, as Byakuya steps in at a speed undetectable by Ichigo, breaks his zanpakutou in two, and stabs him twice in the chest. Ichigo laid on the ground, slowly dying, as Rukia left with Renji and Byakuya back to Soul Society.
Ichigo was saved by Kisuke Urahara, and awakes in his shop. Urahara trains Ichigo for several days. The primary test was for Ichigo to be thrown into a pit where he had to climb out before he became a Hollow and Urahara would kill him. Ichigo, in the deep reaches of his mind, spoke with his zanpakutou in human form, and at the last moment, was about to get out of the hole. As he stood outside the hole, he wore Shinigami clothing, but had a Hollow mask over his face. He tore off the mask as though everything was okay. The second test was for him to strike Urahara's hat during a fight, but Ichigo's zanpakutou was still just a handle. He then remembered the name that his zanpakutou had told him, and awoke the ShiKai form of his zanpakutou, Zangetsu. Ichigo proceeded to pass this test. During this time, Urahara had also had his cat Yoruichi train with Sado, Orihime, and Ishida.
Soon after, the group would depart for Soul Society to save Rukia.
