Characters

All Bleach characters are "souls". Living humans contain souls within their bodies, while disembodied souls, or spirits, have a form composed of particles of spiritual energy called ectoplasm (霊子, reishi?), which otherwise mimics human anatomy, aside from slowed aging. This form encompasses all of the spirit's being; there is no distinction between spirit and body. There are a variety of different types of spirits in Bleach, each with a different visual theme and approach to combat.

In addition to being a world of several species with supernatural ability, Bleach also has a great variety of characters, personalities, as well as power. At the beginning, the story focused largely on Ichigo and his beginnings as a soul reaper in his hometown of Karakura. Later on, the story centered around not only on Ichigo and his friends, but also a myriad of shinigami. Unlike the modern description of a "death god," the shinigami in Bleach have very eccentric characters with such variety that are only matched on how each of them look. Most of them play significant roles in Ichigo's quest to protect his loved ones and friends as well as providing motives for Ichigo's increasing power to truly live up to the meaning of his name: "the one who protects."

Main characters:

Ichigo Kurosaki (黒崎 一護inuyasa momochi Morita, Johnny Yong Bosch?)
The primary protagonist of Bleach, the orange haired high school junior Ichigo Kurosaki is forced to become a substitute shinigami after unwittingly 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 comes to accept and welcome it, recognizing that even if he is not able to save everyone, he can at least use his skills to protect those close to him.

Rukia Kuchiki (朽木 ルキア, Kuchiki Rukia?) Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese), Michelle Ruff (English)
Rukia Kuchiki is a cool-tempered shinigami who was sent on a hollow extermination patrol in Ichigo's hometown. Though her physical appearance is that of a teenage girl, in reality she is around 150 years old. Rukia is forced to transfer her power 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 shinigami in her place.

Orihime Inoue (井上 織姫, Inoue Orihime?) Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (English)
Orihime Inoue is a long-time classmate of Ichigo, closely linked to him by mutual friend Tatsuki Arisawa. She is effectively an orphan, as she and her elder brother Sora ran away from their abusive home at a young age, and her brother later died. Though initially devoid of spiritual powers, she begins to develop spiritual awareness and later obtains one of the most powerful healing abilities in the Bleach universe, able to completely restore a body to its previous state regardless of how severely it is wounded.

Yasutora "Chad" Sado (茶渡 泰虎, Sado Yasutora?) Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (Japanese), Jamieson Price (English)
Yasutora Sado, better known as Chad, is one of Ichigo's few friends at school. He is a biracial (Japanese/Mexican) student who towers over his classmates. Despite his imposing appearance he is quite meek, and refuses to fight unless it is for the sake of another. He does not have awareness of ghosts at first, but this changes when he witnesses a group of children being attacked by a hollow. He discovers a unique ability that strengthens and armors one of his arms, enabling him to fight hollows. He later develops the ability to shoot energy from his armored arm.

Kisuke Urahara (浦原 喜助, Urahara Kisuke?) Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (Japanese), Michael Lindsay (English)
A mysterious and cheery man characterized by his hat that shadows his eyes and the geta (wooden sandals) he wears, Kisuke Urahara runs the Urahara Shop, a candy store that also sells supernatural items to shinigami. Despite his sanguine nature he is one of the most significant figures in the Bleach universe, bearing immense knowledge of the spiritual realms which he uses to mastermind the operations of the protagonists.

Uryū Ishida (石田 雨竜, Ishida Uryū?) Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama (Japanese), Derek Stephen Prince (English)
Though on the surface nothing more than the solitary class genius, Uryū Ishida is actually a Quincy, descendant of a line of priest-like hollow-hunting archers. He bears a deep grudge against all shinigami, including Ichigo, but comes to view Ichigo differently over time, eventually becoming an ally and friendly rival.

Renji Abarai (阿散井 恋次, Abarai Renji?) Voiced by: Kentarō Itō (Japanese), Wally Wingert (English)
Renji Abarai is an elite shinigami bearing the rank of 6th Division lieutenant, making him second in command of a sub-branch of the shinigami armed forces. Although first introduced as a deadly enemy, he has conflicting loyalties between his duties and Rukia, with whom he grew up. A rash and driven man, he holds both a deep respect and animosity towards his immediate superior, 6th Division captain Byakuya Kuchiki.

Shinigami:

Below is a list of Soul Society dwellers, some of whom may be shinigami, even though this information is not confirmed.

* Kūkaku Shiba (志波 空鶴, Shiba Kūkaku?) - Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (Japanese), Jessica Straus (English)

Kūkaku (Born October 1) is an ill-tempered fireworks expert who is particularly known for her ridiculously-themed houses and large breasts. During the Bount arc of the anime, she states that she is the same age as Kisuke Urahara. She wears a prosthetic right arm in the anime, which is at odds with her scenes in the manga, where she is illustrated with just a stump. She assists Ichigo and company by launching them via her special Kakaku Cannon so they can enter Seireitei. Kūkaku is part of the former noble clan Shiba. Prior to the storyline, a hollow fused with her older brother Kaien, which forced Rukia Kuchiki to kill him. She does not seem to be a shinigami, but she knows high level kidō, and she carries a short-bladed sword on her back.

* Ganju Shiba (志波 岩鷲, Shiba Ganju?) - Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Kyle Hebert (English)

An outrageous figure, Ganju wears a vest, scarf, bandana, and pair of goggles. He is often found with his gang, who all ride large boars. Ganju's boar is named Bonnie (affectionately referred to as Bonnie-chan). The omake sketch after episode 114 implies that Bonnie was accidentally cooked into a stew by Retsu Unohana during a friendly cookout including her, Ganju, and a few others from the 4th Division. Similar sketches have occurred in the series, but Bonnie is always shown alive and well by the next episode. Ganju possesses a deep hatred for shinigami, a hot temper, and a strong ego. Though he always acts tough, he has shown that he also has a softer side, easily being cowed by his older sister Kūkaku, and later develops an understanding to Ichigo Kurosaki with a relationship similar to Ichigo and Renji Abarai's. The fact that he is not particularly attractive is a running joke in the series, and rather than deny this fact he tends to talk around the subject, especially when Yumichika Ayasegawa makes note of it.

Because of his brother's, Kaien Shiba, death at the hands of Rukia Kuchiki when he was still young, Ganju holds a grudge against all shinigami. This grudge is slow to dissipate even after he learns the truth of the incident. It is implied that after Kaien and his wife Miyako's death, the Shiba clan lost its status as one of the Noble Clans (which include the Kuchiki and Shihouin clans). There now remain only four Noble Clans, as the Shiba had been the fifth.[7] Upon Ganju's introduction, he and Kūkaku are the only remaining members of the clan.

Though Ganju is not a member of the shinigami forces, he is of the Shiba clan and can fight on a level above that of an average shinigami, but lower than that of the higher ranking seated officers. He has a zanpakutō which resembles a meat cleaver or a Chinese Dadao, though he never demonstrates the ability to use its initial release. Ganju's sword skills are limited, so he relies primarily on his arsenal of fireworks, his agility, and his earth magic. Ganju's earth magic doesn't seem to operate on the same principal as standard shinigami kidō. The one technique he uses, Stone Wave (石波, seppa?), doesn't need an incantation to work and is unnumbered. The spell can reduce whatever it is aimed at to sand or quicksand. He can even perform it with his feet. This ability proved to be useful to make holes through the walls when running away from Yumichika.

* Hisana Kuchiki (朽木 緋真, Kuchiki Hisana?) - Deceased

Hisana was Byakuya's wife who died of a disease fifty years before the main storyline. As she was a commoner, Byakuya was strongly admonished against marrying her, but did so out of love, thus disobeying the rules of the Kuchiki noble house. She was the older sister of Rukia Kuchiki in their past lives, and both were sent to Inuzuri (a poor district of Rukongai) where Hisana abandoned her sister, unable to support both herself and the infant Rukia. Hisana later greatly regretted this decision, even in her final moments, and searched for her every day during her marriage to Byakuya. In accordance with Hisana's dying wish, Byakuya adopted Rukia as his sister, disobeying the rules a second time. She and Rukia are very similar in appearance.

* Yūichi Shibata (柴田 優一, Shibata Yūichi?) [Deceased] – Voiced by: Makoto Tsumura (Japanese), Colleen O'Shaughnessey (English)

A supposedly cursed "parakeet" (actually a cockatiel) that found its way into Chad's protection, Yūichi is actually the ghost of a young boy tormented by a vicious hollow. He is guided into Soul Society by Ichigo and eventually meets up with Chad again.

* Sora Inoue (井上 昊, Inoue Sora?)[8] [Deceased] – Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese), Liam O'Brien (English)

Sora was Orihime Inoue's older brother. He raised her for most of her life, and died in the Kurosaki Clinic from wounds suffered in a car accident three years before the series began. He enters the story quickly as a hollow, Acidwire. In the anime, he is seen being dragged to Hueco Mundo to be turned into a hollow at the behest of Grand Fisher. This is not shown or even suggested in the manga; one can assume that his feelings of being forgotten by Orihime were what prompted his transformation in this case. In the official English-language manga translation, he was given the name Kakei as his real name had not been mentioned at that point,[9] but he is still called Sora in the character popularity polls. Curiously, before being purified by Ichigo, Sora was able to remove his hollow mask and recover his original personality. While such an act has been described as the process which creates an arrancar, Sora remains in hollow form, albeit with a human head. Presumably, this is because of Sora resisting his hollow self, rather than the hollow itself removing the mask.

Other Characters:

* Don Kanonji (ドン・観音寺, Don Kan'onji?) – Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba (Japanese), Michael Sorich (English)

Don Kanonji is a popular spirit medium who has a television show called Ghost Bust[6] (Viz: "Spontaneous Trips to Spiritual Hot Spots", or just "Spontaneous Trips" for short; English TV: "Spirit Hunter") that, at the time of his introduction, is watched by 25% of Japan's population. The method in which Don Kanonji used to rid ghosts, thinking he was sending spirits to heaven, actually quickly caused those spirits to become hollows (he would take his cane and forcibly rip open the holes in spirits that hadn't fully changed into hollows yet). He found this out when he and Ichigo Kurosaki fought a hollow that appeared because of Don Kanonji during a television taping at Karakura Town. He later formed the Karakura Superheroes, which consists of the Kurosaki sisters and the children at the Urahara Shop, to get the show's declining ratings up. His special attack is "Golden Kanonball," a tiny ball of golden light that moves slowly and explodes with surprising power. He speaks in a mixture of Japanese and English. His trademark pose is to cross both arms over his chest and laugh boisterously and deeply. His catch phrase is "Smells like bad spirits!" He seems to have some knowledge on hollows and shinigami, albeit slight due to his limited interaction with them.