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Bleach (manga)

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Bleach (manga)
File:Bleach cover 01.jpg
Cover of Bleach Manga Vol. 1
GenreShonen
Created byTite Kubo
Manga
Written byTite Kubo
Published byShueisha
Anime
Directed byNoriyuki Abe
StudioStudio Pierrot
Related works

Bleach (ブリーチ) is a manga and anime series by Tite Kubo (久保 帯人 Kubo Taito), mangaka of Zombie Powder. It is currently at 19 volumes in length (as of October 2005), and new chapters are featured weekly in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The total amount of chapters as of this writing is 200.

It follows the life of Ichigo Kurosaki, a 15 year old high school student with the ability to see ghosts. A female shinigami (死神, lit. God of Death), or Soul Reaper in the English manga, named Rukia Kuchiki runs into him one day while searching for a Hollow (an evil spirit). During an ensuing confrontation with the spirit, she is forced to transfer her powers into Ichigo when she is wounded. Thus the adventures of Ichigo and Rukia Kuchiki begin, and together they search out Hollows and perform soul burials, cleansing the spirits and sending them to the Soul Society.

The early parts of the story focus mainly on the relationships between the characters, rather than the actual occupation of the shinigami. However, as events unfold, the story begins to delve more deeply into the world of these Gods of Death on the "other side," Soul Society.

This manga is being translated into English by VIZ Media. As with many other popular manga series, an animated version is currently in production. The "Bleach" animated TV series is broadcast at 7:30pm on Tuesdays on TV Tokyo and affiliated stations in Japan; the first episode aired on October 5 2004, replacing F-Zero: Falcon Densetsu (F-Zero GP Legend), although until episode 54, the air time was 6:30pm. Studio Pierrot is doing the animation work. Several fansub groups are subbing this series as well and distributing over the Internet. There are a total of 55 episodes and one omake episode so far. The series was originally scheduled to be 52 episodes in length, ending in October 2005. However, additional episodes have recently been added to the official TV Tokyo Bleach Calendar, bringing the series up to 70, and running till early February 2006. Template:Spoiler

Opening

File:Ichigo.gif
Ichigo Kurosaki

Ichigo, a rough-and-tumble teenager, has always been able to see ghosts. The story begins with the sudden appearance of an oddly-dressed stranger in Ichigo's bedroom who seems surprised that he can see her at all. This stranger is Rukia Kuchiki, a shinigami. Their rsulting conversation is interrupted by the appearance of a hollow, an evil spirit. When she is severely wounded, Rukia decides to transfer half of her power to Ichigo, giving him the opportunity to face the Hollow on an equal footing. Ichigo defeats the Hollow with a single sword-strike.

The next day, Rukia turns up in Ichigo's classroom as a transfer student. Much to his surprise, she is now apparently a normal human. TIt tuns out that the strength of Ichigo's spirit caused him to fully absorb her powers rather than taking half, leaving her trapped in a gigai – an artificial human body. While she recovers her abilities, Ichigo must take over her job, watching over the region and battling hollows instead in her stead.

Characters

Main article: Characters in Bleach series

Races

There are two distinct 'races' revealed in Bleach thus far - humans and spirits. The humans are mostly ordinary like real-life humans, and cannot see or sense spirits in any way. However, some humans, such as the Quincy, have the power to not only sense but also fight on equal footing with spirits. The most notable human and spirit 'types' in Bleach are listed below.

Plus

A plus (called a whole in the official English version of the manga) is the disembodied spirit of a person who has died. A plus has a spiritual body composed of reishi (ectoplasm) that resembles it's former material body at the time of death. From the chest hangs the broken inga no kusari, or Chain of Fate. If the chain is cut, the plus will deteriorate into a hollow unless it becomes a shinigami first.

Pluses are sent to Soul Society by the shinigami.

Shinigami

Main article: Shinigami (Bleach)

Shinigami in Bleach are psychopomps. They are made up of spiritual matter and cannot be seen or detected in any way by normal humans. Their archrivals are the hollows.

The shinigami mainly use soul cutters (zanpakutō) and demon arts (kidō) to fight.

Quincy

Main article: Quincy (Bleach)

The Quincy were a tribe of spiritually aware humans who fought against the hollows in the past, using bows composed of spiritual energy to slay them. The Quincy are now nearly extinct due to extermination by the shinigami about 200 years ago.

As opposed to shinigami, who operate using their inner spiritual energy, Quincy absorb energy from their surroundings. Also as opposed to the shinigami, Quincy actually kill hollows, rather than cleanse their spirits.

Hollow

Main article: Hollow (Bleach)

The hollows are the main antagonists of Bleach. They are evil spirits who reside in Hueco Mundo. Like shinigami, hollows are made of spiritual matter, cannot be detected by ordinary humans, and use their internal spiritual power to fight.

Locales

Human world

The human world of Bleach is modern Japan, specifically a neighborhood known as Karakura (possibly the Karakura district of Tochigi). In this world, Ichigo attends school, fights hollows, and tries to avoid the rumours that he is Rukia's boyfriend. Places of note are the high school, the Urahara Shop, the cemetery, and Ichigo's and Orihime's homes.

Spirit world

Main article: Soul Society

The Spirit World, or Soul Society, corresponds to heaven in human belief systems. It consists of a giant walled city in the center, known as the Sereitei (lit. Court of Pure Souls), and 80 districts outside of it. The districts outside of the Sereitei are known as the Rukongai and are the place where non-shinigami and non-nobles live. The district number of the Rukongai also gives a measure of how bad it is. District 1 is peaceful and lawful, while District 80 is filled with criminals and has poor conditions.

Hueco Mundo

Hueco Mundo is the area between the human world and Soul Society. Literally meaning "Hollow World" (in Spanish), it is of course where hollows reside when not in the human world or Soul Society, and where they are nigh undetectable.

Crossing between worlds

It is known that shinigami and hollows alike can come and go between the two worlds as they please. Shinigami can cross from the Soul Society to the human world by way of a passage seemingly unlocked by their zanpakutō. However, to safely cross over, they must be accompanied by a Hell Butterfly. Hollows can cross over to both Soul Society and the human world by opening a rift in space, although they don't usually dare to enter Soul Socety.

Hell

Little is known about hell as of yet. It is known that hell is the destination for those who commited acts too evil during their lives to be allowed into Soul Society. If the incident with Shrieker is any indication, when a hollow whose soul is too wicked to enter Soul Society and has had its mask split by a zanpakutō, the gates of hell will appear (giant doors with a skeleton holding on to each, with chains sealing them shut) and begin to open, and a giant spiritual being with a knife will spear the wicked spirit and drag it down into hell while laughing.

Media information

For episode, volume, seiyū, and theme music listings, see Bleach media information.

See also

Official sites

Encyclopedia entries

Fan sites

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