Orihime Inoue

Personality

Orihime is friendly, humorous in her own way, sensitive, caring and kind. She comes off as naive

Orihime Inoue
Name	Orihime Inoue
Kanji	井上 織姫
Romanji	Inoue Orihime
Characteristics
Race	Human
Birthday	September 3[1]
Age	15[1]
Gender	Female
Height	157 cm (5'2")[1]
Weight	45 kg (99 lbs)[1]
Eyes	Brown[2]
Hair	Burnt Orange
Blood Type	B
Professional Status
Affiliation	Ichigo's Group, Karakura Town
Occupation	High School Student
Team	Ichigo's Group
Base of Operations	Inoue House, Sakurabashi, Karakura Town, Japan, Human World
Personal Status
Marital Status	Single
Relatives	Sora Inoue (Brother, deceased) Unnamed Father Unnamed Mother Unnamed Grandfather (deceased)
Education	High School level
Status	Active
Primary Skill
Signature Skill	Shun Shun Rikka
First Appearance
Manga Debut	Volume 1, Chapter 2
Anime Debut	Episode 2
Video Game Debut	Bleach: Heat the Soul
Media Appearances	Manga, Anime, Movies, and Video Games
Voices
Japanese Voice	Yuki Matsuoka
English Voice	Stephanie Sheh
Spanish Voice	Claudia Mota (Latin America)

and rather clueless, which is at odds with her exceptionally high marks in school.^[6] She is a member of the Handicrafts' Club^[7] and likes to invent very ridiculous sports to play with Tatsuki (such as "base-cer," a combination of baseball and soccer).^[8] She is not very good with technology, with one of the members of the Handicrafts' Club remarking that she is not smart enough to use a cell phone, which is why she does not have one.

Orihime likes Asian flower print clothes and comedies. Orihime cooks and eats strange food at home, although she also likes some normal food. Aside from Rangiku Matsumoto and Tessai Tsukabishi, no one shares Orihime's tastes. Her favorite food is red bean paste, and she likes putting butter on sweet potatoes.^[1] She enjoys cheese and butter most of the time. She tends to zone out with her mouth open and loses track of what she was thinking or dreaming about. She also tends to have an over-active imagination and gets carried away thinking of implausible scenarios, such as portraying herself as a futuristic and highly destructive robot in an assignment asking a student "How do you see yourself in the future?".^[9]

Orihime has also demonstrated that she is perceptive when it comes to people's mental and emotional state, mostly when it comes to Ichigo Kurosaki, able to tell what kind of driving force is pushing someone. She has a crush on Ichigo, and later falls in love with him. She has revealed these feelings both to Rangiku Matsumoto and to Ichigo himself, though he was asleep at the time. She has exhibited traits that appears to have some connection with Ichigo, such as the uncanny ability to detect Ichigo by scent^[10] and sense his Spiritual Pressure, even when masked by the Vizard, she is aware of what mood Ichigo is in, knowing at the best sense his feelings of anguish, disappointment, or worry, and even feels pain herself when she sees getting Ichigo hurt.

Techniques, Powers & Abilities

Powers

Powers

Shun Shun Rikka (盾舜六花, Six Flowers of the Hibiscus Shield; Viz: Six Princess Shielding Flowers): Orihime's power manifests itself as these six^[51] fairy-like creatures^[52] that reside in her hair-clips (shaped like six-petaled flowers, each fairy is two points on a given clip) when inactive. Through various combinations of the six fairies, Orihime has the power to reject fate by denying or undoing events in various forms. This power can be used for attack, defense, or healing (depending on the combination). Orihime's mood directly influences the effectiveness of her powers. Feelings like doubt or worry make them weaker, while conviction makes them stronger. At their height, her powers resemble those of a deity in strength.

The Vizard Hachigen Ushōda comments that her hair pins being the physical manifestation of her powers is very much like the Zanpakutō of a Shinigami^[53], and that her powers resemble his own powers. The Arrancar, Tesla, when holding Orihime captive, warns her not to try to attack him as he can easily break the physical container of her Shun Shun Rikka, the hair pins themselves, stating that they are ridiculously weak.^[54]

The fairies are separate manifestations of Orihime's spirit, each with its own unique appearance and personality, and each named after a flower:

Ayame

Ayame

• Ayame (あやめ, Iris) Voiced by,Tomoe Sakuragawa, English Philece Sampler

Ayame is a shy female spirit covered in a dress larger than her body. She is capable of healing together with Shun'ō.^[55]

Baigon

Baigon

• Baigon (梅巌, Ume) Voiced by, Kiyoyuki Yanada, English: Liam O'Brien

Baigon is a bald male spirit with a mask that covers the bottom of his face. He is brawny and has a large body. He is capable of shielding Orihime from attacks along with Hinagiku and Lily.^[55]

Hinagiku

Hinagiku

• Hinagiku (火無菊, Daisy) Voiced by, Daisuke Kishio, English: Kirk Thornton

Hinagiku is a male spirit with a large eyepatch that ends in a horn and is highly energetic. He is capable of shielding Orihime from attacks along with Baigon and Lily.^[55]

Lily

Lily

• Lily (リリィ, Lily) Voiced by Rie Kugimiya, English: Kate Higgins

Lily is a female spirit with bright pink hair, transparent yellow goggles, and a blue bathing suit. She has a tattoo on her backside. She is capable of shielding Orihime from attacks along with Baigon and Hinagiku.^[55]

Shun'ō

Shun'ō

• Shun'ō (舜桜, Althea) Voiced by, Junko Noda, English: Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Latin American Spanish: Javier Olguín

Shun'ō is a friendly young male spirit (who appears to be female in the anime) with a topknot. He and Tsubaki are usually the ones who talk to Orihime. He is capable of healing together with Ayame.^[55]

Tsubaki

Tsubaki

• Tsubaki (椿鬼, Camellia) Voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa, English: Wally Wingert, Latin American Spanish: Jorge Ornelas

Tsubaki is a fiery male spirit who is the only Shun Shun Rikka capable of direct attack. He often strikes anyone who gets on his nerves (including Orihime). Because he is primarily focused on attacking, he is vulnerable to counter-attacks and has been injured several times. The stronger Orihime's anger and killing intent, the more powerful he becomes. However, Orihime's timid nature limits his overall power and has contributed to his injuries in the past. At one point, Tsubaki was killed by the Espada Yammy Riyalgo, who crushed Tsubaki into tiny pieces. Orihime was distraught by this, and since the pieces were too small to find, she couldn't bring Tsubaki back. But due to meeting Hachi, who said Orihime's powers were similar to his, Tsubaki is restored by Hachi despite having no pieces of him. ^[56][57][55]

Techniques

Orihime's techniques involve incantations manipulating the Shun Shun Rikka into three different groups. Though Orihime initially needed to recite their kotodama to use her techniques, further training has rendered this unnecessary. Her kotodama consists of voicing the names of the members involved, followed by the technique name and the phrase "I reject" (私は拒絶する, watashi wa kyozetsu suru), a reference to the nature of her powers.

Orihime protecting Chad using Santen Kesshun.

• Santen Kesshun (三天結盾, Three Sacred Links Shield): is Orihime's defensive technique. The incantation arranges Hinagiku, Lily, and Baigon into a triangle, forming a barrier capable of repelling anything on the far side. Because the barrier rejects negative events, it can also function as an airbag of sorts, allowing Orihime and anyone else nearby to survive a potentially lethal fall unharmed. It would seem her powers with this technique have improved as she was able to block an attack from Ulquiorra Cifer, the 4th Espada, in order to protect Ichigo Kurosaki. Despite the barrier breaking it was still an impressive feat.^[58]

Orihime healing Jidanbo's arm with Sōten Kisshun.

• Sōten Kisshun (双天帰盾, Twin Sacred Return Shield): is Orihime's healing technique, though it goes well beyond simple healing. The incantation summons Ayame and Shun'ō to form a half-oval barrier around whatever or whomever Orihime wishes. While active, the barrier repels all negative events inflicted upon anything within the barrier.^[59] No matter how extensive the damage may be (whether used on living beings or inanimate objects), the barrier can restore it to full working order, making it as if the object was never damaged in the first place.^[60] It can even resurrect the dead.^[61] The technique takes longer for more serious injuries, like losing a limb or an organ. Also, while Orihime can heal wounds quickly, it takes her longer to replenish the patient's Reiatsu.^[62] Large amounts of foreign spiritual pressure also make healing more difficult.

This is the aspect of her power that piques Sōsuke Aizen's interest in her since, in Aizen's words, she "violates the realm of gods."^[63] It is suggested by Hachigen Ushōda that Orihime should be able to restore anything she wants without actually having a piece of it. Ichigo has noted that while inside the oval, he was unable to exit it, leaving him wondering if her Shun Shun Rikka had been able to do this before.^[64]

Orihime using Koten Zanshun.

• Koten Zanshun (孤天斬盾, Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield):^[65] is Orihime's offensive technique. The incantation summons Tsubaki, who forms a thin barrier to either side of himself. By flying at an enemy, the barrier can reject anything to either side of it, thus cutting through enemies like a sword. While Tsubaki can cut through basically anything, Orihime's general dislike of combat and hesitance to use lethal force degrades the effectiveness of the technique, making him easy to counter and equally easy to injure.

Abilities

Spiritual Power: Orihime is at least strong enough to survive separate assaults by Loly and Menoly, which involved physical attacks and the use of Bala, and minor assaults by Nnoitra and Tesla. Orihime is also able to get close to several battles between powerful opponents without being overwhelmed, such as the battles between Ulquiorra and Grimmjow, as well as Ichigo and Ulquiorra. In addition, during her basic training in Kidō with Kūkaku Shiba, it was shown that Orihime has a natural talent for precise spiritual energy control as she quickly mastered the technique.

Hand-to-Hand Combatant: While a pacifist by nature, Orihime has shown to have a natural talent for martial arts. She reveals that Tatsuki has trained her somewhat in karate. According to Tatsuki, Orihime has the fighting skill of a black belt,^[66][67] Orihime was at least strong enough to incapacitate two unseated Shinigami soldiers.

Memory Chikan Resistance: Orihime was able to recall the event of her brother fighting Ichigo Kurosaki,^[68] even though the memory chikan has been used on her by Rukia.

Rukia Kuchiki

Personality

Initially born into a lower class, Rukia retains her modesty even as an adopted member of the nobility: she is graceful and "clean", yet chooses to talk to ordinary people. However, her cool and lone demeanor often forces her to hide her personal troubles even from her friends. She is clueless about the ways of the modern living world. She is initially unable to figure out how to drink from a simple juice box, and learns to speak modern Japanese through the manga she reads. She always has trouble finding clothes that fit her, especially when inhabiting a Gigai in the Human World,^[1] leading to her stealing clothes from Ichigo's sister, Yuzu. She likes to climb to high places. Rukia also likes everything that is rabbit-themed or resembles a rabbit, and her drawings are typically rabbit-like. Rukia's favorite foods are cucumber, eggs^[1], and rice dumplings.^[2]. Rukia instantly takes a liking to rabbit-like plushie form of Kurōdo, who resembles a Rabbit.

Her attitude towards Ichigo varies: at times she is a bickering adversary, and at other times, she worries about him and dispatches advice like a wise old sage. Despite their quarrels, the two have a deep understanding of each other, often being the only ones able to talk each other out of a funk. Rukia is an accomplished actress, being able to act her way through a number of tough situations, such as getting out of trouble with school teachers or managing to get a room at Ichigo's house. Ichigo is the only one to always pick up on it and accuse her of pretending.

Rukia Kuchiki
Name	Rukia Kuchiki
Kanji	朽木 ルキア
Romanji	Kuchiki Rukia
Characteristics
Race	Shinigami
Birthday	January 14[1]
Age	150 (estimated)
Gender	Female
Height	144 cm (4'8½")[1]
Weight	33 kg (73 lbs.)[1]
Eyes	Violet
Hair	Black
Blood Type	A
Professional Status
Affiliation	Gotei 13, Soul Society
Occupation	Member of the 13th Division
Team	13th Division
Partner	None
Base of Operations	13th Division HQ & Kuchiki Manor, Seireitei, Soul Society; Kurosaki House, Minamikawase, Karakura Town, Human World
Personal Status
Marital Status	Single
Relatives	Hisana Kuchiki (Sister, deceased) Byakuya Kuchiki (Brother-in-law/Adoptive Brother) Ginrei Kuchiki (Grandfather-in-law/Adoptive Grandfather) Kōga Kuchiki (?, deceased) anime only
Education	Shinō Academy
Status	Active
Zanpakutō
Shikai	Sode no Shirayuki
Bankai	None
First Appearance
Manga Debut	Volume 1, Chapter 1
Anime Debut	Episode 1
Video Game Debut	Bleach: Heat the Soul
Media Appearances	Manga, Anime, Movies, and Video Games
Voices
Japanese Voice	Fumiko Orikasa
English Voice	Michelle Ruff
Spanish Voice	Belén Roca (Spain) Liliana Barba (Latin America)

Powers & Abilities

Although Rukia is an unseated officer in the 13th Division, her skills and power is equal to those of a seated officer. However, as becoming even a seated officer would require her to undertake much more dangerous missions, Byakuya pulled some strings to keep her name off the list of qualified officers. She is powerful enough to fight off and defeat several Adjuchas-class Menos as well as fight on par with, and ultimately kill, the ninth Espada, albeit nearly at the cost of her own life.

Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: Rukia, as a Shinigami of the 13th Division, has a standard array of skills required of Shinigami troops. Upon her introduction, she has the basic-level Zanpakutō, of which she seemed to have only mastered the rudimentary skills. By her own admission, she has less talent in swordsmanship than Kidō. However after much training by her former mentor, Kaien Shiba, her skill drastically improved. She has shown herself to be capable enough to hold her own in a battle, most notably defending herself from attacks from the 9th Espada, while he was using the expert swordsmanship skill of Kaien Shiba.

Kidō Expert: Rukia's greatest strength is her knowledge of the Kidō, a set of magic spells she can use in the performance of her duties; amongst her known skills are those for binding, healing, purifying, and destruction. However, as she said herself, while her Kidō skill at the Shinigami Academy were the highest of her class, the sheer power of them were just average when she joined 13th division. Through continuous training she has greatly developed this skill. She has shown she is able to use several high-level Kidō in rapid succession without incantation and still have considerable control and power. She has also shown great skill for using various spells in unique combinations, even using multiple spells simultaneously. Rukia has shown that she is capable of using a level 61 Bakudō spell and a level 63 Hadō spell consecutively, though she needs to chant the incantations for both to perform them.

After losing her powers, Rukia is able to use Kidō spells in a limited fashion, but they are so weak that they have almost no effect on their targets. The anime's Bount arc, in contrast, shows her using at least one spell on a level similar to Renji (this difference can be attributed to the different Gigai used in each situation). Since the events at the Soul Society, Rukia's Shinigami powers have made a complete recovery.

Enhanced Endurance: As a Shinigami, Rukia has a great amount of endurance. She was able to withstand being impaled by Aaroniero's Nejibana, in conjunction with his Glotonería, and finish him off before losing consciousness.^[19]

Enhanced Strength: Despite her size, she is actually powerful enough to defeat a superior opponent. Even without the aid of her Zanpakutō, she was still a considerable opponent. Her strength was displayed in the Bount arc and beyond (I.E, when Ritz was controlling her, she picked up Orihime with her own two hands, able to throw her in the air, despite her size).

Hand-to-Hand Combatant: She was also seen in a Gigai fighting enemies with her physical strength (kicking, punching, etc.). She is also capable of having hand-to-hand combat while in her Shinigami state, with augmented strength. During the Bount invasion, she showed herself capable of countering the swift and accurate attacks of Yoshi.

Keen Intellect: Repeatedly in missions, Rukia has shown herself to be very intelligent, as seen from her ability to compensate against stronger opponents with combination attacks. During her forced stay in the living world after losing her powers, Rukia proved herself very resourceful in assisting Ichigo with his new Shinigami duties. Rukia is also very knowledgeable, as shown from her high marks in the academy and her knowledge of the Soul Society's history.

High Spiritual Power: Rukia's spiritual energy is personified by the element of ice. Much like Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya's, but to a lesser degree. When Rukia is focused or under stress, her great spiritual energy is manifested as ice particles flowing and falling in the air. She has at times shown a measure of control of her spiritual energy affecting the surrounding area with cold and even freezing the things she touches. Rukia exerts her Spiritual Energy on her Kidō most of the times. She may also use her energy on other occasions. Nonetheless, she is capable of exerting large amounts of Spiritual Pressure. Though her Spiritual Energy is not on par with Ichigo's or other high level-combatants, her spiritual energy is greater than many Shinigami of equal or even higher rank.

Flash Steps Expert: Renji says that Rukia is also helpful and effective because of her high speed. In the anime, during her battle against the Adjuchas of the Menos Forest, she skillfully dodged multiple attacks from several enemies.

Zanpakutō

Sode no Shirayuki redirects here. For the manifested spirit that appears in the Zanpakutō Unknown Tales and Beast Swords arcs see Sode no Shirayuki (spirit).

Sode no Shirayuki

Sode no Shirayuki (袖白雪, Sleeved White Snow): In its sealed form, Sode no Shirayuki is a normal katana with a rectangular tsuba with inward-curved corners with curved slits above and below the blade and a series of curved lines embossed on either side of the blade. It has a reddish-brown hilt.

• Shikai: Its Shikai command is "Dance" (舞え, mae). Rukia holds her Zanpakutō out in front of her and turns it in a circle counter-clockwise. While she is turning it, the blade, hilt and tsuba turn completely white. The tsuba becomes a hollow snowflake-like circle and a white ribbon forms from the pommel from the end of the handle. Sode no Shirayuki is regarded as one of the most beautiful Zanpakutō in the Soul Society. The transformation comes along with a rush of cold air in all directions and can potentially cause a cold fog to descend upon the area.

Shikai Special Ability: Sode no Shirayuki has control over ice, rather fitting for her cold and icy demeanor, much like Tōshirō Hitsugaya's Hyōrinmaru, but uses it in a different manner. Like Kaname Tōsen's Suzumushi and Kisuke Urahara's Benihime, Sode no Shirayuki possesses more than one ability in Shikai.^[20]Sode no Shirayuki's abilities are labeled as "dances" by Rukia.

Some no mai, Tsukishiro

• Some no mai, Tsukishiro (初の舞・月白, First Dance, White Moon): Rukia calls out the name of the dance while holding her Zanpakutō upside down. The blade glows and then she makes a slashing motion when her target is in position. When she does this, a large ice circle forms around her intended target which freezes everything that touches it. The circle not only freezes the ground but everything within the circle's influence including anything above it up in the air, creating an extending pillar of light that then freezes all within in the circle. Shortly after being frozen, the victim then shatters along with the ice. Rukia appears to be able to control the size of the circle at will.

Tsugi no mai, Hakuren

• Tsugi no mai, Hakuren (次の舞・白漣, Next Dance, White Ripple): Rukia calls out the name of the dance, and punctures the ground once creating a large ice circle similar to the first dance, then she punctures the ground in front of her four times in a semi circle. She takes a battle stance as the ice particles begin to flow up from the protrusions she made in the ground. They build up and then fires toward the target in a massive, powerful pure-white wave of ice from Sode no Shirayuki's blade, in turn encasing the target in a block of ice.

San no mai, Shirafune

• San no mai, Shirafune (参の舞・白刀, Third Dance, White Sword): Rukia calls out the name of the dance, which allows her to reforge her Zanpakutō with ice particles if it is broken, piercing through objects in its path. After piercing its target, it continues to freeze any surrounding objects, including the battlefield.

• Bankai: Not Yet Achieved

ichigo kurosaki

Ichigo Kurosaki
Name	Ichigo Kurosaki
Kanji	黒崎 一護
Romanji	Kurosaki Ichigo
Characteristics
Race	Human, Vizard
Birthday	July 15[1]
Age	16
Gender	Male
Height	175 cm (5'9")[1]
Weight	61 kg (134 lbs.)[1]
Eyes	Brown
Hair	Orange
Blood Type	A[1]
Professional Status
Affiliation	Ichigo's Group, Loosely Soul Society, unofficially Vizard, Karakura Town
Occupation	High School Student, Substitute Shinigami
Team	Ichigo's Group
Base of Operations	Kurosaki House, Mashiba, Karakura Town, Japan, Human World
Personal Status
Marital Status	Single
Relatives	Isshin Kurosaki (Father) Masaki Kurosaki (Mother, deceased) Karin Kurosaki (Younger Sister) Yuzu Kurosaki (Younger Sister)
Education	High School Level
Status	Fighting Gin Ichimaru
Zanpakutō
Shikai	Zangetsu
Bankai	Tensa Zangetsu
First Appearance
Manga Debut	Volume 1, Chapter 1
Anime Debut	Episode 1
Video Game Debut	Bleach: Heat the Soul
Media Appearances	Manga, Anime, Movies, and Video Games
Voices
Japanese Voice	Masakazu Morita Yuki Matsuoka (child)
English Voice	Johnny Yong Bosch Mona Marshall (child)
Spanish Voice	Sergio Zamora (Spain) Eduardo Garza (Latin America)

Personality

When he was young, Ichigo considered his mother to be the center of his world.Ichigo always smiled whenever he was with Masaki and he was regularly at her side, holding her hand. Despite crying whenever he lost in a match at the dojo he attended, he started to smile again as soon as he saw Masaki when she came to pick him up.At a very young age, Ichigo heard his father saying that his name means "to protect one thing", which instilled in him a desire to protect his mother. When his sisters were born, he attended a dojo for the sake of protecting them, and the number of people he wished to protect continued to grow since, causing Ichigo to risk his life to protect both his family and strangers.

As a Human teenager, Ichigo's personality is much more complex. Stubborn, short-tempered, occasionally confrontational, determined, outspoken, strong-willed and impulsive, he attempts to maintain a detached and "cool" image, despite claiming to not care about what other people think about him. He generally keeps his face set in a permanent scowl with his eyebrows drawn together.He is shown to be genuinely compassionate and empathetic about others such as promising to bring a Plus flowers and a toy plane or soothing others when they become upset. Ichigo is also a capable student, ranked 23rd in his high school. He studies regularly and does not neglect his schoolwork, claiming that he has "nothing better to do at home", though he actually works as hard as he does simply to overcome the misconceptions many have about him, based on his hair color and fighting. Ichigo hates fortune telling, horoscopes, fengshui, psychics and anyone whose trade involves taking money from people for things that they cannot see. He has difficulty remembering people's faces and names. He becomes extremely shy and uncomfortable around nude or immodestly dressed women, a fact both Rangiku Matsumoto and Yoruichi Shihōin have teased him for. Ichigo has some trouble with authority and traditional respect, and is often quite rude and disrespectful when talking to those older than himself, calling Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto "gramps" and referring to several of the Shinigami captains by their given names.

When it comes to fighting, Ichigo has a complex sense of honor. He regularly seeks to exact revenge for the actions of his opponent, such as instilling the fear of being murdered in Shriekerand cutting off the right arm of Yammy Riyalgo in retaliation for him ripping off Yasutora Sado's right arm. He often taunts and belittles opponents when fighting and attacks without warning.Ichigo has a strong desire to win his fights and to win them in what he views as a legitimate manner. To this end, he has refused the aid of his inner Hollow even knowing that it would allow him to win.Similarly, after regaining control of his body, he tells Ulquiorra to cut his limbs so that they may have a fair fightand refuses to kill him when he is dying, saying that it would not the way to win.

Powers & Abilities

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: In terms of fighting style while in his Shinigami form, Ichigo relies mainly on swordplay, and thus would be considered a swordsmanship specialist. Aside from his initial training with Urahara, he is basically on a "learn as you go" training regimen thus his skill has developed by fighting rather than formal instruction, becoming even more capable with every fight. His overall skill has been shown capable of competing on equal grounds against sword masters of Byakuya Kuchiki and Kenpachi Zaraki's caliber. While usually performing right-handed, Ichigo appears to be ambidextrous as he has shown proficient skill wielding Zangetsu in his left.^{[147][148][149]}

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Physically, Ichigo is in top form even when not in his spiritual body. Ichigo has been trained in martial arts since he was a small child both professionally and by his father. He has repeatedly shown great agility and coordination in his attacks. In addition to having powerful kicks and punches, Ichigo has also shown proficiency in counterattacks, takedowns, and bodylocks. He has repeatedly been able to catch an opponent's weapon strikes with a single hand.^[150] He also regularly defeats multiple bullies and gangsters, and is a better martial artist than Tatsuki Arisawa, the second-strongest girl in all of Japan, despite fighting with a broken arm in the last few matches of the competition. While he stopped training officially after defeating her, his constant attacks from bullies and his father help keep his skills fresh. It should be noted that he was able to effortlessly dispatch three lieutenants with Shikai released Zanpakutō in rapid succession merely bare-handed.^[151]

Flash Steps Expert: Though not particularly versed in its various techniques, Ichigo has become proficient enough of the technique itself to keep up and even surprise high-level Shinigami with his speed. Even Byakuya Kuchiki, one of the most proficient users of Flash Steps in Soul Society, complimented Ichigo's growing mastery of the technique.^[152] During his first demonstration of this skill, he was able to quickly move to knock out three lieutenants and grab his sword before any of them hit the ground.^[153]

Vast Spiritual Power: Despite his origins, Ichigo has been noted on several occasions to have tremendously vast levels of spiritual energy well beyond other Shinigami.^[154] He is capable of defeating a Gillian before awakening his true power with only his sealed Zanpakutō. Even at less than half strength, his spiritual energy is still comparable to a Captain-level fighter.^[155] His spiritual power is noted to be heavy, which surprised Renji Abarai a lieutenant ranked Shinigami.^[156] Ichigo constantly gives off reiatsu at the level of a captain.^[157] It is so overwhelming that even when worn-out in battle, he can continue fighting effectively while still capable of unleashing Getsuga Tenshō or even unleash and maintain his Bankai.^[158] Because Ichigo's spiritual energy constantly being so high even at its base level without him consciously being aware of it, he rarely becomes exhausted in battle, thereby meaning the sheer resilience and amounts of energy Ichigo has is monstrous.^[159] Ichigo's spiritual energy is still rather difficult for him to control as he has no formal training in controlling it and upon the instances of Hollowfication his reiatsu fluctuates wildly, with it being unreadable at its lowest point and at its highest point more powerful then that of the 4th Espada Ulquiorra Cifer.^[160] Due to this and that he has far more spiritual energy than his body can consciously contain, it leaks out constantly, preventing him from hiding it and effectively making stealth impossible when dealing with other spiritually-aware beings. However, he has learned how to harden his spiritual energy and enhance the strength of his attacks or act as a barrier to reduce the impact of attacks on him, if not negating them completely. He has shown some skill in channeling his spiritual power as he was capable of destroying the Arbor of the Sōkyoku, seemingly an impossible feat which surprised the Gotei 13, by channeling his spiritual power through his sword into the execution stand.^[161]

Enhanced Strength: Even without his Shinigami powers, Ichigo has shown himself to be deceptively strong, as shown from his ability to smash a man's head through a concrete floor.^[162] When he is in his Shinigami body, Ichigo's already impressive strength is greatly enhanced. His overall abilities are great enough that he was able to fend off three Shinigami lieutenants with a single punch each; one of which shattered one of their Zanpakutō at the same time.^[163] His strength is also great enough to stop repeated axe blows from Jidanbō and hurl Rukia several meters into Renji’s arms and still send them both skidding several meters more, both feats with a single-hand.^[164][165] He is strong enough to hold back the Sōkyoku, a halberd with the destructive force equivalent to one million Zanpakutō combined, just using his Zanpakutō.^[166]

Enhanced Speed: Even before learning Flash Step, Ichigo has repeatedly shown himself to be a very agile fighter. Ichigo has demonstrated great reflexes in battle, able to quickly dodge a strike with no wasted effort and he can instantly counterattack right after.^[167] He is able to strike quickly without warning and in rapid succession.^[168] His speed also allows him to follow the movements of faster opponents to better analyze their movements or blocking difficult and otherwise fatal strikes.^[169]

Immense Durability: While only a teenage Human, Ichigo has shown himself to be a highly resilient man, as shown from his ability to safely break free from a binding spell (albeit a low-level one) and withstand an assault from a large Hollow.^[162] When in Shinigami form Ichigo's physical durability is strengthened to the point he can continue fighting effectively even after receiving many injuries and can survive attacks that would easily kill normal Humans effortlessly. It was stated by Rukia that a Shinigami's life force is their spiritual power. As such, Ichigo is able to withstand attacks that would be fatal to most Shinigami. Uryū once stated that Ichigo was a monster in this regard.^[170]

Advanced Growth Rate: According to both Aizen and Urahara, Ichigo's most astounding ability is his growth rate: he grasps the basic control of advanced techniques in days where it would take several years for even the most gifted Shinigami. Shortly after getting Shinigami powers and with no previous training, began learning advanced spiritual energy sensing techniques by sheer instinct, as he proved he can use a spirit ribbon to find Yuichi Shibata (in bird form).^[171] Another example of his growth rate is the amount of time he took to learn the Bankai of his Zanpakutō, which he learns in two days (albeit with the assistance of a special device invented by Urahara that was originally intended for three days).^[172][173] He also gains considerable experience in the use of Flash Step while training with Yoruichi, which was done over the same period as his Bankai.^[174] Besides his improvements in his Shinigami abilities, Ichigo was also shown able to greatly increase the time he could maintain his hollow mask from eleven seconds to considerably longer amounts of time. During his first fight with Ulquiorra, he is instantly incapacitated by one Cero blast even with his Hollow mask (which broke within a second), but only a few hours later, he is able to withstand another Cero from Ulquiorra without undergoing Hollowfication and can analyze Ulquiorra's movements much better than before, whereas he "felt like [he] was fighting a machine or a statue", and failed to predict and counter his attacks.^[175][176]

High-Level Intellect: Despite his somewhat punkish attitude, Ichigo has shown himself to be analytical, perceptive, and deductive. In his high school, Ichigo's grades are almost always near the top, despite his work as a substitute Shinigami. Aside from that, Ichigo appears to be able to determine the pattern of his opponent's battle methods and correctly deduce a proper counter-strategy to defeat his opponent's attacks.

Zanpakutō

Zangetsu
Moon Cutter, Cutting Moon斬月Zangetsu
Seiyū (Japanese)	Takayuki Sugo
Voice actor(s) (English)	Richard Epcar
Voice actor(s) (Spanish)	Alfonso Vallés (Spain) Andrés Gutiérrez Coto (Latin America)
Debut (Manga)	Chapter 63
Debut (Anime)	Episode 19
Appears in	Manga and Anime

Zangetsu (斬月, Slaying Moon)

The spirit of Zangetsu resembles a tall (about the height of Kenpachi Zaraki) 30 to 40-year-old man with unkempt facial hair and long ragged black hair. He dresses in tattered all black garbs with narrow sunglasses and a long flowing overcoat that flares out into ragged ends. Because of the spirit's appearance, Ichigo calls him "Old-man Zangetsu" (斬月のオッサン, Zangetsu no ossan) as a result. Zangetsu has also been called the "black-clothed man" (黒衣の男, kokui no otoko). Zangetsu is portrayed as wise and calm in most matters, and fond of testing Ichigo in unusual ways, many of which have a purpose completely contrary to the stated goal. While the inner world is one of tall skyscrapers, Zangetsu has stated to prefer lusher, natural surroundings like bright sunny skies and green forests. Zangetsu has displayed the ability to temporarily close fatal wounds during combat, though whether or not this is a unique ability is unclear. Since first awakening his own Shinigami powers, Ichigo has had a strong connection to his Zanpakutō, as shown from how Zangetsu would regularly come to aid him with words of wisdom when Ichigo is in a difficult situation.

However, since Ichigo developed an Inner Hollow (as a result from nearly becoming one while having his Shinigami powers restored), Zangetsu and the Hollow are both the source of Ichigo's power and share the same spirit body in Ichigo's inner world, the stronger presence retaining more control (and overall appearance) of their body; in which case, the spirit of Zangetsu takes the form of an all-white (clothes and being), somewhat deranged version of Shinigami Ichigo with a strong desire take control of Ichigo's body and power for himself.^[177]

When Ichigo first becomes a Shinigami, his Zanpakutō is a standard looking katana, but oversized with an equally-oversized brown sheathe hung by a strap over his right shoulder. It has a rectangular bronze handguard with gently inward-curved edges, a stylized flame pattern on the long sides, and a simple decorative slit on the short ones. The handle is red with two light blue tassels on the end of the handle. The large size is due to the unfocused but immense amount of Ichigo's spiritual power, which he didn't know how to control. As a result, the sword itself was rather weak, since very little spiritual power was used to create it. Nevertheless, it was powerful enough to subdue a Gillian-class Menos and lesser Hollows, completely blocking a Cero from the former. It was even able to upturn the ground with a single strike.^[178] Because of its weak spiritual energy nature, Byakuya Kuchiki was able to easily cut off most of the blade during his first encounter with Ichigo and Kisuke Urahara subsequently slices it down to the hilt during their training, forcing Ichigo to learn the name of his Zanpakutō in order to release its true form. This sword is found to be a result of Rukia's stolen spiritual energy and not a result of his own power.^[179][180]

Zangetsu's constant Shikai form.

• Shikai: The Shikai form of Zangetsu looks like an oversized elegant cleaver rather than a formal "katana". He has no tsuba and no proper hilt; what Ichigo holds is the cloth-wrapped tang. The sword is as tall as Ichigo is, 1.75 meters, and has a black blade with a silver edge. The cloth wrapping on the tang seems to react to Ichigo's will, changing length at a thought or twining about the blade in an impromptu sheath. When in combat, the cloth falls away when necessary, shrinking back to a manageable size.^[181] The cloth can also be used to swing the weapon like a flail and toss it at opponents for mid-range combat, but this is rarely done. The cloth also can be done to wrap up wounds, as Ichigo does during his fight with Ikkaku Madarame, but this is also done rarely.^[182] Ichigo has also on more than one occasion used Zangetsu's wide blade as a shield from incoming attacks. Unlike most Zanpakutō, which can be sealed into their original form, Zangetsu is always in its Shikai form. Yoruichi Shihōin has stated that his Zanpakutō is a full-time released form type because of Ichigo's vast but uncontrollable spiritual energy upon generation of it, implying that it is simply a type of Zanpakutō that without proper control of his spiritual energy, once in Shikai form, it remains in its said state.^[183]

Shikai Special Ability: Zangetsu's is largely used for melee combat but possesses one known special ability.

• Getsuga Tenshō (月牙天衝, Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer; "Piercer of Heaven" in the English anime): At the instant of the slash Zangetsu absorbs his spiritual energy and releases highly condensed spiritual energy at the tip of the blade. Magnifying the slash attack and then flies forward.^[184] This slash takes the form of a crescent moon or in the shape of a wave.^[185] Ichigo uses this ability without knowing its name several times but masters the technique later on during his Bankai training. As stated by Zangetsu, knowing the name of an attack heightens its power compared to its strength when the wielder does not know its name.^[186] Getsuga Tenshō is a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large scale damage. While it is currently the only attack Ichigo knows from Zangetsu, Ichigo has used this technique in several different manners, such as striking the ground to create an omnidirectional blast to knock away incoming attacks or slashing at the ground to upturn it and crush everything in its path.^[187]

Zangetsu's Bankai form: Tensa Zangetsu

• Bankai: Tensa Zangetsu (天鎖斬月, Heaven Chain Slaying Moon): It is considered completely out of the ordinary for any Zanpakutō. Unlike most Bankai forms, which usually create some sort of massive creature or effect, Ichigo's Bankai actually shrinks his sword down to a daitō (Japanese long sword) with a black blade. The crossguard has four prongs bent out to form the shape of the manji (which is the kanji for "ban," meaning "full", as in "full release"). The blade itself is durable enough to withstand a strong punch from Yammy Riyalgo and even a direct hit from Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez's strongest attack, Desgarrón; in both cases, the blade did not break. Instead of the cloth his Shikai form had, a short length of chain with a broken link at the end dangles from the base of the hilt. In addition to his sword, Ichigo's robe is replaced with a long-sleeved, ankle-length black coat (or shikakusho) with red lining that is closed at his chest, then left to flare out into ragged ends, much like that of Zangetsu himself.^[188] This coat is part of Ichigo's Bankai and the damage it can take is directly proportionate to the remaining strength and level of Ichigo's Reiatsu.^[189] Also, upon releasing, it seems to allow Ichigo to break free from any attack that binds him and prevents him from moving.^[190]

Bankai Special Ability: Tensa Zangetsu much like its Shikai form is used largely for melee combat but possess certain special ability.

Enhanced Getsuga Tenshō (Kuroi Getsuga)

• Enhanced Getsuga Tenshō: Tensa Zangetsu retains the use of Getsuga Tenshō and can be used in the same manners, but can be used in an enhanced form. When used in Bankai, these potent blasts are black with a red outline and their path can be controlled, with explosively augmented power and speed. During Byakuya Kuchiki's fight with Ichigo, he refers to this attack as a "Kuroi Getsuga" (黒月牙; "Black Moon Fang"), referring to the attacks darkened color. Ichigo has stated that the Black Getsuga was originally Hollow Ichigo's technique.^[191], and has been proven as Ichigo had no knowledge of it during his fight with Byakuya Kuchiki, using the original Getsuga when in Bankai, and Hollow Ichigo stated that all Ichigo was doing when he used the technique was copying his inner Hollow. Ichigo can also keep Getsuga Tenshō within Zangetsu to augment his sword swings.

• Hyper-Speed Combat: Ichigo takes all the power of his Bankai and compresses it into a small, condense form. Then he uses the power of the Bankai to perform hyper speed combat.^[192] His new speed is so great, that it also enhances his Flash Step prowess and allows him to create dozens of afterimages to confuse his opponent.^[193]

• Enhanced Strength: Ichigo's Bankai also allows him to further enhance his natural great strength as shown from how effortlessly he blocked a punch from Yammy, an Espada known primarily for his immense strength. He is strong enough to cut through the Yammy's Hierro with relative ease.^[194]

• Enhanced Spiritual Power: His reiatsu is intense and rough as well as thick and heavy that it can suffocate Humans by being the in general vicinity of his released Bankai.^[195] Ichigo's reiatsu was solid in his Bankai despite him only recently acquiring it.^[196] In addition, his already immense spiritual energy has grandly and explosively increased, and now has a deep black spiritual energy with a crimson outline. It has come to a point where the red-outlined black energy emanates off of Ichigo's body when his spiritual pressure is exerted, replacing his blue aura. Ever since Ichigo defeated his inner hollow and affirming his place as a Vizard, he produces a black aura with a red outline that surrounds him as he initiates Bankai, rather than a white aura that shoots high into the sky.

• Enhanced Bankai Duration: Furthermore, the fact that all of his energy is "compressed" means that usage of his Bankai doesn't expel as much spiritual power as other Bankai from the point of activation; thus allowing him to use Tensa Zangetsu at a much longer duration than any other Bankai users of his level.

Hollowfication

Main article: Hollow Ichigo

Ichigo with his second mask.

Hollow Mask: Ichigo's Hollow mask manifests in the appearance of what could best be described as a menacing skull.

First Mask: The mask began with only three stripes, and has since increased. The red/black stripes on Ichigo's Hollow mask changed in thickness after he subjugated his Hollow, covering almost the entirety of the mask's left half during his third battle with Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez.^[197]

Second Mask: While pure white on the right side, the mask possesses a total of ten red stripes (a total of ten can be seen during his last fight with Ulquiorra) spread across three spots on the left side of his mask.

Ichigo's fourth mask.

Third Mask: But in the aftermath of his victory over Ulquiorra Cifer, Ichigo's mask has changed again, as seen when he faces off against a released Yammy Riyalgo. Where his mask once had a series of thick red-black stripes that covered almost the entire left half of his mask, there are now only four thick black stripes that appear to emerge outwards from the widened eye-holes of his mask and either disappear into both sides of the lower jaw or travel past the very top of the mask itself. Quite noticeably, the horns seen in his new Hollow form are not displayed on the mask. His sclera and iris can be clearly seen, uninfluenced by his Inner Hollow, in his left eyehole. However, the right eyehole shows neither sclera nor iris.^[198]

The Hollow mask was originally a sign of Ichigo's possession by the Hollow within him, but after his training with the Vizard it has become indication that he is merely utilizing his Hollow powers. To access Hollow Ichigo's power, Ichigo must summon the mask onto his face, which is normally done by placing one of his hands over his face and concentrating spiritual matter on it in order to manifest the mask (previously it had appeared on its own before he mastered the Hollow within him), summoning the mask in a "ripping" fashion. With the mask in place, Ichigo has access to increased physical enhancements (although most of the other Vizard have been able to shift the position of the mask while apparently still retaining the abilities of their Hollowfied state as well as using general Hollow abilities neither has Ichigo been shown capable of doing).

• Power Augmentation: While wearing the mask, Ichigo's Hollow powers supplement his Shinigami powers, giving him a vast increase in both strength and speed. The explanation for this is that since Hollows boost their natural abilities by obtaining spirit power around them, either by absorbing it in its ambient form or devouring it directly from another living being, Ichigo attains power from two separate sources: that from himself (drawn using his Shinigami powers), and that from his immediate environment (drawn with the help of his Hollow powers), allowing him to draw power from both sides.

Augmented Getsuga Tenshō: When Ichigo wears his mask, the power, speed, blast area, force, and size of the Getsuga Tenshō becomes drastically augmented to the point of seriously harming a foe. When used with his Bankai and Hollow mask in combination, his Getsuga Tenshō is stated to be his ultimate attack. Ichigo's tremendous speed allows him to move faster than the Getsuga Tenshō itself, allowing him to fire multiple blasts from different directions. Ulquiorra Cifer believes that the Getsuga Tenshō is Ichigo's strongest attack, and has compared it to a Hollow's Cero, particularly a Cero Oscuras.^[199] The Kuroi Getsuga was first displayed by Ichigo's inner Hollow, and initially carried the risk of causing his inner Hollow to surface if used too much. With Ichigo's later control over his inner Hollow, this is no longer a problem. With the use of his new mask he was able to use Tensa Zangetsu one handed sending a Getsuga Tenshō powerful enough to send Yammy Riyalgo falling down head first while he was in his much larger and stronger Resurrección state.^[200]

Enhanced Spiritual Power: While wearing the mask, the spiritual power Ichigo possesses becomes even greater than before. During Ichigo's fight with Grimmjow the 3rd Espada, Tia Harribel, notes that the volume, concentration, and catastrophic nature of his reiatsu didn't seem like that of a human but more like she was watching a fight between two Espada.^[201] It has been noted multiple times that with the mask on his spiritual energy changes into something similar to that of a hollow.

Enhanced Strength: While using the Hollow mask, Ichigo gains a substantial increase in strength. As in his third fight with Grimmjow, he was able to block the destructive force of an Espada's strongest Cero, the Gran Rey Cero fired by Grimmjow.^[202] As evident after he unleashed his Hollowfication state in his battle with Ulquiorra, and was even able to slightly break his sword with a single slash.^[203] He is able to effortlessly block a Cero fired by Ulquiorra.^[204]

Enhanced Speed: While wearing his mask, Ichigo’s already formidable speed is greatly enhanced. During his second battle against Grimmjow, Ichigo’s speed was great enough to completely overwhelm the Espada, who was unable to follow Ichigo’s movements and was forced completely on the defensive from his barrage of attacks.^[205] His attacks also become so fast that the opponent cannot even perceive them until after they are hit.^[206] He also becomes fast enough to outrun his own energy attacks, allowing him to strike and enhance them or launch simultaneous attacks at the opponent from different angles.

Enhanced Endurance: Apparently, using the Vizard form makes him much more pain resistant, Ichigo even states at the beginning of his Vizard training that "wearing the mask feels like being in control of someone else's body".

Enhanced Durability: His durability is even more evident throughout the fight as he is thrown through various buildings and obstructions.^[207] Ichigo shielded Orihime from a barrage of Grimmjow's dart bullets which have enough destructive force to destroy a large building.^[208][209] Even after taking this barrage, he was still able to fight and defeat Grimmjow, even destroying one of his Desgarrón claws, which was Grimmjow's most powerful technique.^[210]

• Mask Regeneration: Ichigo seems to have the ability to repair small amounts of damage that is inflicted upon his mask. This is seen during his 3rd fight with Grimmjow and during his most recent fight with Ulquiorra.^[211] He has also been shown to have the ability to call his mask out a second time after it shatters, but with less benefits. Also his sclera do not change, and remain Human. This was first used against his first fight with Ulquiorra, although unseen, it was used to help defend against Ulquiorra's Cero, and again with his most recent confrontation with him, after he went into his released form.

Hollow mask as a shield.

• Mask Shielding: The mask has also shown the ability to block attacks on Ichigo's body from within his robe, serving as a shield to stop or lessen attacks on him, sometimes saving his life. One example is when the mask blocked several hits from Renji's Zanpakutō during their fight, Hanatarō Yamada notes the hits could have been fatal.

• Hollow Combat: When Ichigo fights with his mask on his fighting style becomes more instinctive than practiced. The Hollow mask also makes Ichigo more ruthless, akin to the battle style of Hollow Ichigo. Throughout the duration of the Hollowfication, Ichigo has shown less concern for injuries to his person, even going so far as to ignore grievous wounds to continue fighting.

• Increased Mask Duration: After training with the Vizard and subjugating his inner Hollow, Ichigo can use his Hollow mask while retaining his personality, but could originally only wear it for eleven seconds at a time. His limit and Hollow powers greatly increases during his third battle with Grimmjow.^[212]

The reasons behind Ichigo now being capable of fighting entire battles with his mask, currently remains unknown. While Grimmjow speculated that Ichigo's improvements came from a subconscious need.^[213] It's also possible that his time limit increased due to him fighting with it in Hueco Mundo similar to Chad's own powers becoming stronger there. However, once Ichigo's mask changed in his battle with Yammy Riyalgo, he noticed his mask felt different as well, as if it was heavier, and he is unable to resummon it. It is unknown if the time limit has changed as well, although his new mask began deteriorating directly after he attempted a Getsuga Tenshō on Aizen with it on.

Affiliation

Soul Society & Gotei 13: As a substitute Shinigami, Ichigo is not an official member of the Gotei 13. While aligned with Soul Society, mainly due to the threat of Aizen and the Arrancar, he is allowed to act on his own accord (so long as he does not disrupt the peace), such as mounting a rescue attempt on Hueco Mundo. He occasionally disobeys orders and fights the Shinigami whenever they endanger one of his friends.^[214]. Over all he maintains an allied loyalty to Soul Society.

Vizard: Initially he refused to join their group but eventually comes to see himself as one of them species wise, though he continues to refer to himself as a Shinigami instead of a Vizard. He associates himself more with Soul Society regardless of his loose association with them. He still maintains a distance from them as group and considers them somewhat friends and allies.

Ichigo's Group & Karakura Town: His friends are quite loyal to him, and follow his every move, regardless of whatever their current situation is, though there are occasional leadership arguments between himself, Renji, and Uryū. His loyalty to his friends, family and town are far above that of any of the other groups he has come into contact with over the past months.

Urahara's Group: Ichigo considers Urahara and Yoruichi as his mentors and he respects them greatly, though he occasionally argues with them over their actions and/or decisions regarding a situation (training or otherwise), though mainly due to pride and his own reckless 'logic'.

Species Status

Ichigo carrying the burden of two worlds as a Substitute Shinigami.

Ichigo is an extremely rare case. Despite being a Shinigami, he is still a living Human being and resides in the Human World, rather than in Soul Society. Uniquely, he gained his own powers through Urahara's training/forced encroachment, which simultaneously gave him Hollow powers. Due to his Hollow powers, Ichigo is technically classified as a Vizard, but he still thinks and refers to himself as a Shinigami. For all purposes Ichigo is a Human in physical body and Vizard in spiritual body, thus making his situation even rarer.

Substitute Shinigami Status

His status in the Soul Society remains ambiguous. His "rank" as substitute Shinigami was accepted by most of the others so he can continue to fight Hollows and defend his home town properly, however it is revealed that Zennosuke Kurumadani was not informed of Ichigo's status as upon their first meeting Kurumandi admits to never having heard of Ichigo's status or his "Seal of Approval." Ichigo is alerted to the presence of Hollows by his Substitute Badge, an artifact given to him by Ukitake, who claims it symbolizes the formalizing of Ichigo's Substitute Shinigami position. His duty, as far as the Shinigami are concerned, is protecting Karakura Town,^[215][216] though Ichigo views it more as protecting his friends.^[217] The Shinigami, however, wish to have him fighting alongside them against Aizen due to his captain-level power and lack of exposure to Aizen's Shikai.^[218] Ichigo, however, ignored the only real order he ever received from Captain-Commander Yamamoto, which was to not go after Orihime when she was abducted.