Character Introduction

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 as well as providing motives for Ichigo's increasing power to truly be his namesake; "the one who protects."