Bleach

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Bleach

Bleach (ÃƒÂ£Ã†â€™Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃƒÂ£Ã†â€™Ã‚ÂªÃƒÂ£Ã†â€™Ã‚Â¼ÃƒÂ£Ã†â€™Ã‚Â, BurÃƒâ€žÃ‚Â«chi?, romanized as BLEACH in Japan) is an ongoing manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Tite Kubo that has appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine since August 2001.

Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki, a high school student with the ability to see ghosts, and Rukia Kuchiki, a shinigami (Soul Reaper or, literally, "death god"). The early parts of the story focus mainly on the characters. As events unfold, the story begins to delve deeper into the world of these gods of death.

The manga series has been adapted into an animated television series, two OVAs, two animated feature films, a rock musical, numerous video games and a TCG (Trading Card Game). Compilation volumes of the manga have sold over 40 million copies in Japan, and have reached the top of manga sales charts in the United States. The manga received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 2005, and the anime has been nominated for several American Anime Awards.The story opens with the sudden appearance of the shinigami Rukia in Ichigo's bedroom. She is surprised at his ability to see her, but their resulting conversation is interrupted by the appearance of a hollow, an evil spirit. After Rukia is severely wounded while trying to protect Ichigo, she intends to transfer half her powers to Ichigo, hoping to give him the opportunity to face the hollow on equal footing. Ichigo unintentionally absorbs almost all her powers instead, allowing him to defeat the hollow with ease.

The next day, Rukia appears in Ichigo's classroom as a transfer student. Much to his surprise, she appears to be a normal human. She theorizes that it was the unusual strength of Ichigo's spirit that caused him to absorb almost all her powers, thus leaving her stranded in the human world. Rukia has transferred herself into a gigai ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Â an artificial human body ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Â while waiting to recover her abilities. In the meantime, Ichigo must take over her job as a shinigami, battling hollows and guiding lost souls to the Soul Society.

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 (ÃƒÂ©Ã…â€œÃ…Â ÃƒÂ¥Ã‚ÂÃ‚Â, 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."

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12