Ichigo Kurosaki

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Ichigo Kurosaki

Age	15
Gender	Male
Species	Human Shinigami Visored
Height	5'9"
Weight	134.5 lbs
Zanpakutō	Zangetsu
Release Command	n/a
Bankai	Tensa Zangetsu
Occupation	High School Student Deputy Soul Reaper
First Appearance	Manga: Vol. 1, Chapter 1 Anime: Episode 1

Ichigo Kurosaki is the main character of the Bleach anime and manga series. He lives in Karakura Town with his father Isshin and two younger sisters, Karin and Yuzu. Unfortunately, Ichigo's mother Masaki died protecting Ichigo from a Hollow called Grand Fisher, disguised as a little girl when Ichigo was a little boy. Unlike most people, Ichigo has had the ability to see spirits since he was a boy, though he doesn't become fully aware of it until his adolescence. One day, on his way to school, he witnesses a female Shinigami eliminate a hollow that was terrorizing the city. That night, he encounters that same shinigami who introduces herself as Rukia Kuchiki when another hollow threatened his family. When Rukia was rendered incapacitated by the Hollow, she stabs Ichigo's soul with her zanpakutō, which triggers his transformation into a shinigami. With his new found shinigami powers, Ichigo terminates the hollow and takes on the responsibility of patrolling Karakura Town for any hollow or other hostile spirits that threaten the peace.

Appearance

Ichigo has the physique of the average male in his age group, though slightly taller than most in his class. He has wild, spiky orange hair, a trait which has drawn him into several fights with his peers. Nevertheless, when he is not wearing his school uniform, he dresses in the common fashion of today's adolescent males. As a soul reaper, Ichigo wears a black hakama with a white sash tied around his waist, carrying his zanpakutou on his back held by a red chord. However, with his bankai activated, Ichigo's attire changes slightly, wearing a black overcoat torn at the edge with red interior lining, resembling that of spirit form Zangetsu.

Personality

Ichigo as a boy was generally full of joy and felicity, though he would quickly weep whenever he had unpleasant experiences. After the death of his mother, Ichigo's personality changed drastically which carries on into his teens. The smiles he used to carry as a boy have all but disappeared and have been replaced with mostly frowns. Though he is a responsible person, Ichigo mostly has a nonchalant attitude towards his surroundings. He still has a healthy relationship with his family except for his father, which often gets violent. Ichigo tends to be very obstinate and sometimes belligerent, often criticizing or yelling at those close to him. His belligerence has landed him in several fights or conflicts with other people, a lot of which have been over trivial issues. Nevertheless, Ichigo is compassionate and often empathizes with others in unfortunate situations, having lost his mother. During and after the Soul Society incident in which Rukia was apprehended and sentenced to execution, Ichigo's personality begins to change for the better. He begins to smile more often and generally acts more courteous towards others, though his relationship with some people doesn't particularly change.

Abilities

Zangetsu, shown in the form of a spirit

Ichigo is one of few human beings to possess innate spirit force in the Bleach universe. After meeting Rukia Kuchiki and initially transforming into a soul reaper, it turns out that he has a massive amount of spirit force. Since he produced more spirit force than his body could contain, it was constantly leaking out, which caused some of his friends to develop spiritual powers. Additionally, it would prevent him from hiding it thus attracting other spiritual aware beings to him, primarily Hollows. Although he doesn't have formal soul reaper rank, Ichigo's power and abilities are comparable to that of a soul reaper captain.

Zanpakuto

Like other soul reapers, Ichigo possesses a zanpakuto which is called Zangetsu ("lit. Moon Cutter"). In its sealed form, it resembles a regular katana, only abnormally large in size due to Ichigo's inability to control his spiritual pressure. In training with Kisuke Urahara, Ichigo released his zanpakuto thus giving form to Zangetsu's shikai. In its shikai, Zangetsu is a large black cleaver approximately as tall as Ichigo with no hilt or hand guard. It has white hilt wrap around the blade which will unravel whenever the sword is in use. Zangetsu is one of only two known full time released zanpakutos, meaning that it will always remain in its released state, even when not in use or if the owner loses consciousness. Zangetsu is also one of two zanpakutō in Bleach that is shown manifesting itself in the form of a spirit. Zangetsu's spirit form is that of a tall, middle-aged man with long, messy dark brown hair and a stubble who wears a torn, black overcoat with red interior lining. He is calm and composed, often giving advice to Ichigo and testing him in peculiar ways.

Ichigo performing Getsuga Tenshō in bankai

Zangetsu's special ability is Getsuga Tenshō (lit. "Moon Fangs Pierce Heaven"), an attack in which a concentrated wave of spirit particles shaped like a crescent moon is fired from Zangetsu's edge. However, the shape of the attack can be manipulated depending on the manner it's being used.

Bankai

In Bankai form, Zangetsu's shape and size are contradictory to the massive amount of spirit force that goes into forming and using it. Called Tensa Zangetsu (lit. "Heavenly Chains Moon Cutter"), it resembles a nodachi (a large, two-handed Japanese sword) with a black, long blade, hilt with a short chain attached to it, and a hand guard in the shape of the manji symbol.

Because Ichigo's spiritual power is compressed into his bankai's small form, he is able to employ ultra high speed movement faster than the "flash step", a soul reaper technique for high speed movement.

Getsuga Tenshō in bankai mode, which was initially used by Ichigo's inner hollow, has a few discrepancies from its shikai form. In bankai, several waves can be fired in succession, and their paths can be controlled as well. Ichigo recently demonstrated a new ability for Getsuga Tenshō in which he holds the technique on the blade to increase the strength of his melee attacks.

Hollow

Masked Ichigo

Main article: Visoreds
See Hollows

During the attempt to regain his soul reaper powers, Ichigo almost completely transformed into a hollow. As such, an arrogant inner hollow was created whose power grew in correlation to Ichigo's growth. When his inner hollow proved to be more of a threat than he could bear, Ichigo went to seek help from the Visoreds in hopes of permanently suppressing his inner hollow. In his training with the Visoreds, Ichigo awakened the ability to partially become a hollow by forming the mask, though he remains in complete control. His hollow powers significantly augment his Soul Reaper abilities, as well as granting a few others, such as faster recovery rate and the use of cero. However, the time he could initially retain the mask was only eleven seconds at best. Ichigo seems to have overcome this weakness after participating in several fights with Espada level arrancar in Hueco Mundo.

After being beaten to within an inch of his life in his final bout with Ulquiorra, Ichigo seems to have fully transformed into a hollow. His appearance, however, drastically alters from his previous hollow form revealed during his training with the visoreds, having a more ominous looking mask with horns and retaining a humanoid body. This new form is substantially more powerful than Ichigo's previous forms, as Ichigo was able to counter Ulquiorra's strongest techniques with ease. Additionally, he abandoned his soul reaper abilities such as shunpo, and instead uses generic hollow techniques (though much stronger and more effective in his case) such as cero and Sonído. However, despite having acquired tremendous power, Ichigo appears to have descended to an animalistic state reminiscent of a regular hollow due to not having harnessed his new found power.