|
Related Sitesanime bleach bleach manga bleach portal bleach wallpaper bleach download anime bleach wallpaper bleach direct download anime bleach download bleach download manga bleach torrent anime bleach direct download bleach exile bleach episode bleach myspace bleach society bleach download episode bleach lunar bleach character bleach forum bleach picture bleach ichigo bleach direct download episode anime bleach picture bleach episode guide bleach doujinshi bleach pic bleach tv bleach central bleach music anime bleach download music bleach nirvana bittorrent bleach bleach lyric bleach cosplay bleach mp3 bleach group msn bleach manga msn animesuki bleach bleach rukia bleach opening anime bleach lyric bleach icon bleach soundtrack anime bleach download mp3 bleach free manga bleach ost aim bleach icon bleach game bleach gallery bleach manga online bleach orihime bleach character profile bleach download episode free anime bleach pic avatars bleach bleach image bleach layout bleach movie bleach dvd bleach doujin anime bleach mp3 bleach download wallpaper bleach msn |
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 deeper into the world of these gods of death on the "other side" called, Soul Society.
[edit]
Introduction
Ichigo is a rough-and-tumble teenager who has always had the special ability 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 resulting conversation is interrupted by the appearance of a hollow, an evil spirit. When she is severely wounded, Rukia decides to transfer half of her powers to Ichigo, giving him the opportunity to face the hollow on an equal footing. Ichigo defeats it 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. It turns 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 in her stead. [edit]
CharactersMain article: Characters in Bleach series [edit]
RacesThere 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. Spirits have a form composed of reishi (ectoplasm), which has an anatomy similar to an ordinary flesh body, including organs and blood. However, this form seems to encompass all of a spirit's being. In other words, there is no distinction between soul and body. The most notable human and spirit 'types' in Bleach are listed below. [edit]
PlusA 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 that resembles its former material body at the time of death. From the chest hangs the Chain of Destiny (因果の鎖 inga no kusari). This chain ties the soul to something in the world that keeps them there. In the case of a human soul removed from their body that isn't dead, this chain is tied to their body, and if it breaks in this state, they die. If the chain of a spirit tied to an object is broken, the chain begins to corrode. If the corrosion is completed before a shinigami can perform a soul burial on the soul, the plus descends into a hollow, unless they have shinigami powers and are able to call them forth. Pluses are sent to Soul Society by the shinigami in a ritual called soul burial (魂葬 konsō). A spirit, after spending a certain amount of time (dying, probably) in Soul Society, is then reborn into the human world as a new human (from the Bleach Databook). This provides the two worlds, the spirit and the material world, with the balance that the Quincy are said to destroy. [edit]
ShinigamiMain article: Shinigami (Bleach) Shinigami (known as Soul Reapers in the English version of the manga, literally Death Gods) 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 slayers (zanpakutō) and demon arts (kidō), to fight. Some shinigami acquired hollow powers using illegal methods; they are known as Vizards. If a Captain or Lieutenant-rank shinigami travels to the human world, their power level is set to a limit of 20% of their usual strength. They must ask Soul Society for permission to "lift the limit" to release their full power while in the human world. [edit]
Mod SoulLittle is known about this experiment authorized by shinigami, except that they were created to hunt hollows by utilizing dead human bodies. The shinigami decided to scrap the project by killing all of the mod souls who were in the field. Those who were yet to be activated and thus still in pill form were also terminated but it appears some have escaped. [edit]
QuincyMain article: Quincy (Bleach) The Quincy were a tribe of spiritually aware humans who fought against the hollows in the past, using weapons composed of spiritual energy to slay them. The Quincy are now nearly extinct due to necessary extermination by the shinigami about 200 years before the main storyline - in addition to Uryū Ishida, there is at least one other remaining. As opposed to shinigami, who operate using only their inner spiritual energy, Quincy absorb and channel energy from their surroundings. Also as opposed to the shinigami, Quincy actually kill hollows, rather than cleanse their spirits. [edit]
HollowMain 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. All Hollows wear masks, except for a recent few created under the influence of former Gotei 13, 5th Division Captain Sōsuke Aizen. These Hollows are called "arrancar" and have been able to remove their masks and tap into the powers of the shinigami. Although they carry zanpakutō, the manner in which they release their swords is different from the shinigami, in the sense that rather than modifying the weapon, it modifies the body of the arrancar itself. [edit]
BoundExclusive to the anime thus far, the Bound, like the Quincy, are a group of human beings with special abilities. But Unlike the Quincy who destroy Hollows, the Bound consume the souls of human beings. They also differ from the Quincy in that eating souls allows them to live for centuries: theoretically, a Bound could live forever. They were officially discovered by Kisuke Urahara, though their existence has been known for centuries in the guise of vampires. While they usually feed on the souls of the dead, recently the Bound have started consuming those of live human beings, leaving only death without rebirth. [edit]
Locales[edit]
Human worldThe human world of Bleach is modern Japan, specifically a neighborhood known as Karakura. In this world, Ichigo attends school, fights hollows, and tries to avoid rumours that he is Rukia's boyfriend. Places of note are the high school, the Urahara Shop, the cemetery, and Ichigo and Orihime's homes. [edit]
Spirit worldMain article: Soul Society The Spirit World, or Soul Society, corresponds to the afterlife in human belief systems. It consists of a giant walled city in the center, known as the Sereitei, 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. A king resides in Soul Society, yet no details about him have surfaced. [edit]
Hueco MundoMain article: 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. Hueco Mundo is also where Aizen Sousuke, Ichimaru Gin, and Tousen Kaname flee to with the help of the Gillian (Menos Grande) after recovering the Hōgyoku. It is in this place the Arrancar reside. The entrance of Hueco Mundo is very similar to that of Hell, though intead it is only a single skeletal body, and there are no chains. [edit]
Crossing between worldsIt 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 (a black moth created from soul burial that can perform a multitude of tasks). Hollows can cross over to both Soul Society and the human world by opening a rift in space, although they don't usually dare enter Soul Society. [edit]
HellLittle 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 as mortals to be allowed into Soul Society. If the incident with Shrieker is any indication, when a hollow whose mortal 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 when they are confronted by a Shinigami as a spirit. [edit]
Media informationMain article: Bleach media information This manga is being translated into English by VIZ Media, although several scanlation groups continue to release unofficial English translations. As with many other popular manga series, an animated version is currently running. 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 it over the Internet. There are a total of 69 episodes and one omake (TV special) episode so far that are broken into three arcs, with arc three being a filler arc. The series has no plan to stop as of yet. In Volume 4, Issue 3 of the American Shonen Jump, there was an interview with the creator of Bleach. In the interview, it was said that Tite Kubo entered into a manga contest, but lost. An editor noticed him, and so they worked with each other. [edit]
External linksOfficial sites
Encyclopedia entries Fan sites
Related Bleach Blogs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
