Ichigo Kurosaki (黒崎 一護 Kurosaki Ichigo) is the main character of the anime and manga series Bleach who receives "Death God" (Shinigami) powers as a result of a run-in with Rukia Kuchiki, one of the shinigami from the Soul Society. The powers came at the cost of her own, and as a result, Ichigo dedicated his life to filling in as Rukia's stand-in, fighting to protect people from Hollows (evil spirits), and sending "Pluses" (pure souls) off to the afterlife. Template:Spoiler
Character outline
Ichigo (sometimes called "Strawberry", though this nickname is more prevalent in the manga version) is a a rough-and-tumble teenager, has always been able to see ghosts. This changes, however, when Rukia transfers her power to him. As it turns out, Ichigo is very powerful spiritually. Amongst other things, this is reflected in the enormous zanpakutō he manifests. (The zanpukatō, or soul cutter, is the primary weapon of all shinigami, and its size correlates with spiritual strength.) With his new power as a Soul Reaper, Ichigo makes quick work of the hollow, and Rukia leaves.
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. The strength of Ichigo's spirit caused him to fully absorb her powers rather than taking half, leaving her trapped in a gigai - a temporary human body. While she recovers her abilities, Ichigo must take over her job, watching over the region and battling hollows in her stead.
Ichigo's powers
Though Ichigo already had a marked amound of spiritual power as a result of his lineage, as a result of receving his powers from Rukia, Ichigo sets off a flurry of activity both in the human and soul worlds. An increased amount of Hollows (and at one point, even a Grand Menos, a sort of Superhollow) come to the human world and are dispatched in one form or another by Ichigo, Rukia, and eventually a group of friends whose own powers awaken after prolonged exposure to Ichigo's increased abilities.
At one point, Ichigo loses his powers upon after fighting a pair of shinigami who came to arrest his powers are lost in a battle, but he regains them in a training session that nearly costs him both his life and soul. Immediately upon becoming a "true" shinigami, he sets out to the Soul Society to rescue Rukia.
Ichigo's Family
Ichigo lives with his father, Isshin Kurosaki, and two sisters, Yuzu and Karin. His mother Masaki Kurosaki died six years ago. His father runs a small clinic in their house and the entire family pitches in to help. His father is always excited, and constantly "fights" with Ichigo, although it is always in a joking way. Karin is extremely athletic, active, and can suppress her feelings while Yuzu is very passive and emotional.
On the outside, this seems to be a fairly normal family, except for one fact. Ichigo has had an exceptional ability for much of his life: he is able to see and communicate with ghosts. As a matter of fact, the entire Kurosaki family, except for the father, has some degree of spiritual power. Of the children, Ichigo has the most amount of spirutal power (consequently making him the strongest), with Karin coming in next and Yuzu ranking in last. It is also known that their mother has spiritual power. This leads to the belief that the Ichigo family children get their power from their mother's side. Initially, Karin can only hear ghosts sometimes and cannot see them at all and Yuzu's powers were still not as strong as Ichigo's. As the series progresses, everybody's powers increase (including some of his spiritually aware friends) because of their contact through Ichigo. Ichigo has an incredible amount of spiritual force, but he cannot control it well; due to this fact, he leaks out his spiritual power (unconsciously and unaware that he is doing this) which affects spiritually aware people close to him.
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