Bleach (US) - TV Show - Watch Online

The story opens with the sudden appearance of Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki in Ichigo Kurosaki's bedroom. She is surprised at his ability to see her, but their conversation is interrupted by the appearance of a "hollow", an evil spirit. After Rukia is severely wounded while trying to protect Ichigo, she attempts to transfer half her powers to Ichigo in order to let him face the hollow on equal footing. Ichigo instead unintentionally absorbs almost all her energy, allowing him to defeat the hollow with ease. The next day Rukia appears in Ichigo's classroom as a seemingly normal human, and informs Ichigo that his absorption of her powers has left her stranded in the human world until she recovers her strength. In the meantime Ichigo shelters Rukia in his home and takes over her job as a Soul Reaper, battling hollows and guiding lost souls to the afterlife realm known as Soul Society.

After a few months of this arrangement, in the sixth volume of the series, Rukia's Soul Reaper superiors find out about her giving her powers away (which is illegal in Soul Society) and send a detachment to arrest her, and sentence her to death. Ichigo is unable to stop Rukia's capture, but with the help of several of his classmates who also possess spiritual abilities and ex-Soul Reaper and captain Kisuke Urahara, he sets off for the Soul Reaper base, located in Soul Society. Once there, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military, and are ultimately successful in halting Rukia's execution.

It is then revealed that Rukia's execution and Ichigo's rescue attempt were both manipulated by Sosuke Aizen, a high ranking Soul Reaper previously believed to be murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of Soul Society. Aizen betrays his fellow Soul Reapers and allies himself with the hollows, becoming the main antagonist of the series, and Ichigo teams up with his former enemies in Soul Society after learning that the next step in Aizen's plan involves the destruction of his hometown. At this point, Bleach chronicles the war between Aizen and the Soul Society, a plotline which has not yet been resolved. According to Tite Kubo, the ending of the series is not yet planned out or written.

Kurosaki Ichigo

Ichigo, a high school freshman, is forced to become a substitute shinigami after having absorbed all of Rukia's powers. His cynical nature at first makes him ill-disposed, but with the passage of time he comes to accept and welcome it, recognizing that even if he is not able to save everyone, he can at least use his skills to protect those close to him. After that, when Ichigo loses his powers as a substitute, he chooses to risk death in an attempt to become a full-fledged shinigami.

Rukia Kuchiki

Rukia Kuchiki is a shinigami who was sent on a hollow extermination patrol in Ichigo Kurosaki's hometown. Though she looks like a teenage girl, she is actually over a hundred years old. Rukia is forced to transfer her power to Ichigo and assume a temporary lifestyle as a regular human. She registers at the local high school and takes up residence in Ichigo's closet, while teaching him how to be a substitute shinigami in her place.

Orihime Inoue

Orihime Inoue is a classmate of Ichigo. She is an orphan, as she and her elder brother Sora ran away from their abusive home at a young age, and her brother later died. Though initially she had no spiritual powers, she begins to develop spiritual awareness and later possesses some of the most powerful healing abilities in the Bleach universe, able to completely restore a body to its previous state regardless of how severely it is wounded.

Yasutora "Chad" Sado

Yasutora Sado, Chad, is one of Ichigo's few friends at school. He is a half-Japanese, half-Mexican student. Despite his imposing appearance he is quite meek, and refuses to fight unless it is for the sake of another. He does not have any awareness of ghosts at first, but when he witnesses a group of children being attacked by a hollow he discovers a unique ability that turns his right arm into metal and lets him fight hollows.

Kisuke Urahara

Kisuke runs the Urahara shop, a candy store that also sells supernatural items to shinigami. He is one of the most significant figures in the Bleach universe, bearing immense knowledge of the spiritual realms which he uses to mastermind the operations of the protagonists.

Uryu Ishida

Uryū Ishida is actually a Quincy, descendant of a line of priest-like hollow-hunting archers. He bears a deep grudge against all shinigami, including Ichigo Kurosaki but eventually changes his mind and becomes an ally and friendly rival.

Renji Abarai

Renji is an elite shinigami, a 6th Division lieutenant, and second in command of a sub-branch of the shinigami armed forces. Although at first he was a deadly enemy, he has conflicting loyalties between his job and Rukia, with whom he grew up.