Ichigo Kurosaki

Name: Ichigo Kurosaki

Age: 15

Visual Age: ...

Gender: Male

Division: Substitute Shinigami

Personality: Personality-wise, Ichigo is a stubborn, reckless, short-tempered, occasionally confrontational, spontaneous, determined, outspoken, strong-willed, witty, cynical, impulsive young man, and is extremely protective of his friends and family. This latter trait is the driving force behind most of his actions and almost all of the story arcs have stemmed from him rushing off to save someone, usually females.

He attempts to maintain a detached and "cool" image despite claiming to not care about what other people think about him. For this reason, he generally keeps his face set in a permanent scowl. However, despite this 'tough guy" image he tries to maintain, he becomes extremely shy and uncomfortable around nude or immodestly dressed women, a fact both Rangiku Matsumoto and Yoruichi Shihōin have teased him for. He is also rather cocky and has been known to taunt and belittle his opponents when fighting. Conversely, he can also go into a state of deep depression when he loses a major battle or lets a friend down. Ichigo has a habit of misreading other people's names, such as Uryū Ishida and Yasutora Sado. One of the series running gags is that he keeps forgetting his classmate's faces and names, with his friends claiming he only knows half the class. Though, he seems to remember names much easier later on in the series. He is a rather smart young man, though.

Although his cocky, hot-headed, and spontaneous nature (as opposed to his true personalities) makes him appear rather dimwitted to more composed and calculating individuals (particularly Uryū), Ichigo is a capable analyst when required and can instinctively catch on to some things much quicker than those around him. His natural orange hair and rebellious disposition tends to annoy many bullies in his school, who constantly pick fights with him. Ichigo claims that he does not care about other people's opinions about him (both in regards to his hair and other subjects) and seems to enjoy fighting the bullies. Similarly, he is also a capable student, ranked 23rd in his school, studies regularly and doesn't neglect his schoolwork; he claims that he has "nothing better to do at home". It is later revealed that he works so hard simply to overcome the misconceptions many teachers have about him, based on his hair color and interactions with other students. It's shown in a recent omake, that, even with his Shinigami status, he is still able to pass exams, though his teacher gave him remedial exams because of his constant disappearances.

Due to his constant fights with bullies, many students were initially rather afraid of him. However he has a warm and kind heart, defiantly looks out for those placed in his charge, and is to a degree quite compassionate once he understands another's point of view. Rukia even states in the first movie that "he only looks scary". This trait makes him quite likable to children. He has never raised his voice or threatened his sisters Karin and Yuzu. However he has some trouble with authority and traditional respect, and is often quite rude when talking to those older than himself. He tends to call General Yamamoto "gramps" and refers to some captains (particularly Kenpachi, Byakuya, and Toshiro) by their given names, despite verbal protests from the latter two. However, he does give Japanese honorifics towards some of those older than him (like Yoruichi and Ukitake).

Appearance: (See Avatar)

History/Background: At the beginning of the series, Ichigo sees and confronts Rukia Kuchiki, a Shinigami, when she enters his home for a soul. During their conversation, a Hollow attacks, having tracked Ichigo back to his house. Because of Ichigo's interference with Rukia's work in his personal effort to protect his family from the Hollow, Rukia is wounded and forced to transfer her powers to him in a desperate measure to save the Kurosaki family. During the transfer, Ichigo absorbs almost all of Rukia's powers rather than taking half, as she had intended. Having her Shinigami abilities and his own immense spiritual power, Ichigo makes short work of the Hollow and Rukia leaves.

The next day, Rukia shows up in Ichigo's class, now apparently a normal human as the other students are capable of seeing her. Rukia informs Ichigo that she is using a Gigai — an artificial body used by Shinigami when they need to recover their powers or stay in the human world for extended periods. While she recovers her abilities, Rukia insists that Ichigo take over her job, battling Hollows and performing Konsō in her stead. At this time, he is only able to transform into a Shinigami when a special seal on Rukia's glove is used to separate his soul from his body, and therefore cannot become a Shinigami without her present. Their acquisition of the Mod Soul (Kon) removes this dependency.

Ichigo's new duties set off a flurry of activity both in the Human world and Soul Society. While visiting the grave of his deceased mother, the Hollow Grand Fisher, who has evaded the Shinigami for over fifty years, comes to the human world and attempts to consume Ichigo's sisters, Karin and Yuzu. It is at this point that Ichigo finds out that Grand Fisher killed his mother and seeks revenge. Rukia tries to keep Ichigo from fighting, as she feared the Hollow was too strong, but Ichigo orders her to go with Kon and take his sisters home. She is reminded of Kaien Shiba's last fight as a fight for honor, and reluctantly follows his orders. Ichigo greatly wounds Grand Fisher, but the Hollow manages to escape.

During a duel with Uryū Ishida, a Quincy, a massive amount of Hollows, including a Menos Grande, are drawn to the human world and defeated in one form or another, mostly by Ichigo and Ishida. Chad and Orihime Inoue also have their dormant powers awakened as a result, and each defeat a Hollow on their own. Ichigo's victory against the Menos draws the attention of Soul Society, triggering an unspected chain of events. Meanwhile, Ishida and Ichigo develop an uneasy friendship as Shinigami and Quincy, with both of them apparently saving each other's lives.

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After drawing the attention of Soul Society, Ichigo loses the Shinigami powers he gained from Rukia after being swiftly defeated by the Shinigami captain Byakuya Kuchiki who, along with Renji Abarai, arrests Rukia and takes her back to Soul Society. The damage Ichigo suffers renders him a powerless human soul, while he discovers that Rukia is guilty of a felony for transferring her powers to a human and remaining in the human world for so long. Desperate to save Rukia, he undergoes intensive training with Kisuke Urahara that nearly costs him his soul, but awakens his own Shinigami abilities by doing so as well as creating a hollow inside himself. After training with Urahara, he leaves for Soul Society with Urahara's mysterious feline friend Yoruichi, along with Orihime, Chad, and Uryū. Even though Rukia had told him not to go after her, he decides to not listen to her and return the favor of saving his life.

Ichigo battles against many Shinigami during his time in Soul Society, managing to tie or defeat numerous lieutenant-level and captain-level Shinigami. Much of the time he is seriously wounded, and on several occasions he barely survives, but each time his incredible endurance carries him through until he is able to be healed. A Hollow mask, a remnant of his training with Urahara, also consistently appears and reappears on his person to block what would normally be fatal blows. The first fight is with Jidanbō, a Seireitei gatekeeper, which Ichigo wins easily, but he is in turn effortlessly repelled by captain Gin Ichimaru. Ichigo enters Seireitei accompanied by Ganju Shiba after being launched from Kūkaku Shiba's spirit cannon. He then proceeds to fight Ikkaku Madarame. Ichigo beats Ikkaku, even after Ikkaku reveals his Zanpakutō's Shikai, and learns that he will be hunted down by Kenpachi Zaraki, who will seek out the strongest of the intruders.

Ichigo is then met by Renji Abarai, who seeks revenge for his earlier defeat. Renji gravely injures Ichigo, who becomes stronger during the fight and manages to barely defeat Renji using a direct Getsuga Tensho; after which Renji begs him to rescue Rukia, his childhood friend, upon changing his mind regarding his loyalties. Renji is taken into detention for trying to fight alone and losing, while Ichigo is healed by Hanatarō Yamada in Seireitei's sewage system. It is revealed here that Ichigo's hollow mask was able to lessen the damage from what would have been fatal blows by Renji, causing Hanatarō to discard the mask in fear. Ichigo finally encounters Kenpachi Zaraki on his way to the Shrine of Penitence, where Rukia is held, and at first can hardly injure the powerful captain, who, according to Hanatarō, is immortal. Ichigo finally calls upon the strength of his Zanpakutō and perhaps his inner hollow( his spiritual power manifests into his Hollow Mask during the clash - whereas Kenpachi's is a Golden Skull) to defeat Kenpachi. In the aftermath of the fight, both Ichigo and Kenpachi are left incapacitated after admitting defeat from the other, Kenpachi being evacuated by his lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi while Ichigo is rescued by Yoruichi. Since that, Ichigo thinks that Kenpachi seeks revenge and Ichigo is highly frightened of him, running away from him when he asked for another fight, even feeling his will to kill him from far away. When in reality, Ichigo is simply one of the most challenging fighters that Kenpachi has ever faced; added with the fact Kenpachi loves to fight only fuels this misconseption. Yachiru has also stated in the Japanese dub that "Ichi is Ken-chan's best friend"

Before his Bankai training and after his fight with Kenpachi, Ichigo goes to the tower where Rukia is being held to save both Hanatarō and Ganju from Byakuya Kuchiki. Upon his arrival he confronts Byakuya, even though he is not at full strength. The fight goes better than his first confrontation with Byakuya but this time Yoruichi stops the fight and insinuates on Yoruichi and Byakuya having a past together. Yoruichi then takes Ichigo to his Bankai training.

Yoruichi tells Ichigo that he cannot save Rukia with his present power and asks him to train to achieve the Bankai of his Zanpakutō. Upon completing the training, he, along with Yoruichi and sympathetic captains Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake, separately converge upon the Sōkyoku to stop Rukia's execution. At the last possible second, Ichigo stops the execution, and proceeds to dispatch three lieutenants — Marechiyo Ōmaeda, Isane Kotetsu and Chōjirō Sasakibe — barehanded. Along with being able to stop the Sokyoku, a blade with the power of 100,000 Zanpakuto, he proves that he has truly become more powerful within the 3 days. He is then confronted by Byakuya Kuchiki.

At first they fight without releasing their zanpakutou, Byakuya casually analyzing Ichigo as he fights, noticing an impressive difference. Ichigo eventually coerces Byakuya to use Bankai. Ichigo is unable to keep up just using his shikai, and he reveals his Bankai against Byakuya, using his speed to outmaneuver Senbonzakura and eventually injure him for the first time. Byakuya counters using the second form of his own Bankai, and after a while Ichigo's bones begin to break under his bankai's spiritual compression, giving Byakuya the chance to paralyze him with a single Kido attack(shot through his shoulder.) This leaves him in critical condition. At this point, Ichigo's inner Hollow surfaces and injures Byakuya to the point that both combatants have almost no power left. After regaining control of himself, Ichigo faces off against Byakuya in a final clash, each channeling all their energy into a single attack. After this final clash, neither has the strength to fight, but Byakuya admits his defeat because his blade was destroyed by Ichigo's. Byakuya then uses shunpo to depart, leaving Ichigo barely standing, the only thing supporting him being his zanpakutou. Ichigo then finds out that the events in Soul Society were an elaborate plot masterminded by Sōsuke Aizen and confronts him alongside Renji Abarai. They put up a great fight, but with Ichigo out of power coupled with Renji's broken zanpakutou, they had little odds of winning. Unable to defeat Aizen, Ichigo is left struggling to stay conscious with his spinal columnn almost completely severed (according to Aizen,)and Rukia is taken from the group while the Hōgyoku is removed from her soul. He is unable to do much of anything without the help of the remaining captains before Aizen departs for Hueco Mundo.

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Other: Yes... I'm ignoring the Bount Arc.. Bount's are bad! (Non Cannon)

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: In terms of fighting style, Ichigo relies mostly on his zanpakutō and the use of flash steps to move at high speeds, and thus would be considered a swordsmanship specialist. His training with Urahara taught him many things about swordsmanship, leading to his victory in earlier battles. His overall skill has been shown capable of competing on equal grounds against sword masters of Byakuya Kuchiki and Kenpachi Zaraki's caliber. He is basically on a learn as you go training regimen thus far his skill has developed by fighting rather then formal instruction. He like Urahara learned his bankai within a short time, even ahead of schedule. So far he has become even more capable with every fight, Having in turn defeated 3 Captains, a handful of seated officers and an Espada-level Arrancar.

Flash Steps Expert: During his training with Yoruichi, Ichigo learned how to use this technique so as to fight evenly with Byakuya. While not particularly versed in the various techniques, he was able to learn enough of the technique itself to keep up with and even surprise Captain-level Shinigami with his speed. Even Byakuya Kuchiki, one of the most proficient users of flash steps in Soul Society, complimented Ichigo's might and proficiency in it. In anime episode 57, Byakuya told Ichigo: "I see you've mastered the Flash Step", further complimenting his speed.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Physically, Ichigo is in top form even when not in his spiritual body. Ichigo has been trained in martial arts since he was a small child, both professionally and by his father (although most of his father's training revolves around random sneak attacks throughout the day). He regularly fights with and defeats bullies and gangsters, and was at one point better martial artist than Tatsuki Arisawa, the second-strongest girl in all of Japan despite fighting with a broken arm in the last few matches of the competition. However, after he defeated her he stopped training. It should be noted that he was able to effortlessly dispatch three lieutenants bare-handed.

Vast Spiritual Energy: Ichigo has been noted on several occasions to have tremendously vast levels of spiritual energy, even by captain-level shinigami standards. It is so overwhelming that even when worn-out in battle, he can continue fighting effectively while still capable of unleashing Getsuga Tenshō. Fourth Espada Ulquiorra Schiffer has claimed that Ichigo's spiritual power at its peak is even greater than his own, but that it fluctuates wildly when he is in conflict with his inner hollow. Due to the fact that he has far more spiritual energy than his body can contain, it leaks out constantly, preventing him from hiding it and effectively making stealth impossible when dealing with other spiritually-aware creatures. However, he has learned how to harden his spiritual energy and enhance the strength of his attacks or act as a barrier to reduce the impact of attacks on him, if not block them completely.

Enhanced Strength: When he is in his shinigami body, Ichigo's already impressive strength is greatly enhanced. His overall abilities are great enough that he can effortlessly wield Zangetsu with one hand, and in one case, even fought off three shinigami lieutenants and their released Zanpakutō bare-handed in rapid succession; he shattered one of their Zanpakutō in a single punch.

Enhanced Durability: Like all shinigami, Ichigo's physical endurance is strengthened to the point where he can effortless survive attacks that would easily kill normal humans. Ichigo is even capable of withstanding attacks that would be fatal to most shinigami, such as taking a direct hit from Grimmjow's explosive darts (though Ichigo's powers were augmented through the use of his hollow mask at the time) without any apparent sign of injury and could even withstand (with some effort) Ulquiorra Schiffer's cero blast.

Advanced Growth Rate: According to both Aizen and Urahara, Ichigo's most astounding ability is his growth rate: he grasps the basic control of advanced techniques in days where it would take several years for even the most gifted shinigami. One example is the bankai of his zanpakutō, which he learns in two days (albiet with the assistance of a special device invented by Urahara that was originally intended for three days). For a normal shinigami, this same feat would require several years of combat experience and at least ten additional years of special training. He also gains mastery of flash steps while training with Yoruichi, which was done over the same period as his Bankai. Ichigo was also able to learn how to detect another's spiritual energy (with no assistance), as he proved he can use a spirit ribbon to find Yuichi Shibata (in bird form), felt Chad losing spirit energy (but that he was alive), he sensed Rukia's strength weakened in Hueco Mundo, and in the second movie came from the city to countryside to check up something he had felt. In the Hueco Mundo arc, during his first fight with Ulquiorra, he is instantly incapacitated by one cero blast even with his hollow mask (which broke within a second), but only a few hours later, he is able to withstand another cero from Ulquiorra without undergoing hollowification and can analyze Ulquiorra's movements much better than before, whereas he "felt like [he] was fighting a machine or a statue", and failed to predict and counter his attacks. This feat, as Ichigo explains, was done either by experience, because Ichigo has become more of a hollow, or because Ulquiorra has become more of a human.

High-Level Intellect: Despite his somewhat punkish attitude, Ichigo has shown himself to be analytical, perceptive, and deductive. In his high school, Ichigo's grades are almost always near the top, despite his work as a substitute shinigami. Aside from that, Ichigo appears to be able to determine the pattern of his opponent's battle methods and correctly deduce a proper counter-strategy to defeat his opponents attacks; such as in his battles with both Ikkaku Madarame and Renji Abarai where he would have been successful in dodging their weapons, if not for unforeseen abilities. He is also fairly charismatic, and while some of his monologues aren't entirely inspirational and philosophical, he's able to gain the trust, respect, and friendship of even his greatest adversaries, often due to his inwardly compassionate nature and remarkable combat prowess. Additionally, it's worth noting that Ichigo has impressive leadership skills, and will sometimes act as the de facto leader of the Ryoka. Even so, Uryu and Renji occasionally compete with Ichigo over leadership responsibility, often due to their proud natures and equally-impressive intellect, combat prowess, and leadership skills, as seen in the Soul Society and Arrancar arcs, respectively. Ichigo does exert some amount of power and authority over Urahara at times, likely due to Ichigo's aforementioned charisma, coupled with Urahara's respect for him. He will also devise and execute strategies with high speed and precision (although not nearly as much, and not in the same league, as Aizen and Urahara), and will personally lead rescue missions and large-scale assaults against his enemies.

Determination: It seems that Ichigo's power is tied to his determination or will to win. It's shown that when he focuses on victory, his strength is enhanced. In the anime, this is depicted by his eyes glowing bright blue, including when he is in his Vizard form, in which case his iris is a glowing yellow. This effect has been shown while he was battling Renji for a second time, and when he defeated his inner hollow. In his last battle against Grimmjow, Ichigo had most of his mask beaten off and was on the verge of collapse as Grimmjow prepared his finishing blow. However after noticing Orihime, who was saddened by watching him get hurt, Ichigo managed to catch Grimmjow's hand without effort or looking, and gripped tight enough to prevent him from moving away. Ichigo then managed to make a clean slash into Grimmjow (despite the fact he had lost most of the benefits from his hollow mask), whereas before most of the damage that he had inflicted that actually made Grimmjow bleed was from Getsuga Tenshō attacks.

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