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Caution: Spoilers!

Ichigo Kurosaki is a 15-year-old high school student, who has naturally orange hair (though I've read that most people apparently don't believe he doesn't bleach it, which is where the show's title comes from). He lives with his widower father Isshin, who runs a medical clinic; and his little sisters, Karin and Yuzu. Ichigo can see ghosts, and often helps them out. Yuzu can sort of sense ghosts, but nothing more. Karin can see them, but claims not to believe in them. Anyway, there are different kinds of spirits. The disembodied spirits of those who have died- i.e., ghosts- are called Wholes. Then there are Hollows, evil spirits that wear masks, and who devour the souls of both humans and Wholes. Though Hollows are were themselves originally Wholes, until they were driven mad. There are also Soul Reapers, who use swords called Zanpakuto to send Wholes to the Soul Society (the spirit world), as well as to fight Hollows. They purify Hollows so that they can also be sent to the Soul Society. And Soul Reapers can use "demon arts" spells called kido.

However, Ichigo didn't know any of these details, until one day a Hollow attacked, and while Ichigo was helping a ghost escape, a Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki (who we quite like) showed up and took care of the Hollow. Later she showed up at Ichigo's house looking for another Hollow, which was actually searching for Ichigo. Because of his high level of spirit energy, his soul would be especially tasty to Hollows. When Rukia was injured fighting the Hollow, she transfered her powers to Ichigo, who then dealt with the Hollow himself. So, he becomes a substitute Soul Reaper, while Rukia waits to regain her powers. And she sticks around to teach him such details about Wholes and Hollows, and all that goes along with the job.

Since Soul Reapers are no more visible to most humans than are ghosts, Rukia got herself an artificial human body called a gigai (though it looks just like her real body). Though she's actually much older than any human, she looks about Ichigo's age, so she's started attending his school. Meanwhile, to use his powers as a Soul Reaper, Ichigo's spirit has to leave his body. And so his body would seem unconscious, or dead, or something, so usually when he's out of his body, it's animated by a mod soul, which is stored as a pill (or soul candy) he swallows. Mod (short for modified) souls were an experimental line of artificial souls, all of which were supposed to have been destroyed by the Soul Society after creating them. But when Rukia ordered an artificial soul for Ichigo, an escaped mod soul called Kon was delivered by mistake. But they decide to keep him anyway, not thinking he deserves to be destroyed. Anyway, when not inhabiting Ichigo's body, he's in the body of a plush lion doll.

Meanwhile, Ichigo has some human friends his own age, like this really big guy called Yasutora "Chad" Sado, and a couple of girls named Tatsuki Arisawa and Orihime Inoue (both of whom we quite like). There are a few other students we sometimes see a bit of, but they're basically just there for comic relief. Anyway, another student at Ichigo's school is Uryu Ishida, who turns out to be a Quincy. They were a clan of humans who had a high spiritual awareness, and who fought Hollows centuries ago. But unlike Soul Reapers, they didn't believe Hollows deserved the peace of the Soul Society, so rather than purifying them, Quincies would destroy Hollows entirely. This led to Soul Reapers eliminating the Quincy clan 200 years ago, but it seems some remain. So of course, Uryu hates Soul Reapers, including Ichigo. Another important character is a man named Kisuke Urahara (who Ichigo calls "Mr. Hat and Clogs"), who runs a shop that sells items for Soul Reapers, and he's the one Rukia got Kon from, as well as her gigai, etc. And he shows up now and then. (Urahara has a few assistants, including a cute little girl named Ururu Tsumugiya, a boy named Jinta Hanakari, and a large man named Tessai Tsukabishi.)

After awhile, Rukia gets in trouble with the Soul Society for having transferred her powers to a human, and she's taken back home and sentenced to be executed. In the Soul Society, there are 13 squads of Soul Reapers, each led by a captain and a lieutenant. Rukia (who was in the 13th squad) was taken back by Captain Byakuya Kuchiki of the 6th squad, and his lieutenant, Renji Abarai. Renji is a childhood friend of Rukia's, having grown up together in the Rukon district of the Soul Society. They were part of a group of kids who lived on the streets, before Rukia and Renji were recruited to study at the academy to become Soul Reapers. Rukia was later adopted by the Kuchiki clan, one of four noble families in the Soul Society, which means Byakuya, the current head of the clan, became like her older brother, though he doesn't seem to care for her. Anyway, when Byakuya and Renji came to take Rukia back as a prisoner, Ichigo and Uryu both tried to stop them, and failed. And Byakuya removed Rukia's Soul Reaper powers from Ichigo.

Then Ichigo decides to enter the Soul Society himself, to rescue Rukia (in spite of her telling him not to). But first he receives some training from Urahara and his assistants; part of that training involves awakening Ichigo's own latent Soul Reaper powers, since he no longer has Rukia's. He also has to learn the name of his Zanpakuto, to call on its full power. All Zanpakuto have their own names and special powers. (Ichigo's is Zangetsu, who sometimes appears to him in human form, in a sort of dream world that represents Ichigo's mind or spirit, where Zangetsu tries to sort of advise Ichigo.) When Urahara opens the gateway to the Soul Society, Ichigo will be joined by Chad and Orihime, who both turn out to have some spiritual powers of their own. (Some kind of armor appears on Chad's arm, which reminds me of Kazuma from s-CRY-ed. Orihime's varied powers come from six fairies known as the Shun Shun Rikka, which reside in the hairpins her late brother, Sora, gave her years ago. Each fairy has its own name, personality, and power, but ultimately they're all manifestations of Orihime's own spirit. There are three females: Shun'o, Lily, and Ayame, each of whom we kinda like; and three males: Tsubaki, Hinagiku, and Baigon.) Also joining in the rescue mission are Uryu, and a talking cat named Yoruichi Shihouin (who knows a great deal about the Soul Society, for reasons that will become apparent later in the series). While Ichigo was training with Urahara, Chad and Orihime received training from Yoruichi, while Uryu trained on his own.

Once they've gotten to the Soul Society, the group will be helped by a woman named Kukaku Shiba (who we like) to enter the Seretei (the part of the Soul Society where the Soul Reapers live, which is protected by a barrier). Kukaku's younger brother, Ganju, will join the party on their mission. He has his own reasons to hate Soul Reapers, since one of them killed his older brother, Kaien, who had been lieutenant of the 13th squad of Soul Reapers. When he first met Ichigo, he hated him, since he now appeared to be a Soul Reaper, and they would fight sometimes, but ultimately they became allies in the mission to rescue Rukia, even though Ganju had never met her. When he eventually did meet her, well... a bitter irony is revealed. But meanwhile, the group of Ryoka (the term for intruders who do not belong in the Soul Society) gets separated. Chad is on his own, while Uryu and Orihime are together, and Ichigo and Ganju are together. And um... actually I forget who Yoruichi was with initially. Anyway, they'll all have to face plenty of Soul Reapers in battle, while trying to find each other again, as well as trying to find where Rukia is being held. Ichigo and Ganju will be assisted by Hanataro Yamada of the 4th squad, who mainly provide medical services for the other squads, since they're not good at battle. While Hanataro is technically the enemy, he likes Rukia and wants them to rescue her.

Well, there are a ton of Soul Reapers to meet in the course of this arc of the series (and we do like lots of them, like squad 4 Capt. Retsu Unohana, squad 5 Lt. Momo Hinamori, squad 8 Lt. Nanao Ise, Squad 10 Lt. Rangiku Matsumoto, and squad 12 Lt. Nemu Kurotsuchi). But the interesting thing is how complicated the politics of the Soul Society are, how everyone has their own personalities, histories, and agendas, of course. And in the midst of the ryokas' intrusion into the Seireitei, squad 5 Capt. Sosuke Aizen is murdered. Since there's so much confusion, it doesn't seem like there's much time for a proper investigation, and many wonder if the intruders are responsible, though Aizen's lieutenant, Momo, thinks the real culprit is squad 3 Capt. Gin Ichimaru (who certainly does seem quite evil, and is constantly wearing a devilish grin). Of course, we also eventually learn that Yoruichi is actually a woman (who we like; neither cat nor male, despite the male voice she uses in her cat form). And there's clearly alot more to learn about her....

Well... I don't want to say anything too spoilerish about how the rescue story arc ends. But everything is not what it seems. Oh yes, there are plenty of surprises, and while Rukia is eventually rescued and the heroes return to the human world, a shocking and powerful new enemy is revealed, who will no doubt resurface at some point in the future. Meanwhile, there's a new story arc about Bounts, people who feed on souls rather like vampires feeding on blood. Before we meet any of them, however, Ichigo and his friends face a few mysterious enemies, mod souls named Ririn, Noba, and Kurodo. They, however, are not what they seem. Anyway, their story wraps up quickly enough, and leads into the Bount arc. There's a mystery about just what these Bounts are up to. All I can say so far is that their plans could have devastating consequences for the whole world. Or worlds.

As always, I look forward to learning more about everything and everyone in the show. It's all very cool, and interesting, and funny, and I like the characters, and all the different opening and closing themes are really great, and the episode previews are always pretty funny (though they don't seem to be doing that in the Bount arc), and I dunno what else to say right now....