Ichigo Kurosaki

"Unless I grip the sword, I can not protect you. While gripping the sword I can not embrace you."

Overview

His origin is somewhat a mystery. His mother was killed protecting him as a young child, and information of his birth father has practically unknown. A Soul Reaper who has an uncanny resemblance to him is currently considered dead and may or may not have some connection to him. Unknown to Ichigo, his adopted father who raised him is a former Soul Reaper.

Ichigo looks off into the distance.

Very early on had a deep respect for the dead. That might be because he could see the souls lingering in the world from time to time. A roadside memorial was defaced by a couple of thugs in the first episode of the Anime and he went out of his way to set it right. His first understanding of Soul Reapers started when Rukia Kuchiki entered his life.

Soon after that he found himself dueling with a Hollow.

Rukia had fallen and she gave him her powers so he might fight on in her place. Immediately after this he started to show unusually powerful signs of strength. The sword he now carried was a direct representation of his inner power, and it was impossibly huge as compared to other Soul Reaper Swords.

As Hollows eat souls this was a battle in which loss meant oblivion. Despite that he defeated it with little difficulty and began his carrier as a Substitute Soul Reaper designated with protecting his city from the endless hordes of Hollow lurking just beyond the veil of reality.

In time Rukia is arrested for her involvement in Ichigo gaining his spiritual powers and taken back to where the souls of the uncorrupted dead and Soul Reapers live. What follows is Ichigo’s assault on what is essentially described as Heaven. His friends, also having discovered powers of their own, travel to this realm and rescue her from the death she was sentenced to.

In the process they find a huge conspiracy has taken place. Some of the Elite of the Soul Reapers Known as Captains have hatched a complicated plan to strike at the King of the Soul society, an unseen all powerful figure who rules eternally from a throne in a dimension almost totally unreachable. Once there they plot to somehow take total control. The key to unlocking the door is similarly complicated. Rukia carries with her the Hogyoku, a powerful artifact that has many and mighty powers.

 After the corrupted Captains have what they wanted they move into the realm of Hollows where they rule there as Kings and built an Army of Hollows with powers far beyond that of the typical rank and file ones Ichigo had faced previously. During this time he also discovered a vast power within him (typically reserved for Captains) called Bankai.

In the Anime filler Ichigo than has a string of battles with the Bounto, a group of vampire like killers who dream of destroying the soul society.

In the latest Popularity poll Ichigo came in Third.

Soon after this his good friend Orihime is kidnapped by the Super Hollows known as Arrancar because her powers are totally unique and necessary in the main goal of unleashing the power of the Hogyoku and throwing open the gates of the King of the Soul Society.

Once again Ichigo and friends go to the rescue, this time fighting in the Hollow’s world, a vast and complete desert with only a City so huge it is difficult to describe. If you imagined it being the size of a small moon, you wouldn’t be far off. This place is called Hueco Mundo, and once there they do battle with a goodly number of Arrancar.

This brings us up to the Manga as it stands as of this edit. Ichigo duels with one of the most powerful Arrancar to save Orihime in the world of the Hallows. In the Real world Aizen has taken a hand picked team of Arrancar to fulfill the final phase in his plot to open the gates of the King of the soul society. Namely he has to detonate Ichigo’s Hometown into a pile of ash and harvest the residual spiritual energy. The Captains of the Soul society knew this was coming they took that city and froze it, moving it to a different dimension. Now they stand ready to defend an identical city they made for the purpose of not instilling world wide panic if it was discovered one city had vanished for some reason.

Trivia

Each Bankai blade has a unique hilt. Ichigo's is an old taoism symbol in the shape of a reversed swastika. It means "ban" or full when talking about the human spirit.