Ichigo Kurosaki

A ginger-haired teenager who fights Hollows as a Substitute Soul Reaper.

Ichigo Kurosaki is the main protagonist of the Bleach manga series created by Tite Kubo. He is a teenage boy with ginger hair who receives Soul Reaper powers after meeting Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper assigned to patrol Karakura Town. These powers come at the cost of her own, leading him to act as her stand-in against evil spirits called Hollows while sending good spirits to the Soul Society. When Rukia is captured and sentenced to execution, Ichigo travels to the Soul Society to save her, where he must learn Bankai to succeed. His character has been consistently ranked as the most popular in Weekly Shōnen Jump polls and is recognized alongside Naruto and Luffy as one of the big three anime characters.

Quick Facts

Series

Bleach

First

Bleach #1 "Death & Strawberry" (2001)

Creator

Tite Kubo

Voice

Japanese
Masakazu Morita
Yuki Matsuoka (child)
English
Johnny Yong Bosch
Mona Marshall (child)

Portrayed by

Sota Fukushi, Kaito Takamura (child)

Gender

Male

Spouse

Orihime Inoue

Relatives

Sora Inoue (brother-in-law, deceased)

Lore & Background

Ichigo's design evolved from initial sketches featuring dark hair, glasses, and softer eyes to his final appearance with orange hair, a trademark scowl, and no glasses. Author Tite Kubo modified these traits specifically to contrast with Rukia Kuchiki. During the series' first chapter, Ichigo's wristwatch was based on one Kubo wore personally; later chapters updated it to resemble Naoto Fukasawa's W11K cellphone. While Kubo found it awkward to draw Ichigo smiling cheerfully, he attributed the character's popularity to his cool appearance and warm, kind-hearted nature.

Kubo stated that Ichigo's greatest strength is his considerate nature, though this same trait becomes a weakness when worrying about friends puts him in danger. Regarding romance, Kubo confirmed that Ichigo never had feelings for Orihime Inoue during the story; their relationship only became romantic offscreen in their fictional adult years.

Reader's Guide

Initially, he faces Grand Fisher, the hollow who killed his mother when he was nine years old. To rescue Rukia from execution, he enters the Soul Society and learns Bankai, defeating Byakuya Kuchiki to expose Sousuke Aizen's betrayal. Following Aizen's flight to Hueco Mundo, Ichigo trains with the Vizard to control his internal Hollow powers while saving Orihime Inoue from Ulquiorra Cifer. He defeats Ulquiorra using this internal power and later confronts Aizen in Karakura Town, learning the Final Getsuga Tenshō technique.

This ultimate move weakens Aizen but costs Ichigo all his powers. Seventeen months later, during the Lost Agent arc, he meets Kūgo Ginjō of Xcution. Ichigo unlocks Fullbring powers through his Substitute Soul Reaper Badge only to discover Ginjō and Shūkurō Tsukishima manipulated him. After learning that Ginjō was the first Substitute Soul Reaper and that the Soul Society limits their powers, Ichigo resolves to protect everyone. Rukia eventually restores his Shinigami powers via a special sword, allowing him to defeat Ginjō.

Did You Know?

Masakazu Morita, Ichigo's Japanese voice actor, considers voicing him alongside Tidus from Final Fantasy X as one of his favorite roles.
Johnny Yong Bosch found it difficult to voice scenes where Ichigo shouts for extended periods.
Sota Fukushi played the live-action role of Ichigo in the 2018 film adaptation.