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□ Name: Ichigo Kurosaki

□ Series: Bleach

□ Canon point: Around chapter 521, shortly after he entered the Zero Squad’s territory to prepare for the war against the Vandenreich.

□ History: Ichigo's history is located here.

□ Personality: Ichigo is a young man defined by his past. As a big brother, he was raised to be a protector, a defender, and was often told that his name means “One Who Protects” as a child. He started learning karate at an early age and like every young boy, he had dreams of being a hero, living up to the expectations placed on him. Back then, though, he was a cheerful, bright boy with a doting mother who lit up his world, and he was enamored with.

Everything changed when she died. One the way back from karate class, Ichigo saw a girl standing at the side of a river, and ran down to try and save her from falling in. However, it wasn’t a little girl – it was the lure of a Hollow, a ghostly monster that was ready to devour him. His mother threw herself after him, took the blow, and died from it. Ever since then, as he himself would describe it, it was like the sun was gone from his family. He became quiet, sullen, and spent days just walking down the riverside, like he was trying to find her, doing nothing else.

He grew up hard. Between his hot-headed attempts to be a protector, the loss of his mother, and the bullying he endured for his naturally orange hair, things didn’t go easily for him. He became increasingly bitter, closed off, and ready to act with violence. He spent a lot of time studying and is one of the best students in his class, if only because it gives teachers less reason to hassle him, and he has few friends at school. He spent much of his time working to help put ghosts to rest, able to see spirits from a young age, but he was as annoyed by them as anything, mostly trying to help them, at least as he’d put it, to get them to leave him alone.

All of his attitude, though, is because he is a deeply sensitive young man. He can’t help wanting to protect everyone close to him, his friends, his little sisters, but he can’t bare the thought of failing them like he failed his mother, and so he tries to push people away. He keeps his distance, he uses sarcasm and bluster as a shield, and doesn’t connect with others if he can avoid it. One of his closest friends is Chad, an enormous and near superhumanly strong young man, and part of the reason they’re so close is that Ichigo knows he can take care of himself. One of the closest of his companions these days is Rukia Kuchiki, the Shinigami who is responsible for his awakening to his world of spiritual dangers. She put herself in harm’s way to protect him and his family, and then became directly responsible for him getting access to his powers. As such, he feels a deep debt of gratitude to her, and a responsibility to take her place as a Soul Reaper, and to keep her safe from harm.

It was because of this debt of responsibility, the weight of honor on his shoulders, that he picked up his sword for somewhat selfless reasons. He was reluctant, at first, to save ghosts that he didn’t know, no doubt more from a fear of failure and a fear of hurting himself by overextending himself as much as anything, but Rukia almost bullied him into the role. He has steadily taken on more and more responsibility, and the hot-headed attitude of a teenager was slowly beaten out of him. Though he’s still known to throw attitude, especially to those who try to push him around, or those he sees as equals, he’s become much more responsible the longer he’s fought and the higher the stakes have grown. The more people who are at risk, the more seriously he takes things, and the greater the stress grows upon him.

At the point where entire cities are at risk for destruction, he becomes a stony-faced warrior who won’t let anything get in his way. And he takes it all upon himself. Despite the companions he fights side by side with, despite the people who try to offer their aid, his need to protect and his complex over being strong enough to make sure that no one has hurt leads him time and time again to take entirely too much of a burden upon himself. He ignores aid, and he tries to push his friends out of conflicts so that he is the only one who gets hurt, no matter how hard they try to tell him off for this.

Of course, some of his enemies especially believe that there is more to his reason for fighting than just wanting to stop destruction. He has been challenged a few times that he actively enjoys combat, that he takes a thrill from crossing swords and putting his life on the line. He denies this more often than not, but there is another part of him that makes it seem much more likely. His Hollow side. Taking the form of a chalk-pale version of himself inside his own head, this Hollow is a blood-thirsty and savage individual. It represents all of Ichigo’s repressed violent urges, and wants to use his strength for nothing more than carnage. To become the strongest, to cut down more and more powerful enemies and see them crushed beneath his heel. And this Hollow side is always waiting for the chance to strike. It tells him again and again that if he becomes too weak, it is more than willing to take over, saying that while it is the horse that supports the King for now, it will not hesitate to buck him off and trample him if he isn’t strong enough to take charge.

And there have been times that it has taken over. In this state, with his Hollow the dominant force, Ichigo is nothing short of a monster. Often silent, or screaming in inhuman fury, it destroys everything in its path, ripping apart anyone who tries to stop him and striking his enemies with brutal, bloody efficiency. The Hollow is certainly enormously powerful and a force to be feared, but time and again Ichigo restrains it, tries to hold it back and suppress it, even if it would let him win. It’s to the point that when his Hollow blew an opponent mostly in half, he insisted that someone heal his enemy so that they could have a fair fight, luckily an offer that no one was willing to take up but Ichigo himself.

It is this sharp dichotomy that really defines Ichigo, a character summed up by his duality. On the one hand, he is sharp-tongued and rude, running down his friends, insulting his father, and getting into casual, grumpy fights with people almost constantly. On the other, he is one of the most deeply caring and passionately protective people around, who would do literally anything to save his friends and family from harm, and even people he doesn’t know. Similarly, while he can be a vicious warrior, strong and unrelenting and throwing himself to the wolves for a chance at power, a chance to become stronger and able to save the day, he is also obsessed with honor and doing things fairly and making sure that anything that is done, is done with his own hands and almost in a way that ensures he suffers for the end result. He is self-sacrificing to the point of self-destruction, noble, broken, and a hero always on the brink of tragedy.

□ Age: 17

□ Gender: Male

□ Appearance: Ichigo is a lanky teenage boy, standing around 5’11”. His build seems slim but all his swordfighting and battling has left him with a well-sculpted and impressively muscular torso, even if he isn’t especially bulky. His hair is naturally orange, an inheritance from his mother, standing up in constant spikes. His eyes are brown, usually screwed up in a frown, and he has an almost permanent wrinkle between his eyebrows. His preference is for tight-fitting clothes, and he usually wears simple jeans, t-shirts, and long-sleeved shirts, colorful but uncomplicated.

□ Abilities/Powers: As Ichigo, being a shonen protagonist, has a frankly stupid amount of powers, I’m going to break it down by the “source” of those powers to put it in slightly more manageable chunks.

Shinigami – As a Shinigami, or Soul Reaper, Ichigo has many powers outside the norm. He is faster and considerably stronger and more durable than the average human, able to handle being punched through buildings with ease, and darting around faster than the human eye can track. Many of his powers also resolve around the manipulation of “spiritual particles.” Using these he can stand and walk in open air, and manifest his Zanpakutoh, the sword that serves as a representation of his soul. Other than being an unusually long, curved, bandaged blade, it can use a technique called “Getsuga Tenshou,” which can best be described as a massive sword laser.

Furthermore, he can access a second stage with his sword, the Bankai, a final release of power. In this state, he becomes wrapped in a long black coat that serves as a sort of meter for his remaining spiritual energy, and his sword compresses from its man-sized height to a more straightforward, jet black katana. This compression of power makes him insanely fast, even greater than his previous state. It also grants him access to a much more powerful black Getsuga Tenshou.

Hollow – Not all of Ichigo’s powers come from his nature as a Shinigami, however. His soul was affected by the monstrous beings known as Hollows, giving him access to a darker kind of power. At its most basic state, he can pull a skull-like white mask across his face, generally increasing his power level as long as it lasts, but that’s not the end of it. As he accesses more and more of his Hollow side, something he is generally loathe to do, he gains access to super high speed regeneration, able to fully regrow limbs and come back from near fatal injuries in moments. He can also unleash a Cero, a massive, destructive blast of energy, unleashed from his mouth. As he uses more of his Hollow powers, he becomes more monstrous in appearance, a hulking, reptilian beast with antlers and hair running down to mid-back.

Quincy – Finally, Ichigo is not only the son of a Shinigami, but also a Quincy, an entirely different kind of spiritual warrior. His powers with it are untested, though, as he has only recently become aware of it. He has subconsciously used the Blut ability, however, which channels spiritual particles through his body under his skin, making it much harder and more resistant against harm.

□ Personal Items: Ichigo brings with him a cellphone, a few changes of clothes, and his Substitute Shinigami Badge.

□ First Person Sample:

[The video came on to reveal a young man staring at himself in the mirror. Immediately noticeable is his brightly orange hair standing up in a cloud of short spikes around his head. Perhaps even more distinct is the firm, fierce scowl he has on his face, making him look older than he is. His jaw is set and his eyes are hard, the kind of inner strength that only comes from trading swords and shedding blood, and knowing that he’s capable of doing just that if he has to. He’s bent over a little, hands gripping tightly at the edge of the table the mirror stands on, his knuckles visibly white. It seems to be everything he can do to keep himself together, tension written in every line of his body.

He takes a deep breath.

As always, Ichigo Kurosaki is sharp and to the point.]

Listen. I don’t know what the big deal is, but me? I can’t stay here.

[Muscles work in his jaw, clenching and twitching at the corners of his mouth as he grinds his teeth together.]

There’s some serious business I have to take care of. You can’t just take away my… part of me like this, and expect me to sit here and be happy. People need me. They need me.

[His eyes swing down for a moment, staring at his hands. One releases the edge of the table, and he simply looks at it, watching his fingers curl into a loose fist. It tightens, and his gaze snaps up to the mirror again. The melancholy briefly written on his face is erased by more of that cold, furious resolve.]

You people had better let me go. Or I’m going to bust out of here myself. You can try to stop me, but I’ve beaten meaner sons of bitches than the people running the show here. I can guarantee it.

[He nods, like he’s confirming his words to himself.]

Don’t fuck with me. I’ve got a war to win.

□ Third Person Sample: A sample is right here.