Bleach

"Who Am I?": Character-Building in Bleach

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In the world of anime and manga, you can never avoid talks about friendship, power, politics, discrimination, love and other mainstream topics nowadays. Of the most common topics ever tackled in most shounenmangas, for example, is the classic tale of identity. The question, "Who am I?" never really gets old, which is probably why the Bleach manga series deserved such high praise from people.

Why Is It Always Ichigo?

Alright, face the facts. If there's one character who has serious identity crisis, IchigoKurusaki would definitely deserve the trophy for this one. Ichigo was a regular high school teenager, occasionally hot-headed but otherwise normal, physically anyway. He has the ability to see the supernatural world. It wasn't enough that he already had problems at school; he had to be dragged into the dangerous world of the Soul Society. As stated in the events below, Ichigo is always in the face of danger and trouble:

        Transfer of Rukia's Soul Reaper powers. Of all the humans that would have been endageredfrom the Hollows, it had to be him that bumps into Rukia and receives her power as a substitute Soul Reaper.

        Aizen's rebellion. Ichigo, while on the mission to save Rukia, had to witness the politicking and the craziness of Aizen as he made illegal experiments on Hollows and reapers, making hybrids.

        Conflict with the Ten Espada. Finally, Ichigo was recognized as an official substitute reaper, he ends up making an enemy with a rebel group.

        Fight Xcution leader Ginjo. Manipulating his supernaturally aware friends just didn't tally as friendly values for him. The Full bringers had to be defeated by Ichigo.

        The rise of the Quincys. His friend Uryu was recruited. He gets dragged on the civil war.

        The truth in his bloodline. And so, his parents had a little secret: his father was a Soul reaper while his mother was a Qunicy. That would explain his powers.

Although he had bad luck, conveniently attracting constant danger around him, no one can deny his lasting friendships with the other characters.