Ichigo Kurosaki

Ichigo Kurosaki (黒崎 一護) is a Human who has Shinigami powers. He is the son of Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki, and older brother of Karin and Yuzu. He is the main protagonist of the Bleach series.

Appearance
Ichigo looks like a normal teenage boy; the one exception to that is his spiky orange hair, a trait that he has been ridiculed about for years. He is a fairly tall, lean-built person with peach skin and brown eyes. He has a tendency to wear shirts patterned with the number 15, because his name is a homonym for the number. Since becoming a Shinigami, he has become noticeably more muscular, as noted by his sister Karin. When in his spiritual form, Ichigo wears standard Shinigami attire with the addition of a strap across his chest. Initially, it was a thick brown belt to hold his Zanpakutō sheathe, but it later became a red rosary-like strap. The shape of them is a kite with a flat top and bottom. Ichigo's appearance has caused several people, including Jūshirō Ukitake, to notice a similarity to Kaien Shiba; the former lieutenant of the 13th Division. After training in the Dangai, Ichigo's hair grows considerably and is noticeably taller, as stated by his friends. However, after Ichigo loses all his spiritual powers, his appearance reverts to the way it was before his Dangai training.

Seventeen months after defeating Aizen, after regaining his powers, Ichigo’s Shinigami attire also consists of a thicker strap across his chest. He also has four black vertical lines on his forearms and black bands with white ends crossing over his chest, wrists, and ankles. Similar bands are around his neck as collars. Kūgo speculated that these changes are influenced from the remaining traces of Ichigo's Fullbring.

Personality
When he was young, Ichigo considered his mother to be the center of his world. Ichigo always smiled whenever he was with Masaki and he was regularly at her side, holding her hand. Despite crying whenever he lost in a match at the dojo he attended, Ichigo started to smile again as soon as he saw Masaki when she came to pick him up. At a very young age, Ichigo heard his father saying that his name means "to protect one thing", which instilled in him a desire to protect his mother. When his sisters were born he began attending a dojo for the sake of protecting them, since then the number of people he wished to protect has continued to grow, causing Ichigo to risk his life to protect both his family and strangers.

As a Human teenager, Ichigo's personality is much more complex. Stubborn, short-tempered, strong-willed and impulsive, he attempts to maintain a detached and "cool" image, despite claiming not to care about what other people think about him. He generally keeps his face set in a permanent scowl, with his eyebrows drawn together. His outspoken, hot-headed demeanor is a trait Ichigo himself acknowledged, and that if somebody picks a fight with him, he cannot help fighting back. He coldly refers to his teachers as “instructors”. He is shown to be genuinely compassionate and empathetic about others, as seen by him promising to bring a Plus flowers and a toy plane or soothing others when they become upset. Ichigo is also a capable student, ranked 23rd in his high school. He studies regularly and does not neglect his schoolwork, claiming that he has "nothing better to do at home", though he actually works as hard as he does simply to overcome the misconceptions many have about him, which are based on his hair color and fighting. Ichigo hates fortune telling, horoscopes, feng shui, psychics and anyone whose trade involves taking money from people for things that they cannot see. He has difficulty remembering people's faces and names. Ichigo becomes extremely shy and uncomfortable around nude or immodestly dressed women, a fact both Rangiku Matsumoto and Yoruichi Shihōin have teased him for. Ichigo has some trouble with authority and traditional respect, often quite rude and disrespectful when talking to those older than himself, calling Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto "gramps" and referring to several of the Shinigami captains by their given names.

When it comes to fighting, Ichigo has a complex sense of honor; he regularly seeks to exact revenge for the actions of his opponent, such as instilling the fear of being murdered in Shrieker and cutting off the right arm of Yammy Llargo in retaliation for him ripping Yasutora Sado's right arm apart. He would often taunt and belittle his opponents when fighting, sometimes even attacking without warning. Ichigo has a strong desire to win his fights and to win them in what he views as a legitimate manner. To this end, he has refused the aid of his inner Hollow, even when knowing that it would allow him to win. Similarly, after regaining control of his body, he tells Ulquiorra to cut off his limbs so that they may have a fair fight and refuses to kill him when he is dying, saying that it was not the way he wanted to win.

Ichigo has even shown that he despises those who mistreat their allies in any way, even if they are his own enemies. He is disgusted when an individual berates his/her own allies, such as when Yammy calls Ulquiorra Cifer, Nnoitra Gilga, and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez "trash". . He also expresses anger towards those who go as far as attacking their own allies, expressing that he cannot forgive those who murder their own comrades.

Despite Ichigo's strong sense of honor, his will to win can waver at times, which directly affects his overall energy levels and fighting abilities. His absolute resolve is depicted by his eyes glowing bright blue and his body being engulfed in a bright blue aura. The same is included with his Hollow powers, in which his eyes glow yellow and his aura turns black. Ichigo’s abilities at their peak allow him to hold his own, if not contend, against the toughest opponents. His will to protect his friends is shown to be so great that, even when battle-worn, he can fight at deceptively high levels, as seen when he effortlessly caught Grimmjow's punch when in his released state. However, at the same time, his lack of resolve to win can also impede his spiritual energy and fighting prowess, shown when he goes into a state of depression and self-loathing when he loses a major battle or lets a friend down; after losing his fight against Yammy and Ulquiorra, thanks to the crippling fear of his inner Hollow, Ichigo's will became so weak, he was unable to even defeat a weak Hollow until Rukia helped restore his resolve.

History
Ichigo was born on July 15th, as the son of Isshin Kurosaki and Masaki Kurosaki, 15 years before he became a Shinigami. His sisters Karin Kurosaki and Yuzu Kurosaki were born a few years later. When he was four, Ichigo joined a karate dojo, where he met and befriended Tatsuki Arisawa. Tatsuki beat Ichigo in every match they had. Tatsuki would also help Ichigo if he was being picked on by bullies and cheer him up if he was upset.

Ichigo was able to see Pluses for as long as he could remember. He could see them so clearly that, as a child, he could not tell the living from the dead. This resulted in him appearing to other people to be looking at deserted places and talking to himself. This caused people to say that he could see ghosts, though when Tatsuki Arisawa asked him about this, he denied being able to see them.

On June 17th, when Ichigo was nine years old, he and his mother were walking home alongside one of Karakura Town's rivers; which was swollen from heavy rain. Ichigo saw a girl near the river and thought that she was about to jump into it. Unable to tell the difference between ghosts and living people, Ichigo ran towards her to stop her, unaware that the girl was the lure of the Hollow Grand Fisher. Masaki tried to stop him, but he did not listen. After failing to grab hold of the girl, Ichigo lost consciousness for a time. When he awoke, Masaki was lying on top of him, covered in blood. Starting the day after Masaki's death, Ichigo repeatedly skipped school to go to the riverbank where Masaki died. Tatsuki found him there, where he would stay from morning until night, wandering along the bank as if searching for his mother; squatting down if he was tired and then wandering some more.

One day when Ichigo was twelve, prior to the Clinic opening, he heard the bell ring and answered the door to find a girl with her brother on her back. He had been in a car accident and was covered in blood. The clinic did not have the equipment necessary to save him and he died before an ambulance arrived to transfer him to Karakura Hospital. Sometime later, he learned that the girl was Orihime Inoue.

Ichigo later entered Mashiba Junior High School. During this time, Ichigo had finally defeated Tatsuki in a karate match and had not had another match with her since. Ichigo regularly got into fights with thugs, due to the unusual color of his hair. During one of these fights he received help from Yasutora Sado. Shortly after Ichigo returned the favor when he rescued Chad from two gang members roughing him up. When the thugs later abducted Chad, Ichigo found them and knocked down their leader, Yokochini. He used Yokochini's phone to ring for an ambulance for each of the five thugs, and then beat up all of them. After Chad was freed they made a pact to protect and fight for each other, they have remained good friends since.

Shortly before Ichigo became a Shinigami, he and Chad began attending Karakura High School, and their reputations preceded them. During a fight with a gang led by Reiichi Ōshima, Ichigo and Chad met Keigo Asano and Mizuiro Kojima, saving the former in the process. While Keigo was initially afraid of Ichigo and Chad, both he and Mizuiro later became friends with them.