Bleach (ブリーチ, Burīchi^?, Romanized as BLEACH in Japan) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper (死神, Shinigami^?, literally, "Death God") —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. His newfound powers force him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife.is a teenager gifted with the ability to see spirits. His life is drastically changed by the sudden appearance of a Soul Reaper —one who governs the flow of souls between the human world and the afterlife—named Rukia Kuchiki, who arrives in search of a Hollow, a dangerous lost soul. When Rukia is severely wounded while trying to defeat the Hollow, she attempts to transfer half of her reiatsu (霊圧^?, literally, "spiritual pressure") energy to Ichigo so that he can defeat the Hollow. However, Ichigo takes almost all of her energy, transforming into a Soul Reaper and allowing him to defeat the Hollow with ease. With her powers diminished, Rukia is left stranded in the human world until she can recover her strength. In the meantime, Ichigo must take over Rukia's role as a Soul Reaper, battling Hollows and guiding souls to the afterlife realm known as the Soul Society (尸魂界 (ソウル·ソサエティ), Sōru Sosaeti^?).

As time passes and Rukia has yet to return to the Soul Society, her Soul Reaper superiors learn about her whereabouts and actions and sentence her to death for performing the illegal act of transferring her powers. Although he is unable to stop Rukia's departure to the Soul Society, Ichigo resolves to rescue her with the aid of several of his spiritually aware classmates, Yoruichi Shihōin, and ex-Soul Reaper Kisuke Urahara. Once at the Soul Society, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military and strive to reach Rukia before her execution.

It is revealed that both Rukia's execution and Ichigo's rescue attempt had both been manipulated by Sōsuke Aizen, a high-ranking Soul Reaper previously believed to have been murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of the Soul Society. Aizen betrays his fellow Soul Reapers and allies himself with the strongest of the Hollows, the Espadas. Each member of the Espadas has his or her own motives, ranging from malicious to benevolent from his or her own perspective. Aizen thus becomes the main antagonist of the series and the Soul Reapers form an alliance with Ichigo. At this point, Bleach chronicles the war between the Soul Reapers, the Espadas, and Aizen, who intends to garner souls from Ichigo's hometown in order to create the Ôken, a device able to open a portal to the location of the king of the Soul Society. Many third, fourth, and fifth parties also become involved in the conflict. After each of their eventual defeats, Ichigo undergoes intense training and becomes strong enough to battle Aizen alone. When Aizen is weakened, a spell that Urahara had previously hidden within him activates and seals him, thus ending the conflict and leaving the Soul Society to imprison him. As a result of using all of his Soul Reaper powers to defeat Aizen, Ichigo loses his spiritual power and returns to being a normal human again.