Bleach – Complete Manga 001-686 + One Shot - (2001, 2016 Lang: English)

Bleach (Japanese: ブリーチ Hepburn: Burīchi) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of the hotheaded teenager Ichigo Kurosaki who inherits his parents' destiny, 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 new-found powers force him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife, and set him on journeys to various ghostly realms of existence.

Bleach was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from August 2001 to August 2016, with its chapters collected into 74 tankōbon volumes. The series has spawned a media franchise that includes an anime television series that was produced by Studio Pierrot from 2004 to 2012, two original video animation episodes, four animated feature films, ten stage musicals, and numerous video games, as well as many types of Bleach-related merchandise. A live-action film adaptation was released in 2018. English-language releases of Bleach are coordinated by Viz Media, which has released several volumes of the manga each year since 2004, and published chapters of Bleach in its Shonen Jump magazine since November 2007. Viz Media secured foreign television and home video distribution rights to the Bleach anime in 2006. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim began airing dubbed episodes of Bleach in the United States that Fall, and Hulu later began to stream subtitled versions of the anime a week after each episode aired in Japan. Viz Media has also released each of the Bleach feature films in English.

Bleach received the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen demographic in 2005, and is among the best-selling manga in both Japan and the United States. Despite significant downturns in both the Japanese and English manga markets, Bleach had continued to perform well commercially, and it has sold more than 90 million tankōbon copies in Japan alone. As of 2018, the series had over 120 million tankōbon volumes in print worldwide.

Plot:
Ichigo Kurosaki is a teenager from Karakura Town who can see ghosts, a talent which lets him meet supernatural trespasser Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia is one of the Soul Reapers, soldiers trusted with ushering the souls of the dead from the World of the Living to the Soul Society (尸魂界 (ソウル·ソサエティ), lit. "Dead Spirit World")—the afterlife realm from which she originates—and with fighting Hollows, monstrous lost souls who can harm both ghosts and humans. When she is severely wounded defending Ichigo from a Hollow she is pursuing, Rukia transfers her powers to Ichigo so that he may fight in her stead while she recovers her strength. Rukia is thereby trapped in an ordinary human body, and must advise Ichigo as he balances the demands of his substitute Soul Reaper duties and attending high school. For aid in hunting the Hollows, the pair ally with a trio of other spiritually empowered teenagers: Ichigo's high school classmate Orihime Inoue, best friend Yasutora "Chad" Sado and the Quincy—humans who can fight Hollows—Uryū Ishida.

Eventually, Rukia is arrested by her Soul Reaper superiors and sentenced to death for the illegal act of transferring her powers into a human. Ichigo and friends enlist the help of ex-Soul Reaper scientist Kisuke Urahara, who also enables Ichigo to access his own Soul Reaper powers, to enter Soul Society and rescue Rukia. Shortly after the party's arrival in the Soul Society, conflict arises among the captains of 13 Court Squads when the captain of the fifth company, Sōsuke Aizen, is apparently murdered, which caused the Soul Reapers to begin fighting amongst themselves. However, as Ichigo is almost succeeded in rescuing Rukia and Soul Society on the verge of civil war, Aizen reappears and reveals his intention to obtain the Hōgyoku (崩玉, lit. "Crumbling Orb")—an orb of immense power—that Kisuke planted in Rukia's human vessel by faking his death and arranging Rukia's execution. Aizen is accompanied by his fellow conspirators, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen who are the third and ninth company's captain, as they use Hollows to cover their escape into the Hollows' realm, Hueco Mundo (虚圏 (ウェコムンド), lit. "Hollow World"). Afterwards, Ichigo and Rukia reconciled with the Soul Reapers, who view the former as a powerful ally and designate him as an official substitute Soul Reaper.

Ichigo soon finds himself and his friends in escalating skirmishes with Aizen's army of humanoid Hollows, the Arrancar, as they are joined by the Vizards—Soul Reapers who were victims of Aizen's experiments in creating Soul Reaper/Hollow hybrids. When one of the Espada—Aizen's 10 most powerful Arrancars—kidnaps Orihime, Ichigo and his allies enter Hueco Mundo to invade Aizen's palace. However, as Ichigo rescues Orihime, Aizen reveals her abduction was a distraction as he launch an attack on Karakura Town to sacrifice the souls of the living to create a key to the Soul King's Palace so he can kill the Soul King who reigns over the Soul Society. When the Vizards join the remaining Soul Reapers to face their mutual enemy, Gin reveals his own agenda of assassinating Aizen. However, the latter then used the Hōgyoku to become a Hollow-like being and overpowered everyone. Ichigo ultimately succeeds in subduing Aizen at the cost of his powers and reverts to a normal human.

Months later, preparing for life after high school, Ichigo is called back into action when Xcution, a gang of Fullbringers—supernaturally aware humans like Chad—manipulate him and his loved ones in a scheme to siphon his Fullbring abilities. After his Soul Society allies restore his Soul Reaper powers, learning that Xcution's leader Ginjo Kujo was his predecessor and that the substitute Soul Reapers are not fully trusted, Ichigo defeats Ginjo while resolving to continue fighting with the Soul Society.

After Ichigo regained his powers, an army of Quincies known as the Wandenreich (見えざる帝国 (ヴァンデンライヒ), lit. "Invisible Empire") appear and declare their own war on the Soul Society, after enslaving the Arrancars. The group is led by Yhwach, the ancient progenitor of the Quincies who seeks to kill the Soul King and rid the world from the fear of death. In their first invasion, the Wandenreich killed many Soul Reapers including their head-captain. Uryū joins the Wandenreich as a means to get close to Yhwach, who was responsible for the death of his mother among other Quincies. Later on, Ichigo and his friends aid the Soul Society in fighting the Wandenreich's second invasion, but Yhwach proceeds to slay the Soul King. In the final battle, Yhwach returns to the Soul Society to conquer it, but with the help of Uryū's father, Ichigo and Uryū defeat the Quincy leader.

Years later, Rukia becomes the new captain of the thirteenth company and has a daughter, an apprentice Soul Reaper named Ichika, with her childhood friend Renji Abarai. Meanwhile, Ichigo and Orihime have a son named Kazui, who is also training to become a Soul Reaper.