Bleach, Vol. 1: Volume 1  (English, Paperback, Kubo Tite)

Strawberry and the Soul Reapers, Bleach Volume 1 begins Tite Kubo’s action packed shonen manga series in which a young teenager receives the mighty powers of a Shinigami, the legendary Soul Reapers, and battles the monstrous Hollows to keep his town safe.

Summary of the Book

Kurosaki Ichigo has always been able to see ghosts. They pester him, asking him to help them make contact with the people they once loved. He defends them and helps them keep their self-respect. He only does this begrudgingly. His crazy widower father thinks he’s lying, and his sisters don’t seem to want to acknowledge the ghosts. However, Ichigo can’t ignore them. One day, he spots a strange girl dressed in a black kimono and wielding a strange sword in his room. Her name is Kuchiki Rukia and she is surprised to learn that he can see her, and tells him that she is a Shinigami, the Soul Reapers in charge of monitoring the passage of souls into the Afterlife. She is on a mission hunting the dangerous Hollows, creatures which feed on wayward souls looking to pass on. When Rukia is almost beaten by a Hollow, she decides to give Ichigo some of her power so he can defend his family from the creature. Instead, Ichigo seizes her entire powers and destroys the creature, exhibiting an unnaturally large power in the process. This new power will change Ichigo’s life forever, and he will soon realize that being a Shinigami isn’t all as easy as it looks.

About Tite Kubo

“Tite” Kubo Noriaki is a Japanese mangaka best associated with the Bleach manga series. He has previously published Zombiepowder with the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.

Bleach has been adapted into a hit anime series by Studio Pierrot. It has adapted 366 episodes so far and was cancelled on March 27, 2012. The manga has proceeded past the storyline and it is currently unknown whether the anime will resume or not.