Ever since he was little, Ichigo Kurosaki has been able to see the spirits of the dead, so when a teenage girl materializes through his bedroom wall, this should be no call for alarm. Rukia Kuchiki is a shinigami, a member of the mysterious Soul Society that is charged with capturing rogue ghosts, and is hot on the trail of an evil spirit.
Ichigo Kurosaki never asked for the ability to see ghosts - he was born with the gift. When his family is attacked by a Hollow, a malevolent lost soul, Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper, dedicating his life to protecting the innocent and helping the tortured spirits themselves find peace. Find out why Tite Kubo's Bleach has become an international manga smash-hit

The race to save Rukia from the Soul Society is officially on, and Ichigo and company have come to their first roadblock, a very, very big roadblock. Jindanb , the monstrous, fez-sporting gatekeeper hasn't let a single soul enter the Western Gate he guards in over 300 years, and he isn't about to change his mind about it just because Ichigo's crew wants to go through either. But, in a where-the-rubber-meets-the-road kind of way, Ichigo wasn't expecting his assault on the Soul Society to be a piece of cake either. After all, that'd just be boring.