A Shinigami Is Born!

Season 1, Episode 1, Aired

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Ichigo Kurosaki, a 15 year old boy who can see ghosts, tries to help a young girl ghost who is being chased by a monster called a Hollow. Just when the girl is about to be eaten, a female shinigami named Rukia Kuchiki appears to save her. That night Rukia visits Ichigo and is surprised that he can see her. Soon a Hollow appears and terrorizes Ichigo's family. Rukia is seriously injured in the attack and makes a final attempt to save all their lives by transfering her powers to Ichigo.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (44)

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  • Great introductory pilot to the hit series Bleach!

    8.5
    "Great"
    By danjf1, Nov 22, 2009
    The opening pilot episode of Bleach does a great job introducing us to the main characters, as well as giving the audience a glimpse of what is to come. Even before the episode begins, the opening credits give us some foreknowledge of who the characters are. It doesn't explain the plot or anything like some anime shows do, but it gives you a look at the characters in various action sequences. The opening theme, "Asterisk", by Orange Range, is an exciting and upbeat Japanese language (with English subtitles)song.

    "We stand in awe for that which cannot be seen", is the opening line (spoken by Rukia Kuchiki, a soul reaper and main character) for the really creepy landscape scene we see at the start of the episode proper. Nice effects that set the mood right away. Mood = Dark and Mystical.

    Further into the episode I like the use of dark comedy, specifically the scene where the group of skaters knocked over a vase with flowers, put there for the spirit/soul of a young girl by our main character, Ichigo Kurosaki.

    Ichigo's dad, who owns and runs a medical clinic, seems to always be another source of comedy.

    This episode seems to move in a fairly fluid manner. I always like watch both the Subbed and Dubbed version of anime (especially those I comment on here at TV.com) and I like both version, almost equally well. Since I am not 100% fluent in Japanese, I tend to watch the Dubbed versions as well - as long as the English voice acting is spot on. And in this case, the English voice cast of Bleach is really great! If you haven't watched this episode I definitely recommend it. I also recommend the series as a whole - though I have not watched all the episodes, yet (I'm well into the 3 season).

    Bleach definitely goes on my top 25 best animes!moreless

  • Well Done....

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By MangekyouCinema, Apr 13, 2009
    Well, we start out with Ichigo Kurosaki, a 15 year old Japanese High Schooler who can see ghosts. One day as he is telling off the neighborhood punks, who knocked over a flower vase for a departed soul of a young girl, he connects with the soul who the flowers were for and she thanks him for defending her when no one else can. With nothing but a simple touch of the two, that contact changed his life forever. That night as he comes home, his dad gives him a surprise attack, wailing on his some with a burning fervor that goes on for a while. We then meet his 2 sisters, Karin and Yuzu, who are eating dinner along with another soul who torments Ichigo for a short time. One sister, Karin, can see ghosts and the other, Yuzu, can merely feel their presence. However Karin is in denial that they exist. Then their father consults a poster of their departed mother blaming all the problems on their puberty while acting very childish. The next day the young girl soul is being chased by a large unidentified creature, unseen by everyone except Ichigo and an unidentified girl, who defeats the monster with a single swing of her sword, not even giving Ichigo and the young ghost a look. That night Ichigo wonders about the girl and in a turn of unlikely events she comes into Ichigo's bedroom. At first he thinks she is a burglar so he kicks her, and she is shocked that she can be seen. She believes it to be a defect within him. She identifies herself as a Soul Reaper. So of course Ichigo has many questions for this soul reaper, later identified as Rukia. Rukia believes him to be foolish, and she puts him in a full body bind; using a demon magic which apparently these "soul reapers" can use and sends the soul from dinner to the afterlife, using another magic called "konso." She informs him of her duties as a soul reaper and tells him that there is a good and evil to being a Soul Reaper.


    There are the Wholes, Who are the good spirits and are also known as pluses, and the Hollows, who are the bad spirits, who are minuses. The reasons why Hollows take souls are unknown though, other than a way of sustenance. Rukia's powers are somewhat at a strain at this point, but she doesn't know why.


    Then Ichigo's sister, Yuzu, bursts in! Their house is under attack by a Hollow that has his other sister, Karin! So as they go outside, Rukia realizes and explains when he made contact with that girl he reached full potential of his powers! So now the Hollow's wants his soul, he almost sacrifices himself but Rukia saves him. Calling him foolish and telling him one soul will hardly keep a hollow at rest.


    After saving Ichigo, Rukia is badly injured! So, she decides to give Ichigo half of her powers to defeat the Hollow. When she uses her blade to transfer her powers though, she ends giving him more than half, almost all of her powers! She realizes he can't be a regular human. And a shinigami is born, as well as the start of an epic tale!moreless

  • Decent pilot.

    7.5
    "Good"
    By ZaleIsBackAgain, Feb 28, 2009
    Although I personally find Bleach to be too overrated to be in any conversation with One Piece, it is still a pretty good anime and manga. Unlike its main competitors One Piece and Naruto, Bleach's pilot episode wasn't that great; One Piece was excellent and Naruto just blew me away. Here we are almost forcefully introduced to many of the new concepts and ideas that Bleach provides. The world is interesting, death gods and soul eaters that are known as hollows in this world? Though how this was told was not smooth. And I'm just not a big fan of Bleach's humour. Although amusing, Rukia's picture explaining just wasn't funny.moreless

  • Ichigo Kurosaki is a 15 year-old high school student that can see ghosts. Evil ghosts (hollows) attack him and his family. A supposed Death God tries to help but fails resulting in Ichigo turning into a Death God himself.moreless

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By ayegwen, Jan 04, 2009
    The Day I Became A Shinigami is the first episode of the anime series Bleach. I think this particular episode is a great starter. This is my second time watching this episode. The first time I watched it, I immediately became addicted. The graphics, the plot, the character build-up. All of that was excellent. After watching this episode in both dubbed and subbed versions (subbed was so much better!) I conclude that this is a great starting episode (again), but there are two complaints I have. *Spoiler* 1: Ichigo's sword is too dang big! 2: Ichigo has probably never held a sword before yet he seems to be an expert in chopping up the hollow's arm.

    Anyway, on my scale I give this a nine or so. After watching the other episodes, this one barely shows the anime's humor and interesting twists.moreless

  • New to the series; first time I watched it - having evaded all previous hype. Fairly decent for what this first episode presents.

    7.0
    "Good"
    By NawfalQ, Nov 14, 2008
    Bored to death, I watched this episode being completely ignorant of any of the plot, storylines, or concepts therein. This sort of show seems to attract all sorts of demographics so I really had no idea what to expect.

    Overall, I was fairly entertained and am willing to watch more of the show - this episode, then, did its job. The art seems to be right on par and the characters are interesting enough to have lots of potential. I only rolled my eyes once (when the kid transforms into the death god, the other death god makes some inane comments).moreless
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  • TRIVIA (10)

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    • In the last scene where the girl ghost is being chased by a Hollow and just before Rukia explains to Ichigo what Shinigami do, we see five Hollow footsteps, but only hear the last four.

    • When Ichigo is confronting the skateboarders at the beginning of the episode, there are four of them. Yet when they run away, there are only three shown. In the next shot, the first guy knocked down is gone as well.

    • When Ichigo and Isshin throw their last punches before Ichigo goes to his room, Isshin falls in a way that the door behind Ichigo would be to his right. But after Ichigo leaves, we see that the top of Isshin's head now faces the door instead.

    • Soon after Rukia uses a binding spell on Ichigo, she draws a moustache on his face with a marker, yet soon after it's gone. Problem is, his arms were bound behind his back, so how could he wipe it off? As answer to this mysterious disappearance, it was not shown in the pacing of the anime version; but in the original manga version there's a scene showing that Ichigo is wiping the hopely-still-wet moustache drawing on the floor and he was successful in doing so.

    • Running gag: In every episode, during the preview for the next episode, instead of a character explaining what's supposed to happen in the next episode, either two characters will argue with each other, or a single character will rant on and on about something that has no importance whatsoever to the next episode.

    • In the anime Yuzu is the one who comes and gets Ichigo but in the manga it was Karin.

    • The japanese word "shinigami" literally menas "death god" (shini means die & gami is one way of saying god, the other being kami) however when dubbed they call the Shinigami "Soul reapers" instead of "death gods". There is a reason for this however; despite its literal meaning, the Japanese word "shinigami", at least in recent years, is the word used for the traditional grim reaper of Western tradition. The grim reaper quite literally reaps souls; thus "soul reaper" is a logical translation.

    • In the scene where the Keep Out tape is shown, in the next scene with Ichigo it goes back to japanese text.

    • Although Ichigo's name means "one who protects", it is also the words "ichi" and "go", which are the Japanese numbers for one and five respectively. This happens to be Ichigo's stated age (15) at the beginning of the series; he is also born July 15th. And in the manga, Ichigo's name's is sometimes translated as "Strawberry" bringing the first chapter's title "Death and Strawberry". Ichigo's room number is also 15.

    • Rukia's age: she states she's ten times as old as Ichigo, which puts her at around 150.

  • QUOTES (11)

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    • Ichigo: My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. I'm 15 years old, so I'm a high school student. My family runs a medical clinic here in town. Maybe it's because we're entrusted with the lives of the living, I'm not sure, but for as long as I can remember, I've been able to see the souls of the dearly departed.

    • Ichigo: I'm home! Isshin: (kicks Ichigo in the face, knocking him down to the floor) You let your guard down! Always stay alert when you enter a room and you're late for dinner again! Ichigo: Come on! Is that any way to welcome your own son after he just risked his life to help a spirit find peace?! Isshin: Silence! Oh, so it's the ghost's fault now, is it? I suppose it was ghosts that left your room a mess! (he and Ichigo start fighting) When are you gonna show some discipline?! Just because you see ghosts and I don't doesn't make you boss of this household! Ichigo: Hey, it's not my fault! Yuzu: Hey, stop the fighting you two. Come over and eat your dinner. Karin: Let 'em fight; more rice for me.

    • Karin: (while watching Ichigo attempt to get rid of a ghost) Poor Ichigo. Dad or ghost, it's always something. Yuzu: I think he's kinda lucky to be able to see ghosts. I sorta sense their presence sometimes, but that's about it. Karin: I don't see what the big deal is with ghosts. I don't even believe in them. Yuzu: (gasps) Karin, I don't get how you could say something like that. I thought you had the power to see spirits too. Karin: I'm in permanent denial. Just seeing them doesn't make me believe in them. Yuzu: Oh... Ghost: That's really cold...

    • Rukia: (thinking) It's getting closer. (out loud) I feel it. Ichigo: (kicks Rukia from behind) Who are you and what do you want?! (Rukia hits the floor with a loud crash) If you think you're a burglar, you're not a very good one! For starters, you shouldn't talk to yourself! Rukia: You... kicked me. But I can't be seen by ordinary humans. Are you saying you can see me? Ichigo: Well, considering that that was my foot I just planted in your behind, you tell me.

    • Ichigo: Alright, so you're something called a Soul Reaper. (Rukia nods) And you're telling me that you were sent here on a mission by something called the Soul Society... (Rukia nods) ...to deal with demons like the one we saw on the street today... (Rukia nods) ...which was chasing after that girl's soul. (Rukia nods) That's all believable to me... (throws a small table) Along with flying pigs and the tooth fairy!

    • (Rukia has just performed a Konso on a ghost.) Ichigo: Where'd he go? What did you do to him? Rukia: I sent his spirit to the Soul Society. It's one of the main responsibilities of a Soul Reaper. People here sometimes call it "passing on". Now I'll explain to you why I'm here, and I'll use small words so you can understand it.

    • Rukia: (shows Ichigo her drawings of two spirits) There are two types of spirits in this world. The first kind are the normal spirits called Wholes. The ghosts that you see are usually this kind. The second kind are evil spirits known as Hollows. The hollows attack people living or dead in order to devour their souls. Any questions before I go on? Ichigo: First of all, why do your drawings suck so bad? Rukia: (draws a mustache on Ichigo's face) Ichigo: Aaah! You'll pay for this!

    • Ichigo: So the vicious attacks on that poor girl were because of me? Rukia: That's one way to look at it...

    • Rukia: I'm too injured to fight. Do you... want to save your family? Ichigo: Of course I do! If there's a way then tell me how! Rukia: It will only be temporary, but... (raises her zanpakuto) ...you must become, a Soul Reaper yourself. Ichigo: What?! Rukia: You must take my zanpakuto and run it through to the center of your being, so that I may pour my powers into you. (nearby hollow roars) I can't guarantee that you will live, but if it doesn't work it won't matter. (the hollow roars again and steps closer) Ichigo: Then give me that blade, Soul Reaper. Rukia: My name is Rukia... Rukia Kuchiki. (the hollow charges while Ichigo grabs ahold of Rukia's zanpakuto) Ichigo: And my name is... Ichigo Kurosaki. (pierces his heart with her zanpakuto)

    • Rukia: (thinking) How could this have happened?! I meant to give him only half of my powers, but somehow he's taken nearly all of it! Ichigo: This ends now! Rukia: (thinking) Huh? What kind of being is he? (watches Ichigo charge at the hollow) I've never seen a human with spirit energy this strong; that's what was jamming my senses before. I've never heard of a human with enough strength to break a Kido on his own. And I have never seen a Soul Reaper wield such a huge Zanpakuto!

    • Ichigo: (after beating up the gang members) Now go and apologize or else the next time the flowers will be for you!

  • NOTES (3)

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  • ALLUSIONS (1)

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    • Ichigo shares his birth date, July 15th, with the last day of the Japanese Buddhist holiday Obon, a festival to honor the departed spirits of one's ancestors.

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