Ichigo Kurosaki is a youth from Karakura Town who has the ability to sense ghosts. Because of this gift, he meets Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper who comes into the town looking for a Hollow, a terrifying lost soul that has the ability to damage both ghosts and people. Rukia is one of the Soul Reapers warriors tasked with combating Hollows and guiding the spirits of the deceased from the World of the Living to the afterlife world, or soul society, where she is originally from. Rukia gives Ichigo her abilities after she sustains serious injuries protecting him from a Hollow that she is chasing, allowing him to fight in her place while she heals.

Because of this, Rukia finds herself imprisoned in a regular human body and is forced to counsel Ichigo while he juggles the obligations of his high school coursework and his role as a stand-in Soul Reaper. The two team up with three more spiritually strong comrades to hunt down the Hollows: Orihime Inoue, Ichigo's high school classmate; Yasutora "Chad" Sado, who is his best friend; and Uryū Ishida, a Quincy student who possesses the capability to control spiritual particles.
Rukia is ultimately taken into custody by her superiors at Soul Reaper and given a death sentence for unlawfully giving her powers to a human.In order to penetrate the Soul Society and save Rukia, Ichigo and his companions recruit the aid of former Soul Reaper scientist Kisuke Urahara, who also teaches Ichigo how to use his own Soul Reaper abilities. Soon after the group enters the Soul Society, tensions between the captains of the Thirteen Court Squads intensify after the apparent murder of Sōsuke Aizen, the captain of the fifth company. The captains speculated that the intruders may have been involved, which led to internal strife among the Soul Reapers. Ichigo and his pals are then designated as suspects by Captain Commander Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, who gives the Soul Reapers the order to arrest them. But Ichigo succeeds in stopping the conflict with the Soul Society and saves Rukia.

When Aizen reappears, he confesses that he plans to stage his own death and have Rukia executed in order to take possession of the Hōgyoku, an enormous power ball that Kisuke hid inside of her. Aizen travels with the other conspirators, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen, the captains of the third and ninth companies, as they utilize Hollows as cover for their escape into Hueco Mundo, the home of the Hollows. The Soul Reapers later accept Ichigo and Rukia's reconciliation, seeing the former as a strong ally and giving him the official title of Substitute Soul Reaper.

To Be Continued…