Bleach / Tropes S to T

Tropes for Bleach
Tropes A to B | Tropes C to D | Tropes E to G (Famous Last Words) | Tropes H to K | Tropes L to N | Tropes O To R | Tropes S to T (Spoiler Opening) | Tropes U to Z (Wham Episode)

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S

• Sacred Bow and Arrows: Invoked, but also subverted. Quincies use a spiritual bow and arrow known as Heilig Pfeil—literally German for "Holy Arrows"—that can completely destroy Hollows. The subversion is that this is a very bad thing, as the Quincy permanently destroy the soul of the Hollow instead of cleansing it of evil like other spiritual warriors, and destroying too many souls will lead to The End of the World as We Know It. Besides the name and the Christian imagery, there’s nothing actually "holy" about these arrows.
• Samaritan Syndrome: The way he lost his mother as a child left Ichigo unable to handle being powerless to protect those in danger. Villains often use this against him, culminating in one Arc Villain's mind-bending assault on his family leading Ichigo into Heroic BSoD. Also, Yhwach's henchman traps him in a gaol of darkness where he's forced to listen to the dying screams of Soul Society, knowing he's unable to save them.
• Samurai: Soul Society is modelled on medieval Japan. With the Soul Reapers filling the role of the samurai class, emphasis is placed on courage, loyalty and obedience. Particular examples include Byakuya and Komamura, whose zanpakutous sometimes manifest as warriors wearing traditional samurai armour.
• Samurai Shinobi: The Gotei 13 squad are pretty much ghostly samurai, being sword-wielding soldiers who enforce the law in Soul Society. Yoruichi and Sui-Feng have fighting styles and skills based around stealth and speed, similar to pop culture depictions of ninja. Sui-Feng is also the leader of the Onmitsukid?, an organization that is concerned with undercover operations.
• Samus Is a Girl: The reaction Ichigo and the gang have to the true identity of Kukaku Shiba. Also, Ichigo's reaction when Yoruichi, formerly known as a black cat with a masculine voice, reveals her true form.
• Sarashi: Unsurprisingly seen on a lot of Soul Reapers, including Ichigo, precisely because they're kimono-wearing warriors. Some characters make them an integral part of their powers and abilities, however, such as Ichigo and Soi Fon.
• Satellite Family Member:
  • Masaki Kurisaki's role consists of showing how much her son Ichigo and her husband Isshin miss her and what impact her death from Yhwach's hands has on her family.
  • Kanae Katagiri's role is to die and show how Poor Communication Kills can ruin a relationship between her son Uryu Ishida and her husband Ryuken Ishida.
  • Soken Ishida's role is to be a teacher to his grandson Uryu and give Kurotsuchi a chance to rub his death in Uryu's face.
  • Orihime's family consist of unnamed Abusive Parents, aunt and uncle and older brother Sora. Their roles: being jerks in parents' case, give Origime money in aunt and uncle's case, and being Cool Big Bro who rescued Orihime from abuse.
  • Yasutora Sado's grandfather Oscar Joaquín de la Rosa and his unnamed parents. Sado's parents died and he was raised by his grandfather until his death. This is where he gets his views.
  • Lampshaded in a very dark way: antagonist Shukuro Tsukishima, whose main power is being a Backstory Invader, replaced Orihime's brother and Sado's grandfather with himself in their memories and their only difference is loyalty to him.
• Saved From Their Own Honor:
  • Rukia Kuchiki resigns herself to death for her "crime" of transforming a human into a Soul Reaper, and actively yells at Ichigo for coming to rescue her. In the end, she manages to survive not just from the valiant efforts of her friends, but also the wise old Commander Yamamoto realizing that, although the law was broken, there are more pressing matters to attend to.
  • After all of that, Rukia later submits herself to the Shiba family for killing their former leader, Kaien (who was also Rukia's mentor). After teasing her a bit, they decide they to let her off the hook.
  • Mayuri Kurotsuchi and his daughter/clone Nemu have an abusive (and implied incestuous) relationship whereas Nemu is completely subordinate to Mayuri and even suffers his abuse with only apology and regret for disappointing him. Quite a few characters call out Mayuri on being a heartless, evil bastard for his treatment of Nemu—until later on, it's revealed that because Nemu is the first-ever Artificial Human and Mayuri's scientific Magnum Opus, he's willing to abuse and beat her to an agonizing state of near-death, but he is NOT willing to see her die, as it would be a "pain in the ass" for him to try and make another like her, and she's a unique design besides. Nemu sees this as Mayuri's version of "compassion".
• Say It: Inverted. Yumichika's zanpakutou refuses to give Yumichika access to its power if Yumichika messes up the name. Since its power betrays Yumichika's divisional code of battle, Yumichika deliberately calls the zanpakutou by a name it loaths to take advantage of his sword's attitude.
• Say My Name: Multiple examples, including Ichigo, Rukia, Captain Hitsugaya, Orihime, Momo and Kon.
• Scenery Censor:
  • When Wonderweis is first born, there's a convenient shadow covering where it counts.
  • When Yoruichi transforms into a human for the first time there's liberal use of Censor Steam. But when she sits down, Ichigo's freaked out reaction ensures his flailing limbs hide parts of her anatomy that would have very clearly been on display.
  • In a filler episode, when Mizuho walks into the bathroom, Ikkaku's so shocked he drops his towel. No matter what panicked position he moves into, there's always a conveniently located item blocking the audience from seeing too much.
• School Swimsuit: The Beach Episode reveals that Nemu wears one.
• Schrödinger's Butterfly: Aizen invokes this trope through his zanpakutou's power, especially during the Fake Karakura Town battle.
  Aizen: "How long?" What a funny thing to ask. My Kyouka Suigetsu is 'complete hypnosis'. At any given time, I can control all five senses and cause you to see anything I desire.
  Shinji: That's exactly what I'm asking you... how long you've been using it!
  Aizen: In that case I shall ask you... How long have you been under the impression that I haven't been using it?
• Science Wizard: Sosuke Aizen, Kisuke Urahara and Mayuri Kurotsuchi are skilled in using Kido and both have applied their knowledge of spiritual energy in scientific pursuits.
  • Aizen and Urahara both separately created the hogyoku, a device that allowed Shinigami and Hollows to acquire the powers of the other race and they oppose each other because of their different attitudes towards how the hogyoku should be used, or even if it should be used at all.
  • Urahara figured out how to restore Ichigo's lost Shinigami powers.
  • Mayuri is an expert at body modification which he has used on himself and was able to create the Artificial Human Nemu, and spent decades experimenting on Quincies; his most significant fight occurs when he intervenes in the battle Uryuu Ishida and Renji Abarai are losing against the Espada, Szayelaporro. Like Mayuri, Szayelaporro is a Mad Scientist who uses Functional Magic to enhance his scientific endeavours, which also includes body modification. Their battle ends up being waged inside Nemu's body, ultimately leading to Szayelaporro's defeat via a unique drug that Mayuri had invented and infected Nemu's body with, just in case anyone ever tried to weaponise her body against him.
• Scooby Stack: In anime episode 138. While Captain Ukitake is talking to Rukia in Soul Society, his two lieutenants and Orihime Inoue create one while observing them.
• Scratchy-Voiced Senior: Head Captain Genryusai has a gravely voice. It's more noticeable in the sub.
• Secret Test: At the beginning of the Bount arc, our heroes are confronted by a trio of mod souls that kidnap them and a number of innocent schoolchildren, apparently as part of some bizarre game with their lives at stake. Later they discover that the mod souls were created by and are under the control of Kisuke Urahara, who is using them to test the main characters' abilities and teach them teamwork.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: There are four types of soul power: Human, Quincy, Hollow and Soul Reaper. Human is opposite to Hollow and Quincy is opposite to Soul Reaper. If souls mix, they break the boundaries and create beings much more powerful than having one soul alone. However, the soul becomes unstable and self-destructs in a process known as soul suicide. Visoreds are Hollowfied Soul Reapers who were stabilized by a Quincy/Human vaccine. Masaki was a Hollowfied Quincy whose self-destructing soul was stabilized by being bound for life to "Humanified" Soul Reaper soul (Isshin).
• Self-Healing Phlebotinum: If a Zanpakutou is literally broken, it will eventually repair, as long as its owner is alive.
• Self Made Super Powers:
  • Mayuri Kurotsuchi, a Mad Scientist takes this a step further. Being a scientist first and foremost but needing combat prowess he used his brilliant mind to upgrade his Shinigami abilities. As Urahara Kisuke's successor as the Head of Shinigami Research Institute, he gave himself the ability to liquefy and make himself immune to any attack, a grappling hook in his arm and a scythe that extends from his ear. He also created something that allowed himself to achieve Bankai the non-traditional way. Additionally, he installed a censor on his sword that can perfectly block any attack, making up for his lack of swordsmanship skills.
  • Aizen Sosuke created the Hogyoku to break the limits of Shinigami potential and steals Kisuke Urahara's, the only person he acknowledges to be smarter than him, to create a single one. He gains so many transformations and powers that it is best to see his page.
  • Oko Yushima is another brilliant scientist and is also a chess master who invented the mod-soul and Regai Technology. He later turns himself in to a mod-soul through a series of convoluted schemes and gains access to the full extent of his powers.
• Self-Recovery Surprise:
  • Aizen does it twice - first evolving into his final form after getting a hole burned through his torso, then at the end, after getting vertically cut in half with Ichigo's final technique.
  • In the final arc, Kirge Opie is beaten to a bloody pulp by Ayon, so badly that most of the fight takes place off-screen. At the end of the chapter, he gets up, completely ignoring the broken neck, and starts taking the fight seriously.
  • During his fight with the Espada Nnoitra Gilga, Kenpachi Zaraki cuts off one of Gilga's arms. Shortly thereafter Gilga regenerates his lost arm.
• Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: Zigzagged all over the place. The Soul Reapers usually wear more conservative outfits, but Rangiku has a low-cut cleavage and Nemu wears a miniskirt, and the male Soul Reapers suffer through Clothing Damage. The more revealing Arrancars (Harribel, Grimmjow, Mila Rose, Lilynette) are some of the more sympathetic ones, though Nelliel wore a pantsuit as an Espada.... only for her garbs to rip apart once she regains her memories as an Espada. Abirama has a Walking Shirtless Scene and Loly has Zettai Ryouiki, but Aaroniero, Szayelaporro and the traitor trio wear more than those two.
• Sensor Character: Almost all of the main characters are able to detect the reiatsu of others.
• Servant Race: Gemischt Quincies are expected to serve the Echt nobility from birth, and even lay down their lives for them in battle. As the Gemischt son of a dissident Echt father, Uryuu's social status within the Clan is very murky. His first introduction to Quincy society ends with him being unexpectedly promoted to Yhwach's successor, much to the confusion and anger of the Sternritter. Haschwalth believes it's to isolate Uryuu and prevent Uryuu's from plotting against Yhwach.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Evidently, the Espada were originally only going to be seven instead of ten, and Kubo had intended them to each be one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Additionally, there are a series of chapters named after the Sins.
• Sewing Needle Sword: Senjumaru Shutara of the Royal Guard is capable of using both an oversized needle as a weapon and normal needles for weaponized sewing.
• Sexposition: When Ichigo is training to master his inner Hollow, the conversation is intercut with dialogue about a young perverted woman's Porn Stash.
• Shadow Archetype: Pretty much expected for a story that relies so heavily on the Anatomy of the Soul, but specifically, zanpakutou spirits. For example:
  • Rangiku calls her zanpakutou, Haineko, lazy and stubborn (which she herself is).
  • Yumichika calls his zanpakutou Ruri'iro Kujaku, vain and narcissistic (which he himself is).
  • Byakuya's Senbonzakura and Soifon's Suzumebachi also showcase their masters' inner traits, but ones they've locked away or deny to themselves. Both zanpakutou display more emotions than their masters let on.
  • Hisagi Shuhei's Kazeshini is a bloodthirsty killing machine which Hisagi's fighting philosophy demands he be terrified of, even if it's his own power.
  • But the shining example is Zangetsu, Ichigo's zanpakutou. ...Who we later learn is actually the "Inner Hollow", and not the Old Man. Zangetsu is a bloodthirsty Berserker who singularly wants power, much like Ichigo does. However, Ichigo suppresses his own Blood Knight tendencies, wanting only the power to protect, while Zangetsu is a Blood Knight interested only in survival and victory. Ichigo despises the insinuation that he's the same.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The 13 Court Guards Incursion Arc focuses on trying to keep Nozomi Kujo alive both by preventing her from getting herself killed and Kageroza Inaba from accomplishing his objectives. However, Kageroza achieves all his goals and Nozomi sacrifices her life at the end of the arc anyway. The only reason the protagonists win is because the real Arc Villain screws up.
• Shapeshifter Default Form: This trope is played with in numerous ways. Hollow and zanpakutou, for example, are demonstrated to have evolving forms as their scale of power, frame of mind, or other factors (such as name) change. Case in point, Ichigo's zanpakutou as well as his Hollow form both undergo numerous changes to accomodate his growth while Yumichika and Renji's zanpakutou take on completely different forms and abilities depending on which name they are called by. Likewise, a Hollow's form, abilities, and mentality are somewhat linked. When an unnamed Hollow grew too lonely to bear, it split its form into two different Arrancar, Coyote and Lilynette, with their own sets of powers. The two have even forgotten what the original Hollow looked like and speculate that it probably didn't resemble either of them. Further, Cirucci Sanderwicci essentially mutilates herself to cast away a useless ability and says that she can never possess those parts or abilities again, and Nel Tu shrank into a child form when her mind and power were damaged. Aizen himself even took advantage of this trait to create an Arrancar, Wonderweiss, with a greatly augmented and specific ability by removing much of his mental faculties.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Ichigo's fight with Grand Fisher got this. For a more later example, Aizen... if he wanted to.
• Shapeshifting Heals Wounds: When an arrancar activates their Resurreccion form, any and all injuries they received beforehand are instantly healed.
• Shinigami: The Soul Reapers as described throughout this entry.
• Ship Tease: Despite Kubo's disinterest in romance, there's quite a bit of Ship Tease across the manga, much of it coming in the form of side characters serving as a Shipper on Deck (see below).
  • Studio Pierrot loves IchiRuki to the point where they created a lot of material focused on it and removed/toned down a lot of IchiHime and RenRuki material in the process. They did put in one major IchiHime moment in Episode 167 that caused some backlash and also cranked up the UlquiHime Ship Tease in his dying moments. They also cranked up the Ship Tease between Renji and Rukia in a flashback. They love YoruSoi and Ikkaku/Yumichika and they've even played with Kenpachi/Byakuya Ship Tease. The anime even created two filler episodes dedicated to Hitsugaya/Karin despite the fact they have never met in canon.
• Shipper on Deck: The manga periodically has different characters addressing the idea of Ichigo and Orihime. Ichigo's sisters discuss Orihime being more Ichigo's type than Tatsuki. Tatsuki graphically lectures Orihime on how to snare Ichigo. Soul Society residents comment on Orihime's beauty but don't pursue her because they believe she and Ichigo are a couple. Nel lectures Ichigo on how to properly treat Orihime, and Urahara tricks Orihime into wearing a revealing dress that might attract Ichigo. When Chad asks Ichigo what he thinks of Orihime's dress, Ichigo becomes flustered, causing Yoruichi to berate him for not complimenting Orihime's appearance.
  • In earlier seasons, pretty much everyone was this for Ichigo and Rukia. At their school, it's treated as common knowledge that Ichigo and Rukia are something more than friends, both by Ichigo's jealous friend Keigo and Orihime's group of friends, as well as Orihime herself, who briefly considers Rukia a rival, but sees this as a benefit, as she and Rukia would out-number Ichigo. Both parties deny these rumors, for all the good that it does. Ichigo's family would also pair him with Rukia, with his father going so far as to refer to her as his third daughter, the implication being that he expected her to become his daughter-in-law.
  • Orihime also becomes one for Uryu, when, at the end of the Soul Society arc, she discovered he had feelings for someone in their group and deduced that it was Rukia. She was only half-right; it's heavily implied that he's actually harboring a crush on Orihime herself.
• Shirtless Scene: Yamamoto, Ichigo, Kenpachi, even Mayuri. In fact, so many male characters have had shirtless scenes that it's easier to observe who hasn't - Byakuya and Yumichika. However, even Byakuya has had one in official art, which just leaves Yumichika.
• Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy: Tite Kubo has designed Ichigo and his Aloof Ally Uryuu to be mirrors and contrast each other. Ichigo is headstrong and rushes into battle with minimal planning, whereas Uryuu is cool-headed and is renowned for strategising to the point of over-analysis. As a substitute Shinigami, Ichigo's battle uniform is black kimono overlaying white under-garments. Uryuu's battle uniform is white Western-style clothing, overlaying black inner layers. The author has also stated that Uryuu is left-handed to contrast the right-handed Ichigo. Although Ichigo has one long-ranged attack, he prefers to fight as a swordsman, up close and personal. While Uryuu does have the ability to fight at close-range like a swordsman when forced to, he is a Quincy archer, and almost always fights from a long range. Uryuu once states that Quincies prefer archery precisely because Shinigami prefer swordsmanship.
• Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Averted. The True Companions time their world-saving to coincide with school breaks whenever possible, but also cut class on a regular basis to deal with emergent threats...and get in trouble for it. Ichigo can at least fake attendance with Kon's help; Uryu, Chad, and Orihime have to come up with (often absurd) excuses for their absences. They avoid more serious punishment by keeping their grades up, although Ichigo does get into trouble with the teachers for letting his grades slip during his Vizored training.
• Shout-Out:
  • Kubo has stated that the manga that had the biggest impact on him when he was a child was Saint Seiya, so he gives that manga a lot of nods throughout his work. Ulquiorra's eye ability is a nod to Black Cygnus, who is able to record things he's seen with one eye and rip it off to send to another to receive the images it has recorded. The only difference between the two characters is that Ulquiorra can regenerate the eye he has used in this way.
  • Kubo openly admits to having used Kamen Rider as his inspiration for Mashiro's catsuit uniform and accessories. Even her special kick attacks come from it.
  • Several of the Visoreds are avid manga readers and sometimes discuss what they're reading. Not only has the Weekly Shounen Jump been mentioned, but Love was thoroughly into one manga in particular which he quotes "You Are Already Dead" as his favourite line. The manga he's quoting is Fist of the North Star.
  • The Fullbringers' abilities appear to be referencing the following songs, as well as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, known for its massive musical references. Among these are:
    • The organisation name Xcution to Linkin Park's X-ecutioner Style,
    • Riruka's Love Gun to Aya Hirano's Love★Gun,
    • Giriko's Time Tells No Lies to English metal band Praying Mantis' song of the same name,
    • Yukio's Invaders Must Die to The Prodigy's namesake album/song,
    • Jackie's Dirty Boots to the Sonic Youth song.
  • In Episode 354, Yukio sends Ginjo and Ichigo to do fullbring training in a Videogame stage. The Stage bears a striking resemblance to Chun-Li's Stage in Street Fighter II.
  • Episode 287 is a comedy dream sequence story inspired by both a canon scene in which a character awakens from sleep with a strange exclamation and a piece of artwork Kubo once did of the main cast in Arabian-esque clothing. The plot of the episode is full of nods to both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Arabian Nights.
  • Episode 304 is a comedy dream sequel to Episode 287, this time containing nods to both the earlier episode and the horror genre. The plot is particularly inspired by Frankenstein (Ichigo is Adam) and Dracula (Uryuu), with their respective fathers parodying various Monster Hunter works.
  • In Chapter 315.1, Hiyori calls Hiroku, "stupid Shinji."
  • In the Thousand-Year Blood War Season 2 Episode 5, Mask De Masculine performs a Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs identical to the Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken from Fist of the North Star, complete with him chanting "STAR!" repeatedly.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Multiple:
  • Chapter 417 gives us a rather epic one from Ichigo to Aizen, leading to Aizen turning red and going Clipped-Wing Angel... to the complete non-reaction of Ichigo. Never has seeing a Smug Snake get smacked backwards repeatedly been so satisfying.
• Shut Up, Scary Thing!: When Ichigo and Kon are arguing about Kon running around in Ichigo's body, a Hollow is creeping up on them. When it tries to interrupt or at least draw attention to itself, they simultaneously kick it in the face telling it to shut up.
• Sideboob: Kuukaku Shiba. When they go into shunkou both Yoruichi and Soi Fon sport this, particularly Yoruichi.
• Significant Name Shift: The first time we see Isshin and Ryuuken talk to each other, Ryuuken calls Isshin [[Last-Name Basis "Kurosaki". Isshin looks weirdly happy about it, and remarks that it's the first time Ryuuken addressed him that way. In the final arc of the manga, it's revealed that Isshin's original family name was "Shiba"; he adopted Masaki's last name, "Kurosaki", upon their marriage. Ryuuken addressing Isshin by his married name indicates he accepts Isshin as family, since Masaki was Ryuuken's first cousin.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Played with. Few battles are truly of this trope in their entirety but will end this way. After a few episodes of monologuing, taunts, releasing zanpakuto and explaining their abilities, flashbacks, Superpowered Evil Sides, random philosophy, and building up one's Battle Aura, both parties agree to end the fight in a single strike. At that point, this trope gets played straight.
  • Ichigo versus Kenpachi. Ichigo is the first to fall (with an intact sword), believing he's lost. Then Kenpachi confirms Ichigo won and collapses next to him, his sword being revealed as shattered. Confirmed in the Official Bootleg and the final arc that Kenpachi did indeed lose the fight.
  • Ichigo versus Byakuya. They agree that they have no strength left to prolong the fight so decide to end it in a single strike. Ichigo staggers, blood flowing everywhere as he desperately tries to prop himself up with his sword to avoid falling over. Then Byakuya staggers (but doesn't fall), blood spurts and he opens his hand, revealing his sword had shattered. He graciously concedes defeat to Ichigo on those grounds.
  • Ichigo and Jin Kariya at the end of the anime Bount arc.
  • Ichigo and Captain Amagai. Subverted. It looks like this but Ichigo's opponent isn't killed and goes on to attack someone else.
• Sissy Villain: Szayel Apporo Granz, sealed with his dub voice's Noblewoman's Laugh. Also, Luppy, who simpered a lot over his enemies, especially regarding Rangiku's sexy body.
• Sitting on the Roof: Ichigo and his schoolmates have a tendency of retreating to the school roof. Several Soul Reapers also have a tendency to retreat to roofs both in Seireitei and Karakura Town (mainly Hitsugaya and Ikkaku, but also Hinamori, Matsumoto, Kenpachi and even Aizen before he was revealed as a villain).
• Skeleton Motif: Hollowfication is generally viewed as undesirable, with Hollows being human souls that have been consumed by dark, negative instincts to hunt down and destroy other souls to empower themselves. Humans that have been born to survivors of Hollow attacks possess unique powers called "Fullbring", but live with the alien essence of the Hollow from whose power their Fullbring descend. In the "Lost Agent Arc", Ichigo is taught by Ginjo to activate his Fullbring, which covers his entire body in a skeleton-themed armour. Ginjo's plan is to helpfully nurture Ichigo's Fullbring so that he can steal the power for his own villainous ends. Like Ichigo, he is a substitute Soul Reaper with an inner Hollow, but when he manifests Ichigo's Fullbring, the skeletal armour becomes a better fit for him than it ever was for Ichigo. The manga's author has stated this is deliberate, as Ichigo's Fullbring was created with Ginjo's villainous appearance in mind.
• Skinship Grope: Usually happens when a female character grabs another female character's boobs during a comedy moment. It also happens when Rangiku takes a bath at Orihime's and when she realises how depressed Orihime is, she gets out of the bath to hug and tickle Orihime into a good mood, despite being wet and naked.
• Sleep Cute: The "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" opening.
• Slipknot Ponytail: Renji, Kenpachi and Byakuya have all experienced this.
• Smashing Watermelons: During the anime episode 228 Beach Episode.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Ichigo's not only fighting hollows; he's likely to get into a snark battle along the way. Likely opponents include Uryu, Rukia, and Renji.
  Uryu: Nothing personal Ichigo, but it seems to me in a situation like this, my bow and arrows are gonna be more effective than your single sword.
  Ichigo: That's about as handy as a can of bug spray.
• Snap to the Side: Ichigo makes people do this all the time.
• Sneeze Cut: When Yoruichi assesses how Ichigo's improving during his bankai training, she recalls Urahara's speech to her about Ichigo's ability and acknowledges that Urahara was right all along. The scene immediately cuts to Urahara sneezing and complaining that someone must be talking about him.
• Social Services Does Not Exist:
  • In a typical comedic use of this trope, Isshin Kurosaki regularly launches surprise assaults against his son Ichigo, claiming it as a form of martial arts training. Ichigo only remarks on this as an unpleasant distraction. Isshin is far more likely to be on the receiving end of physical abuse from Karin, but he did at one point rip off his shirt and tell his daughters to "Come give your big, sexy daddy a hug!"
  • Much less hilariously, Orihime's older brother Sora was able to get custody of her as soon as he turned 18, due to their parents being abusive, and basically raised her on his own. Apparently no one thought it necessary to remove Orihime OR Sora from an abusive environment before then, and after Sora's death Orihime lived alone, despite being in middle school. We don't have much detail on Chad's family situation except that he, too, seems to have had no living family and no guardian since at least middle school, and yet receives no attention from social workers. Even Uryuu lives in his own apartment rather than share a house with his estranged father, although we know Ryuuken keeps an eye on his son from a distance and presumably is still his legal guardian.
  • In a classic non-comedic use of this trope, Soul Society has absolutely no welfare infrastructure for recently arrived souls in the Rukongai; even the souls of children are left to fend for themselves as best they can. While some arrive in decent districts and get cared for by lonely adults (Hitsugaya and Hinamori and their adoptive grandmother), others get dumped into impoverished, lawless areas and have to form gangs for self-defense (Matsumoto and Gin). Rukia and Hisana's story is basically a cautionary tale of what Rukongai's lack of social services can drive a person to do out of desperation.
• Sole Survivor: Holy Selection was intended to kill all Gemischt Quincies…and succeeded, except for Uryu, who is now the last Gemischt alive. Yhwach's stated reason for naming Uryu as his successor is that his mysterious survival implies that he has some power beyond even Yhwach's understanding.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil:
  • Played straight for the first three arcs:
    • Substitute Soul Reaper features progressively stronger and more cunning Hollows culminating in the Menos Grade at the end of Ichigo's conflict with Uryuu.
    • Soul Society has the True Companions fighting their way up the Soul Reaper ranks from unseated grunts to captains with bankai.
    • The Arrancar attack in order with their (ranked) power levels — Fraccion, Privaron, Espada — before the Co-Dragons and Aizen get involved in the fight.
  • And then, in Deicide, Aizen ''invokes'' this trope to explain events up until this point. The reason Ichigo has been faced with progressively stronger opponents always at exactly the moment when they can best catalyze his development is because Aizen was orchestrating his progress to produce his ideal opponent.
  • Subverted in Thousand Year Blood War. The Vandenreich use a Blitzkrieg-like strategy of leading with the strongest troops and leaving cleanup to the Mooks.
• Soul-Cutting Blade: Zanpakuto directly translates to "Soul Cutting Sword". Seeleschneider, the Quincy arrow/sword/chainsword, directly translates into "soul cutter" - but in German.
• Soul Eating:
  • Hollows feed on human souls, and a Gillian-class Menos Hollow is created when hundreds of Hollows descend into an inter-cannibalistic frenzy and eat each other.
  • The intelligent minority of Gillian — as opposed to the mindless, bestial majority — are also forced to devour other Hollows (Menos or otherwise), either partially or entirely, in order to avoid regressing back to a bestial state, as well as to gradually ascend the Menos evolution ladder (Gillian to Adjuchas, and then to Vasto Lorde).
  • Then we have Aaroniero Arruruerie, the Noveno Espada (#9), who goes even further by combining the trope with Cannibalism Superpower, and by the time he debuted he had eaten 30,665 Hollows (including one that had assimilated a dead Soul Reaper's body via a somewhat different method).
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Lots of it. You've have a scene like Gin and Hitsugaya about to go at each other with swords, and then roll credits to "Happypeople".
• Spanner in the Works: Wonderweiss showing up in the middle of the Soul Reapers' fight in Karakura Town, with a gigantic ball of horror in tow. Two captains promptly get pounded.
• Sparkling Stream of Tears: Rukia and Orihime once. Dondochakka Bilstin and Keigo Asano on a regular basis.
• Spell Levels: Kido is ranked from 1-99, and the higher the level, the more difficult (and powerful) a kido is to perform.
• Spiritual Successor: Considering the similar themes, and how they share the same anime director, some have stated this show is the Spiritual Successor to YuYu Hakusho.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation:
  • Quincies are capable of producing weapons out of reishi, the spiritual equivalent of "atomic particles". They usually need a physical object as a focus for creating the weapon and the weapon itself tends to be an Energy Weapon, traditionally an Energy Bow. However, they can generate these weapons whenever they feel like doing so. Advanced Quincies can make their weapons look solid and physical.
  • When in his resurreccion and segunda etapa forms, Ulquiorra is capable of producing a lance made of energy whenever he likes.
  • Fullbringers are similar to Quincies in that they use a physical object as a focus to producing weapons. However, Fullbringers tend to be more limited in the range of weapons they can produce, usually producing the same weapon every time. Their weapons become physical rather than energy.
• Spot the Imposter: Anime episode 326. While Captain Hitsugaya is fighting Reigei!Momo Hinamori, the real Momo appears and attacks Reigei Momo. Hitsugaya has to figure out which one is the real Momo so he can defend her from Reigei Momo's attack. Then, once he makes his choice, to his surprise the Momo he's protecting stabs him, revealing that both of them are Reigei Momo. They then team up to try to kill him.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The original focus on humans and a single Soul Reaper quickly gave way to a focus on the Soul Reapers and their society. This has been an even bigger problem in the anime where the human characters are often discarded in favor of the Soul Reapers and even the main character can struggle for screentime.
• Springtime for Hitler: Word of God expressed surprise in an interview regarding the number of fangirls gained by Gin Ichimaru since his introduction, as he was designed to be sinister and off-putting.
• Standard Evil Organization Squad: The Espada.
• Step into the Blinding Fight: Captain Tousen uses this. His bankai creates a huge sphere of darkness (in which his blindness doesn't give him a disadvantage). Unfortunately for him, he was fighting Kenpachi, who just lets himself get stabbed to immobilize Tousen's sword and beat the crap out of him.
• Stock Ninja Weaponry: There's an entire organisation of them using weapons like these. Both Soifon and Yoruichi have used kunai, for example.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Ichigo is a spikey orange-haired teenager who is determined to protect the vulnerable because he knows what it's like to be powerless. His mother was murdered in front of his eyes by a Hollow just before his ninth birthday and he doesn't want anyone to feel the way he felt about that. His genetic and spiritual inheritance means that his soul is made up of all four of the story's soul-types (Human, Soul Reaper, Hollow, Quincy) giving him enormous power. Soul Reapers can take decades or centuries to develop their power. Ichigo can surpass them after training for days. The villains keep "helping" him to power up because they want his power for themselves, but this just enables him to eventually defeat them. Unlike most shonen heroes, he actually gets good grades in school. He's very studious because he's conscious that the teachers are biased against him because of his odd-coloured hair. However, in battle, he fights instinctively instead strategically.
• "Stop the Hero" Twist: In the Fullbringer Arc, Ishida is attacked by an unknown assailant and winds up in the hospital. Meanwhile, the rest of Ichigo's companions also find themselves under attack, and soon a new adversary named Tsukishima is revealed. Ichigo, Brought Down to Normal after his previous battle over a year ago, is desperate to help his friends in some way and Sado introduces him to a group of humans with spiritual powers called "Fullbringers" led by a man named Ginjo. The Fullbringers train Ichigo and help him gain new powers, but in the meantime, Tsukishima attacks the rest of Ichigo's friends and family—revealing that his sword's powers are a form of Mental Time Travel that alters someone's past—and he uses this to make the people he attacked think he was their friend and The Hero instead of Ichigo, turning them against him. Ginjo and Ichigo, the only two people left unaffected, battle Tsukishima until Ginjo finds himself cut by Tsukishima's sword and urges Ichigo to end the battle before the mental effect takes hold. Ichigo attacks Tsukishima once more, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Ishida, who pulls his weapon on Ichigo. Ichigo assumes that Ishida was brainwashed like everyone else, until Ishida yells that Ichigo has it all wrong—the person who attacked him wasn't Tsukishima...it was Ginjo. It's then revealed that Ginjo is the mastermind, that being cut just undid the brainwashing he was already under, and that he had willingly let Tsukishima turn him into a Manchurian Agent to dupe Ichigo.
• Story-Breaker Power:
  • Letzt Stil vastly inflated Uryuu Ishida's abilities to such a degree he was capable of one-shotting both a captain and his bankai at the same time. It gives him complete dominance over reishi. In a world made entirely out of reishi (Soul Society or Hueco Mundo) it can destroy the world itself to give him limitless power. The ability is temporary, though, though, burning out the Quincy who uses it, destroying their power forever. Uryuu later regains his power due to Parent ex Machina and eventually the story introduces a different variant of this technique called Vollständig, which can be used freely because it doesn't burn out the Quincy's power afterwards.
  • Aizen's Shikai is complete control over the five senses. Once hypnotised by the Shikai, a person will always be so vulnerable to the illusions they won't even know they're ensnared. Since everyone of note in Soul Society has been hypnotised, it's impossible for them to beat him even when working together. Ichigo only stood a chance because he had not been ensnared and, by the time they fought, Aizen was so drunk on power that he willfully discarded his sword due to the belief he had gained even better Story Breaker Powers than ever.
  • Yamamoto's Shikai is capable of killing every person for many miles around and he has to erect barriers to protect humans living outside the battlefield before he'll use it. The only way to combat Yamamoto is to seal his power and then fight him physically. Even then, Yamamoto is so overpowering, he can thrash the enemy with his bare fists alone... and if that's not enough, his kido power is immense as well. His Bankai is The Power of the Sun. Activating it will destroy the world by accident if switched on for too long.
  • Orihime possesses a Reality Warper power that is an in-universe mystery. Characters have speculated that can do anything if she believes she can and that she's never tapped into her full potential. She is exactly as strong as she believes she is, which is both her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. Her personality is her limitation. She's so gentle, pacifistic, kind and unassuming that she cannot harm others, not even enemies, and it doesn't occur to her that she can break the laws of physics even when told she can, but it is regularly pointed out that, if she wanted to, Orihime could do tings that would be like of a God.
  • Ichigo's Final Getsuga Tenshou, easily defeated Aizen when Aizen was at his most powerful. As with Uryuu's Letzt Stil, using this form was temporary and burned out Ichigo's powers quickly. Also like Uryuu, Parent ex Machina ensures that he eventually does regain his powers.
  • Barragan's power is Senescencia. He slows down everything around him by manipulating time and aging everything at incredible speed. In resureccion, this upgrades to Respira, a black smoke that rots everything that comes in contact with it and which travels large distances at extreme speed. Speed, Bankai, Kido are all useless. It's so deadly that the only way to defeat Barragan is by turning Respira on himself, as even he is vulnerable to his own power.
  • Gremmy's Imagination-Based Superpower allows him to create whatever he can imagine out of reishi, an ability that is stated to be so broken as to leave even the other elite Quincy in awe of him. The only weakness of said power is that it relies on his own imagination, but Gremmy's abilities are so broken that he can remove this weakness without issue simply by thinking new things up, and only actually dies because he makes a mistake when doing so that causes his powers to kill himself.
• Stylistic Suck: All of anime episode 298, but especially the movie Squad 6 is making.
• Sucking-In Lines: The formation of a cero sometimes begins with this lines. Also, kido casting can sometimes involve sucking in lines as well. Byakuya's activation of his final Bankai form also involves a huge use of this.
• Suit Up of Destiny:
  • Ichigo in the first episode after gaining Soul Reaper powers for the first time. Then for a second time after he loses his powers and gets them back.
  • Ishida when he reveals he's going to go to Soul Society with Ichigo to rescue Rukia (lampshaded by having Ichigo question his fashion sense). Then for a second time after he loses his powers and gets them back.
  • And finally, as part of a reveal, this is used to show that Isshin, Ichigo's father, was a Soul Reaper all along. Apparently for a second time having lost them before and now got them back.
• Super-Deformed: When violence is used for comedy instead of serious combat, this trope often happens if a character is kicked, stepped on or punched/booted in the face.
• Super-Empowering: Ichigo's powers are first activated at the beginning when Rukia decides to share with him a portion of hers, although Ichigo accidentally sucks up more than she was willing to give. Ichigo's powerful aura ends up activating the dormant spiritual powers of Sado and Orihime. Because of the nature of quincy powers, Uryuu can suck up Ichigo's power when touching him.
• Super Special Move:
  • Ichigo's Zanpakuto technique, Getsuga Tensho, is enhanced when he enters his Bankai, turning black and jagged due to the influence of his Inner Hollow. As such, it is made even more powerful when he dons his Hollow Mask, with Ulquiorra commenting that it is akin to his own Cero Oscuras. Ichigo's "Final Getsuga Tensho" merges him with his Zanpakuto and allows him to use "Mugetsu" — a "Getsuga Tensho" powerful enough to badly damage Aizen's ultimate One-Winged Angel form. However, using this attack came at the cost of him purportedly permanently losing his Soul Reaper powers, rendering him a powerless human for several years, and he had to undergo intense training to reactivate them. After his Zanpakuto is reforged during the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, Ichigo is able to fire a Getsuga Tensho from both his swords and merge them into a cross-shaped blast called "Getsuga Jūjishō". In his Horn of Salvation form, Ichigo can merge a Gran Rey Cero with his Getsuga Tensho to create a blast powerful enough to injure the Soul King-augmented Yhwach.
  • Menos-class Hollows are capable of firing beams of crimson spiritual energy called Ceros. Arrancar are capable of firing super-charged Gran Rey Ceros by mixing their spiritual energy with their blood, while members of the Espada are capable of firing extremely powerful black Ceros called Cero Oscuras — though only Ulquiorra is shown doing so.
• Supernatural Fear Inducer: Nodt's power is to throw thorns that instil a crippling, irrational fear in his opponents if they touch them. His Vollstandig transports his opponents into a dimension where giant eyes everywhere paralyse the opponent with terror.
• Super-Toughness:
  • A Soul Reaper's life force is affected by their spiritual power. The more spiritual power they possess, the harder it is to even scratch them, let alone kill them.
  • Arrancar possess Hierro ^*Spanish for Iron, a supernaturally tough skin which makes it difficult to injure or kill them.
  • Quincies possess Blut ^*Pure-blood Quincies possess it from birth, mixed-blood Quincies learn it with training, a method of channelling reiatsu through their body's blood vessels via reishi manipulation. By channelling this through their arteries (Blut Arterie), they can massively increase their attacking power. By channelling it through their veins (Blut Vene), they can massively increase their defensive power. Blut Vene can make it incredibly hard to injure or kill a Quincy.
• Supernatural Elite: All residents of Seireitei (lit: "The Court of Pure Souls"). It's where all the privileged souls reside in the afterlife. That includes government officials, Soul Reapers, nobles, vassals, peacekeeping forces, and others. Every other soul either resides in Rukongai (lit: "Wandering Soul City") or suffers a Fate Worse than Death elsewhere.
• Supernaturally Delicious and Nutritious: the more powerful you are, the more tasty you are to Hollows. This is more of a concern for people who have just enough power to say I See Dead People, but can't fight them.
• Supernatural Hotspot Town: Karakura Town is a home for main characters and also the biggest place of spiritual activity that attracts Hollows, Arrancars, Fullbringers, Quincy, etc (as long as it has a spiritual force). It was revealed that the town is situated on the current Jureichi - the point in the Human World that possesses the greatest concentration of spiritual beings.
• Supernatural Phone: It's standard issue for Soul Reapers to use special cell phones to detect spiritual pressure in a close location in the World of the Living and to communicate with Soul Society. Lampshaded by Ichigo when he learns Urahara gave one to Uryuu during the time-skip: when Uryuu tells Ichigo to text him, Ichigo points out that a Soul Society phone isn't going to be compatible with "normal" phones.
• Supernatural Sensitivity: Spiritual awareness allows anyone to sense spiritual power in others. It tends to be described as a "smell", often resulting in Soul Reapers saying they can "smell" a hollow's power in the area.
• Supernatural Suffocation: A pair of Bount twins in the anime arc use their water-based dolls to create masses of water around the target's head to drown them.
• Supernormal Bindings: In the anime "Soul Society/The Rescue" arc episode 45. After Ganju, Uryu and Chad are captured by the Soul Society, manacles are put on them that seal off their spiritual pressure and prevent them from using their powers.
• Superpower Lottery: Soul Reapers have a wide variety of zanpakuto powers, ranging from pitifully lame to gamebreakingly unfair. Shikai example: Ikkaku gets a spear with the special power to separate into three attached sections and Renji gets a sword that stretches. Meanwhile, Ichigo's fires giant energy blasts, Mayuri's induces complete paralysis, and Aizen's traps anyone who sees its release in a nearly perfect, unbreakable illusion. The best part is, they don't even get to decide what their powers do. Soul Reapers get what they're given. And let's not even get started on Bankai...
  • Chad and Orihime were born with powers that were locked away in their soul until unlocked by Ichigo's reiatsu and the Hougyoku. Chad was always a physical fighter, who used his strength to protect people after his grandfather taught him, and his powers manifested as mystically empowered arms. Orihime can't stand to see people being hurt and her powers reject harm or anything that will do harm. Chad's limits seem based on his physical might and Orihime's based on what she can conceive of as being possible for her to do.
• Superpowerful Genetics: The Kurosaki children have inherited spiritual power as a result of their parentage. And Quincies inherit power off their parents.
• Swirling Dust: When Ichigo uses his Bankai for the first time, it creates a massive tornado of dust visible from miles away.
• Sword Pointing: Very common in most fights. Examples include Ichigo pointing his sword at Byakuya, Kenpachi pointing his sword at Nnoitra, Hitsugaya pointing his sword at Harribel, and so on. More examples can be found on the trope page.
• Sword Sparks: An anime favourite, clashing swords are often made more dramatic by having sparks fly.
• Systematic Villain Takedown: The Espadas, a group of the 10 most powerful Arrancar in Aizen's army, are introduced in the Arrancar Invasion Arc, and would be the major threat of the manga aside from Aizen and his most direct underlings for the next arcs leading up to the Series Fauxnale, Hueco Mundo, Fake Karakura Town and Deicide. They're separately taken down over the course of these arcs, by multiple different central characters in the story, though some are also taken out by in-fighting, especially where Grimmjow and Nnoitra are involved, and occasionally, there's a fight between a character and a minor Arrancar that isn't an Espada.

T

• Talking Is a Free Action:
  • Kido incantations can only be skipped by skilled practitioners, which significantly reduces the spell's power. Some of the incantations are incredibly long. This is only sometimes subverted when characters comment on the inconvenience of trying to finish chants during battle.
  • This is taken to ridiculous extremes with Charlotte Cuuhlhourne, whose attacks are sometimes preceded by sixteen-word long names. This becomes particularly jarring in the anime, which has to recycle animation just to give him enough time to shout out the whole name. Admittedly, this is definitely lampshading.
  • Subverted and Lampshaded in Chapter 389. Kyoraku attacks Aizen while Aizen is having a conversation with Hitsugaya. Aizen dodges it then criticizes Kyoraku for attacking him.
  Aizen: How uncouth. We are in the middle of a conversation, Captain Kyoraku.
• Talking Weapon: The only one we see in detail is Zangetsu when communicating with Ichigo in Ichigo's inner world. However, it's considered standard that Soul Reapers must learn how to communicate with their zanpakutou and that zanpakutou have thoughts and feelings of their own that they do communicate with their owner even though the manga doesn't detail the conversations that occur (only suggesting them and hinting at them). We also see Zabimaru manifest and talk to Renji at one point and Zangetsu once asks if Ichigo can hear Kenpachi's zanpakutou screaming in pain because of how Kenpachi ignores it (Ichigo can). When Lilinette transforms into Stark's weapon, she continues to talk to him, making her an example of this trope as well, at least for a while.
• Tangled Family Tree: The Shiba siblings: Ichigo's first cousins on his father's side. Uryu: Ichigo's second cousin on his mother's side. The Big Bad of the Blood War Arc: Ichigo and Uryu's ancestor. And these are some of the more normal relationships.
• Tap on the Head
  • Anime episode 33. Ichigo has just been healed by Hanataro after a fight with Renji Abarai. Ignoring Hanatoro's warning not to move or he'll re-open his wounds, Ichigo is walking away when he's suddenly punched in the face and knocked unconscious by Ganju Shiba so he'll have to rest.
  • Anime episode 43 has two examples. When a Soul Reaper is suspicious of Uryu and Orihime, another Soul Reaper knocks him out with a piece of wood to the back of the head. There's also a fairly ridiculous example where Orihime gets a chop to the neck by a guy that just wanted her to shut up. It's not played as okay on that occasion, as the man realises he hit her too hard and is very worried about what damage he may have done to her (none, as it turned out, meaning this trope was still played straight).
  • Anime episode 362. Orihime and Chad are knocked out by Kisuke Urahara and Ichigo's father by being hit on the back of the head.
• Technicolor Toxin: Let's see...
  • Mayuri Kurotsuchi has Ashisogi Jizo, whose poison is purple in color.
  • In the anime, when Loly uses her Resurrecion Escolopendra it has a purple aura.
  • Gin Ichimaru dissolves Aizen with a dark purple poison from his sword.
• Teamwork Seduction: Downplayed and Played for Laughs in a scene where Orihime is disappointed when Rukia says she and Ichigo are Just Friends. Orihime states that if she and Rukia both loved the same man, they could "gang up on him" and "the girls would win". No one else has any clue what she's talking about, except Chizuru, who plans to substitute herself for Ichigo.
• Teen Genius: In the manga, the following teen characters have been cited (in-universe) as 'genius': Hitsugaya (who's probably only just old enough to slip over the edge from Child Prodigy to this trope), Gin and Uryuu Ishida. Orihime has been cited (in not so many words) as a Ditzy Genius. Ryuuken Ishida is implied to have been one as well. As a teenager, he was able to keep up with Urahara, much to Urahara's shock; even Aizen admitted Urahara's intellect is too great for him.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Rivals are forced to team up and end up becoming Fire-Forged Friends. It's par for the course in this manga. One of the most notable is the relationship between Ichigo and Uryuu. They're still in denial about being friends. The 13 Court Guards are made up of semi-autonomous divisions. As a result, when captains enter a battlefield together they usually stick to their own fights unless they're close friends. Some of the captains have almost nothing to do with each other and disdain each other at best (loathing each other at worst). Cue the battle with the espada Yammi where Kenpachi and Byakuya find themselves having to team up. The only way their pride can handle it is by turning it into a rivalry to see who can kill Yammi first while pretending he's getting in the way of them trying to kill each other. Strangely enough, they seem a lot more tolerant of each other after that event.
• Teeth Flying: Cleverly and artistically used as part of the title of chapter 426. Ichigo and Uryu both punch out the big boss of a gang who was after Ichigo, knocking out three of his incisors. The artistic part is where the chapter number appears on the teeth as they fly out. The reason why they were there? Ichigo previously had punched out SEVEN of one of their guy's teeth.
• Ten Little Murder Victims: In the Bount filler arc in the anime, one of the "games" involves one of the True Companions being replaced with a shapeshifter. The heroes have to figure out who it is before an elapsed time runs out or the modsouls will start killing the Muggles.
• Theme Music Power-Up: "Number One" plays whenever Ichigo is about to kick some serious ass. Hilariously subverted when Ichigo charges at Aizen at the end of the Soul Society arc: the music starts up, Ichigo makes his move... Then his sword is blocked by a single finger, the song abruptly stops, and Ichigo nearly gets cut in half. This is lampshaded in the Karakura Super Heroes episode, in which Don Kanonji declares that the role of Karakura Red (the protagonist) will go to the contestant who is worthy to be the Number One. Naturally, the song starts up when the real hero (the cat spirit) starts fighting.
  • The newest episode has a metal remix of the aforementioned Number One. And this time it's Ichigo who does the asskicking without an interruption. Even better, he returns the favor from before by stopping Aizen's music.
• There Are No Therapists: With all the traumatic stuff going on in this series, ESPECIALLY to little kids, you'd really expect some mental health professionals to get involved, even if psychiatry has a somewhat larger stigma in Japan than in the West.
  • Okay, so Soul Society in general operates on a feudal-ish political and technological level. At least the 13 Court Guards, being a military organization with medical expertise on the very advanced end of the setting's Schizo Tech, really ought to have some sort of psychological evaluation and counseling. Among the Soul Reapers who might particularly benefit from professional help (in addition to talk therapy just being generally a good way to help soldiers process war trauma), Hinamori shows pretty classic Stockholm Syndrome and PTSD symptoms, Kira does NOT recover well from Gin's betrayal and may have some substance abuse issues, and Rukia nearly committed judicial suicide (by pleading guilty to false charges) because of her guilt complex over Kaien's death.
  • In the human world, Orihime not getting therapy to deal with her parents' abuse and her brother's death could possibly be written off as her guardians being distant and uninvolved, or simply lacking funds and access to health care. But considering that Isshin and Ryuuken are both doctors (Ryuuken's a hospital administrator, no less) lack of involvement or access won't explain their sons Ichigo and Uryuu not receiving some sort of grief or trauma counseling after witnessing the bloody deaths of their mother and grandfather, respectively. It probably has more to do with All Therapists Are Muggles: start telling a therapist about seeing monsters and Soul Reapers and how they keep trying to kill your family members...and there's a decent chance you're going to get committed to a psych ward as delusional instead of treated for the anxiety that naturally arises from being monster bait.
  • This trope also becomes partially justified the more we learn about how zanpakutou work. Zanpakutou embody, and know about, all of their owners' personal flaws and weaknesses. The problem is, zanpakutou almost universally believe in Tough Love and won't flat out tell their owners what those weaknesses are (and even if they do, it's usually in Metaphorically True, Sarcastic Confession, and Cassandra Truth fashion whereupon the owners won't believe them). A single possible exception exists with Tobiume whom we're told in a filler arc has been counseling her owner Hinamori to overcome the trauma that Aizen inflicted upon her. Even then, though, Tobiume is not happy with her owner's behavior.
• There Was a Door:
  • In the anime, Grimmjow, in order to get into Orihime's room, blows a hole in the wall next to the already broken door (in the manga, he enters through the door, violently).
  • At one point, four different characters enter the same room. Not one of them uses a door. Instead, they burst through the floor, two different walls, and another dimension.
  • Renji, Matsumoto, Ikkaku, and Yumichika all enter Ichigo's room through the roof...and break his ceiling light in the process. Then they get scolded by Hitsugaya for their destructive entrance methods. After all, he had enough sense to climb in through the window.
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Captain Hitsugaya and "Toshiro," as well as Captain Kuchiki when Ichigo calls him "Byakuya."
• They Would Cut You Up: Mayuri finds a lot of things beneath his interest. That's probably for the best considering anything that does register on his radar will be collected by him and will be cut up and experimented on to find out how it ticks.
• Third Time's The Charm: Ichigo practices this trope regularly against quite a few of the people he eventually defeats.
• Third Party Stops Attack:
  • During Rukia's execution, the firebird-form of the Sokyoku flies towards Rukia to kill her with its practice swing. The weapon is stopped in its tracks by Ichigo blocking it with his sword. When the firebird swings again for a proper strike that even Ichigo won't be able to block, it's stopped in its tracks again, this time by Ukitake activating the shield that seals it.
  • During Ulquiorra and Yammy's reconnaissance mission to the World of the Living, Yammy tries to kill Orihime who is protecting Tatsuki and Sado from him. Ichigo appears from nowhere to block Yammy's attack with his sword. When Ichigo finds that's the limit of what he can do against Yammy, Urahara appears from nowhere to save Ichigo's life by blocking Yammy's killing blow with an energy shield created by his sword.
  • After Nnoitra thrashes Ichigo and Nel, he leaves his subordinate Tesla to finish off Ichigo. Zaraki appears from out of nowhere to block Tesla's killing punch with his blade. He instantly defeats Tesla and then takes on Nnoitra.
• This Cannot Be!: Often when a character who previous thought they were winning the fight discovers they're not going to win will exclaim this, or a variant.
  • Soifon in her fight with Yoruichi. She banked everything on the belief that, having spent a hundred years obsessively training, she would now be able to surpass Yoruichi. When she realizes that she still can't defeat Yoruichi even though Yoruichi's skills have stagnated for a century, she screams this before dissolving in tears and revealing the real reason why she's so angry with Yoruichi.
  • Anime episode 197. Espada #7 Zommari Rureaux while fighting Byakuya Kuchiki.
  • Also, Aizen's EPIC Villainous Breakdown during his final battle.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Many instances, most notably the Kaien flashback—"If you help him now, what will become of his pride?"
• This Is Unforgivable!: Multiple examples
• This Was His True Form: Anime episode 291. When Kaname Tousen is stabbed and mortally wounded while in Hollow form, he returns to his true Soul Reaper form just before he dies.
• Throat Light: During "The New Captain Shūsuke Amagai" anime arc, several people have this while wielding bakoto blades.
• Tiered by Name: A Soul Reaper's Zanpakutou has a fixed name for sealed and Shikai states but that name is expanded into a full title for Bankai. For example, Byakuya's Zanpakutou is called Senbonzakura (Thousand Cherry Blossoms) until entering Bankai, whereupon its name becomes Senbonzakura Kageyoshi (Thousand Cherry Blossoms Vibrant Display).
• Time Skip: The first 423 chapters take place over a span of 6-9 months, with more than 150 of those chapters occurring within a single day. Chapter 424 jumps forward 17 months, ageing the main characters up to senior year in high school and creating an excuse for major character redesigns and a couple levels in Badass. The penultimate chapter takes place ten years after Yhwach's defeat.
• Title Drop: The last chapter before the Time Skip is called "Bleach My Soul."
• To Be Lawful or Good: Having made two separate vows to always protect his dead wife's sister and always uphold the law, Byakuya's left dumbfounded when Rukia's execution brings the two vows into conflict. Although he's forced to support the execution, his worst fear is eventually confirmed to be Rukia dying. As Nodt's supernatural Emotion Bomb forces Byakuya to hallucinate Rukia's melting corpse, driving him into a frenzy that almost kills him.
• Together We Are X: Parodied with the initial appearance of Nel, Pesche, and Dondochakka. Together they are something... they just hadn't decided on what in time to get their introduction right.
• Took a Level in Badass: A lot of examples, see trope page for detail.
• Torso with a View: Almost every single Arrancar possesses such a hole, but it tends to vary - Grimmjow has it on his stomach, Ulquiorra has one in his throat when he first appears but it later moves to the center of his chest.
• Total Party Kill: Happens when Soul Society and the Vizards faces Aizen. While none of them die, he decimates all in battle.
• Touched by Vorlons:
  • A human can gain Soul Reaper powers if a Soul Reaper plunges their sword into the human's heart. It doesn't have a very high success rate but can work sometimes. There are special reasons why it worked in Ichigo's case.
  • Captains and lieutenants have to wear power-limiters on their reiatsu when in the human world lest their power start affecting human souls. This is lampshaded by observations on how Ichigo's extremely powerful, uncontrolled reiatsu (when in Soul Reaper form only) has affected humans around him (with help from the Hougyoku changing the odds to make something that can sometimes happen into something that definitely happens)) to enable Orihime and Chad to unlock to latent powers they possessed from birth but couldn't access without help and to give several classmates the ability to see ghosts and Soul Reapers when they previously couldn't.
  • Aizen uses the Hougyoku to create artificially-boosted Arrancar at levels mock-Arrancar in the past haven't naturally been able to reach. He also uses it to, in his personal belief, break the boundary between the Soul Reapers and the divine (although Urahara and Ichigo between them suggest he might have misinterpreted what happened to him). The small print behind the Hougyoku does actually say that it's only capable of manifesting desires that already have the potential to be achieved without the Hougyoku's involvement.
  • Fullbringers are the result of humans coming into contact with a Hollow's spiritual pressure when they were young, in most cases being while in their mother's womb. To use them, they have to use an item they are deeply attached to that channels their powers, giving them various abilities, and even a degree of Hollow powers. The titular arc about them reveals Ichigo and Chad have one, and Kubo would clarify that Orihime's powers are one as well.
• Touch the Intangible: Living people need a certain amount of spiritual power to interact with spiritual beings, and vice versa.
• Trailers Always Lie: Nel's adult form barely appears in the actual storyline, yet appears extensively in a few of the openings and other media, giving the reader/viewer the impression that it will be a huge and key part of the continuity.
• Training from Hell:
  • Urahara puts Ichigo through this in the Soul Society arc; later, during the Bount arc, Ichigo and his friends learn that the Mod Souls' dangerous "games" were actually training exercises devised by Urahara to force them to work together as a team.
  • During the Vandenreich arc, in order to get him up to maximum combat efficiency Unohana begins training Kenpachi through a brutal combat strategy of fighting him to the death. She's so far above him that she can kill him with a sealed zanpakutou. Kenpachi only gets stronger at the moment of death, so she has to inflict a killing blow on him then instantly heal it so he doesn't actually die just so he can develop. For three days, she fatally wounds him over and over again until he's finally strong enough to defeat her.
• Traitor Shot: Michel in anime episode #311 gives a nasty smile as part of his evil plot succeeds.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Though this is actually also subverted a lot, especially in zanpakuto releases. Even a Captain, Kuchiki Byakuya got his release interrupted at least twice—once by Yoruichi, who fast-wraps some kind of magical(?) bandage around his sword, and once by Renji, who simply just pushes Byakuya's sword aside with his own and throwing it out of balance. Grimmjow also gets stopped in two fights, as well—by Tousen and by Ulquiorra, both grabbing his sword right after the release command but before he could call out his zanpakuto's name. And then there's the one in the Arrancar Encyclopedia where he interrupts himself.
• Transformation Sequence: Espada and fraccion releases are this. Some of the Soul Reaper releases are this as well. As are some of the Fullbring releases.
• Trap Door: two open up under Renji Abarai and Dondochakka Bilstin in anime episode #159.
• Treasure Chest Cavity: Rukia had the Orb of Destruction hidden in her soul.
• Trickster Mentor: Zanpakutou, personifying their owners' personalities and true potential, employ this method often.
  • Zangetsu tricks Ichigo into getting stronger by making him believe his soul is being invaded by a Hollow.
  • Since Kenpachi wants to rely on only his own strength, but also subconsciously holds back to avoid killing opponents on his level, his zanpakutou spirit doesn't interfere in his battles, stops others from doing so, and acts as his Sensor Character to lead him to a Worthy Opponent. Thus, he needs her and she constantly helps him get stronger.
• Trivial Title: Many people assume that it's named after Ichigo's bleached-looking bright orange hair, but Word of God states that the word 'bleach' is meant to be evocative of the color white, which contrasts with the color black, which is the main color of the main characters' uniforms. So the title refers to the complementary color to their uniforms just to make it more interesting and artistic.
• Troubled Backstory Flashback: Most villains get one of these, and only during the fight where they're going to be killed. It's almost as if they're being fattened up with character interest before the writers slaughter them to make tasty, delicious entertainment sausage.
• True Companions: The concept pops up multiple times in the Hueco Mundo arc, used by both heroes and villains to describe Ichigo's crew. It's something of a theme for the arc, at least in between all the one-upmanship.
• Truer to the Text: The anime adaptation for the Thousand Year Blood War retains much of the more violent content from the manga, also restoring several characters' appearances to their looks from the manga (undoing their adaptation dye jobs from the original anime).
• Try Not to Die: Renji to all the ryoka storming Hueco Mundo, Orihime to Ichigo during the Grimmjow fight. Rukia many times in SS, also Rukia to Ichigo in his fight with Grand Fisher.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: The anime likes doing this for comedy, especially when a character has been kicked by a character who is annoyed with them, especially if the one being kicked is Kon.
• Twinkle Smile: Don Kanonji has one in anime episode 10 and Michel has one repeatedly in anime episode #311, just to show how cool they are.
• Twisted Eucharist: Yhwach blasphemously adopts the name of YHWH for himself after he realises that people are associating him with the Tetragrammaton as a result of mistaking his abilities for miracles. Born unable to see, hear, speak or move, people immediately discovered that touching him cured them of disease, injury, limb loss, or mental ailment, and also reversed his own disabilities. Yhwach was giving them a piece of his soul to develop their abilities only to have them die prematurely so that the soul shard could return to him, empowering him with their knowledge, experience and power; the technique becomes even more powerful when people imbibe his blood. Soul consumption enables Yhwach to overcome his disabilities and achieve unnatural power. If he stops, he will revert back to a vegetative state.

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