Bleach / Tropes L to N

aka: Tropes L-N

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)

L

• Last Episode, New Character: Kazui and Ichika, the children of Ichigo/Orihime and Renji/Rukia (respectively) only appear in the final chapter.
• Last-Minute Hookup: Because of Kubo's self-enforced policy of No Hugging, No Kissing, there was very little romantic build-up and virtually no on-screen courtship. Which meant that the pairings of Renji/Rukia and Ichigo/Orihime were only confirmed in the absolute final chapter.
• Last-Name Basis: The English anime/manga averts this trope in many cases due to the differences between American and Japanese cultural conventions in terms of address.
  • Ichigo refers to all his friends by last name except for Rukia, Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro. "Chad" is a nickname born from Ichigo's mispronunciation of Sado's surname. With the exception of the shinigami he's closest to, he refers to the shinigami by last name, too.
  • Uryuu is very well-mannered, and as a result it's jarring when he drops honorifics towards Ichigo, referring to him simply as "Kurosaki". He'll also drop honorifics for enemies, referring to them by their last names.
  • Ryuuken is excessively formal, so when he calls Isshin "Kurosaki" with no honorifics, Isshin is delighted, observes Ryuuken's never done that in their twenty-year history, and makes it sound like Ryuuken's being downright cuddly compared to his usual attitude. This turns out to be Foreshadowing that Kurosaki isn't Isshin's original surname.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Aizen is evil, Gin is a subverted Red Herring, Aizen is evil, Tousen goes with them because he's a Knight Templar, Aizen is evil, Shinji Hirako is a badass, Aizen is evil, Urahara isn't as nice as he seems, and oh yeah, AIZEN IS EVIL!!!
  • Anything that's aired in the often-delayed American dub. If it's gotten that far, it's been around long enough that it doesn't need spoiler tags.
  • The Fullbring arc suffers from this as well, what with a magazine cover showing Ichigo fighting fiercely against Ginjou, who was supposed to help him against the Arc Villain — but turns out to be the Arc Villain.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In chapter 430 when Karin and Yuzu are talking about Ichigo Karin says "He's just a normal guy, you know? He's not some anime character."
• Left for Dead: Happens a fair bit in this manga. Byakuya in particular has a habit of doing this but he's not the only one.
• Left Hanging: Before the final arc, interviews with Kubo made it clear that he wanted to use the final arc to tie up every loose end of the story, no matter how old the dangling plot point was. However, Weekly Shonen Jump abruptly announced that the manga would end with Volume 74, and Kubo wrapped up the story in such a rushed manner that many plot threads were left hanging. Unresolved issues include the full truth of the Ishida family heritage, Ryuuken's break with the Quincies, and the fates of several significant protagonists—to the extent that it's not even known how some of the final battles ended and who died or survived those fights. Kubo eventually tweeted that the reason the manga ended was because of increasingly worsening health since 2010 that left him frequently bedridden. He only kept going as long as did due to an inspiring letter received after the death of a terminally ill child who had loved reading the story while bedridden. However, Kubo has since continued the story with a series of co-written light novels that have tied up many of the loose plot threads left by the rushed ending of the manga.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: During Season 7 (Hueco Mundo Sneak Entry) and Season 9 (New Captain Shusuke Amagai).
• Let's You and Him Fight: Aizen's secret machinations during the Soul Society arc pit Ichigo's group and the 13 Court Guards against each other, giving him the opportunity to delve into Urahara's confiscated research to discover a means of extracting the Hougyoku from Rukia's soul. It's only at the end of the arc that the two groups realise they're on the same side and should be uniting against Aizen.
• Lies to Children: Some American fans often accuse Rukia of using Blatant Lies when she tells souls that Soul Society is a wonderful place to go to despite the fact she's simply doing her job to expedite the natural cycle of souls passing to Soul Society. Given the length of time between Soul Society's first mention and its actual appearance in the storyline, fans also debate whether this is simply an example of the evolution of the afterlife's concept in the author's mind. It should also be noted that only the districts with higher numbers are bad— Districts 1-49 aren't too bad. Things don't get really rough until after District 50, and mostly after District 59.
• Life-Affirming Aesop: Fear is a central theme in the story and affects the characters, especially the fear of death. Both fear and death play a crucial role in the characters' actions, motivations, and lives.
• Like Brother and Sister: Ichigo and Rukia are a mix between this and Belligerent Sexual Tension, but they end up parting ways on a good note as friends.
• Literal Split Personality: Zanpakuto spirits are stated to be the embodiment of a Soul Reaper's powers and part of their soul, manifested through an asauchi in the form of a sword. However, they are, for the most part, unique individuals with their own personalities, and can manifest to communicate with their wielders, which is a prerequisite for obtaining bankai.
• Logical Weakness:
  • The Quincy techniques Blut Vene and Blut Arterie use different systems to create attack and defense modes. These systems can't be activated at the same time and therefore need to be switched between. The moment of switching is a vulnerability, especially if they're fighting an opponent who is too fast for their switching speed.
  • Most characters with abilities that drastically increase their physical power/might beyond their normal limits will eventually encounter a problem whereas their body destroys itself because the released power is too much for them to handle without practice. Ichigo, Gremmy and Kenpachi all encounter this problem during their battles upon activating a new level of power for themselves. Both Hollow Ichigo and Yammy Llargo subverts this—but it has been established that Hollows are able to fully master all of their powers without any practice.
• Loners Will Stay Alone: Several characters had rather bad cases of this. One of them (Kon) is simply The Chew Toy, and it's Played for Laughs. Another (AIZEN) becomes a Magnificent Bastard Young Conqueror standards because of this. And another (Starrk) becomes an underling of the latter guy because anyone else simply died because of his mere presence, so powerful he was.
• Loving Bully: In one FAQ Rukia says that someone was a schmuck towards her in the Soul Reaper Academy because he couldn't tell her his feelings.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Chapter 480.

M

• MacGuffin Blindness: Urahara hid the Hogyouku inside Rukia, without her knowledge or consent to keep Aizen from finding it.
• Made of Phlebotinum: Everything in the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo is made of spirit particles.
• Mage Marksman: Quincy use archery to channel reishi (spirit particles) into arrows. The quincy from Vandenreich also use bows or crossbows.
• Magic Is a Monster Magnet: Due to Supernaturally Delicious and Nutritious. (Hollows survive by eating other spiritual beings.)
• Magic-Powered Pseudoscience: Almost all science and even technology in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo are empowered by "soul" (reiryoku, reishi, reiatsu, etc.) energy. Zanpakutou are forged from souls, the medical serum which saved Masaki's life was created by souls, the Hougyoku eats souls for energy, and so on and so forth.
• Magic Skirt: Kubo is not at all fond of panty shots, even when it should happen according the laws of gravity. Notable examples are Nemu, Lisa and Harribel. There is one, single shot of Harribel that implies she's Going Commando, but otherwise, nothing untoward is seen whenever these girls fight, despite the fact it should be impossible for them to even walk without exposing something.
• Make Them Rot: Baraggan Louisenbairn's Respira causes everything to age rapidly. Stone crumbles, spells fade away and flesh rots.
• Male Gaze: No shortage in this manga.
• Malevolent Masked Men: The Vandenreich's main introduction to the Soul Reapers is by presenting a group of seven fully masked warriors to Yamamoto himself.
• The Man Behind the Monsters: The Arrancar army isn't led by another hollow, it's led by the very human-looking Soul Reaper, Aizen. In fact the leader of the hollows was displaced by Aizen.
• Man of Kryptonite: Quincies eradicate Hollows from a survival instinct due to having an innate vulnerability to Hollow taint. It can weaken their powers and has the potential to destroy their very souls.
• Marshmallow Hell: Always played for laughs. It usually involves Rangiku Matsumoto squashing someone's head in her breasts from filler boys to Orihime and especially her captain. However, it's also been used by Nemu to stifle protests from Uryuu regarding Mayuri's concoctions. It's even been done in a flashback to a young Byakuya, courtesy of Yoruichi.
• Masked Villains, Unmasked Heroes: Zig-zagged. Hollows are malevolent spirits identified by white, skull-like masks and are opposed by the Soul Reapers — who don't wear masks. As the story progresses, it's revealed that the Soul Reapers themselves are not without flaws and that Hollows are capable of goodness.
• Mask Power: The trope is played straight by the Vizards, who gain power when they put on Hollow masks, and inverted by the Arrancar, who become stronger when they remove their masks.
• Masquerade: The Hollow-hunting activities of Soul Reapers are kept secret from ordinary humans through copious use of memory-erasing devices.
• Mass Hypnosis: Subverted. Aizen does keep calling his power "complete hypnosis" but the way his power works doesn't have anything in common with hypnosis. He cannot directly control how people behave or what they think. Instead, his Zanpakuto fools all of the senses and Aizen uses that in combination with completely normal methods of manipulation to trick people into doing what he wants them to do. He does not, however, hypnotise peoples' minds.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Powerful villains and lots of crowded fight scenes make for a lot of these. Notably: the captains' and lieutenants' reaction to Aizen revealing who Hitsugaya REALLY stabbed, the entire 13 Court Guards' reaction to the Vandenreich invasion, and both factions' shock when Gremmy brings down a meteor on friends and foe alike.
• Master of the Levitating Blades: Byakuya Kuchicki's Zanpakuto can split into thousands or more tiny or large blades to skewer his enemies from all directions.
• Meaningful Name: The kanji used for the non-Japanese word "Vandenreich" mean "Invisible Empire". In German, it means "walled-off empire."
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: In the DS fighting games, Don Kanon'ji has a "Ratings Meter", befitting his TV personality, where certain attacks do more damage the better he is performing. Missing attacks or calling for certain attacks when he does not have the energy decrease his ratings, while doing damage gains ratings. Taunting significantly increases his ratings.
  • Hanataro Yamada has a weapon that heals instead of cuts, then, when enough wounds are healed, it deals damage in one attack equal to the damage healed.
• Men Get Old, Women Get Replaced: Several captains in the current storyline were around during a flashback that takes place a thousand years ago. Captain-Commander Yamamoto and Lieutenant Sasakibe were both much younger and have aged into highly respected old men; Yamamoto is even regarded as the living embodiment of the 13 Court Guards' history. Children such as Kyouraku, Ukitake and Zaraki are now powerful, renowned captains that have entered middle age. Captain Unohana is the only individual aside from Yamamoto and Sasakibe to have been an adult in the flashback. Unlike any of the other characters, she has apparently not aged a day since then and is still called "pretty" by Kirinji.
• Mental World: The Soul Reapers possess a mental world where they commune with their zanpakutou. The state of Ichigo's is closely tied to his emotions. When he's happy and confident it's a sideways city full of skyscrapers embodying his hope and determination. When he's sad or upset, the sky darkens and it rains; and when he truely despairs — as following his final battle with Ulquiorra and when he learns the entity he thought was Zangetsu had been lying to him — the skyscrapers crumble and the whole place is plunged into a literal ocean of despair.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Kaien Shiba and Soken Ishida both go out in really ugly ways, in the presence of the ones they were mentoring.
• Merger of Souls: Hollows become more powerful by eating human souls (and each other). At lower stages of strength, this normally leads to them becoming titanic creatures known as Gillians, composed of many thousands of souls and forming the first stage of a Hollow's existence as a Menos. Occasionally one of these Hollows contains a soul strong-willed enough to remain sapient and somewhat intelligent, which takes control and continues to feed on other Hollows to become more powerful. If such a Gillian consumes enough souls, it turns into a more powerful and now-truly intelligent Adjuchas. Rarely, if an Adjuchas consumes enough souls it will metamorphose further into a fully humanoid and immensely powerful Vasto Lorde.
• Mildly Military: The 13 Court Guard Squads can easily qualify for this: despite being a military force with a defined hierarchal ranking system, and Yamamoto does maintain a level of control on his soldiers, the captains are more or less able to do as they like when they're not under official battle commands, and have been known to go rogue when it suits them (with severe punishments not being all that common for all but the most serious, traitorous offenses). Given that they evolved from an Army of Thieves and Whores, this is still a vast improvement.
• Militaries Are Useless: The 13 Court Guards are a glaring example. Their military is comprised of roughly 6,000 soldiers, yet, their strength rests almost entirely on its thirteen Captains, thirteen Lieutenants and the seated officers, who're always sent to the front lines while the rest of their divisions stay behind. They also have an entire spy network (the Onmistukido), and a Kido Corp. which never get used. Justified as they are primarily trained to fight regular hollows, not the superpowered antagonists the main characters fight.
• Mind Screw:
  • Baura is a fish. And he's able to fly. And he has an entire dimension inside his mouth. He can also shoot lightning, along with regurgitating anything he's previously swallowed - like fire and dust.
  • Tsukishima's power affects the minds of people making it difficult for them to tell reality from Tsukishima's version of reality. He inserts himself into the memories of Ichigo's friends, family and acquaintences, making everyone believe he's Ichigo's cousin who helped save Rukia from execution. When he tries to fight against this, everyone reacts like he's going insane and needs help. To Ichigo, it's as if the entire world has gone insane.
  • Mayuri's drugs do this when inflicted on his targets. Szayel's sensory perception was so badly screwed, his death - which took on seconds in reality - felt as though it took centuries to occur, leaving him begging inside his own mind for it to end. When Hitsugaya is zombified into serving the Vandenreich, Mayuri attacks him with a drug that makes him think he's trapped in a time-loop. Every time he kills Mayuri, the fight resets to the beginning until eventually Hitsugaya's body is driven into paralysis - whether the fight actually occurred or just happened inside Hitsugaya's own head is the mind screw.
• Mirror Match:
  • One of the filler arc characters can mimic anyone else and Ichigo ends up fighting a "copy" of himself. Also one of Szayel's powers.
  • Another filler arc has all the Soul Reapers cloned so there have been several of these, and several captains end up fighting themselves.
  • Loyd Loyd tried this on Zaraki during the Stern Ritter invasion. Emphasis on tried.
• The Missing Faction:
  • The highest level of aristocracy in the Seireitei is held by the Four Great Noble Clans, only two of which have been revealed in the story (The Shihouin Clan and the Kuchiki Clan). The true extent of their power has never been fully revealed but they're indicated to even have ties to the Royal Realm. However, in the past, there actually used to be Five Great Noble Clans. The Shiba Clan was disgraced by mysterious events that still haven't been explained ^* According to the Turn Back the Pendulum arc, the Great Noble Clans had already been reduced to four, indicating that the disgrace occurred more than 109 years before the start of the story. The clan has been reduced to two known members, siblings living with the commoners in the Rukongai. The Shiba clan is also found in the World of the Living as Isshin Kurosaki was the head of a minor branch of the Shiba clan and is the siblings' uncle. The family has also retained its connection to the Royal Realm despite being disgraced in Seireitei.
  • An inversion. For most of the manga, the only known Quincies are the two surviving members of the Ishida family, Uryuu and Ryuuken, who refer to themselves as the last of their kind. In the final arc, it turns out that the Ishidas are the last of a dissident traditionalist faction and The Missing Faction, the evil Vandenreich, is actually the majority faction.
• Moment Killer:
  • In chapter 228, Rukia and Orihime are veering close to a touching moment when Hiyori quite literally drops from the sky and drags Orihime off.
  • At the end of the Soul Society arc, Renji visits the bed-ridden Byakuya and things begin to get sentimental (in a manly way). Cue Ichigo bursting through Byakuya's third-floor window, shouting Renji's name into a very shocked Byakuya's ear. Renji is not amused.
• Monstrosity Equals Weakness: The more powerful a Menos or Arrancar is, the more human-like they appear. The lowest-level Menos are as tall as skyscrapers and are shredded like wet tissue paper by the main character, while the Arrancar Espada all appear to be human and take several episodes to fight.
• Mood Whiplash: Kubo admits that he injects humor into the story at any point where he just feels bored. This can lead to awkward situations like Arrancar maiming or Aizen slaughtering people one scene, and funny arguments between protagonists the next! Can seem particularly bizarre the many, many times said arguments take place while an extremely powerful villain is right there.
  • In a possible Lampshade hanging, even Aizen gets annoyed at Isshin and Ichigo after their battle, and just says what he plans to do.
  • Nel beating down Nnoitra with a dead serious expression on her face before turning and giving Ichigo a bone-crushing hug.
  • The fight between Yumichika and Charlotte Cuuhlhourne. It starts off as comedy and a Silly Reason for War before suddenly whiplashing into a deadly serious, in-depth character revelation.
  • Chapter 480 has a brutal version. The timid new Soul Reaper, Yuki, encounters a hollow and immediately runs to try and find his friend Shino, the other Soul Reaper sent with him. The scene is mostly played for comedy, but then he finds her, bloody and unconscious, in the palm of a gigantic hollow. Just when he goes to save her, another hollow attacks him from behind and practically guts him.
• Mook Chivalry: Most characters adhere to this in the story regardless of whether they're on the protagonist's side or evil. Most will allow conversations to finish rather than taking advantage of the distraction, most prefer fair fights and so on. One of the reasons why the Quincies have such a profoundly successful first strike against the Soul Reapers in the final arc is precisely because they are the first group in the entire story to do away with Mook Chivalry.
• The Movie: Four so far. Also, Warner Bros. began developing a live action movie in 2010.
• Mr. Fanservice: Almost every male character; this is the reason why this is one of those shonen series that manages to gain a substantial female following.
• Ms. Fanservice: Most significantly Rangiku and Orihime. Matsumoto is the most obvious about her hotness, always showing off cleavage in every outfit she wears and the character most likely to mention her breasts in casual conversation. Inoue is an innocent fanservice girl and completely oblivious to her beauty, which often causes provocative situations. Other examples include Yoruichi Shihoin, Tier Harribel, Nemu Kurotsuchi and Mila Rose.
• Multiple Reference Pun: Arrancar is read as the Spanish verb for 'uproot' or 'tear' and written with the kanji for 'tear, violate, smash' and 'face, mask.'
• Mundane Object Amazement:
  • Rukia is amazed at the way humans drink out of juice boxes, by poking the straw through the foil hole and using it to drink. In the anime she even tells Hanatarou about it as if she'd mastered some difficult skill by being able to do it.
  • When Hitsugaya's advance guard settle into the human world to prepare for the Arrancar invasion, Ikkaku is so amazed at the idea that shops can sell multitudes of neatly wrapped onigiri (and order even more when they run out!) that he's convinced it must be a conspiracy - he can't imagine humans being capable of such a feat without something dodgy going on behind the scenes.
• Mundane Utility: We've seen that Hitsugaya will use his zanpakutou to create ice for cold drinks on hot days and we've seen that Yamamoto will use his zanpakutou to light fires as needed (ovens, cooking potatos, staying warm). However, apparently this problem is so pervasive amongst the captains of Soul Society that Yamamoto ended up having to issue a blanket ban on the mundane use of bankai.
• Murder Into Malevolence: Shrieker was serial killer in life who died because his final victim was a woman whom he murdered in front of her young son. The terrified child tripped the killer, who fell to his death over a balcony and transformed into a Hollow, a ravening creature that consumes the souls of the living and the dead. By keeping the child's soul trapped inside a misfortune-creating bird, he was able to force the child to act as a lure for hapless souls by continually promising him that he would soon be reunited with his (dead) mother. While Soul Reapers can rescue Hollows by cleansing them of the sins their lingering attachments to the mortal world cause them to commit, a Hollow that was evil in his mortal life is beyond their ability to save. While they could rescue the soul of the child, all they could do for Shrieker was cleanse him of his Hollow sins then allow Hell to claim him, a realm of damnation for the truly wicked.
• The Musical: The (several) "Bleach Rock Musicals"; live stage adaptations that very loosely follow the plot of the manga but focus on Soul Society and the Soul Reapers: Orihime and Chad only appear once or twice and Ishida doesn't appear at all.
• My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: The normal pattern for how fights unfold in this story.
• Myth Arc: Tite Kubo confirms that every arc in the series has been building up to the Thousand Year Blood War.

N

• Name Amnesia: Ichibei Hyosube has the power to literally erase a person or object's name. I Know Your True Name is very important in this universe, because they affect the power something or someone has. Therefore, anyone or anything affected by this ability loses its powers. Unfortunately for him, Yhwach was powerful enough to completely counter the ability and remember his name.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Vandenreich's entire set-up seems to be inspired by Nazi Germany themes, most especially in certain behavioral attitudes, including one that borders on ethnic cleansing. Their logo is also vaguely reminiscent of the Nazi swastika and their very name is reminiscent of the Third Reich (even though the term, like the swastika, predates the Nazi era). Considering how Quincies in general take their cues from the Teutonic Knights, as did the Nazis themselves, it makes sense. The inspiration for this comes from The Emperor himself, who's the only one of his ilk to deliberately target undesirables in his spare time.
• Neck Lift
  • Grimmjow does this to Orihime twice. First after he rescues her from death at the hands of Loly and Menoly.. Later, during his and Ichigo's fight as she questions him.
  • Ulquiorra inflicts this on Ichigo twice. First while he's beating him up while in his first Resurrección form, and again while in his Segunda Etapa form, choking Ichigo with his tail before blowing a hole through his chest.
  • In anime episode #314 the hollow in Haruko's body does a two-handed version to Kon (who's in Ichigo's body). Kon escapes by kicking Haruko's body in the stomach.
  • Anime episode #321. Yumichika's reigei grabs him by the neck and lifts him up and presses him against a tree while taunting him.
  • Later in the Thousand-Year-Blood-War-Arc, Juhabach does this to Zaraki Kenpachi of all people, which is quite a feat given that the latter is over two meters tall. Of course, this being Juhabach, he only does it after he's thoroughly curbstomped Kenpachi.
• Nested Mouths: All Hollows below Menos class have a second set of teeth within the first, indicating the remnant of the human soul inside them.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands:
  • The Hougyoku's original power was to dissolve the barrier between Hollow and Shinigami, known as hollowfication. This is the explanation for the creation of the modern Arrancar and also the Vizards. Later on, Aizen claims it actually alters reality based on the wishes of the user, but only if it's possible to achieve those wishes without the Hougyoku. However, it was hinted all along that the original explanation of its power was wrong. If it was supposed to cause hollowfication, why was its original use to try and reverse hollowfication instead? Also, Aizen's own knowledge has turned out to be inaccurate as well, so the second explanation may be as inaccurate as the first explanation.
  • In the Invasion Arc. the villain's zanpakutou is this. Kageroza's zanpakutou has the power to manipulate space/time. Then it's revealed to have the power to teleport and duplicate. Then it has the power to resurrect "dead" reigai. Then, when Ichigo is about to defeat the villain, his zanpakutou is revealed to have a cloning ability. The apparent damsel of the arc, Nozomi's zanpakutou has the power to drain reiatsu. Then it's revealed to be able absorb the attacks of anything thrown at it, combine it with her own power and throw it back as a more powerful attack. Then it's revealed that Kageroza's and Nozomi's power are two halves of the same original zanpakutou and, when recombined, the zanpakutou gains all the powers in combination which suddenly results in the power to destroy the entirety of Soul Society with a single activation command. And, somehow, the original zanpakutou never had any of these abilities at all until the owner, fed up with being treated as weak, turned evil and decided to obtain more power by splitting himself in two and recombining himself (how this makes him more powerful and gives him powers he never previously possessed is never explained).
  • While being attacked by Yhwach, Ichigo spontaneously uses a new power to prevent himself from being Impaled with Extreme Prejudice. However, this is immediately explained in-story in a manner that ties in to both his spontaneous healing in his first fight with Kenpachi and with the power restoration technique that was used on Uryuu. It had also been theorised in the fandom for many years that Ichigo's mother would end up being revealed as a quincy.
• New Transfer Student: Played with. The Soul Reapers seem to like using this as an excuse for getting their fighters into Ichigo's class. Rukia, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika have all attempted it. Shinji also used the tactic when his gang decided to make contact with Ichigo. The anime also plays with this trope, having had filler characters try the tactic as well, including one young girl who was clearly far too young for the class (a fact that was lampshaded by other classmates who couldn't believe how young she looked).
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Konsō Reisai ritual is a special version of the usual purification process that is supposed to manually break down the Spiritual Pressure of a deceased Captain-level Soul Reaper since it cannot naturally do so and be reabsorbed into Soul Society's soil otherwise. This is done by purifying a Hollow in the presence of the deceased; however loose of a definition that may seem, the Court Guard follows the tradition of purifying a captured Hollow in front of a captain's grave. The reality is that such powerful Spiritual Pressure can never be reabsorbed into Soul Society, and because of the threat of the deceased captains' overly powerful Spirit Particles lingering in Soul Society, the actual purpose of the ceremony is to cast that Spiritual Pressure into another place: Hell. The "No Breaths From Hell" special chapter reveals that the Soul Reapers captains, by performing that ritual on Yamamoto and Unohana's graves, unwittingly cast them into Hell. The loose definition of the ritual comes into play when Ichigo and the lieutenants, through the massacre of several Hell-born Hollows in self-defence, inadvertently damned Ukitake since the latter was able to witness the "purification" through Ichigo's Substitute Soul Reaper badge. Only when the captains notice the presence of abnormal droplets-like Will-o'-the-Wisp does Shunsui connect the dots to an old superstition that turns out to be the terrifying truth behind the ritual. According to Szayelaporro, this also goes double for what's happening in Hell: with generations of following that tradition, Hell is becoming overpopulated with extremely powerful individuals, and without the Spiritual Pressures of people like Yhwach and Aizen keeping the doors of Hell shut, the balance of the world is threatened once more.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Most of the characters are ghost samurai. Secret mobile corps members like Soifon and Yoruichi are pretty much Ninja as well.
• No Body Left Behind: When Hollows and Arrancar are destroyed, sometimes their bodies dissolve into thin air.
• No, I Am Behind You: Kubo's favorite trope. Practically every fight involves several examples of this. There is even a Stinger in the anime parodying and lampshading this.
• No Ontological Inertia: Any effects of a Fullbringer's ability disappear with his death.
• No-Sell: Most enemies are randomly immune to Ichigo's powerful moves.
  • Let alone Szayel who just happens to be immune to whatever Ishida throws at him, making the poor boy useless against him.
  • Inverted gloriously in 417+ — when Ichigo effortlessly slaps away every superpowerful attack Aizen throws at him, with only a singed arm for his trouble.
  • The Quincy's "Blut" ability allow them to do this with most attacks.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: The unnamed female arrancar that controls Aizen's hollow fortress in anime episodes 213 and 214 has such a laugh. She displays it at the end of episode 213.
• Nominal Hero: Kenpachi and Mayuri don't care about the greater good or even just the good. Kenpachi is motived solely by the enjoyment of the fight and Mayuri has the opportunity to experiment to his heart's content.
• Non-Promotion: Kira, Hisagi, and Momo all have to act on their captains' behalf as Acting Captains, without actually holding an official position.
• Nonuniform Uniform: Kubo seems to revel in finding new variations on factional uniforms.
  • The Soul Reapers have a standard black hakama-and-gi uniform that comes with regulation socks, sandals, obi, etc, but many characters have added unique tailoring (Nemu's minidress) or accessories (Kyouraku's pink over-kimono), and there seem to be no standards at all for hair, tattoos, or jewelry. The only dress code rule that we actually see enforced is that captains are required to take good care of their white divisional haoris, but even those can be customised.
  • The Arrancar all wear black-trimmed white jackets with high collars, but in a whole range of different styles. Some much sillier than others (I'm looking at you, Aaroniero).
  • The Karakura kids even wear their school uniforms in different ways: Ishida and Mizuiro wear it properly, Ichigo doesn't wear the tie, Keigo wears the tie but never seems to tuck his shirt in, Orihime later starts using Zettai Ryouiki while Tatsuki prefers sneakers, etc.
  • Like the Arrancar, the Vandenreich all wear variations on a standard white uniform...a standard uniform that is VERY Putting on the Reich.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Rukia's first visit to the human world, which she can't even remember, is glossed over by Kiyone as soon as it's mentioned. What happened and why Rukia cannot remember it ever happening, isn't explained.
  • When Byakuya activates Senkei against Ichigo, Byakuya mentions in passing this is only the second time he's ever let someone see Senkei. What happened the first time has never been explained.
  • Hisagi once brought a motorcycle back to Soul Society from the World of the Living. Something happened and it was confiscated. What happened has not been explained.
• Normally, I Would Be Dead Now:
  • Aizen once mentions Ichigo's resolve to live is so great even lethal wounds simply render him unable to move instead of killing him. When a massive hole is blasted in his chest, he very nearly dies until mysteriously resurrected and healed by his inner hollow.
  • When Rukia's understanding of her own power develops, she explains that her body's temperature drops below a level capable of sustaining life. She remains alive by using her reiatsu to put her cells into a form of stasis and puppeteer her effectively dead body. Returning to her normal body temperature after using her power is so fraught with danger that using her power means she runs the risk of potentially killing herself by accident should she misstep even slightly.
• Nosebleed: Happens occasionally, and only during filler and omake - usually to Kon, who is a plushie, with no blood... go figure.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: With all the fanservice around, it goes without saying that most characters rarely react to it all. Ichigo is very good at ignoring the sexy until it's pushed right into his face, at which point he becomes so embarrassed he tends to accidentally reveal he's a typical teenage boy when it comes to hot women.
• Not Quite Dead: A lot of fights will have the bad guy appear to be defeated only for the protagonist to have counted his chickens before they hatched. This is also a mistake bad guys will make against good guys as well. Examples range from Renji making this mistake against Ichigo in their very first fight to Luppi making this mistake against Hitsugaya, to Ulquiorra and Ichigo taking it in turns to make this mistake against each other in Hueco Mundo.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain:
  • Starrk, the lazy, pacifist Espada who is unconcerned about Aizen's plot, is Espada #1.
  • Yammy, the complete moron who gets outsmarted by every hero he fights and can't even figure out who he's supposed to be killing without Ulquiorra looking over his shoulder and telling him what to do, outranks Starrk, although it doesn't stop him from being defeated off-screen by two captains (reluctantly) working together.
  • Apacci, Mila-Rose, and Sung-Sun do nothing but argue with each other and are generally presented as a joke. Then, when they get backed into a corner, they summon Ayon, and carnage ensues.
  • Wonderweiss, the happily insane child who easily puts an arm through Ukitake's chest and has a Ressurection that was altered so he could counter Yamamoto's powers.
• Not Worth Killing: Often, including to Ichigo. Subverted when Kenpachi attempts to spare Nnoitra, saying that it's not worth his time to finish off someone who can't fight back. This only further enrages him, so he makes a last ditch attack on Kenpachi, who finishes him off.
• Nue: Renji Abarai's Zanpakuto (a Cool Sword that acts as a Shinigami's weapon and tool) can manifest into a spiritual form named Zabimaru. Its appearance is that of an albino-fured baboon with purple streaks in its fur and a serpent for a tail.
• The Numbered Things: The 13 Court Guard Squads are thirteen military squads of Soul Reapers, who as their name suggests guard Soul Society and the World of the Living from Hollows and other threats.

---