Bleach/Tropes S-Z


 * The Hero Dies: Subversion with Ichigo. He has come damnably close to death a number of times, but has been saved by Plotkai at literally every turn. A particular example is his battle with.
 * Literal Split Personality: Starrk, sort of. Unlike other Arrancar, when he removed his mask instead of his power being sealed in the form of a sword, it was sealed in the form of his Fraccion, Lilynette.
 * The Not-Secret: Ikkaku's bankai. Hints that it might possibly be an Open Secret have yet to be confirmed.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: A surprising variant:
 * A much earlier example exists with Kenpachi to Ichigo, much to Ichigo's dismay.
 * Kenpachi and Byakuya have a moment of this during their fight with Yammi. The only way they can swallow their pride enough to work together is to play on the idea that Yammi is getting in the way of them trying to kill each other.

S

 * Samurai: There's a very strong theme running through this entire manga, especially with the shinigami who exemplify this trope to varying degrees depending on the character. The most obvious example is Komamura, who lives to serve his captain-commander and whose zanpakutou reflects this honour-bound personality.
 * In the zanpakutou arc filler, Senbonzakura is depicted as a samurai and Komamura's zanpakutou actually is not.
 * 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.
 * Sand Worm: Bawabawa acts as one in desert-like Hueco Mundo.
 * Sarashi: Unsurprisingly seen on a lot of shinigami, 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.
 * Scary Black Man: Recent background information shows that the former 11th Division captain, the guy Kenpachi killed for his position appears to be this.
 * Initially played straight with Zommari Leroux, then promptly subverted when he uses Ressurection.
 * Burned!  High five!
 * Tousen, especially as Tousenfly... *shudders*
 * Also Love Aikawa, in a heroic example.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Multiple characters
 * 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 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.
 * Scooby Stack: In anime episode 138. While Captain Ukitake is talking to Rukia in the Soul society, his two lieutenants and Orihime Inoue create one while observing them.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Hanatarou, Ukitake and Kyouraku in the Soul Society arc.
 * Ichigo at the start of the Hueco Mundo arc.
 * Secret Keeper: Renji, Yumichika, Iba, Komamura and Keigo all know Ikkaku has bankai, but his possession of it is still officially a secret. Iba's comment to Ikkaku, however, does suggest it's not as secret as Ikkaku thinks it is since Ikkaku didn't tell Iba he had it - he already knew.
 * Yumichika's true zanpakutou power is something he's only revealed to two people (Hisagi and Charlotte). Given that Charlotte is dead, Hisagi is the only person alive who knows Yumichika's secret.
 * 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-Parody: Episode 287.
 * Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: Zigzagged all over the place. The Shinigami usually wear more conservative outfits, but Rangiku has a low-cut cleavage and Nemu wears a miniskirt, and the male Shinigami 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 and Bare Your Midriff, 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.
 * Serrated Blade of Pain: Renji's Zanpakutou Zabimaru, a spiked falchion revealed to be a Whip Sword. Later we find out that Hiyori's Kubikiri Orochi takes the form of a gigantic jagged cleaver.
 * 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, each seemingly referring to the characters and their actions (it's a bit vague)
 * 341 - The Envy:
 * 342 - The Greed:
 * 343 - The Gluttony:
 * 344 - The Pride: subverted
 * 345 - The Sloth:
 * 346 - The Wrath:
 * 347 - 352 - The Lust 1 - 6:
 * Ulquiorra's outlook on the subject got an interesting new angle with his poem:

"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?""
 * Shaggy Dog Story: Nel's ultimately anticlimactic fight against Nnoitora and her subsequent disappearance from the storyline, and Pesche and Dondochakka's equally pointless roles in the fight against Szayel Apporo, make their inclusion in the story seem like one of these, especially given their detailed history with both Nnoitora and Szayel.
 * Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Ichigo's fight with Grand Fisher got this. For a more later example, Aizen... if he wanted to.
 * Shinigami: As described throughout this entry.
 * She's Got Legs: Nemu and Lisa, although other women get a look in as well.
 * Shiny Midnight Black: Yumichika, whose hair varies between blue and purple tones.
 * Rukia occasionally has blue tones, but isn't a consistent example of this trope.
 * Shipper on Deck: Orihime went through a period of shipping Rukia and Uryuu together.
 * Momo seems to ship Renji and Rukia,as she urged him to go after her in the human world.
 * Ship Tease: 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. There are also indications they like the idea of HitsuMatsu, they love YoruSoi and Ikkaku/Yumichika and they've even played with Kenpachi/Byakuya Ship Tease.
 * 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.
 * Shrine to the Fallen: Isshin Kurosaki keeps a wall-sized poster of his deceased wife and often makes a show of crying to her over his children.
 * Shoo Out the Clowns: Kon and the other Modsouls haven't been seen since the Lost Agent arc.
 * Shoot the Dog: The death of Kaien Shiba
 * Shout-Out: Quite a few, both in the manga (towards Kamen Rider and probably JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) and some fillers (Neon Genesis Evangelion and Code Geass)
 * Koutotsu could also be a Shout-Out to The Cleaner from Labyrinth.
 * Fist of the North Star when Love quotes "You Are Already Dead" while reading manga.
 * It might be a coincidence, but when Ichigo rescues Rukia from her execution, his cloak makes him look a hell of a lot like Guts.
 * Coyote Starrk with his wolves could be a Shoutout to A Song of Ice and Fire.
 * Harribel is a shark who can fire Ceros. Sadly (or perhaps not), she cannot shoot them from her head.
 * In Episode 354,  bears a striking resemblance to Chun-Li's Stage in [[Street Fighter II Street Fighter II
 * Now we got Vandenreich. Has division named Stern Ritter (Star Knight), taking subjugated enemies into their rank, one of their warrior basically using technique that compress all reiatsu around him into single powerful attack, eiither Tite Kubo is friends with Masaki Tsuzuki, or really, really hate him.
 * Schrödinger's Butterfly: Aizen invokes this trope through his zanpakutou's power, especially during the Fake Karakura Town battle.

": Is that all you've got?"
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:
 * And more notably, Ichigo to Ulquiorra.
 * Chapter 417 gets us a rather epic one from, which has lasted to at least 419 (and most likely longer), leading to   turning red and going Clipped-Wing Angel... to the complete non-reaction of  . Never has seeing a Smug Snake get smacked backwards repeatedly been so satisfying.


 * Sideboob: Kuukaku Shiba. When they go into shunkou both Yoruichi and Soi Fon sport this, particularly Yoruichi.
 * Sidekick / Foil: Each lieutenant is one or the other to their captain, and some are a little of both.
 * Sidekick Glass Ceiling
 * Signature Devices:
 * The Shimigami's Zanpakouto
 * The Bount's Dolls
 * The Quincies' bow and arrows
 * Single-Stroke Battle
 * Single-Target Sexuality: Soifon is the embodiment of this trope. She only has eyes for Yoruichi.
 * Sissy Villain: Szayel Apporo Granz, sealed with his dub voice's Noblewoman's Laugh. Also, Luppy, who hit the Viewer Gender Confusion line and kept on running.
 * Sitting on the Roof: Ichigo and his schoolmates have a tendency of retreating to the school roof. Several shinigami 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).
 * Skilled but Naive: Ichigo has the powers of a powerful shinigami captain, later  But he certainly lacks the years of training and experience the Shinigami have benefited from, and it shows in both his fighting style and in his lack of strategy. That said, Ichigo is not stupid, as his high school grades will testify. He just hasn't got the hang of things yet.
 * Skinship Grope: Multiple examples
 * Slasher Smile: Multiple examples
 * 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.
 * Snap to the Side: Ichigo makes people do this all the time.
 * Sociopathic Hero: Kenpachi and Mayuri are sometimes this and sometimes Heroic Comedic Sociopath.
 * Something Completely Different: There is no battle in Episode 141, but the drama and spare romance more than make up for it, resulting in an usually different episode than most in the show!
 * The New Captain Shusuke Amagai Arc is a sudden change in settings and focus.
 * Sorting Algorithm of Evil:
 * Soul Cutting Blade: Zanpakuto directly translates to "Soul Cutting Sword".
 * 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: showing up in the middle of the Soul Reapers' fight in Karakura Town, with  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 My Name with an "S": Too much. Is it Schiffer or Cifer (turns out it's the latter)? Wonderwyce or Wonderweiss? Et cetera... Meanwhile, Grimmjow's last name is correctly spelled . It doesn't help that Kubo seems to enjoy changing the spelling of the Arrancar's names.
 * All of the Espada have double letters in their names. Why is anyone's guess.
 * A form of Theme Naming?
 * Although there's Neliel Tu Oderschwank.
 * Nope. That changed too. Now it's Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck.
 * One name that comes up more than others is Soi Fon, who people insist on referring to as Soi Fong or Suifeng, which is based on her name's Pinyin romanization when spelled in Chinese characters.
 * Japanese media spells the character's name as Suifeng, but English media calls her Soifon.
 * Spiritual Successor: Bleach owes Yu Yu Hakusho a lot.
 * Spit Take
 * Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Many examples; see the trope page for details.
 * Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The original focus on humans and a single shinigami quickly gave way to a focus on the shinigami and their society. This has been an even bigger problem in the anime where the human characters are often discarded in favor of shinigami and even the main character can struggle for screentime.
 * Standard Evil Organization Squad: The Espada.
 * The Starscream: Ryou Udagawa during the Bount arc. Another Bount, Sawatari, reveals similar ambitions just before Mayuri kills him. Also, in the manga,, though he never gets the chance to even try.
 * Yes he does.
 * Statuesque Stunner: Some of the female characters who 5'8" or taller include Isane, Harribel, Nel, Mila-Rose, and (just) Rangiku, all beautiful women.
 * Sticks to the Back: Ichigo's sash is remarkable.
 * Stock Ninja Weaponry: Sui Feng uses a bunch of it. Once she uses a volley of kunai in order to pin Ukitake to a tree (It Makes Sense in Context). Furthermore, her Zanpakuto takes the form of a wakizashi when sealed, and a Blade Below the Shoulder weapon when released.
 * The Stoic: Way too many.
 * Special mention goes to Ichigo who briefly becomes in his final fight against Aizen, especially in the anime, a hugely powerful kido is forming around him and he doesn't even blink
 * Stoic Spectacles: Uryu's and his dad's.
 * Story-Breaker Power: Aizen's shikai allows him to perfectly control all five senses of anyone who sees him avtivate it once. This includes the entire cast by this point, save for Ichigo and his friends. By the point the story is at now, Aizen is so physically powerful that he's basically unstoppable, and Kubo has had to put in a blatant Author's Saving Throw to give the heroes even a dim hope of defeating him.
 * Stripperific: Suzumebachi's outfit from the Zanpakuto Unknown Tales arc.
 * Harribel's Resurrecion shows off so much skin that people have begun to wonder just where her Hollow hole could be located without being seen. (Apparently, it's in her WOMB).
 * Yoruichi's outfit while fighting Aizen is pretty revealing and/or basically shows of everything anyway.
 * Stylistic Suck: All of anime episode 298, but especially the movie Squad 6 is making.
 * Sucking-In Lines: How a Cero is charged.
 * Suit-Up of Destiny: Ichigo in the first episode after gaining Soul Reaper powers for the first time..
 * 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)..
 * And finally, as part of a reveal, this is used to show that  was a Soul Reaper all along.
 * Super-Deformed
 * Super Empowering
 * 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, Shinigami, 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
 * Supernatural Sensitivity
 * 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.
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: Hollow Ichigo, a distinct personality who while equal in strength to Ichigo is far more skilled, knows all the abilities of Zangetsu innately, and doesn't hold back. Ichigo demonstrates another, more mindless Super-Powered Evil Side after . And it looks awesome.
 * Superpowerful Genetics: The Kurosaki family.
 * Super Speed: In bankai, Ichigo displays this when fighting Byakuya at the end of the Soul Society arc. Byakuya refers to it as "hyperspeed combat".
 * Super Weight: There seems to be an in-universe example with the way Aizen kept evolving and talking of dimensions and breaking barriers. Hollowfication and the Hougyoku are regarded as methods of altering one's natural weight to an artificially induced higher level. During the Deicide mini-arc, Aizen undergoes an artificial increase . It leads to a discussion on the meaning of super weights and who qualifies as what.   See trope page for fandom assessments.
 * Surprisingly Good English: The first closing theme, Life is Like a Boat, features full verses in word-perfect unaccented English, due to the fact that the singer was raised in the US.
 * Also Hazel Fernandes' song, "Number One," which plays during action sequences.
 * The fact that it appears to be a song about dancing rather than fighting may lose it some points, however.
 * Swiss Army Weapon: Zanpakuto and their optional shikai and bankai forms.
 * Sword Beam: Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho and Ichimaru Gin's Shinsou are the most obvious examples, but a lot of the Soul Reapers use these.
 * Sword Fight: This is shonen--the whole flippin' series is essentially one very long and angsty sword fight.
 * Sword Pointing
 * Sword Sparks: Unavoidable, really.
 * Swiss Army Weapon: Zanpakuto and their optional shikai and bankai forms.
 * Sword Beam: Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho and Ichimaru Gin's Shinsou are the most obvious examples, but a lot of the Soul Reapers use these.
 * Sword Fight: This is shonen--the whole flippin' series is essentially one very long and angsty sword fight.
 * Sword Pointing
 * Sword Sparks: Unavoidable, really.

T

 * Take My Hand: Ichigo to the Arrancar Nel in Hueco Mundo in anime episode 146.
 * Talking Is a Free Action: Oh my goodness, the Kido incantations. Sufficiently skilled practitioners can skip them, but doing so significantly reduces their power. Subverted in the anime-only Bount filler arc, in which Rukia complains that her enemy is too fast and gives her no time to finish her chants.
 * 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


 * Hilariously averted in chapter 463 where Kenpachi kills his opponent as he's bragging about his powers.
 * Ichigo averts this in his first encounter with Renji. See Tempting Fate below.
 * Talking to Himself: In the dub, Brianne Siddall voices both Rurichiyo Kasumiohji and her fiancee, Shu Kannogi. Kinky.
 * 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 shinigami must learn how to communicate with their zanpakutou and that zanpakutou have thoughts and feelings of their own that they do communicate with their shinigami 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.
 * Talk to the Fist:  And then the fight IS moved elsewhere.
 * The Tease: Yoruichi, who loves to torment Ichigo by appearing naked in front of him.
 * Technicolor Toxin: Let's see...
 * Mayuri Kurotsuchi has Ashisogi Jizo, whose poison is purple in color.
 * Soifon's Suzumebachi leaves dark red spots on the victim, and it's a poison-based weapon.
 * In the anime, when Loly uses her Resurrecion Escolopendra it has a purple aura.
 * 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.
 * Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Ichigo and Uryuu's initial rivalry ends when a Menos Grande appears. This leads to Teeth-Clenched Teamwork against the mountain of hollows they're surrounded by and is the beginning of them becoming Fire-Forged Friends.
 * The Gotei 13 is 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.
 * Seems to characterize the interaction of some Bounts with their Dolls.
 * 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.
 * Telephone Polearm: Chad's first fight against a Hollow (an invisible one, no less) has him use one to great effect.
 * Tempting Fate: While giving Ichigo a Reason You Suck Speech, Renji mentions how Ichigo couldn't even lay a scratch on a real Soul Reaper. As he says this, Ichigo slashes Renji's chin, then proceeds to taunt Renji about it.
 * Ten Little Murder Victims: In the Bount filler arc in the anime, one of the "games" involves one of the Nakama 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 playing Kill'Em All with the Muggles.
 * Testosterone Poisoning: Kenpachi...just Kenpachi.
 * 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.
 * There Are No Therapists: Where the hell were the therapists when Ichigo, Rukia, Ishida and Orihime all needed them badly in the past? You would think that the Gotei 13, being essentially a military organization, would have some sort of psychological counseling. And being in the human world, there was no excuse for Ichigo, Ishida and Orihime not to have some sort of counseling after their traumatic incidents (Witnessing the bloody deaths of their mother, grandfather and older brother respectively). The only excuses I can think of is that Orihime's family, whatever she had left, either didn't have the money or didn't care enough to make sure she was properly cared for, Ishida probably would have been written off as utterly insane if he had ever gotten in-depth with a psychiatrist concerning his grandfather's death, and Ichigo... I don't have any excuse for Ichigo not seeing a counselor.
 * Hinamori is easily the most traumatized character in the entire series.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Just, the Sokyoku. Seriously, what?
 * There Was a Door: Grimmjow, in order to get into Orihime's room, blows a hole in the wall. Bonus points because he did so right next to a door... that had already been blown off its hinges.
 * Only in the anime. In the manga, Grimmjow "uses" the door... by blowing it into oblivion. Makes a nice square hole, though.
 * 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.
 * The Thirty-Six Stratagems: Aizen has used more than half of this list in his plans.
 * This Cannot Be!: 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,
 * This Is a Drill: Nemu can transform her arm into one.
 * 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
 * Those Two Guys: Keigo and Mizuiro. Orihime and Tatsuki seem like this at first.
 * Throat Light: During "The New Captain Shūsuke Amagai" anime arc, several people have this while wielding bakoto blades.
 * Title Drop: The last chapter before  is called "Bleach My Soul."
 * To Be Lawful or Good: Byakuya Kuchiki is hit with this when he must choose between upholding a vow to his parents to protect the law and upholding a vow to his wife to protect her sister (before Rukia became his legally adopted sister she was actually his sister-in-law) as a result of the vows coming into conflict when Rukia is sentenced to execution. In accordance with Confucian values, which place parents higher in status than a wife, he chooses to uphold the vow to his parents and therefore (reluctantly) defends the execution of Rukia.
 * Token Evil Teammate: Mayuri Kurotsuchi
 * Token Yuri Girls: Chizuru's very open infatuation with Orihime.
 * Too Powerful to Live: Aizen is a type 1
 * 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, Harribel has it in her womb, Szayelaporro has it in his crotch...
 * Total Party Kill: Happens when faces.
 * Touched by Vorlons: A human can gain shinigami powers if a shinigami plunges their sword into the human's heart. It doesn't have a very high success rate but can work sometimes.
 * Captains and vice-captains have to wear power-limiters on their reiatsu when in the human world least their power start affecting human souls. This is lampshaded by observations on how Ichigo's extremely powerful, uncontrolled reiatsu (when in shinigami form only) has affected humans around him  to enable Orihime and Sado 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 shinigami 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.
 * Trailers Always Lie:  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.
 * Tranquil Fury:
 * Ishida personifies this trope as even when he's really pissed, he's still quite calm.
 * Byakuya fits better, particularly when facing Espada #7 Zommari Leroux and seeing he was about to finish off Rukia.
 * Harribel is clearly furious when her beloved fraccion are burned to death in front of her, but she remains quiet and calm as she goes Mama Bear on Hitsugaya.
 * Aizen, after being this pretty much the entire story, finally averts it in 415.
 * As of 417,  And it is awesome.
 * And most recently,  has been in a constant state of this since
 * 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 shinigami releases are this as well.
 * Trap Door: two open up under Renji Abarai and Dondochakka Bilstin in anime episode #159.
 * Trapped in the Past: When anyone comes into contact with the Kototsu in the Dangai Precipice World they are thrown out in a greatly different point of time than when they entered. This explains the time discrepancy way back in the Soul Society arc, where they were sent back in time, but thanks to Urahara's tech, it was only a few days instead of a few centuries.
 * Traumatic Haircut: Both Orihime and Charlotte Cuuhlhourne have experienced these.
 * Treasure Chest Cavity: had the Orb of Destruction hidden in their soul.
 * 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 word "nakama" 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.
 * Try Not to Die:
 * Tsundere: Nearly every character is a tsundere toward every other one. Phrases like "don't get the wrong idea" or "do what you want, I don't care" are used at least once every five chapters. See Character sheet for more specific examples.
 * Turn the Other Cheek
 * A Twinkle in the Sky: Multiple examples in the Anime episodes.
 * Two Guys and a Girl: Renji, Kira and Momo.
 * Tyke Bomb: Wonderweiss Margera...sort of.
 * Two Guys and a Girl: Renji, Kira and Momo.
 * Tyke Bomb: Wonderweiss Margera...sort of.

U

 * Ultimate Job Security: Even when Mayuri blows up his own squad, it doesn't damage his position as captain and in the Turn Back The Pendulum arc, the 10th Kenpachi never bothered turning up to captain's meetings - it was such a contentious point that other captains commented on it with disapproval. It didn't get him fired, however (he was later killed by Zaraki, but that was just because Zaraki wanted to prove his right to wear the 'kenpachi' title). Zaraki spends most of his time sleeping and Shunsui tries to avoid work to chase girls. Ukitake spends most of his time in bed sick.
 * Underboobs: Harribel, adult Nell
 * Unfamiliar Ceiling: This happens to Ichigo a lot.
 * Unfinished Business: The reason why shinigami have to perform konsou on spirits and why spirits might linger long enough to turn into hollows if they don't have konsou performed in time.
 * Unnecessarily Large Interior: Las Noches appears to be the size of a small country and doesn't seem to exist for any reason other than for Aizen to show off.
 * It's at least as big as the Seireitei, and the Seireitei is about the size of a good-sized city, so at a bare minimum ten miles across.
 * Unreliable Expositor: Even the Fourth Wall isn't safe from Aizen's mindgames.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Kenpachi Zaraki. His zanpakutou is permanently in its unsealed (shikai) form but has no abilities meaning he's the only captain who doesn't know his zanpakutou's name, and has no shikai or bankai powers. He also didn't go through the shinigami academy, achieving his rank by Klingon Promotion and leaving him with no formal knowledge of three of the four required shinigami arts. As to the fourth, Commander Yamamoto did try to force some formal kendo training on him but Zaraki loathed its philosophy so much he disregarded everything except one concept that made sense to him: using two hands to make his sword strikes stronger. On at least two occasions, he's revealed that he's so bad at strategising, he has to find a way that suits him rather than genuinely engaging in tactical strategies - his strategies always boil down to tanking cuts or cutting harder and stronger than before.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Muramasa's plan from the Zanpakuto Unknown Tales arc. It might qualify as a Roulette if Ichigo weren't so easy to manipulate.
 * Up to Eleven: Alot of the Shinigami who have Bankai simply take the basic theme of their weapon and apply this trope to it. Byakuya's shikai turns his sword into a shitload of tiny flying blades that look like Cherry Blossoms, but which can shred you into tiny little pieces in a hot second. His bankai takes this basic idea and then multiplies the number of blades by Eleventy-Zillion. Gin's shikai lets him extend his sword a hundred sword lengths, while his bankai lets him extend it even longer than that, this in addition to dramatically increasing the speed at which it extends.
 * Urban Fantasy: When the stories are set in present day Japan
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Karin Kurosaki
 * Also, Ichigo and Ishida. Both were adorable as little kids but it got considerably worse for both of them after their Break the Cutie events (Granted, Ishida was already pretty unhappy before his Break the Cutie event, but still).

V

 * Vampiric Draining: Hollows feed on spiritual energy as a secondary source of nourishment (the primary being the "hearts" of both living and dead Humans). Sources include humans, Soul Reapers and other hollows.
 * Another example would be Ayasegawa Yumichika. This ordinary Bishonen Blood Knight is hiding his true power, which drains the spiritual energy of his target. When he does decide to use it, his battles end with a single strike. He can then use the drained energy to heal his wounds.
 * Vapor Wear: Harribel's clothing.
 * Variable-Length Chain: Nnoitra. Also Hisagi's Shikai.
 * Vibroweapon: Seele Schneider is this. Also, Cirruci's wing-blades.
 * Victory by Endurance: Nnoitra uses this against Ichigo. After the much-anticipated battle between Ichigo and Grimmjow, it looks like Ichigo has finally defeated his nemesis and rescued his Damsel in Distress...only for Nnoitra to show up and attack everyone.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Ulquiorra,,  , Barragan Luisenbarn, Szayel Aporro Granz, Zommari, Nnoitra, Yukio and Tsukishima.
 * Villain Pedigree:
 * Regular hollows seem pretty threatening for... about 15 episodes. When Uryu shows up, he and Ichigo are capable of mowing them down four or five at a time.
 * The first Gillian that shows up takes Ichigo and Uryu working together to defeat. And they don't actually kill it, they just hurt it bad enough that it decides to retreat. Now Gillians are nothing more than Giant Mooks.
 * At first even lowest Arrancars seemed to be a threat up to lieutenant-level fighters. By now, only few strongest have any reputation left, while lower ones are just a cannon fodder (which is probably Aizen's intention anyway). They're still threats to harmless civilians and low-ranking Soul Reapers, but What Measure Is a Non Super?
 * Villains Never Lie: Subverted with Ichigo, who expresses doubt that Aizen could have done the things he claims.
 * Visible Sigh: During comedic moments.
 * Vocal Evolution: Subverted, while the earlier episodes seemed to be have good voice acting, currently it ranges from mediocre to bad.

W
"Ryuuken: "I returned his Quincy powers to him. Whether he uses them or kills them is up to him... as well as whether he lives or dies." Isshin: "You're a pretty bad dad." Ryuuken: "Better than you're doing." Isshin: "Yeah. I know that.""
 * Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Ichigo and his father.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Grimmjow, Yammy, Avirama Redder, Kenpachi, Yamamoto (on a few occasions).
 * Walking Swimsuit Scene: The Beach Episode for starters.
 * War Arc: Half of the series revolved around one occurring between the Shinigami and Aizen's army of Arrancar. At the midpoint, we were thrown into another Rescue Arc scenario, before a second arc started concurrently. Taking five years (real-time), it officially ended in the Deicide mini-arc, with Aizen's final defeat.
 * The latest arc is currently building up another one between the Shinigami and the Vandenreich. Notably, we've already gotten our first casualty -.
 * Warrior Therapist: Aizen, SO MUCH in recent chapters. A bit subverted in that he isn't only trying to break his opponents will to fight him, rather to make them attacking uncaringly. Notably, he's horrifyingly efficient in finding and using his foes' Berserk Button at his own advantage.
 * Watching the Sunset: In the anime, Toushirou likes to hang out in a place that has the best view of the sunset because it reminds him of his childhood days spent with Momo, where they eat watermelons while watching the sky.
 * Weapon as Familiar: The Zanpakuto have Shikai (changes form of your sword and gives an appropriate ability to it) and Bankai (where your sword turns into an effect or creature with an increase in the Shikai ability and a few variations on it).
 * Weapon Twirling: The third seat of squad 8 tries to intimidate Chad with some quick swordplay, and just gets punched in the face.
 * Just before Tousen unleashes bankai on Kenpachi, he walks forward, twirling his sword in his right hand.
 * We Are as Mayflies: Soul Reapers and Hollows (and for that matter ordinary Soul Society civilians) live vastly longer than humans. But it's a bit of a subversion, since they're what humans might become after dying.
 * We Will Meet Again: In anime episode #141, the Arrancar to their Soul Reaper opponents as they're drawn back to Hueco Mundo.
 * We Have Reserves: Aizen mostly, although Mayuri also qualifies.  mildly subverted this with his Fraccion. He sent them in fully expecting them to win, and was noticably angered when they were all killed. However, he seemed to be more upset that their deaths made him look bad than that they actually died.
 * Wendee Lee: Dub voice of Yoruichi Shihoin, Tatsuki Arisawa and Ururu Tsumugiya; also the ADR director along with Kirk Thornton
 * Wham! Episode: Many times. See trope page for examples.
 * Wham! Line: The manga sports several of these. See trope page for examples.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Ishida makes sewing and SCA-style costume design cool.
 * And Yumichika makes the phrase "thank you" so epic in the manga that the anime decided to give him Glowing Eyes of Doom and a dramatic music pause just to reinforce the point.
 * What Happened To The Mouse: There are a couple of examples of this, see trope page for detail.
 * "What the Hell?" Dad: Isshin and Ryuuken in two different ways (Isshin's lack of parenting is done via Obfuscating Stupidity and Ryuuken's through The Snark Knight routine). They even debate who is the worst father.


 * What the Hell, Hero?: Tatsuki does this to Ichigo when he refuses to confide in her after she confronts him.
 * Ichigo does this to Ishida when Ishida uses hollow bait in the middle of a city with a population of 100,000 people at least.
 * When All You Have Is a Hammer: Kenpachi's method of fighting. Also, Ichigo's. Also, both Hitsugaya and Harribel found themselves locked into a battle of this nature due to their powers being too evenly matched.
 * Whip Sword: Renji's Zabimaru and Rose's Kinshara.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Gin, much to Kubo's surprise. Hitsugaya subverts this trope, as he's actually a nice guy.
 * White Mask of Doom: Hollows and Vizards.
 * Whoa, Bundy!: After the heroes infiltrate Las Noches, Renji calls for a Whoa Bundy — something he never got the stoic captain of his squad to do.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: The anime is fond of these, partially because the manga itself toys with them. There's even an entire flashback arc.
 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Crops up a hell of a lot.
 * The most prominent example would, of course, be Aizen's displayed superiority to all but like, one person in the entire series (and even that guy isn't that much stronger) versus his tendency to stand around looking pretty. Then there's the fact that his Zanpakuto can be employed at any time without having to use the ritual on anyone previously affected by it (read: everyone but Ichigo).
 * But when were you under the impression he had not employed Kyoka Suigetsu?
 * When she first used Resurrección, Harribel displayed the necessary speed and power necessary to get around Hitsugaya's defenses with her sword, and could have ended the fight at literally any point. Instead, she spent the entire rest of the fight playing tug of war with her water powers and his ice powers, evidently attempting to set up some sort of super attack. Possibly justified by him claiming he was taken by surprise, but given the fact that he had the time to set up an ice clone, that he was staring right at her and that he had immediately prior claimed that he shouldn't underestimate her, this claim loses some credibility.
 * Additionally, every Espada can supposedly use the uber-powerful Gran Rey Cero (which is basically "Wave Motion Gun Up to Eleven", the Wave Motion Gun in question being the regular Cero). Aside from Grimmjow, not a single one seems to remember this. Only three of them were fighting within Las Noches, and only two of the three can be excused by the "no Gran Rey Cero under Las Noches' dome" rule; the third has already demonstrated several times his willingness to flaunt and/or circumvent Aizen's orders whenever he felt like it, so he still falls for the trope.
 * finally remembers he also has GRC after he dies and goes to Hell, where he attempts to use it on
 * Zommari is fast enough to catch Byakuya by surprise, and his Amor gives him the ability to control anything he looks at. He foolishly wasted every opportunity he had to cut Byakuya down by pausing to give extremely long-winded speeches. This give Byakuya plenty of time to figure out a counter and defeat him.
 * After spending several chapters swinging his usual, very elegant at  and missing,   finally beats him by grabbing a fistful of his  and thrusting them through 's chest with a blast of kido.
 * Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Happens if a character is taken aback in a fight.
 * Ulquiorra manages to do this without his pupils vanishing.
 * Willfully Weak: Half of the cast is this, and seems to be the overall theme of the story.
 * A Wizard Did It: How did Ichigo, Chad and Orihime get such kick ass powers? The  did it! How does   become stronger? Lol, Hogyoku.
 * In Ichigo's case, it was explained that he had latent abilities and could already see spirits even as a kid. It is also explained that the Hogyoku can only grant a wish that is within the realm of reality, so Ichigo always had the potential to gain his current power. This is more a case of poorly executed Arc Welding and some Retconning.
 * Woman in White: Rukia in the Soul Society arc, Orihime in the Hueco mundo arc, and practically every single female Arrancar.
 * The Wonka: When Urahara drops his Obfuscating Insanity and people make it past his Bunny Ears Lawyer image, it's revealed that he's still The Wonka underneath it all. The man's approach to just about everything - but especially training and inventions - is unique.
 * Words Do Not Make the Magic: Kido spells even with a incantation require skill to use and can sometimes be used without the incantation.
 * Worf Had the Flu: Have a broken as hell shikai and can't think of a way to let the enemy invoke The Worf Effect? Do like  did and give them a detailed description of its abilities.
 * The Worf Effect: It's almost as if Chad exists to fulfill this trope. And, as of lately, Komamura as well..
 * Workout Fanservice: During the Soul Society arc, Ichigo Kurosaki was doing pushups shirtless, while training to get a Bankai.
 * World Half Full: According to Hitsugaya in Chapter 461, Ichigo's influence is slowly making Soul Society a better place.
 * World of Badass
 * World's Most Beautiful Woman: Word of God states that Retsu Unohana is the most beautiful woman in all of Soul Society. That doesn't stop Charlotte Cuulhorne and Yumichika Ayasegawa engaging in a fight to the death to find out who the most beautiful person in the world is... of course, they're actually both men, but neither of them let that fact get in the way of taking this trope's intent seriously.
 * Wrathful Wasps: Soifon/Sui-Feng is the Second Squad captain of Soul Society's Thirteen Court Guard Squads, and incorporates a lot of hornet motifs in her personality and fighting style... specifically, the infamously lethal Japanese Giant Hornet. Fittingly, she's a nasty and unpleasant little woman who bullies her subordinates, takes sadistic joy out of mercilessly crushing her opponents, and is capable of killing people in two hits with her Zanpakuto, which turns into a rocket launcher in its Bankai form. She does have a kinder side to her, but it's usually saved exclusively for Yoruichi, her former mentor who she may or may not have a crush on.
 * Wretched Hive: Districts 78-80 of Soul Society.
 * Writing for the Trade: Definitely a series that reads better in Archive Binge form.
 * Wrongful Accusation Insurance: As unforgiving as the Soul Society's laws seem to be, surprisingly little is said of Ichigo's invasion once Aizen tips his hand.

X

 * X Makes Anything Cool: Certainly the only reason the Fullbringer organization is called "Xcution", even if it's still pronounced "execution".
 * Xtreme Kool Letterz: The latest Cast Herd are all part of a new organization called Xcution (pronounced 'execution).

Y

 * Yamato Nadeshiko: To some degree, Momo Hinamori. Captain Unohana and Rukia's former idol Miyako Shiba embody this trope better, though.
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: Orihime and Ishida, so, so much. Just see the page example.
 * In a meta example: Tite Kubo keeps doing it to the readers.
 * Year Inside, Hour Outside: The "density of time" within the Precipice World - which acts as the primary passage between Soul Society and the real world - is 2,000 times higher (e.g. 2,000 years inside = 1 year outside), which made the place a useful prison in the past. It was.
 * Years Too Early: Anime examples: Byakuya Kuchiki to Ichigo in episode 55, and Bount Sawatari to Chad, Noba and Rangiku Matsumoto in episode 86.
 * You Are Already Dead: Happens pretty often, but a good example is when
 * You Can See Me?
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Aizen does this to everyone he sees as not being useful: Momo, . Mayuri also does this with a subordinate-turned-living-bomb who refuses to blow-up. Subverted by Byakuya with Rukia.
 * As a game example, Aizen also does this to
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Grimmjow, Nel, Szayel, Mayuri, Machiro, Hachi
 * You Monster!: Loly to Orihime of all people. Of course, this can be explained because Loly's an Ungrateful Bitch. Lilynette says something similar to Ukitake when he dispels her cero with his bare hand.
 * You Never Asked: Kisuke Urahara loves this trope.
 * You Shall Not Pass: Anime episodes 54 and 154
 * Your Head Asplode: does this to several Menos Grande during the  Big Damn Heroes moment. With his bare fists.

Z

 * Zettai Ryouiki: Several examples.
 * The Arrancar Loly uses the boots plus miniskirt version — Grade A, more exactly. Since she has Girlish Pigtails, the only thing keeping her away from Grade S is being a Yandere instead of a Tsundere.
 * One of Yoruichi's outfits was this.
 * Once the Hueco Mundo arc is over and she becomes a senior in Karakura High, Orihime Inoue starts wearing Grade A.
 * New character Riruka Dokugamine has turned out to be a Grade S.
 * Anime-only Nozomi Kujo goes between Grades A and C depending on how she's drawn at the moment, but usually is a B.