13th division captain's terms to know♥

Okay the fallowing are terms and words I use usually. =3
first post- regular hollows
second post- arrancars
third post- Las Noches and Hollow powers
4th post- Bounts and more
5th post- Kido and other attacks

Hollows are former pluses (deceased souls) that lose their hearts to despair or remain in the real world for too long. Any spirit that is not guided to Soul Society by a Soul Reaper may eventually descend into a hollow. The process by which a soul becomes a hollow usually takes months (if not longer), reflected by the length of the soul's Chain of Destiny (因果の鎖, inga no kusari?, Chain of Fate in the English dub), which resides in the center of their chest. The Chain of Destiny slowly corrodes over time, reflecting the degradation of the soul's ties to the living world. The process can be accelerated under certain conditions, such as being attacked by another hollow or through the use of certain spiritual powers. When the chain completely decays, the soul is warped into a unique and monstrous form with a vaguely skeletal mask and a large hole where their chain was once connected.the majority of ghosts peacefully move on to Soul Society after their deaths. Some, however, stay in the living world to fulfill certain goals, such as looking after a loved one, protecting a particular location, or pursuing a grudge from beyond the grave. However, with only limited abilities to interact with the living, and by definition tied to their goals, many ghosts find they are unable to cope when their loved ones move on or old enemies forget them. At this point, some will become dangerously obsessed with fulfilling those goals, even if the means to fulfill them renders the soul empty: for example, killing anyone who comes near a loved one, in order to keep them from hurting that person. In doing so, the ghost warps into a hollow and, ironically, often makes the focus of their obsession into their first victim, such as Orihime's brother, Sora, does.Once a soul becomes a hollow, it is driven to devour other souls, living or dead, to fill the void caused by its descent. While their former obsession often becomes their first target, many hollows will eventually become mindless creatures concerned only with finding the most potent souls to devour. Stronger willed or more evil hollows are often able to retain some or all of their intelligence in hollow form, making them more dangerous than the average hollow. While most hollows are evil, or at the very least mindless, at least a few are not, as is the case with Nel Tu and her hollow companions.The most distinctive feature of a hollow, their mask, is formed to protect the naked instinct that is left in a being after the loss of its heart, and in some ways is the tangible form of the hollow's madness. The masks of different hollows can differ greatly in shape and form, but they are always white and skull-like. The masks also obscure the original identity of the hollows. The mask can be shattered, temporarily allowing the hollow to regain its original identity, but it will regenerate after a short period once the hollow takes over again.Hollows have widely varying physical characteristics and powers, and few hollows ever appear the same (the few that do are often clones). In terms of appearance, hollows can range from furry (like mammals) or lizard-like in appearance to outright demonic. A hollow's abilities are often determined by their power. Weaker (and by definition less intelligent) hollows usually only attack in a melee style, whereas stronger hollows have a wide array of abilities with which to kill their quarry. Hollows also vary in size, though it tends to be fairly consistent amongst the various classifications of hollows. In Hueco Mundo, some hollows are no larger than common pets. Most common hollows are about twice the size of an adult human, though it can vary to a degree. Huge hollows, aptly named for their size, are as large as two-story buildings. Finally, gillian-class menos are even larger than the huge hollows, standing as tall as a common skyscraper.Hollows are usually killed by splitting their mask and head in two, but most fatal wounds will effectively dispatch them. When this is done by a Soul Reaper's zanpakutō, the hollow is not truly killed; its spirit is purified of the sins it committed as a hollow. This allows the spirit within to enter Soul Society as a plus. In cases where a hollow committed great sins as a mortal, its purification will summon the gates of Hell, which drag the soul to its punishment. When a hollow is killed by a Quincy, however, it is destroyed, soul and all, which has potentially disastrous effects on the spiritual balance of the worlds. The series doesn't address the effects of other spiritual powers on hollows, such as those of Orihime Inoue or Yasutora Sado, but such occurrences are rare.

Menos
hough most hollows are simply transformed human souls, a sub-group of hollows known as menos (メノス, menosu?, Spanish for "minus" or "less"), exist. Menos are conglomerations of many normal hollows (from hundreds to thousands, depending on the type), resulting in a single composite entity of far greater strength than the hollows that spawned it. Menos-class hollows are considered so dangerous that Soul Society sends only highly trained Soul Reaper teams to handle them. These incursions seem to be rare, however, as menos rarely leave Hueco Mundo unless attracted by large sources of spiritual power or encouraged to by other forces.Menos are created when the void within an ordinary hollow's heart becomes so substantial that human souls are incapable of sustaining it, at which point it begins devouring fellow hollows. These cannibal hollows are attracted to one another, and a mass inter-devouring follows, resulting in a gillian.[2] Following this transformation, the gillian can evolve twice more, first into an adjuchas and finally into a vasto lorde, provided certain conditions are met. Menos evolution is not only contingent upon the menos eating other hollows, but also upon the menos' ability to avoid being eaten. If another hollow succeeds in devouring a part of their body, evolution becomes impossible.

Gillian (最下大虚（ギリアン）, girian?, Japanese for "least of the great hollows") are the weakest class of menos and the first stage of menos evolution. They are giant in comparison to other hollows, dwarfing even the largest standard hollows by at least the size of a two-story building, but lack agility and intelligence. While a gillian-class menos is quite powerful, they are still much weaker than a Soul Reaper lieutenant. According to Tōshirō Hitsugaya, they are comparable to "foot-soldiers", reflected in their uniform appearance. In Soul Society, gillians are known as Menos Grande and are shown in textbooks discussing menos. Menos Grande literally means "big minus" in Spanish ("less big" is also a possible translation) or "less". Similarly, the kanji for menos grande means 'big emptiness'.Though gillians usually have no personality to speak of, one of the many hollows that comprise it may retain control over the new entity, reflected in the unique mask it wears in comparison to a normal gillian. Only these gillian variants have the potential to evolve into adjuchas-class menos. The evolution is facilitated by the continued cannibalization of fellow hollows, even other gillians, resulting in a unique but still massive form before they completely become adjuchas.

Adjuchas (中級大虚（アジューカス）, ajūkasu?, Japanese for "intermediate great hollow") are the medium class of menos in terms of power, and the second stage in the menos evolution. Adjuchas can vary radically in appearance, from bulky humanoids to the panther-like form of Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. Unlike the gillians, they are roughly human-sized. They are also much smarter than the gillians and have the power to match. It is likely they could fight evenly with at least a Soul Reaper lieutenant. They watch over the many gillian-class menos. In the anime, the adjuchas put in charge by Aizen can control the gillians, though it's unclear if this is an innate ability or something granted by their status.Adjuchas-class menos are much smaller in population compared to the gillian class, due to the rarity of any one hollow being capable of overwhelming the many other hollows that comprise the body of a gillian. Furthermore, the adjuchas must continue to devour hollows, or its mind will be absorbed by the hollows comprising its form and it will revert back into a gillian. The subsequent lack of an individual will also preclude the reverted gillian from becoming an adjuchas again.

Vasto lorde (最上大虚（ヴァストローデ）, vasuto rōde?, Japanese for "highest of the great hollows") are the most powerful class of menos, and the final stage in the menos evolutionary line. They appear almost completely humanoid, and each one is stronger than an average Soul Reaper captain; Tōshirō claims that ten of them under Sōsuke Aizen's control would be enough to defeat all of Soul Society. It seems that Aizen has important plans with them, but the details haven't been revealed.Vasto lorde are the least common form of menos, but the exact population is unknown. They are believed to reside within the very depths of Hueco Mundo. Apart from the need to cannibalize even more hollows, any special requirements for the creation of a vasto lorde are unknown.

An arrancar is a hollow that has removed its mask and gained Soul Reaper powers. The name arrancar is a Spanish verb meaning "to remove" or "to rip off," a reference to an arrancar's removal of its hollow mask. In the manga, arrancar is written using a kanji spelling meaning torn mask (破面, yamen?), but is pronounced as the Spanish arrancar (アランカル, arankaru?).Few hollows have the potential to remove their masks normally, and even if they manage it the change is not significant. Sōsuke Aizen is able to artificially create arrancar with the Hōgyoku, which also unlocks much more of their potential than a natural transformation would. The process of turning a hollow into an arrancar is called soulreaperification (死神化, shinigami-ka?). Arrancar differ from ordinary hollows in two ways: their hollow holesare often moved, and only a small fragment of their masks remain. When hollows become arrancar, the chances of them retaining a humanoid form increase with their intelligence; only vasto lorde-class arrancar will definitely assume a humanoid form.If powerful enough, an arrancar can seal its excess power into the form of a zanpakutō. This weapon is their original hollow powers, which can be called upon when necessary, as opposed to the living spirit of a Soul Reaper's zanpakutō. Their zanpakutō also differ in that they need not take the form of a sword: for example, Cirucci Thunderwitch's weapon takes the form of what is essentially a giant yo-yo. When an arrancar releases their zanpakutō, a process called resurrección (帰刃（レスレクシオン）, resurekushion?, Japanese for "returning blade," Spanish for "resurrection"), part of their original hollow form is restored, giving them access to their original abilities. While arrancar do not appear to have a second release, the act of releasing their zanpakutō exponentially increases their power, similar to the power boost afforded by a Soul Reaper's bankai.Those arrancar under Aizen's command also have a standard theme for their clothing. Their uniforms consist of a white jacket, black sash, white hakama, and black socks with white sandals; in essence, the uniforms are basically inverted Soul Reaper uniforms.The arrancar under Aizen's command are arranged into various ranks based on their strength. Not all of the existing arrancar are under Aizen's command, mostly through lack of interest on Aizen's part.

The Espada (十刃（エスパーダ）, Esupāda?, Japanese for "ten blades," Spanish for "sword") are the top-ranked arrancar in Aizen's army. The Espada at the time of the group's introduction consists of nine males and one female. Each Espada member is chosen for their superior combat ability and then assigned a number from 1 to 10 that indicates their rank and relative power level, which is tattooed somewhere on their body (Grimmjow's is on his lower back, for instance). The Espada are given control over the Números and are regarded as the strongest arrancar in existence. Similar to the power gap between captains and lieutenants in the Gotei 13, the strength of the Espada far surpasses that of the average Número. As Aaroniero Arruruerie notes, all of the Espada except him were at least adjuchas-class menos before becoming arrancar.

The Números (数字持ち（ヌメロス）, Numerosu?, Japanese for "number holders," and Spanish for "numbers") are the combat specialists. They are assigned a two digit number at birth from 11 to 99 to indicate their age (Número 11 is the oldest, Número 99 is the youngest). The basic Número uniform consists of a white-collared jacket and robes held with a black sash. However, the uniform is customizable, giving each Número a sense of individuality. The fighting ability of Números is thought to be superior to all other arrancar, except for the Espada (current and former).

The Fracción (従属官（フラシオン）, Furashion?, Japanese for "subordinate officers," Spanish for "fraction") are a subsection of the Números that directly serve a specific Espada. The number of Fracción for any given Espada varies: Stark and Nnoitra Jiruga would seem to have just one, while Szayel Aporro Granz has at least a dozen.

The Privaron Espada (十刃落ち（プリバロン・エスパーダ）, Puribaron Esupāda?, Japanese for "ten fallen blades," Spanish for "deprived sword") are former Espada who have officially lost their rank and are assigned a three-digit number. Being former Espada, they are far stronger than the normal Números. They reside in Tres Cifras, which translates literally from Spanish as "three digits". As mentioned by Dordonii, these former "naturally created" Espada were rendered obsolete after Aizen began artificially creating arrancar to meet his own standards.[8]

The Exequias (葬討部隊（エクセキアス）, Ekusekiasu?, Japanese for "funerary attacking force," Spanish for "funeral rites") are arrancar that are part of the execution division, apparently charged with termination of intruders and rebels.[9]

Aizen's arrancar reside in Las Noches (虚夜宮（ラス・ノーチェス）, Rasu Nōchesu?, Spanish for "the nights," Japanese for "hollow night palace"), a massive fortress which can be seen for miles in Hueco Mundo. It consists of a main building with a domed center surrounded by several large towers and smaller buildings. Atop the dome are six smaller towers, which seem to contain areas such as Aizen's throne room and the Espada meeting hall. Like everything else in Hueco Mundo, every building is colored white.Las Noches is easily the largest building structure in the Bleach universe, appearing as large as (if not larger than) Seireitei in Soul Society. Due to its immense size, Ichigo Kurosaki once commented that it could be an illusion as he, Chad, and Uryū Ishida did not seem to make any progress getting closer to it, despite running until they were exhausted. Also, according to the arrancar Nel Tu, it takes about three days to move from one spot to a gate.The inside of Las Noches' domes simulate the living world and Soul Society's blue sky, which Aaroniero Arruruerie claims is so the light of the sky will help Aizen observe anywhere he wishes. However, since Aaroniero must stay out of the sunlight to use his abilities, Rukia Kuchiki speculates this is a lie. The position of the halls within the palace can also be adjusted, allowing the one operating them to direct the movements of intruders.

Like Soul Reapers, hollows have a multitude of combat skills and abilities, most of which are usually unique to specific hollows. The more powerful hollows, however, have access to a range similar techniques of greater power or use than their own unique skills. Hollows usually acquire energy to power their abilities by devouring souls, but can also ingest energy from the atmosphere when in realms with high concentration of spiritual energy, such as Hueco Mundo.

* Bala (虚弾（バラ）, Bara?, Japanese for "hollow bullet," Spanish for "bullet") is an arrancar alternative to the cero. The technique hardens the user's spiritual pressure and fires like a bullet. Though weaker than a cero blast, it moves twenty times faster and can be fired at a much higher rate.
* Cero (虚閃（セロ）, Sero?, Japanese for "hollow flash," Spanish for "zero", labeled as "Doom Blast" in the Viz manga) are high-powered energy blasts that can be fired from various body parts, such as the mouth, tongue, hand or fingers. Only menos, arrancar, and vizard have so far been shown to use cero attacks, and it appears that stronger entities can use it more efficiently. Various arrancar and hollow characters display variants of the technique, such as the Espada-exclusive gran rey cero (王虚の閃光（グラン・レイ・セロ）, guran rei sero?, Japanese for "royal hollow flash," Spanish for "great king zero") and Pesshe Gatiishe and Dondochakka Bilstin's cero sincrético (融合虚閃（セロ・シンクレティコ）, sero shinkuretiko?, Japanese for "united hollow flash," Spanish for "synchronized zero").
* Garganta (黒腔（ガルガンタ）, Garuganta?, Japanese for "black cavity," Spanish for "throat") is how arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway.Kaname Tōsen and Kisuke Urahara have also demonstrated the ability to use garganta; Mayuri Kurotsuchi explains that Soul Society cannot do this because they haven't researched the technique.
* Hierro (鋼皮（イエロ）, Iero?, Japanese for "steel skin," Spanish for "iron") refers to the hardened skin of the arrancar, which is a result of their compressed spiritual power. While their skin is strong enough to block even released zanpakutō bare-handed, it is by no means impenetrable. Stronger arrancar have proportionally stronger skin.
* Negación (反膜（ネガシオン）, Negashion?, Japanese for "counter-membrane," Spanish for "deny") fields are used to rescue fellow hollows. Only the gillian-class menos have shown the ability to use it. Negación fields surround a target in a square beam of light that isolates the target from the dimension they are currently in, making it impossible to harm them. The field then pulls the target towards the menos that created the field. Espada have a special cube-shaped device called Caja Negación (反膜の匪（カハ・ネガシオン）, Kaha Negashion?, Japanese for "negation of counter-membrane," Spanish for "Negation Box") meant to simulate negación fields, which are used to punish their subordinates if necessary. The cube, when used on a subject, traps them in an alternate dimension from which there is no escape; however, this assumes it's being used as intended. More powerful arrancar, namely the Espada themselves, can escape given enough time.
* Pesquisa (探査回路（ペスキス）, Pesukisu?, Japanese for "inquiry circuit," Spanish for "inquiry") is the arrancar equivalent of the shinigami ability to sense spiritual pressure.
* Sonido (響転（ソニード）, Sonīdo?, Japanese for "resounding revolution," Spanish for "sound") is the arrancar equivalent of the Soul Reapers' flash steps and the Quincy hirenkyaku; it allows the user to travel at incredibly high speeds for short distances. Use of sonido is punctuated by a brief static sound, in contrast to the "swish" sound used for flash steps.

the Bounts (バウント, baunto?, also commonly referred to by variant romanizations such as Bounto and Bound) are a group of humans with special abilities. They are the villain race in the series's anime-exclusive Bount and Bount Assault on Soul Society arcs. The Bounts live by consuming human souls, which potentially gives them everlasting youth. For this reason, they are often compared to vampires.The Bounts's inability to age is a product of how they survive: consuming human souls. This gives them potentially everlasting youth so long as they can find souls to consume. This also seems to make them infertile, as only one Bount, Yoshino Sōma, had the ability to reproduce out of the entire species. Normally, Bount consume human souls that have already died. Under the leadership of Jin Kariya, however, they began consuming living souls. Consuming living souls causes a Bount to physically age to a small degree; the only person to have consumed enough to have noticeably aged is Sawatari, who appears as if he is well into his eighties while normal Bount retain an appearance of someone in their twenties or thirties. It is not known if a Bount could also die this way.



Soul Reapers (死神, shinigami?, literally "death god(s)") are enforcers and psychopomps who all share similar supernatural powers. They are based on the Japanese Grim Reaper concept, imported from Europe into Japan during the Meiji period. Because the concept is very recent and was never a part of Shinto nor of Japanese folklore, Soul Reapers in Bleach are quite different from those of other works of fiction.Soul Reapers are departed human souls that have gained supernatural powers. As such, their bodies are composed of ectoplasm (霊子, reishi?) and they can only be seen by other spiritually aware entities, which excludes most humans. In the series, Soul Reapers, as well as most other types of spirits, are quite capable of influencing their environment. Additionally, they can be injured and die like regular humans, though it takes considerably greater injuries for the latter to occur than it would in regular humans.The most prominent power possessed by a Soul Reaper is their zanpakutō, a sword generated from the Soul Reaper's soul. Soul Reapers also naturally give off spiritual energy, which varies greatly in magnitude with the strength of a Soul Reaper. A zanpakutō is a physical manifestation of this force concentrated into a bladeSoul Reaper operations are based out of Soul Society, which is the afterlife in Bleach. Travel between the human world and Soul Society is extremely limited and monitored, but some Soul Reapers are stationed in the human world to carry out their duties and therefore must often travel between the two. In addition, it is a crime for a Soul Reaper to remain in the human world longer than a certain time limit. A Soul Reaper's duties include leading Pluses (ghosts) to Soul Society in a practice called soul burial (konsō), and the cleansing of hollows (evil spirits). Later in the series, Soul Reaper duties are clarified further, and it is revealed that they are also responsible for governing the flow of spirits between the human world and Soul Society.The Soul Reapers have four forms of combat: kidō, hand-to-hand combat, foot combat, and swordsmanship.

Kidō (鬼道, Kidō? lit. way of the demon) is a type of sorcery used by Soul Reapers. It can be used for various purposes, such as healing, attacking, and restraining. Healing seems to be a more general skill, while attacking and binding require an incantation to be recited beforehand. Kidō spells are divided into two major categories: destructive spells (破道, hadō?), used for direct attack, and binding spells (縛道, bakudō?), which are spells that restrain someone or have other effects. These forms of Kidō spells are performed by calling out a complicated and often long-winded incantation followed by its category, number and name, which causes an effect once the name has been recited. Lesser versions of the spells can be used by skipping the incantation, but their effectiveness is reduced based on individual skill.

Hand-to-hand combat (白打, hakuda?, lit. white hits) in Bleach is not elaborated upon. Special Forces troops, especially those of higher ranks such as Soifon, are known to be well-trained in this field.

Agility (歩法, hohō?, lit. step method), like hand-to-hand combat, is not elaborated upon. Flash steps (瞬歩, shunpo?), a movement technique that allows the user to move faster than the eye can follow, is implied to be part of this category.[6] Another skill, though not necessarily related, is the Soul Reaper ability to walk on air using spiritual power. By collecting and solidifying spiritual particles beneath their feet, Soul Reapers can gain traction on thin air to either freely move about or to stop themselves from falling.

Swordsmanship (斬術, zanjutsu?, lit. cutting technique) is the most used form of combat among Soul Reapers. As the name suggests, it involves using a zanpakutō and its various special abilities to attack an opponent. In addition to its basic form, each zanpakutō has two enhanced forms: shikai (始解, initial release) and bankai (卍解, final release), which change the sword's form to unlock its potential and that of its user.

The vizard are a group of rogue Soul Reapers in the anime and manga series Bleach who have illegally acquired hollow powers.While the term vizard is spelled in the manga using kanji meaning masked army (仮面の軍勢, kamen no gunzei?), it is pronounced as the English vizard (ヴァイザード, vaizādo?), an archaic word meaning mask.
The vizard are the antithesis to the arrancar: they are Soul Reapers who have obtained hollow powers. Having begun as Soul Reapers, the vizard appear entirely human, and barring those times when they are using their powers are indistinguishable from ordinary Soul Reapers. To gain access to their hollow powers, a vizard dons a hollow mask. This allows them to augment their Soul Reaper abilities with hollow powers, as well as giving them access to some of the generic hollow abilities. Their spiritual pressure likewise changes into a mix of hollow and Soul Reaper. This process of donning one's hollow mask is referred to as "Hollowification" (虚化, horō-ka?)It is unclear what the motives of the vizard are. The members of the vizard group have been shown to be former high-level Soul Reapers, exclusively drawn from the captain and lieutenant ranks. They are considered criminals by Soul Society for committing the ultimate taboo of acquiring hollow powers. The vizard are also rejected by hollows because of their former status as Soul Reapers. Thus, it can be presumed that the only side the vizard are on is their own. Regardless, they seem to be valuable allies-to-be in the battle against Sōsuke Aizen's army of arrancar, as Kisuke Urahara mentions. The vizard have not shown any sort of hierarchy, seeming to prefer a loose-knit organization.In battle, the vizard use their hollow powers to augment their Soul Reaper abilities, granting them massive increases in speed, stamina, and strength. They also gain access to some of the common hollow abilities, such as cero blasts. Bodily harm can seemingly be ignored while wearing their masks, as demonstrated by Ichigo's hollow during his unwilling transformations. The hollow mask can only be maintained for a certain period before its effects wear off: Ichigo can only hold his transformation for a short period (eleven seconds at first), while the other vizard can go several hours without tiring.Vizard zanpakutō function in the same manner as those of standard Soul Reapers; however, none of them have explicitly used their releases in combat yet, excluding Ichigo and Kensei. The vizard seem to prefer their mask-given powers to their Soul Reaper abilities. The vizard remain in complete control while wearing their masks, unlike Ichigo's early unstable transformations. As suggested by Aizen, the fusion of the two spiritual entities allows these Soul Reapers to reach levels of power far surpassing that of either side.

The Quincy are a line of spiritually aware human archers in the anime and manga . Their techniques and terminology are derived from the German language, and they utilize outfits and tools evocative of medieval priests or crusaders. Originally a mixture of survivors of hollow attacks and those who'd lost loved ones to hollows, the Quincy developed a variety of supernatural powers to hunt and kill hollows before they attacked humans (and to destroy those who already had), including the ability to control spiritual energy. The Quincy are nearly extinct due to extermination by the shinigami about 200 years before the main Bleach storyline. At present, the only known living Quincy are Uryū Ishida and his father, Ryūken Ishida.While in the Bleach manga, Quincy is spelled using kanji meaning monk of destruction (滅却師, mekkyakushi?), it is pronounced as Quincy (クインシー, Kuinshī?).

Kidō spells are used by Soul Reapers in the fictional world of Bleach for various purposes. Spells exist for attacking, binding, and healing. Like conventional magic, most of these spells require an incantation of some sort to activate their effect. They are performed through channeling spirit energy, which the incantation then focuses into a specific effect. As stated by Ganju Shiba, the principle behind kidō and channeling spirit energy in general is a mental image of throwing oneself within a darkly-colored circle.Most kidō spells are sorted into two categories: binding spells (縛道, bakudō?, literally "way of binding") and destructive spells (破道, hadō?, literally "way of destruction"). The former category is somewhat more generalized, referring to basically any technique designed to deter a target, including tracking and communication spells. Some binding spells, however, can be quite harmful to their targets, if not deadly. Destructive spells, on the other hand, are always intended to harm, usually consisting of some sort of directed energy blast.
With the exception of healing, which requires no incantation or even a name to perform, kidō spells consist of four distinct steps: reciting the incantation of the spell (which is usually long-winded), its category (binding or destructive), its number, and finally its name. The number of a spell determines the difficultly of casting it correctly and effectively (#1 is simple to cast, #99 is incredibly difficult). With sufficient training, the first step can be bypassed, allowing spells to be used in combat quickly, known as incantaton bypass (詠唱破棄, eishō haki?, literally "discard chant"). Doing so, however, lessens the spell's effect, the degree of which is dependent upon the skill of the caster. Bypassing the incantation is also more difficult for higher-numbered spells, as casting them is already fairly difficult even with the full verbal component. The power of kidō spells varies on the skill of the user; even a low-level kidō spell can be utterly devastating when utilized by a sufficiently powerful user.Complementing kidō may be combined for a single ability, something that Isane Kotetsu demonstrated when she used binding spell #58 to locate Sōsuke Aizen and Gin Ichimaru within Soul Society, and then #77 to convey the information to every captain and lieutenant (as well as Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends). Rukia Kuchiki has also demonstrated the ability to use two kidō spells simultaneously by alternating between the lines of each incantation.Kidō can also be combined with other forms of Soul Reaper combat to form unique abilities, such as Yoruichi Shihouin's flash cry (瞬閧, shunkō?, lit. instant war cry) technique, which combines kidō energy and hand-to-hand combat (白打, hakuda?) to concentrate spiritual power at the back and shoulders for quicker movement and increased attack power.

Binding spells

* 1. Restrain (塞, sai?) — Locks a target's arms in place behind their back.
* 4. Crawling Rope (這縄, hainawa?) — An energy rope entangles a target's arms.
* 9. Strike (撃, geki?) — Engulfs a target in red light, completely paralyzing them.
* 58. Summoning of the Tracking Sparrows (摑趾追雀, kakushitsuijaku?) — Tracks and locates any spiritual force the user focuses on. To activate it, the user must draw a circle on the ground, cut into four parts with a specific character in each. The incantation animates the circle, causing various numbers to appear within until the specific set is found. The number set seems to be a variation on longitude and latitude.
* 61. Six Rods Prison of Light (六杖光牢, rikujōkōrō?)— Summons six thin, but wide, beams of light that slam into a target's midsection, holding them in place. Referred to as "Six Rod Light Restraint" in the English manga and "Six Bars of Light" in some of the games.
* 63. Chain of Binding Chains (鎖条鎖縛, sajō sabaku?) — The target is wrapped from the neck down in a thick chain.
* 75. Quintet of 1 kan Iron Pillars (五柱鉄貫, gochūtekkan?) — Summons five incredibly tall and thick pillars to pin a target to the ground.
* 77. Heavenly Rickshaws in Silken Air (天挺空羅, tenteikūra?) — Transmits messages to anyone within a specific area. In addition to reciting the spell, the user must draw specific markings on their arms, which are animated by the spell to convey the messages.
* 81. Splitting Void (斷空, dankū?) — Creates an energy barrier in the form of a rectangular wall. According to Byakuya, it is capable of stopping destructive spells up to #89.
* 99, Part 1. Seal (禁, kin?, Restrict in the English dub) — Binds the arms of a target with spiritual fabric and iron shafts.
* 99, Part 2. Great seal (卍禁, bankin?) — This spell covers a target from head to toe with spiritual fabric [first song: halting fabric (初曲・止繃, shokyoku: shiryū?)], stabs them with numerous metal blades [second song: hundred linked bolts (弐曲・百連閂, nikyoku: hyakurensan?)], and then smashes them with an immense metal cube [final song: great seal of 10,000 forbiddings (終曲・卍禁太封, shūkyoku: bankin taihō?)].

Destructive spells

* 1. Thrust (衝, shō?)— Pushes the target away from the caster.
* 4. White Lightning (白雷, byakurai?) — Fires a concentrated bolt of lightning from the caster's forefinger.
* 31. Shot of Red Fire (赤火砲, shakkahō?) — Fires a ball of red energy at a target.
o The English dub uses the phrase "Red Flame Cannon" in conjunction with the Japanese name. It also incorrectly identifies this spell as bakudō 33 in certain scenes, though correctly identifies it in the scene in which it is revealed.
* 33. Blue Fire, Crash Down (蒼火墜, sōkatsui?, Pale Fire Crash in the English dub) — Fires a burst of blue spiritual energy at a target in a similar manner to 31, but over a wider area and with more power.
* 54. Abolishing Flames (廃炎, haien?) — Fires a blast of purple spiritual energy that will incinerate a target completely when it makes contact.
* 63. Thunder Roar Cannon (雷吼炮, raikōhō?) — Fires a massive wave of yellow energy at a target.
* 63. Twin Lotus Blue Fire, Crash Down (双蓮蒼火墜, sōren sōkatsui?)[22] — Essentially a doubled version of #33, this spell fires two shots of blue fire with greater potency than the single-shot variety. In the anime, Rukia labels this spell as #73.
* 88. Flying Dragon Striking, Heaven-Shaking, Lightning Cannon (飛竜撃賊震天雷砲, hiryūgeki zoku shinten raihō?) — Fires a massive blast of spiritual energy in a fashion similar to a laser.
* 90. Black Coffin (黒棺, kurohitsugi?) — Forms a box of purple-black energy around a target, which is then pierced by dozens of energy "spears", lacerating the one inside from head to toe. Aizen notes that the spell only reached a third of its destructive potential the one time he uses it, indicating that the spell would be far more damaging at full power. Its appearance and function is reminiscent of a common magician's trick, as well as certain torture devices used during the Spanish Inquisition.



These spells are not explicitly stated to be in one category or the other.

* White Crawl (白伏, hakufuku?) — Momo Hinamori uses this spell while imprisoned to knock out a guard and destroy everything within a certain radius of herself. The anime suggests that it is a binding spell, but doesn't number it.
* Mirror Door (鏡門, kyōmon?)[ — Tōshirō Hitsugaya used this to seal Momo Hinamori's hospital room. It creates a glass-like barrier which is difficult to break from the outside, but quite simple to break from the inside.
* Reverse Demon (反鬼, hanki?) — This technique nullifies an opponent's kidō by hitting them with a perfectly opposite surge of energy. Yoruichi uses this against Soifon's shunkō.
* Kidō Cannon (鬼道砲, Kidōhō?) — As the name suggests, the Kidō Cannon is basically a high-intensity energy weapon powered by kidō in Bleach: Memories of Nobody. It consists of a crystalline focus point attached to the top of a massive pole, with several smaller crystal structures circling up towards the main one. It is powered by hundreds of Soul Reapers working in concert, creating an energy blast capable of obliterating a small dimension. The blast forms into several animal shapes which roar just before contact. The power of the blast is such that, in addition to destroying its target, it also causes a small amount of damage to both the human world and Soul Society. Despite its power, it is not a reusable weapon, as it burns into a pile of scrap after being fired.
* Temporal Stasis (時間停止, jikanteishi?)— A forbidden spell used by Tessai along with kūkanten'i.
* Spatial Displacement (空間転位, kūkanten'i?)[— A forbidden spell used by Tessai with jikanteishi to teleport a specified portion of space from one point to another, transporting even other active kidō spells.


zanpakutō (斬魄刀, zanpakutō? lit. soul-cutting sword) is magic sword wielded by those with Soul Reaper powers. The art of using a zanpakutō is called zanjutsu (swordsmanship). In Viz's English adaptation, they are translated as Soul Slayers.

* Human world: The human world of Bleach is focused on modern Japan; specifically, a fictional area of Western Tokyo called Karakura Town. In this world, Ichigo attends school and fights hollows.
* Soul Society: The spirit world called Soul Society (尸魂界（ソウル・ソサエティ）, Sōru Sosaeti?) consists of two portions: the expansive walled city of Seireitei (瀞霊廷, Court of Pure Souls?), where Soul Reapers and nobility reside, and the eighty-district residential area of Rukongai (流魂街, Town of Wandering Spirits?). The number of the district describes its conditions, such that lower-numbered districts are more peaceful.Living conditions resemble those of feudal Japan. A king resides in another realm within Soul Society. Souls in the Soul Society are much like normal humans, but age at an extremely slowed rate, such that lifespans of several centuries are commonplace. Children can even be born as they are in the human world.
* Hueco Mundo: Hueco Mundo (虚圏（ウェコムンド）, Weko Mundo?) is a dimension between the human world and Soul Society. It is where hollows reside when not hunting humans, and they are undetectable as long as they remain inside. Entrances to Hueco Mundo are created by ripping the dimensional fabric between the two worlds. On the surface of Hueco Mundo is a desert-like realm, covered in perpetual night. The little vegetation that meets the eye is actually formed from crystal; and while the sky has clouds, there is no water to be found anywhere. Few hollows reside on the surface, and the landscape is dominated by the imposing Las Noches palace. Directly underneath is the Forest of Menos, where the hollows mainly reside until provoked to leave.

Bleach characters move from world to world by several means. Soul Reapers open passages between the Human World and the Soul Society by means of their zanpakutō. Butterflies created during soul burial, called hell butterflies (地獄蝶, jigoku-chō?), make these routes safe. Human souls usually cross between planes only through birth into the human world or soul burial by Soul Reapers. Living humans can also use special portals to move between worlds, but this is dangerous. While hollows are portrayed as able to move between planes at will by opening rifts in space, they usually remain in Hueco Mundo due to the risk of discovery in Soul Society or the Human World. Encounters between characters crossing realms are a driving plot force in Bleach.