Bleach, Volume 1

Ichigo Kurosaki has seen ghosts for as long as he can remember, a knack that finally matters the night a monstrous Hollow attacks his family in Karakura Town. Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper hunting the creature, is badly hurt defending them and tries to lend Ichigo a fraction of her power. He takes all of it instead.

Overnight he becomes a substitute Soul Reaper, a job that was never meant for a human. Rukia, stripped of her own strength and stuck in a borrowed human body, stays behind to guide him through his new duties while she recovers. Between classes he now hunts Hollows and guides lost souls on to the Soul Society, the place the dead are meant to reach.

This opening volume sets up Bleach as a fast, fight-driven shonen series built around a reluctant hero handed power he never trained for. The tone stays mostly light even as the stakes turn serious. Kubo lays out the Hollows and Soul Reapers plainly, and the rules of this world are clear by the first chase.