Your character is the heart and soul of the game. The world of Bleach (and any other fantasy world) is dependent on its rich, varied, and memorable characters. Use the following template:
Name: Your character's name, in Western order - given name first, then family name. Characters in Bleach tend to have highly common Japanese surnames, and creatively unusual first names. Puns are common as well - 'Ichigo,' for example, usually means 'Strawberry,' but in Bleach, Ichigo's name is written with the kanji (Japanese characters) for 'One who protects,' which happen to also be pronounced "Ichi-go."
Common Japanese surnames include: Abe, Arai, Arakaki, Chiba, Endo, Fukazawa, Fujiwara, Goto, Hara, Hayashi, Hidaka, Higa, Itou, Katou, Kikuchi, Kimura, Kinjou, Kobayashi, Koga, Komatsu, Kondo, Kudou, Kuroki, Maeda, Maruyama, Matsuo, Miyagi, Miyake, Mochizuki, Mori, Murakami, Nakamura, Narita, Nishimura, Ochi, Oshirou, Saitou, Sasaki, Satou, Sugiyama, Suzuki, Takahashi, Tanaka, Watanabe, and Yoshida.
For first names, virtually any combination of Japanese syllables will work. If you want to find kanji for your name, good sources include
WWWJDICT and
Jeffrey's Kanji Lookup.Sex: "Yes, please" is not an acceptable answer.
For those of you that never leave your bedrooms and/or failed elementary biology, there are
two sexes, male and female.
Birthplace: Earth, Rukongai, or Seireitei. Those born in Seireitei are generally much wealthier and more noble than those born on Earth or Rukongai. You may be more specific and select exactly *where* in Earth, Rukongai, or Seireitei you were born, if you like. Remember that there are 80 Districts in Rukongai, and the higher number the District, the poorer the residents.
Birthdate: Based on your backstory and your apparent age, calculate the day you were born (The game takes place in the near future - specifically the year 2015). If you were born *in* Soul Society and never spent any time living on Earth, you will be very, very old. Remember, Rukia is over 150.
Deathdate: The day you died, if you were born on Earth.
Soul Burial: The day you were Soul Buried, if you were born on Earth.
Zodiac Sign: Using your birthdate, use
this site to calculate your Chinese Zodiac sign.
Apparent Age: Your apparent age is:
* +1 year for each 1 year you spent on Earth, plus
* +1 year for each 10 years, or portion of 10 years, that you spent in Soul Society.
Zanpakutou Name: The name of your weapon. Zanpakutou will have a Japanese name that usually has a second meaning. For example, Ikkaku Madarame's Houzukimaru means "Demon Light" and Toushirou Hitsugaya's Hyourinmaru means "Ice Ring" or "Frozen Full Moon."
WWWJDICT and
Jeffrey's Kanji Lookup. are again good sources for looking up Japanese words.
Release Command: The word or phrase shouted when you release your shikai. No two shikai have the same release command. The list of release commands already taken (by existing characters in the manga or anime) include:
Awaken, Bloom, Crush, Cry, Dance, Fulfill, Grow, Growl, Howl, Pierce, Rage, Rip, Run, Reap, Rise, Roar, Rock, Scatter, Sever, Shatter, Shine, Shoot, Sing, Snap, and Sting.
Slight variations of existing commands are allowed. For example, Rukia releases Sode no Shirayuki with the command "Dance," but one-shot character Enjouji Tatsufusa (who was in one episode and never seen again, so don't feel bad not remembering him), releases his Zanpakutou with the command "Dance madly."
Element: Your personal prevailing element. Your Zanpakutou and special attacks will manifest qualities of this element. The fifteen ELEMENTS are: Earth, Fire, Wood, Metal, Water, Sound, Void, Pain, Thunder, Light, Magic, Air, Venom, Chi, and Ice. There is no "non-elemental" element. Zanpakutou that do not exhibit a clear element should be considered the Metal element. For more information, see "Elements," Section 8.
Appearance: Height in cm, Weight in kg, hair colour, eye colour, other identifying features of your character, such as clothing, accessories, scars, piercings, tattoos, etc.
Don't forget to spend some time planning out your character's backstory. What are your goals? Why have you joined the Academy? Try to make your character fit into the world of Bleach.
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<== 01. Introduction -=-
02. Character Creation -=-
03. Stats and Skills ==>