Rukia Kuchiki

Rukia is really the one who began it all when she transferred her soul reaper powers into Ichigo Kurosaki and thus his whole world changed as well as his destiny.

Rukia was originally suppose to be the main protagonist of the series but Tite Kubo later replaced her with Ichigo as he felt she wasn't right for the part and became one of the major supporting characters instead, she has been voted as the most popular female character in polls as she usually ranks second in {Weekly Shonen Jump's Bleach popularity polls}.

One of the things I seriously like about Rukia from watching the first several episodes is that even after she lost her Soul Reaper powers she was still an action girl shown to be an effective hand-to-hand fighter and a kido user as well as be highly self-reliant. In some mangas/animes I have seen a female protagonist would be shown to be an action girl as well, she would be an independent indivdual who could handle a battle quite well herself but almost immediately after meeting the male protagonist it seems that she would lose her independence, become a damsel in distress and fall prey to being kidnapped so that the male protagonist would have to save her and it leaves you thinking "Why didn't she get out of that herself when she knows how?"

That is the one thing I like alot about Rukia, she does not fall into that type of character, especially after meeting Ichigo and she is not that kind of person that always has to be rescued (well, in the Soul Society arc yeah but she didn't really want to be saved but Ichigo wasn't going to let her die).

Rukia's strong personality and characteristics are the results of her being a survivor as she grew up on her own for a considerable amount of time (nearly 150 years) that made her close herself off from others but after going to the human world she began to learn how to start trusting people which helped develop her character alot more and make her become a bit more open to some certain indivduals but not all of them.

It also shows that she takes a lot of pride in her work as a Soul Reaper as she has a strong sense of responsibility and a brave heart. Being independent and tough by nature, she does not like people helping her. She also shows not to be afraid to recieve punishment that she feels that she rightfully deserves like when she was returned to the soul society and was willing to accept her fate of being executed for the crimes she committed. She also knows the full extent of her own spiritual powers and always finds ways to make them grow and to use them to their fullest potential.

Rukia is indeed a very strong female character and is one of those that you most definitely can set apart from other females in other mangas who start out strong but quickly lose their way and abilities as well. Rukia doesn't show to be that kind of person and is probably why she is one of the most popular characters after Ichigo in the series. I look forward to seeing what she does in future chapters and how her character grows more and more.

But you know in some ways when I stop to think about it a bit more her character does kinda reminds me of someone from another manga.

Hmmm...

I acknowledge that I don't own Bleach or the screenshots. They belong to Tite Kubo.