designs character appearances and only then decides what their personalities will be, in reflection of what he drew. When brainstorming character designs, he will go out and draw the faces of real people he sees, a hobby of his dating back to childhood. Kubo considers every character to be unique and wants each of them to have the opportunity for character development in the course of the series. When asked about potentially-romantic relationships between certain characters, Kubo states that he "doesn't want to turn the series into a love story", since he thinks there are more exciting aspects of their personalities to draw out. Kubo has cited influences for elements of Bleach ranging from other manga series to music, foreign language, architecture, and film. He attributes his interest in drawing the supernatural and monsters to Shigeru Mizuki's Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro and Bleach's focus on unique weaponry and battle scenes to Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya, both manga Kubo enjoyed as a boy. Bleach was first conceived from Kubo's desire to draw a shinigami in a kimono, which formed the basis for the design of the Soul Reapers. Several characteristics from them such as the kidō spells and the zanpakutō swords(katana) are also based on Japanese literature. Rukia Kuchiki was the first character Kubo designed, but he did not see her as a lead character, so he created Ichigo Kurosaki to be the series protagonist. Other characters from the series also use different languages to describe their terminology; the powers from the Quincy are taken from German, while Hollows and Arrancar instead use Spanish terms; for the latter, Kubo believed that the language sounded "bewitching" and "mellow" and that felt appropriate for a species of ghost. The names of several Arrancar are based on famous architects and designers who inspired scenery appearing in Bleach. Main characters Ichigo Kurosaki is the main protagonist of the series. A tall orange-haired high school student, Ichigo becomes a "substitute Soul Reaper" after unintentionally absorbing most of Rukia Kuchiki's powers. His cynical nature at first makes him ill-disposed towards the duty, but, with the passage of time, he accepts and welcomes the strength his Soul Reaper powers give him. When creating the manga series, Kubo commented that Rukia Kuchiki, the first character he created, did not seem like a lead character, so he created Ichigo to be the series protagonist. Ichigo is voiced by Masakazu