Ichigo Kurosaki is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo as the story's main protagonist and developed into the Bleach media franchise. The series begins with Ichigo receiving shinigami powers as a result of a run-in with Rukia Kuchiki, the shinigami assigned to patrol Karakura Town. These powers come at the cost of Rukia's own, and as a result, Ichigo concedes to work as Rukia's stand-in, fighting to protect people from evil spirits called hollows and sending good spirits, pluses, to Soul Society. In previous Shonen Jump character popularity polls, Ichigo was consistently ranked the most popular character in Bleach . However, in the fourth and most recent popularity poll, he dropped to 3rd place.