Bleach/Tropes O-R

Tropes for Bleach, O to R:
"Mayuri [to Szayel]: There is nothing in this world that is truly "perfect"... To true scientists like you and I, "Perfection" is tantamount to "despair". We aspire to reach greater levels of brilliance than ever before, but never, NEVER, to reach perfection. That is the paradox through which we scientists must struggle. Indeed, it is our duty to find pleasure in that struggle."
 * Obfuscating Stupidity In later chapters of the manga and some of the more recent episodes of the Anime we find out that Ichigo's dad has been playing this since before he met Ichigo, Yuzu and Karin's mom
 * having left the Soul Society 20 years prior to beginning of the series
 * In fact he has been playing this so well that up until Kon discovers this in the Arrancar Arc and Ichigo learns in more recent chapters/episodes the only one who seems to know is Urahara
 * In the arrancar Arc he makes comment about captain class Shinigami/soul reapers, however we never find out what rank he had when he was a part of the Soul Society
 * Oblivious to Love: Subverted: Orihime makes no attempt to get Ichigo to notice and reciprocate her feelings.
 * Ocular Gushers: Multiple characters.
 * Odd Couple: Most of the Captain-Lieutenant sets are this. See trope page for full list of examples.
 * Odd Friendship: Ichigo and Ishida, Ganju and Hanatarou, Urahara and Yoruichi, etc. etc.
 * Odd-Shaped Panel
 * Oh Crap: The manga thrives on these as a multitude of examples on the trope page reveals.
 * Omake: Soul Reaper's Illustrated Picture Book/Golden Cup, in which Kon includes a screen wipe of Kon flying by. For the bad guys' side, we have Arrancar Research Time. Recently, Rukia hosted her Substitute Soul Reaper Diaries to make up for her and Ichigo's severe lack of screentime in the main body of the episodes.
 * The manga side has Colorful Bleach, which primarily focused on the daily lives of the shinigami. New ones aren't currently being made, but Kubo has promised that he might make more some day.
 * Ominous English Chanting: Some pieces from The Diamond Dust Rebellion and Fade To Black, later used in the TV series. Interesting in that Invasion and What can you see in their eyes play when it's two good guys who get dangerous ( while Treachery is classically heard when Noitora releases).
 * Also, Stand Up Be Strong, which arguably might be the best battle track on the entire Bleach OST, so far.
 * Not anymore, Cometh The Hour takes this Up to Eleven and beyond. Both tracks.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: Nnoitra declares himself to be one.
 * Omniscient Morality License: Urahara, who pretty much caused every conflict in the entire series. Made the Hogyoku which Aizen later stole, released Mayuri (who went on to torture thousands of Quincies and blow up his own men) from prison, tried to strip Rukia of her powers, nearly turned Ichigo into a hollow and succeeded in giving him a Super-Powered Evil Side, got Orihime captured, and so on. Most of his actions are working to fix that first screw up.
 * Once Is Not Enough: Done with Szayel and Kageroza. Ishida has a maddening habit of shooting down baddies once, walking away and monologuing only to get his ass kicked.
 * "On the Next..."
 * One-Handed Zweihander: Several characters do this with their enormous swords. For Kenpachi, this is his default stance. When he decides to use both hands? Run.
 * One Head Taller: Played straight with Ichigo and Rukia, Rukia and Renji, Rukia and Byakuya, Rukia and Orihime... heck, Rukia and EVERYONE.
 * Omaeda, who practically towers over his captain, Soifon.
 * Reversed with Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, often with hilarious results.
 * One-Hit Kill: Yamamoto is damn strong without his Zanpaktou and it's basically suicide to engage him one-on-one, even the series Big Bad Aizen states that giving Yamamoto a fair fight and level playing field is a fight Aizen would likely lose. But if he uses it, you're guaranteed death unless you've been genetically hacked like Wonderwiess to absorb those flames.
 * Komamura's Bankai is designed for this, which proves a critical weakness: if it fails to kill the opponent in a single hit, he inevitably loses.
 * One in A Million Chance: Being born with high enough reiatsu to possess Crazy Awesome powers is rare. Having enough power to become a Shinigami is even more rare. Becoming a seated officer is likewise unlikely. Possessing the power and training to become a Captain is apparently so rare that even within Seireitei's Four Great Noble Families, it only happens once every four generations. This may not be a hard and fast rule, however; Byakuya's grandfather was also a Captain.
 * One-Winged Angel: Arrancar can release their Zanpakuto to grow and gain power. The shikai and bankai of a Soul Reaper's zanpakuto act in much the same way, even if the user stays the same. When fighting Kurotsuchi Mayuri, Ishida's desperation technique forms a single wing made from spirit energy particles on his back.
 * can apparently transform twice.
 * Ggio Vega has two different modes to his transformation; Tigres Estoque, which makes him fast but not especially strong, and Tigres Estoque El Sable, which makes him much stronger.
 * apparently has at least one more transformation as well.
 * has now gotten into the act with his Resurrección...and got his ass kicked.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Kenpachi to Ichigo, probably also Renji to Kuchiki Byakuya. Grimmjow invokes this against Ichigo as well.
 * Only Sane Man: In episode 303, the shinigami decide to have a card game. The reason is bad, the outcome is worse. Hitsugaya is the Only Sane Man.
 * Chapter 453 sees Ichigo become this.
 * Only Six Faces: By the start of the Hueco Mundo arc, plenty of characters have pretty much the same type of jawline and facial expressions. An easy example is Byakuya and Ichigo; look at them come the Hueco Mundo arc compared to the Soul Society arc, and two characters who looked very different now look almost identical.
 * "Exactly how do I resemble Kurosaki?"
 * Young Zangetsu looks like an amalgamation of Aizen and Byakuya, and both the current manga villain and the Kubo-designed villain for the Hell movie basically look like Aizen with a different haircut and outfit.
 * A perfect example from chapter 481. Your first tought after seeing this guy's face is probably "OMG AIZEN IS BACK,oh wait...that's just Ivan"
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Gin never opens his eyes. When he does, expect the fandom to react. Kyoraku's response to Ukitake being OHKO'd could count, as it's pretty extreme even for one who claims he is simply 'unpredictable'.
 * Opponent Switch: Chad and Uryu do this in their first battles in Hueco Mundo.
 * Orcus on His Throne: Baraggan Luisenbarn, unquestioned God-King of Hueco Mundo. Has an army and an endless kingdom and nothing to do. Before shows up.
 * Ordinary High School Student: Yet with his orange hair, high grades, and ability to see the dead, Ichigo wasn't really that ordinary to begin with.
 * Best part is, he says he has high grades because he mostly stays home and studies to keep out of trouble. What causes him trouble? His orange hair. People don't believe it's natural and assume he's a punk, so other students pick fights and teachers tend to try to give him crap, which he can't let slide.
 * Orphean Rescue
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: Soul Reapers, natch
 * Our Souls Are Different: A soul is essentially an exact duplicate of the physical body composed of ectoplasmic matter, complete with bones, blood, and organs. Disembodied souls still need air and water. Spiritual power is equivalent to Life Energy, so technically all spells and powers are always Cast From Hit Points. Most major characters have ridiculously high spiritual power, so they don't really need to worry about killing themselves by overcasting.
 * Our Hero Is Dead: Ichigo, once or twice., but all's well that ends well.
 * Overly Long Name: Lieutenant of Squad 2, Marechiyo Yoshiayamenosuke Nikkoutarouemon Oomaeda, possibly justified in that his family are fairly well-off nobles who are traditionally prone to overenthusiastic naming.
 * Panty Shot: This manga contains a curious mixture of averting the trope, subverting it and playing it straight. Subversion. Played Straight.
 * Parental Abandonment: The major human cast seem to all be missing at least one parent, a couple at least are missing both. For starters, Uryu's mother is nowhere to be seen, Chad was raised by his grandfather, Mizuiro seems to have a neglectful mother, Ichigo's mother was killed by a hollow, and Sora left with Orihime to live alone from their alcoholic father and prostitute mother.
 * Passing the Torch: Played with in an interesting way. Ichigo is the main character set up from the start to take out Aizen. Simple enough, except it turns out that some characters have a very different view of how the story should be, or is, unfolding. It's only at the end of  that we ever see the situation with   from his point-of-view and it turns out his interpretation of the story was a little different to everyone else's. He believed he was the only one who was capable or even allowed  . When he realised just how successfully , he was even more convinced only he could  .   As Aizen leaves him for dead, he spots
 * Percussive Prevention: A Soul Reaper does this to Orihime during the Soul Society arc in order to prevent her from getting in the middle of Uryu's fight with Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
 * Ganju punches out Ichigo so that he stays out of danger until Hanataro can fully heal him.
 * Perfection Is Impossible: In-Universe example between Mayuri and Szayell Aporro, who claims to be 'the perfect being'.
 * Ganju punches out Ichigo so that he stays out of danger until Hanataro can fully heal him.
 * Perfection Is Impossible: In-Universe example between Mayuri and Szayell Aporro, who claims to be 'the perfect being'.

"Ichigo: What the fuck is that!?"
 * Personality Powers: The zanpakutou of shinigami, substitutes and Vizards reflect their wielders personalities in way as do Orihime's powers. See trope page for full detail.
 * Pervert Dad: Isshin.
 * Permission to Speak Freely?: Captain Unohana to Head Captain Yamamoto in anime episode #210.
 * Petal Power: Byakuya's probably the friggin king of this trope.
 * Although they're not actually petals, they just look like petals in the light.
 * Physical God: Aizen's status as the villain seems to hinge on his quest to break the boundary between shinigami and divinity so he could destroy and replace the Soul King and become a god. Barragan also believed he was this to the denizens of Hueco Mundo and they certainly honoured him as a king and worshipped him as a god. There's no indication that Aizen and Barragan were genuinely gods, but they both wanted to be viewed as such.
 * Pillar of Light: When we finally get there, Ichigo's.
 * Pilot: The manga had one. In it, Rukia was actually shrunk after giving her powers to Ichigo, took baths in his coffee mug, and Orihime was not only Ichigo's secret crush but also.
 * The anime had one at Jump Festa 2004, which covered the majority of volume 3 of the manga. It's better than its later reincarnation as anime episodes 8 and 9.
 * Pinky Swear: In anime episode 247 Captain Ukitake gives this type of promise to his zanpakuto spirit Sogyo no Kotowari.
 * Pitying Perversion: Neliel Tu Oderschvank towards Nnoitra.
 * Playing Against Type - Rie Kugimiya plays Kurotsuchi Nemu. Not exactly what her usual roles are.
 * Playing Pictionary: Rukia is known for loving to draw Chappy the Bunny, being absolutely horrible at drawing and using her bad drawings to explain concepts with people being different colors of bunny. Most of the other characters are never really sure what her drawings are supposed to be.
 * Playing with Fire: Yamamoto and Momo, but especially Yamamoto. Also, from an old filler arc,
 * Please Put Some Clothes On: Ichigo's reaction to a naked Yoruichi.
 * Please Wake Up: Ichigo to his dead mother in anime episode 178.
 * Plot Armor: All of the good guys have it, but Ichigo is the worst. He has managed to walk away from  twice now.
 * Plot Leveling
 * Politically-Incorrect Villain: Nnoitra gets a mention because his blatant sexism is a huge part of his personality. He openly attacked Nelliel because she was a woman that ranked higher than he did (although she beat him rather soundly every time). Even saying that a woman being of a higher position than a man on the battlefield was a disgrace. He even went into a huge, convoluted plan just to get rid of her that entails some of the most cruel activities done by any of the Espada. He seems to hold this toward Harribel as well, as during their introductions, the first thing he does is piss her off by apparently trying to pick a fight with her. Given that Hollows don't really have sexes, just cosmetic genders, it's actually an utterly bizarre hang-up for an Arrancar.
 * And this is implied to be the case with the final arc's new enemies,
 * Portal Door
 * Posthumous Character: Kaien
 * The Power of Friendship: Multiple examples
 * Power Glows: But of course.
 * Power Limiter: All captain- and lieutenant-level Soul Reapers are limited to one-fifth of their power in the living world to minimize the destruction they leave in their wake and not to have their power affect any souls, like Ichigo's power did with Orihime and Chad. The English dub is lazy about this and doesn't translate the actual word, leaving it as "gentei kaijou." Probably because it's cooler in Japanese. Although gentai kaijou literally means Limit Break, it's not an example of that trope.
 * Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Oh, there are a couple of examples: Ichigo, Grimmjow, and even . They all happen to be mullets...
 * And now, the latest installment: . Grow, and darken.
 * Power Palms: Anime episode 197. Espada #7 Zommari Rureaux' magical eyes can appear on the palms of his hands. He uses the one in his right hand to gain control of Byakuya Kuchiki's left leg.
 * Power Trio: Aizen, Gin, and Tousen.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Loads of these, see trope page for examples.
 * Pre Meeting: Ichigo absorbs Rukia's powers when he meets her; the next day she shows up pretending to be a student and tells him he has to take over her job temporarily.
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Plenty of these, see trope page for examples.
 * Precision F-Strike: Ichigo on seeing Aizen's


 * Pride: Byakuya is one of the few people in fiction that can compete with Vegeta when it comes to doing stupid shit for the sake of their pride. It's the reason for
 * Product Displacement: One panel in chapter 413 shows Calorie Mate cookies, but the full name on the boxes is not completely shown. The most you see is "Calorie M".
 * Prove I Am Not Bluffing: In the "Unknown Tales" filler,
 * Psycho Supporter: Tousen--whose blindness makes him immune to Aizen's illusions--follows Aizen in the name of "justice", which happens to be nearly the only word in his vocabulary. That and it is "the path of least bloodshed".
 * Pummel Duel:
 * Yoruichi vs. Soifon, at least for the first half of the battle.
 * Played for Laughs with Ichigo and his father, Isshin.
 * Punch Parry: Chad and a hollow in anime episode #12.
 * Puppy Dog Eyes: Nel the Arrancar does this sometimes in the anime.
 * Put Down Your Zanpakuto And Step Away: In anime episode #197, Espada #7 Zommari Rureaux tells this to Byakuya Kuchiki by threatening to have Rukia cut her throat with her own sword.
 * Purple Eyes: Yumichika has wisteria-coloured eyes, a shade of purple very similar to (and often confused with) lavender. This raises interesting questions about him given that zanpakutou are supposed to represent their shinigami's true nature and his zanpakutou hates the colour of wisteria-purple.
 * Putting on the Reich: The newest enemies, the Vandenreich, look to be invoking this trope.
 * Psychoactive Powers: Orihime's powers are linked to her will and her self-belief. Because she has no killing intent, her killing power is weak and her power's limits are restricted by what she herself believes is possible or impossible to achieve.
 * Quickly-Demoted Woman: Rukia was practically the poster girl of this trope, losing all her powers in the first chapter. She finally got better many, many chapters later. And it was awesome.
 * And then vanished. Heh. Granted, she'd get pasted in a second against later opponents, but still Kubo could throw in SOME filler hollow for her to fight.
 * Queer People Are Funny
 * Quit Your Whining: Rukia does the infer version of this trope to Ichigo after he enters a Heroic BSOD as a result of the first Arrancar Invasion. It works rather spectacularly.
 * Race Against the Clock: During the Soul Society arc, Ichigo and the others have to save Rukia before she is executed; during the Bount arc, the Mod Souls force Ichigo and friends to participate in dangerous "games" with strict time limits.
 * Radial Ass-Kicking: Occurs once in a while when a larger number of hollow (or in one Filler Arc, Ninja) turn up.
 * Rain of Arrows: Ishida really likes this trick, and will occasionally brag about his rate of fire.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Ulquiorra calls Nnoitra "disgusting" for toying with the idea of, despite being a member of Big Bad Sosuke Aizen's army.
 * Rasputinian Death: Maki Ichinose in the Bount filler arc. He practically gets sliced in half by Zaraki, his Zanpakuto broken, and then shows up later to not only help Jin Kariya fight Ichigo, but attempt to attack said Big Bad when he learns how selfish his goals are. This doesn't work out too well for him. Although one could even argue that he continued in the fight even after his death, as his now planted Zanpakuto (which for some reason was able stick like this upon falling despite Zaraki slicing off its tip) actually saves Ichigo from Kariya's lightning attack.
 * Rated "M" for Manly: Kenpachi.
 * Reality Warper: The best way to describe the power of  Their power, , allows them to manipulate the soul of any object, causing it to act according to their will and against the laws of physics. Examples include making concrete bouncy in order to jump higher, increasing the surface tension of water so they can walk on it, and in extreme cases outright changing the form of one object into something else (a simple cross into a BFS, for example).
 * This is possible due to the fact that the Bleachverse follows the concept of Pantheism. From a philosophical view-point, it means that "God is the Universe, and the Universe is God". In Bleachverse, it means that EVERYTHING in existence has a "soul", or a certain amount of reiryoku.
 * Apparently, Orihime's healing weapons are classified as these, so says Aizen and Ulquiorra.
 * Reality Warping Is Not a Toy: The thing Aizen uses to create Arrancar ? Yeah, um... Go check around the above trope spoilers.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old:
 * Basically everyone in the Soul Society., as shinigami age much more slowly than normal humans. Yachiru and Hitsugaya look like kids while being decades old. Adult-looking shinigami often have a century on them, sometimes more than one. Yamamoto is well over a thousand years old.
 * Theoretically the same principle applies to Hollows and Arrancar as well, but there's less information about their backstories so it's harder to say for sure. It definitely applies to Nel, though, in her child form.
 * When Ukitake refuses to fight Lilinette because she is a child she states Arrancars don't age at all. Not that it changes Ukitake's mind though.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech:  gives one to   in chapter 464.
 * Layers of this are in half the things Ulquiorra says. Him mocking Orihime about her friends, his argument to Ichigo during the second act of his second fight with the Soul Reaper, him calling out Orihime for not protecting Ichigo sooner,
 * Red Alert: In anime episode 24 when intruders are detected in the Soul Society.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: The anime team invoked this trope when they had to choose an eye colour for Gin. However, Kubo then revealed Gin to have blue eyes.
 * Red Herring: Gin Ichimaru, big time. Sort of subverted when he turns out to be evil anyway (since he's not the Big Bad, he still qualifies somewhat).
 * And then subverted again when it turns out.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Several character sets, often with explicit color schemes.
 * A few examples are Byakuya (blue Oni) and Renji (red Oni) and Hichigo (red) and Ichigo (blue).
 * Red Shirt: Rudobon. We don't really get much information about him besides his name and what his Zanpakuto does despite the fact that he's implied to be nearly as strong as an Espada. He appears three times, kills off a few extremely minor characters, and in his final appearance, dies at the gigantic, swollen hand of Yammy. It's never explained what his job really was or why Aizen gave him that specific job. It's never even explained why his mask is complete.
 * Reincarnation: When human beings die in the Land of the Living their souls go directly to the Soul Society unless a reason crops up for their souls to go elsewhere (by becoming hollows or committing severe enough crimes in life to be sent to Hell). Eventually they're reincarnated into the living world.
 * Released to Elsewhere: There is no such thing as withdrawing from the Gotei 13. They are really sent to the Maggot's Nest, a prison for those considered to be "dangerous elements".
 * Remote Body: Urahara reveals he has a gigai (an artificial body that spiritual beings can use to interact with the real world) that he can control remotely.
 * The Rest Shall Pass: Anime episode 51, multiple times in episode 185, and in episodes 214 and 215.
 * Retcon: Several. The most easily visible may be Ulquiorra's Hollow hole going from his throat to his upper chest. See the trope page for more.
 * For the fans, we have the amount of time Orihime spent in Las Noches; this could go from weeks to months, maybe a year. Really, it was more like a day or two.
 * The Reveal: Aizen is not dead. He's the Big Bad. Cue the Curb Stomp Battle.
 * Revenge: The whole reason became a Shinigami in the first place.
 * Reverse Mole:
 * Reverse Shrapnel: Captain Kaname Tosen's zanpakuto.
 * Richard Epcar: Voices Zangetsu and Go Koga.
 * The Right Hand of Doom: Chad's armoured right arm, though this later became an arm of protection after his left arm stole the title.
 * The Rival: Ichigo has plenty: Uryuu Ishida, Renji Abarai, Byakuya Kuchiki, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Ulquiorra Cifer, Gin Ichimaru, and Sosuke Aizen. Arguably, his longest-running antagonist may have been his own inner hollow.
 * Oddly enough, almost all are complete opposites of his personality or one of his quirks Up to Eleven or downplayed; Renji can be irritated easily but more often finds openings while Ichigo charges in, Grimmjow and Ichigo's inner Hollow are more wild and more likely to kill where Ichigo refuses to kill unless ,Uryuu and Ulquiorra are calm at all times while Ichigo is prone to outbursts of emotions, Gin is cool but also a Smug Snake while Ichigo never jokes around, and Aizen is... Aizen.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Hitsugaya declares this to be his intent with fighting Aizen.
 * Rule of Cool: Tite Kubo thrives on this. Chapter names are derived from whatever English words he deems interesting and/or fit the current happenings of the manga. The anime mimics this somewhat with lively, completely different each episode title cards. Even the title, Bleach, was chosen because he found his first choice, "Black", to be too bland, along with the contrast of "bleach" relating to the color white.
 * Both the Japanese fandom and Hatedom jokingly refer to Kubo's sense of cool as "osare", the misspelled word for "stylish." Sometimes it just gets out of control, making already slow fight scenes go on for ever.
 * Running Gag: Rukia's art, Ishida's cape obsession, Ikkaku's baldness, Orihime's foods. Ichigo and Rukia arguing after not seeing each other for a while. "That's my line."
 * Running Gag: Rukia's art, Ishida's cape obsession, Ikkaku's baldness, Orihime's foods. Ichigo and Rukia arguing after not seeing each other for a while. "That's my line."