Kurosaki Ichigo
The main character of the manga. He goes one day from being a normal every day kid who can see ghosts, to attacked by a hollow. During this battle, when he is about to parish, a new shinsingami he has just recently met descideds to transfer half of her energy into him. Unfortunately, due to his spiritual awareness already, the moment her sword touches his soul, he takes virtually all of her power, transforming him into a shinigami. After this, he is given the role of a shinigami to protect those who are being attacked by hollows, which usually means protecting/fighting against people he already knows. Over a short period of time, Ichigo has shown that he has been able to do many things that no human should be able to do, such as fight at the level he does, as well as be able to see spiritual aura in a physical form (which allows him to locate people by sensing there aura, even if it is very weak). He is slowly begining to learn how to use and regulate his spiritual power.
Yoruichi Shihouin
Yoruichi is well known as the cat who trained Orihime and Chad so that they can hone their powers and be prepared to use them during their travel in Soul Society. Yoruichi is the one who leads Ichigo and crew around Soul Society, and she is well versed in the history of Soul Society and knows where the best place to enter.
Urahara Kisuke
This is the manager of the Uraha shop, who has an unshaven face and wears a beach hat most of the time. He cares alot about the reputation of the shop and tries his best to provide his costomers with the products that they want. When he realizes the mistake he made in giving Rukia a mod soul, he descides he will fix the problem himself. He seems to have some abilities, but at this point he mostly remains a mystery.
Later it became clear that he was a Captain as well. He obtained BanKai in just 3 days and nights and he and Yuruichi helped Ichigo to do the same thing
Hanakari Jinta
This is a young boy who works at the Uraha shop. He likes to fantasize about being the worlds best baseball player and often neglects his work.
Shun Shun Rikka
They are Orihime's "protectors", and resemble little fairies. Their names are: Hinaginku (Ability to repel), Shonou (inner shield), Tsubaki (Breaks through enemy)
Inoue Orihime
One of Ichigo's classmates who has a very big crush on him, but is afraid to act on it. She lost her brother in a car accident many years ago, and he came back as a hollow to eat her soul. Just before he did it, he realized that this would not make her happy and that what he was doing was wrong and so he "cleansed himself" by making himself dissapear. After being in contact with Ichigo's shinigami form, her spiritual power was awakened.
Ishida Uuryu
He is the last surviving quincy, and has a deep seeded hatred for all Shinigami because his sensei died fighting hollows when the Shinigami were late to show up. He challenges Ichigo by putting out hollow bait and thus attracting alot of hollows, so much that they couldnt not handle them all. Ishida and Ichigo then team up to beat the hollows and save the city.
Kon
Kon is a modified soul that was created by soul society to fight hollows. In creating him, they gave him more strength than they would normally, so when he is free he can do amazing things. By mistake on the Uraha shop, he is inserted into Ichigo's body while Ichigo takes his Shinigami form. During this period he explores the human world, by impressing people and showing off his ability. Once it is realize what has happend, he is tracked down and removed from Ichigo's body and paced in the body of a teddy bear. After this he began to idolize Rukia and he sometimes fills in for Ichigo when Ichigo must leave his body to fulfill his Shinigami duties.
Kuchiki Rukia
She is the first real Shinigami that Ichigo ever encountered, and to save both Ichigo and herself she transfered her Shinigami powers to him. She currently is still working for soul society, but as Ichigo's Shinigami teacher. She hides herself in her human form from Hollows until her strength returns - all the while coaching Ichigo and helping him with his Soul Society missions. She aslo puts up a wonderful facade around her class mates, and is still trying to adapt and understand many things about the human world.
Kurosaki Isshin
The father of the Kurosaki family, he is a widower, who is the neighborhood doctor, and the only one in their family who can't see ghosts at all. He is very overprotective of Ichigo (As he makes him come in every night by 7:00 pm) and is very strict on the rules. He uses physical violence to tend to matters that he is not very good at talking about, and wishes his son would communicate more with him.
Kurosaki Karin
Ichigo's little sister who, although she can see ghosts (in a blurred way), claims she doesnt believe in them - but if the opprotunity presents itself, she will try to make money off of her ability.
Kurosaki Masaki
This is Ichigo's mother who died 6 years ago. She was the most wonderful beautiful woman Ichigo has ever seen and he loved her very much. She died trying to protect him from getting killed - thus proving her love for him. She is near to the hearts of the whole Kurosaki family, and they visit her grave on the day she died every year in her memory.
Kurosaki Yuzu
Ichigo's other younger sister who looks up to him and envies that he can see ghosts so well. She wants to some day be able to see ghosts as well as he can. She feels like its her responsibility to help maintain the family since their mother died.
Grand Fisher
This is the hollow that killed Ichigo's mother - one that he swears to defeat. This hollow takes the form of a girl, but when she does battle she goes into the brain of the "hollow" that follows her. Once one of her bodies (the girl or the hollow) are defeated, she just retreats to the other one. She has the ability to look into people's memories and then display the one person that they cannot kill, and therefore leaves them open to attack.
Sado Yasutora (Chad)
Chad is Ichigo's very large friend, who seems to be incredibly strong. He is able to even hold a steel beam on his back, as well as endure being hit by a car and many other accidents. He has a parakeet that has a goul's soul in it as well, and this parakeet brings about the death of every one of its owners. After coming in contact with Ichigo's shinigami form, his spiritual powers were awakened and he was able to defeat a hollow.
Tessai
He is a middle aged man who works for the Uraha shop. He is under the manager but still tends to take control of the two children working there. The children - although they would not admit it - seem to be somewhat afraid of him.
Ururu
This is a young girl who works at the Uraha shop with Jinta. Although she is 3 years yonger than Jinta, she provides the voice of reason in telling him that they should be working instead of playing.
Shiba Kuukaku
Shiba Kuukaku is foremost known all around Soul Society as the best fireworks maker around. Kuukaku is also known for her weird designs around her house which complies to the different themes she makes (this year?s design was 2 arms holding a banner).
Don Kanonji
He is a television "spirit medium" who tells fortunes and preforms exorsisms on ghosts. He travels to an old abandoned hospital, where many fans watch, and mistakenly opens the hole that turns a wandering ghost into a hollow. Once this happens he feels it is his sworn duty to not let his fans down so he prepares to fight the hollow, only to be interupted by Ichigo. Ichigo comes in and defeats the hollow, showing him what a true hero is. After this, Kanonji has great respect for Ichigo and even says he will let Ichigo be his "pupil".