Bleach is one of the most popular and well-respected shonen series, starring a wonderful cast of characters with the punkish Ichigo Kurosaki at the lead. Ichigo was once an ordinary high schooler until one night when the Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki granted him her powers to become a shonen hero.
Ever since then, Ichigo has often saved the day as a stellar action hero, even journeying to fantasy worlds like the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo to protect his friends. There is a lot to like about Ichigo, but there's also a lot to dislike about him, too. Some of Ichigo's worst aspects are fairly minor or aren't even his fault, but they still make up his worst side all the same.
10 Ichigo Sometimes Doesn't Take His Enemies Seriously Enough
Against foes such as the Espada Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, Ichigo will take things seriously and unleash his full power right away. But against other foes, Ichigo has a bad habit of taking them too lightly and he might even get cocky.
Ichigo took Ururu Tsumigiya too lightly when Kisuke assigned her to help Ichigo train late in Season 1 and Ichigo quickly learned his lesson. He also took the privaron Espada Dordoni too lightly and needed Nel to help him win the fight.
9 Ichigo Loses His Temper Easily
Tsundere anime characters are often popular, such as Taiga Aisaka and Kyo Sohma, but sometimes, these hotheaded characters are simply ill-tempered brats, and that definitely includes Ichigo Kurosaki. At times, his punk attitude is cool, but he sometimes takes it too far.
Ichigo looks ridiculous when he blows his top at snide comments or remarks, acting like a bratty kid who can't stand to be made fun of. An example was when an upset Nel started calling him names and Ichigo lost his cool.
8 Ichigo Keeps Clashing With His Father, Isshin
Ichigo has a bad temper with his own family; however, his goofy single father Isshin often provokes him with his own silly antics. Still, this ranks among Ichigo's worst aspects and it's no wonder Ichigo's little sister Yuzu is so exasperated by her family's antics.
Isshin has a bad habit of kicking Ichigo to wake him up or greet him after school and Ichigo returns the favor and then some. This may be the Kurosaki family's idea of tough love, but they ought to find a better way to communicate.
7 Ichigo Acts On Impulse Often
Ichigo is a highly proactive shonen hero; sometimes, it pays off and moves the story forward, but it could also be said that he acts too impulsively, and it has cost him more than once.
Ichigo abruptly ran after Rukia late in Season 1, only to nearly get killed by Captain Byakuya Kuchiki. Ichigo also impulsively ran off to rescue Orihime in Hueco Mundo and he would have been doomed if the Soul Reapers hadn't intervened to help. He also impulsively attacked Ulquiorra — a move that led to total defeat.
6 Ichigo Is Bad At Manipulating Spirit Energy
It isn't Ichigo's fault that he's bad at manipulating spirit energy since he had to learn the ways of the Soul Reapers on the fly and never had the benefit of proper training with kido arts. Still, Ichigo is highly deficient with spirit energy manipulation and it nearly cost him more than once.
When Ichigo's team was about to get launched into the Seireitei, Ichigo struggled to form a spirit energy ball around himself, while his companion Uryu formed a ball with ease. Later, Ichigo made a shoddy spirit energy bridge to hurry back to Karakura Town, so Captain Retsu Unohana took over and formed a much better bridge for them both.
5 Ichigo Is Too Proud To Accept Help Sometimes
Ichigo Kurosaki isn't much of a team player. He is fiercely determined to protect his friends, but he also feels the need to do it alone, even if he really does need help. At first, he intended to rescue Orihime from Hueco Mundo all alone and Chad and Uryu had to convince Ichigo to let them join him.
In another story arc, Ichigo needed the aid of the eight Visoreds to tame his inner Hollow, but he refused Shinji Hirako's offer to help, which that did Ichigo no good. Finally, after losing a few battles, Ichigo decided it was time to enlist the Visoreds' aid.
4 Ichigo Teases Rukia Too Much
Ichigo and his friend Rukia have great chemistry since their intense personalities clash in amusing ways and they tend to tease and annoy one another sometimes. However, from time to time, Ichigo gets totally carried away while pressing Rukia's buttons.
When Ichigo met up with Rukia in the Soul Society arc, he teased her endlessly despite Rukia's distress. Ichigo also tends to openly mock Rukia's funny rabbit-themed drawings.
3 Ichigo Lacks An Inspiring End Goal
For the most part, Ichigo Kurosaki compares well to his fellow big three protagonists, Naruto's knucklehead ninja Naruto Uzumaki and One Piece's rubbery pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy, but each of them has unique flaws compared to the other two. Ichigo's problem is his lack of ambition.
Inspiring shonen heroes each have a clear end goal, with Naruto striving to become Hokage, Luffy aiming to become pirate king, and Fullmetal Alchemist's Edward Elric seeking to restore his body. Ichigo has no special goal, which makes his character arc that much less compelling. For that matter, something similar can be said about Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail.
2 Ichigo Ruined Every Bleach Fan's OTP, IchiRuki
Anime fans often develop favorite pairings in a series, either supporting actual relationships in the series or making up their own pairings. For many years, many Bleach fans expected and dearly hoped that Ichigo would be romantically paired with Rukia since they have such good chemistry.
But Ichigo let all the IchiRuki shippers down in the end and many Bleach fans were upset about it. Instead, he ended up with his best friend Orihime Inoue, and while that makes sense in the lore, it was still seen as a betrayal by many IchiRuki fans. Many of them still haven't forgiven Ichigo and the overall Bleach franchise for this.
1 Ichigo Has So Few Combat Techniques
Most shonen heroes have a wide variety of combat techniques at their disposal. Naruto Uzumaki invented several Rasengan variants and learned Sage Mode, Luffy devise many uses of the Gum-Gum Fruit and used Haki, Natsu Dragneel has a variety of fire-based attacks, and more. Ichigo, though, has just one special move.
Ichigo's technique is Getsuga Tensho and while it's a cool and powerful move, it gets a bit tedious after a while, and Ichigo has few other moves to use. He simply hacks and slashes his way to victory, even after multiple training sessions, which feels a bit underwhelming compared to what Naruto can do.