As it is known, Bleach has a very large cast of characters, with all sorts of personalities and powers. Some are unique in their skills, while others are simply variations of each other. With the amount of information we have on this anime and manga series, its author Tite Kubo has given us an enormous amount of information to work with.

With so many characters, naturally there are arguments over who the strongest is. This list will cover all canon material released by Tite Kubo himself or other official sources, including filler arcs and movies. To avoid confusion, only true canon feats will be used to determine the power of each character, even if something appears to be a canon feat.

This list is meant to rank all characters in Bleach, whether they are antagonists or protagonists, from the lowest capable of defeating a captain to the highest with enough power to defeat Aizen without much effort. I will not include any of the Quincy for this list as they are essentially humans with special abilities and none of them hold a candle to any of the Shinigami.

Who is the strongest character in bleach?

Here is the answer!

(#1) Kenpachi Zaraki

Kenpachi Zaraki has killed countless opponents throughout his life. Ichigo Kurosaki, one of his opponents, even stated that he can kill a hundred enemies without batting an eyelash. He easily defeated Shūhei Hisagi, who was then lieutenant of squad 9, with one strike. It has been stated several times by many characters that Zaraki is the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society, even after his fight with Ichigo Kurosaki who became much stronger than him. Even before fighting Ichigo, Byakuya Kuchiki said that he would not stand a chance against Zaraki.

The only reason why Zaraki is this low on the list is because he has yet to show enough feats to be considered stronger than (5) Ulquiorra Schiffer. It should also be noted that its not his raw power that makes him strong, but rather his powerful energy attacks and incredibly high speed which allows him to defeat opponents like Ichigo.

Ulquiorra Schiffer

If it wasn't for his regeneration, Ulquiorra would have been considered the strongest Shinigami in soul society. Even after being tricked by Orihime Inoue's illusion ability Ulquiorra was still a force to be reckoned with. He used a special technique called "Cero Oscuras" to fire a black Cero that was stronger than even Yammy Llargo who had the power of a 0 Espada.

Ulquiorra is regarded as the fourth strongest character in Bleach, and for good reason. He defeated most of the characters on this list with ease and would continue to do so if it wasn't for his regeneration. Unfortunately, he is a very weak character in terms of durability so it's easy to assume that most characters on this list would defeat him easily.

(#3) Ichigo Kurosaki

Ichigo Kurosaki had been building his reputation for quite some time before the main story line began. He managed to defeat several enemies who were capable of fighting against the Gotei 13, including Renji Abarai who was at the time lieutenant of squad 6. Known to most as the "Shinigami Substitute" Ichigo has gained quite a reputation for himself despite his lack of training before becoming part of Soul Society.

One of his greatest feats is defeating Byakuya Kuchiki, who at the time was considered the strongest character in the anime. It has been stated several times by many characters that Ichigo is a prodigy and can easily surpass most other Shinigami with enough training.

Conclusion

There are obviously many other characters who were left out of this list for one reason or another. It should be noted that Tite Kubo has made an official statement about there being no "over-powered" characters in Bleach. The only two characters on this list who follow that rule are (4) Ulquiorra Schiffer and (3) Ichigo Kurosaki.