Every main character of bleach remind me every character of the anime Saint seiya (one of the favorite manga of Tite Kubo).
Not by their physic, but by their personnality or power.
The group of the hero of saint seiya is composed by 5 character and an heroine.
Spoiler for description of the heroes of saint seiya:
Hyoga, A Cold guy who have been traumatized by the death of his mother who died for saving him= Ichigo
Shun, a guy who look alike a girl, he hate to hurt the other and fighting, he have the most powerful power in the anime, but hate using it. His main power is a defensive power and he always need to be saved by the other. = Inoue
Shiryu, a intelligent but brutal warrior, he don't talk when there is no use to talk. his principal power is a big punch who send an energitique wave blue/green. Since the hero saved him, he have promised to to always give his life for him.= Chad
Ikki, at the beginning, he was an antagonist of the hero. he is the more powerful character after the hero and is the more intelligent. He is a lonesome character who often act alone, but he always came to protect shun, the girlish character= Ishida
Saori, a princess who think she is the best, but when because of her self confidence, she receive a death sentence by an attack and need to be saved by the heroes = Rukia
Seiya, a really silly guy who was always fighting with saori at the beginning and when they was children, but finish to be totally in love for her. He will give his life for protecting his princess = Renji
the main antagonist of the first arc of Saint seiya are the 12 gold saint and their chief, a gold saint from the previous generation = the 12 captains and the captain-commander
the gold saint share some point with the captain:
Spoiler for description about the gold saint, it's contains some spoiler about the big bad guy:
Tousen:
Shaka, A blind guy who follow his own justice and can suppress the sense of his ennemy. he is said to be pityful but, his justice is really cruel (he want to kill an orphan because living without family is a terrible trial)
Unohana:
Mu, A guy who never fight and heal the wound of the other character, he look like a kind girl but have a scary face sometimes. When he fight, he is one of the more powerful gold saint.
He also have under his order, Kiki, a young and moe boy without any big power who always come the help the heroes (Hanatarou)
Kenpachi:
Aldébarran, a really big, powerful and muscular character. Behind the terryfing appearance, he have a really kind heart
Aizen:
Saga, the gemini Gold, it's a traitor who hide his real identity. his objective is to becoming the equal of the god. He is able to hypnotize his ennemies.
Gin:
Deathmask, A Sadistic character who know that saga his a traitor, he is his most faithful follower.
Komamura:
Shura, A brutal and fair warrior totally faithful to the sanctuary, he really think that his goal is good and he is doing the justice.
When he learn he was wrong, he choose to do anything to repair his mistake.
Soifon:
Milo, an executor that who use a dart to kill his ennemi without any chance of surviving when he is strike by all the stings
Byakuya:
Camus, A cold guy who know that his path is wrong but chose this way because he must to obey of the order because the Gold saint must to obey of the order
Hitsugaya:
Aiolia, the younger saint. he is the first to think there was a problem to the sanctuary and chose to investigate. He have never been an ennemi of the heroes.
Ukitake and Kyoraku:
Shion and Dohko, they are veteran from the previous war and are a really famous duet. Dohko is a powerful, intelligent and physical warrior who wear a chinese hat. (Kyoraku)
Shion is as powerful as Dohko, but he have a weak physical strong however, he have a power who can reflect the power of his ennemi and some powerful lighting power (Ukitake)
Kaien:
Aioilos, he died many years before the manga, saving the heroine. he look alike the hero and stay as a model for many character.
The last Gold saint, Aphrodite seems to be a mix between Yumichika and Mayuri:
It's a sadistic poison user. He is really egoist and have no care about the goal of the sanctuary or the justice if he can follow his goal.
It's really alike to Mayuri.
but it's also the most beautiful saint and a guy who love the beauty more than anything. He follow saga just because he admire his beauty. and most powerful power is a flower who aspire the live of his ennemi.
It's really alike Yumichika
the place where occurs the fights is also similar to the soul society
it's is a place isolated from the world where nobody can enter if he is not invited. In this place, the saint lives as the time have been stopped somes centuries ago.
It's the same with the story:
Spoiler for summary of the story of the first arc:
the heroes need to fight the 12 gold saint (who are more powerful than them, even after the battle) to save the heroine who receive a death sentence. If they are unable to save her in time, she will be killed.
the second arc "poseidon" share also many point with the allankar arc (story event and character), but I 'll talk about this later.