Shinigami (死神, Shinigami? lit. "death god(s)"
wink are a fictional race of beings in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo in 2001. In the English dub of the series, they are known as Soul Reapers. They are enforcers and psychopomps who all share similar supernatural powers. They are based on the Grim Reaper of Japanese belief associated with the same name.
Shinigami are departed human souls that have gained supernatural powers. As such, their bodies are composed of ectoplasm and they can only be seen by other spiritually aware entities, which excludes most humans. In the series, shinigami, as well as most other types of spirits, are quite capable of influencing their environment. Additionally, they can be injured and die like regular humans, though it takes considerably greater injuries for the latter to occur than it would in regular humans.
The most prominent supernatural power possessed by a shinigami is their zanpakutō, a supernatural sword generated from the shinigami's soul. Shinigami also naturally give off spiritual energy, which varies greatly in magnitude with the strength of a shinigami. A zanpakutō is a physical manifestation of this force concentrated into a blade.
Shinigami operations are based out of Soul Society, which is the afterlife in Bleach. Travel between the human world and Soul Society is extremely limited and monitored, but some shinigami are stationed in the human world to carry out their duties and therefore must often travel between the two. In addition, it is a crime for a shinigami to remain in the human world longer than a certain time limit. A shinigami's duties include leading Pluses (ghosts) to Soul Society in a practice called soul burial (konsō), and the cleansing of hollows (evil spirits). Later in the series, shinigami duties are clarified further, and it is revealed that they are also responsible for governing the flow of spirits between the human world and Soul Society.
Information found in:Wikipedia
