the basic storyline remains unchanged. It's still the story of Ichigo Kurusaki a 15 year-old boy with the ability to see ghosts whose life is suddenly interupted by a shinigami named rukia who passes onto him part of her power and thus catapaults him into a world of combat and warfare between good and evil in the spirit world. Aizen iis still the main bad guy, the good guys are still soul society and they still fight hollow.

The main difference in this is that soul society is no longer a world based mostly off japan's edo-era but a futuristic metropolis for lost souls (those tainted by the hollow) where the death-dealers (new name for the rest of the previous shinigami) enforce law and order over the world of spirits. This change was brouught because with the exchange of guns for swords, a smurai-esque wsetting was no longer apropriate. As a result, teh shinigami now look more like a moderm military police with the exception of seated officers who look like the MIB (men in black) and the captains who wear a white suit instead of a black one. (their squad's symbol is now on their right breast instead of on their back).

The hollow are still corrupted souls but aren't quite as primitive as first. though still less than inteligent the hollow are now crafty ennough as to not go out and rampage like wild beasts. They instead take posession of a human body and devour its soul to then use to body as a shell with which they walk the human world and devour the souls of the undeparted. Only the shinigami can tell when a human body plays hoost to a hollow and only when a hollow is cornered by death dealers will it leave the body and return to its original form to combat the shinigammi. The huamn boy perishes immediately after. only by killing a hollow can teh souls it has devoured be released, at which point they will go to soul society and be purified until it can return to the wheel of life. if a soul stays too long inside a hollow's body the curse will be too powerful to break and another hollow will be born from the first, death by a death dealer or a shinigami will grant it peace and purity at that point.

As to be expected, hollow in this anime tend to use long-range attacks to stand on equal footoing with the gun-wielding death-dealers

The arrancar are still created through the use of the Hogyoku that was sealed inside rukia.

The previous shinigami before Rukia was her elder sister Hisana. She and Byakuya were not maried however they did share and intimate and secretly romantic relationship. Rukia only became a shinigami upon her death and another shinigami will only be born once she expires.

Rkia having lost her power after giving it to ichigo, society is worried that the war with the hollow may become too one sided as their zanpaktou guns all draw strength from the shinigami's scythe. they then decided that if she is to remain powerless as she is now it is best to kill her now so that the next shinigami can be born.

Though her predesesors were objects of great power, rukia is somewhat of a 'botched' shinigami and does not control her powers well, as such, her fighting skill is still only at that of a death dealer officer.

in contrast to Bleach, ichigo's zampaktou in it's sealed state is not any bigger than a normal one. What distinguishes it from others is that it apears with a ghostly hue around it and its apearance rips ichigo's right sleve to shreds. the fact that it apears as a handgun instead of an assault rifle also suggests that it holds teh potential to become a captain-calss weapon. Because of this, Rukia is still awed before his initial transformation into a death dealer. His clothes however change to that of a military man like other bottom-rung shinigami until he obtains his shikai.

The qincy, rather than being bowmen are snipers thus maintain the range advantage.

Chad's arms become smus aran styled cannons uopon transformation

When Orihime releases her shun shun rikka she uses reiatsu-based ninja stars int the form of flattened camelia with a cutting power similar to her Koten Zanshun. A glyph portraying a lily, an ume and a dasy apear on the back of her right hannd, enabeling her to summon her Santen Kesshun shield. A similar glyph portraying an iris and an althea flower decorate her left palm enabeling the use of her Sōten Kisshun healing barrier. The six flower spirits can still manifest themselves but thy are immaterial manifstations of her power's personality rather than her power itself.