(If you're not a Bleach fan, you should still be able to follow the ideas of this chapter, you just won't get some of the references. If it's too hard to follow for non fans, let me know.)

Fans of Bleach, including myself, remember it well for it's massive cast and many of us puzzle over just how Tite was able to work in so many.

Sure there were "monster of the week" type characters, red shirts and citizens in distress, but my goodness the main enemies and allies all given importance- thirteen head captains, plus three new ones promoted after the betrayal, twelve lieutenants under those captains, three family members for Ichigo, Orihime's three sentient hair pins, Tatsuki for whatever reason she's there, Nell and her three superfluous friends, eight vizards and ten main espada added with the main cast of Ichigo and his six friends, his two mentors and his and Renji's living swords- that's a total of sixty eight characters! (And I missed a few I'm sure.) All of them were interesting, had their own stories and shared importance and screen time.

How did those of us who were fans, not just get completely lost?

I puzzled over this for a while, while one thing did keep coming up in my head that I kept trying to ignore- I remember SOME of these characters, certainly not all- and of the ones I do remember, I only remember so many names and stories. I always thought everyone else remembered more. However I have talked other fans and generally everyone I've spoken to or seen online, gives the same story. They'll remember a character if shown them, but only certain ones were important enough to know by name.

To those of you who are fans, I'll prove it.

Name all of these characters without looking up even one of them-

Let me guess, it went something like this in your head-

Kenpachi, Rukia's brother Byakuya, that dog headed guy who looks cool but we never hear that much from, Aizen's creepy side kick Gin, the weird scientist guy, Captain Hetsugiya, Old man Yamamoto, the white haired guy, the doctor woman, the guy who wears sunglasses, Yoruichi's student, the bad guy Aizen and that one flowery guy with two swords

Out of thirteen, you may have known a few names that I didn't, but you'll have to admit, yes, all of these characters are interesting on their own, but if pressed,

Kenpachi

Byakuya

Hitsugaya

Aizen

Gin

Yamamoto

that weird scientist guy with the funny hat

If you remember the three promoted lieutenants-congrats cause I sure don't. Everyone else fades into the background and if you don't remember too much about them, you can't really beblamed.

Another image from the same series-

How many of these characters can you... remember?

Let me guess- "the creepy little girl in red and thelaid back blonde teacher in yellow"

One more image-

Who can you remember?

Ulquora, Grimjow and MAYBE Nnoitra but be honest, even if you remember more, you'd understand people who don't.

So we have a rogues and allies gallery of- 31 characters. But how many of these characters we have a connection with isn't so many and ultimately around 11.

Add that to the main cast of Ichigo and his friends and his sword and that comes to around twnety characters.

What Tite did was actually more complicated than just adding more and more characters as time went. He employed a series of tricks. Tricks writers can use in their own stories, if they so choose, to make a massive cast themselves.

First let me say, if you've created a series with a main cast of more than twenty, if you shrank that, I would say that's a wise move. Better to have a small cast that people can become attached to, than a massive one that looks impressive on paper, but they all end up being faces in the crowd.

Tite's first trick is obvious to anyone who sees the above images. All of his characters are visually distinct with distinct personalities and histories. In fact, yes, they're so visually distinct that the fact that they have different histories is obvious just looking at them. Each character even has a distinct way of carrying themselves. There is no confusing one character for another.

If you're going to have a large cast in your series, distinction is key. If everyone dresses the same, is referred to by similar titles and you only discuss the history of characters as parts of teams, for instance, your audience is almost guaranteed to become lost.

In Bleach, all of the captains technically have official titles. But for instance, only Captain Hitsugaya places special emphasis to other characters on how he is to be referred to- he does this because he knows he looks young and he's kinda sick of his lieutenant continuing to refer to him by first name. Captain Hitsugaya is pretty much always referred to as precisely that. Kenpachi Zaraki is another captain, but he's rarely referred to by his title, just his full name as he stands out period and many of his contemporaries don't respect his rank- and he doesn't care. Old man Yamamoto is almost NEVER referred to by his actual name, only his title of "head captain" and his nick name, again,Old Man Yamamoto- because he can't get some of his subordinates to stop using it.

Even the character's names have back stories and each is VERY distinct. Some go by name, others by title, others by description, others by last name and down the list of how one can be named and reasons for said names. Sometimes two characters will, for instance, be on a first name basis with everyone, however they are very likely to each have a different reason for such.

Say Tite had instead tried to give the 13 captains a thirteen letter acronym and refer to each of them by one of the letters. Well, first off good luck making a good acronym with no repeat letters that is half the alphabet in length. Even if he pulled off such, A and V are NOT distinct ways of referring to two distinct characters. Over time it would be reasonable if someone forgot what distinguishes A from V exactly-they don't even sound distinct. They're both the same thing, letters.

Even with a small cast distinction is important, but even more so with a larger one.

Tite's second trick was- this is a series. We're looking at about seven seasons of anime here. I would HIGHLY recommend against a smaller story having a cast this size.

"But the Hobbit had fourteen characters from the start and it just grew from there!" It did? Name five without looking them up. Tolkien gave the IMPRESSION that all twelve dwarves were important, but if we're honest, only the leader was. There was Bilbo the hobbit, Gandalf the wizard and Thorin the dwarf- three is hardly a large cast.

Third trick- each character has their own back story that is shown in story. This called for a massive number of flash backs. In the anime this meant that a bare minimum of one episode was devoted to each key character and USUALLY more than that, especially at the beginning. As the series went on characters introduced early on had more and more revealed about them as well- this kept the audience from forgetting them in a sea of new faces.

If you expect your audience to remember your characters, give them something to remember. Not just unique clothes and personalities, but backstories, something to sink their teeth into. By doing this there was at least always a feeling of knowing them on a personal level, even if you forgot a name.

Fourth trick- actually trick the audience. This is something I'm guessing people were starting to notice in my intro. "Wait... if people DON'T remember all the characters, why don't they get lost?" Because all but 17 of the characters actually don't matter.

Mayuri is part of pretty much EVERYONE'S back story, despite knowing only half of them... somehow (he's the guy in the funny hat whose name you probably forgot- but you remember everything else)

Ichigo is the main character,

Kiske is Ichigo's main teacher

Rukia is the damsel in distress for the first arch

Orihime is the damsel for the rest of the series

Yasutora is the muscle of the main group

Uryū is Ichigo's rival

Renji is Ichigo's main friend in the soul soceity

Byakuya is Ichigo's biggest opponent in the first arch

Kenpahci is the one who gives Ichigo the kick to basically get his mojo going (you can forget him after that honestly)

Yamamoto is the leader of the Shinigami

Aizen is the main series baddie

Shinji and Hiyori teach Ichigo how to use his vizard powers

Grimmjow is Ichigo's main opponent for the Aranchar arch

Ulquiorra is the final boss of the Aranchar arch

Zangetsu is Ichigo's sword- which is a big deal in this series

That's right fans of Bleach. If you forget everyone who isn't on this list, you can still follow the main series just fine. The others are characters of interest and fill the world, but if you forget key points about them, you can just keep going. Tite made a huge world, but only made us THINK a massive number of people mattered. There are even times when characters not on this list are continuously re-introduced, as ifTite is subliminally telling the audience- "yeah, I know you forgot Isane, its okay, here's what she does- feel free to forget again, I got you".

So, to be fair, Tite made a series with well over sixty characters. However the story itself only revolves around seventeen or so. (I'm sure some fan is chomping at the bit to say "but this guy matters because" but the point remains, that's not even half of the characters introduced.)

Figure out who your story revolves around. Expecting your audience to constantly split their attention for a massive cast is a tall order. You can introduce a large cast, but always keep in mind a smaller core that is vital to following the plot. Your audience will THINK you're a genius, but you'll know your story is only about a small core. Many series operate this way, they have a world full of characters, but only a certain number of them really matter to the main plot. From TV here are a number of them- 90s X-Men, Heroes, the 4400, the Green Lantern cartoon- really ANY show that boasts a large cast, if you pay close attention, you'll realize only a small fraction of those introduced actually effect the main plot.

Trick five- pacing. Don't you DARE try to introduce fifty characters in one chapter. To be fair, you can build up hype for a character by floating their name, title and a few key characteristics that make them dangerous or important. However, an explanation of who they are isn't required until we actually see them. A full back story, even after than point, can continue to be given gradually.

A huge key to a large cast is patience. Your audience doesn't need to know everyone at once.

Trick six- hype. "There are thirteen captains of the Seireitei, to rescue Rukia, we may have to battle all of them- but especially look out for the one ranked eleven." Save for the Vizards, each new group, introduced in the Bleach series, had a large amount of hype long before they were actually shown on screen. Titles were floated, their membership in a group and their unbelievable skill or power was constantly reminded.

Don't just drop in a new character. Try to create anticipation for each one. If you don't, understand that they will likely fall into the background- kinda like most of the vizards.

Trick seven- emphasis. "There are thirteen captains of the Seireitei, to rescue Rukia, we may have to battle all of them- but especially look out for the one ranked eleven." Notice something? Sure you're set to anticipate thirteen captains, but one above all the others.

This is the answer to the question I'm sure many Bleach fans are having reading this "but wait, if Kenpachi wasn't really that important, why do I remember him so well- heck if Hitsugaya doesn't even matter, why do I remember him so well?"

Some characters are just naturally more interesting and effective than others. In Bleach, it seems a character was emphasized based on two factors. Their direct importance to the plot and vital characters and their sheer extravagance.

Kenpachi, Byakuya, Yamamoto and Aizen were all captains of the Soul Society, all of whom were floated in the first arch as potential opponents for Ichigo- so the other captains were naturally of interest. Their lieutenants however were often not major opponents- they only mattered if Renji or Rukia knew them personally. Knowing the first lieutenant of each captain was really only a point of interest. Hence why almost no one remembers Isane, she's the lieutenant of a captain who doesn't really matter to the plot.

But then there's this point-

Yeah... that's a captain and his top lieutenant. We have questions don't we? Some characters naturally draw more attention than others. Pretty easy to see why Kenpachi and his lieutenant are so well remembered.

Fan-"Why do I remember Hitsugaya so well?"

Because he looked like a thirteen year old ordering grown men and women around- also he was a key character Aizen had to get around when betraying the other captains. He both naturally draws attention and he had proximity to the plot and key characters.

My dear writer- go with the flow. Really think about your cast. The closer someone is to the core characters, the more back story they should probably have. Basically it's wise to use a pyramid. We know most about characters who are key to the plot- after that we know most about their close friends, especially if they are close to the plot itself. After that- if you really make someone stand out, go ahead and focus on them a bit- just not to the detriment of the rest of the story.

If you have a character who looks like this-

Probably wise to focus attention on him. Everyone will be wondering what's up anyway.

And if that guy is in the cast... yeah

Don't be surprised if no one knows or cares who these two are.

So, let's sum up.

If you want to make a big cast, first, consider, "do I really wanna do this?", no one will judge you if you decide to keep things small, its simpler and often allows the audience to have a deeper connection with your core cast.

If you decide you absolutely must have that cast nearing triple digits, okay, but keep these tricks in mind.

1- Make everyone visually, personality wise, presentation wise and historically distinct. Even give special consideration to how they are referred to and get creative. (How they are referred to is likely key, don't just give them first names and move on like with a small cast.)

2- Make it a long story. If you have fifty characters in ONE book- it better be a long book. It's probably best to just accept that your personal favorite character as the writer, won't show up until book four.

3- Everyone has their own story- and you have to tell all of them. You want me to remember someone? Don't just give me a pretty picture, give me something of substance to hold on to.

4- It's best to have your story actually revolve around a small core. Truth is, you'll likely get confused yourself is all fifty characters are vital to understanding the plot itself. Fill up your world with creative characters, by all means, but it's human instinct to only remember and emphasize a small group. People will be impressed if you have a large cast, but between you and me, best if the story is really only about SOME of that cast.

5- Pace yourself. Characters only have to be introduced around when they actually enter the story and their back story can still be filled in afterward.

6- Use hype to build up characters before they show up. That way people will be looking for them and they won't fade into the background once they do show up. (Thinking about doing a another chapter on hype and character build up. I notice many people drop in characters without considering hype at all. To be clear, NO, hype is NOT optional. If you drop in a character with no build up, that means they're an ordinary person of little to no note- but even then just dropping them in will feel awkward and rushed with the reader constantly feeling like asking "why should I care about this person again?")

7- Create a pyramid of importance, your core cast at the top, people directly associated with them and the plot getting filled in a little less, and people further away receiving less attention. If a character looks like they'll naturally draw attention, go with the flow and focus on them for a while.