As apex predators, spiritual monsters known as Hollows haunt the whole world in Bleach, attacking and consuming innocent souls. Fortunately, the majority of Hollows are relatively weak, and Soul Reapers can quickly locate and slay them in battle before giving their pure souls to the Soul Society. Bleach, like Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen, is a "monster hunter" anime, and like other series, it contains a few outstanding monsters who breach the rules.
According to Bleach history, most ordinary Hollows are quickly discovered and dispatched, but the notorious Grand Fisher created a name for himself without ever becoming a formidable Menos Grande. If any non-Menos ever accomplished what Grand Fisher did, it was all for naught. Even if Grand Fisher epitomized the ambition and skill of a true Menos, his predatory career, like all the others, was futile.
When Grand Fisher Became Karakura Town's Most Notorious Hollow
Early Bleach episodes fleshed out this shonen universe's monster hunter system and lore, with Hollows having their own names and even bounties. The first was Fishbone D, the Hollow who assaulted Ichigo's family in Episode 1, followed by Acidwire, the Hollow form of Orihime's murdered brother Sora. According to Kisuke, neither was worth any real money, but it did show that Hollows may make a name for themselves, both literally and metaphorically. When he heard that Ichigo and Rukia had a fight with the infamous Grand Fisher, Kisuke sat up and took heed.
Unlike Hollows like Shrieker, Acidwire and Numb Chandelier, the mighty Grand Fisher had become Karakura Town's public enemy #1 where Hollows were concerned, and the Soul Society had trouble finishing him off. With his unique abilities, predatory cunning and sheer persistence, Grand Fisher survived for a remarkable 50 years in the world of the living, strongly implying that most ordinary Hollows don't survive nearly that long. Grand Fisher was special because he used his iconic shapeshifting lure to confuse and disorient his enemies, giving him a chance to kill them. Grand Fisher defeated many low-ranked Soul Reapers this way, defying the odds and turning the hunters into the hunted.
Most non-Menos Hollows aren't quite as haughty, ambitious, or notorious as Grand Fisher, with the majority behaving like mindless beasts or simple thugs, drifting aimlessly from one spiritual meal to the next. Grand Fisher, in retrospect, was a Menos without being a Menos, replicating the tremendous might and unbounded ambition of those greater Hollows despite being only one soul. Menos are stronger because they are many souls in one, as are most Vasto Lordes, but Grand Fisher was a Vasto Lorde, the Barragan Luisenbairn of the streets, by Karakura Town's humble standards. He went much further than any regular Hollow could, yet it was all for naught in the end.
Grand Fisher Couldn't Get Away From His Hollowness
Grand Fisher would make the same thematic mistakes as Barragan, Szayelaporro Grantz, Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, and the others if he could use his unique abilities and cunning to emulate the Menos Grande living in Hueco Mundo. Grand Fisher does not have to be a Menos to face the same fate and pay the same price for their false arrogance, even if he subsequently becomes an Arrancar.
Hollows are called Hollows because they have a round hole in their chests, representing an empty void that nothing short of a Soul Reaper's purification ritual can fill. Hollows eat other Souls in a vain attempt to fill that emptiness, and the stronger a Hollow is, the more easily they can eat Pluses or even other Hollows if they turn cannibal. Most Menos, and Grand Fisher too, only feel in control of their own destiny when they actively seek strength and survive against all odds, and some identify strongly with it. It's the only route to salvation they can think of, but as Bleach proved many times, empty strength is a tragic waste, and the Menos all paid for it, including the Espadas.
Regular Hollows aren't too worried with it, preferring to prey on whatever defenseless Pluses they can find, therefore this tragic topic doesn't bother them. Grand Fisher, on the other hand, who went above and beyond as a Menos want tobe in Karakura Town, set himself up for severe disappointment when he discovered that his enormous power was ultimately pointless. Grand Fisher merely increased his risk by becoming so powerful as a non-Menos Hollow turned Arrancar, only to discover too late that he was just as hollow as every other Hollow that ever existed. Fortunately for him, Ichigo's father Isshin killed Arrancar-Grand Fisher so fast and brutally that Grand Fisher didn't have much time to think about it before he died.
