#but we don't *see* anything between him and urahara

[bleachbleachbleach]

I wanna know what Ikkaku knows about Urahara:

[Bleach 087]

Like, do they... know each other? The visual suggests that someone in the scene knows Urahara was a captain, and it sure ain't Ichigo. So I feel like we're meant to understand that Ikkaku knows this.

Urahara's name also holds weight in terms of Ichigo's viability as an opponent, which suggests Ikkaku knows Urahara as someone other than some rando criminal, or just as a Mad Scientist type. It's Ichigo's movement that impresses Ikkaku, not his strategic craftiness.

I don't try that hard to keep the Gotei's 20th Century straight in my mind, but we do know that during TBTP Zaraki wasn't 11th Captain yet, and therefore Ikkaku may not have been in the Gotei at that point then, ether. (There's a whole dispersal of 11th backstory filler eps, which I've been assuming aren't in the manga in any form, but who knows, maybe some of this backstory info also holds true here, too. In the anime, Ikkaku and Yumichika follow Zaraki into the Gotei.)

In any case, apparently Ikkaku has a whole Seireitei family (see: TYBW), so maybe they were well-positioned for all the hot TBTP goss regardless of whether Ikkkau was enlisted at the time.

Or does everyone just know who Urahara is? Obviously, he's a poorly kept secret at least as far as his outpost goes; he's made a whole business out of it. But if Rukia knew he'd been a captain she doesn't harp on it.

And if there's something you can count on me for, it is knowledge of random-ass Hitsugaya panels:

[Bleach 237]

Hitsugaya says he doesn't know who Urahara is. Well, he's heard the rumors about Urahara, but says Urahara is someone whose true nature can't be ascertained. He probably does know what Urahara used to be a captain. He's heard that he's formidable, and probably isn't someone to let your guard down around. Which, really, is all the things we know Ikkaku knows about Urahara. Hitsugaya's just not willing to extrapolate further based on rumor alone. Maybe Ikkaku is.

But based on how Urahara's name influences the way Ikkaku chooses to fight Ichigo, I feel like Ikkaku is not operating solely on rumor, either. Someone's battle prowess/skill as a mentor doesn't seem like something he'd accept without firsthand knowledge, even if he's willing to roll with it for other stuff. So I feel like it's perfectly defensible to argue that even if Ikkaku wasn't actually in the Gotei while Urahara was in the picture, he still had an ~encounter (and probably not while Urahara was in his Innocent Shopkeeper era).

Maybe Ikkaku ran into Urahara in the woods when Urahara was off making an impression on Kuukaku [1][2]. Or Ikkaku's Seireitei family sic'd the Onmitsukidou on him while he was off playing hooky in Rukongai! Tons of fun possibilities!

Of course, this raises the time-honored question of what, if anything, anyone in the current Gotei knows about TBTP. Because it really seems like they know nothing, and didn't even know there was something to not know. But for a lot of them that might be an effect of their willingness to pretend they know nothing? So I feel like you could go in a lot of directions with that. Not to have blorbo disease again, but Hitsugaya seemed like he was learning Vizard Lore in real-time during the Winter War, so apparently it's not like, part of some kind of Area 51 folder you gain access to when you become a captain lol. YOU HAD TO BE THERE. (BUT ALSO SOMETIMES NOT EVEN THEN)

[my-my-my]

Could you talk about Aizen"s relationship with Shinji? What he thinks about him? etc

Sure! This ask gave me an itch to reread TBTP because (much to my dismay), I wish we saw Aizen and Shinji interact during TYBW. I hope we see some added content in the anime, but I'm not holding my breath lol.

This is going to be more of a ramble/word dump so I apologize if it's not cohesive!

TW: none!

I'm of the opinion that if there was anyone Aizen wanted to understand him (outside of Urahara), it would have been Shinji. I specifically think about this panel and how interesting it is that Kubo gave Aizen a sad look in his eyes. We don't really see sadness in Aizen, there's only one other scene where I vaguely recall him looking more sad/disappointed (vs him being bored/disappointed).

(This is from Ch -316/TBTP 10)

We know from Shinji's side, he was always wary and somewhat cautious around Aizen. He never trusted him fully and kept him at arms length for everything. On one hand, this leads him to his downfall, but I also read it as Shinji having an immediate gut reaction to not trust Aizen and Shinji could never shake that off. He can be professional with Aizen, but he mentally cannot handle anything beyond that. Something about Aizen felt so fundamentally off to Shinji that he could not get close to him.

So I wonder if this bothered Aizen as well... Aizen is someone who meticulously crafted his persona. He was known to be kind, hardworking and diligent, but something about this persona immediately gave a warning to Shinji.

But I'm not gonna defend Aizen and say he crafted the "perfect" persona - because even he (in a roundabout way) admits he didn't. Even subconscious traits of the "real" Aizen comes through with every interaction Aizen and Shinji would have had with each other, but because of the wall Shinji mentally puts between the two of them, he cannot discern these traits. So while this adds to Aizen's "loneliness complex", it gives him leeway to add in stand-ins with Kyoka Suigetsu. And that's what disappoints Aizen at his core - even his own Captain can't recognize the little things about him.

And this leads me to think that Aizen and Shinji were Lieutenant and Captain for a few centuries at least. We know that at Nanao's graduation from the academy, Aizen was already the Lieutenant of Squad 5:

(Ch. 652/The Theatre Suicide Scene 6)

So yes, Shinji may have had time to "understand" Aizen - but he doesn't. Even at the start of TBTP, Aizen asks Shinji what he's listening to and while Aizen doesn't understand jazz, instead of trying to get to "know" Aizen (even frivously), by asking him "what music do you even listen to then?" he tells him "why did you ask me that then?"

Another thing I noticed is that Aizen (during TBTP) asks a surprising amount of questions (it can be argued though that these are the hypnotized stand-ins asking). He's trying to gain as much knowledge as he can from other people, and Shinji isn't there to answer, or even acknowledge that he's asking questions. It's also "normal" for Aizen to be seen at the library, as Shunsui and the C46 didn't bat an eye at Aizen's alibi. While fundamentally Captain/Lieutenant relationships can really be any sort of dynamic (mentor/mentee, boss and personal assistant), I got the sense that Aizen didn't really "learn" much from Shinji about the ways of Soul Society. Shinji had a tight lip and only shared what needed to be shared likely for work-reasons.

And then there's their shikais! I found it fascinating how both of them have reality-altering shikais. Shinji's shikai being a complete distortion of senses, while Aizen's is subtle manipulation of senses. I don't really have any more to say for that, but I've interpreted this as their way of being honest with people. Shinji's manipulation of senses is very cognizant and deliberate - Shinji is blunt. Aizen's is subtle but traumatizing - you can't trust anything coming from Aizen.

I think though, Shinji's experience with Aizen shaped how he treats his Squad going forward. I have a soft spot for headcanons for how Squad 5 operates post-Aizen's incarceration. Shinji treats Momo much differently than he did with Aizen because he knows what it's like being used and completely victimized by Aizen. There's no point in him being on his guard against someone who was hurt just as badly as he was by Aizen's hand. There is a sense of camaraderie they share in that sense. No one (arguably) "knew" Aizen as much as they did because they worked with him in such close capacity. I'd love to know what lies and truths Aizen shared with them lol.

Sorry again for this ramble, but thank you for this ask! Wish we see/have more Squad 5 content, but alas!

[crispybonkeggllama]

I've been watching Ichigo edits (mostly with manga panels) and just suddenly had a thought-

Watch these edits with Mugetsu/Vasto Lorde/Shiro&Ichigo and just imagine Ichigo being a VILLAIN.

I was awe-struck.

Honestly, he looks attractive, handsome, somewhere even soft with longer hair (I'm talking about Dangai look, yes), he has his moral code, he is protective (imagine if he actuallly was a villain and then we got to see him with his sisters, how much of a caring big brother he is with hints that not everything is steady in Kurosaki household).

He still would be a villain, doing evil things and crimes. But judging by his personality we would question his reasons, his motivation, we would ask ourselves if the "good guys" are actually good? Why exactly did he target those people, that building?

Then we would get a snippet of Shiro and Ossan. Thus being able to somehow sympathize him with his struggles in gaining control over his body, asking ourselves "who are you? You're so kind, you're hurting, you don't act evil yet do evil things. What is your goal? What makes someone like you choose the path of a villain?"

And then there would be the a supposed fight scene between him and Urahara, but neither of them making the first move, ending in them simply chatting, albeit with Urahara's teasings and strange humor and Ichigo's flustered face.

But then Ichigo would stop, getting something out of his pocket, leaving it in the ground while looking straight into Urahara's eyes.

"Hide it better this time, I might not be able to retrieve it back again." He disappears in shunpo.

It's Hogyoku lying on the ground. Stolen by Aizen not long ago (he very much bragged about it during their recent fight).

The first interaction we've seen between those two, no hints or anything that they know each other.

And they don't.

Urahara shocked, thrilled and intrigued at the same time.

And we would be struck by realisation that Ichigo is more complicated. That he is the third party in the game represented by Ichigo and Ichigo alone.

A soft, caring brother, pretty handsome young man whose motives or goals are unknown, whose next step is unpredictable, neither all his powers.

Who acts and looks more like a rebellious hero than a calm, cold-hearted villain.

Yet is being one.

[tuliharja]

BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict episode 5 review

This was very good in-between episode from my mind. Nothing that major happened, yet at the same time...small things happened that are important.

However, two major things happened (at least in my mind) Aizen flexing (while still moping a bit) and Grimmjow finally showing up! Those two really did steal this week's episode. The fact Grimmjow was teased at the middle of the episode, just to fully appear at the end of it? Brilliant. Not to mention Ichigo's look of 'Grimmjow?' It was amusing. Also, this episode did indeed explain where Ichigo and Yoruichi fell down which is a good thing. Though, a cat always falls on their feet, so they won't need Kon plush to lessen the impact of falling...

It was kind of amusing and a bit 'oh boy, here we go again' when Aizen showed up and everybody was so against him. Like, they were still in the middle of the war, and just moments ago those remnants of Soul King were falling from the sky...which honestly made me wonder why most kami-related things are black eyeball things with sharp teeth? Like, did anyone get the Fullmetal Alchemist vibe from that? Anyone? Okay, moving on.

The fact Aizen came and was all badass was awesome. Though, there was this undertone of him having lost his mojo. Or maybe it was just me, but it felt like he wasn't really giving his all. Sure, he was restrained and he was (probably) forced against his will to help, but even so...considering the fact how crafty he has been portrayed and smug... Prison really changed a person, eh? He felt a bit less smug and dejected. Even his bickering with Urahara and Mayuri (not talking about the rest of the people) didn't have his usual sass. Then again, Urahara has also felt very...I don't know how to put it. We mostly see shots of him gawking things and looking like he truly doesn't know what he is doing. It has made me feel like his secretive attitude and atmosphere have indeed just been a bluff this whole time, because before he truly did not know what was going on or could make an elaborate guess of what was going to happen. Or, both Aizen and Urahara belong to that type of people when a crisis is going on, they freeze. But still manage to function somewhat, but their peak performance is all but lost. Which shifted my attention to Mayuri. He was sassy and showed he was truly the one on the game and the smartest cookie among the so-called genius people. Then again, Urahara and Azen were on Mayuri's turf, so...

Even so, it was a bit disheartening to see Aizen egging Kyoraku to try and kill him when NaNaNa Najahkoop had made him faint for those five minutes. Because it didn't feel like it was his mere plot to try and get Kyoraku enough close to him just so he could free himself. Not to mention his words about the fact that the one who defeated him (Ichigo) got to go first to Soul King's palace... which made me think: if Aizen had managed to make his way in there, what would he have done there? Kill Soul King? But the fact Kyoraku (and everybody else) was making so big a deal about the world(s) ending, because of Soul King's death made me wonder when Aizen was still his chirpy self, I doubt he would have wanted to make the world's end. Right? Then again, just like we've seen, the world(s) haven't just yet ended, so maybe Aizen knew that? But even so...it was obvious his original goal was to change things, but how? And how going to Soul King's palace would have changed anything since at least to me Soul King seemed like just observing kami who wouldn't intervene in anything. Maybe he would had the power to do so or not, but even so... this what-if scenario came to my mind when I saw that scene.

When all the shinigami were bickering, I just waited for someone to come and break it up. Which NaNaNa did. But surprise! He was betrayed by his fellow cannon fodder Sternritters. It's actually more surprising he was still loyal to Yhwach, after the stunt he pulled on them all in the last season. I think Bazz-B's, Liltotto's, and Giselle's reactions were more natural than NaNaNa's. After all, if someone stabbed you literally on your back, would you still be loyal to that person? I think not many would be, but then again...Yhwach has his 'charm'.

It was nice to see the three Quincies and Shinigami join together in a fragile ceasefire. Did anyone notice that little scene where Bazz-B and Renji are obviously talking about each other's hairstyles and tattoos? While Rukia was so done. It reminded me a bit of Ichigo's and Renji's shenanigans and when they share exactly that one brain cell. xD

Seeing Kenpachi come over and ask where Yachiru is broke a bit my heart. It break more when he was having that small showdown with Nanao, which he basically gave up. Like...it didn't matter and he was just so...tired. Hopefully when he and rest of the people who will go to face Yhwach and his merry bunch of Quincies will cheer him up a bit.

I also have to give it to Soi Fon. She was the first one to act when Soul King's remnants were falling from the sky, and her pointing out to Urahara that they aren't afraid to go up there and fight was awesome. It's nice to see her having these little moments. I also want to give credit to Byakuya for acting as coolly as ever when Aizen showed up. Talk about a cool guy.

I can't wait for the next episode because Yhwach is obviously ready for some resistance, and everybody else seems also ready to fight once again~.

[kyokutsu-sama]

What would they do to cheer you up if you were sad :

So, first of all I apologize for not being as present here, I have been more active on ao3 and dedicating myself to the story I'm writing (link in the pinned post if you want to read it) I promise to come back with more content soon🤗😁

(I'm really sorry but I haven't been doing very well lately🫠)

Characters: Shunsui, Kenpachi, Grimmjow, Shinji, Jushiro and Urahara

___________________________________________

Shunsui :

He won't like to see you with that sad look and will do anything to cheer you up.

His personality is also an advantage for him to use on you if you're not feeling well.

He will crack some jokes and tell you some things that happened to him that made him laugh and decided to tell you.

He values your smile a lot and loves to see you happy.

He'll probably offer you some of his sake to cheer you up too (even though you both will end up drunk)

Kenpachi :

Don't show sadness around him (Just a writer's advice).

This man has the energy for three lifetimes and he can't stand to see you looking so sad.

He will carry you on his shoulder and yell at you to stop acting like that and lighten up a bit.

He might also start a little wrestling between you to see you join his fight.

You'll end up laughing at him and he'll feel good deep down knowing he managed to make you smile.

Shinji :

This man can drive anyone crazy and you will be no exception.

If he notices that you are quieter and don't look happy he will pull you close and cheer you up.

He will tease you until you show him a smile.

He can put on his typical jazz and invite you to dance with him.

He will turn your mood upside down (literally)

Grimmjow :

He'll give you a side eye if you tell him that you're feeling sad

He'll want to know right away if there was someone who did something to make you look like this and will ask you if you want him to kill that person.

You tell him it's just a bad moment but it'll be fine soon.

He will check in on you frequently and he may even (if he's in the mood) hug you close to him.

We all know that deep down our kitty has a good heart.

Jushiro :

He will be sad too if you are not having a good day.

He asks you a thousand times in that day if you're okay and if you need anything.

Hugs are very frequent, he wants you to feel that you are not alone and that he is there by your side.

Just like Shunsui, he will do anything to see you smile and prioritizes your happiness a lot.

He such a kindness man❤(take care of him🥹)

Urahara :

In the land of funny people this man is king

He has the usual goofy personality and will make your day 100% better

He will make jokes and try to mess with you to see if you can let go of this sadness.

Trust him to give you the best advice for your problems

[doomxdriven]

Drabble: Unsealing of the Blade

"Are you going to finally tell me what this is all about, Arrancar?"

Jin, standing there under the night sky, looks up at the large forest flanked staircase in front of them that led up to what seemed like a shrine or temple of some sort.

"Depends depends depends!!!! Did ya get the blood like I asked for? Ya got it didn't ya? Didn't ya?"

"Utagawa and the twins were able to retrieve it yes, though they were all nearly killed in the process" Jin pulls a strangely designed vial of blood from one of his overcoat's inner pockets, holding it up toward Parca.

"You could have told me your target was the former Commander of the Kido Corps and an employee of the Urahara Shōten no less, I would have sent far more capable individuals to deal with the matter."

"Awwwwwwwwww, ya actually worried about the people ya boss around? That's cute Vamps," Parca replies as they steal away the vial of blood Jin had been holding, energetically twirling it around between their fingers, at least until….

Jin vanishes, and then reappears closer to Parca, one hand pressed to and wrapped around their throat, "It's not a matter of worry Arrancar, it's a matter of efficiency, and seeing that both our goals are ultimately met."

Jin, grinning, calmly and viciously continues, "I have to say, I'm also growing tired of how comfortable you are speaking to me like you do; Arrancar never learn anything about respect back in Hueco Mundo, do they?"

Parca, a wide gap of pitch black nothingness stretching across their mask-like visage in the form of a grin, replies, without any trouble or hint of concern, "Both our goals will be met, they wills, and of course, of course, OF COUURRRSSSEEE I respect ya, I just be having fun is all, we both be knowing that!"

Parca then appears to…. melt, wholly, slipping through Jin's fingers and pooling on the floor, before that liquid streamed away, up the staircase toward the temple they and Jin had been walking toward. Its there that Parca reforms, and waves to Jin, shouting,

"I'm trying to get ya some more help here today! Calm down Vamps, calm down! Yer going to need someone to deal with that big brute of Kenpachi when we knock down the door of the Soul Society, ya know?"

Jin, rolling his eyes at the display Parca had put on and relenting on harming them further, replied, "You assume I don't already have someone for that task?"

Maki Ichinose instantly came to Jin's mind-- that man practically lived for the chance to one day kill Zaraki and avenge their former Captain, and they had grown quite powerful over the years, too. Jin was sure that they more than anyone were capable of dealing with the Gotei 13's pet monster.

Parca was never quite convinced of that, though.

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh yeah, ya kinda don't got one, Vamps."

Parca knew that Jin had collected a great number of talented and powerful individuals to make allies out of or serve under him, but there wasn't anyone among them that Parca believed could go toe-to-toe with Kenpachi Zaraki, not even that brat Ichinose-- no, if both their plans were going to work out, they needed someone who could definitely keep that monster Zaraki busy, or better yet, kill them.

"And if I know one thing, it's that the only person who can kill a Kenpachi, is another Kenpachi."

Parca then turns away from the approaching Jin, and walks through the doors of that temple. Within the confines of the temple, Parca finds a large statue with various Kido emblems etched onto the surface, and its upon that statue he smashes the vile of blood.

Afterward, Parca presses both his hands together and under their breath, another voice begins to quietly though quickly chant…

"Shackles of the six arcane arches, prison of the earthly realm, shattered are these binds by the bray of blood, life essence of their jailer; march free, imprisoned Soul, walk the three realms once more."

Jin, looking on from below, watched as that temple began to glow with a dark purple energy, before it suddenly erupted in a massive explosion that sent a shock-waves through the ground, splitting many of the stairs apart and uprooting a plethora of the surrounding trees. Jin easily manages to avoid any injury of course, continuing to make his way up the now ruined staircase.

When Jin finally climbed to the top, he would see Parca standing among the Temple rubble, along with a large individual dressed in tattered Shinigami garbs. Looking on with interest at the person Parca had called forth, Jin asks, "And who might this be?"

The large individual, rising to their feet, a sadistic expression washing over their face, announces, "I am a blade. I am, Baishin."

[tatakaeeren]

Since lavender is my favorite color and scent I can be lavender anonie 🥰. I’m 21 btw! I feel like I should always say age just for peeps sake but the way after every jjk episode I have to go watch free! (Season 2 specifically aka the best season) bc I keep thinking about the future of what’s to come (I’m caught up in the manga) and I just go 0-0

ALSO I’m so happy you post bleach too :0 I’m on like episode 308 and I’m reading it and even though I haven’t finished (I know the whole arcs bc I’m not spoiler sensitive really) it’s what I think got me REALLY REALLY into anime 🤓 who’s your fave bleach character? Mine is Urahara bc I’m a SUCKER for wet napkin loser men like him. I also feel like I sound so insane right now I’m a huge rambler especially since irl I have no one to weeb to over the bleach lore and how aizen and Urahara to me are similar parallels to gojo and geto in the sense that both groups have these ideals that they want for the greater good (soul king versus jujutsu society) and the villains on both side have some frustration against their counter bc of their strength and intelligence but they seemingly “don’t do anything” even they also want a greater good ANYWAY AH SORRY TO RAMBLE MORE

Aww how lovely!! Lavender Anonie 💖 it is then! :D Good to know you are not underage (even though I don't post a lot nsfw) but it is good to know just in case I post something or say something 👍. We all need our comfort something after an intense episode or chapter.... especially if we know what is coming... jjk ep 4 and onwards...😭 and the manga right now 😨. Damn... we only had 3 episodes of happiness.

YAASSSS BLEACHH!!! I'm so glad we have another one in common! bleach was the anime that got me into anime and my first ever physical volume and also what got me into reading manga. So bleach holds a special place in my heart. Ep 308! you have 58 to finish! :D. My list of top 5 hahah (don't make me choose just one because I can't XD) 1) Byakuya, Urahara, Aizen, Jugram and Grimmjow 💖. What other characters are your faves? from what other anime/manga? I'm curious to see if we have more faves in common!

OOHHH niceeee i never thought about it but you have a point there!! there are some similarities between those 4! I always find it interesting when there is a "battle" of ideals and see how people follow them and the decision they make. + those 4 are also hot as hell 😎💖 hahahah.

[jaxxsoxxn]

"Here comes the bride"

After an inside joke breaches containment, Kisuke and Shunsui need to work out how to fix everything - or play along.

The first time it happens, after Kisuke is cleared of everything, he's actually going crazy.

He flirts a lot with people, often expecting more of a bad reaction than a good one, so imagine his shock when not only Shunsui starts the cheeky teasing, but doesn't even try to stop it from going into flirty territory.

"Oh, Urahara-san, the handsomest shopkeeper around, how nice is it to see you!"

And Kisuke wants to laugh, of course he does, but he's surprised above anything. Yet it doesn't stop him from responding in the same teasing tone.

"Oh my, Shunsui-kun, you and honorifics? Should I start planning the wedding?"

When he gets the first chuckle, he expects the man to go straight back to business. He really should learn to expect less of the other.

"Depends, does the bride get any special deals?"

"Awh, is my charming bride broke?"

It starts so stupidly, yet before they can stop themselves, it becomes an inside joke of theirs. That is, until someone from the outside catches them.

"Ne, if that isn't my lovely bride!" Kisuke says, a soft hum following his words. "Are you here to talk over the wedding plans or should I expect you to, once more, try to milk me dry?"

Shunsui laughs, hiding his mouth behind his left hand, shaking his head a bit.

"I fear I came here for business, what a shame indeed." he states, before adding, with a cheeky wink. "But I have to say, I'd be more interested in the wedding night."

"Eh?!"

They both look at each other with a slight surprise before moving their heads towards the one who made that sound. Ichigo, somehow, happened to walk in without notifying either of them (and if it's because they were too focused on each other, well, that's between them and their minds only.) was looking wide-eyed at them.

"Bride?" he says, his eyes wide and, before they say anything, he continues, now with disgust. "Wedding night?"

Shunsui smiles lazily at the man, though from where Urahara is standing, he can easily see the faint blush on his ears - cute.

"Ah, sorry, Ichigo, didn't mean to say that out loud, but you know what love does to a man." he says, a sly wink at the end, hiding his mischievous smirk behind his hand like he's being bashful. "Can you keep it silent? We don't want to make a big deal out of it."

All they get is a hurried nod and a quick disappearance - maybe they should've demanded more or at least try to scare him a bit, but now it was too late or so Shunsui thought next time he saw everyone at Captain's meeting.

"...and thus-" the sound of steps coming from behind the door made Byakuya stop and Kyoraku looks up towards the

Renji runs inside, barely opening the door before stumbling to his place behind his Captain, his face red in embarrassment. They can feel Kenpachi's spirit pressure through the door when he finally comes in behind the other, Yachiru giggling on his shoulder.

When everyone looks at them, expecting an explanation, a shudder runs through him - Ichigo's soul pressure is disappearing by now, too far to be felt, but they were around each other not too long ago and-

Oh no.

"Well, we're happy you're here, let's maybe come back to-" he tries to take the attention away from them, to stop what he knows for sure will happen.

"Congratulation on your marriage, Shunsui-taicho" finally the lieutenant says, practically choking on his words, his eyes unable to look at him. "Hope Urahara-san will treat you well, sir."

He never saw the other one as polite as now, nor had he ever seen movements as quick as the turn of heads his way. He wants to die and to kill Kisuke because Ichigo is his problematic child.

"Ahaha, thank you Renji." he smiles softly back, making a mental note to beat up the blond for getting them into this. "If it's okay, I'd rather we'd come back to the main topic of the meeting-"

"Wait, what?" his Nanao says, her eyes burning a hole in the back of his head. "What do you mean 'marriage' Renji?"

Oh no.

By the time he's free and ready to go, he's tired as hell. Nanao, trying her best not to act like she's offended by the fact that he didn't tell her about his "marriage", said something about double-checking the paperwork from the week, before disappearing.

Ukitake's soft voice filled the silence in-between them while they walked towards the garden connected to his family home, talking about nothing special. Since his folks died and his brother also left, the place was pretty empty above him and his niece from time to time.

"Shunsui." he says, startling him and making him look up from one of the koi ponds. "I know it's too late now for you to tell us about the marriage yourself-"

"There wasn't a good time to." he says, almost panicking at the thought that his closest friend might take offense. "It's just- he swept me up from my feet, it all happened so fast, ahaha..."

He can't look Ukitake in his eyes, the shame of him lying and the deeper, burning shame caused by the fact that he somewhat wishes that this wasn't a joke that got out of the control, but a truth that just happened to be unfortunate were eating him alive.

"It's okay." he continues, forgiving as always. "I just want to make sure that you know you can come to me with anything and - if I'm being honest - I should've figured it out. You always came back so happy from the visits you paid to his shop, usually coming back without anything, too."

He lets his friend hug him, biting his tongue at the thought that if he was so obvious, then the Kisuke Urahara, the smartest person he knows, probably figured it out too.

Urahara starts stopping by his house, always happily mumbling something about the kids and Tessai taking care of the shop. They feed the fish together when he mentions figuring out how to fix the misunderstanding.

"Well, Shu-chan, why fix it in the first place?" Kisuke says slowly, almost seeming sleepy - to be fair, they both were late for a nap or two. "Isn't it better that now you can come over to me all you want without seeming suspicious?"

He sighs before letting his body rest on the blond's side, his muscles relaxing with ease. He can feel a back pain coming, how troublesome.

"But now Nanao-chan seems upset that she missed it all and I can't really fix it up with her." he pouts overdramatically, thinking about the fact that she seemed to avoid him when she could. "Don't even get me started on the old man, you'd think I killed someone."

A breathless laugh is all he gets back, a rough, delicate hand starts brushing through his hair, untangling it where needed. When the blunt nails run lightly on his scalp, he lets himself close his eyes and focus on Kisuke next to him.

"Well, how about a family dinner?" there's a teasing tone to it, but Kyoraku knows what he means - and since Urahara's side of "family" all knew of the bride thing before Ichigo bumped into them, they could probably be persuaded to keep it all correct. "She deserves to see how I captured your heart, Shu-chan."

He cannot help, but laugh lightly, his head and eyes heavy. He really shouldn't have missed his nap.

"I don't know what's your whole plan, Kisuke, but it'll probably backfire." it's the first thing Yoruichi tells him, laying lazily on the floor near the window in his bedroom, the sunlight warm on her skin. "Shunsui is pretty smart himself, but you're playing with people close to him too - you know better."

You are better hangs in the air, unsaid.

"I'm not playing anything, Yoruichi." he answers, surprisingly honest. "I didn't plan the whole thing with Ichigo, nor did I expect Shu-chan to sink deeper by his own accord."

She closes her eyes, humming for a while, before opening them again. The second her predatory gaze meets him, he knows he won't like what she has to say.

"Still, you like how it ended up going, don't you?"

He doesn't buy her favorite foods for a week after that - that should teach her.

Nanao is in his office by the time he finds her. She's looking at an old picture he had, all kinds of dust on it - it's a photograph from her parent's wedding, but the one with family only.

When he was younger, he used to laugh how they chose each other - both the bride and the groom had no close family, above his brother having him. By the time he got older, he decided to ignore the fact that no matter who he'll marry, he'll also probably end up with only one person on a picture like that, ignoring also the sinking feeling in his chest that it caused.

He almost stays outside, before he walks in and closes the door. His niece doesn't react, but he knows she's aware of him - she's waiting, giving him a chance even.

"I didn't expect to get engaged." he decided to start it with a truth that has been ringing in his soul for weeks now. "I didn't mention it because, I guess, it felt unreal. Like if I'll push, something horrible will happen."

Well, that's also almost a true sentence - but, instead, him staying silent was the thing that made it end up how it was.

"Why didn't you mention that you and Urahara-san were going out?" her tone is delicate, silent and if she'd be looking at him, he'd probably break and tell her everything - instead he answers her question with another half-truth.

"I didn't even notice when I got my feelings for... Kisuke." he says the name so softly that his voice shakes and he has to look away. Look away from the horrid, horrid truth that he walked around ignoring. "It seemingly didn't affect anything, they came to me so naturally. I let it go further and further, it felt more like letting him pull me instead of walking along him. It was so easy to let him lead, that I didn't even think of it as an actual change."

He wonders if he's not putting too much of it all on Urahara, worries that it'll make it look like he's trying to pin the blame on him. Too unfocused, he doesn't notice Nanao moving until she lightly hugs him, her face hidden in the pink kimono.

He lets himself hug her back, hiding his own face in her hair.

"You can always be a part of the wedding planning and the wedding itself, Nanao-chan, I wouldn't have it any other way."

The family dinner ends up with Yoruichi being included and, thus, Soi Fon too. Somehow, it's also awkward with them there. He half wonders if Ukitake here doesn't make it even worse, but if he'd have to handle this without some support, he fears that he'd have to end it early.

They sit parallel to each other, which makes him slightly upset, embarrassingly so. By his left hand sits Jushiro, while by his right sits Nanao. On the other side, Yoruichi is by his left with Soi Fon next to her and Tessai, Ururur and Jinta sit on his right in that exact order.

"So... let's talk about the wedding." he starts, his voice smoothly calm. "Do you have any specific no-goes from the start?"

Kisuke smiles teasingly and without his normal hat, Kyoraku can see his eyes with ease and notice the glint of mischief in them. The younger one is wearing an elegant kimono, very alike the one he wore as a captain - it's slightly more fitting than his normal clothes. The dark tone of it makes his light skin and blond hair pop out more, which makes Shunsui's eyes stray a few times more than it should. There’s a high possibility that Kisuke noticed it by now.

"I want my family to be there, so I fear no no-children policy." he says, moving his head to the side, like he's thinking more about it. "I know that you nobles like your big parties, but if we could keep it small, I'd like that."

He can't help, but laugh softly at that.

"Whatever's left of Kyoraku's family, they know better than to think they'll be invited - but we might have to make a bigger 'housewarming party' after the thing, just to make them feel like they're in the loop." he states, checking everyone's reactions before continuing. "There's nothing on my side, above maybe Nanao helping out as long as she wants to."

He gets a quick nod and notices a small smile on the girl's face. Even if the whole thing is kind of fake, he can't help, but feel his heart swell from the love he's feeling.

"If that's alright, I'd like Tessai to take a part in planning as well."

With a simple glance exchange, they both know that it's going to be a rather simple agreement.

They end up not doing anything wrong at the dinner, in the end - it's Ukitake who starts the problems. He mentions the possibility of inviting every captain and possibly the lieutenants, before Nanao quickly shoots him down - too quickly, it seems, and Soi Fon decides that it means that she's ashamed of Urahara (since when was she his protector?). Tessai agrees with Nanao, while kids jump from one side to another just to cause some chaos. Yoruichi does the same thing.

So they fight politely like only people trained in it can, while the two of them sneak off after taking a picture to get it printed out later - their first family dinner.

They end up deeper in the garden than usually, the trees hiding them from any prying eyes - and if their first kiss happens there, in-between sakura trees and Koi ponds, Shunsui's long hair brushed trough by Kisuke's sly hand, well, that's between them and a one bored cat.

What a wedding it will be.

[recurring-polynya]

Your thoughts and headcannons on Nemuri Hachigou because I don't think she gets talked about enough, when in reality she's pretty interesting, she's essentially, a blank slate, Mayuri's second chance that I don't think he feels like he deserves. She's Nemu but she isn't and I think people(especially Mayuri) forget that a lot, that's a fascinating position to be in.

Puttin’ this under a cut because I’m gonna say some unkind things about Mayuri and I do not want to cause any distress to the many lovely people on this website who delight in his horrible antics.

This is not so much a headcanon so much as a thing I came up with for fanfiction purposes, but it’s all I got.

Right. So, like I said, I despise Mayuri. I just hate him. I understand that he appeals to some people, but I strongly dislike the dude and go to exorbitant lengths to avoid him ever appearing in my fanfic.

Additionally, I do not vibe with Nemu 7. She registers as not-a-person for me, she’s basically an extension of Mayuri himself. Don’t get me wrong, I find Mayuri’s treatment of her to be vile and I wish someone would take her away from him, but she comes off as very robotic to me. She is conscious, but she is not an independent being, if that makes sense. She is not a real girl. It’s funny that Mayuri keeps talking about how advanced she is, because clearly he means only her cognitive and fighting abilities. In terms of recreating a person, she’s incredibly primitive compared to the other mod souls we see. Take Kon, for example, who has a fairly limited powerset, but is never presented as less of a soul than any of the other characters. An even more interesting example is Ururu and Jinta. Ururu is described as being older than Jinta, and she is clearly “less human” than him-- she has less affect, she shifts into a distinct “attack” mode, etc, which implies that Jinta represents advances in mod soul technology. It’s notable that Urahara and Tessai and even Renji, in the canon scene where he protects the Shouten kids, never treats them as anything less than people. The contrast with the way Mayuri treats Nemu is stark. He likes that her feelings and personality are limited, he sees this as a feature.

I was completely unmoved by the entire chapter where Nemu died. Her sacrifice did not come across to me as anything indicating growth or humanity-- in every battle she's ever been in, she nearly dies because Kurotsuchi tells her to. She simply prioritizes Mayuri over herself. She always has. It’s simply the logical extension of her programming. A lot of people say they would have preferred Nemu to live and Mayuri to die and for sure I would have *preferred* that, but I have never seen Nemu as enough of a character to be worth rooting for. Like, at least Uryuu would have gotten some satisfaction form killing his clown ass, and that might have convinced me for at least half a second that he actually was on the side of the Quincy.

Caveat: if some talented fanficcer wants to write a short novel on Nemu discovering her humanity etc etc, I’m all for it, I’m just saying that canon hasn’t given us anything to suggest she would do more than just shut down without Mayuri to tell her what to do.

Onto Nemuri 8. I can’t believe they let Mayuri have another one. It makes my blood boil. The dude is an on-screen abuser and Kubo had the gall to try to make me feel sorry feel him (I did not) and then gave him another one.

So, I took her away from him.

I mentioned earlier that I go to great lengths to keep Mayuri the hell out of my fanfic, and usually the way I do that is to have my characters go through Akon whenever they have to deal with Squad 12. I think I started doing this because Akon is sort of weirdly familiar with Renji and Rukia in the TYBW, but I have projected all over him and he’s mine now. The way I assume Squad 12 functions, based on my career in scientific programming, is that Mayuri is like a primary investigator-- he's the Big Ideas guy and he spends a lot of time doing wholly self-directed research. He’s the face of Squad 12, so he has to go talk to the Captain-Commander and beg for money and defend blowing things up, but when it comes to science stuff, he does what he wants. Nemu is the lieutenant, and I think she handles most of the usual lieutenanting-- paperwork, meetings, etc., but I think Mayuri takes up a lot of her time by using her as a personal lab assistant on his wacky projects. There's nothing wrong with this, but I think in a lot of squads, the lieutenant is responsible for the day-to-day running of the squad and spends a lot of time dealing with their subordinates and other lieutenants. Nemu, instead, focuses on her captain. Now, the rest of the Gotei counts on Squad 12 for a lot actually-- gigai, Hollow tracking, Dangai monitoring, etc. etc. From the point of view of most science people, this stuff is mundane-- it’s all application, not development, and all the difficulty is in the twitchy little details. It’s frustrating and it’s unrewarding and you never get credit for it, and it is vitally important. There is a certain kind of science professional that makes a career out of this. They usually have master's degrees instead of PhDs, and they are usually tragically underpaid and underappreciated for what they do. In the real world, without these people, you wouldn’t have mass vaccination sites or weather data on your phone or cute li’l robots landing on other planets. In Bleach, these are the people keeping soul reapers alive in the field. And in my mind, this is Akon’s department.

So here’s the headcanon:

After Nemu’s death, Mayuri has so much sad clown pain about it that he wants another robot child poste-haste, but can’t bring himself to do the actual work, so he shoves it off onto Akon, with a list of the design specs he wants. The last one was pretty good, Akon can handle a few minor upgrades, it doesn’t need his personal hand in it. Thinking about going through all that work again just pisses him off, honestly. What a waste!

And Akon's like, yeah, cool, fine. It was heavily implied that he did a lot of the work on Nemu 7, it's just a matter of digging out his old notes and cleaning out some vats.

Except that, right around the same time, Rukia and Renji decide to have a baby.

Babies are super rare in the Gotei, and it’s not like those stuffy nobles are gonna let Akon look at their precious offspring. But Rukia is a rank weirdo, and Akon is their pal, so she’s always like “I hear they have these things in the Living World where you can pee on a stick and tell if you’re pregnant, can you make me one?” and Akon’s brain goes, “Wow, what even is the first detectable sign of a newly formed soul, this is very interesting.” So, at the same time he’s trying to grow a new and improved Nemu, he’s got access to the developing fetus of two captain-class shinigami. So when he has to pick between eight good candidate embryos to move to the next vat, he picks… not the one with the strongest reiatsu signature, like they did last time, but the one whose reiatsu looks the most like a real baby.

Akon reminds me of a lot of programmers I know, so I always sort of headcanon him as particularly interested in whatever passes for programming in Squad 12, and I think he takes special interest in revamping Nemu’s artificial intelligence system, which is primarily based on taking in information about the world and building up a realistic personality based on people she observes. In particular, it gives extra weight to “people who resemble her”. Nemu 7 was raised by Squad 12, so she came up very Squad 12, just like Mayuri wanted. Unfortunately, toddler Hachigou Nemuri’s algorithm unexpectedly decides that she has much more in common with toddler Abarai Ichika than any of the adult soul reapers around her.

Nemuri 8 is a very successful sample in terms of power and intelligence but she’s also very boisterous, and the rest of Squad 12 is like “Akon do something” so Akon takes drastic measures: he asks Renji for parenting advice. Distressingly, Renji is full of useful ideas like “tire her out” and “only fight the important battles” and “we’re signed up for baby yoga, you wanna start comin’ to baby yoga? Your back is gonna thank you.”

Akon didn't mean to let them hang out so much, but Ichika is a very useful data point and also if he takes Nemuri over to the Abarai house, the girls will entertain themselves (i.e. chew on each other) long enough for him to have a beer with Renji and Rukia and honestly my man really needs that beer.

I don’t think Akon thinks of himself as Nemu’s dad past the first time when she calls him ‘Daddy’ and he corrects her (she only did it because that’s what Ichika calls Renji, very predictable quirk of her programming). She’s just a work project. She’s not even his project, she’s Mayuri’s project, he’s just handling the little details. Fathering just happens to be an adjacent field of study that he’s found to contain a number of very useful best practices.

I would prefer not to get into the detail of the physical abuse that Mayuri uses against Nemu 7, but I would like to think that Akon finds ways to protect Nemuri 8 from the same, or barring that, maybe this is what finally drives Akon to murder Kurotsuchi and become Squad 12 captain himself.

Other Nemuri Headcanons:

Her favorite book is Rejection of the Twin Fishes!, Captain Ukitake’s posthumously published children’s book.

She prefers to be called “Nemuri” over “Nemu.”

Nemuri’s second favorite person in Squad 12 after Akon is Rin, because he always has candy. Rin actually likes having someone to share his hobby with and helps her make a World of the Living Snack Bucket List. When other shinigami come in for gigai, Nemuri constantly tries to con them into bringing something back for her.

Rukia teaches her to cuss, but tells her never to do it around Akon. Nemuri never actually cusses around anyone, but really enjoys having Forbidden Knowledge.

Speaking of Forbidden, she is mildly obsessed with Urahara, even though she’s never met him. She’s constantly on the lookout for thumbprints of his work in modern Squad 12 technology.

The one thing she does have in common with Mayuri is an absolutely batshit personal aesthetic. She starts painting her face as a tween and is somewhat inconveniently both into piercings and inflatable outfits.

The true proof that she has surpassed her predecessor, at least in terms of humanity, is that she is able to learn the name of her zanpakutou.

Oh, if you want to read any of my fanfics with Nemuri, here's one where she and Ichika play football and here's one where she tries to con Byakuya into buying her shaved ice. I really like writing Nemuri hanging out with Byakuya because I think an adult man who navigates social settings via rigid system of etiquette and class hierarchy and a small child with a pile of Markov chains for a brain would be natural friends.

[the-pallid-king]

He grins, thoroughly enjoying the look on your face.

He starts to say he doesn’t drive the train, but if anything, that argument makes your statement that much more valid. So he throws his hands up. “I don’t know. I shouldn’t even be able to make these. Now, you’re talking about getting on trains and how I should automatically know things, probably because you knew it instinctively, which isn’t my strong suit, and worst of all, you’re making sense. It’s kind of freaking me out.” He huffs a little, but okay, he’s not all that upset. He shrugs and says, “I had Urahara’s machine hooked up to me. I just kept trying until it worked.”

He squints at you when you say to try a bigger target. “Is this going to be a barn metaphor this time?” Something big enough to hit. He exhales, but just tries for the entire castle. If they hit the arena, he’ll pretend like he meant to. “Maybe you have a point.” He makes another, feeling a little drained, but not so much so he couldn’t make a dozen more. He steps though, finding their bedroom on the other side. “Huh. It worked.”

You look so exasperated that it's actually kind of funny and he has to work to keep the amusement off his face. He shrugs. "There's a lot of things you shouldn't be able to do. That clearly doesn't stop you. And I always make sense." Just... sometimes in a round about way. He makes a face, not at all liking how what you says implies that you tried multiple times before it worked. He would have panicked so hard. Being trapped in Hueco Mundo was bad enough. Not to mention, if you hadn't been able to get through, he would have just assumed you were pulled back into the living world and weren't able to get back to him, he would have never known you were trapped between.

A brow arches. "D'you see a barn here? Just try it." Ok but yes, it was kind of a barn metaphor, though he didn't realize it when he said it. When you admit he might have a point, he motions for you to get to it, kind of just assuming that you're too stubborn to give up this soon, despite that they could flash step the rest of the way easy enough or that he could just do it. When you make another, and they end up in their room, he's honestly impressed. It was a good idea; you seem pretty capable of navigating to and from their room. He elbows you lightly, "Don't act so surprised, we both knew you could do it."

[junko222]

What are your thoughts on Soul Society? Do you think that it's as righteous as it's presented or as fans defend it to be? I read a post that said Soul Society has some corrupted parts, but the comments on the post were just from fans defending Soul Society. I don't think Soul Society is Hell, but there are problematic parts (useless Central 46, Rukongai, Maggots Nest, etc.).

For myself, I find it hard to read the SS as anything other than a dystopia.

Thing is, I understand where these fans are coming from. Despite what I feel are its obvious flaws, the Soul Society is very much presented as something worth defending. Ichigo goes to great pains to maintain the status quo (and he’s the HERO), as do all of the people we are meant to admire in Bleach. I mean, name your favorite character (with the sole exception of Tousen) and you’ll find them ready to die to protect and defend the Soul Society.  (Weirdly, this includes Aizen, who fought Yhwach to defend the SS and Gin, who, at the very least, wanted Aizen dead…)

So, it must be worth it, right?

I mean if you’re born in the right places or with enough power, the Soul Society mostly is a decent place, or at least life inside the Seireitei seems pretty all right. I think Byakuya Kuchiki, for instance, has a good life.  Possibly the same could be said for Kenpachi Zaraki–so, you know.

Of course the downside is the Rukongai. Any soul reborn with power there is starving. They SAY that Souls don’t feel hunger, but it seems pretty clear in Rukia and Renji’s flashbacks that that’s bull.  Yet, food *is* available in the Rukongai.  We know this because Kukaku has no problem feeding the ryokan when they stop by her weird traveling house.  So, there’s something wrong. Something deeply inequitable there.  Especially since we know from Byakuya’s big “difference between us speech,” that Rukongai souls are considered inferior socially/economically.  I mean, you could say, maybe that’s just rich boy Byakuya’s attitude, but we see it again in Renji’s Academy flashback, in a scene that a lot of people misinterpret (and appears in the anime only) where Renji wants to write the answer on the board, but the professor won’t let him because “gentlemen” will have to stand to let him pass.  

Add Tousen’s story of his special friend, the SHINIGAMI who was murdered by her husband and given no justice… yeah.

That’s a pretty ugly class divide.

And, as you point out, that’s just one aspect of the Soul Society.  The Maggot’s Nest is surreally dystopic.  Urahara tells us in the TBtP arc that a Soul can be sent to the Maggot’s Nest for being a POTENTIAL threat to the SS…  that’s just Orwellian. That implies a whole lot of big brother-ness happening ALL THE TIME, which I personally believe is underscored  SPECIFICALLY by Shinji’s line to Aizen in which he says, “I’ve been watching you from the womb.” My sense is that was an intentional threat to Aizen, saying, ‘look, pal, you’re lucky we didn’t toss you in the Maggot’s Nest as an infant.’ And given the children we SEE in the prison… yeah.

The other problem, which Tousen likes to harp on, is the utter lack of justice. Central 46 is so evil that Aizen could take it over and act utterly inconsistently –oh, let’s move up the execution again… for a crime that 1) had no trial or any chance for Rukia to defend her actions and 2) is a sentence RARELY given to a shinigami below captain level. AND LITERALLY NO ONE BATS AN EYE.  (Renji, interestingly, seems to assume Byakuya’s family’s connection can get Rukia off. Rukia knows better. But Renji’s assumptions are interesting by themselves for the fact that he wouldn’t even consider that option, if rich people hadn’t bought their own justice from Central in the past.)

Then we have the later story of Nanao’s mother (and by extension, Kyouraku). She was executed without a trail, too, for a crime Kyouraku knew she hadn’t committed because (spoiler?) he had the stolen items in his possession.  Ukitake is all, oops, I guess you missed the execution, and Kyouraku acts kind of fine about the whole thing, but then quite blatantly wears her kimono FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE and, one presumes, took the captaincy oath wearing it. I feel like his silent protest should be made so much more of, because holy shit it means he has no respect for Central.

Oh, and speaking of executions. No one ever talks about how much like a police state the Soul Society is, given that it’s execution grounds (and the method of execution) is centrally located and can be seen literally every where INSIDE (and outside) of the Seireitei.  Every morning, if you’re in the Seireitei, you walk in the shadow of the execution grounds, which has been used often enough THAT NOTHING GROWS BENEATH IT.

Oh... and let’s not forget the 12th Division and its random trolling hospitals to find victims (?? the whole first scene with Mayuri and Ikkaku) and the random putting of bombs into people.

And the genocide of the entire Quincy people, which actually seems to have been the point (?) of the final arc. To legit finish what they started: wipe all Quincy from the face of the earth.

Now, I can’t say anything to authorial intent. Given the ending, and the rebuilding of the Sokyoku Hill/execution grounds to be bigger and better (under Kyouraku’s… ironic?… aegis) I don’t know how we’re supposed to feel about all this.  Maybe Kubo-sensei, thinks he’s drawn/written an ideal world in the Soul Society.  He’s really the only one who can tell us.  But, consciously or unconsciously, there’s a lot of THERE there that can be explored.  I guess I can see how you could argue for a utopia… 

Honestly, I’m kind of more excited that you actually found a collection of Bleach fans still fighting about something this interesting (as opposed to the seemingly never-ending ship wars.)  Where are they?  Where is my fam???

[my-my-my]

Do you have some meta hcs on Aizen?

Ugh yes, I love me some meta HCs!

The way Aizen ruled Las Noches would be similar to how he would rule once he became the Soul King. Beings would be given rankings based on their strengths, but it was still equitable (i.e. The Espada were ranked, but they had their own "kingdom" that were fairly equal in size/capacity between each of them).

I think he did this because he hates the concept of the Great Noble Families that reside in Soul Society. I think he's someone who despises nepotism, and the Great Noble Families are living proof that nepotism rules.

Aizen misses teaching. I saw some people remark that maybe "he likes the sound of his own voice", but I disagree. I'm of the opinion he liked imparting knowledge, and he wanted to get more students to critically think about Soul Society. I don't think he met many students in this regard though, because a lot of them fawned over him for superficial reasons.

I'm putting the rest behind a cut because it'll get too long otherwise!

In a way, the way Aizen wanted to speak to Ichigo, and just Aizen's rebelling/criticisms of Soul Society, remind me a lot of Socrates. There was even this whole thing with Socrates and "corrupting the youth" that he was charged with. Shunsui and Urahara didn't want Aizen to speak to Ichigo at the end, and I like to believe it's because they knew Aizen would tell Ichigo about the corruption Soul Society was built upon. Can't have the hero learn that he was working for a morally corrupt institution, can we? 🙃

Going back to the Trial of Socrates and Aizen's own trajectory, there are some similarities:

They both committed "blasphemy" (Socrates didn't believe in the Greek gods, Aizen disregards the Soul King).

They led their "followers"/"students" to question the basis of their society (corruption of the youth). It's good to note that Aizen wasn't totally successful with this, only Tosen and the Espada were followers, Gin was following Aizen for his own revenge.

Both of their trials were held with majority, if not all, male-led jurors (Aizen and Central 46) who decided their sentencing.

Both condemned to death (in Aizen's case, because he's immortal, 20,000 years but that might as well be death...)

Both could have escaped and dodge their punishments, but opted not to. Socrates was given an out, but took his death penalty. Aizen was temporarily exonerated for wartime service, and willingly went back to serve the remainder of his time.

In one of the novels (I think Spirits are Forever with You), Shinji and Momo talk about how Aizen probably wasn't lying to them as much as he wanted them to believe, and I would agree with them. Yeah, Aizen is a master manipulator, but he probably said a lot of "half truths" rather than full-blown lies. It's easier to manipulate someone when there's some semblance of proof to work from.

I'd like to think that at the end of Bleach, Aizen doesn't have the goal to become the Soul King anymore, but he does want change to happen in Soul Society. It's whole existence is based on a lie, and Aizen wants to see its reform. My own headcanon is that once that happens, I think Aizen would want to die - and since the hogyoku is tied to him, it would take away his immortality.

Again, a lot of people see Aizen as a narcissist, but I don't see it. Aizen wanted to be Soul King because he saw everyone else being unable to take a stand. He literally followed the quote "be the change you want to see in the world". He fully acknowledges that Yamamoto is stronger than him, Urahara is smarter than him, but those two refuse to do anything to fix the system. It's why he can acknowledge them, but can't respect them. Why have all that power and not try to change?

Last one lol: I'm of the opinion Aizen likes bullying Hitsugaya lmao. The way Aizen just reads him so easily and doesn't care to fuck around with him. A part of me thinks it stems from jealousy towards Hitsugaya for having people care for him. Another reason is that Aizen doesn't think Hitsugaya is the prodigy everyone else claims he is. Aizen just cuts him down in true "is this your MAN?!" fashion lol

Thanks for this ask!! I hope this is what you wanted in terms of "meta" lol

[testingcheats0n]

Sure! Sorry for the delay btw. This is long, but I do think it's interesting!

The story is about Ichigo Kurosaki, a 15 y/o (and wow, when I was really into it I thought Ichigo was so mature~) hybrid between a Human, a Shinigami- which is literally translated as a god of death, but are more like the grim reaper- and a Quincy, which are humans that gained supernatural abilities by harnessing the scarce spiritual energy of the living world. (Ichigo was lowkey a test-tube baby ngl)

One day Ichigo's twin sisters Karin and Yuzu are attacked by a creature named Hollow- a corrupted spirit who hasn't been led to the afterlife and as such has suffered the torment of being dead while stranded in the world of the living. Fortunately for them, the shinigami on duty in their city noticed that there was a disturbance. Her name is Rukia Kuchiki and she will cause Ichigo so much trouble.

They fight typical shonen stuff- ngl I was never one for fights Worldbuilding is >>>>

Well, long story short she ends up transferring her powers to him after she gets injured for being a noob- which doesn't actually give Ichigo anything more like it awakened the power that was already there, in fact, I think she made it up at some point, but oh well.

Now, normally there wouldn't be a problem with giving power away because it was an emergency, but it turns out that the afterlife is a bit of military dictatorship (*looks at the rest of the Big Three*), and they don't take kindly to outsiders and other races- especially humans- that get spiritual powers. Yikes, you might say, and you're right.

The shinigami are known for their genocides- specifically of the Quincies which had spent centuries hiding and surviving in secret. There are very few of them left, among which are/were Ichigo's mother Masaki, her adopted family the Ishidas, their son Ryuuken, and his son Uryuu (one of my favorites- he's lowkey relevant). Masaki died when Ichigo was a child, due to an incident with a Hollow that was definitely planned, but Ichigo had suppressed the memory of.

Back to the main plot. Basically, Rukia had just committed a crime punishable by death to save some random brats she found on the street. That's pog of her. The problem is that she's practically a homeless refugee now- prime bite for Hollows.

Enter ~Kisuke Urahara~. He's a proper bastard- a smug genius that thrives on chaos (sounds familiar?) and has committed a few crimes against humanity. He's a mad scientist™️, former assassin, and now an exiled shopkeeper who definitely doesn't sell homecooked drugs from his "candy shop". (There's never customers, they're probably spooked by his child laborers Jinta and Ururu)

It's one-sided hate on sight. Ichigo can't stand him, and Urahara enjoys being irritating to the fullest. However, they do have to cooperate because he's the one who supplies Rukia with all the gadgets she needs to upkeep the front of a working shinigami on duty including an actual tangible body humans can see. He's creepy, has a cane and the free favors totally don't come at a price (👀).

Anyway. Life goes on. We get some world-building. Many characters are introduced, including Ichigo's friends. Let me enumerate them because they're kind of important. Orihime is a ditzy girl that can't cook (gross food gag idk- one might call it a personality trait), is kind-hearted, and had a pair of big... personalities. Chad or Sado, a Japanese-Mexican (a POC!!) who is very loyal to Ichigo, he's quiet and unusually muscled for his age. Finally, Uryuu Ishida. Prick. If Technoblade's social awkwardness were to be mixed with Wilbur's theatre kid shenanigans and that amazing headcanon that Tommy can sew. He's a dumbass, but he's a kind-hearted dumbass deep down.

Some short arcs resumed:

Ichigo kills the Hollow that killed his mother.

His friends have powers because his soul emits spiritual energy that reacts with their vanilla human souls.

Urahara rescued a bunch of artificially-created souls that were actually slavs, from certain death at the hand of the Shinigami.

Aside from the human world and the afterlife, there's Hell, and also a purgatory-like limbo where Hollows- including their evolved humanoid forms live. It's called Hueco Mundo. Or Hollow World...

In the end, Rukia's crime is discovered and someone has to come and collect her. Those someones turn out to be her former childhood friend Renji Abarai, and her adopted brother Byakuya Kuchiki who is both powerful and important. They beat the shit out of Ichigo, take his powers away, take Rukia with them, and dip.

Urahara trains and heals Ichigo in a training montage which both unlocks his Shikai- the first stage of his Zanpakutou, which is basically his soul manifested in an avatar that gives him cool powers related to his personality- and also awakens his Hollow side. Because Urahara is a scientist and also sus af he has illegal means to access the afterlife, so he sends Ichigo, Ichigo's three friends mentioned above, and his friend, the talking cat Yoruichi to the afterlife, also known as the Soul Society.

This is where it gets interesting.

The Soul Society is like the military barracks/slums of the Soul King who is like the God of this Universe. He is in charge of maintaining the balance of the Universe or whatever. If he dies everything begins to disintegrate basically. He has his guards- which are powerful Shinigami elected for the job- and he has his soldiers, which are the rest of the Shinigami.

The Shinigami are in charge of maintaining the balance of the Universe on behalf of the Soul King- they take care of the deceased souls until they're ready to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation. Unfortunately, they're also assholes. See, it's never really explained why or how, but Soul Society is composed of two distinct social classes that live in different places.

The normal souls live in Rukongai, which grows poorer the closer to the margins of Soul Society it is, and the Shinigami live in the Seireitei- or the Court of the Pure Souls, to show you how up their ass they are. It's messed up considering most of the Shinigami come from the slums where they starved unless recruited by other Shinigami (normal souls don't need to eat, so food is not a thing and souls with powers starve) while the ruling class is composed of Noble Families born and raised in luxury. The Nobles are also in charge of safekeeping history, ancient artifacts etc.

The hierarchy of the Shinigami is complex and lengthy to explain- I don't know if you have the patience for that- if you do, I can always explain no problems. But to summarize, Ichigo enters through Rukongai, infiltrates the Seireitei, fights a bunch of people including Renji and Byakuya, and bursts in just in time to save Rukia from being executed.

There are also multiple other fights, and smaller arcs including a murder mystery, several different flashbacks from many people, and the introduction of an amazing cast with intriguing powers.

This is also when the main bad guy is revealed, his name is Aizen and now I realize he is a shittier, less-developed c!Dream...

Hmph.

From then on the main goal is to defeat Aizen, because he wants to destroy the world, kidnapped Orihime, experimented on a bunch of people, etc, etc, etc.

There were also some traitors and such, and also Aizen invented a new species with one of Urahara's inventions called the Hogyoku (it's barely a MacGuffin so *shrug*) which Urahara had hidden in Rukia's soul- which means the entire execution was a plan to get to Rukia-and they're very cool villains, but I don't think it's relevant unless you're interested.

And that's the first half of the story + I'm missing a lot of details.

Hey from now on, I'm no dsmp blog. I'm a dedicated anime fan and I've recently rediscovered my passion for Bleach.

[tuliharja]

BLEACH: Thousand-year Blood War ep 3 review

Ukitake looked as fine as ever, Mayuri looked like 'I don't want to be here berated by my boss' and 'once I get out of here, I'll blow some of my subordinates and-...oh yeah, I probably shouldn't do that, because balancing souls...well, I'm sure we can mark a few of them as collateral damage when the actual war break!' in the captains' meeting.

I loved the contrast they played later on when Yamamoto talked with Mayuri. Did you notice Yamamoto had been placed on the side of light while Mayuri was on the side of the dark? Light vs. Darkness. Emotion vs. logic. Contrasts, but everybody should remember...light can blind one from ugly things, while in dark you can't ever be so sure if the path, you're venturing on is the right one or not... Gotta love this kind of thing.

Alright, they went full punkish idol look with Hidetomo Kajomaru (or, at least as much as they could) because I remember in the manga, he was almost a carbon copy of Aizen. I think it's nice there is a contrast between the sleekness and the fact he has some punk accessories. (Because those wristbands and earrings gave me such a vibe.) Though I must admit each time I see someone wearing a dog tag, it's like a big death flag to me. Like RIP, at least they'll recognize your body Kajomaru when you'll die.

Though, even though as a manga reader I know how the whole system works already (what comes to shinigami being balancers and quincies) and I recall that from earlier Bleach anime, I think Kajomaru's explanation about the whole thing was very nice. Shino and Ryūnosuke had a very easy time following what was truly going on, which I think it's important when fighting against your opponent. The lack of information when going against the enemy or even understanding why you fight someone...could be deadly. It was also a nice touch Kajomaru basically told there isn't justice when fighting in the war. It just is, which is true. There isn't anything cool or glorious...it just is. Two sides clashing and...yeah. I think his explanation did drive the point nicely.

I liked how Uryuu stubbornly still searched from the family library (?), despite the fact, Ryuken had told him plainly 'the information you're seeking isn't in there'. But because their son-father relationship is poor...it's poor, lol. Like, Uryuu just searched out of spite after his father's clue. xD Good thing he eventually got it. (Though, it made me think just how many times Uryuu has done things out of spite, just to try and show off to his father.) Though, each time when I see when there is a clear communication cut, I can't help but wonder...why? I mean, yes, it's obvious there is bad blood between them, but wouldn't it hurt to like...maybe talk things through and thus help the other party understand things from their perspective? Because when people don't talk, it'll often lead to more trouble or misunderstandings or something bad or all the things mentioned.

I seriously lolled at the end over the fact Urahara was carrying on his back Dondochakka. xD Goes to show how strong he is, despite the fact he doesn't look like one.

Also, the next episode spells trouble for the shinigami as Sternritters have arrived~. Their arrival looked very cool and poor Kira...

This time the ending was spoken by Toshiro! ...I didn't get why, though. Though, I suppose his ending 'poem' did suit the episode...kind of?