#people always bring this up in a ichigo vs renji as if it matters to her how strong her lover is in battle

[fluffnflightillustrations]

My half of the art trade for Fai! The aftermath of the race-- 2nd place is still a winner, as far as Rukia is concerned.

[recurring-polynya]

What are your thoughts on Bazz-B? He and Renji seemed to have developed a good rapport and I feel that they would’ve been good frenemies had be survived. I can imagine them exchanging fashion tips which would have interesting results!

I imagine that in another universe, they could have been friends, but I feel like the fact that Bazz grievously injured/ambiguously killed one of Renji’s best friends would put a big damper on that.

I really, really, really do not like the Sternritters. I don’t even like them as villains. Out of them, Bazz is probably the least objectionable, but I still don’t like him.

Here are a few thoughts on why, but I’m gonna put them under a cut, because that’s my policy when I say critical things about characters. If you like the Sternritters, I’m glad for you and please feel free to skip the rest of this post!

One of the major themes of Bleach has always been about moral ambiguity, that people are rarely pure heroes or villains. In the earliest episodes, Rukia warns Ichigo to kill Hollows from behind, to never try to glimpse the person they once were, advice that Ichigo roundly rejects as he’s constant turns enemies into friends/allies. This works really well at the beginning of the series and... less well each time we got through this.

My understanding is that Kubo’s original plan for Bleach ended after the Soul Society Arc, and that makes sense to me, because it seems so well plotted out to me, and then the subsequent arcs just seems to try to be recapturing the magic. The thing that is coolest to me about this arc is that the shinigami characters have real depth, and that our initial impressions of them are insufficient. The Gotei is going through an existential crisis, where an injustice (Rukia’s execution) is being prosecuted, and in addition, Aizen has laid a groundwork of mistrust and misinformation. You have characters like Renji, Kira, and Hinamori, who are torn between their orders and deep personal feelings. You have bystanders like Hisagi and Komamura, who don’t really have skin in the game, but feel a sense of unease about the way things are going. You have characters who seem sympathetic-- when Aizen comforts Hinamori that Renji won’t be fired, and the fact that Tousen seems to be someone who would be on the side of justice if only he had the full story, that turn out to be disingenuous. Then you have characters like Kenpachi, who, at least in the second half of the arc, is on Ichigo’s side, but not really for any noble reason, just because he likes Ichigo and also he wants an excuse to fight other captains. There’s Kurotsuchi, who is nominally on the side of the good guys, but is not, in fact, a good person. By the end of the arc, I feel like Kubo has done a really good job of presenting a diverse group of people who live in a flawed system and who were played by someone who took advantage of that. I have no objection at all to the idea that Ichigo considers many of the shinigami his friends afterward, including a very strong friendship with Renji, who is presented as a villain initially.

The Arrancar arc, is more of a mixed bag for me. I still think it mostly works. Arrancar are not humans. They follow Aizen, but in some ways, they are also his victims-- post-Arc, I don’t find myself begrudging any of the surviving Espada for having gone along with him. They are Hollows, and they come from a life of violence and anger and brutality. They have risen above that, which means different things to the various Espada. Harribel, Starkk and Nel are all sympathetic, even tragic characters. Nnoitra and Szyalapollo are monstrous, but in the way that terrible humans are monstrous. Grimmjow is an interesting character, because he falls somewhere in the middle.

I read a fair amount of GrimmIchi fic, because a) it often features Renruki as a side ship and b) there are a lot of really, really talented GrimmIchi writers, but I do not love the ship for it’s own sake, and it’s mainly for one reason: Grimmjow purposely hurt Ichigo’s friends in front of him, and I do not think that’s a thing Ichigo would take lightly. Now, one of the things that make GrimmIchi writers so good is that they are often willing to do the heavy lifting of examining Grimmjow’s brutality, and way Ichigo views the Hollow within himself (for some people, this is even one of the attractions of the pairing). We get a lot of canon scenes with Grimmjow in various situations-- when he backtalks Aizen, when he “rescues” Orihime from Loly and Menoly, when he tries to get her to heal Ichigo just so he can fight him again, when we see him willing to fight his fellow Espada. He’s a meaty character and there’s a lot to dig into. I would still, someday, like to see Ichigo say, “Hey Grimmjow, y’know, you badly hurt my friend Rukia and it messed me up a bunch and I am having trouble getting over it,” and for Grimmjow to have to deal with that. (Polynya, you say, didn’t Rukia kill one of Grimmjow’s Fraccion like 5 minutes earlier? Yes, she did, and whether Grimmjow would respond with “yeah, well, Rukia killed my friend and it hurt my feelings too!” vs. “yeah, well, Rukia killed my friend and you don’t see me crying about it!” are both really interesting ways you could take this)

ANYWAY, getting back to the Quincy. From our earliest introduction to Uryuu in the series, we know that Quincy ought to have a legitimate beef with Soul Society. For starters, there is their underlying philosophical difference: Quincy don’t think that the shinigami do enough to protect the Living World, and they have taken matters into their own hands. They want to see Hollows annihilated, rather than purified. Then, on top of that, the shinigami eradicated their people, and treated them like lab rats. You could spin a lot of gold out of this, but instead, we got the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.

The Quincy are, basically humans with powers, and yet they are extremely bloodthirsty and cruel. We see Bambietta killing people to blow off steam, they take glee in killing lesser opponents (both Hollow and shinigami), As Nodt tortures Byakuya rather than just killing him cleanly, Giselle takes over Bambietta’s body in a horrifying way. Yhwach chastises Yamamoto for having “gone soft”, and says “you used to be cooler when you were a murderer.” The Vandenreich isn’t about justice or improving the system, it’s just about revenge and power and proving racial superiority. Are y’all ready for the hottest take I have ever had? Here it is: The Bount Arc, which is bad and should feel bad, provided a more well-characterized and relatable set of villains than the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.

I mentioned earlier that out of all the Sternritter, Bazz is the best of a bad lot. He gets some good flashbacks and his story evokes both Renji and Rukia’s childhood relationship as well as Gin and Rangiku’s. He's shown hating Yhwach in his youth, but then it’s never really followed up on. Nothing about this works to make me like Bazz, though, it just makes me feel like Yhwach is terrible, a person who ruins lives in both big and small ways.

I honestly hate the scenes where Bazz and Renji banter. Up until this point of the story arc, we have been slammed over and over with how much worse the Quincy are than previous villains. They cause massive destruction, they maim and kill beloved characters. Then, halfway through the arc, Kubo suddenly tries to start walking this back. Byakuya and Kenpachi were supposed to never fight again, but, uhhhh, Byakuya got healed in the Royal Realm and Kenpachi... got better? Look, we fixed Kira! Mayuri brings everyone back as zombies, that’s cool? Let’s have some banter, ha ha, the Quincy are fun! I don’t want to blame Kubo on this because he wasn’t feeling well and also, all of this smacks of editorial pressure, but it doesn’t sit well with me. It seems out of character to me for Renji to joke with someone who has hurt his friends and destroyed his home, and I sometimes justify it in my mind by saying that Renji probably doesn’t know that Bazz was the one who hurt Kira, but in some ways that makes things worse.

To be honest, a much better way to humanize the Quincy would have been to do so through Uryuu. One of the huge flaws of this arc is that there is so little focus on him, the character who ought to tie all this together. Uryuu has been harping for years that shinigami are his enemy and that he’s proud of his heritage. This is literally exactly what he has always says he wanted, and the fact that I, the reader, never believed for a microsecond that his loyalties were divided speaks to how awful the Quincy must be. How did Yhwach first approach Uryuu? It would have been cool to be introduced to the Vandenreich via the narrative device of Uryuu’s introduction. Was anyone nice to him? Do the Quincy have any redeeming value? What if there had been a scene where Bazz-B is goofing around, maybe training with someone, and Uryuu says to himself, “He reminds me of Renji and I hate all of the feelings that are currently in my body��? That would make a cool fanfic, actually, and anyone who wants can have that idea because I will never, ever write fanfic about the Sternritter.

Finally, on a note about fashion, the Sternritter uniforms (along with all their other symbolism) skirts way too close to “Nazi” for my tastes, and one more thing I hate about them is that they have retroactively ruined Uryuu’s aesthetic for me.

[darisu-chan]

They Deserved Better (No Ships Edition)

So, it’s been a year since Bleach ended. I remember coming back from work feeling depressed af because of my crappy job, and I got home excited, thinking I was going to see something incredible, but no. Kubo fucking trolled me with his shitty ending. I’m still sorta angry about it. So I decided to make this post about things that should have happened or should’ve been explained, no ships edition.

1. Yhwach VS The Six of Hearts

Okay, I know I’m not the only one who expected more of that final battle. What we got sucked, to put it simply. I had envisioned something more hardcore. What I wanted to see was all of Ichigo’s friends joining him in battle. Chad should’ve been there, along with Orihime and Rukia. Just Renji there with Aizen was terrible. Picture this: Ichigo and co. go follow Yhwach. They have a plan: they will keep attacking and try to find his weak point. Orihime is on the back, protecting them with her shield. Ichigo is in the middle, fighting actively against Yhwach. Rukia, Renji and Chad fight on the sides. However, they keep losing. Aizen helps them like in the manga. They start falling one by one until only Ichigo and Rukia are left. Rukia activates her bankai, and manages to freeze Yhwach for a short period of time. She falls. Yhwach starts unfreezing himself, and then Ishida appears like in the manga. Together they defeat Yhwach. The six are victorious. There’s a heartfelt apology from Ishida, and then everyone saying there’s nothing to forgive and that they’re always gonna be friends. This also helps complete Urahara’s speech of leaving everything to Ichigo and Rukia. Rukia freezing Yhwach gives Ishida enough time to arrive.

2. What’s with the new Soul King?

Aizen would’ve totally tried to become Soul King, but got stopped by Kyouraku. Now, they need a new SK, and I think maybe they’d use Ukitake. He gets to say goodbye to everyone, and instead of dying, he becomes SK. This isn’t ideal, but at least it solves a plot hole (the novels don’t count).

3. Isshin meets Rangiku and Hitsugaya once again.

I feel like they needed closure after the flashback. I think Isshin would’ve been happy to see them again. Also, imagine Hitsugaya’s surprise when he realizes Ichigo is his former captain’s son. I imagine there would be a lot of emotions involved. We needed Isshin telling Hitsugaya he’s proud of him for becoming captain. We needed some Rangiku and Isshin shenanigans as well.

4. Shiba Family Reunion

We missed big time Ichigo talking with Kukkaku and Ganju, as cousins. And Isshin interacting with his niece and nephew. I’d totally laugh at Ganju’s expression when he realizes Ichigo of all people is his cousin. A talk about Kaien would’ve been nice too. Which brings us too...

5. Rukia and Ichigo coming clean.

Rukia told Ichigo that when he was ready, she’d listen to his story. I feel that after everything, Ichigo speaking about his mother to Rukia would’ve given him some closure. It was one of the things which remained opened. With the realization he’s a Shiba, Rukia could’ve talked about Kaien and her role in his death. That would’ve made the two Memories in the Rain arcs come full circle.

6. Ichigo telling his sisters and friends he’s a shinigami.

I think this was long overdue and we never saw this happening or even given mentions of it. Karin totally knew, but it’s one thing finding out, than Ichigo telling her himself. Keigo, Mizuiru and Tatsuki always suspected too, but I think it would’ve been better if Ichigo told them himself as well. 

7. Kon.

Look, I don’t care if we saw Kon briefly at the end. He should’ve been there, just as a nod to the very first arc. Kon was very important in that first arc, more than Chad, Orihime and Ishida. He should’ve appeared again. I don’t care how, but he should’ve been there with Rukia and Ichigo. Where was he?

8. Yoruichi’s, Urahara’s, Grimjow’s, Nel’s, and Kira’s fates.

Kubo should’ve dedicated at least a panel to show what happened to them. I still don’t even know if Kira’s alive. Last time we saw him, he was fighting with a gaping hole in his body. Is he alive? What happened to him? If he died, how did Rangiku, Hisagi, Hinamori and Renji, his closest friends, react to his death? What about Rose?

9. What’s going on in Hueco Mundo?

We needed to see if Harribel was freed from her imprisonment. Also, wouldn’t it have been great if SS and HM came to an understandment? With new leadership from both sides comes new relationships. Ichigo and Nel could’ve been great ambassadors for each side. Things not moving forward didn’t make sense, and left us with a sense of despair. 

10. Hisagi’s Bankai.

We were robbed. Hisagi was robbed. We needed to see it. Hisagi needed to prove himself. Hell, he should’ve rescued his captain and friends. It would’ve been awesome.

11. A Hinamori and Hitsugaya conversation.

After Hitsugaya’s ultimate form, and after everything that happened between them in previous arcs, I feel that they needed to talk. Their relationship was given a lot of importance in SS and even in the Arrancar arc, but we never got closure from them. I’m not speaking in a romantic way, just in general. Hitsugaya even became stronger because of her, as hinted in chapter 423. Also, Yukio hinted at that in his battle against Hitsugaya, but we saw nothing about it again.

12. Whatever happened to Yukio and Rukia.

We saw them briefly, and then nothing else. I know they weren’t very important, but still, they were reintroduced at the end, and then Kubo promptly forgot about them again. He just got me curious to what they are up to these days, along with the surviving fullbringers.

13. Ichigo’s Powers.

There’s something that still isn’t clear. Did Ichigo lose his powers at the end or not? Yhwach took his Hollow and Quincy powers, which essentially made up his Shinigami powers too. So why was he still able to use his powers to defeat Yhwach? After his sword broke again, revealng Zangetsu’s main form, did it keep working? Did he slowly lose his powers again like when he used Mugetsu? The last chapter sort of made me conclude he lost them altogether, and became a normal human. Yet, in the RR novel apparently he went and could see them just fine. So what’s the truth? Did he or didn’t he lose his powers?

14. Ichigo continued being a Shinigami.

This isn’t about ships or anything, this is about Ichigo and his journey, the hero’s journey. By all means, he should’ve stayed as a Shinigami, not only because narrative-wise it makes the most sense, he enjoyed being a Shinigami and was miserable as a normal human in the Fullbring Arc. You cannot end Ichigo with being “happy” as a human, when in the previous arc we knew he was very unhappy and risked it all to become one again. If that had happened in the first few arcs, then maybe I could give you that ending, but this happened in the arc previous to the last one. It doesn’t make sense not having Ichigo still be a Shinigami. It even makes more sense if, after high school or after college, he moved to SS. His family would’ve understood. Ichigo never expressed a desire to be a doctor, not even once. His ending doesn’t add up no matter how you try to justify it.

15. Ishida not becoming a doctor.

Again, no matter how you look at it, Ishida becoming a doctor makes as much sense as Ichigo becoming one. They don’t precisely follow the same patterns as their parents. Ishida didn’t want to be a doctor. His true passion was sewing. He should’ve been a fashion designer or literally anything else but a doctor. Perhaps he wouldn’t want to be a Quincy after the war, I give you that, but becoming a doctor isn’t justified.

16. Ishida having a heart-to-heart with Ryuken.

Ryuken was a very shitty dad towards his son. Now we know he hated Quincies after what happened to his wife, and how his dad died. However, he still needed to apologize to his own son who was driven to do rash actions thanks to Ryuken’s lack of explanations. Even their last interaction was cold. I know Ryuken isn’t like Isshin, who is much warmer, but still, even Byakuya, who was a bastard to Rukia, apologized to her at the end of the SS arc. Ryuken should’ve apologized. Period.

17. Chad’s career.

It’s been said before but I’m going to say it again, Chad should’ve been a professional boxer due to his promise of using his fists to protect, not to get money. He felt pride of his roots because of his abuelo. He should’ve honored that promise, which is an important part of Mexican values, and even Japanese values. What he did isn’t honorable. Besides, he was a gently person through out Bleach. I think Chad was better of as a teacher. I can picture him teaching box at a gym, showing people how to protect themselves. Maybe working with children.

18. Orihime actually having a career. 

Orihime was robbed through out the series. She started as a fun character who happened to like the MC, but was more than that. She was introduced as a quirky but intelligent girl, kind and compassionate. Her powers were never truly developed, and it was her time to shine, she didn’t accomplish anything worthwhile. Lastly, her character was reduced to being “the girl who loves the MC”, and that’s it. Even in the end, her only “price” was marrying Ichigo. There was nothing else for her. What the hell? I know many fans like to quote her “five lifetimes” speech, but you always miss an integral part. She says that if she could live five lifetimes, she’d like to become a teacher, an astronaut, or a baker. How is it she didn’t study any of them? Because of lack of funds, as the novel says? With her grades, she could’ve gotten a scholarship. These are just excuses because maybe WSJ and others don’t want to admit that the only thing Orihime accomplished was marrying Ichigo. Fuck that. She should’ve gotten to study anything she wanted. Hell, Orihime would’ve been a much better doctor than Ichigo and Ishida with her powers. She was tender enough to be a teacher.

19. The SS not rebuilding the Sokyoku.

I don’t know what was going on with Kubo when he wrote that, but it was a massive fuck you yo the SS Arc. It’s like nothing changed at all, which was not the path we had been taking with the manga. Things were already changing in the SS. Even Rukia thought so in the Fullbring Arc, saying it was Ichigo who had changed the SS, he managed to change a system that had existed for thousands of years. Rebuilding the Sokyoku totally symbolizes that things are back to the way they used to be before Bleach started. Ichigo’s journey meant nothing at all. Not only did he stay a normal human, but the system that almost killed Rukia applies today. I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make sense either. Imagine how Rukia feels? She was almost executed! The SS shouldn’t have rebuilt it. If anything, they should have started changing many things, including how the souls at Rukongai are treated. One would think that knowing many of the captains and lieutenants used to live there, they would try to make things better. They were on their way to changing, they shoudln’t have reverted.

20. Kazui shouldn’t have defeated Yhwach.

For me, that was the biggest fuck you in the entire manga. Yhwach was the man that killed Yamamoto, the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13 and the most powerful Shinigami. Yhwach killed many Shinigami. Yhwach consumed most Quincies. Yhwach was the guy who could travel between time and space. You’re telling a little boy defeated him with just one touch? I mean, maybe Yhwach disappeared because Kazui was an anomaly that wasn’t meant to exist. Stil, maybe they should’ve defeated Yhwach in some other way. I don’t know, maybe by using Ishida’s powers which were said to be the only ones that could defeat Yhwach? Why Kazui? No, it should’ve been Ishida in his own arc. Also, it’s a little weird that was the happiest day in Ichigo’s, Ishida’s and Renji’s lives. I can think of many other circumstances that could’ve brought them ultimate happiness but that day.

[hezuart]

@socialjusticeichigo

Hi! Um... short answer, yes I do! 

Unnecessary Long Answer: 

Ichiruki has always been the main canon-material pairing in BLEACH for me, but as BLEACH was an action genre, I was very happy it didn’t get into any romance that would get in the way of the series. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t like Orihime's position in the franchise, because that’s all she was demoted to in the end. 

Ichigo and Rukia had amazing chemistry in the first and best arc of BLEACH. But when the Hueco Mundo arc came around, Kubo kinda destroyed Rukia’s personality. She did hit Ichigo now and then in the first arc when he’d make fun of her, not for just the sake of beating Ichigo up. Ichigo was extremely depressed, injured, and misinformed about the hollow attack. She shows up and beats the crap out of him. She brings him to his senses, but after the Hueco Mundo arc, Kubo butchered Rukia’s caring side towards Ichigo, which I was extremely unhappy about. You’d think considered Kaien’s death she’s be far more caring and considerate...... but no. Just down the gutter. ESPECIALLY when Rukia forced Ichigo to apologize to Orihime. That was not acceptable. Orihime and Chad ran into the fight of their own will, its not Ichigo’s fault they got hurt and he should not take blame for that. Orihime did try to reason with Ichigo that she ran in of her own accord and that he shouldn’t have to be there to protect her all the time. This set up the whole gary-sue trope for Ichigo, and ever since then he was the only one to ever actually progress the BLEACH series and things just got sickeningly repetitive. 

Now...I apologize if I’m side tracking but I have to talk about my stance on these pairings again: 

Ichihime: 

....Orihime was shown to have a crush on Ichigo throughout the entire manga, but never had any real reason or explanation behind it. 

Seriously? Why????? She literally would give up her life for a mere highschool crush.. who does that? Its been stated she didn’t develop a crush for Ichigo until she saw him in Highschool. She stalks him and constantly gets in his way. 

Ichigo has never once shown any interest in her at all, he’s brushed her off and ignored her everytime she approached him, and yet Kubo has the audacity to co-author a book and release it about Ichigo saying he knew about Orihime’s crush this entire time and even asks her out? I’ve never heard something so ridiculous in my entire life. 

I saw a video released recently about one of the BLEACH editors saying Orihime was the heroine of the series which is entirely false. Out of the entire series (besides filler arcs), Orihime has only defeated ONE enemy. Which was a weakling hollow in the first arc. That’s literally it. I don’t think heroines are defined by the amount of people they’ve healed, but regarding that, her healing abilities could be replaced easily by Hachigen or Unohana. Hachigen told her she had the ability to bring things back to life without needing a body, and yet her power couldn’t even HEAL a body like Ichigo’s in the Ulquiorra fight. She’s no heroine. She was demoted to a side-character. 

Back to her crush on Ichigo, remember the ONE time she actually defeated an enemy? That was for TATSUKI. TATSUKI WAS THE ONE WHO AWOKE HER POWER, AND THAT’S WHEN ORIHIME GAINED INDEPENDENCE TO FIGHT. But when going to rescue Rukia, she was really only there to “protect” Ichigo for no real reason as to why besides her crush that she doesn’t even know if its requited. 

Orihime had the ability to reverse time. She was given many opportunities to actually make a difference in the series that only she could make. But none were taken. She didn’t reverse the Hougyoku, she couldn’t stop Tsukishima, and despite having “god like powers” her power does jack-shit to the soul kings. As to how she wasn’t killed in the Yhwach vs Ichigo battle, and as to why Ichigo and CO. even let her come along on this mission will forever be a mystery to me. She’s the weakest character out of the original team of 5, by all means, she should have been killed. Even Renji knew she wasn’t a warrior, so why was she there? Her only significance in the final battle was fixing Yoruichi’s arm, that’s it. (and giving birth to Yhwach Jr. but that’s a cluster fuck to analyze for another time) 

Orihime was reduced to pure fanservice waifu-material. Her breasts were 4X the size of her head in the quincy arc, and her power has been completely useless overall the entire series, especially if others can replicate her abilities to an even better extent than her own. (Like Hachigen.) 

The fact that there’s no soul king and Ichigo wasn’t allowed at home due to his power issues, and the fact that they’re even allowed to have children in the world of the living, this is the most baffling, false, and culture shocking ending to a series I have ever seen. I feel like this ending is legit a dream world that Ichigo is having as the new soul king considering this ending is literally not possible reflecting on all the information we’ve been given this past arc. Yikes. 

RenRuki: 

“Knowing eachother for a long time” is weird in itself considering time passes differently in Soul Society than in the human world... which Kubo seems to have forgotten. As to why they’d have a child that is somehow the same-looking age as Kazui perhaps around the same time as Ichigo and Orihime is a bundle of confusion already. But these two didn’t talk for 40 years, then Renji shows up and beats her up and slices her, threatening to KILL her, where URYU HAS TO STEP IN. HOW BAD DOES THAT LOOK WHEN A QUINCY STEPS IN-BETWEEN A SHINIGAMI QUARREL. Renji and Rukia have had absolutely zero romantic interest the entire series. The only one time Renji ever seems to actually like her was when they were children. But RenRuki has never had any one-sided love confessions like Orihime. THis is the least developed pairing out of the two. 

(and also for Orihime to make Rukia a wedding veil out of strawberry flowers... REALLY? I MEAN.... no wonder there’s Ichiruki/Ishihime cheating AU’s going around right now! I mean can you imagine Renji seeing his to be wife marching down the aisle with strawberry flowers? Considering this anime has heavily implied name association (Princess Orihime, Sado Yasutora the Tiger, Yuzu-Ichigo-and Karin being named with homonyms for fruits, Ichigo addressing his name with the number 15 on his door, Kon being direct from Konpaku..) For Renji not to pick up on that, especially with Ichigo probably attending their wedding....he’s gotta know something is up. I mean how did Renji even know about Orihime’s crush on Ichigo let alone “know” Ichigo has a “crush on” Orihime too? Zero context for that too. Lot of plot hole issues with these pairings. )) 

Ishihime: 

now Uryu. Precious Uryu. He deserved the world and got nothing. An anti-social who ends up making friends only for them all to become distant from him once more. The original quincy who gets nearly zero spotlight in an arc dedicated to quincy. A man who stood up for ex-shinigami Rukia when she was getting sliced up by her “future husband” Renji. A man who noticed, reassured, encouraged, and was amazed by Orihime’s abilities and kindness. A man who would lay his life down for her after spending nearly the entire Soul Society arc with her. Orihime was the closest person in the group with Uryu, they even shared the same aspirations. They were both top in their sewing class, had quirky designs and tastes, and in the end were both interested in the medical field. They even had a close relative they adored die before their eyes when they were young. For this pairing not to be canon is a crime to me. These two deserved so... so much better. 

CONCLUSION: 

I honestly could live with Renruki. That’s a whatever for me for it to be canon. But Ichihime makes zero sense with the plot. That’s my main issue with the pairings. For Ichihime to be real, Ichigo and Orihime have to be in soul society. But even so, if Ichigo was in soul society, that means more time with Rukia, so at that point, who knows which way the pairings would go? 

That being said, I would not want a forced Ichiruki BLEACH ending if it meant there’d be no soul king and massive gun-shot plot holes and contradictory storyline like Ichihime left.  

I completely shipped Ichiruki in the first arc, but as I said, Kubo changed Rukia’s personality (and her friggen backstory? He made her out to be one of the weakest shinigami and yet she had a shikai like... when did she obtain this? If this was before she lost her powers then I’m at a loss as to how she couldn’t defeat a simple hollow, Kubo is a complete liar he legit had no idea where he was going with the story.)Maybe her desire to get rid of her powers and die because of the Kaien incident would make sense at the time, but other than that her being weak was weird, especially now since she’s defeated one of the most powerful underling quincy and obtained a bankai. How can that BLEACH editor say she’s not the true heroine of the series? She can fight and heal injuries, she’s got the training for it. 

So I absolutely love Ichiruki. As an AU. Because with the way Kubo set Ichigo up to really be the only soul king option besides Aizen, Ichiruki couldn’t be canon along with Ichihime. If the quincy arc diverged away from that where there was no desperate need for a soul king, Ichiruki should have totally become canon because of Ichigo’s bounds to Soul Society and given their chemistry. 

Orihime was jealous of Rukia because Rukia was always the one who could reach through to Ichigo no matter what. Orihime was never able to do that (besides that time in the Grimmjow fight, but the reason Ichigo was upset was because of her in the first place so it makes sense as to why he’d only listen to her that one time.)  For Orihime to still hold such good ties with Rukia all the while hating her on the inside for being closer with Ichigo is a surprise to me. She’s strong with her kindness, I’ll give her that. But regardless, she was helpless to save Ichigo, even with her powers. The only time she successfully healed him was during the first arc up to Grimmjow’s fight. After that, she just couldn’t seem to heal him anymore because her power is “no match” against the reiatsu inflicted wounds. 

Renji said Rukia’s faced never looked so alive when he mentioned traces of Ichigo sightings in Soul Society. Ichigo, a guy Rukia only knew for a little while, rushed in with little to no shinigami experience to save her, while Renji sat back hopeless knowing he could do nothing despite her being his only friend for so many years. He BEGGED Ichigo to save her because he couldn’t. 

Orihime and Renji could not once reach out to the ones they “loved” this whole series. They both held a jealously towards their “spouses’” significant other because they knew they couldn’t do the same. That says a lot about this entire situation. 

Ichiruki: 

To have two main characters: male and female... have such a great start off friendship.... to have the female character have a back story involving a guy who she loved who was so similar to Ichigo its uncanny, to have Ichigo quote something he heard from Rukia an entire arc ago when addressing his father’s shinigami powers, to have Orihime fear Ichigo turning hollow when Rukia fears FOR Ichigo as a hollow, to have ichigo constantly be concerned for Rukia’s well being during the Orihime Rescue mission ready to drop everything to go save her first if she was in trouble, to continuously joke about Ichigo and Rukia’s close “romantic” relationship in canon and filler arc along with rumors being spread that the two are dating within the highschool in the first arc, to have an entire movie dedicated to Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship where Ichigo remembered Rukia so quickly, while her future HUSBAND RENJI FORGOT HER COMPLETELY, to have multiple parallels of “sun and moon” yin/yang - clad-type finale white and black bankai moves -  similar Masaki-Isshin forbidden meeting parallel not to mention the parallel of Ichigo/Isshin saving Rukia/Masaki savior scene nearly laid out the same way, to have a PTSD rain significance with Ichigo’s memories of his mother dying- and when he saves Rukia he says the rain stopped because of her, to have Isshin and Ichigo’s family accept Rukia as a third daughter/sister and have her sleep in their house treating her as part of the family while Isshin and Yuzu listen in on Rukia and Ichigo’s conversations in the bedroom along with Yuzu being concerned because Rukia seems more girly and romance material to Ichigo than Tatsuki was, to have ichigo miss his power that he dreams about Rukia, to have Ichigo think of Rukia as the last and strongest pride he had as a shinigami when trying to gain his fullbring, to have Rukia swoop in and save him when he’s crying his eyes out to help him regain his power- to be the only one in Soul Society to be against the idea of Ichigo becoming Soul Society’s enemy and spying on him, when Ichigo ends up seeing Rukia’s butt in the hot springs and he and the other guy think of peaches....., when Renji forcibly picks a bloody defeated Ichigo off the ground Rukia tells him to wait and  that Ichigo might not be in good shape for a lecture despite that being her job the past few arcs, to have Yhwach say he’ll show up when Ichigo and his friends are at their happiest and he chooses to show up during Ichigo and Rukia’s 10 year reunion and not their weddings or baby-showers, to have Ichihime and Renruki become the “canon” pairing and having their children be the focus of the final chapter and yet the finale book cover is Ichiruki, to have a co-author novel with the suspicious title “We do KNOT always love you” featuring Renji and Rukia’s wedding and Ichihime confession, to have Ichiruki be voted the most popular BLEACH pairing and to be promoting the final BLEACH manga with Ichiruki advertisement bait..... to have the last image we see of the main group be of Ichigo and Rukia who hardly acknowledge their spouses the whole chapter?  

and Tite Kubo FRIENDZONED these two? 

Bye... 

I’m glad Ichiruki didn’t get in the way of the story like Ichihime did, so at least that’s a positive. 

Mitsuro Kubo, the creator of Yuri on Ice did in 12 anime episodes what Tite Kubo couldn’t do in 10 years. 

Create a believable, developed, romantic relationship with a good plot to back it up. 

and the best part is, Mitsuro Kubo did it with non-heterosexual characters. 

For Kubo to rush in with this light novel to try and force in “romantic development” to try and explain pairings he literally only splooshed together for the sake of children.. and to attempt to explain it in a single light novel when he had wasted a ton of plotline set ups that went no where that he could have spent developing said relationships in 10 years time? To have him claim this is an action genre only for him to approve of a light novel based around forced romance and not filling up the hundreds of plot holes he made in the series? Sure we get insight on a couple character’s status and whereabouts but uM WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED... TO THE SOUL KING? THE ZERO SQUAD? Y’KNOW... THE MOST IMPORTANT KEY TO THE WORLD BEING ABLE TO LIVE? HE DEEMED PAIRINGS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THAT?

If Kaien Shiba claims our hearts are in our fists, I think there’s a lot of bleach fans out there who would love to introduce their “hearts” to Kubo’s face... as harsh as that sounds. He and his entire editor team just continue to ship bait and lie to their fans. It’s very disrespectful, kinda giving fans a reason to be upset with them aside from their other choices. Still don’t approve of the harassment going on though. Nothing is gonna change it now besides us. Its up to us to patch up what’s left of BLEACH’S dignity by continuing to improve and create better plot lines that Kubo pulled out of his garbage can. 

So yeah. Ishihime and Ichiruki were, without a doubt in my mind, canon in the first arc. The amount of time and care each exhibited toward eachother throughout the arc says it all. The end game pairings were DEFINITELY not planned from the beginning. Kubo never had a hold that good on the plot of his series past the first arc. Its just... its not believable. Can’t buy it no matter how hard I try...