#similarly on 'habitual' being an overstatement for some of these

[afinepiece]

Oooh, oooh, me, me!!! I want to listicle on this topic, too!

Renji. I, too, love writing from Renji's POV. When I got to jump into his head, he was always easy to pin down and his thoughts and musings are so pure and funny (both intentionally and unintentionally) to work through. This is probably because I relate to rough do-gooders as someone who came from not-a-whole-lot and wound up doing "pretty okay." Taking those jagged pieces and working them to their most Renji-est form is therapeutic. Love Renji. 10/10 character and so fun to write.

Byakuya. I say this because I write him a lot. I relate to his quietness, loyalty, and weirdness, a combination that can be sad, devastating, tragic and/or ridiculous, depending on the scene, making him fairly versatile as a character. Byakuya is also great for exploring the world of Seireitei and the politics, economics, and power scales of Soul Society. And I love politics in fantasies. Especially crapsack fantasy universes.

Rukia. Oh, beautiful, depressive Rukia! I relate to her depressive and her weird. She, like Byakuya, is very in her head as a character, a trait that I find endearing and familiar. She's also fun to write about because her actions are often her "words." I love characters whose actions speak for them. It allows for such fun nuance. I suppose all decent characters or characterizations include this aspect, but I feel it is a very important piece of her and Byakuya's characterization whenever I approach them, at least. However, unlike Byakuya, there is a little flightiness with Rukia. Or, perhaps better put: She's less confident, which makes sense given her "newness" to XYZ during the series proper. Her confidence surely grows throughout the series, but I always get the sense that she doesn't fully trust herself and that bothers her, which is an aspect that I also find endearing. Second-guessing yourself and expecting more from yourself than you reasonably should is the pathological Type-A behavior that I empathize with wholeheartedly.

Nanao. I love Nanao! She is one of my long-standing favorites, as is her captain. And writing from her perspective feels like me channeling my best, brightest, most sensible self. I am not a Nanao in real life, but it would be pretty rad if I were. Aspirational shit right there. What I like about her POV is that she has insight. Because she is a Bleach character, that insight isn't perfect, but it's a fighting manga. Imperfect insight is a feature, not a bug. Also, there's a dryness to her wit that is wonderful. Goals.

Ichigo. I haven't written much in Ichigo's perspective, but I have actually done it! And it was fun! For me, Ichigo has sort of this breathless, rearing-to-go quality about him. It's the age, I think. Being a teenager is... Such. A. Time. Especially, I imagine, if you are a supernaturally-gifted do-gooder like Ichigo. His drive to be and do before sensing or feeling or thinking is also such a fun change of pace from the moodier, depressive-positioned characters that I find myself drawn to exploring more often.

Not-Fully-Explored-in-Canon Bit Characters. I'll stick this here for the characters that are mostly "hard" to pin down because we see little to nothing about them on page or from their own POV. I'd lump my forays into writing POVs for Hisana, Ginrei, and Soujun into this bucket. It's hard to say I'm "writing" any of these characters as it feels much more like I'm "inventing" them. Ginrei could be a very strict disciplinarian or a fairly normal guy whose reputation as the Head of the House casts a long shadow. Soujun could be a poet or an axe murderer! (Like... a really pleasant axe murderer ... one who only axe-murders Bad Guys... for... y'know... fun. Soul Society Dexter, any takers? ) Similarly, Hisana could be a total petunia or a fierce wildflower. These characters are fun to develop because they are important to aspects of more important characters; however, it's hard to point to them as "characters" in their own right as they, themselves, are giant mystery boxes. But, hey! I think spinoffs centered on such characters tend to be more engaging/exciting than spinoffs with better fleshed-out supporting characters. Andor > Obi-Wan Kenobi, anyone?

Soifon. Tough! Very much like the character herself. I feel like trying to get through the veneer of her character plus all the fandom's and anime's weirdness about her made it hard to get a sense of her at first. But, she's tough, hard-working, and funny when you get down to it.

Ranking my Habitual POV Characters, from Easiest to Hardest to Write

Renji. Too easy, actually. He's a yapper. I love him, tho, he is my favorite narrator and I would never write anyone else if I could get away with it.

Byakuya. I hate this for me, too. He is a man of few words, but internally, he is also a giant yapper. Uses all the fun words you can't use irl or people will know you are autistic, like "repast" and "phantasmagorical".

Orihime. Also very fun to write! Sometimes insists on honorifics. A minor yapper.

Uryuu. Easy, but not exactly fun to write. I just gotta let my brain go into full-anxiety mode and ride the wave. It works, but, like. I write fanfiction so I don't have to listen to my brain's anxiety barf, please and thank you.

Rukia (present day). She would be a lot lower on this list if I didn't have a ton of practice and spend twenty hours a day thinking about her.

Ichigo. I don't write him very much because he's already got a whole manga about him, but he is fine and remarkably well-behaved as characters go. Also an internal yapper, worse than Orihime but not as bad as Renji.

Hinamori. The only problem with Hinamori is that she uses an entirely different naming scheme for everyone she knows than anyone else on this list and also often insists on honorifics.

Chad. Very pleasant to write, but much slower than other characters because he very carefully considers everything he wants to say before he says it, including his own internal narration. Says exactly what he means to say, no more, no less.

Kira. I am perfectly neutral on writing Kira-POV, I just think he's more fun from the outside looking in.

Have I ever written a Hitsugaya pov? I don't remember, but I feel like he should go here.

Inuzuri Rukia. What happens to Inuzuri Rukia is no one's business but her own. It is certainly not mine, the author.

Ikkaku. The problem is that I am a yapper, so every time I write Ikkaku having any sort of insight or introspection, I have to roll it back at least twice. His narration is just the thoughts that occur to him, completely in the moment, absent any sort of analysis. I could never. Doesn't use any of the fun words. Writing Kenpachi-dialogue is this, but even moreso, which is why I avoid him as much as reasonably possible.

(if you're a fanficcer and want to make your own list, please do!)