#why? Because I started off writing Nanao/Jugram

[abri-chan]

To play devil's advocate for a moment and why I think morality should not dictate what you write. But isn't Lisa/Nanao grooming in some way? Because Lisa met Nanao when Nanao was a child and read to her and interacted with Nanao quite a bit, almost like taking her under her own wing, for as long as Lisa was around in the division. Now if it is okay to ship adult Nanao with adult Lisa, because to be fair Lisa didn't raise Nanao as her own daughter and didn't show romantic or sexual interest in her as a kid, why is it not okay to ship ships with similar outcomes?

Shunnao fans pre-manga reveal didn't't know she and Shunsui were related. Sure, the ship is problematic for many reasons, such as having known her as a child, similarly to how Lisa knew her, and age gap, and having taken Nanao under his division wing and mentored her in some form. It's the main reason why you don't date your boss irl. But if it's grooming if Shunsui goes for Nanao why isn't it grooming if Lisa goes for Nanao? You can't say one ship is okay and the other isn't. Plus fiction is not real life, and it will all depend on how the said people are writing their stories (are they fetishizing etc) or what reasons they had to ship whichever of the two ships. You can't go into a space not meant for you and act like you know these people by a few posts.

And no I do not ship shunnao & never shipped them or saw the potential for a ship. But it is not meant for me is all it means. That if I had read Bleach when the manga was still running and not like a year or two ago, and I didn't know they were related, it would still not be the kind of chemistry I want in a ship. I probably would have had no Nanao ship until Jugram came around and later on. But that doesn't mean other people didn't see the potential chemistry they liked. And to this day, many are not clear on how the two are related because of the gaps in timeline, and the fight seems to be between those that take Shunsui's words "she was my brother's wife" to mean Nanao is his niece, and those who take the math that Kubo cannot add to mean that she's probably of some other man the mother slept with or married after the father passed away. There's obviously more to it, like the intention you take after the mom sacrificing her life for a sword and how that would not be a person who cares to find another husband, but the fight seems to be reading the "sentiment" or emotional aspect of the saga, vaguely what you think Kubo was going for, versus how well the world building and timeline was done. And I cannot speak for the second camp because I'm in the first.

I never thought shipping Nanao's mom with an adult Shunsui would be a problem. It is messy for sure because of their family situation, but not problematic in the usual fandom way. They are both adults. And if she were to return in Hell arc which is what most of what I write is based on for the two at least, they would not only be adults but also be adults of comparable age, with Shunsui being older which personally I usually tend to want an older woman with a younger man, but oh well it doesn't ruin the character interaction potential. They're not blood related. And it is also not grooming of the kind of adopted brother or adopted son, as he was none of that to her. She didn't raise him, she didn't even mentor him like Lisa or Shunsui did with Nanao. All and all, he was her husband's younger brother who came around to play once in a while. It is also not cheating in that, 900 years later or however centuries later it would take us to the current Shunsui, her husband (his brother) is long dead, and she's widowed and for all purposes single. I do think the way I read the manga, and idk what Kubo will clearly confirm in the anime, that young Shunsui, as far as late teen Shunsui had a crush on her. That is not rare for teens to have one on adults anyways. I do not think his sister in law knew he liked her. I think she died not knowing that. I do think Shunsui also never moved on from his first love possibly because of how much trauma it gave him and how it affected him. Why else the kimono and hairpins of her, when giving or taking a hair piece in ancient Japan was a love confession? But he's an adult now, he's an adult in Hell arc, and he's also an adult when he takes the sword from her and when he's executed. Again messy, but not "illegal".

The issue here is that it is easy to hate shunnao because the consensus is they are related. Therefore it becomes incestous hence immoral. Is cheating immoral? Some of the best ichiruki comics I've seen and deep art have been cheating ichiruki. I don't think it reflects much about the person that draws them. Isane/Unohana is full of power imbalance in more than one way: Unohana is both her captain and physically stronger. Lisa/Nanao have age gap and that weird part where they actually interacted when Lisa was an adult and Nanao was a child. RenRuki started off with Renji almost killing Rukia because he had convinced himself he had no chance with her if he were to give Rukia a better life now that she was a Kuchiki and he hardened his heart in response to convince himself otherwise that he didn't love her. Toxic no? But he also has one of the best growth scenes where having failed to defeat Byakuya, he begs Ichigo to please save Rukia. Starting off with toxic masculinity to swallow his pride and change. The point is if people were concerned about what is moral or immoral and how it reflects on the person writing the story, it will never lead to any interesting stories. Because stories need friction and conflict and change. I think that's the main problem I have with fandom wars or callouts (and fallouts) and anything of the sort: how it makes people concerned someone is looking over their shoulders so they better behave and what will other people think of me? That's not the kind of place you want to create from.

And this doesn't have to do with ships only, it can happen in gen stories with any characters you like writing about. You will always find something problematic to complain about. I dare you to give me a character and see how people will rip them a new fault. And you see remnants in all aspects of the fandom. You can't write about so and so and so and so with who and who because they're problematic, and thus the person writing or drawing them is wrong because they're perverted or immortal. Or "plain wrong", if we take the side of fandom that argues about what is canon and canon-aligned as though any interpretation by anyone but the author isn't in some broad sense fanon. But also it should not matter because why do you have to ruin it for people who make reader posts or OCs or are OOC what did they do to you personally? Some people are plain assholes. But most people I think genuinely come from a place of concern to warn others to "block and stay safe", but unless the person has done something terribly wrong (like rape and how are we doing on that when it comes to rapist male writers and actors? yeah not good.) it leads to witch-hunts and overreactions. No one is going to go through a person's whole blog to fact check. And even if they found evidence of what they consider "improper"... I think, it is often about things that ultimately will not matter a year from now. I also think it is easier to drive out random fans from the fandom and feel like you did "good activism" for the day.

I don't think people should be mean. I think people should be kind. And I know it sounds cheesy but you'll eventually realize how important it is to surround yourself with kind people or be kind to people in life.