#obviously i ship ih so i like the thought of them growing old together but i think i'd like his ending even if he hadnt ended up w anyone

[zabiume]

if i could, very gently, turn any popular perception in my circles over its head and examine it, it would be the perception that ichigo cares only about protecting his family and friends and not anyone else. i'd say this is true for maybe the first few chapters of the manga, and the evidence people usually give is his quote about how he can't claim to be superman or anything but he'll do as much as he can to protect people, but even then, i think this statement is more of a cop-out on ichigo's part than any indication that he's only dedicated to protecting friends and family. he's afraid of widening the pool because he's afraid he'll fail them. keep the circle small and the task is manageable. rukia rightfully calls him out on the hypocrisy of this very early on, and over the course of the series his aims do evolve to a point where, by TYBW, he's pretty explicit about wanting to save everyone.

i think the reason this comes up a lot is because of how it factors into ichigo's ending in 686. people pro-ichigo's ending cite the importance of family and friends as a reason why it works, but i do think it goes a little too far when people say they're the only people he cares about. especially considering ichigo is notorious for caring about people he met, like, 5 seconds ago (rukia), or caring about them to a point where he hasn't been able to forget the day they met (orihime), or even caring about someone after it turns out that they've been the enemy all along (nel). ichigo feels way too much to be comfortable limiting his goals, even if he did very much start out that way out of fear of failure. however, anti-ichigo ending circles take it too far too, with this notion of unfulfilled heroic ambition. i don't think ichigo wanted to be a hero at all, but being extraordinarily attuned to suffering and grief had been taking a toll on him pre-powers, and having powers was just a way to respond to that. the powers were only a means to an end—the end being that ichigo had to embrace his heart and stop projecting the grief of losing his mother onto the fear of losing everyone else. ichigo at 15 is not the same as ichigo at 18, because ichigo at 18 embraces the fact that he is someone who will help anyone if they come to him or if he himself is a witness to their pain. if ichigo's life is a universe with rings, his friends and family would be in his innermost circle, certainly, but you can bet the most random spirit is on his radar too, even if they're on the farthest, outermost circle.

in light of that, karakura town can best be described as his base of operations, or, specifically, the place where he rests. where he's doing mundane things like reading books or hanging out with his friends. the rest of his universe emerges and expands out from this center. so much of ichigo's soul is split into four, and the part that's human is definitely the one that wants connections and love that will live on well beyond his mortal existence. ichigo will live on though kazui, as any parent lives on through their child, but there's something really poignant about a boy too scared to accept responsibility for strangers growing into a man prepared to raise a child – arguably one of the most daunting responsibilities there is. he cares about everyone, but it's not unreasonable for him to want to sink his roots into the town where his parents met, where he grew up, where he met everyone who would become important to him etc etc

#i'd maybe buy the unfulfilled argument if he randomly kept visiting soul society for no reason but to my knowledge that's only ever happened #in bleach filler. and you all know how much i respect the sanctity of that lmao #we could also argue about the implied heteronormativity of a happy ending = a wife and kids but a) this is the heteronormativity genre #and b) i think it's still believable for ichigo's character to want a family considering his nurturing nature #obviously i ship ih so i like the thought of them growing old together but i think i'd like his ending even if he hadnt ended up w anyone #that man was born to be a father lmao #it all feels reasonable enough mainly bc of how ichigo has always had a LIFE beyond what he does as a hero #so it makes sense to me that there's something waiting for him during peacetime. that heroism isnt all there is for him #ichigo kurosaki