#to be clear it's ichigo/rukia and byakuya/renji | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

limaisstilldrawing · 1 year

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we were robbed of these 4 going on hilariously awkward double dates

#to be clear it's ichigo/rukia and byakuya/renji #i love this quartet sm they should have had more screentime #bleach #bleach fanart #ichiruki #ichigo kurosaki #rukia kuchiki #byakuya kuchiki #renji abarai #digital sketches #my art #artists on tumblr #digital art

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abri-chan · 9 months

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Not having read the manga I thought Rukia's rescue arc took place somewhere in the middle of Bleach as a series, and not at the very beginning, with it being in the middle making it make sense for a more romantic reading of IchiRuki. Now you can read it as romantic regardless, it's up to the reader. Or you can see it as Ichigo being the older brother to two younger sisters and the oldest kid of a single parent household, where older kids (especially if girls) act as a surrogate second parent, taking on the vacant slot left by the other parent (his mom in this case, not surprisingly he looks so much like her)--as usual, in families a role that exists and is left empty must be filled, even if you need to bring in outsiders for that purpose.

On to the main point, it is so funny to me but also such an accurate portrayal of peak teenage behavior, that this group of kids did sneak into the Soul Society (yeah dude, let's do it! we will save our friend. we will bring her back. no one messes with our circle. we'll definitely come back in one piece, trust me!) to save their friend of... at most six months or a semester of school as Shunsui points out and learns from Chad approaching him.

And Shunsui, being the perspective of an adult who has formed frontal lobes (which he actively tries to destroy with alcohol) and can see in retrospective how teens are and how he was as a teen, realizing that "Oh god! you are dumb. (you are dumb because) You are kids. I cannot kill you!'

Only a teen would pull off a wild stunt like that, because adults either care less about their friends or get too caught up in overanalyzing the situation (Ukitake as Rukia's captain), afraid to be involved (Shunsui because while he didn't like the execution, he doesn't want to do unnecessary work and make things worse, less if he uses his connections or cards right for any little thing that happens in the world there will be nothing left to use when things come down to his niece Nanao), or fearing the loss of social status and family shame (Byakuya as Rukia's brother).

#anime manga rambles #bleach #renji should have helped #but to his credit he did admit it that he knew rukia was out of his league and the easy way was too pretend she never existed and #thus not think that they could never be together #he came to his senses and begged ichigo to save her and then fought byakuya and still went to the execution even if he already lost to bkuy #it's not clear if renji would have eventually not kept himself from saving rukia and ichigo just accelerated an event about to happen #there's also pride and respect in that Renji may have felt he was dishonoring Rukia's choice to die by throwing a tantrum that she should..#continue on living at her execution like who is he to decide for rukia (in his head)#he cared abt protecting the image of rukia more so than protecting rukia bc he was too weak to protect rukia & that's all he was strong...#enough to do #he grew complacent in his choice that it took an outsider to shake him up that #there's no dignity in a dead loved one and you should strive to keep them alive #anyway i wrote an essay on renji in the tags

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jubileemon · 2 months

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Why Ichigo And Rukia Ended Up With The Right People

In Bleach, Ichigo ends up with Orihime, Rukia is with Renji. Since it's part of the shonen genre, it doesn't center around romance and would be unlikely to focus on romantic relationships, as there were other interesting and exciting things happening.

The Problem With Ichigo X Rukia

Even though he becomes a Shinigami, he isn't technically a soul. He was not born in Soul Society and never died to go there. If he wanted to be with Rukia, he would either have to wait and die from old age or die right away and part with everyone else way too soon. Rukia is a soul who ages extremely slowly and will probably never die. Their families are in different worlds, so their priorities are incompatible.

This might be the single biggest factor in Orihime's favor against Rukia: she won't outlive Ichigo by hundreds of years. After all, Ichigo is a substitute Soul Reaper, but not a full-fledged one. It was only ever touched on vaguely because the shinigami are all spirits/souls, and things like time and age aren't something that hold much meaning to them anymore. Roughly in the beginnings of the series, Rukia mentions that she's 10 times older than Ichigo (who was 15 at the time).

Ichigo also looks like Kaien Shiba, Rukia’s mentor and the man that she admired. Due to this, even Byakuya himself understood why Rukia would feel a connection for Ichigo. Rukia realized the parallels between Kaien’s last fight with Ichigo’s battle against Grand Fisher, the Hollow that had killed Masaki Kurosaki. As such, she views them as similar and so would be unlikely to have romantic feelings for someone resembling her late mentor. In fact, she keeps comparing Kaien and Ichigo throughout the Soul Society arc.

Rukia and Renji

Rukia and Renji grew up together as orphaned Soul children in Soul Society. They shared the same experiences, jointly discovering the gift of Reiatsu that earned them a place in the Shin’o Academy. Their mutual goal was to become Shinigami, gain higher ranks, and grow stronger. When Rukia tells Renji the Kuchiki clan wants to adopt her, he acts happy but is deeply upset because he predicts they will grow apart. Still, he tries to hide his sadness because Rukia finally has a family. Unfortunately, Renji falsely believes that he's not important to her anymore.

While this saddened Rukia, he only reacted in the way he believed was best for her, and that ended up making him feel guilty about her potential execution. Chapter 98 was devoted to how Renji considered Rukia an unattainable “star” that he, a “tramp,” could never reach. If he just wanted friendship, why did he feel he had to stay out of Rukia’s way? If she just wanted friendship, why did she expect him to protest? The answer is simple: Her adoption didn’t get in the way of friendship, but in the way of the “something more” that they wanted.

Renji's feelings towards her have always been apparent, as far back as when they were kids. As they originally met around several years ago in the Soul Society, they've been around each other for quite a while. One evening, the two of them were unsuccessfully attempting to catch fish when Renji finally managed to snare one. When he turned around, he saw the rest of his friends staring at Rukia longingly. As anyone with a crush themselves would do, Renji admonished his friends for looking at her with love-struck eyes.

Renji's feelings for Rukia are crystal clear, even when he doesn't acknowledge them. On the other hand, Rukia finds it difficult to express her emotions, especially after joining the Kuchiki clan and her stranied relationship with her brother Byakuya. However, there are several instances that prove her love for Renji beyond the shadow of a doubt. In fact, Rukia obviously cares for Renji even after he attacks Ichigo in the Agent of the Shinigami arc. Although Ichigo and Rukia also love each other, their friendship is considerably less intense than her lifelong attachment for Renji.

Ichigo and Orihime

Orihime’s crush on Ichigo was evident from the first few chapters. She even had trouble being articulate in front of him, although part of her character development was how she gained confidence in herself. As for him, he was ready to sacrifice his life for her from the very beginning, when he put himself between her and her brother Sora (who became a Hollow). He almost always singles her out, speaks up for her and he even defends her.

When the Espadas allow Orihime to say goodbye to one person before she is taken to Hueco Mundo, she picks Ichigo even though he's still unconscious from an earlier fight. She explains how she could have picked one of the others, but Ichigo was the person she needed to see one last time. Orihime says how there were so many things she wished she had gotten to do and how she would like to live five times to try multiple different things, but that she'd always fall in love with the same person... Ichigo.

Ichigo literally came back from death for Orihime during his fight with Ulquiorra, all because she pleaded him not to die. Orihime also places her body between Ichigo and Acidwire to protect Ichigo. Ichigo puts himself between Grimmjow’s Ceros and Orihime without hesitation. Orihime more than willingly goes to fight Yhwach alongside Ichigo, serving as the latter's defense. Even Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, and Nnoitora all mocked him for wanting to protect her and underlined how she was the motivation for him to fight more fiercely.

In the early chapters, Orihime knew that Kon wasn't the real Ichigo when he was running wild inside Ichigo's body and being his perverted self. He jumped into Ichigo's classroom, made a move on Orihime, and then kissed Tatsuki before being forced to flee. Orihime knew right away that wasn't the real Ichigo, forgiving him of actions that would have got him in hot water with any other girl. It's a testament to how much Orihime cared about him. That said, Ichigo would have never acted that way in the first place.

Ichigo & Rukia Contributed To Each Other’s Relationships

It's kinda interesting to note that both Rukia and Ichigo have worked to boost each other's relationships. Remember, Rukia was the one who dragged Ichigo to apologize to an injured Orihime. Rukia was the initial reason why Ichigo and Orihime came closer together and were more expressive of their desire to protect each other. At the same time, Ichigo was the catalyst for Rukia and Renji to become close again after decades of avoiding each other. Ichigo was not meant to interfere in their relationship as a third party, but to help them realize the complete range of their feelings for each other.

💀🍓

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iamumbra195 · 10 months

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I forgot how much of a loser (I mean this in a very endearing way) early renji was. He puts his foot in his mouth so often and then immediately feels bad but I love his and Rukia’s relationship because despite how insensitive he can be at time, they just have a good dynamic

also early byakuya had the biggest stick up his ass. It’s so easy to forget how much you hated him at the beginning because he had so much character development but his relationship with rukia was so... eugh

The way Renji doesn’t know anything about Rukia’s life and the way his eye’s become more clear when he heard, obviously concerned, is just... I’m crying

anywyas i can’t wait to see Ichigo kick his ass

ALSO, this. This is so... I love this little moment. Idk why but I like manga orihime wayyy better than anime orihime

I feel she gets way more sexualized in the anime and in the later manga, maybe that’s why.

#bleach #renji abarai #rukia kuchiki #renruki #byakuya kuchiki #manga rant #manga #orihime inoue #ichigo kurosaki

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recurring-polynya · 10 months

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I know that the answer to any question starting with "What the hell was going through Byakuya's head when--?" is just "Nothing" or possibly "senbonzakura screensaver for Windows98" but today I am rofling over this bit where he just stood there making a pissy face for an extended period of time while Ichigo threw his sister off the Soukyoku scaffold to his lieutenant (whom he left for dead less than an hour previous).

I mean, it's made clear shortly after this that his plan is to deal with Ichigo and then go execute Rukia at his leisure, but sir, that man is your employee, you could at least yell at him or something.

It's like, Byakuya was invited to this execution. He is off duty and it is not his job to maintain security. Also, he tried to fire Renji and Yamamoto wouldn't let him and you see what this leads to? I feel like he's composing a strongly worded memo in his head as we speak.

At least it's better than the shot in the manga where it looks like he got bored some time ago and stopped paying attention, or possibly went to go take a leak off the edge of Soukyoku Hill.

#byakuya kuchiki #i sincerely hope byakuya stopped leaving people for dead after this #do you think byakuya has ever once mentioned the time ichigo threw rukia to renji to either one of them?#imagine witnessing that and then having to live with one of the people involved and work with the other one #i'm pretty sure none of them every bring up anything that happened in the soul society arc with one another #which is honestly kind of hilarious in and of itself

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troius · 1 year

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Sorry but I think you are seriously underplaying Ichigo´s and Byakuya´s bond.

Maybe they didnt interact much but its the quality of the interactions that matter. Ichigo shocked Byakuyas entire world view, he saved his sister and hes immensely grateful for that. Since then he became Ichigos silent ally, always supporting him in his own way, like when he abused a loophole to let Rukia and Renji go back to help Ichigo rescue Orihime. Or when fighting Yammy he indirectly told Ichigo he trusted him to deal with Aizen.

Saying Ichigo would be happy not having to speak with Byakuya again is just wrong. In this arc we saw Ichigo have dreams about Rukia, Renji AND Byakuya. He got so fucking pissed when it looked like the quincys killed Byakuya.

Byakuya could beat Tsukishima because he valued his bond with Ichigo over the bond Tsukishima userped.

Im not saying your version with Rukia doesnt have more value, but what we got with Byakuya doesnt lack value.

I don't think I am? Here is a summary of Byakuya and Ichigo's canonical interactions, up to this point in the story:

Byakuya abducts Ichigo's close friend and mentor and nearly kills him in the process, insulting him the whole time.

They briefly confront each other in Soul Society jail before Yoruichi stunts on them both and drags Ichigo away.

Ichigo rescues Rukia, provoking a civil war among the Soul Reapers, and Byakuya decides that killing the guy who saved his sister's life is a bigger priority then fighting any of the many traitors running around. Ichigo finds this immensely stupid and isn't shy about letting Byakuya know.

Ichigo and Orihime jumped into his hospital windowsill to ask Renji where Rukia was that one time. Notably, they didn't ask him, even though he's her brother...

He did help Renji and Rukia get to Hueco Mundo, but in the moment it seemed like he was doing anything but. And considering he didn't come until later, it's pretty clear he did it as a favor to Rukia and Renji, not Ichigo.

Finally, he does tell Ichigo to go fight Aizen, but in a weird way that is less "I trust you" and more a combination of "I don't need your help", and "saving Karakura is your job". The actual motive, as Unohana later explains, is just "you're the only one who's not under hypnosis".

So they've spoken six times. Three of those times Byakuya was trying to stab Ichigo with his sword. And in their interactions since, he's never said anything to Ichigo that another captain wouldn't have said in that same position.

Now, does Ichigo care about Byakuya? Sure! He understands that Byakuya is very important to Rukia and Renji, and wishes him well for their sake. But he's got no personal investment in the man himself.

And it's the same for Byakuya. Byakuya doesn't beat Tsukishima because of his strong personal affection for Ichigo, he beats him because Byakuya, at one point, was going to execute his own sister, and Ichigo stopped him eliminating the one avenue he had to start building personal relationships and making himself whole again.

Tsukishima, with his power, spent way more time with Byakuya than Ichigo did, considering he knew all of Byakuya's sword and kido techniques. But Byakuya didn't care, because the principle that Ichigo conveyed to him in Soul Society is worth more to Byakuya then his relationship with a man (he thinks) saved his life. He doesn't kill Tsukishima because he's closer to Ichigo, he kills Tsukishima because he trusts Ichigo's sense of right and wrong, and values those principles more than he values his own life, including the personal relationships within it. So if Ichigo is fighting Tsukishima, he must be the enemy.

Which is very flattering to Ichigo! But it's not really a sign of friendship, as much as moral admiration.

#bleach #ask troius #reasonable opinions can differ!#but literally every Byakuya-Ichigo interaction is based on how one of them feels about Rukia #anyhow I don't know if our larger analysis is even that different #but I stand by Ichigo not needing to ever speak to Byakuya again #it's not like he's ever been happy to see him in the manga thus far #and I'm sure Byakuya feels the same way

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bleachbleachbleach · 1 year

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Maybe you've answered this before, but which of the bleach movies are you favorites? Do you like them in general? I feel like I've watched the DDR 100 times, but the movies aren't really talked about much in general it seems....

Neither of us really think about them as discrete "movies"—we take them more as a collection of elements, many of which we find very appealing. I think we’ve rewatched them almost annually since 2020, but I’m not sure either of us could actually explain to you what happens in them. We’re too distracted by the dazzling glamor of the Elements.

I will say, like you, Diamond Dust Rebellion holds a special place in my heart! It was the only one that premiered during my first stint with Bleach, and I definitely have vague but fond memories of watching a raw copy on an 11" iBook that I assume was approximately 120p.

Here are my personal favorite Elements from all the Bleach movies—some of which are scenes, some of which are character moments, and some of which are honestly… the laundry lint equivalent of "things that were part of this movie" that I still really love because, as this post will immediately make clear, I have serious Blorbo Disease.

MOVIE 1: Memories of Nobody

1. Commuting: Honestly obsessed with the fact that Hitsugaya and Matsumoto spend so much of this movie commuting. They just keep… going back and forth between dimensions? AND FOR WHY. Peak Gotei efficiency!

2. Bridge Whimsy: The scene where everyone jumps off the bridge into the water and are super duper extra about it. @dont-look-up has a great gifset of Renji and Rukia trying out for the Soul Society Diving Team.

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto are also great in this scene. They’re both crouched in the same nook of bridge for some reason? And when Matsumoto encroaches on Hitsugaya’s space he wordlessly moves her arm out of the way and it’s so casual and non-eventful. Love that for them but also love that for the animation, because it’s an "unnecessary" non-eventful movement that got to be drawn and animated. You can’t have unscripted movement in this medium—it adds nothing and everything! Unfortunately, searching "bridge" on B3 didn’t turn that gifset up, so it wont’ be includd in this post.

3. Blobby Hisagi: Speaking of animation, Hisagi basically only appears in this movie as a blobby smudge of color in the background. My co-blogger put together a comprehensive account of every time Hisagi shows up in this movie, and it is a post I love dearly.

* Honorable mention to the kidou cannon, which comes up a lot in conversation, considering how little reason there is to do so. But THE KIDOUUUUU CANNONNNNN

MOVIE 2: DiamondDust Rebellion

1. LAWSON TRUCK!!!!

There’s a transition scene where a Lawson truck randomly drives by and I am OBSESSED with it. I mean, I love Lawson, which is a Japanese convenience store chain. But most of the stores/brands in Bleach are either generic or made up, as is true of many anime. Yet there’s a real, honest to god Lawson Truck in this movie. It makes me wonder if there was some kind of Lawson promo that went with DDR’s release. Anyway, I see you, Lawson Truck. I love you.

2. Hitsugaya's Bow: After finding himself in Ichigo’s bed after passing out in the forest outside Karakura (and, one assumes, bleeding all over his sheets), Hitsugaya leaves without a word in the dead of night. But he still takes the time to bow at the Kurosaki house, as thanks for its hospitality. I love this quiet, quotidian gesture in the midst of a whole lot that is neither quiet nor quotidian.

3. DETECTIVE BYAKUYA. BYAKUYA, ON THE CASE. This is best explained by my earlier post about this.

It’s best dramatized by the second music video I’ve ever made in my life, a tribute to Detective Byakuya and Law and Order: Soul Society.

We have a whole tag for Detective Byakuya (and more posts to yet to be written!):

4. Hisagi/Kira vs. Hitsugaya is one of my favorite short fights (maybe one of my favorite fights, period??) in Bleach. Hisagi gets to be incredibly cool and use a bunch of kidou and backflip onto a torii gate. Hisagi and Kira are then immediately annihilated by Hyourimaru’s shikai once Hitsugaya decides he doesn’t have enough HP left to deal with this shit, but Hisagi and Kira were very cool up until that point!

I’m certain Hitsugaya is capable of annihilating Hisagi and Kira whenever he wants, but I do want to note that it wasn’t exactly a fair fight. Hisagi and Kira didn’t want to hurt him, particularly since he was already heavily injured. Hitsugaya, uh, did not have similar qualms.

5. ZABIMARU EXPREEEEEEEEEEEESS

Soul Society’s most exclusive, breathtaking way to travel. (cue Jrock cover of Disney Aladdin’s "A Whole New World")

MOVIE 3: Fade to Black

1. Byakuya Discovers Doors: One day I’m gonna get it in gear and make a gifset for this, because this scene is the BEST THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO ME IN MY LIFE. There’s a full sequence of Byakuya combing through the Kuchiki Estate and opening every single door. Just walking around. Opening all the doors. In the dead of night.

And OKAY, the context for this is that he’s in Detective Byakuya mode; he can sense that something is amiss but isn’t able to discern what—he’s searching for anything that will help the missing pieces fall into place. (The missing piece is Rukia’s entire existence.) But it’s not like he tells any of his retainers this so for all they know he’s just going around opening all the doors in the dead of night, and they have to quietly follow behind him and close them all, murmuring, "ah yes, our Lord Byakuya, always working. Very thorough examination of doors and hinges tonight." I love him.

2. Hitsugaya is 11th Division's Foster Captain: Hitsugaya is working with Ikkaku and Yumichika in this movie for some reason—like, goes out to Inuzuri with them, even as he’s left Matsumoto behind to do work with their actual division. This is important to me only because it’s not the only time he’s been the 11th’s foster captain?? I’m not even talking about the Advance Team arc, which is something else entirely. In the Bount arc, when Zaraki is similarly indisposed/unreachable, Hitsugaya also ends up in charge of the 11th. Like, who decides this???

Anyway thank you, whatever bureaucratic processes makes this happen over and over again; I appreciate you. I’m sure Hitsugaya Suffers every time. (But he also probably prefers this over any other option, because the second option is probably just "idk 11th go freeball it do whatever you want!!". Also, Hitsugaya is always volunteering for this stuff.)

MOVIE 4: Hellverse

Okay, we just saw this movie (well, we just saw all of them, but this one was last!), but I’m not remembering a lot of it right now because it’s low on Blorbo Disease triggers. I do very much enjoy the Six Hearts gang running around in Squarespace (Hell)!! But this post is very long, so I’ll just say:

1. Byakuya Projecting by offering his fairly lengthy opinions about Ichigo and Yuzu, considering he’s known of Yuzu’s existence for about 2 seconds and she has been bereft a soul and comatose the entire time.

2. Why is Hitsugaya even here, edition 90009: I love the fact that Hitsugaya is part of this Hell Portal team at all. Byakuya and Ukitake make some sense, in that Rukia and Renji are the Gotei officers most involved with this. But why is Hitsugaya there lol. I like to think that he thought it would be a good opportunity to learn about portals, and considers this professional development.

#If there'sone thing I can say about this post #it certainly offers a vivid picture of what it's like to be me lol.#really just a portal into the brain #'my favorite part was the part where hitsugaya was in it in spite of or perhaps because it makes no sense for him to be involved' <- me #bleach movies #bleach anime #hitsugaya toushirou #kuchiki byakuya #hisagi shuuhei #lawson truck #asks #no brain just bleach

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intothatweebshit · 2 years

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Well I did this for Bungou Stray Dogs so I’m gonna do it for Bleach

Here is a list of my favorite bleach ships from most favorite to least favorite ( I have less ships in bleach than bsd despite bleach having a bigger cast go figure)

1. Ikkayumi ( Ikkaku Madarame x Yumichika Ayasegawa)

This a literal surprise to no one. I post about these bastards all the time so it’s obvious they are my favorite ship in the show. These two have an incredible bond that I truly feel like is overlooked by many. I’m a sucker for people who have been by each other’s side for years and Ikkaku and Yumichika have been together and have grown together throughout the many years they’ve been together. They do have their problems and I believe that they solve many of them before the start of the last arc, but despite that there is a clear love and devotion for each other. I personally believe this ship is one of those “basically canon” ships because of so many reasons I can’t list because this is not a ikkayumi post lol but the biggest one being how in sync they are and how they seem to know what the other is thinking without it being said. I just love these two assholes and I will never shut up about it

2. Ichihime ( Orihime Inoue x Ichigo Kurosaki)

Man I remember when it was controversial to like this ship. Which to me is a bit ridiculous since they’re so cute. Orihime and Ichigo is one of my few soft asf ships with so much love and care. Ichigo always has a scowl on his face but when he looks at Orihime he softens and there’s clear love in his eyes. Orihime understands Ichigo more than anyone and takes time to try and get his perspective. She just wants him to be happy and when he’s not it hurts her deeply. These two are meant to be and always make me so happy and I will not apologize for loving them.

3. Rukia Kuchiki x Renji Abarai

These two are just special little jibblet heads. As I said I love childhood friends to lovers and they are what made me love it. These two have been through hell and back together with an overwhelming amount of trust and care. Renji is the definition of a male wife for his bad ass girlfriend Rukia. I mean he’s already adorable but when you add how protective and attentive he is for Rukia it just doubles by a thousand. Rukia loves Renji and trusts him just as much as he trusts her. These idiots are so happy together and good for them

4. GinRan ( Gin Ichimaru x Rangiku Matsumoto)

Man these two…it’s tragic honestly. They could have been happy together but fate had other plans. I love these two and I love how unlikely of a pair it is. I mean Rangiku being beautiful and lively in love with a man like Gin. It’s completely unexpected but it works. I love the history these two have together and the deep love. Gin wants a world where Rangiku will no longer cry and Rangiku just wants Gin. She doesn’t care about how he looks or how others see him because she knows he’s the man who saved her and cared for her. He’s her Gin and nothing will ever change that. Despite these two not having a happy ending I will continue to obsess over what could have been.

5. ByaKen ( Byakuya Kuchiki x Kenpachi Zaraki)

Guys this started off as a joke but slowly mutated into some sick obsession. You know the meme of “I don’t think it’s a joke anymore” well that’s how I feel about these two. What can I say about them? That they have an interesting dynamic and their banter is highly entertaining? That they are both eccentric but the exact opposites of the extreme? Well yeah. They’re interesting and I enjoy their dynamic a lot. I never get tired of their interactions and at the very least they have a cool friendship…and in fanon maybe more lol

So those are all my otps but here are other ships I like:

Yoruichi Shihouin x Kisuke Urahara

Nelliel Tu Odelshwanck x Tier Harribel

Shinji Hirako x Sousuke Aizen

Shinji Hirako x Hiyori Sarugaki

And that’s kinda it? I mean there are a lot of ships that I kinda like but never thought too much about them. So hey let me know your favorites and ones I should really think about, I’ll take any suggestions. Thanks for reading!

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midnightactual · 2 years

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After watching episode 7 of the new anime something has been bothering me. In the past you have talked about Ichigo's relationship with Yoruichi and from a realistic stand point she's not even his sensei let alone romantic or familial they're just mere acquaintances from a realistic stand point to which I agree fans over blow their bond. So then what's the deal with soul society then? Ichigo (realistically) has even LESS acquaintance with them then the urahara gang minus renji and rukia yet the man acts like soul society is equal to his family. I never understood this love affair Ichigo has with the shinigami. It's so forced that it has always taken away from the plot and made Ichigo's motivations for fighting in the war hollow it even feels like he declares allegiance to them in the soul kings palace rather then humanity. Technically Ichigo has more of a bond with Urahara or Yoruichi yet treats THEM more like acquaintances then his "friends from soul society." Why do you think that is? Thanks

I think it's three things?

The first thing is that it's made pretty clear early on in Bleach (like the first 50 chapters) that as much as they bicker, Ichigo really vibes with Rukia's ethos on a deeply personal level. They also care for each other a lot, in whatever way one wants to imagine that is manifested, which is why both the live action and the musical heavily focused on their interactions and feelings, as does Kubo's own poetry and art (like the "I will pass through even 100 million blades!" spread).

Rukia is the archetypal Shinigami to Ichigo. He even wields Sode no Shirayuki until Byakuya breaks it. (Yes, his first sword is just an oversized Sode no Shirayuki; he's using Rukia's powers and her zanpakutō.) This is interesting because Rukia's mindset is very atypical for Shinigami as a whole, but Ichigo essentially acts like Rukia vouches for everyone else in the Gotei 13. They're good enough for her, so they're good enough for him.

The second thing is that Ichigo has this whole combat empathy character ability thing going on where he bonds with people through fighting them. He claims to be terrible at remembering names and faces but he easily remembers and acts super familiar with every Shinigami he fights (Renji, Ikkaku, Byakuya, and Kenpachi). He feels sympathy for Aizen at the end on that basis. He acts very casually with Ganju and Kisuke. Perhaps most notably, he identifies with Uryū a lot more than Orihime and Chad, because he only comes into more direct conflict with Uryū.

The exceptions are Yumichika, Rangiku, and Tōshirō, whom he's ostensibly familiar with from the week spent in Soul Society after Aizen flees, as he doesn't interact with them much (or at all for the latter two) during SS arc. The two he only sort of tussles with are Gin and Yoruichi, and unsurprisingly, his attitude is still fairly guarded around both of them.

Basically the result of this seems to be that he feels he gets the Shinigami in a deeper way than his human peers. Ichigo is not really particularly good at identifying with people his own age no matter how much shared experience he has with them (like Tatsuki).

The third thing is, like Karin, he hates feeling like a burden or imposition. That means keeping his human friends in the dark, because they can't do anything. That means not bothering Kisuke, because he's presumably working on big brain answers. That means not bothering Yoruichi, because she just radiates intense adult energy. (See also: Ikumi lecturing him on relying on adults.) This means not bothering Isshin. And so on, and so forth. The various Shinigami, he views as "peers" whom he isn't burdening, because they can more or less keep up, and yet they don't really register as authority figure adults to him. It seems like in his mind, they're his battle bros.

Between these three things, I don't think he does have more of a bond with Yoruichi or Kisuke than the Gotei 13 members he kinda knows. He says stuff like, "I'm not one of you, I am a Shinigami!" to Shinji because he really does feel that way. They're just his people as far as he's concerned. He vibes with them.

#Out Of Character #Asks #anonymous

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ichinoue · 2 years

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Sorry if you’ve already been asked this, but what do you think of the IR argument that Rukia looks sad and miserable on the WDkALY cover? I recently also saw on twitter once that apparently Byakuya even saw through the “facade,” and could see Rukia was unhappy, hence why he told her, “I want you to be happy,” and “don’t cry.” When she was clearly crying because Byakuya is always so reserved with her and hearing him speak that way made her emotional LOL.

This is even an excerpt from the novel, through Ichigo’s pov “Using the zoom function, he could see well through the veil as Rukia wore a smile.” I swear they will find anything just to make it seem like IchiRuki stands a chance even after 6 years of it officially not being canon 🤣

It's just another example of them being willfully obtuse to make an argument. As if the only way to show that a character is happy is to draw them with a big, toothy grin, or else they must be miserable. They choose to ignore the context of it being a traditional wedding, where it's perfectly appropriate for the bride to have a soft, demure smile under her veil.

But even if we entertain their argument for a moment: they're saying that Rukia is clearly miserable about having to marry Renji and so Kubo drew her looking sad on purpose. Because that's what he wants the reader to know, right? That Rukia is miserable?

If that were the case, why does the rest of the novel make it clear how happy and excited she is? Like...if he wanted to make it known to the reader that Rukia is miserable based on the cover image, why not make sure that she is miserable within the contents of the novel itself?

There's nothing in the novel that supports her being sad or getting married against her will. It's the exact opposite. But, as usual, they view a single piece of evidence through a vacuum and ignore everything else surrounding it that counters their argument.

Then you have Kubo in the WDKALY post scripts:

“…I wondered how she could ever write a novel about the wedding ceremony that way, but she executed it beautifully. It brought tears to my eyes. I’m sure that people who love Ichigo and Rukia like me, will also cry.”

The novel was executed so beautifully it brought tears to Kubo's eyes, and he's sure that anyone who is a fan of Rukia will also cry tears of joy for her.

i.e. Kubo is happy that Rukia is happy, and Rukia fans should also be happy because Rukia is happy.

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rayereil · 1 year

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And Orihime’s past is upon us at chapter 3. I really forgot how fast it happened.

Orihime is so perfect…

The car hurt her. Kill it.

Also, this arc gives us some more details about hollows and gives us some more character building. Even though the details of what hollows are seem to become irrelevant as the series goes on, it’s still neat.

I also enjoy Ichigo and Rukia training together (I miss that from later arcs).

We also get our proper introduction of Orihime and Ichigo, and true interactions between them. Orihime is as precious as always, and I like seeing protective Ichigo. Though he does get a bit exasperated with her nonchalance regarding her injuries. Also, RukiHime begins!

From a reader POV (pretending I’m the target demographic of teenage boy), I can see how Orihime is gearing up to be a love interest. Her clear crush on Ichigo is classic in shounen, but (more importantly) she’s shown as someone Ichigo is protective of. The reader is supposed to identify with Ichigo, meaning they’ll feel protective of Orihime too. Ichigo protecting someone isn’t unique to Orihime, but she is the first character to get this treatment.

Now this is an important scene:

I do see a lot of I/H fans say they’re childhood friends, but Ichigo is clear that they’re not close. It’s not the biggest deal, but they are near strangers. He goes on to say he’s only recently learned that Orihime was the same girl from this incident.

Aside from ships, Kubo is setting us up for a kickass reveal. As someone who hasn’t reread the series in awhile, I actually had a “woah!” moment…

I think the build up to this reveal was excellent! And leaving the chapter with this page is perfect suspense. I know hollows are the ‘corrupt’ human souls, but a lot of that nuance disappears later in the series. It was actually surprising to read this “reveal” because it kind of doesn’t mean anything by the end of the series…

Also TatsuHime.

And there are more cute Orihime fantasies involving Ichigo. She really is precious. I love her.

That bear hurt her. Kill it.

This arc is a great way to tell us about hollows, Orihime, and the soul chain (which comes back!). Especially in these earlier arcs, you can tell Kubo was keeping notes of what he’d brought up, because it’s inevitably come back again. Great writing.

But I do want to talk about this scene:

I’ve seen some cool parallels on here from much smarter people than me - they highlight how Orihime’s brother issues and Rukia’s brother issues are somewhat similar. While the parallels might extend further than I’d give Kubo credit for, I can’t deny them outright. Ichigo’s speech to Sora isn’t verbatim what he gives Byakuya, but the feeling is the same. Byakuya does say he’d let his own sister die (we’ll see if he specifically says he’ll kill her. If memory serves, he says he’d kill her himself if need be… oh my beloved Byakuya. So dramatic). Man, Ichigo is just correcting family issues left and right in the beginning of this series! I’m actually a bit sad some of these familial elements disappear later on… but this narrative of Ichigo challenging the status quo, of him using his grit and charisma to make people change for the better (Sora letting himself be sent to soul society, Byakuya eventually saving Rukia and mending his bond with her, rapid fire: Uryu, Renji, all the captains…) this is quality Bleach. The story eventually gets bogged down in character fights and we lose these themes and the focus on characters. It’s so nice to have this time to spend with Orihime and let her shine while Ichigo’s mostly in the background.

Anyways - I think this arc gives us so much for Orihime’s character! She’s such a strong kind-hearted person.

The hollow hurt her. Kill him.

More proof of Orihime’s love for Ichigo in Kubo’s paneling here… and also some great insight into Orihime. I think it’s so easy to brush her off as an air-headed big boobed love interest when she’s really a compassionate, caring, empathetic person. She doesn’t want other people to be sad, she tries very hard to make everyone happy… she’s so sweet! And some may say that she’s cliche or whatever, but so what??? Not every character needs to be Super Unique and Total Different. She embodies the cliche well, filling it out and bringing her own charm too. I really don’t have a problem with her. Also, I like that Kubo later makes some of her traits flaws so we can explore her character later. It’s neat!

Also… Kubo, can I ask you a question?

When the heck did Ichigo and Orihime have a conversation about her hairpins? We don’t need to see it onscreen, but Ichigo made it clear earlier in this arc that he doesn’t know her very well. I guess Orihime would be the nervous type to blurt this kind of information out if Ichigo even mentioned them casually, but you expect me to believe Ichigo noticed those hairpins when he didn’t notice the giant bruise on her leg? I can see why some people think they’re better friends at the start of the manga than they’re supposed to be. Kubo doesn’t even seem to remember from chapter 3 to chapter 6.

Overall, great arc. The pacing and plot were cool, and I adore Orihime. Plus, plenty of TatsuHime and RukiHime. I also forgot how much I like Kubo’s old art style. His new one is slick and all, but there’s something about these designs that are just fun. Definitely nostalgic.

#rayereads #bleach #Ichigo Kurosaki #rukia kuchiki #orihime inoue #tatsuki arisawa

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littleeyesofpallas · 2 years

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A kind of continuation of this other weird post I made...

Yet again i wish i could have formatted this all better.... It's not really presentable like this. I tried to color code the confirmable simultaneous age ranges. Different ranges on the same row aren't meant to be directly simultaneous, just roughly proximal, relative to the events before and after them.

I meant to compile this to make some kind of more concrete comparison about relative speeds of aging, and how Rukia's spent like 100 years getting from looking 12 to looking 15, but in that same span of time, Ganju appears to have gone from looking 9 to also looking 15; as they are both positioned to be direct peers to Ichigo. But I kind pretty lost along the way while tying other periphery characters in as context...

There's some funny Batman shenanigans going on here too, where everyone seems to have undergone foundational trauma at 8/9yo:

Rukia and Renji being street rats

Gin meeting Rangiku

Hitsugaya confronting Hyorinmaru

Ganju seeing Rukia return Kaien's dead body

and Ichigo watching Masaki die...

all seem to have occurred while they were in that general 9yo period of development(give or take a year to either side)

Assuming the shinigami academy just works like secondary school, that places the young cadets in a 12-15 range, and the formal gotei service at 15+, which seems to track. Prodigy kids like Hitsugaya and young Gin clock in at elementary age, so 12 or younger. (which tracks with Hitsugaya being comparably Karin and Yuzu's age, and they're canonically 11yo.) It also tracks with Gin being around Byakuya's age, but slightly younger, as it makes young Byakuya around 14-15(as he's still in training, so seemingly "academy age"(12-15) if he wasn't privately trained at home, but also seemingly ready to join the gotei proper pretty soon) while Gin is just a few years younger.

It is funny to me that Kubo tried to make Gin out to be this prodigy as a kid for killing a 3rd seat, seemingly to make him a kind of foil to Hitsugaya being a captain at around the same age later, but then Yachiru was introduced as a lieutenant at what is clearly a pre-school age, i.e. ~6yo, and no one ever comments on it...

And unfortunately I don't really know what to make of a lot of the others, although they do help relative positioning for the image. Isshin's not super clear, although we'd like to imagine he stays in non-squick territory for dating a 15-18yo high schooler; so, like 20 at the oldest? (i.e. 2 years over Masaki's potential oldest, at 18?)

Plus things get weird because Gin and Rangiku and Byakuya are thus all about the same age, with both Isshin and Aizen positioned as distinctly older than that batch. But it's not clear how close those two are to one another.

...and like I said, I don't actually remember what I was trying to get at with all this, apart from just going full yarn and corkboard crazy over stuff. But if this helps anyone else wrestle with the nebulous notions of age in Bleach, have at it.

#bleach #man i dunno #bleach meta #?#i guess?#not tagging every character mentioned here

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ao3feed-ichiruki · 1 year

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stand sentinel before me (and i shall be your guide)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/5E0H4m6

by AriadneKurosaki

He stumbles out of the apartment and onto the walkway still in his house slippers. The cold air slaps him in the face and Ichigo takes a long, shuddering breath, clearing his lungs of oversalted chicken broth and overwhelming citrus. What the hell is happening to him? Zangetsu has no answers; dampened by his mortal body, his zanpakutō is as unsettled as he is, fevered and reaching for something.

For her.

------------------------------

Years after the war, Ichigo comes online - but there are those who would keep Sentinel and Guide apart, deny as myth their very existence.

But oh, denying fate comes at a cost. And they all should have known better than to keep a Guide from her Sentinel...

Words: 5704, Chapters: 1/2, Language: English

Fandoms: Bleach (Anime & Manga)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Kuchiki Rukia, Kurosaki Ichigo, Kuchiki Byakuya, Urahara Kisuke, Inoue Orihime, Abarai Renji, Abarai Ichika, Kurosaki Kazui, Yamada Hanatarou

Relationships: Kuchiki Rukia/Kurosaki Ichigo

Additional Tags: Sentinel/Guide, Post-Chapter 686: Death & Strawberry (Bleach), Canon-Typical Violence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/5E0H4m6

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #ichiruki

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douevenbleachbro · 1 year

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Ohoho I think I finally have an idea for another fic for IR week!!

A theme I’ve been seeing a lot on Twitter (ugh i know) is people calling Bleach the shojo that never was haha. It got me thinking though, I think i’d like to write that.

Here’s my problem. Whenever I wanna write something that is not smut, it tends to get away from me. With smut, the end goal is clear. Ultimately there will be sex (hahaha) so you just have to worry about how they get there. Describing that crescendo of feelings and desire comes easier (lol im 10) to me than any other trope, mainly because I can pull from personal experience. Not to get too explicit but hey, if there’s something I wanna write but I’m having a hard time picturing, I can just ask my husband for help huehuehue.

Non-smut stories? A little different. My brain goes into overdrive with all the details and I feel like I have to write everything down so that the reader can understand what I’m trying to convey. It’s annoying. I think the issue is that I don’t see scenarios in writing, I see them in movement. Like a TV show or a movie. I could probably write a script tbh. I rely so much on things like ‘what facial expression would this person have?’ or ‘what’s happening around them?’ like, who cares bro get to the point! Sooo much exposition. I wrote before about how writing the gift exchange fic was so hard for me because, not only was there a deadline but it was a gift for someone, so the pressure was on! And I had such a clear vision of what I wanted that story to be, but because of bad brain and no skillz it got messy. It was so long for no reason and the story got boring halfway. I feel bad badmouthing that fic, and I know I’m being a little extra but it frustrates me how out of control my brain can get. It also doesn’t help that the person I was gifting is sooo fucking good at writing so I was a little embarrassed.

Anywho, enough with the wallowing. I wanna write a Bleach IR shojo for IR week and I’m thinking maybe Day 3 or 5. I just don’t know how to fit the prompts. I mean, once I start actually writing it’ll come to me.

So the story. It’ll be Ichigo and Rukia, duh, but Orihime, Uryuu and Renji are also in the mix. Poor Sado, I always kick him to the curb lmao. I just don’t know how to write him! Same with Tatsuki. But for this story they’re not needed. Hmmm...should I write the premise here or just outline it?...

Fuck it we ball,

So! Rukia, Hime and Renji are childhood besties. Hime was taken in by the Kuchiki’s when her parent died and Renji’s family are friends so they all grew up around each other. Hime and Rukia grow up as sisters. They are VERY close! This is important, lol. Renji gives them the brotherly love they crave cause Hime’s brother croaked and Byakuya is a meanie (as in he’s distant, not actually a bad guy). Ichigo and Uryuu are cousins and they grew up together, but they’re very different and don’t spend too much time together in public so people don’t even know they’re related.

Hime is in love with Ichigo and she confesses but he rejects her cause he’s in love with someone else. Renji loves Rukia and tries to confess but she’s like omg big bro! so he doesn’t cause he knows she doesn’t see him that way. Rukia finds out that Ichigo rejected Hime so now she hates him even though she’s kinda falling for him ‘cause he’s a simp for her lmao. Hime forms a club called “The broken-hearts club” where it’s her and Renji at first. Then Renji finds out that Ichigo likes Rukia which he tells Hime ‘cause he’s a poopy head. Hime is sad and a little petty so she avoids Rukia which makes her sad. This makes her get closer to Ichigo cause they have a lot in common so she realizes that she’s falling for him which makes her feel guilty ‘cause Hime likes Ichigo. Uryuu joins the club cause he wants to be in the gossip but secretly it’s cause he’s in love with Hime and he wants to be close to her. Rukia finds out that Ichigo likes her and that she’s the reason why he rejected Hime. She joins the club and promises Hime that she will not pursue Ichigo. Rukia avoids Ichigo at all costs which pisses him off and Renji tells him that he’s not gonna be able to get in between the girls so he’s just gonna have to give up. In the club the friend trio are talking and Uryuu who was lurking says that he’s quitting. When Hime asks why he says he can’t be in a club with such selfish people. He gives Hime an eye opening speech and she realizes that she’s been a bad person because she can tell that Rukia is miserable and Renji is miserable cause Rukia is miserable and she’s miserable ‘cause everyone is and everything sucks! But it’s their last year and they have finals and entrance exams and they’re too busy to deal with their feelings. Graduation happens and everyone get’s accepted to the programs they wanted and Renji is leaving to Europe to pursue a soccer career ‘cause he’s really good (this should be added somewhere earlier in the story). Ichigo gets accepted to Tokyo Uni but he also get’s accepted to Princeton cause he secretly applied and he’s always dreamed about living in America. He takes it and leaves. Rukia and Hime go to Tokyo and Hime gets closer to Uryuu. Rukia realizes she was actually in love with Ichigo and she finds that he left her a letter saying that he was in love with her and he was sorry for being an ass to Hime and he didn’t want to come between them, so he would step back, but that he would never stop loving her. So she writes back. A year passes and, during the holidays, the kids go back home. Hime and Uryuu are dating now. Renji became an overnight soccer sensation taking pics with Messi and Ronaldo (lmao) and getting a multi-million contract with X soccer team (imma have to ask the husband about this lol). Rukia is back home and has a heart to heart with her brother (he’s lonely and misses her). Ichigo is back home as well and he finds Rukia (cause Uryuu told him where he was gonna be). He asks her to dinner. She says ok. Insert cute scenario here.

Timeskip? It’s 6 years later and Renji’s team makes it to the finals. He flies his friends out to the France for the game. Hime and Uryuu have already been married for a year. Ichigo proposes to Rukia in front of the Eiffel tower and gets teased for being basic.

Phew! This is supposed to be a one-shot? We’ll see I guess lol.

#fic ideas #fic dump #let's see what happens

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recurring-polynya · 1 month

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Hi! First, I just wanted to say that I've been reading your work for a long time. I love your point of view on these characters and am so excited to keep reading Damage History!

I'm curious what you think it would have been like if Kaien lived. More specifically, how would he have reacted to Rukia and Renji's relationship? Would he make Renji fight him after he finished with Byakuya? Would he be scheming with the other lieutenants to push them together? What do you think?

Thank you so much!

This is a Good Question! I think there are two different ways to look at it, which we will look at under the cut, because I can tell you right away this is gonna Get Long.

Scenario 1. Everything goes exactly as in canon, except that now, Kaien is there.

This is going to sound a little goofy, but I think it is so interesting that there are so many small changes that you can make to Bleach canon that just suck all of the air out of the story, and this is one of them. The Soul Society Arc isn't quite a tragedy, but it has a lot of the bones of a tragedy, in the sense that things had to line up in exactly the right way for it to go so terribly wrong. Some of it is obviously Aizen's machinations, but some of it is simple bad luck, or human nature (for a generous interpretation of "human"), or some combination of the above.

A very notable aspect of Rukia and Renji's part of this story is how alone both of them are, how let down they are by the people who ought to be there for them. Byakuya is the most obvious example, but Rukia's captain wants to advocate for her, but he's sick and behind the eight-ball on everything that follows. Her Third Seats are too busy with Ukitake, and don't have the political capital anyway. Kaien is dead. Like, that is a very important thing that happened. He ought to be the one fighting for her, and he isn't and she blames herself for that. Is Renji there for her? He has no reason to be, in Rukia's mind, and he seems to be sticking to his duty for now, but we, the readers, can tell that's not such a certainty.

Renji is really alone, too. He's just started out with a new captain who hasn't turned out to be the man Renji thought he was. He can't go backward, though--Kenpachi and Ikkaku and Yumichika are already the first ones in line to go fight the ryouka. Hinamori and Kira make it clear early on that their loyalty to their own captains takes priority over Renji's old friend, and Hisagi ends up following suit. I will never stop being impressed by the richness of the scene where Aizen tries to buddy up to Renji, because he's really pinpointed Renji's vulnerability here.

This really sets the stage perfectly for Ichigo to blow onto the scene and be the one person who inspires Renji to throw everything to the wind and choose to save Rukia.

Now, if you back up and put Kaien back into the mix, it ratchets the dramatic tension down about twenty notches. For starters, it would probably be Kaien who would get sent to the Living World to retrieve Rukia. I can't imagine it could have gone worse than ending with Byakuya cutting Ichigo down in the street. In all likelihood, Rukia would have been more willing to go back in the first place, knowing that there is someone who is going to be willing to hear her out fairly, even if she ends up in trouble for it.

Renji's been waiting for her to get back, and I think he would try to go see her, even if she were under house arrest or similar. On one hand, I think he might still give her some shit for getting herself in trouble, but it wouldn't be the utter disaster their canon reunion was, and I think he could pretty firmly offer her his support from the get-go, maybe not officially (but that's okay, because she's got her vice-captain for that) but at least emotionally, something that was a lot harder to tease apart when he was her actual jailkeeper.

Even if Byakuya and Renji are still the ones who arrest her and that all goes the same, at the point where Byakuya announces that he's not going to do anything to help Rukia, I think Kaien would step up and make a huge, public fuss. I'm not saying it would be easy for Renji to go against his captain on the downlow, but it would certainly be easier than straight-up treasoning. I can def see him approaching Kaien, like "I do not want her to get executed and I will help you in any way I can to prevent that from happening" and Kaien would be like "I do not know who you are, but thanks, I will keep that in mind."

In either case, I think Kaien would now end up the main shinigami character of the Soul Society Arc. There would be no real reason for Renji to confront Ichigo, so either Kaien would take that role, or it would just be skipped. Kaien would be the one to fight Byakuya--they've obviously had beef for a long time, and unlike Renji, I think Kaien might actually stand a chance. He'd probably send Renji off to go try to interrupt the execution, or maybe he'd just have Miyako do it, who knows!

Assuming that everything sort of falls out as it does in canon, I think at the end of the day, Kaien would be like "yeah, that Renji guy is a nice kid, he helped me out some, seems devoted to Rukia." At this point, though, Renji has been stripped of all of his big character moments. He probably didn't even make bankai. I assume Byakuya fired him. Much like Renji and Hisana, it's very hard for Renji and Kaien to occupy the same space in a story! I know this feels kinda lame, but it's because the story has to be the way it is! That's what makes it so good the way it is!

Scenario 2. This is more of a character-based scenario, where the entire Rukia execution debacle never happened. Maybe Aizen decided that Kaien would solve everything and made different plans. Maybe Renji got promoted a year earlier. Regardless, we've got a peacetime scenario, business-as-usual, Kuchiki-the-Senior makes the most insane hiring decision Kaien has ever heard of, and then the punk shows up at Kaien's division and makes overtures at Kaien's beloved protege??

Kaien would be in tears. He would think this was the funniest thing he had ever seen. He would assume that the whole thing was entirely unserious and would tease Rukia mercilessly about it (and also offer to beat up Renji if he was bothering her). Rukia would be mortified. Miyako would have to grab Kaien by the ear and drag him off and yell at him extensively. He would apologize to Rukia about it, but also continue to insist that Renji is ridiculous. Renji would challenge him to a fight and lose and then let Rukia put Chappy bandages all of over his face. Then Rukia would challenge Kaien to a fight, in order to avenge Renji's honor, and Kaien would realize the error of his ways, especially after Miyako refuses to put any Chappy bandages on his face. They would be friends after that, but Kaien would still call Renji "kid" and "punk" all the time, even at lieutenants' meetings.

#kaien shiba #renji abarai #rukia kuchiki #version 2 might make kind of a cute fanfic ngl #the problem with that one tho is that now you've blown byakuya's opportunity for a relationship with both rukia and renji #byakuya: listen up renji i am going to teach you my family sword form #renji: don't i have to marry into the family for that #byakuya: (criminy i want him to wreck shiba's stupid face so so so bad) yeah ok fine

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troius · 2 years

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As I hope you're aware, I've really enjoyed reading your thoughts on BLEACH during your reread! I was thinking today though: do you have a personal top 10 chapters or a favorite chapter [so far]? Totally okay if you don't want want to answer this, I was just curious.

No, thank you, that's a very good question! And an interesting one, since I don't tend to think of Bleach in terms of chapters. Unlike in anime, where the episodes have clear dividing lines with the openings and endings, manga chapters just sort of blend into one another when I'm reading them. Even during this reread, where the plan is to do roughly one chapter per day, I'm actually just posting my thoughts on interesting pages, so some chapters get more or less time depending on how much stuff catches the eye.

But I think it'd be an interesting exercise to see what chapters I do really like as isolated works of art! And if it encourages anybody to reread these chapters, or read them for the first time, so much the better! Troius's Top Ten Bleach Chapters (limited to those I've covered in this reread) under the cut.

34. Quincy Archer Hates You. A funny thing about looking at individual Bleach chapters is that they are clearly designed to run together, to keep the reader interested in what's going on so that they buy next week's copy of Weekly Shonen Jump. So they often are part of an ongoing storyline, and include several scenes, some of which are characterization and some of which advance the plot. This chapter, IMO, is the first one that does all of that and still feels "complete". Yes, it ends on the cliffhanger of Uryu's introduction, but that's the natural culmination of all the scenes in the chapter, including a really good one about low-stakes discrimination to set us up for the Quincy. Excellent stuff.

98. A Star and a Stray Dog. For once, Kubo uses one chapter to tell one story, end to end, and it's a tour de force. Granted, it's in the larger context of the Ichigo/Renji fight, and the Soul Society arc as a whole, but the entire Renji + Rukia relationship flashback is in this chapter, and it's magnificent. Renji starts the chapter as the closest thing Ichigo has to a rival, and by the end, Ichigo is the closest thing he has to an ally.

124. Crying Little People. This chapter title kinda sucks, and the title page is a pretty boring illustration of Ichigo, who doesn't even appear in the chapter proper. But as an Uryu stan I could not in good conscience leave off the moment where he sacrifices his powers and his childish aspirations for moral principle. The fathers-and-sons dynamics here are impeccable, and the Quincy worldbuilding flawless. I can't recommend it enough.

159. Long Way to Say Goodbye. It turns out that while single chapters often don't tell a complete story in Bleach, they do frequently tell one complete story, and that's the patented Bleach Characterization Flashback, where Kubo cuts away from the end of the fight to give you the backstory of whoever's fighting. In this chapter we get Soi Fon and Yoruichi's history, and it's incredibly effective once again in turning an antagonist into a sympathetic character.

168. Behind Me, Behind You. A complete change of gears -- the Byakuya/Ichigo fight wraps up in the previous chapter-- this is a complete information dump that nonetheless Extremely Works in getting the reader invested in the Hitsugaya/Matsumoto Spirit Detective plotline. Those two, Kira, Momo, Gin...none of these are the main characters of Bleach, but even if you didn't have strong emotions about them coming in you will once the chapter's over.

169. End of Hypnosis. This is just a run of killer chapters, and this one features both the start of the Matsumoto/Kira fight, as well as, uh, Aizen revealing himself. Now, obviously the latter is probably one of the more notable moments in all of Bleach (and maybe shonen manga in general), but what actually makes the chapter work is the taste of violence introduced in the opening, which is then tied to the Gin/Momo/Aizen stuff with just the briefest flashback-- one page! But it's essential to making the story cohesive, and to putting the appropriate focus on Gin, who would otherwise be overshadowed, I think.

171. End of Hypnosis3 (the Blue Fog). Okay, I promise I'll stop in a second. But I just cannot get over the pacing of this thing, starting with Unohana walking in on Aizen right as he finishes gutting Hitsugaya, and the tense standoff where Aizen reveals how he pulled it all off. And of course, that exposition is interwoven beautifully with the inevitable reveal that Tosen was in on the plot all along. When the chapter finally closes with the reminder that "oh yeah, Rukia was the target of all of Aizen's schemes" . . . it's magnificent. I don't know if anybody's ever paced anything better.

221. Eat the Worlds End. This chapter is just excellent when it comes to working with the existing concepts and characters to develop Ichigo’s character further-- and not in a good way! It’s basically Bleach’s version of inception, with Ichigo’s inner hollow letting Ichigo get the “victory” over him, while at the same time using the image and likeness of Kenpachi Zaraki to get Ichigo to embrace his “killer instict”. Really well done.

268. You Are Forbidden to Die. It’s another end-of-fight flashback chapter! This one might be the best though, as Rukia’s journey back into her memories to honor the Kaien she knew contains the thesis statement of the series as a whole, and makes for a very satisfying last couple of pages where she stabs Aaroniero in the face.

283. You don’t hurt anymore. The Grimmjow/Ichigo fight has so many layers to it, but what makes this chapter stand out is that it works independently of all that. You don’t have to know that Orihime’s concerns about Ichigo are extremely well grounded, or that Ichigo’s been fighting a massive battle about how much he should lean in to his dark side, or that Grimmjow is fighting in part because he’s scared about what he’ll feel if he doesn’t fight. The story the chapter tells in isolation-- of our hero being given the strength he needs to fight by the person he’s rescuing-- works well enough on its own.

#Bleach #Top Ten #Kubo's chapter titles are rarely defeated #(shout out crying little people because what the hell was that)#ask Troius

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