this does contain them sweet
SPOILERS
what I find really upsetting about Ichigo’s dynamic with his friends/family/mentors is how they treat the fact that he’s part-Hollow. especially when it comes to the Visored and Orihime.
bc yeah, the Visored did struggle with their Hollows, bc they already lived hundreds of years without that aspect. they were comfortable with their shinigami existence, but then this hollowfication bullshit drops on their heads and suddenly they’re not only barely in control of themselves, constantly in a fight with an inner “demon”, but also there’s no one to support them AND they’re getting fucking exiled and then they exist as this tightly knit community of eight for a fucking century with no one to understand them but each other. I’d hate the Hollow in me too, probably.
BUT, then there’s this fresh guy, that hasn’t accepted the fact that he’s now an amalgamation of a million different things, including something that he has been told he has to fight and exterminate, that they have to teach to manage the hollowfication bullshit™️ so what do we do? correct, scare the shit out of him and present existing with a Hollow as amensalism (one is harmed, one is unaffected) or parasitism (one benefits, one is harmed) when it’s more like commensalism (one benefits, one is unaffected), in which the shinigami is clearly the one who’s benefiting from this.
(although we could argue that for the Visored this is a symbiotic relationship in which both are getting harmed, but even then the shinigami still gains benefit and the Hollow gets nothing but hatred, so like, fuck them, lol (I’m advocating for inner-Hollow rights 💀🙏🏻)).
biology lesson out of the way, they essentially do not teach Ichigo anything that would bring long-term benefits (we see this when Ichigo is unable to complete his training with Squad 0, bc he has no fucking idea who Zangetsu (or he himself) actually is (this is, of course, in part his quincy power’s doing, but I wouldn’t say his supposed “mentors” helped much).
in conclusion what does Ichigo get out of this? self-hatred and the habit to suppress what is, whichever way you look at it, a big part of his being, thus blocking himself and Zangetsu from reaching their full potential.
but I guess you can’t teach lessons you haven’t learnt yourself, so there is that with the Visored.
now onto my dear Orihime, who I love dearly (this is a disclaimer). for someone who, supposedly, loves Ichigo more than anything and who we have to take seriously as not only just a potential love-interest, but the actual, one-and-only lover, she is a little bit too scared of Ichigo.
this, of course, for me, begs the question of how am I supposed to accept a love-interest who is consistently terrified of the mc? not a single battle with Orihime present (and Ichigo using the mask) without her shaking in fear and having to be reminded by others (who have known him for much less time than she has), that not only is it still Ichigo in front of her, but he’s also fighting and pulling out the mask he himself doesn’t like much, in order to protect her.
it’s plain and simple upsetting how there’s absolutely no one to accept and embrace the essence of Kurosaki Ichigo. everyone around him wants the shinigami and human in him, no one is interested in the Hollow (except for *ahem* Grimmjow *ahem*), all they do is reject and cower and isn’t that fucking hypocritical after hiding behind his back and begging him to save them?
everyone around Ichigo just really pisses me off with their constant whining. I feel like the only ones who love and cherish Ichigo for the absolute gem of a person he is are Chad and the fucking Arrancars 💀🙏🏻
as I mentioned in the ALT to the last photo in this parade of idiocy: trying to separate and think of Hollow Ichigo and Ichigo as two different entities is crazy and delusional behaviour, bc we have been told countless times, that a person’s inner Hollow is a manifestation of all repressed emotions and traits that they view as unsavoury. which for Ichigo happened to be aggression, cruelty, being merciless and thirst for bloody battles.
let me remind everyone that you cannot truly love a person w/o accepting and acknowledging all their flaws (including yourself).
this is not me trying to say Orihime doesn’t love Ichigo, it’s not really about the characters, more so the writing. I am actively trying to square up with Tite Kubo. for many reasons, but this is one of the ones I pay most attention to.
Ichigo is someone who is in perfect control of himself, who protects no matter what, bc even when he turned into the vasto lorde (after getting his heart ripped out of his chest) it was all his Hollow, yet it still carried out the mission of protection seamlessly, that’s how strong his will is. Kurosaki Ichigo deserves ppl who actually love him around, thank you.
thanks for coming to this ted talk, love y’all!
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If you need a sign that it gets better here it is.
I sincerely mean this. You have to understand where I’m coming from. I’m mentally ill and traumatized and I’ve been like this for most of my life. So much of my life has been bad day after bad day. When people would tell me shit got better I’d get mad. I would get mad over the word happy because I thought the capacity to be happy had been removed from my brain. I didn’t think it was possible. I genuinely thought I would never get better and I believed it to my core. If you put a gun to my head and said to believe it I would’ve gotten shot that’s how intent I was on this. But if it could happen to me it can absolutely happen to you and it’s never too late for things to get better.
This doesn’t mean things will never be sucky. Of course they will. That’s life. But fuck. I used to have mental breakdowns constantly. I would be in abusive relationships that tore me apart. I lived in so much fear. I was so sick with anxiety. I would tolerate mistreatment from partners and friends and even people I hardly knew. I’d people please to no end. I’d overextend and be everyone’s therapist meanwhile I was drowning with no one to help me. I couldn’t set a single boundary without immediately feeling immense guilt and retracting whatever it was. I let everyone’s opinions on me inform me on who I was. I couldn’t cut anyone off or leave. I’d tolerate so so so much discomfort for the prospect of “love” that was actually abuse. I let things destroy me. I put myself last just like my abusers did. I didn’t stand up for myself. I’d ruminate on my past constantly. I couldn’t let anything go. I read old messages from shitty people like it was my morning news. I was so incredibly hopeless and alone. In all honesty I thought my last abusive relationship would be the end of me. I didn’t think I would survive it or the aftermath when that hit.
But it snapped something in me. That and being played by someone I trusted who betrayed me and took advantage of me. After that I vowed to never again tolerate the shit I had in the past. I gradually started to learn and apply shit I hadn’t ever before. I started to stand up for myself. I started to learn how to stop overextending as much. I started to protect my peace. I started to spend time on myself rather than shitty temporary fucking awful waste of time people. I started to trust my own intuition over what my abusers tried to convince me of. I learned how to cut people off, something that for most of my life I couldn’t fathom. I started to let people have their own opinions on me and not let it ruin my day. So what if someone thinks I’m rude? So what if someone doesn’t like me? I may be more alone than I have been in years but it feels much less lonely than having a bunch of shitty people in my life who are toxic and not genuine.
I’m okay being alone if it means I have my peace, something I used to be terrified of. I’d tolerate mistreatment if it meant I wouldn’t be alone. I smile and laugh easier than I used to. I have fun. I experience joy. I see beauty in the little things like the night sky and the moon or the waves of the ocean or the feeling of fresh air on my skin. I put myself out there more and people actually like me for who I am. I don’t mask nearly as much as I used to. I embrace my interests and parts of me I used to adamantly suppress. I don’t need anyone to make me whole. I’m whole on my own. I don’t think pretending to be something I’m not so people like me is worth it anymore. I don’t let little things destroy and completely color my day anymore. I don’t constantly read old messages anymore. I actually deleted a bunch of old shit from my camera roll for the first time ever days ago.
Like I said I’m not perfect. I still have bad days. My esteem has a ways to go. I still feel dissatisfied with my life at points. My mental illnesses and trauma still act up. I struggle. But my god. My growth is genuinely incredible when I sit back and look at the big picture which I guess I haven’t really done before now. I’m excited to see what progress I make even further as I continue to grow. I’m so different than I used to be and I suppose that’s part of why I’ve lost so many people. They can’t handle me actually setting boundaries and standing up for myself. They banked on my tolerance that’s no more. You will lose (toxic) people when you start becoming healthy which is something no one told me. But it’s so worth it. It’s so worth it.
I’ve made it through so much horrific shit. So many close calls where I nearly took my life or contemplated it. Yet I got through it all and not only that but I changed for the better. I lived to see it get better. If you’re struggling to find a reason to stick around, live for the possibility that things can get better. If they can get better for me, they absolutely can for you. Live for the possibility of joy, ease, beauty, and a life you like.
I made a post on here that blew up awhile ago that said that I wished I killed myself at 15. I disagree with that sentiment. I would’ve missed out on so much growth. I would’ve died without seeing it get better. I wouldn’t have accomplished so much. I wouldn’t have made so much progress. I’m glad I didn’t die at 15. I’m glad I saw things out and I’m on the other side of that despair with a smile.
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