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midnightactual · 1 year

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if I had to articulate the problem with Bleach, it's that Bleach ultimately doesn't work well as a shōnen story centered around one dude (Ichigo). that structure works fine for like, Yu Yu Hakusho, because that follows Yusuke's small group pretty much exclusively; and it works fine for One Piece and Naruto, because Luffy and Naruto are just the foremost guys of many, many independent competing teams. but Ichigo becoming Soul Society's pointman who must Do All The Things™ every single time gets really old really fast, and reduces everyone else to supporting characters in a really lame way

this feels extra dumb because the adults are still having all the adult conversations and making all the big decisions and we just don't see it happening because we have to follow a teenager. so we're following a relatively clueless guy with little to no agency as he plays gofer for those around him. like, so don't make it about the teenager then? you can split up the POV character and the protagonist. Mad Max: Fury Road did this perfectly. it would still be lame to have Ichigo being the solution to every problem, but it'd be a lot less bad if he wasn't also the focus. and no, saying this is vital for J. J. Abrams mystery box reasons doesn't excuse it, the mysteries and their payoffs are simply never that good

and you know what? the teenagers are the least interesting part of the series. of course they are! because teenagers… are teenagers! the most interesting teenager in the world will never be as interesting as the most boring thousand-year old in the world. their main function in a story driven by and composed of adults is to question the values and premises the adults are operating on (also given most of WSJ's readership is adults, as this 2012 survey by Shueisha shows, and Bleach was mostly read by girls, "it's for boys" is not an excuse so miss me with that)

and like, yeah, it's a shōnen. I've been accused of wanting things to be a different genre before. well, duh! because they very clearly want to be a different genre themselves! why do you think Kubo ditched Karakura as a setting when he'd planned to highlight everyone in Ichigo's class by turn? why do you think he dipped to explore so many other characters in FKT and TYBW besides Ichigo and company? why do you think LSS was a weird horror plot? why do you think SAFWY and CFYOW don't feature Ichigo or any other mains at all? because he (and everyone else involved) was sick of it too! in One Piece, even though the story follows Luffy and the Straw Hats, you get the sense everyone else is maneuvering around in their own ways even if you don't see it. in Bleach, pretty much everything waits for Ichigo. and it honestly sucks

I'm obviously super-biased, but to be what it clearly wants to be by series' end, the premise of Bleach should've been a seinen focused upon the Urahara Shōten on one end, and the Captain's meetings on the other, intercutting between those as events unfolded and focusing far more on the lives and perspectives of the people actually making the calls, especially given, unlike oh say Mobile Suit Gundam, as is there is virtually no payoff in the form of how all this actually affected the child soldiers who are the "main characters"

just the wrong damn format for the story it wanted to become, sorry not sorry. if you wanna focus Ichigo & Co. and Rukia, keep the story small. if you wanna focus a big sprawling epic, deemphasize them. pick one. you're not Tolkien, Kubo, you can't do both, and you clearly wanted the latter (yet you're still frustratingly obsessed with both the format and "mystery", both of which you also suck at)

#Out Of Character #Long Post #Negativity TW #[ I'm calling it like it is tbh ]#[ but some people ain't like facts ]

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unohanadaydreams · 2 years

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I never posted these, did I? Here’s some more of me re-reading TYBW from a bit ago.

Hmmm, sounds kind of like a vague way to answer. Like he’s trying to tell you something, mayhaps.

Also, it sucks that this just gets really lost in the TYBW sauce. This confrontation comes late in the arc and is SO quick. The logic behind minimizing this is really lost on me.

He literally starts this arc with the nakama and the switch to being with the Sternritter doesn’t feel mysterious, it just feels confusing. Like…..why are there sternritter who die shortly after getting introduced getting more panel time than URYU.

It’s sad this arc was rushed, because the charms of Soul Society arc and Hueco Mundo arc imo came from their build up arcs where Ichigo and his friends had legitimate focus on them before being flung into the arc proper. In other words, we got invested in Ichigo and his friends making it out alive with Rukia bc we had time to sit with them. We got invested when Orihime was kidnapped, when her friends came to rescue her, because we had time with them. We didn’t have that same time here and especially in no way that mattered toward this development.

This seems like a weird thing to say if Yhwach purely means ‘your child’ in a ‘child of God’ way.

And he was born in a way that would indicate he really is Soul King’s son. Like he couldn’t see or move or sense anything….like the Soul King.

It makes me wonder how Yhwach came to be? Was he a natural child or created as a successor to the peerless, motionless throne? Was the Soul King always meant to be contained as such or was he a moving, feeling person as Yhwach came to be? What would happen if his limbs were brought back to him in full? Why was he torn apart in the first place?

Like Yhwach and Soul King just have SO many similarities.

Why couldn’t he have seen that? Isn’t seeing the future….also seeing the difference in strength that the future brings?

The problem with a Soul King that can see the future is that 1. Yes he did see this and 2. How exactly did the soul king set up Yhwachs upcoming failure as seeing doesn’t imply action to stopping it.

He can’t move. He’s been taken apart and placed in the sky to sit pretty—he only got his arm back because Ukitake gave it back intentionally. What abilities did he have that brought about Ichigo and Aizen and Uryu to bring about the defeat?

So confused on why this is any different from what he’s been planning?

Like, characters have been very wishy washy on what ‘ending the soul society’ means. Some act like nothing will exist anymore, others say shinigami just won’t be in charge, and some imply it’ll just suck for the worlds to be gone?

What exactly is he taking from the soul king that he wasn’t already going to??? It’s clear Soul King isn’t chilling here of his free will—what else is there to take?

The fact that this is NEVER expanded upon is an extraordinary crime.

I would fucking devour anything that expanded on this and the original war 1000 years ago. I crave it so much.

He’s SO back handed. He’s a sentence away from saying he needs a thank you for her promotion lmao.

Also, yeah, this is the first time Rukia really comes face to face with Aizen since he left her face down in the dirt, huh? That’s rough, buddy.

Everyone being SO surprised about this move by Shunsui makes me wonder how classified Mayuri’s origins at the 12th are, and the R&D in general.

This institution is not a stranger to pulling resources from former enemies. The Arrancar seem to be easier to swallow because they’re seen as lesser, I guess? Same seems to stand for the full bringer. And vizards just kind of….come back no questions asked?

None of the above ever started a concerted rebellion that resulted in a full blown war against Seireitei, to be fair.

Once again, we see that sacrificing your beliefs in the name of duty? Fine.

As long as you don’t have feelings attached it IS justified. The evil just cancels right out!

Tosen? A blind animal. Komamura? A dumb animal. Gin? A tragic animal. Their actions are reduced to mindless revenge because they did it out of feeling.

Shunsui releasing Aizen is justified because he has forced himself to feel nothing (or so he betrays) other than the logic of his actions serving Seireitei.

His desire to kill Yhwach is likewise just duty. Which is coincidentally how Ichigo gets to dodge confronting his feelings surrounding Yhwach and the anger he feels toward him regarding his mother—it’s also his duty to the Seireitei.

I can appreciate a lot of what Bleach says about revenge but it runs into the same problem plenty of other media does by trying to quantify the problem as feeling too much. Swinging the other direction doesn’t suddenly make it all okay.

Like, cruelty is cruelty. Principles are principles. Cruelty out of duty doesn’t hurt any less. Principles left behind out of duty are just as gone. Systematic oppression is often built and fed by phrases like ‘just doing my job’ and feeling nothing for an enemy doesn’t make a war any less horrible or violent (which Shunsui has literally pointed out before).

But ‘as long as it’s against evil it’s justified’ is just lmao. Like, Tosen thought he was justified while fighting evil. So did Komamura. So did Gin. What is the difference here, when we remove the emotions? Komamura especially—if his reasons has been purely rooted in duty, and he had still gone to the extremes he felt necessary to find victory…what then?

Because the chances of Aizen breaking loose and causing harm to those under Shunsui’s care is absolutely there. The endangerment wouldn’t be any less real, would it?

All that said, I think Aizen being freed was inevitable and the only reason he was imprisoned instead of killed, in the first place. I also don’t think it’s an unreasonable move. Shunsui is a great character to do this too, since he is a pretty self-loathing guy and I’d bet he just doesn’t view himself as a man of principles to begin with so this justification seem more for the lieutenants than for himself.

Executioners hate him! This man stayed alive with these simple tips and tricks. Grow your spiritual pressure not in years but in MONTHS!!

‘sinners’ lmao. Remember where you crawled out of, Mayuri.

Also Mayuri is genuinely so thrilled to be in control of people. His favorite avenues of science are enacting power over bodies (dissecting and gigai and soul candy and regrowing limbs, ect). Like he will invent anything, get around any obstacle, to prove he can control someone.

Two men and their massive egos and their remote powered toys having a very normal conversation right in front of my salad???

Kind of feels purposeful on Aizen’s part. Like ‘either I’m shooting the palace down or you’re not getting up there’.

He’s smart enough to have realized his restricted spiritual pressure was going to result in restricted range. He was trying to force their hand on giving that range more slack.

It’s been five seconds since Shunsui revealed Aizen and he’s already caused problems.

#Mayuri and Aizen cock fighting made me laugh irl #two men truly defined by if they used their neurosis for or against the Seireitei #I keep forgetting to post these #they’re just in my drafts so I guess I’ll start pushing them out #my ranting on my blog for me #queue #yes it’s true the reason I’ve been posting more consistently is bc I remembered queue function existed

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zanguntsu · 4 years

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like i don't want the TTBW to happen because the antiblakness is rampent in that one like he should have stopped after the Fullbringer arc even if it kinda sucked but it's better than what the fuck came after

oh yeah it got really bad in tybw and no one. fucking talks about it.

#ask #anon #racism #tybw had so many problems it sucks #just throw it all away #i think fb would have been a good send off tbh

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liquorisce · 4 years

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decisions, decisions pt 2

Fandom : Bleach

Pairings : Ichihime (ft. some ichi x ishi bickering which we love around here)

Rating : T

Part 1

A/N: A few months ago I wrote a post-tybw-karakura-gang-finishes-high-school kinda thing called ‘decisions, decisions’ ft career choice discussions and orihime thinking of leaving town for uni. I wanted to write some more of that stuff and more ichihime pining obvs, so here it is. also i hate myself for not being able to participate in ichihimeweek2020, i suck, but anyway, ‘nuff with the nonsense, here’s the fic:

(ps: pls be nice to me and like/reblog/comment or whatevs and tell me what u think, ily thx)

...

It’s five minutes to two, and Ichigo fought to stifle a yawn. The menacing five hundred pages of English grammar exercises in front of him wasn’t helping.

“... Unbelievable,” he curses, slamming the book shut, much to the annoyance of his bespectacled classmate sitting across him. “Why the hell can’t they just teach us proper English in school?! I’m absolutely fucking positive that Honda-sensei didn’t mention more than three tenses in her class. And what kind of English lesson takes place in Japanese anyway?!”

“... Quit your whining, Kurosaki. Some of us are trying to study here.”

Ichigo fumed. By ‘some of us,’ Ishida was pointedly referring to just himself and the long-haired beauty sitting right opposite him, who, judging by her giggling at his outburst, welcomed his distraction. The same giggling that was contributing to the problem, contributing to Ichigo’s immense distraction since after dinner.

“You’re not even human, Ishida,” he says dismissively. “Keigo’s literally made his bed on my dad’s couch, you can hear his goddamn snores, and Mizuiro left to ‘watch the stars’ with some new girl thirty minutes ago.”

“You’re the one who invited us over to your place for an all-nighter group study session and you’re calling it quits before the sun is up? As expected, you’re weak.”

He was right, this had been Ichigo’s idea, Yuzu had offered to make them dinner and his dad had plans tonight, so they were guaranteed some peace and quiet. Despite the noise and the chaos of their group, he missed hanging out with his friends. Ever since the school had given them voluntary study holidays for the upcoming University Entrance Exams, he didn’t get to see much of everyone, as they were either studying or training for competitions. Even today, Tatsuki and Chad left after dinner because they had to get up early for practice and they had decided they wouldn’t be giving the exams anyway.

Ignoring Ishida’s pointed attempts to rile him up, he turns his attention to Orihime, who despite enjoying their banter, was more focused on the cram book in front of her.

“Inoue, how are you still so motivated and so… awake?,” he asks, exasperated. “It’s almost 2 am! And you’ve been scribbling away furiously for the last thirty minutes. What are you even studying?”

“Mouuu, you’re right. I’m not able to solve this proof anyway. Maybe I should call it a night?”

“Electromagnetism?” Ishida asks, skimming the title of the chapter, “Oh, I’ve done this one, I can explain this to you if you want.”

He doesn’t know what irritates him more, Ishida’s nerdiness, or the soft look in his eyes as he unfailingly offers to help Orihime out, as he’d been doing a lot more of late, ever since they had started studying for the entrance exams together. In fact, it’d been this way this entire evening, starting from when he took a seat right next to her at the table as if he fucking belonged there, leaning over into her notebook, whenever she needed help, his arm casually brushing against her long, silken locks, her answering smile bright and incredibly close to him, and - Ichigo forces that thought to a halt because it has him gritting his teeth. “... For God’s sake, give her a break,” -

“... Shut up, Kurosaki, not everyone is applying to study *English* in University”-

“And what exactly do you mean by that, asshole?” Ichigo snarls, with more venom than needed, because despite having had enough with Ishida’s condescending attitude towards his study choices, his recent behaviour had Ichigo prickling under his skin.

“... Err, Kurosaki-kun…” Orihime starts, because she’s used to Ichigo and Ishida arguing (they’re just being affectionate, she always insists), there’s a glint in Ichigo’s eyes that’s different.

“... Exactly what I said, some of us don’t have the luxury of skipping the math and science exams,” -

“Ah, Kurosaki-kun is right! I think my brain really can’t function anymore tonight,” Orihime declares loudly, inserting herself in between them. “Kurosaki-kun, I think I will leave now. Thank you so much for hosting us today.” She bows, her formality annoying him even more, but still throwing him off guard.

As always, Orihime’s pleasant demeanour diffused the rising tempers… somewhat. With one last glare, Ishida grudgingly agreed, “Then I guess I will take my leave as well.”

Ichigo wants to be polite and say something like, “we should do this more often,” but he’s pissed off, and couldn’t wait to be rid of Ishida’s arrogant mug, so instead he offers, “Inoue, can I walk you home?”

He doesn’t notice the faint red on her cheeks or the hesitation on her face, when she mumbles, “If it doesn’t inconvenience you.” And he’s torn again - tearing his eyes away from the pretty blush dusting her cheeks unable to stop himself from wondering bitterly if she’d let Ishida walk her home without much protest.

“Ishida lives in the other direction and it would be out of his way, so I don’t mind.”

“Well then,” Ishida says, looking at her with more fondness than Ichigo would have liked, “Your eyes are all red and puffy. Sleep well. Don’t strain yourself, okay?”

“Yes sir,” she gives him the salute, “... good night!”

“... And text me that you got home safe. This idiot can’t be trusted with anything,”-

“... for fuck’s sake, just go home already!”

“Kurosaki-kun,” she whispers, amused, as she watches Ishida walk away with a cheeky grin on his face, “you’ll wake the neighbours with your angry yelling.”

“Ah, you’re right,” he mumbles, rubbing his neck sheepishly, as their footsteps fall into place beside each other, “I’m sorry for all the swearing, I don’t know why I let Ishida under my skin so much.”

“Hmmm,” she says, “It’s kind of cute, your bickering. If this were a yaoi novel, I’d totally ship it!”

“... what the hell?!” His face is red, not just because the thought of him… and Ishida… Ew. But also because this is coming from Orihime, the last person he’d ever expect to engage in fantasies of this sort.

Giggling, she quickly switches to a more somber note. “You seemed... on edge today. Did something happen between the two of you?”

He doesn’t know how to answer that question. Truth be told, he’s barely able to understand it himself. Sure, there was the usual trading of insults that took place between the two of them, but it was different this time. His whole demeanour just pissed him off. The way he always seemed to know what Orihime was asking, the way he was always able to help her, the familiar way he spoke to her… and the revelation that they’d been studying together for weeks now!

“I don’t know,” he sighs, because he can’t even explain what he is feeling, let alone the reason behind it, “... I guess it’s just the stress of the exam.”

“Ugh, tell me about it,” she whines, “I’m so thankful Ishida-kun is giving the same exams as me, and we can share practice questions and tips. I really wouldn’t be able to do this alone.”

He ignores her mention of him and the tick in his jaw in reaction. “But I don’t get it. You’re giving almost all the exams. Why?!? There’s surely no need.”

She blushes, ashamed, “I know it sounds stupid, but I really haven’t decided what I want to study in University. I figured if I just gave all of the exams, I would have more options to choose from.”

“... Come on,” -

“... And I will also prefer to go wherever I get a scholarship.”

His fist clenches, “... So you’re definitely applying outside of Karakura?”

“Yeah, although I’m not sure if there’s any point. It’s so difficult to aim for the National Universities, I’ll never get through. But the counselor says it’s worth a shot for the scholarship.”

“... I thought your aunt was helping you with tuition?”

“... Only till high school. And I cannot burden her anymore. I’ve received so much from her already.”

Ichigo doesn’t miss the way her voice wavers at the end, the guilt evident in her words. And he can’t stand it. “... Cheer up,” he says softly, playfully elbowing her. “You’re one of the smartest kids in school. Rank #2 after all the shit we went through last year! If anyone can do it you can.”

“... You think so?” she mumbles, looking up at him, her insecurities heartbreaking in the grey of her eyes.

Everything about her is so honest, it hurts him a little bit because his first thought is to say no, to talk her out of it, because the revelation is too sudden, too jarring - he can’t bear the thought of this town without her. But he nods, smiles encouragingly, because that’s just way too selfish.

Shaking his head out of these thoughts, he asks, “... what was the counselor’s recommendation, again? As a career path?”

“Ah, Hirata-san said maybe I should just follow my love for baking,” she says, smiling.

“... and? Why don’t you consider that? You wouldn’t have to give these blasted exams then.”

He liked the idea of this, now more than before, momentarily regretting his role in convincing her to apply to university. Orihime working in the local bakery, coming around his house everyday to share the leftovers, staying back for dinner maybe…

“... but Kurosaki-kun was the one who said I wouldn’t be very good at it!” She pouts, “You said I’d make too many things in weird flavours and nobody would want to buy them.”

Crap. He truly felt like waltzing back in time and whacking the past version of him for saying something like that. Because if it were anyone else shitting all over Orihime’s dream, he’d have sent the punk flying. Where were all these feelings coming from anyway?!

“... Shit, I didn’t mean,” -

“... it’s okay, you’re right. And besides I can work there part-time through University. I was thinking…” She took a deep breath. “Well, actually, it was Ishida-kun’s idea. Maybe I could study to become a doctor? My strength is in healing people anyway…”

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Well of course, he'd say that. He's going to study medicine too." And of course he would try to talk Orihime into it. The bastard had taken every opportunity to slither by her side -

She laughs, a pretty sound, interrupting the profanity in his mind. "Yeah, he did say it would be nice to have some company… but I'm not sure." Sighing, she asks, "How did you decide on English Studies?"

It wasn't too difficult for him honestly. It helped that he was fairly certain he didn't want to study math or science going forward. "... I like stories. And I want to be able to read and share stories in a global medium, so I decided to study English."

He looks at her only to find her looking at him in fascination, "... Truth be told, I didn't spend too much time thinking about it. The career aptitude test returned similar results as well, so I just went with it." He shrugs, "I think I'll enjoy it. Let's see."

"Ahh, you sound so optimistic about your studies, Kurosaki-kun. I wish I could be like that."

They've reached her apartment building now and she turns to look at him, wistfully. He wishes he could do something for her, ease her anxieties in some way.

"What about you?" He asks.

She looks at him, puzzled.

"... You've told me all about what everyone wants you to do. What do you want to do? I'm sure you must have some inkling."

“... I,” she stops, opens her mouth again to say something, but nothing comes out. “... what I want… ah, you’ll probably think it’s silly.” She smiles wistfully to herself, because this wasn’t something that she’d ever admitted out loud.

He rolls his eyes, “... Try me.” Because she was many things, and yes, definitely silly sometimes in that unique way of hers, but he would never, could never, call her dreams silly. It’s a moment of realization for him, when he gets angry with the way she dismisses her own dreams that way, and he feels overwhelmed with the desire to pick them up, and keep them safe where no one can trample them, along with that spaced-out, wistful smile of hers.

“Well,” she gulps, nervous, “I’ve never really thought too much about going to university. Sensei says I’m wasting my potential... but honestly, I think I’ll be happy working.”

She looks at him unsurely, waiting for a reaction, an opinion, like everyone else. Everyone who’d been urging her to continue school and pursue all kinds of studies that she could possibly do, but… “I just - I want to build a simple life with someone I love. A family, maybe, someday.”

It comes out so fast, she wishes she could grab the words and shove them back in her mouth. She chances a glance at him, her cheeks hot and furiously embarrassed.

His expression is unreadable as he gazes down at her. She’s beautiful in the moonlight, he thinks, and it isn’t really a revelation to him, but the melancholy of her beauty is, the loneliness that he wishes he could extinguish as easily as he does hollows. “A simple life huh…” he murmurs. And he can almost picture it, Orihime, ten years from now, a child in her arms, a little boy maybe, with her wide brown eyes and -

“Well, looks like you have planned it out better than any of us,” he manages hoarsely, unable to look her in the eye anymore. Not with all these… feelings simmering so close to the surface. And before he can help himself, “Do you already know who this mystery man is?”

He’s come to realize how absolutely unequipped he is to hear the answer, but her unassuming statement has already taken residence inside him somehow, a burning sensation accompanying it.

His question jolts her into consciousness, and she notices they’re almost at her apartment. “Ah Kurosaki-kun is very curious today,” she laughs nervously, “only one confession per day! That’s the limit!” The fake cheer in her voice grates in her own ears but she hopes desperately it will steer him away because she’s this close to telling him sometimes, and this was one of those times. Especially in these rare moments when she feels an odd mixture of weakness and greed, where she wants to latch on to him and ask him to stay by her side, hoping selfishly that his kindness will make him say yes. But Orihime was practiced at hiding those feelings away.

“Is that right,” he smiles teasingly, albeit weakly, “... I didn’t know you were so mysterious, Inoue. Well goodnight, then.”

And as he watches her climb up the stairs to her floor, and then lean over the railings to wave goodbye one more time, he can’t help but think of that image of her again, happy and in love and so beautifully fulfilled. And he thinks of the shadow of the man next to her, who will protect that dream and that smile, and his stomach clenches bitterly.

“You deserve it,” he whispers to her retreating figure, “... You deserve all of it.”

- fin -

A/N : The ending was cheesy, I KNOW UGH

#ichihime #kurosaki ichigo #inoue orihime #bleach #liquorisce fanfiction

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zanguntsu · 4 years

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what are ur thoughts on each bleach arc o: like quality wise!

oh boy this got longer than expected. Whoops.

substitute arc: i rlly like this arc! its short but i love how it sets up the characters and i adore the integration between ichigos human life vs shinigami life And i like the monster of the week set up its a fun and its a lot more character focused in the beginning. the fights were very character driven, like with grand fisher, sora, the hollow that went to hell. all the fights felt like they had a meaning that had a strong impact on a character, like ichigo having closure after defeating (he should have killed him tbh) grand fisher.

soul society: one of the best if not the best arcs imo. theres a good amount of development, the fights are good and have emotional weight (ichigo v byakuya, uryu v mayuri, chad v shunsui, yoruichi v soi fon) and the newly introduced characters are interesting! very iconic and cool! there was a lot of character arc conclusions? Closure? like with uryu and yoruichi as well as rukia. the characters are a strong point here too and the introduction of soul society brought in world building and it was something we really needed to see. soul society as the villains was pretty good and it did show them as a threat. its a good arc and had a good cliffhanger ending to the next arc

arrancar arc: its a pretty good arc but this is where i feel like bleach was starting to fall off in quality since kubo didnt plan for the series to go past ss. like the plot was a little repetitive with the rescue arc the placing was pretty bad and its where the kubos problem of having too many characters started forming. there are some pretty good moments though, i really love the ichigo vs grimmjow and ichigo vs ulquiorra fights along with rukia vs aaroniero (rukia development time,,). the arc just felt pretty slow at times ig? But there are some very good moments

fake karakura arc/deicide: i like this arc even though i know half of it was bullshit. there are some good fights, soi fon vs barragan is one of my faves bc her bankai and it was just interesting to see the captains more involved even though i wish they didnt just stand there. like cmon the fate of the world is at stake gang up on ppl u have numbers. i do think its bullshit to have aizen be That powerful (i will excuse the hogyoku use bc thats his trump card and was set up) but having him take down everyone like that was eh. like i know it was meant to show how powerful aizen was but honestly i wish there was a better way. maybe make them all fight amongst each other like with momo but its all mind games and shit i feel like that was a better way of showing how strong aizen was. also speaking of aizen i wish there was more character to him like take away his manipulative badass thing and its just nothing. what drives him to kill the soul king and why? was it loneliness (which is a poor motive tbh), injustice? what brought him on this path? i feel like tousens goals had more to it then aizen tbh

the deicide arc was pretty okay i love mugetsu but im sorry there was absolutely no lead up to him. i love that form but its pretty bullshit that it didnt get as much as a mention in the past and i wish it did bc that would have made mugetsu have a lot more impact. i remember how ppl theorized that it was how isshin lost his powers even though it was proven otherwise but i wish they went with that. but i did like seeing zangetsu again and that touching moment with him and ichigo was good also the rukia and ichigo goodbye was very emotional. was it a good arc? maybe not plot wise but its pretty beloved

fullbringer: oh this is where the quality definitely dropped which sucks because i feel like this arc had a very interesting premise and plot set up. i know that i havent watched/read all of the fb arc but i do know enough of it just not much in between the beginning and end. i wish that the fullbringers had more focus bc they were all forgettable except maybe riruka and they should have had more screentime and the concept of fullbringers is genuinely interesting?? humans with hollow powers is a good concept and its a shame kubo didnt expand upon this more

oh and i have some beef with the villains bc its a fucking tragedy of wasted potential. ginjo is like. almost there to be considered a good villain. hes the previous substitute shinigami and u only bring it up at the end?? thats such a huge chunk of information and it sets up a connection between ichigo and ginjo. idc about tsukishima he can be whatever but i do think ginjo could have been a pretty good villain if he wasnt as blatantly evil. like i know the betrayal schtick is getting old but i would have preferred him as a villain with good intentions, like having him against soul society is a good motive bc ss commits war crimes but it was never clear in this arc (aside from ss monitering the substitutes) but it just didnt feel as strong as a motive to make him do what he did.

one good thing i do have to say about this arc was i do like ichigo in this arc and how much conflict he experiences and we get to see him commit murder although i do wish this had repercussions on him. i feel like soul society’s intervention was unnecessary but thats just me. the fullbringer arc being centered around humans was a good idea, bringing the series back to its roots and i just wish we spent more developmemt with the humans before jumping back to soul society, like more time on the aftermath of the last arc. also this arc should have been the chad arc im dying on this hill.

tybw: wow! this was a trainwreck of an arc! i have. So Many issues with tybw and its where kubos writing weaknesses truly shine. the biggest issues are its pacing which is absolutely abhorrent and it takes up at least a third of the entire series (literally. tybw had 206 chapters out of 686 since tybw officially starts on 480). we had periods where the main cast dont show up for like. 50 chapters. the other biggest problem were the characters. why did kubo think it was a good idea to introduce 26+ characters. why. there is absolutely no time to develop them and while some may receive screentime the majority have no impact to the plot beyond their fights with the characters we actually care about. there is no reason for people to give a shit about them. i can barely remember their names, much less their backstories

and one of the bigger problems was the antagonists themselves. they have a motive and while i understand hatred towards soul society. yhwach’s motives were the worst out of all the villains. i cannot fathom what motivates him because it went fucking everywhere. did he have beef with ss? was he waging war out of self preservation? did he want to end death? like the narrative hints at all of these but it just feels like a mess of a character! i never liked yhwach to begin with since his very concept is awful (seriously? giving a previously thought group of people who experienced genocide a nazi motif? what the fuck kubo). hes a villain but theres no substance. his powers could have been cool but it was on the point of needing a deus ex machina to take him down.

and the fights are forgettable with the occasional good ones (shunsui v that one fuck, rukia v that other fuck) but there are some bad fights (askin v yoruichi, the quincy thor guy). there are some good moments, like all the bankai reveals, it adds more to the characters but it also causes so much jumping around in the plot and this is what happens when u have this many characters and some will be forgotten (so sorry chad). it sucks. some of the fights dragged on longer than necessary and it was just. so much. all of these issues really downgraded the arc and thats what made it the mess it was.

and a lot of the ideas brought in to tybw are criminally underused. ichigo being a quincy may have been wack but i did like the idea but it really only had some sparse moments like masaki and zangetsu development, creating a connection between ichigo and yhwach but that was really it. it was not like his hollow powers which coexisted with the plot and had huge moments and was just a constant presence. you could forget that ichigo was a quincy tbh and we needed more quincy moments. and the soul king was horribly underused because it did have set up from the arrancar arc, it was aizens entire goal! but kubo never really explores the ideas of the soul king and only in cfyow do we really get more info about it and thats no good because the soul king is a vital piece of bleach lore and worldbuilding.

anyways thats my two cents sorry this was rlly long

#ask #anon #sorry this was more of an essay #i just have a lot of feelings about this laundrey detergent show 😔#ramble tag #long post #nazi mention #its brief but i hate the vandenreich so

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zanguntsu · 4 years

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fullbringer arc had some cool ideas but it was also bad writing. it dragged on some, with the main plot being ichigo gaining a new power and thats basically it with the side plot of tsukishima and having ichigo develop new powers isnt the worst plot idea but there could be more.

the new characters in fullbringer are not very enthralling and easily forgettable which is a shame because unlike the other arcs in bleach, it introduces a smaller new cast so there could have been more development since it doesnt run into the trouble of having far too many characters to properly write. and some of the characters had some interesting stories but they were just. swept under the rug and finally fully pushed out of the narrative once the shinigami entered the story again.

the main problem with the fullbringer arc i have is that there is no impact on the next arc like yeah. fb characters are there but there just isnt anything to carry over and that’s disappointing bc all of the arcs affect the next in some sort of way, like how soul society arc influences the arrancar arc but with the fb arc you could just completely redact it and not much would change. ichigo’s fullbring doesnt carry over since its gone lmao so everything ichigo worked for is null and no one really experiences significant growth. chad could have gotten a new power up like its the fullbringer arc cmon kubo why.

i would have wanted to see an arc on the karakura gang adjusting to life after the winter war arc. there’s potential there to expand on characters: ichigo losing his powers all of a sudden, orihime having just been kidnapped would definitely have effects on her psyche, chad’s and uryu’s characters having more overall focus after all of hueco mundo and the events that theyve gone through cause they’re children who were put in dangerous situations. like I appreciate how it does focus on human life like the first arc of bleach however i dont think it runs with the ideas as well as it could. the focus shifted to the shinigami again at the end. also the fullbringer arc should have been chad’s arc. like it kind of was but not really and im so mad about that

maybe its just me being anti soul society but the arc did bring up potential criticism of ss, how they lied to ichigo about the badge with he completely brushes off which i mean, i get that ichigo doesnt care but at the same time ss effectively monitored him and were fully prepared to use the badge to restrict and kill him, a teenage boy, in case he goes bonkers. he’s 15-17 like dude. that’s a little fucked man. ginjo being a former substitute was definitely an interesting topic and his personality pre tsukishima fullbring reveal was better than generic villain tm we got. tsukishima as the generic villain tm worked better honestly and having two antagonists who are not very affiliated would have caused some spicy conflict.

and ichigo questioning the trustworthiness of the people around him could start some internal conflict, like should he doubt the people around him who clearly care about him? that conflict could really question urahara’s morality alongside isshin’s. soul society’s could definitely be there. like maybe it goes somewhere but it could also carry over to tybw since it’s ALL about soul society’s crimes against the quincy. it sets up the stage for the final arc and could amplify the villains (even though they suck lmao) and really hammers in the moral ambiguity of soul society as a military organization.

anyways im done rambling, fullbringer arc could have been an interesting arc

#bleach #ramble tag #long post #sorry this is horribly organized and more train of thought #i might make more follow ups but eh. for now it works

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