#Renji is just going to have to get his own post if I do one for him at all

[snurtle]

idk if you're still doing these but i'd love if you do a character opinion bingo on orihime and/or renji. i saw your bleach red au art a few months ago when i was reading ahead before the anime premiere and i've been Rotating It In My Mind ever since, i just love your take on both characters

First off, this is just such a nice comment! :D So nice, in fact, that I drew a doodle for it. I'm always surprised when other people engage with my silly AUs. Rotate away! Let's play in this space together! I've actually got a couple of short scene comics in the works for RED that will probably be done around January if I'm being honest with myself. (I’m busy, I’m slow, and comics take a long time!)

Originally, I wasn’t going to do the rest of the bingo memes that I still have asks for- (sorry!!!) it’s been a while and it felt like the general Vibe of things had moved on, but you’ve shot a friendly arrow into my ass about it so PERHAPS I will! 

I’m choosing to just do Orihime for this, because I ended up writing an Essay and Renji... I don’t know if I’m coherent enough about Renji to do a bingo on him without breaking down into garbled eldritch signs and scratched pictograms on cave walls. Orihime is the safer choice. Less of a cognito hazard. More legible. So under the cut she goes! I hope this suffices for you anon.

[Edit: 5/6/2023 cut removed by request for record keeping! <3 ]

LADIES AND GENTLESNAILS WE HAVE OUR FIRST BINGO!

I’d like to preface this by saying Orihime was not one of my favorite characters the first time I read Bleach. What can I say? We are all a series of nesting dolls, and the things we relate to change as we add layers to our hearts. With age, experience, and another read, she is ABSOLUTELY one of my favorite characters in anything period. I have a lot of feelings about her, and a lot of them are “oh god why did you get married so young” and “while I understand where this narrative train is heading I want to get off!!!” So like any good AU fantasizer... complicated! :D 

So let’s just take the bullets in order, shall we?

they are soooooo cool looking:

Orihime (circa Soul Society Arc to a vague point somewhere in the Arrancar Arc) has a very unique facial structure! She’s got a large forehead and downturned eyes that make her seem a little mournful even when she’s smiling brightly. Honestly, it’s a VERY neat bit of character storytelling through design, and while I could never beef with an artist for style creep, I’m sad that her unique features seemed to even out and become more standardized as the manga grew loooooooonger and Kubo aged everyone up.

Beyond that, my girl is ADORABLE and I like her slightly off kilter fashion choices; they really speak to someone who both

- had few/strange/ill-equipped adult influences in her life to guide her early clothing choices

- has to tailor her own clothes to fit a body out of place.

It’s just.. I could just go on forever about this! Orihime’s design isn’t complicated, but it’s informative, and that’s not something I can take for granted in a visual medium. The choices Kubo made in those areas of her design give us a window into her personality.. Which is to say, a lonely, grieving teenager who’s had to teach herself to Person while hanging onto the razor wire of societal expectation and threat. (not unlike our other protagonists, no? Ha. Our poor Karakura kids.) You can tell something is a little off about her. Her hair is wrong, her face is wrong, her clothes are...wrong. Ish, if not skillfully amended. Like she’s not doing great at camouflaging, but she’s existing in the shadow of the benefit of the doubt and that will just have to do before her star really starts to shine.

wasted potential:

“I reject your version of reality and substitute my own!” -Orihime at some point, probably. 

That’s insane. That’s mindbreakingly, hand-twirlingly eye poppingly FUN. In a world full of near misses, sword skill expositions, and by-the-skin-of-your-teeth victories and losses, ONE imaginative girl can just go. “Uh. Y’know, I don’t like this very much. Nope. Nope nope nope.” And the world reorganizes itself to fit the shape of that NOPE. Her ability to reject the consequences of actions and events she wasn’t even there to witness is just.. Game breaking. But ultimately, those powers are the expression of a personality, and the personality belongs to a person who... really doesn’t care much about power at all- at least, not for its own sake. Orihime is a healer, a time bender, a bastion, a judge who can interact with the binary of the universe at large-- aaand that’s never really expanded on.

Everyone who sees her Do Her Thing universally goes “what in the bugfuck is this” because it Just Does Not Compute. It’s not supposed to be possible! And conveniently, no one ever has to dig into that because Orihime does less on-screen exploration of her abilities and more just... Yaknow. Standard heal-y forcefield-y stuff. Occasionally, resurrect-y stuff. Which is fine I guess because it serves the story’s focus, but for a person who is name twinsies with [VEGA]:

> Vega has been extensively studied by astronomers, leading it to be termed "arguably the next most important star in the sky after the Sun"

HMMMMMMM. The sun, you say? The sun, which serves an important symbolic role in Bleach, The Sun, and The Moon, and -The next most important STAR in the sky- HUH?? HUH???? YOU’RE TELLING ME THESE CELESTIAL SYMBOLS CAN TRIO? IN THIS ECONOMY?

and the mythological figure of “the daughter of the king of heaven”

Orihime (織姫, "Weaving Princess"), daughter of the Tentei (天帝, "Sky King", or the universe itself) [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata] 

🤔🤔🤔🤔

 I JUST FEEL LIKE THIS MERITS. YOU KNOW. SOME EXPLORATION. BECAUSE THAT’S NOT NORMAL. THAT KIND OF THEMATIC WEIGHT ISN’T NORMAL TO JUST DROP ON A CHARACTER THAT ISN’T GOING TO EXAMINE THE GUN CHEKOV GAVE THEM. AND IT’S JUST A LITANY OF “HUH. SOMETHIN AIN’T RIGHT WITH THAT GIRL.” AND THEN THE SERIES ENDS??? WHAT’S UP WITH THAT

they’re deeper than they seem:

Okay look this is a pet headcanon of mine, but I think Orihime isn’t actually a Fullbringer in the normal sense. Rather, I think she classes closer to Ywhach, Gerard Valkyrie, Ukitake, and Aura as in “bearer of [a] legacy of the Soul King.” As in a significant chunk to full-organ, or some kind of convoluted lineage/heir thing. It’s the only thing I can think of that makes Her THING make sense to me, unless her personality, her attachments, and the influence of Whatever Hollow Nyoomed by her in utero just... lined up perfectly to create a cosmic loophole big enough to string the Milky Way through. Which would also be cool! I love dark horses yanking the rug out from underneath “places where the cool powers are SUPPOSED to come from.” And we see that Nel, the Hollow most closely associated with Orihime, has healing powers via her ... uh. vomit, so it’s not as if there isn’t precedent for a healing-ish factor to come out of Hollow power, but STILL.

(I’m also not touching the whole ‘The Hyogoku and/or Ichigo gave them powers part of canon. I recognize it. I also think it’s intentional obfuscation of where her powers ACTUALLY come from because Bleach isn’t afraid to give characters conflicting sources of information.)

And also, Uh. I feel like this bingo square may have been referring to personality, perhaps, in which case I suppose I could have been talking about Orihime’s rampant trust issues. She feels so intensely the weight of mutual burden that the moments where she’s open about her problems are vanishingly rare, and then covered up by jokes, minimized. Sometimes- sometimes often- she performs cheerfulness like a thank-you card in exchange for that burden of care. (It’s expected. It’s all she can do. Isn’t it?) IIiii COULD talk about guilt, and envy simmering below the surface, or an aversion to conflict that is 75% moral pacifism, 25% fear (sometimes. percentages are as wiggly as hearts.). And all of that being under the hood of someone who looks like she’s daydreaming mid conversation, when she’s actually clocking 95mph on the Advanced Interpersonal Risk Calculus Highway.

 Or I could keep yelling about cool powers, because I think I’ve said this all before?

Unfortunately, Orihime’s proximity to Ichigo’s sun (especially in a romantic context) means that her fine details are sometimes blown out or overlooked in favor of making sure everyone knows that here’s a SEXY FEMALE TITS BIG ONES (urahara), but she’s also classical, she’s a moral center, she’s so powerful and tragic and accepts so much sacrifice so gracefully as is her duty and speaking of duty she gets married right out of highschool and has a kid almost immediately ayoo--

And yk. Some of those things are endemic to shounen manga, or are just kind of common in portrayals of Women Who Elevate Those Around Them (much like Masaki, or Kanae). It’s not like those things are inherently bad. But I don’t have to like them either. Weird Girls becoming Mature Women(tm) is something that will never interest me and actively repels me on most days because of the rote, tired way I’ve seen it written. I like messy women and disaster people and complicated, unusual lives. You can be happy without even the semblance of Destined Nuclear Family normalcy and frankly, I’m less interested in Punks And Weirdos becoming well-adjusted and accepted than I am in Punks and Weirdos clawing out a space for themselves and everyone being very uncomfortable but unable to coerce them otherwise. (This is a power fantasy.)

So while I’m (shrugs) on Orihime’s fairytale ending in canon, it’s not my bag, it gives me the heeby jeebies, and I don’t really want to work within the framework of that ending for my fan stuff!

I like them enough to project my own issues onto them:

Ah, to fear and envy those who can excel in the system designed around you all as if it’s as natural to them as breathing. Ahhh, to feel like the one bright blue piece in the milk puzzle. (Also, if anyone was going to get some of that good ol’ fashioned MORAL SCRUPULOSITY PANIC, it’s going to be Orihime. It has to be her.)

they got done DIRTY by fans:

Must I recite the old magic once again? The ancient curses? The shipping wars of yore? Those ancient battlegrounds of “girl-ed power” and “to be feminine is to err?” Nay, I wish it not upon anyone. The only dirt upon Orihime’s name was that of conflict between humans, for how could anyone say that another person’s work made in joy was wrong? I refuse to deride the work of my fellow fans... u_u ✨ ✨

(Which is to say in normal talk, what I hate most about Orihime Fan Zones isn’t any of the art or fic or headcanons people have of her! How could I possibly hate that? It’s just how much damn controversy she stirred up by existing in perceived conflict to Rukia. Waugh!)

i’m mentally ill about them:

And I’m not even done yet!! If you’re still reading this, brava!

they work better as part of a dynamic:

This is a funny one. Orihime is actually one of a few characters that I think would stand perfectly well on her own- she’s not a bit character, she doesn’t really rely on any gimmicks for her place in the story- her personality is well-faceted and we’ve seen plenty of her internal workings. But the thing is, Orihime’s weirdness is more vibrant when she has someone next to her who has a more rigid sense of propriety. The same is true in the opposite scenario, in which, instead of a straight man to her comedy routine, she has a co conspirator to hype up her shenanigans.

they’ve never done anything wrong in their life <33:

This is derogatory.

I want to see Orihime fuck up, BAD. The bad things around her happen TO her, pretty much universally. Even her social flaws are both relatable and normal and don’t really cause any conflict that isn’t internal and localized to herself. If someone rallies her or rags ON her in a way she can’t relate to, she flinches or stonewalls. She’s harmless. I would like to see her bite. Or . Step on a bug. Or snap at someone. I’d like to see that fear response cause something to break, irreparably. SOMETHING. PLEASE!!! PLEASE.... But no one really blames her for anything, even avoidance. No one really beefs with her on anything besides propriety, that I remember. Her fighting is a silent resistance. Unfortunately I think this response puts me on a psychic wavelength with Ulquiorra, and now I’m going to go wander the desert about this while I try to recover. (Wait, was that slap she gave him the only time we see her snap?)

Which is mostly just to say, she’s a perfectly nice normal girl, and she’s lovely, but anything I write with her is probably going to explore the consequences of severe avoidance and silence, rather than the virtues of them. Because in a story about ghosts and supernatural powers, I don’t really need my gals to be blameless, and I like to think about how people deal with guilt when it’s actually warranted, rather than self inflicted. Ideally, I’d also like it to be more severe than a slap, but you know.

And that’s a bingo!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for coming to my mental illness ted talk about my 1# ANGEL ORIHIME INOUE, MS. STAR ABOVE THE WELL OF TRUTH, BEST GIRL 10,000 HOURS PLAYED!

Please remember that I treat all my favorite characters like chew toys, I enjoy shredding them, and don’t forget to grab your belongings on the way out! Thank you again for the nice comment and bout of motivation anon~

[recurring-polynya]

I reblogged that great meta post the other day about Renji filled the role of a heart character, and then I happened to be flipping past this page, which I've probably read a million times before:

I think the takeaway from this panel is supposed to be some neat and ominous foreshadowing about Urahara's bankai. There's also sort of a recurring theme in Urahara's arc of regret that he isn't able to act directly (or perhaps that he has to send/endanger others on his behalf). Urahara-enjoyers can go run with that, if they want, because, as is my way, I will be talking only about Renji.

Bleach is a battle shounen, so of course there is a tendency to rank characters and to tally up Ws and Ls. Renji never fares well in these conversations. Orihime doesn't either, which is absolutely inane, because her primary power is *healing*, and none of the main cast would still be around if it weren't for her. It was suddenly interesting for me to read this line, and think suddenly think of Renji in the same light.

Urahara isn't the only captain who holds back using his bankai. Ukitake jumps into Kyouraku's fight with Stark because he doesn't want Kyouraku to have to go to bankai. Shinji can't use his when other people are around. Unohana went to the trouble of becoming one of the best healers in the series in order be able to fight with her bankai for more than 0.6 seconds.

On the other hand, shit starts to go down, and Hihiou Zabimaru is out, immediately. Hihiou Zabimaru is an accessible bankai, a familiar bankai. They can run down 16 Menos in a row, but they can also crash through a wall, or work as a mode of transportation, or you can even use them for a surprise attack. They are good for training and giving people strength, whether it's helping Chad learn his powers, or giving Ichigo something to beat on when he needs to work his way out of a depressive funk.

Color Bleach+ notes that Squad 6 admires Byakuya, but they like Renji. I think that's just a microcosm of a larger theme though-- in Bleach, power sets you apart, makes you remote, makes you something different from those around you. Aizen and Stark are noted to be profoundly lonely. Urahara and Kyouraku have to send people they care about to their deaths as they hold themselves back for strategic reasons. Gin and Hitsugaya poison their relationships with their favorite people because of their devotions to their own separate duties. The one-shot reveals that captains can't even go back into the resurrection cycle and have to go to Hell instead.

Renji gets pretty powerful by the end of the series. He even replaces Hihiou Zabimaru with Sou-oh Zabimaru, who is better for killing guys, but you can't hitch a ride on them. He never becomes a captain, though. The longer I've thought about this, the more I love this ending for him. He gets to marry the woman he loves and have a kid, he gets to keep running his squad with his weirdo captain/bestie, he still gets to go drinking with the other lieutenants. It's exactly parallel to Ichigo's ending, in the sense that he chooses his friends and loved ones over the pursuit of power. Like, Kubo was really not fucking around when he superimposed those images of Ichigo and Renji swearing on their souls as Renji is fighting Byakuya and decides that dying while doing his best to save Rukia was worth it, even if he never ends up surpassing Byakuya.

He doesn't die, though, he gets to live, and help out his friends and train people with his bankai and make them stronger and I think that is very fucking based of him.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Just dropping by to say I love your blog a lot!!❤️❤️❤️ you are doing the lords work lol someday I try hard to find good questions to send you that I think you'd like to think about--but all I ever come up with is "since it's canon that after the tybw and 10 year time skip and they have tv--who would actually have a tv, and what do think they'd watch, or would they try to make their own weird version of a tv station/show? Would ichigo be able to get it on his home tv, like, he's just wanting one day and then there's yumichika, renji, ikkaku and shuuhei on the lowest budget drama in all 3 worlds"

Just want yall to know I love and appreciate all the work you do!!❤️❤️❤️

Aww, thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it! <333 You are one of our OG dash blorbos and it makes me really happy that we continue to blorbo it up together. <3

This seems like an excellent opportunity to bring back

which is further elaborated in this post. (I’d forgotten everything except the C-SPAN gif, which is a total disservice to House Hunters Interdimensional—I feel so ashamed!)

As far as who has TVs, I think all the division offices have one, because they were part of a military tech rollout. They have yet to really catch on individually, though. In the commercial district, there’s a TV store with a whole wall of them out front, and people tend to simple congregate in the streets to watch whatever’s on, as though it were a live playhouse. The difference is that it’s 24-hour programming, and when it’s not airing Central 46 C-SPAN it’s fueled by camera-happy insomniacs.

I used to live in a city that had a local access channel that a friend of mine swore by, which was a single-camera one-man puppet show performing the entire story of the Bible. Soul Society definitely has one of those, except it performs the full history of Soul Society. It’s actually incredibly well-researched and is the love labor of Some Guy who was granted access to and spent a lifetime absorbing the Kuchiki records. Byakuya has signed off on the show, but owing to its low production value, he did not consent to use of the Kuchiki name anywhere but in the credits roll.

There’s also a shopping channel that is essentially a slideshow of the existing SC catalogue, intercut with footage of straight-faced SC staffers describing the items. This show is incredibly popular, because it reaps the benefits of dual audiences: 1) People who want to buy stuff from the shopping channel, and 2) people who watch it because they think it’s a hilarious, dry-witted mockumentary-style social satire. (It is not.)

Similarly, there’s a fairly ambitious show that compiles "Lights and Sirens" style reporting from the top 13 most popular border checkpoints in Rukongai, filmed by bored shinigami sitting in firetowers. This show typically has the affect of John Trudell as Randy Peone in Smoke Signals’ KREZ Radio. (This would be my favorite show, she said, surprising no one.)

Yumichika, Renji, Ikkaku, and Hisagi DEFINITELY made a no-budget drama that was going for a found footage aesthetic but in actuality has the aesthetic of "Hisagi with a camcorder." Even though it’s supposed to be a hard-hitting crime thriller set in the universe of Detective Byakuya (but not centered on Byakuya), there are often entire sequences of, like, Yumichika doing tai chi on a dramatic outcropping in silhouette, sunset behind him, and the other three offering hushed commentary like nature documentarians.

[alexiethymia]

realization

summary: [Post-TYBW] Momo falls in love. It’s messy business.

[read on ao3]

part 1 / part 2

Renji was having a strange night.

It started with an innocent enough invitation, to come drink with the fifth division lieutenant. Now, Rukia might call him an emotional blockhead enough times, but he was confident that he was nowhere as bad as Kuchiki-taichou. So he had enough ‘sensitivity’ to note that it wasn’t so much the invitation that was strange considering who it came from, but the activity proposed, considering who it came from.

He joined Hinamori once or twice to some ikebana classes she’d invited him to, but he wasn’t such as insensitive buffoon that he wouldn’t understand that wasn’t exactly the best option now (he did listen to that second voice inside his head sometimes - and if it had the same voice as his wife, well that was no one’s business but his own). Even so, drinking wasn’t exactly Hinamori’s first choice of activity, neither was it her second or third, so he guesses that this must have been Rangiku-san’s idea, maybe another one of those informal lieutenant get-togethers.

Imagine his surprise at the scene he finds when he ducks down the low awning of the local izakaya Hinamori invited him to. It’s not that he’s surprised to find Hinamori there – tucking her hair behind her ear and taking delicate sips of her glass of water – since the invitation came from her after all, but rather he’s surprised at who he doesn’t find.

Hinamori sits alone at the table, surrounded by boisterous drunkards enjoying the end of a working day. It’s an incongruous sight, and though Renji knows that as a seated officer Hinamori could beat anyone in the room, it’s still jarring to see the normally sweet and demure girl in a place like this one. He rubs his hand through his hair sheepishly. Rukia would probably hit him for that thought. Rangiku-san is nowhere to be found; neither is Kira which is weird if this was supposed to be some sort of reunion.

Strange doesn’t mean unpleasant, and it’s been a while since Renji talked to Hinamori last, so with a wide wave, he catches her attention, “Oi, Hinamori!”

-

Renji’s night continues to become even stranger.

It’s not so much that Hinamori wrings her hands (which in retrospect he should have recognized as her habit when she was anxious about something), as she asks him, “Are you really sure Kuchiki-san won’t mind?”

Renji snorts. In the privacy of his mind, he remembers Rukia lecturing him about making sure “to take care of Hinamori fuku-taichou” before he left. He was miffed, “I get it already. Why’re ya so worried?”

“Baka Renji! It’s you I’m worried about.”

At that, Renji’s eyes softened. “You have nothing to worry about, Rukia. You know Hinamori and I are just friends…”

Rukia’s eyes widened before she laughed with tears in her eyes. Clutching her hands to her stomach, she chortled, “I’m not talking about that!” His eyebrow twitched. See if he was ever going to reassure his wife again after that.

Wiping away the tears from her eyes she stood up from her bowed position, still chuckling. She then fixed him with a serious and solemn gaze. “I’m serious, Renji. If anything happens to Hinamori fuku-taichou while she’s with you, drinking,” she emphasized while grinning, but then she paused and looked at him with a hum. “Well, your tolerance to cold has always been good. Maybe you’ll be just fine.”

Remembering Rukia’s mischievous gaze, Renji shivers in the present. That better not be a premonition. “Yeah, Rukia wouldn’t mind,” he mutters.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing, just talking to myself.” He says to reassure the other girl. Swinging himself onto the seat, he orders sake for the both of them. Once he pours out a cup for Hinamori, and she does the same for him, they kanpai and he asks her how she’s been doing.

“Oh, we’ve been doing great,” she chirps, comfortable now and a slight flush on her cheeks after just a few sips of sake. She’s always been a lightweight, Renji thinks bemused. “All the paperwork’s done. Hirako-taichou’s really outdone himself this time. I even had enough time to visit the fourth division, Kira-kun, Nanao-san, Rangiku-san, and…”

“Hm?” He wondered why she suddenly trailed off, and at the sudden red that seemed to be creeping up her cheeks that seemed too much for a cup of sake no matter how much of a lightweight she was. She squeaked and covered her mouth with both hands, as if trying to prevent words from coming out, “Never mind,” she laughed, although it didn’t sound like her usual carefree laugh to Renji. Eyes growing softer, she asked him, “How about you, Abarai-kun? How have you and Kuchiki-san been since the wedding?”

It was Renji’s turn to blush. He told her about how they had started settling in the Kuchiki manor, but mostly how it was just the same old, same old. Her eyes seemed to be watery as she listened to him riveted.

“Oi, don’t cry on me now, Hinamori.”

“Sorry, sorry,” she sniffled, “I’m just…I’m so happy for you,” she exclaimed, voice full of sincerity.

He grinned at her. “So, what’s up? I thought this was one of Rangiku-san’s drinking sessions. What’d I do to deserve the honor of receiving one of your rare – previously unheard of – invitation to drink?” He was joking, but also more than a bit curious.

Hinamori grew even redder as she whispered, “As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t invite Rangiku-san.”

Worried at that statement, he was about to ask if Hinamori really was in some sort of serious trouble when she suddenly said, “I wanted to ask your advice, Abarai-kun.”

And man did that feel good to hear. Worry abated for now, he grins at her. “Of course. What can I help you with?” He remembered old days. Usually, both of them would turn to Kira for their studies. Both she and Kira were great at kido, but he’d usually ask her for advice since he remembers feeling that competitive spirit towards Kira back then. In a way, she was also more patient.

It’s not just that though. He remembers confiding in her about things he thought he’d locked away, an ease that could only be felt in talking to a female friend, since back then he was still foolish about keeping up a tough façade and what was expected of him as a man. Before, he would have just talked to Rukia, but he couldn’t exactly do that in the after, and when the topic in conversation was the girl in question.

“Trust me, Abarai-kun! I’m sure she’ll love it.”

Renji had scratched his head in confusion. “I don’t know about this, Hinamori. Y’see Rukia’s not exactly a sweet girl like you. She’s tomboyish and brash. She’s the type to just kick your head in when she gets annoyed.” Even so, he still held the bouquet of snowdrops Hinamori helped him pick out for her birthday, adorned with a ribbon patterned with rabbits which Hinamori insisted that he have. “She’d probably ask what the heck I was doing.” He wasn’t exactly the type of person to give flowers.

Momo sighed deeply. Boys. “It’s exactly because she won’t be expecting it that she’ll find it sweet of you to do.” A private smile curves her lips as she remembers a younger boy than her classmate, certainly much shorter, with mud on his knees as he presented her with a scraggly sunflower he scrounged up from somewhere. It is with a scowl and reasons that he had no money to buy anything that he presented the bedraggled flower. It looked like it went through an ordeal, with the stem rough in some places and leaves fallen off, but the bloom itself had been bright and yellow like a lion’s mane. She couldn’t help the joy that bubbled out as she tackled her friend to the ground in a tight hug even as she was careful not to crush the beautiful gift.  

Maybe Renji had seen something in that secret smile because it is with courage renewed that he resolved to give his gift to Rukia. That is until he saw the high-class silks being carried into the Kuchiki estate. One was even patterned with snowdrops. Forlorn, he looked at his meager gift. It is with understanding in her gaze that Hinamori decides to keep the flowers placed sadly in her hands.

The Renji from back then probably wouldn’t believe the life he led now. He was lucky enough to be surrounded by friends, new and old, and to have his best friend back again, with him, in more ways than one. If he could help one of those friends out, then he’d do whatever he could.

Hinamori wrung her hands again. “I don’t know who else to ask,” she bites her lip, “No, that’s wrong. It’s actually because you’re the best person to ask.” Renji raises a brow as he waits for her to continue.

Taking a deep breath, Hinamori suddenly says in a rush, “I just wanted to ask, how did you deal with falling in love with Kuchiki-san!”

Renji blinks. Once. Twice. And blushes as red as his hair. “Wha-“

Hinamori gasps as if remembering herself. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for!”

There were so many things Renji could say. Renji didn’t actually “deal” with it, as Hinamori would very well know. She, along with Kira, Ikkaku-san, and Yumichika-san, sat on the front row seats watching him cope and avoid during those aimless days. He doesn’t know himself when he fell in love. Does anyone, really? It could have been one moment. It could have been all moments. He could say all of those things, but instead, he turns around Hinamori’s question in his mind. Unlike Hinamori who seems to be gulping her sake like water, he still has his wits about him. As if a figurative lightbulb pings, he asks, shocked, “Wait, Hinamori, you’re in love with someone?”

Renji winces, realizing a second too late that that tactless statement did indeed come from him. He must not have been holding his alcohol as well as he thought. (Rukia would have hit him twice over for that stunt if she were here). It is however a second too late for regrets as Hinamori suddenly burst into tears.

In panic mode, Renji gathers all the napkins he can find and shoves them to her as he reassures the curious patrons suddenly looking over at their table, “It’s fine, it’s fine, just getting a bit emotional is all.”

Her sobs slow as she hiccups but Renji is far from relieved. She had always been a crying sort of drunk. Perhaps it was a good thing Kira wasn’t here else he’d have to console two crying drunks.

Wait, she said he was the best person to ask, probably because he fell in love with an old friend. If so, that means Hinamori had fallen in love with an old friend too. Inwardly he cheered, pointing at imaginary chibi figures of his wife and Ichigo. Take that, he thought, he could connect the dots well enough on his own. (Enough to say, Renji must have been drunker than he thought.)

Before he could feel preemptive delight on behalf of their common friend, he pauses, thinks. Old friend, huh? “Er…who exactly are you in love with Hinamori?”

Hinamori, sniffles, completely red now and Renji can’t tell if it’s the alcohol or the embarrassment. “Won’t tell,” she pouts childishly.

Seeing as she’s a bit calmer now, Renji decided to poke fun. Hinamori was fiery and sassy in her own right, though he rarely got to see it, so this was a rare chance. With a toothy grin, he prods, “Ha, serves you right for being so oblivious all these years. Now you’ll understand the agony of love just like the rest of us mere mortals.” Because this was a happier night in a happier time, neither of them dared acknowledge former captains. Betrayals had no place in a lighthearted moment between old friends.

Affronted, Momo firmly placed both her hands on the table with a bang. Hmmm, their table seemed to be a bit wobbly. “Oblivious?! Since when have I ever been oblivious?”

If Abarai-kun’s eyebrows went any higher, they’d disappear beyond his hairline and take all his tattoos with them. She laughs uncontrollably at the thought.

Renji looks at her weirdly and decides not to point out the obvious. One because he doesn’t betray the secrets of good friends, and two because he doesn’t want frostbitten fingers. He decides to list out other examples instead, “Hinamori, you’ve always been oblivious. Those kouhai? They weren’t just crowding around you because you were such a ‘good’ senpai,” at the pout he sees on her face, he amends, “Well yes, you were a good senpai, but it wasn’t only because of that.”

Hinamori still doesn’t look convinced. “I don’t believe you. I’m nothing like Rangiku-san. And anyway, no one said anything.”

“No one is like Rangiku-san,” Renji says solemnly in lieu of what he actually wanted to say which was to the effect of, none of our kouhai said anything probably because of another kouhai of ours, who funnily enough, ended up being our superior.

Ha, funny indeed.

He remembers when he first met Hitsugaya-taichou, or the kid who would become Hitsugaya-taichou anyway. He’d only been Hinamori’s ‘Shiro-chan’ back then.

She’d introduced them because Hinamori was the type of person who liked it when her friends got along. At hearing the nickname, he snorted and didn’t even try to stifle the laugh that came out.

It was like they were in their own little world as the newer student reminded her to stop calling him that nickname already!

At hearing him laugh though, the other boy fixed him with a cool stare. He took it as a challenge, “You wanna go, kid?”

He raised one white brow, unimpressed.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Abarai-kun…” Kira muttered off to the side. He turned away at the same time Hinamori was scolding the younger boy about using violence, who went back to fully ignoring the both of them to argue with his childhood friend. Genius or no, that kid really needed to respect his elders. And Kira didn’t have to warn him. It’s not as if he’d seriously beat on a kouhai.

Later on, he realizes that Kira hadn’t been warning him about being too rough on the other boy, but rather it was the other way around. This realization is stark as he lays down defeated in a practice match with the boy genius.

It was during that period that he lost touch – no that’s not correct, cut off his ties – with Rukia. So even if he was Hinamori’s precious childhood friend, with all that natural talent and genius, it was easy for Renji who was scraping at the bottom just to reach that lofty moon, to resent him. Geniuses could never understand the struggles of ordinary people.

It made him feel a bit better to know that Kira was also a bit wary of the younger boy, though it is later that Renji realizes that perhaps his friend’s reasons were a bit more complex than his own.

Once, Hinamori tells him, “No one knows just how hard he’s working. Sometimes, I worry that he’s pushing himself too much.” Not wanting to upset her, he gave a noncommittal hum. In the privacy of his mind, he scoffed. What did a boy genius like him ever need to work hard for?

He gets his answer, years later, in the worst of ways. Through a kido spell, through a hospital visit, through broken recollections from a common friend, as Kira gasped with tears in his eyes that Hitsugaya-taichou was cut down - bankai unleashed in a fit of rage at seeing her lifeless body, and ultimately rendered useless – trying to protect her, while she was hurt again because of him, the worst, he was the worst.

Although he tries to comfort Kira with alcohol, he also remembers the phantom weight of Rukia in his arms, there and gone again, helpless to stop her from being taken away.

He had been unfair to the Captain, only seeing what he wanted to see, a person with natural talent with everything handed to him on a silver platter - everything Renji couldn’t have for himself. They were as far apart as could be.

But as he sees Hinamori all wrapped up in bandages, and breathing on life support, as he feels the remnant of a chill signifying the presence of one who had been here before him, he realizes that he had more in common with that young Captain than he had thought.

He shakes his head to rid himself of memories and focuses back on the girl in front of him. Her eyes are drooping as if she was ready to fall asleep at any moment. Really, for Renji, there could only be two candidates in mind, and though Renji remembers old days, of forcefully nudging his classmate to finally make a move already (those had been simpler times after all), he also cannot help the odd sense of camaraderie he feels with the ice-cold Captain. He, better than anyone, understands the bond between childhood friends.

“So, what’re you so worried about?” At the very least if it was the issue of reciprocation, Hinamori had nothing to worry about on that score. One would probably die of shock if she confessed. The other had already proven he would die (and kill) for her. Sheesh, he doesn’t think he gets that intense when it comes to Rukia.

“I’m just...I’m worried everything will change,” she says softly.

Renji sighed, “Everything changes Hinamori. There’s nothing you can do about that.”

“It’s not like I plan to confess.” Wait, what? Renji double-takes at that. She smiles ruefully at him. “I want us to stay friends. I don’t want anything to change, but it’s like I can’t control myself.”

“Would it be so bad, to confess?” Renji has it on good authority that she’d have a good success rate no matter who it was she was talking about.

She laughs, most certainly drunk now. “Like I told you, Abarai-kun. I’m nothing like Rangiku-san,” a silly smile crosses her face as Renji once again looks at her confused, wondering what that had to do with anything, “I’m not good enough.” Her smile becomes more strained, and before Renji can berate her for that self-mocking display, she raises both her hands all of a sudden, “Ahhhh, it’s such a shame. Rangiku-san would be the best person to talk to about this. But, for the same reason, she’s also the worst person to talk to about this.” Well, that tells him nothing.

Deciding to act on a hunch, he suggests, “Well, maybe you can try asking Hitsugaya-taichou’s older brother?”

Hinamori narrows her eyes at him. She’s actually looking a bit crossed-eyed like that. Maybe it was a sign that he’d caught her out? “Silly, Abarai-kun,” he was expecting she’d say something like how could I talk to my crush’s brother, because honestly he understood the feeling, never mind that his briother-in-law and captain were the same person (at least now he’d know for certain who she was talking about), “Shiro-chan doesn’t have a brother!” And with that as a parting statement, she unceremoniously conks out and promptly falls asleep.

Wait, what?

“Oi, Hinamori!”

-

Renji hopes that this is the last of it, but the night is still long, and for some reason, he has a premonition that his night is about to take a turn from strange to bad.

It may have something to do with the whispers around him that he tries to tune out. He doesn’t blame them much as it may be concerning to see a man carrying an unconscious woman in the middle of the night. But he was a gentleman, damn it! He couldn’t leave a friend, much less a girl, dead drunk and alone. If Kira was here, the both of them could have carried her, but even after all that he still wasn’t sure who she was talking about so that was a definite no. He’d normally have called Rangiku-san, but Hinamori seemed to be avoiding her for some reason, so he’d respect her wishes, and anyway the fifth wasn’t that far from the sixth.

It may have to do something with how Hinamori kept muttering about how hot it was in his arms. Rukia always said that Renji tended to run hotter than most (and in her sweeter moments she’d say that was why she was perfect for him), and with Hinamori more or less the same, he imagines it would be doubly uncomfortable for her.

Or it may have something to do with how Hinamori was currently trying to remove one arm from the sleeve of her shihakusho because “Iwazz too hot!” while Renji frantically tried to stop her with one arm. Scratch that, Kira would be more of a hindrance than a help here. Why were his friends such outrageous drunks? “Nooooooo, Hinamori. You don’t want to do that. That is a bad idea.”

But really, it probably had something to do with the deathly chill he felt behind his back. He wondered what this must look like to an observer, Hinamori unconscious and one arm bare, while he held the sleeve of her shihakusho as he carried her in his arms. He closed his eyes and prayed to whoever would listen that it was his wife. He’d take a beating from her any day, as opposed to the alternative…But when he sees Hinamori calm and settle down at the breeze that caresses her face, Renji sighs in resignation as he turns and faces his doom.

A million paranoid thoughts run through his mind – did the patrons back at the bar report a crying girl and it reached him, did he have a tracker developed by the twelfth stuck on her by any chance, was he just that scarily attuned to the reiatsu of the sleeping girl in his arms because he sure appeared around her ‘coincidentally’ an awful lot- all to distract him from meeting an irate and frosty gaze.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Ah, shit. Renji was never drinking again.

[lemonade-of-gods]

random ramblings

I have an exam tomorrow on literary criticism (structuralism, bakhtin and all that jazz) so I was playing around with my old otps as an exercise while studying huzzah, and the more I look back on it, the MORE nonsensical all the ship wars are looking

Because its one thing to not prefer a ship and its ANOTHER to just go delulu and say that the canon ship should not have happened because *insert nonsensical galaxy brain level argument here*, and yes I am talking about sasusaku, renruki and nalu

Like Sasusaku has always been the obvious choice, starting from the moment Sasuke went “who did this to you” in his rage to when Sakura calmed him down with a back hug. Sakura got taken a peg down after Sasuke scolded her for treating Naruto poorly. Sasuke THANKED Sakura before knocking her out and placing her on the bench and leaving. Sasuke began attacking Sakura proper AFTER she tried to kill him. There is a dynamic between them, there is ACTION in a way you don’t see with either Naruto or Karin. I could go on and on, but my point is, Narusaku or even Sasukarin was honestly never going to happen. If these two had to end up with anyone, it would be with each other. This is a classic ETL couple folks!! 

For Sakura particularly, Naruto represents an innocent and childish life (Naruto you’re a fine guy no lie, Hinata was suited better for you) and Sasuke is the dangerous option that forces her to sexually mature and grow up (remember, we’re focusing on structure here not the execution, whatever your opinions may be), so Kishi wasn’t wrong when he said that pairing Naruto and Sakura would have been unfair (paraphrased a bit). Naruto isn’t losing out much either, a gentle girl like Hinata who has loved him from the start (you see the pattern of first love coming up here?) was always his better match in the long run.

You can achieve the same effect with FTL as well, if we look at Renruki and NaLu. Kubo gave the angst of separation and pining with Renji and Rukia and the metaphor of “the stray dog barking at the moon”, which was not exactly a thing with Ichigo and Rukia. An argument can be made about “black sun and white moon”, but since Orihime gave the push to Ichigo for going to save Rukia, it didn’t quite feel strong. But in the interests of staying fair, I’ll say that we did have two options: bickering friends or, “we used to be friends but now we’re enemies”.

THEN came the nail in the coffin.  

Legit all bets were off the SECOND Ichigo tossed Rukia into Renji’s arms and basically gave his blessing/aashirvad to run away and basically saying ”Jaa Rukia, jee le apni zindagi” (Translation: go Rukia, live your own life, this one’s inspired by DDLJ hehehe). Like I would not give away the woman I am in love with to my romantic rival and tell him to TAKE HER AWAY. HELLO. THIS IS GOING AGAINST THE NARRATIVE BEHAVIOUR. THIS IS GIVING SECOND LEAD SYNDROME BEHAVIOUR. ICHI HAS BECOME THE KULJEET TO RENJI’S RAJ (Or more accurately Simran’s dad lmao.)

So what’s the point in saying all this, you may ask. Well, now that I’ve said it I’ll make my argument: STRUCTURE and NARRATIVE decides whether the author’s writing decisions were poor and not the reader’s preferences. And I’ve taken a neutral stance earlier on the last ship in my list but now I’m committing: NaLu HAS to be canon. 

I had said earlier that NaLi could potentially be canon, again for the sake of fairness, but looking at it now I’m changing my opinion. Natsu and Lisanna were set up to interact more but Mashima changed his mind halfway through and just didn’t do much with Lisanna. You can see how great his writing decisions are there, but the technicalities are to be reserved for another post, another day. If I am to try getting more fancy about it, Lisanna represents Natsu’s childhood while Lucy represents a mature and adult future.

Point is that by process of elimination, Natsu and Lucy have to end up with each other. Or remain as friends. Considering Natsu said to Lucy “we’ll be together forever”, these two will be a thing at some point in the future, unless Mashima pulls a HIMYM or something (TOUCHWOOD, even though the guy did canonize Gruvia, Gajevy and Jerza...)

[sashi-ya]

Hi Sashi! So, funny thing: I never wanted to read or watch Bleach, still don’t want to (for no particular reason), but thanks to all the reels of Bleach’s fights in the TYBW, that are more than beautifull by the way, I have become curious about some stuff and I know almost nothing about it, have no ideia what happened or what is going on, that is why I came to the Bleach specialist (that is you by the way). So, I know that Unohana fights the other kenpachi (is his name Zaraki?) and oh my God I’m really loving to hear “Bankai” lately, but like, she let’s herself get killed? Because i read that she killed and healed him a lot of times during the fight, and that she only wanted to unlock all his powers, so I want to know who is stronger, and is she really dead? Oh, and didn’t you post a manga panel where she talked to Aizen in his prison or something? The other thing for now must be a very popular question, does Ichigo love Rukia? Should they have ended up together? And other than your husband, who are your other favorite Bleach characters? Thank you and I wish you have a happy week!!!

Hi baby!! I'm flattered to be called a specialist! But I'm just a simp for Kubo's writing! 🙊 So, let me tell you about it then! (I will explain under the cut cause it is very long and heavily spoilery) ⬇⬇

About Unohana, yes. She is sadly gone. Unohana happened to be the first Kenpachi (the first shinigami to uphold such title. These individuals are not only hella strong but also reckless. Mercenary people who live for the joy of the battle. They aren't exactly moved by a sense of justice or protecting others, but only because they are bloodthirsty for violence). Back then, Unohana used to be a different type of captain (souls live for very veeeery long times, for example Unohana was as old as the world itself) than what the current pretend to act like. So back then she was TIRED of fighting with people who weren't as strong as her and neither had that same "ambition". However, one of those days, a kid -a very violent, kinda savage kid- appeared and to shorten things up they fought sharing the joy for battle... but, thing is, Zaraki somehow suppressed his own strenght so that Unohana would continue to be his opponent forever, because she was the only one able to satisfy that "violence" hunger. So, when the time was right, during TYBW where shit was going down and Quincies were killing everybody, Shunsui (the man that's now the general commander) allowed Unohana to fight Zaraki one more time to make him unleash such power that he had been holding back. Unohana accepted, and killed and healed him enough times for Zaraki to stop holding back. Because there can only be one Kenpachi upholding the title she got killed, and she died with a smile cause her purpose was fullfiled.

Unohana does not speak to Aizen while he is imprisoned. However they do fight in the same place where Aizen is sealed; the Muken (or infinite prison) cause it is literally an infinite void where they can fight with no problem. Now, maybe you are confusing either Shunsui freeing Aizen to help them fight the quincies during the invasion OR a previous Kenpachi (imprisoned as well, called Azashiro Kenpachi) who does speak to Aizen in one of the novels (but there isn't any panel for that).

About Ichigo and Rukia ➡ they do love each other but like friends! they do have a VERY strong connection, but that's it. There are several reasons why people ship them (and it's totally ok! I would have love to see them as a couple in the end if that was what Kubo wanted). 1. Pierrot (the studio that animates Bleach) had some kind of kink for them being a couple: MANGA DOES NOT STATE IT. In fact they changed and added many things in order to make them look like they were ending together. 2. Pierrot again: HATED Orihime making her to look "stupid" and Ichigo to be a lot less interested in her, which is the total opposite.

In the end, the official couples are Rukia married to Renji with a daughter called Ichika who is also a Shinigami and a total badass who seems to be in love with Ichigo's son. And Ichigo married to Orihime with a beautiful son called Kazui (also a shinigami)

(there is yet another reason why a human like ichigo (even if he is also a shinigami a quincy and bla bla) can't be married to a soul like Rukia: souls live almost eternally (if not killed/get mortally ill) and get older within a very different range of time than humans. (Time passes differently in the Soul Society -where shinigami and souls- live). Ichigo needs to leave his body behind to be able to use his "soul body", how could his human body survive without someone living inside of it? it could be considered like someone in vegetative state, his body would need to be treated in a hospital. Plus, you could say "ok he could khs, right?" yes, but that probably wouldn't sent you to Soul Society but to Hell so there would be no way.

My fave Bleach characters ➡ besides my lovely Byakuya I would say I love most of them but I have a special place in my heart for Ishida Uryuu, Ulquiorra (by far the best character ever written in the history of manga to me) Aizen (the god) and Orihime Inoue 💖🙆‍♀️

Thank u so much for asking! I really hope you get to watch or read Bleach one day! I guarantee you will like it :3

[nesting-dreams]

Sooo throughout the year since the new anime came out for bleach, there is a lot of revisionism for bleach. Kubo is making changes in the anime because he was clearly not happy with his ending. If his ending was so perfect, why would he need to change things? He still wants the outcome that he made, but he is changing things up to get there.

Anyway, my post is about Orihime. There’s stuff going around that’s she’s supposed to be the damsel in distress and gentle character which is a lie because Kubo had her do martial arts as an advanced belt in martial arts, she actually beat people up before Heuco mundo if she needed too. She understood Ichigo’s whole behaviour and attitude towards fighting. (She suddenly stopped being able to understand Ichigo attitude and behaviour at some point later on for romantic drama). She wanted to be a healer and also be a fighter. She had her unique interests and talents. Then Kubo  himself stripped all that away to make her the wife character. Now there is nothing wrong with a wife in fiction. You can have the husband just be the husband character with no personality and it’s equally as annoying. You can make many unique kind of wives and husbands. She became this perfect yes man to her husband and chucked out all her interests for her man. It’s like that stereotypical nerdy couple you see in fiction where guy meets woman, woman chucks all his things out even though she proclaimed she liked the stuff once they move in together. She never compromises her own interests and never liked nerdy stuff to begin with. The reality is that nerd couples share the space and if they don’t like something they’re usually like ““it’s ok. You go play d and d. I’ll play legend of zelda”. (This doesn’t just apply to nerdy stuff. Men can do this to women they moved in with too. Say a woman has clothes, manga  or plants she likes, he’ll throw all that out). I shall have a prediction about her future if it gets sequel. When her son goes missing, which Kubo clearly plans, she will stay at home and just be like “meh. I trust my husband will do it”. younger Orihime would of been like ““this is OUR SON! I am coming with. I shall pack a boxed lunch for him for when we find him! This is my boy! I want him safe and snuggled in bed”. Most good mothers and fathers will move mountains for their children. Kubo is gonna for sure turn her into the mother who stays in the house, not even for her own son will she leave. That’s how her character went she stopped doing stuff unless it was for Ichigo, even then she didn’t do much for him, she sat there expecting things just to go her way. Her friendship with Tatsuki and Rukia  and those other girls she hung with, thrown out window. She was so funny and such a joy to read about before her kidnapping.

honestly the marriage is basically saying Ichigo is the selfish one in the marriage. Orihime had to change everything about herself for him.

I don’t want to start arguments btw. Need to get my thoughts out there somewhere and also maybe give others time to think about. If this ends up in a bleach or Orihime tag, that’s not my fault. I’ve tried tagging this right. ( Chad and Uryu’s story are talked about a lot, but I don’t see many people focus on Orihime in detail without mentioning Ichiruki. I actually thought bleach was a love triangle in beginning, the story kept joking and playing around with Rukia and Orihime both being Ichigo’s girlfriends. If we had grown up Nell this whole time, this manga could have been classed as a harem lol). (Actually Renji did become the husband character as well like Orihime thinking about it. He just became Rukia simp. Rukia’s basically the selfish one in that relationship) I hope the anime fixes Orihime and Renji with its changes, they can be married to Ichigo and Rukia and still be their own people. (Btw this is not about ships. I do think that if ichiruki was canon, Kubo would somehow butcher that romance. He said he’s not good at writing romance. Ichiruki fans might have had a blessing in disguise because the canon couples weren’t that great (I wanted them to be great. I liked Ichihime in beginning. He never would have written any confession scene or a date or shown the marriage of ichiruki if that was canon).  Ichigo and Rukia are both wonderful characters and very compassionate for others, they just suck as romantic partners since they never even noticed Renji or Orihime. Or took any real interest in anybody romantically for that matter. Both also had to compromise and change everything about themselves just to be with Ichigo and Rukia. Rukia and Ichigo make great friends, but make a lousy date. It happens. Just one of those things. (I personally wouldn’t want to date Rukia or Ichigo. Both are attractive but doesn’t mean I’d marry one of them).

[denble]

FFVIIR - A Love Triangle post on Reddit

So I just come across this post about the Love Triangle on Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasyVII/comments/1btxp5k/spoilers_for_rebirth_the_love_triangle/

I decide to response to the post here, on my deserted blog, because (1) I have no intention to argue with anyone and (2) should that post not be deleted, it's gonna be a battle field for sure :))))

The reason I want to response to this post is that OP is very civil. According to the post, he played the OG back in the 2000s so he must not be young by now, and had a clear understanding of OG narrative - that Cloud had to end up with Tifa because Aerith died.

Yet he still finds that Cloud x Aerith is happening after Remake and Rebirth. That their chemistry is great and Cloud x Tifa scenes all seem off, forced, awkward and platonic.

I find it very interesting, because apparently, he sees everything that I see (in Remake, as I haven't played Rebirth yet), but his perception of the events is completely different than mine.

Makes me wonder if I AM the one who interpret wrongly.

(and no, I don't think I'm wrong)

While I always have my own preference and personal feelings when experiencing a work of fiction, I'm always take thing face value. There's a difference between "bad writing, but it happens" and "because I don't feel it, so it doesn't happen". I certainly don't feel good about a lot of characters but they are loved in-game so it's just me. Heck, in Bleach, I never feel Ichigo x Orihime is a thing (and Rukia x Renji is even less so), but both couples happen. What can I do about it? Nothing.

And what is the face value that Remake (and Rebirth) is presenting?

They push Cloud and Tifa together, and push Aerith to Cloud (while still keeping her attachment to Zack). Regardless of how you and I feel about all those Cloud x Tifa and Cloud x Aerith scenes, that's what is happening.

They don't make a whole bunch of scenes of Tifa and Cloud being touchy-touchy just to prove that "yeah, they touch a lot, but it's platonic." What kind of story telling is that?

They don't make Cloud and Tifa kiss in the Gold Saucer Date just to say that "Nah, he's just being out of character." (and they almost kiss in Gongaga).

But yeah, if you want to disregard that, we can disregard all GSD scenes, because all of them are optional. Or to be precise, whom Cloud dates is optional. The scene itself ought to happen (because you know, Cait Sith's betrayal comes next).

Thing is, if you consider all Cloud and Aerith's interaction ALONE, you can easily write a love story. BUT Cloud x Aerith doesn't exist alone. There are Tifa (and Zack) in the picture. Cloud and Aerith holding hand in the GSD is all sweet, until you take into account that he and Tifa kiss during the date. Cloud looking longingly to Aerith when she sings is lovely, until you realize he holds Tifa's hand during that scene if you get Tifa as his date.

In order to Cloud x Aerith to happen, there's a lot to be taken out of the picture (and change the whole plot). And I mean A LOT.

Also, are we arguing:

Whom Cloud actually ends up with? (Answer: It's not Aerith, she's dead)

Whom Cloud SHOULD end up with? (Answer: Tifa, because he never stops loving her; and Aerith is dead)

Whom YOU WANT Cloud to end up with? (Answer: Whomever you'd like, but the game may or may not agree with you)

I very much shipped Locke and Terra in FFVI but eventually it's Locke and Celes. My preference has no power here. I could indulge myself in fanarts and fanfics (I don't though) but I cannot go fight about how Lock and Terra MUST be a thing despite the game presents otherwise.

And lastly, No Promise To Keep neither is about Cloud nor Jack. Nobuo Uematsu and the producers said so. Not a very good song anyway. And not that I care what is is about. I never understand any song's lyrics, let alone hidden layered meanings (if there's any). If the song is good, I vibe, and that's about it.

[recurring-polynya]

Izakaya Kamenoya

I am re-watching the Captain Amagai arc, which I love because it has just a shit-ton of Seireitei slice-of-life worldbuilding. Early in the arc, Kira goes to the bar with Renji and Iba to sob about how his new Third Seat is better than him, and it made me wonder-- do the lieutenants always go to the same bar, or does the anime just make up a new one every time? Episode 172 had a nice shot of the exterior:

I immediately went to Episode 355 (the second New Year's episode), because I'm always thinking about Rukia shotgunning that beer while Renji gazes on lovingly, and it certainly *looks* like same place, but again, maybe that's just a very standard-looking izakaya.

I decided that trying to translate the kanji might help. They're more visible in the first image. The ones on the paper lantern, 酒処 were easy, because they just say izakaya (literally, "alcohol" and "place"). That just supported the idea that this was just some generic bar. For the kanji on the wooden lantern, which appeared to be the same as the ones on the sign above the door, I managed to puzzle out the bottommost one, 屋, which means "shop" or "restaurant." Hmm.

At this point, I was feeling a little stumped, so I went looking for other screen shots.

Other bar scenes I could remember took place in: Episode 179 (Ukitake and Kyouraku try to angle Amagai into a threesome). This had a clearer shot of the sign, and it's definitely the same as the lantern.

Ep 305 (Kira and Hisagi go for drinks after work and run into Unohana having "Ladies' Night" with Soi Fon, the Kotetsu sisters, and Yachiru ????)

And finally, Episode 265 (the end of the Sword Beasts arc, Ladies' Night again, I guess, this time with zanpakutou)

and bingo, they actually translated it for me, this time!!

In, the only one that didn't turn out to take place at Izakaya Kamenoya was from Ep. 303, the first New Year's episode. The SWA holds their holiday luncheon here (the sign says 茶屋, or "tea house") .

It is also not the place where Rukia and Renji announce their engagement in WDKALY, that place is called Safflower, and it's fancier and it's specifically mentioned that it's way classier than everyone's usual digs.

That's neither here nor there, let's get back to Izakaya Kamenoya!

Later on, like when I was 90% of the way through writing this post, I realized there was an earlier shot of the sign in episode 172 that was also translated (which I thought I remembered and then assumed I had hallucinated when I couldn't find it, but it was from a separate trip to bar with Kibune and Kira's shitty subordinates). Conveniently, it's also probably the most readable out of all of them. EDIT: I didn't notice when I pasted this in here, but they translate it as Kamegameya here, which seems like a mistake? B3 suggests they might have read the second character as a repetition (with the k turning into a g, which I don't know all the details of, but I assume it's that thing that happens in Japanese when a word is in the interior of another word and it gets a harder consonant, the same way the s in "sakura" in Senbonzakura becomes a z). Google also tells me that the name of Yugi's grandfather's game shop in Yu-Gi-Oh is called Kame Game, so I wonder if the subtitler here was just working on muscle memory 😂. I'm sticking with Kamenoya, although Turtle Turtle Bar has its own charm)

The three characters in the upper left are 居酒屋, which is just a different way to spell izakaya.

"Kame" was easy to translate, it's the leftmost large character on the sign, 亀. It means "turtle", but the second meaning is "heavy drinker," so I'm guessing this might be a bit of a pun. Unfortunately, googling didn't turn up any further detail on this.

I puzzled a little over the middle character, until I realized that it might be 之, which is an older version of の. Oh, says me, who only speaks the Japanese I picked up from anime, it's Kame no ya, the way all the inns in Kakuriyo end in "ya." It just means "House of the Turtle", or "Turtle's Pub."

Turtle's Pub. Can we just take a moment to reflect on the fact that the lieutenants (and sometimes captains) like to hang out at someplace called Turtle's? I am so charmed by this. I have not been so excited since the time I realized that Renji was wearing the koi hoodie in the Bount Arc OP.

It's possible that it was just named by a guy who has "kame" as part of his name or who likes turtles, or as I said, maybe it's a pun, but there are two other possibilities I thought of:

In line with this post on the naming scheme for the Seireitei Gates, perhaps it's in the north part of the city, and named after Genbu the Black Tortoise-Snake

When I am making up business names in my fanfic, I often like to associate them with the squads they are near-- dragons for stuff near Squad 10, fish for 13, firebirds for things that are more city-wide. It's partially trying to tap into squad solidarity, and partially so people have a clue where your place is located in this stupid maze city. I love the idea of some former captain with a turtle-themed zanpakutou, whose is fondly remembered because someone happened to name a good bar after them.

I looked up that extremely questionable Blood War era Seireitei map, wondering if maybe Squad 3 was near the north gate:

It turns out it is not (assuming the unlabeled squads just go in order), but you know what is? Squad 10. So if Kamenoya is named after the North Gate, I assume everyone drinks there because it's close to Matsumoto.

(thank you very much to @kaicko for checking my work)

[unohanadaydreams]

Don’t ask me why I made this, just know that I’m right and this is not just a Headcanon post but real. It’s not me having brain worms haha that would be insane. Honestly I just started thinking about how the hell arc introducing Seireitei approved social media would be such a mistake but god would it be fun to watch.

The Current Captains On Social Media

Shunsui Kyoraku - Failed erotic novel author turned romance/erotic novel reviewer. The fan base for his work is very small compared to his actual following. There is some divide in his followers—those who follow for his life updates and those who want to hear him talk at length about his latest read. Funnily enough, his quick, messy posts usually paired with scenery or a selfie are his most popular writing, often hailed as snippets of his poetic soul. Lots of people want to give him a hug.

Soi Fon - Adamant privacy and safety poster. Took to code and anti-virus technology well, much to Mayuri’s annoyance. Posts tips and tricks that read more like demands. Is known for her bitchy responses when followers @ her with their progress that are eaten up gratefully. Her advice is punctuated by posts admiring athletic women and these women make up the bulk of who she follows. She seems to admire runners and lifters the most. Her threatening posts when people hit on her too hard/with too many notes to back them up are turned into copypastas.

Rose Otoribashi - Has one of the larger followings thanks to his nostalgic visuals as well as his dedication to frequently posting new music. He has a personality that’s easily digestible when viewed through snippets. The fact that his passion is music and his job is news/editing also do him a lot of favors. He loves doing live streams and encourages his followers to perform for & with him.

Isane Kotetsu - Her growth being captured on social media not just as a captain but as a person has given her a fan base that feels extremely protective of her. She’s less known for what content she brings and more for her personality. Any creative content she posts is likely to start trending. Especially her ‘peaceful morning’ videos and reflective writing. She’s one of the more interactive posters, beloved for her encouraging responses.

Shinji Hirako - As a more private person, he doesn’t have much of a following and his most popular posts are candid moments posted by others. Lisa is a large reason people consider him endearing in anyway. Definitely the kind of person who is either considered cringe or cool with little in between. The kind of guy who asks what he should do with his hair and then goes with an option that wasn’t listed.

Byakuya Kuchiki - Has an extremely scheduled and curated presence on any site he’s on, but is nonetheless adored. He used to ask Renji and Akon for advice on how to handle some of the more online behavior (like being @ed by women who photoshop them as their date to events or being asked how many notes a date would cost) but stopped quickly. Turns out saying something is flattering leads to more of that behavior. Any selfie he posts is edited and reposted into oblivion until it’s thousands of people’s pfp.

Tetsuzaemon Iba - Despite him being one of the most well rounded captains personality wise, he gets put onto block lists the most for his dedication to concepts of manliness, which are easy concepts to feed to the social media outrage machine. Women’s Association vs Men’s Association is a popular meme where the former is something sensible and the latter is something ineffective/archaic. That being said, he’s also known as a ‘problematic fav’ and people will often post memes about abandoning their feminism for a few minutes to like his selfies and training videos.

Lisa Yadomaru - Another captain with a large love and hate following. Often picked apart for interacting with porn/hentai accounts, thirsting after women openly, and posting pictures alluding to her sexual escapades. Despite her account being regular food for the outrage machine, she doesn’t seem to care or pay attention to it and is forever horny on Main. She posts a lot of candid photos/videos of her friends. Recommends the best fucked up fiction.

Kensei Muguruma - Of course he does cooking videos, but what really does well are his cooking challenges. He forces his lieutenant, friends, and colleagues to compete with him on making a better dish on a time limit and often with other handicaps. Usually wins. His bloopers get a ton of mileage when he posts them. His merch is constantly sold out. People often dress up as him for Halloween/conventions, usually with foam or blow up arms/abs.

Toshiro Hitsugaya - Another captain with a huge following due to him approaching social media with his tireless work ethic. His ice sculptures are very popular and his pop-up galleries sell out in hours. Is actually a huge fan of ‘cozy’ games and is known for having beautiful towns/farms/ect that showcase his attention to detail. He does events in Minecraft sometimes, where he guides people through building large scale projects (and also feels like he’s making friends but that’s left entirely unsaid). A bit harsh, but beloved.

Kenpachi Zaraki - People question if it’s really his account because it’s so random at times, but he posts videos of him mowing down his subordinates during training so it has to be. The odd content includes engaging with easy recipes & activities for toddlers and increasingly complicated punk hairstyles that he really does try out. He also posts weekly, asking for people to volunteer and fight him. The human world especially loves this and he gets a lot of responses. He tries to set up times to fight them but Nanao threatens to delete his accounts and put him on suspension if he attempts to follow through. He posts a lot of post-battle pictures and humans gobble it up. “Just fought *insert ridiculous thing here*” is a huge meme.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi - He is constantly making new accounts and circumventing bans for posting links to his old lab work, that often involves heinous amounts of gore. Actually does have a following, often from those within his own division, those hoping to be in his division, or humans who see him as edgy and a little bit off his rocker, which they think is cool. He posts pictures of himself whenever he switches up his look. And posts Nemuri a lot with unhinged captains about how she’s going to outpace even the head captain and no one could make someone as special & smart as her. Just comes off as a really passionate dad. Plenty of people are convinced he’s a creepy pasta project ran by a dude with a daughter.

Rukia Kuchiki - Like Isane, she’s really loved for who she is rather than creative content. Even her attempts at being stern and ‘captain-like’ are fawned over. She has a line of children’s books, stickers, and notebooks with her cute drawings. Her most popular set was when her daughter contributed. The human world is convinced Renji is her house husband and her life is generally seen as all around ‘goals’. Her posts are riddled with mistakes and very sporadic; she’s posted accidental live streams while she did paperwork and they went viral. She posts tons of candids of her subordinates and family but they are usually blurry or actually videos.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Called to Order(?): How to Stand in a Captain’s Meeting

[12 - 10 - 8 - 6 - 4 - 2 | 5 - 7 - 9 - 11 ]

I LOVE CAPTAIN’S MEETINGS. Obsessed. I would watch the mockumentary that’s nothing but Captain’s meetings, where Sasakibe is the designated parliamentarian and he spends hours out of his day wearily reminding people of Robert’s Rules and explaining how motions work.

I’ve heretofore assumed that these meetings always took place Madeline-style, with 12 little girls in 2 straight lines, as in the first meeting we see (above).

And my favorite Captain’s meeting is the one right after Renji is found in a soupy puddle of his own blood, post-Ichigo, because they are very much not in order:

Because of the way that scene is shot, I assumed they were still in two lines, just very messed up lines. But they’re actually standing in one single line!! Why!!

[12 - 5 - 11 - 8 - 10 - 3 - 6 - 9 - 7 - 4 - 2]

And, weirdly enough, in the manga they’re also standing in one single line, and are also out of order, but are... in a different order??

[13 - 8 - 6 - 4 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 9 - 11]

And to make things even stranger, in the anime version of this scene, Hitsugaya is present at this meeting. But in the manga version, he is actually not here for this meeting. (He’s not just standing next to Soi Fon and covered by Yamamoto, either, because everyone gets a close-up in another panel and he’s not there for that.)

This entire time, I’ve assumed that he was not at this meeting because he’d gone to warn Hinamori about Ichimaru, as that’s the scene immediately prior to this. But... Ichimaru made it to this meeting. And when Hitsugaya shows up for Hinamori, Ichimaru is literally still within eyeshot. So unless their conversation was EXTREMELY LONG, Hitsugaya did not attend this meeting... by choice? Or else felt that “never” was better than “slightly late,” lol.

What does it all mean? Absolutely nothing, I just love captain’s meetings and I like it when things are in lines.

At this point my world has been shaken. Single-file lines?? Even before the departure of half the odd-numbered captains???? Because, sure, in the Bount arc they’re standing in a single sad little line, but that’s because they’re missing captains 3, 5, and 9:

[13 - 12 - 11 - 10 - 8 - 7 - 4 - 2 ]

(And for this particular meeting, are also missing Byakuya, who I guess is still... recuperating from the Soul Society arc? Yamamoto banishes him off to the Kuchiki Archive Dungeon for a while, but I don’t think that’s happened yet.)

At least they’re standing in order this time.

Once the Arrancar Invasion/Advance Team arc hits, it seems like they’ve regrouped enough to go the two-line route again:

[2 - 6 - 8 | 10 - 7 - 4 ]

Except... half the people in this shot are not in their regular spots? In the prototypical Captain’s meeting (e.g. the first one), the evens are to Yamamoto’s right and the odds are on his left. But here Komamura (odd) is on Yamamoto’s right, and... Soi Fon, Byakuya, and Kyouraku (all evens) have decided to take up residency on the odd-numbered side. Only Unohana and Hitsugaya are in their usual spots here.

Maybe it’s wrong to assume that the two lines, evens-on-the-right and odds-on-the-left is prototypical. But I mean, that’s also how they did it 100 years ago, so there’s some additional precedence:

[8 - 6 - 4 - 2 | 3 - 5- 7 - 9 - 13 ]

And it’s how they do it for Rukia’s promotion ceremony:

[10 - 8 - 6 - 4 - 2 | 3 - 5 - 7 - 9 - 11 ]

So that’s two semi-formal occasions (Urahara and Rukia’s respective promotions) where they’re lined up Correctly.

I can’t even tell you why, but I am OBSESSED with the different configurations, so if anyone else has fancam footage from other Captain’s meetings, please do share. Because this is BREAKING me what is with the single-file meetings what is with the out-of-order meetings 

HELP

Also, this isn’t officially a meeting per se, but it happens in the 1st Division meeting room and its Kyouraku’s first appearance as new Captain Commander, so I’ll count this as another (pretty sad) meeting formation, as well.

Weirdly enough, with the exception of Ukitake--who is leading the conversation before Kyouraku comes in--they actually are all standing in order here:

[10 - 9 - 7 - 5 - 3 - 2 - 13]

[butwhatifidothis]

The more I read your posts the more I wonder what the fresh hell happened in the Bleach fandom lol.

I wasn't a part of it back then, but when I witnessed the collective breakdown from shippers in an ending, to the point of burning their books, I don't think I want to know...

Alright for a very, verrrry basic breakdown of what essentially happened:

Bleach starts, Ichigo meets Rukia

Early 2000's, boy meets girl in shounen and they're bickering, instantly shipped

First two arcs of Bleach focus on Ichigo and Rukia's relationship (henceforth referred to as IR)

Anime overhypes IR, downplays Orihime - Ichigo's actual love interest - and her relationship with Ichigo (the ship of which henceforth referred to as IH)

Anime makes Orihime more ditzy and air-headed + ditzy and air-headed female character in the 2000's + "potential" "love rival" of IR (Orihime is the sole love interest for Ichigo and thus there literally isn't a rivalry but you get the idea) = Orihime becomes extremely hated, consequently making IH extremely hated

Renji and Rukia's relationship (henceforth called RR, though it's less relevant in general) isn't necessarily downplayed by the anime so much as it is mostly ignored by IR because Obviously Rukia Just See Renji As A Friend (spoiler: no she doesn't)

As the manga continues passed the Soul Society arc (also known as the Rescue Rukia arc) written IR interactions drop significantly as their relationship remains as Extremely Close Friends (but like, actually)

Anime still pushes IR anyway through filler arcs + continual erasure of Orihime's moments, now with added IR implications in canon moments (i.e., Nel getting jealous of Rukia and thinking she's in a relationship with Ichigo during the beginning of the Arrancar arc - doesn't happen in the manga). IR shippers start clinging to non-canon material such as colorspreads and merch, character poems are misinterpreted to be about IR when they're not ("I wonder, can I keep up with it? The speed of the world, without you in it?" is often mistakenly said to be about Ichigo towards Rukia, I do believe it's actually about Zangetsu - this specific one happens later on, but you get the general idea), etc. etc.

Fade to Black movie drops, becomes known as "the IR movie" - then the mangaka is said to have said that Ichigo and Rukia were "more than friends, less than lovers" which somehow translates to them being lovers despite IR shippers' own wonky translation saying otherwise (this one genuinely confuses me to this day lmao)

Cycle continues

BOOM Lust Arc, Ichigo dies trying to protect Orihime and is then subsequently revived into a Hollow by her desperate pleas to save her combining with his want to protect her, only to become human again once he successfully kills what was threatening Orihime (in his mind)

Omega IH moment

IR shippers fuckin' hated it, makes the Lust Arc = Fail essay to justify why the Lust Arc actually totally definitely doesn't mean anything and IR will still totally happen

By this point they've believed IR is "basically confirmed" and they go back to hating on IH

Cycle continues, anime is still hyping up IR, though I do believe by this point they stopped downplaying Orihime/IH at least somewhat

Then we do a hard cut to the Quincy arc

Ichigo and Rukia barely interact. Are barely in the same panel. Or on the same page. Or even in the same location. Like, for the majority of the last arc.

IH moments skyrocket, as well as RR moments skyrocketing

Most notable moments for both: Renji thanking Ichigo for bring him and Rukia back together from the bottom of his heart; Ichigo bringing Orihime to fight alongside him against the last arc's main villain, something Ichigo had never done before with anyone else

IR shippers haaaaaate it, deny that anything that happens between IH and RR mean anything since IR is such a shoe-in for canon

Cut to the ending of Bleach, IH and RR are endgame because fuckin' duh

Cue infamous shit-fest from IR shippers

In essence, the breakdown that came from the ending came from a loooooooong history of IR shippers taking extensive, all-expenses-paid trips up and down The Nile about anything and everything that was slowly building up between IH and RR. They (and, to be clear, I mean "they" as in the specific IR shippers who acted like this, not all IR shippers) would also act pretty damn entitled too - they'd chase the mangaka Tite Kubo off of Twitter twice if I remember right, just cuz he wouldn't fuckin' lie and say that IR would be canon.

None of this being at all helped by the anime shitting all over Orihime's character at the crucial beginning episodes of Bleach, with them completely butchering her literal first appearance ever into something that quite literally portrays her as feeling the exact opposite feelings for Ichigo than the manga shows her feeling (and with Ichigo seeming annoyed with her presence, which is where you get the whole "Ichigo doesn't even like Orihime!" take from).

So ultimately the years of IR shippers feeling as confident as they did about IR becoming canon, shitting on IH both as a ship independent from the shippers as a "crackship" and as something that is stupid of anyone to ship and thus any shipper of IH inherently invites ridicule (of which they did a lot of), ignoring all of the signs that IR wasn't gonna happen to the point of taking words from the mangaka that outright stated even in their translation of his words they were not lovers and somehow twisting that to mean that they definitely are lover, taking any development Ichigo had as a character and making it somehow someway all about how he is nothing without Rukia and only Rukia because only Rukia ever helped him because romantic love is the only thing that could ever save Ichigo and Ichigo would totally abandon his still-living friends and family in the World of the Living to be Rukia's lieutenant (hmmm where has this theme cropped up before) - all of that culminated into the absolute STATE they fell into when it was revealed that all of their excuses for their shitty behavior meant even less than they already did because their ship didn't even become canon at the end of the day. You both had to be there and be glad that you weren't there lmao

[godkilller]

HC Question: What are your thoughts on Gin's reasons for tormenting Rukia, specifically on the Senzaikyu Bridge in SS arc, and redirecting her to Aaroniero in HM? Given we know he's actually plotting against Aizen, mere casual sadism in his spare time seems a bit odd. We know from Sode no Shirayuki's persona and TYBW that Rukia is capable of being a ruthless and (literally) cold-blooded killer—do you think perhaps he was trying to draw this out of her, as it already existed in himself, to some end?

headcanon. So, it finally arrives -- the day I quit avoiding this and just. Dissect that era of Gin. Considering the amount of time and effort and passion you pour into your meta and headcanon posts, I truly hope I can do ya proud with my own spin! Here goes. I'll have to do this at layers -- because there are many different depths in which this can be taken considering intentional and unintentional implications / character motivations at play.

Firstly, because we know for a fact that, surface-level, Tite wanted to convey Gin as truly villainous to the audience reading Bleach -- it's hard for me to say that Gin could've had ANY motivations beyond a sadistic want to play around with some prey about to meet its end. At this point in time, according to the plot leading up to Volume 17 (in which Gin breaks Rukia's resolve to die), supposedly... everything is playing into the villain's hands. The villain who, thus far, has been painted as Ichimaru Gin. Main antagonist, puppeteer to all, running the diligent and loveable Hitsugaya Toshiro in circles as he seeks to unveil the truth behind Aizen Sousuke's mysterious murder. Everything this far has been 'be careful with Gin' and 'could Gin be behind this, too' and so on.

IMPORTANT: This far into the manga, THE AUDIENCE DOES NOT KNOW AIZEN'S BEHIND EVERYTHING, and Tite may very well be doubling down on throwing the scent via making Gin do a few more deplorable things leading up to that reveal. It's important to keep the narrator's intent in mind when thinking about a particularly difficult-to-decipher moment, because whether Tite meant to or not, he most certainly swayed the story to specifically lead his audience a certain direction. It's safe to assume there was some tugging and tweaking at play to make sure Aizen's reveal packed a punch. Up until the moment Aizen plunges his blade into Hinamori, it's Gin who gets that eerie panel lingering, watching them both, perhaps trying to make the readers feel unease like he's about to ruin their happiness by shooting Shinso -- or whatever that twisted man might do. Either way, that definitely could have been the surface-level reasoning behind Gin strolling out onto that bridge and asking Rukia that one question that restored her hope just enough to make her shake in her calm resolution to die. TL;DR Gin's assholery was Tite's last effort to throw the scent in order to make Aizen's reveal all the more shocking.

A layer beneath that, let's take a look --

GIN ASKS RUKIA IF SHE'S AFRAID, but not due to her own fear of death, no, but because she values the feelings of her friends as they desperately work to stop her from dying -- risking their lives, like Renji has in this instance, to save her. In a way, Gin is asking her if the feelings of her friends are reaching her. "They're all doing this for you, are you just going to give in?" lowkey. Gin is asking Rukia if she's ready to make everything they're doing for her to be all in vain. On a sadistic note, this is incredibly cruel to give someone about to be executed a crisis about letting all their loved ones potentially down via giving up in the face of the inevitable. But also, perhaps Gin is sympathizing. Which leads us into the next layer down --

Kenpachi, taunting and bickering alongside Gin whilst Byakuya deals with their prodding about Rukia's execution coming up -- and their subsequent first introduction to the audience, involves THIS throwaway line about Gin and Tousen. Supposedly, Gin's 'fear of death' is well-known enough for even Kenpachi, social butterfly extraordinaire, to feel confident enough to correct Gin to his face about it. That, or it was a taunt towards Gin, daring him to get into an argument to defend any honor at stake here. However, true or not, there's a huge overarching theme of DEATH specifically circling around Gin at this point in the story. His introduction, here, with Kenpachi, centers around Rukia's impending doom and his own fear of death. His following confrontation and introduction to Ichigo and co. involves scolding the Gatekeeper that 'failure means death' -- the following assassination of Aizen Sousuke / his murder mystery, Gin exudes killing intent at a grief-stricken and attacking Hinamori, which Toshiro then calls Gin out for -- and threatens, with finality, that if a drop of blood is spilled from her, 'I'll kill you myself' -- Gin, warning Izuru to step back whilst confronted by Toshiro later, saying "you don't want to die, right?" -- Gin, leading Hinamori towards a seemingly resurrected Aizen Sousuke, back from the dead. Gin, distinctly being shown to be closely watching as she's stabbed. Gin, being ordered to kill Rukia on Sokyoku Hill. A lot of death and killin' around ya, buddyboi.

Sidenote: Gin may very well have posed his 'fear of death' as a ploy to make him seem cowardly, putting him as one of the only captains to distinctly fear death and therefore 'a cowardly man no one should worry about' etc. etc. but that's just me...

Ultimately, with that taunt of Kenpachi's kept in mind with Gin now asking Rukia this, GIN'S IMPLYING HE'S AFRAID, nervous about failure, anxious about it all being for nothing, about letting his loved ones down and dying. I mean, it's probably too on the nose, right? Right???? ... couldn't be that :'^)

Anyway, there's more.

Another layer down. "IF I WANT TO, I CAN GET YOU OUT OF HERE EASILY. NOT JUST YOU, ABARAI-KUN AND THE OTHERS, TOO." Gin is teasing the possibility of switching sides to Rukia, and he isn't wholly joking about it when doing so. He could. He is distinctly aware. Aizen's betrayed early, after stabbing Hinamori. He brings out Kyoka Suigetsu in a flourish, and reveals its Shikai to Unohana and Isane specifically to explain it, all whilst Gin is directly within arm's reach. The issue being that Aizen could very easily use the four bodies present; Toshiro, Momo, or the captain and lieutenant of his current focus as a body-double to be stabbed by Gin in place, since Kyoka Suigetsu can be activated almost instantly. Gin would have to act fast. It'd be a blink-and-you-miss-it opening and subsequent attack. Which is why I've mentioned that Gin didn't take the shot then, too much room for error and you can't afford that when dealing with Aizen. But regardless, it was an opportunity.

Alternatively, and another layer down, Aizen could be watching at that very moment in time, masked by illusion or via the numerous methods of surveillance he supposedly has used to monitor Ichigo's progress, etc. whilst still within Soul Society and pre-betrayal. Nonetheless, Gin could be pulling Rukia's leg specifically to say to AIZEN that 'hey, wouldn't it fucking suck if I just... took her out from beneath your nose?' which is, yet another frembly remembly, that RUKIA HAS URAHARA'S HOGYOKU WITHIN HER AT THE MOMENT, STILL. Gin knows this. Gin knows that Aizen wants to feed it to his own. The one that has Rangiku's soul piece in it. Y'know. That lovely thing.

In the same vein, if Aizen's watching, Gin can use this as an excuse to make sure Rukia the Hogyoku-carrier makes it to her execution no longer hindered by any outside forces. Gin does this right before the final climax on Sokyoku Hill, meaning he very much could have acted as 'final escort' to ensure Aizen's plan runs smoothly. No straggling Ryoka, no other attempts made. The chaos is contained. The eagle's left the nest.

IT'S SAFE TO ASSUME NO MATTER WHAT GIN'S REASONS WERE, WHAT HE MADE RUKIA FEEL AND GO THROUGH WAS CRUEL, even if it was -- boiled down -- something which actually instilled her to not want to die anymore. Gin's a prime example of 'the goal was good, the execution was evil' etc. etc. so ... yeah.

This's a hot mess but I must continue. I can't keep putting this off.

THE REDIRECTION OF RUKIA TOWARDS AARONIERO'S TOWER.

Gin himself says, when asked (or it's implied by Ulquiorra) if he's distinctly controlling things to make Rukia meet Hollow!Kaien adventure zone or not, Gin says 'I'M NOT THAT CRUEL' essentially, with a 'besides, I hate sad stories' ... implying he knows how tragic Kaien and Rukia's past is, and is aware of her quiet self-blame and despair about it. Not only that, but that he's also aware that Aaroniero's capable of shapeshifting into Kaien, sort of. It's a lot. Is Gin trying to lead Rukia to have her closure about Kaien? Face her fears/demons? Perhaps Gin's acting as the villain of Rukia's storyline, constantly making her heroically endure what will eventually, symbolically, become his downfall: facing his demons/fears, failing to kill Aizen, and Rangiku sobs over him as he dies. Yada yada.

Gin could be lying, saying he isn't doing that when he in fact is, and that HE IS being mean on purpose, too. Yeah, I'm doin' that, I just really fuckin' love bullying Rukia, Ulquiorra. Perhaps Gin's telling the truth, he's trying to override Aaroniero's corridors to give Rukia a clear path through / have her NOT run into the Espada, but it's failing and it's too late, she's too far into the labyrinth. It's said that that whole section of Las Noches is Aaroniero's domain, Gin's controls may not even reach or have a say there, overridden by the Espada's own protocols and lures in which he grabs Rukia and makes her drop right into his waiting palm-ooze. To continue playing off as evil, Gin could be quietly lamenting not being able to steer her away, only capable of watching via security footage. Either way, Gin seems fucking genuine enough in his admission that HE HATES SAD STORIES. Which is depressing to know, considering he becomes one, or perhaps Gin's always been one, knowing he'll end like one, and he's that's why he's able to recognize it in Rukia and tailspin between lashing that out at her, or trying to make her avoid it. Or he's just fucking sadistic, I don't know. My brain's turning off.

Ultimately, I'll never deny that Gin's got a nasty spark in him. He could very well be trolling Rukia for no reason beyond 'she reacts potently and loudly, it's amusing' which is fucked, but also -- she's VERY bad at hiding her emotions, so someone sadistically seeking such things could gain a good bout of amusement from her, yes.

Alternatively, I'm remembering the Rock Musical Bleach moment in which Gin's actor begins happily skipping around and dancing whilst Rukia breaks into her sorrowful song she sings during the reenacted bridge scene between them. That's it, that's his reasoning. He wanted to dance to her despair. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. I'm sorry it's incoherent. I'll probably slap myself for forgetting to add things in five minutes after posting, and find a buncha typos too. Fuck my life.

[sashi-ya]

Hey love 💖 can I get Chad with the prompt picnic date, fem reader, and sfw? Tysm in advance bc I love my mans 🥺💕

Hi! Of course darling! I hope you like it!! I'm sorry for taking so long but I hope you enjoy this sweet fic :3

🌛 One Piece x Bleach Crossover Event : Under The Moon 🌜

SFW ~ Adult! Yasutora Chad x F! Reader ~ A Picnic Date Under the Moon

tw: The softest cutest sfw fic I ever written :P Chad and the guys are adults, 28 y/o after the last time skip. Featuring Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Ichika and Kazui as the baby demons. And even Don Kanonji XD. Pure fluff

wc: 2.1 K

Like this event? chek the masterlist for more

Since the very first time you watched him enter into your classroom, your eyes fluttered towards his sharp features, his tanned skin, and his big frame. It wasn’t until the last year of college that you realize your attachment to him wasn’t just friendship, but you were madly in love with him.

Yet, Chad, never once expressed more than fraternal love towards you… of course, in his own ways since he is not a man of words. And you, frankly, either. Maybe you were scared, maybe you weren’t ready, but you felt as if he slipped out of your fingers, out of your reach, and time passed by…

Fast forward to current days, where Chad has become a boxing champion...

“I haven’t spoke to him since forever” you thought while scrolling through proud posts of Ichigo showing how his friend, more like brother, was using his powerful anatomy to beat and win. His bangs weren’t covering half of his eyes like they used to do, and you giggled. “Guess you have passed your emo phase, don’t you, Chad?”

You sighed; he had always made you do so. As if your heart was too full of joy and the pressure of your chest was so high that you should sigh it out of it…

“Can’t believe I’m still behaving like a teenager…” you fanned your face with your hand, as it became too hot when seeing how handsome your school crush had become. Closing your laptop, you stood-up walking sloppily towards the kitchen. Those days had been lonely, and it’s not that you didn’t enjoy the peace of your own space, but you could used some fun so you texted Ori and Rukia to see what they were up to.

Of course, Orihime and Rukia were absolutely stressed by the demons they have as children. They were about to start kindergarten and they were all about getting ready for it. Kazui and Ichika are a hurricane of love and energy that fills your hearts with pure content but sometimes can be tiring.

❄Ori Kurosaki> Ah, (Name) Ichigo told me you were asking the other day If we knew some good place to train, right? You > Yes! Does he know a good place? ❄ Ori Kurosaki > Yes, let me resend you the location. He said it is a really good place, and that you will be super happy to go there. Ruki Ruki 🐇 > Surely you will enjoy, (Name)! 😏 ❄ Ori Kurosaki> 📍 Av. Guanajuato 894 Ruki Ruki 🐇 > oh my God, that was Renji. I’m sorry!

The conversation kept going until late and you smiled with every message, your friends were the sun of your life, and your eyes got a little watery when remembering those high school days and your adventures…

That same night, before sleeping, you checked the address Ori sent you and you found the place to be quite a pretty gym, at least online…

“Hi, I’m here for the kickboxing try class” you saluted the man at the counter of the gym Ichigo recommended. It didn’t look very crowded and maybe it was because you were there early, but you didn’t see any other woman there. Though, you didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.

“Oh, welcome! You must be (Name)!” the receptionist told you, and you quickly recognized him as the guy whom you spoke to via phone call before coming in. “Please, come in. The instructor will arrive soon! You have chosen the best time to come, he is a champion and will teach you wonderfully!”

Soon, the image of Chad during the last boxing tournament crossed your mind as the word champion was pronounced. You smiled, but surely never expected what was coming next.

“Hi, I’m sorry for the delay” a deep, calmer, soft voice resonated on your ears as you slowly turned around to face your instructor. Both of you widened your eyes, “it can’t be…”

“Chad? Yasutora Chad?!” you chimed, amazed and probably thinking that must be a weird dream

“Oh… (Name)?” he asked, as amazed as you.

The time ran slow in between your eyes, it was like those romantic movies… it had been so long since you two have looked at each other’s eyes that you didn’t mind getting lost for a little bit longer on them. And apparently neither did him.

But, as always, life will still get in the way and that time, Kanonji, the counter guy interrupted the moment. “So, I bet you know him, huh? He is the infamous Yasutor-“

“I know him, of course” you cut him short, trying for the guy to finally leave the place. Even if you realized that you were still in love with him -now even more than before- you really wanted to catch up with his life since your paths parted after school.

Probably the guy was still there, but you stopped noticing him. There was something, something you couldn’t stop doing… looking at him, scanning his aged features, his unbreakable frown…

It was not until the guy actually left that Chad tried to articulate some words. He remained silent -more than always- because for some reason his eyes were showing him the signs of the time on your image. You were then a 28-year-old woman, no longer a teenager.

“So, you want to learn kickboxing?” he asked, playing with the coin that still hangs from his neck. “Yes! Ichigo told me this was a good place for me to come and damn he was right! He didn’t tell me you were the instructor!” you chimed, happily yet feeling a huge storm inside of your guts.

He smiled, well, more like a soft side smirk and stretched his hand to you to help you stand up as you were waiting for him sitting over the mats of the gym.

It was a fun class, Sado had made it to be that way. He taught you in the most professional way the basic techniques of such discipline and even if you wanted to jump and give him a huge hug you followed each and every single instruction, he gave to you.

It was a good workout, but -besides being covered in sweat- you were hungry as hell, so you just had to ask him if he wanted to have something to eat with you after the class.

“Chad, would you like to go and pick something to eat? It’s already night, and I’m starving!” you offered him, perhaps because you wanted to relive old memories, or maybe it was that you wanted to stay next to him a little longer.

Chad cleared his throat and took at least a couple of seconds to answer to your invitation. You were starting to feel impatient, like when you’re a teenager waiting for your crush to answer… after all, wasn’t it the case?

But not everything is like the movies... “I’m sorry, (Name). I can’t go tonight. Will I see you next Thursday for classes?”. At this exact moment your world caved in. Of course, he must have a wife, a husband, someone in his life to return to each night… “you are not a teen anymore, (Name)” you thought and simply smiled with the fakest beam possible but with eyes so full of pain.

“Oh, no problem!... I will evaluate the consequences of this training tomorrow and I’ll give you an answer!” you joked, and quickly grabbed your belongings and flew out of the place. You didn’t even wait for him to tell you anything, you just left.

As you walked through the streets of Karakura city, you let the soft breeze of an incoming spring play with your hair, and the songs blasting in your headphones accompanying an intense feeling of rejection and regret. “Why does this get me upset? I didn’t take the chance when I had the time, of course he would never…”

That night didn’t feel right at all, you were sore and annoyed with yourself for still getting starry eyed at your age. But still, the exhaustion of the day won the fight between exhaustion and eyes fixed on the ceiling of your room.

The next day wasn’t really nothing exciting, perhaps a little sadder than yesterday, but you had to keep living. Work, buying groceries, adulting…

While walking out your dog, your phone rang and there she was, one of your best friends was texting you…

❄Ori Kurosaki> I haven’t heard anything about you since yesterday, how did your class go? 😏 You > Ori, honey… did you or Ichigo know that the instructor was supposed to be Chad? ❄Ori Kurosaki> Haha! Yes! It’s been a long time since you two didn’t hang out together, so Ichigo thought it was a good idea! How did it go? I know you were head over hills for him in high school 😁 You > he probably has someone else in his life. It’s ok, though. Thanks for the surprise 💖 ❄Ori Kurosaki> (Name), we didn’t mean to make you sad… we are sorry.

Your friend probably was feeling like the worst friend alive, but she wasn’t guilty of anything. Not at least of you acting as if ten years hasn’t passed in your lives.

That same night, you didn’t feel hungry but the moon outside your window shone beautifully, even more than ever. Some petals would dance in the wind and finally fell into a pink mattress that began to cover each corner of your city. It was something that would always fill your heart with pure happiness, but that night not even hanami would make you happier…

You sigh with your hands holding your chin and your elbows over the stool of your window, waiting maybe for the moon to tell you what to do.

“(Name)!” you heard from below your appartement. You quickly looked down, you were probably imagining a perfect scene of a romantic novel where Chad was coming with a basket with food and take you to a picnic date under the moon.

But you weren’t dreaming, nor hallucinating… oh no, baby. Chad was there, carrying in his hands a basket, waving at you, and flashing a sweet smile that you rarely see.

“Chad?!” you asked, confused. “(Name), would you like to have something to eat with me at the park? Yesterday you left so fast I couldn’t tell you!”

You felt your cheeks burning, the tip of your ears too. How embarrassing! But how many times you had said no before? How many times you let the time pass without doing anything? What if this was the last opportunity you had to be with him?...

“Oh… yeah! Chad! Give me a sec, I’ll be there with you in a minute”

The food wasn’t the best, in fact he bought it at a convenience store. But it was ok. The moon bathed you two, and the many pink and white buds fell on the little lake the park had. A thin layer of dew wet your bare feet as you place them on the grass without your snickers.  

And you both laughed, remembering the many times Uryu and Ichigo would fight or the many times you had to taste those crazy creations of Orihime. The Seireitei, Hueco Mundo, and all that stuff would only come as little jokes told whispering. You know, the human world isn’t ready to hear about different dimensions, shinigamis, hollows.

But, as in every romantic movie, there was always a sweet moment, that time when two people simply go silent. The moment right after you wipe the little tear on the corner of your eye and your laughter slowly fades away completely. The uncomfortable true that silently could be heard by both of you.

You took a look to the moon, and bravery filled your lungs. “Chad… Uh, do you- are you married or something?” you asked.

Chad giggled silently. “(Name), I’m not. In fact, I’ve been waiting for this since high school”

You slowly turned to him; lips semi open. “Did he just… did he just tell me I- he-“ you panicked inside, doing that same face you would do every time you had a surprise exam during college.

And as Chad was a man of few words, he simply came closer to you. You closed your eyes, like a teenager, as if you were in the veranda of Karakura High School, waiting to be kissed by the first time by your crush.

“Aunty (Name)!!!”

“Uncle Chad!!!”

Ah… the perfect moment cut by the demons! You quickly opened your eyes to see that not only Ichika and Kazui were now jumping over you and Chad but also all your friends were coming to meet you. Orihime, Ichigo, Uryuu, Rukia, Renji and even Urahara and Yoruichi (as a cat, of course).

“Just let the passion for later, Chad” Ichigo elbowed his friend, quickly grabbing his arm in pain as Chad’s muscles were pretty hard.

Orihime blinked at you, and you understood quickly enough what this was all about… 💖 ~

[ichinoue]

Ik last time I asked a very heavy one. This time its I swear its lighter😂😂

I came across a bs IR post which said only Ichigo has has the capacity to know or understand what Rukia has gone through. Also only Ichigo is the one Rukia can share things with. Hence they should be together. Basically any stupid reason to get them together😑😑

In terms of platonic friendship, that is still fine. But its not canon. Where and when the hell did Rukia divulge her life's story to anyone? She never did. Its only through Renji we come to know and that too from his POV. Her POV is very subtle throughout the series. Basically she doesn't mix personal things with her job. Idk how much more delusional they can get.

They really just...hype up their own distorted view of romantic IR as if Ichigo and Rukia have no bonds or connections with anyone in the story except for each other.

As you said, we're told most of Rukia's past through Renji's POV as Renji's the one who knows her and her story the best. Rukia grew up as a poor kid in Rukongai with Renji, watching their little makeshift family of friends die around them one by one before they decided to go to the academy together and find a path to a better life....how the hell would Ichigo be able to understand what that was like, but not Renji, lmao that makes no sense.

Renji is also the only one who knows what it was like to be separated from Rukia, just as she was separated from him, for forty years without speaking, to the point that they even avoided crossing each other's paths because it was too painful for the both of them. That's something only they knew and experienced together. Meanwhile, prior to the epilogue, Ichigo had only been alive for less than half of the time Renji and Rukia had to spend apart lmao, I don't think he could relate.

Renji is also the one Rukia allows herself to be vulnerable with towards the end of the SS arc, crying into his chest, and thanking him for understanding--even after those forty years apart with minimal conversation happening since her arrest, they immediately fall back into that same close, comfortable bond they always had. Time couldn't erase that.

And they were attached at the hip ever since. Renji even thanks Ichigo in the end for "getting them back to the way they were before" just a handful of chapters before it's revealed that they married after the war. So, this idea that Renji, the person Rukia grew up with and shared so many experiences with and was a token duo throughout the story with, rarely separating from him once they reunited, and ended up marrying in the end, yet still somehow isn't able to understand her or have her share things with him, is ridiculous.

Besides that, one of the reasons Rukia served as a mentor figure to Ichigo is because she was so much older and more experienced than him (as she literally bragged about in chapter one) whereas Ichigo started out as a young, naive punk that had a lot of learning to do. They were never on the same page maturity or experience-wise, so idk where IR's are getting this idea that they went through so much together and they alone understand each other's personal struggles.

Does that mean they don't understand each other at all? Of course not; they clearly developed a strong bond and had things they could relate to each other about or have common ground with (like blaming themselves for the death of another person, for example) but they clearly also understand/relate to/have bonds with more people than just each other.

[m34gs]

Hi friend!!!

For the character ask game: Rangiku and Rukia???💙💙💙💙

Hi friend!! Thank you for the ask! (related to this post)

A bit long, so I will be putting it under a cut!

Rangiku

1: sexuality headcanon: I think Rangiku is bi. I also like to hc her as polyamorous.

2: otp: OT3, actually :) with both Shuhei and Kira! I just really like their dynamics together. I feel like each of them has a great chemistry one on one with the others, as well as in a group, so I imagine them as a triad polycule.

3: brotp: Orihime. I feel like they really bonded during Rangiku's time in the human world, especially as she stayed over at Orihime's! I think they would have had plenty of time to get to know each other and become very close friends. I also feel like Rangiku would adore Orihime's gentle and sweet nature, and want to protect her.

4: notp: Hitsugaya. I just don't like the ship, and that's ok. I prefer to see them as a familial sibling relationship.

5: first headcanon that pops into my head: The "airhead" act is just that - an act. She's actually very smart and worries quite a lot about serious things. The act helps her in two ways: it makes enemies underestimate her which gives her an upper hand, and it helps lighten somber moods around her.

6: favorite line from this character: "That bad habit you had of always disappearing without telling me where you are going...still hasn't changed." I just feel this really sums up how much she does care about Gin, and how much she does notice despite her airheaded appearance/act.

7: one way in which I relate to this character: She can be very perceptive of the feelings of those she cares about, and worries about them a lot. I also worry about those close to me and try to be supportive of them.

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character: Anytime there's a close-up on her breasts, and anytime she tries to use her looks to get her out of something or gain something she wants. I don't know, I just don't like that part.

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave? "Sin-amon roll". Lol. :D

Rukia

1: sexuality headcanon: honestly, in my mind I most often hc Rukia as straight. That's just how I see her.

2: otp: Though I headcanon her as straight, I don't really have an OTP for Rukia...I am pretty flexible in who I ship her with. I like shipping her with Renji, I like shipping her with Ichigo, I like shipping her with Kaien, etc. It kind of depends on my mood and if I'm reading/writing a particular fic and what the other ships that are going on in the fic are. I find Rukia is pretty shipable.

3: brotp: Orihime. Again. Lol. I just think there's something about Orihime that allows her to form really good friendships. She is a very earnest, honest girl and she does her best to help those around her. I love it. I like to think they have movie nights and popcorn and go shopping together and talk about all sorts of things!

4: notp: Kon. I don't like them as a pairing; not when Kon's in Ichigo's body, not when he's in the stuffed lion, and I wouldn't like it even if Kon had his own body. I just really don't like it.

5: first headcanon that pops into my head: Rukia is not good at flirting. I feel she would be far too literal to catch most flirting aimed at her, and I feel she would try way too hard to be casual when doing the flirting that she would come across the exact opposite. And I think that would only add to her charm. :)

6: favorite line from this character: I can't remember it exactly, but I think it's "I may appear young to you, but I have lived nearly 10 of your lifetimes", which she says to Ichigo when they first meet. I don't know, I just think it feels kinda badass and also is an indication of the wisdom she's gained over the years from her lived experiences.

7: one way in which I relate to this character: Rukia likes cute things! I like cute things! I think if she were real she would adore my cat and we could go shopping online for Squishables or some other really cute stuff!

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character: When she's acting for Ichigo's family to get them to let her stay over. I just don't really like that scene.

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave? Cinnamon Roll. Definite Cinnamon Roll.

Hope you enjoyed these answers, friend! Thanks again for asking :D