#actually went back to read it and szayel pretty explicitly says 'power has consequences' so i guess it wasnt as implicit an interpretation

[zabiume]

Hi! I just wanted to say I love your fics and your bleach analysis so much!! I hope this okay for me to ask, but like. Do you know what happened (by happened I mean the narrative significance) of that bleach bonus chapter arc??? Imo it just feels rly weird and out of place to go like… oh btw every soul reaper who died is in hell xoxo -kubo, but maybe I’m missing smth? Anyway I hope you have a great day!!!

thank you! 💖

well, 'no breaths from hell' was a "one-shot" meant to celebrate bleach's 20th anniversary, but it's unclear whether it'll stay a one-shot or if it'll go on to be a full-fledged arc centered around hell – the one realm kubo has hinted about in the past but hasn't really explored in depth yet. based on some of kubo's vague answers on klub outside, it seems like he's still withholding some details (<- i.e some fans think he might be saving it because he's writing again and doesnt want to spoil anything, because what other reason would he have to withhold information, right?). maybe it's because of this and the cliff-hangery nature of the one-shot, but a lot of people are naturally very excited about what this means and i've seen a lot of interpretations and speculation about what little we learned in those 75-ish pages (i don't remember if this was the exact count).

for me, personally (and narratively), bleach has always talked a lot about how power has a consequence. think about characters like ichigo, whose vasto lorde transformation granted him the power to beat ulquiorra but cost him his humanity. or even his mugetsu form, which zangetsu warned would cost him his powers forever (even though we know he gets them back later anyway). you can also look at grimmjow's transformation as an example – he had to eat his own fracciones to evolve. aizen's experiments with the visoreds gave them hollowfication, but they could only maintain it for a few minutes at a time (and cost them their bodily autonomy, since they didn't exactly consent to that). the captains and lieutenants all aspire to attain bankai, but the technique requires years of discipline and practice (and self-actualization).

additionally, bleach's power system actually rests on the balance of power – soul society absorbs reishi back, mayuri kills a bunch of rukongai citizens to ensure stability within all the three worlds, and of course, reincarnation, which is ultimately the recycling of souls, only adds to that.

the hell lore we've received so far seems to be in line with that. most soul reapers will probably die and be reabsorbed by soul society (before ultimately entering the life cycle again), but captains and lieutenants are more powerful. their reabsorption will probably cause instability.

the fish metaphor, which had a lot of people scratching their heads when it first dropped, seems to hint vaguely at this. the bigger fish had to die, if only to ensure the world would be stable enough for all the little ones. "die" here seems to mean "go to hell." it's all pretty straightforward, actually. the soul reapers had no idea they'd been casting their captains into hell, and however good the reason, they all seem horrified by this fact.

i personally really liked this one-shot because it turns the "everyone lived happily after" around on its head and asks: but what about the people who died? which is more interesting. the events of tybw caused a MASSIVE shake-up to the fabrics of existence, stretching them, pulling them thin. there were so many deaths, so many imbalances, that the happy ending we got in 686 seems to be the calm before the storm, while something murky hid within the depths, unsuspecting. it's spooky, it's horrifying, it's full of intrigue, and knowing what we know about the former captains (like, FORMER former captains, the prehistoric ones), it opens up the possibility that the main characters will be meeting some really messed up guys (should we ever see the inside of hell). the arc seems to be asking the main characters, mainly soul society: did you really think you'd get your power and your victory without having to pay something in return?

and THIS, of course, ties into ukitake, whose entire thing with mimihagi was a loan he borrowed from and paid for with his life. it's no surprise that, from the looks of it, ukitake seems to be ruling hell (or at the very least was singled out while all this was going on).

this is how soul society gets dragged into it. meanwhile, if you've noticed the patterns in bleach so far, then you'll know that every arc begins with some personal stakes for ichigo to get involved. ichigo, by the end of bleach, has mostly made peace with his past, embraced the true nature of his powers (and his soul), overcome the despair and grief from his mother's death, and finally started a family of his own. he has a son now, a son who has been involved with hell to some capacity, though it's a little early to say what this will mean for ichigo – that you can't protect your kids from everything no matter how hard you try? that kazui's mixed bloodline will have consequences, just like it did for ichigo? who knows? we'll just have to let time pass and see if kubo will ever drop the whole thing! :D

[p.s i've actually talked about the cycle/balance of souls and what this means for captain-class shinigami and nobles before in this post, if you want to read more of my thoughts on a topic that's pretty similar to this one]