#most of my focus was on how his treatment of the arrancar would be different

[grimmjowjaegerjaquez]

i am also remembering my aizen au where that og persona of his was legit and he doesnt betray soul society

[animelga]

I saw a post on the Bleach subreddit which asked about which parts of the series people found most disappointing. And a lot of people there obviously said Chad, and I agree - But I want to be more specific. Chad in the Lost Agent arc is some of the most blatant missed potential I've ever seen.

I think its pretty easy to infer that each of Bleach's five arcs focuses on one of its five originally-introduced main characters. This is something my librarian-coded brain adores!! Our lineup, as introduced in Substitute Shinigami, is Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Chad and Uryu (Renji gets added to that group later, but ignore that for now). The first two are pretty obvious - Substitute Shinigami introduces us to Ichigo's character and his moral code, what he fights for, what potential he has. Rukia, or more specifically the Shinigami as a whole, are of course the focus of the Soul Society arc - even though she's trapped in a cell for lots of it, characters like Renji, Ganju and Byakuya specifically serve to explore the different sides of her character. Both her and Ichigo are of course important throughout Bleach in its entirety, but these two first arcs put them and their relationships with those close to them in the focus far more than atany point later in the series.

Arrancar arc and TYBW are pretty self-explanatorily Orihime and Uryu-focused, if arguably a bit misguided with TYBW in particular. Even though, again, Orihime spends most of Arrancar stuck in a cell, she shows tremendous growth and maturity, and the entire arc's theming of what it means to have a heart is centered entirely on her. And Uyru...well, Uryu is the center of the conflict in TYBW, despite it definitely feeling underwritten in the Manga. I think thats mainly a result of its rushed pacing by the back half though, and it seems to be getting resolved with the adaptation now. So I'll hold off on Uryu for now - his treatment is salvageable and if nothing else he's always gotten at least one golden moment to shine in all other arcs.

That only leaves Chad and Lost Agent - a perfect fit for one another, and something Kubo himself was pretty clearly going for at the start. Its Chad's disappearance that instigates the drama, he's there with Xcution to help Ichigo regain his powers, and the existence of Fullbring in general elegantly explains where Chad's powers came from in a way that's true to his character (the "pride in the color of my skin" line is still one of his best character moments imo). It is, effectively, an arc built entirely around answering the questions Chad himself asked about his powers back in the Arrancar arc.

And then...nothing. He explains his powers, helps Ichigo, he trains to get stronger in a video game, and...then falls under Tsukishima's mind powers and gets knocked unconscious. Only for the Soul Reapers to show up and do all the fighting again - even characters like Byakuya and Kenpachi, who clearly don't have any material for growth when pit against the Fullbringers, show up just to clean house. To me it reeks of Kubo deciding to include fan-favorite characters toward the end of the arc just to make people happier with it, since Lost Agent in general was so divisive. Though it was obviously earned for Rukia to return in order to give Ichigo his powers back, having everyone else also show up to do the work of other characters for them felt kind of like a slap in the face.

It feels so obvious in hindsight, but Chad and Tsukishima would have been a borderline perfect matchup for a fight to move the arc to a satisfying conclusion. Out of the entire core cast, Chad is the one who feels most motivated by his past to act - he remembers his Abuelo's words, he remembers his times in turmoil with Ichigo, he remembers just how hard he's had it in life and fights to make sure nobody else has to suffer like him. Pitting him against the character able to alter memories would've been a genuinely fantastic challenge of character, and would've made for the most satisfying Chad victory the series could've pulled. Even though Tsukishima isn't Bleach's strongest villain, he's certainly one of its scariest and most potentially dangerous, and Chad's entire personality and design is built around protecting others from such harm.

Instead, Kubo just kind of... procrastinated with Chad, always hinting at more to come, hoping maybe anotber matchup as good as Tsukishima would roll around eventually. Only for him to still gst nothing to do for all of TYBW, and his send-off being to fight some stone statues off-screen.

It's such a shame, imagining what could've been, and remembering just how damn cool Chad is when he actually gets to play with the cool kids.

[kotofvi]

@xyuuken​ asked: Get Me || Meme.  Leave a “Get Me” in my ask, and I will write a drabble about my character saving yours.

          How many moments in time were fragmented for him? How much had he endured? How much pain was he in? How could he think to venture off on his own again? She knew him strong and yet, she worried all the same. Anything could happen on the battlefield. That’s the first lesson learned. Never underestimate the play and always overestimate your opponent to be ready for anything-- so what garnered this personality in him? What caused him to believe he should cater to the fight alone when he had others to lend their strength? Always steadfast and stubborn. Perhaps she was a bit irritated, receiving yet another call from someone that wasn’t the person in question. Worried tones masked by indifference, concern shown in making the call at all to tell her. He went off on his own again, you should probably check on him, from what I can tell he’s going to be in your area. Her area. 

Right. A thick wall of separation. A constant reality of immeasurable difference. Yet she couldn’t figure out why he’d be here to begin with. Was he conducting more research? There were no scientists here that were stable enough to interrogate-- she could put that on the back burner in favour of investigating for herself. There was no doubt in the Arrancar’s mind that he could fend for himself with little trouble, but there was a difference in expunging hollows in the living world and doing it in their natural habitat of sorts. They were a pack animal when fortunate enough to think, otherwise they were just cruelly savage in most lower circles. In others they would concentrate and focus on a single point if it was alluring enough and-- well, she’d be damned if she didn’t admit that he was. Perhaps it was her instinct warning her, maybe she was being irrationally concerned out of affection that he would claim was misplaced. 

It mattered little in the end-- the scent of blood alighting her senses and reminding her that if she could pick it up in the air then it was too obvious to many others as well. There were many sides of her she kept beneath guises, many thoughts and many fleeting heartbeats; this was one she wished he would never find himself discovering. They called her cold, unfeeling, cruel, misplaced and a traitor for her disinterest in the ‘cause.’ Without a reason to draw her weapon, she never would but now she had plenty reason and he lay in front of her in warm red and cold white grain. It’s always silent, her steps across the uneven plain and her internalized rage that always took a backseat to her steadfast hold upon her grace. Oh love, what a troublesome man you are. The thought crosses her mind as her claws pick up thin frames to place them in his pocket.

Shattered perceptions would be grand, perhaps she wants to punish him for being foolish and doing everything on his own again? It’s an amusing thought, but her features don’t change from their devoid state even as she perches over him to reach her marred phalanges out and gently shield his eyes. To mend the wounds and ensure he doesn’t disappear for good this time, she doubted he’d enjoy the method. It’s always been quite gross, she’d admit that, but it could bring even the worst situations back to stability. In the mean time, she was gradually making others aware of just how much danger they were in by being within her vicinity. How much danger they were in regardless for bringing harm to him. There were few things that made her lose her composure but this? Well, she would have enjoyed it if Ryuuken had lived in ignorance of her a little while longer-- but there was nothing more cruel than watching a life end purely because they felt the necessity to endure alone, she wouldn’t accept that. 

So perception be damned, he was well aware of what she was and even though he’d never seen it in full whether or not he did now was irrelevant so long as he was kept safe. “Mein mondlicht, whatever shall I do with you?” Soft words were accompanied by a heavy atmosphere of rising anger misconstrued and converted into a physical reaction from her. It’s thick, the air and the sudden pressure that almost seemed to buckle knees and bend the spines of the ones still attempting to scatter in escape. Her claws leave his features, leaving a trail of warmth along his cheek-- and yet the rest of her is seemingly unfeeling. Cold and without apparent remorse as she draws Gamuza to take care of the ‘problem’ at hand. Monster. The word is glaringly bright in her cranium as blood sprays across her features with the swing of her blade. Cruel. It flickers in and out as another one crumbles into nothing but residual remembrance of the beast that once stood there. She was operating on a semi-autonomous thought process that garnered little emotion and more logic. If she got emotional, she wouldn’t be efficient.

Heartless. Verdant strands do nothing to hide the horrors painted on her as she settled down without hardly any time passed. She wouldn’t play the waiting game, wouldn’t pander to some ideal that perhaps she should stray away now after revealing what she was capable of in small instances. Rather, she returned to his side without hesitation and bent at the hips to reach down and pick him up. Whether he liked it or not, he was getting carried back-- ah, yeah, she was still rather pissed off at him, clearly. Tending to his injuries would be quite easy for her and she would use her own method versus his, he wouldn’t get much of a say in the matter if she had her way about it for the panic he caused her. “I’ll be taking my payment for treatment in undivided attention, coffee and an explanation as to why in the vögeln you came out here.”