#soul king Kurosaki Ichigo

[suprememysticalbeing]

Another instalment, kisuke is starting to understand that reiatsu addiction could be a thing…

[iamumbra195]

random bleach time travel inccorect quotes from an AU I will probably never write (Ichigo becomes soul king post tybw cause yhwach body doesn’t hold up and then time travels to the Turn back the pendulm era for reasons I’m too lazy to explain)

Ichigo joined Squad 6 under Ginrei Kuchiki in this AU

...

Ichigo: *likes sitting in the sun, hates the rain, touch starved but still prickly enough to pretend he doesn’t like it ‘cause he was soul king for three years and barely had any proper human contact for all that time, has weird eyes and other weird traits from his hollow*

Hiyori + Kaien: *spying on him*

Ichigo: *straight hissed at someone who got to close when he was injured*

Hiyori: *ticks something else off on the list of reasons why Ichigo might be a cat in human form*

Yoruichi, the real cat shapeshifter:

...

Love: Isn’t it weird that we pay money to see other people?

Ichigo: Plane tickets?

Shinji: Concert tickets?

Lisa: Prostitution?

Love, holding holding his broken sunglasses: Glasses.

...

Hollowified!Shinji: *Screams*

Hollowified!Hiyori: *Screams louder to assert dominance*

Kisuke, concerned: Should we do something?!

Ichigo, observing: *thinking back to his hollow training and how much the Visored fucked with him for fun*

Ichigo: Nah, I want to see who wins this.

...

Kensei: Dammit, Mashiro!

Mashiro: What?! It wasn’t me!

Kensei: Sorry, force of habit. Dammit, Shinji!

Shinji: Not me either.

Kensei: Oh...Then who destroyed the entire training ground?

Ichigo + Kaien who thought it would be fun to spar but went a little too far: 

...

Ichigo: *Gently taps table*

Kaien: *Taps back*

Hiyori: What are they doing?

Kisuke: Morse code.

Ichigo: *Aggressively taps table*

Kaien: *Slams hands down* YOU TAKE THAT BACK-

...

*Lieutenants on a mission*

Kaien: I think we're missing something.

Lisa: Teamwork?

Hiyori: Cohesion?

Ichigo: A general sense of what the fuck we’re doing?

Kaien: ... Where’s Mashiro?

Mashiro: *fighting a bear in a forest three districts away*

Lisa:

Hiyori:

Ichigo: ... Fuck

Kensei: *in Squad 9 barracks* I  S E N S E  A  D I S T U R B A N C E

...

Shinji: Tonight, one of you has betrayed us.

Kisuke: Is it me?

Shinji: No, it’s not you.

Tessai: Is it me?

Shinji: It’s not you either.

Aizen: Is it me, Captain?

Shinji, dying because of Hollowification:

Shinji, mockingly: Is IT mE CaPTaIN?

...

Kyouraku: How did none of you hear what I just said?

Kisuke: I’ve been dissociating for the past two and a half hours.

Ukitake: I got distracted about halfway through.

Lisa: Ignoring you was a conscious decision.

...

Ichigo: Can I be frank with you guys?

Kaien: *confused* Sure, but I don’t see how changing your name is gonna help.

Mashiro: Can I still be Mashiro?

Shinji: Shh, let Frank speak.

Ichigo: 

Ichigo: *lunges at Shinji*

...

Ichigo: *trying not to laugh* Tell Kensei about the birds and the bees.

Mashiro: *serious* They're disappearing at an alarming rate

...

Yoruichi: Soifon, keep an eye on Kisuke today. He’s going to say something to the wrong person and get punched.

Soifon: Sure, I’d love to see Urahara get punched.

Yoruichi: Try again.

Soifon, sighing: I will stop Urahara from getting punched

...

*The Visored+ Hollowified!Kaien is getting into a car*

Ichigo: *the only one who know how to drive* I’m driving

Mashiro, out of view: Shotgun!

Kaien, turning to face Mashiro: Aww! But you had it on the way here-

Everyone except Mashiro: WOAH-

Mashiro, holding a shotgun: No! I found a shotgun! And I want the front seat! *Pumps gun*

...

Lisa: In your opinion, what’s the height of stupidity?

Hiyori: *turning to Shinji* How tall are you?

...

Kaien: 

Ichigo:

Kaien: In my defense--

Ichigo: You have no defense you let Byakuya meet Gin

Kaien: but--

Ichigo: Byakuya. The same cocky shit that tries to fight anything that moves fast enough. And Gin. The creepy shit that thought it was a good idea to work with megalomaniac rather than talk to people

Kaien: You don’t have any room to talk about bad communication but in hindsight it wasn’t my greatest idea--

Ichigo: understatement of the century

Kaien: But I was bored and you have to admit it was a little funny

Ichigo: 

Ichigo: *covering his face because the sight of baby Byakuya getting punted into the Kuchiki Koi pond by baby Gin was actually hilarious but he refuses to admit it* I hate you

...

Kensei: I sometimes drink milk straight out of the container

Mashiro: the COW?

Kensei:

...

Kisuke: You have to apologize to Shinji

Hiyori: Fine.

Hiyori: 'Unfuck you' or whatever.

...

Kaien: I told Ichigo his ears turn red when he lies

Mashiro: Why?

Kaien: So I can do this

Kaien: Hey, Ichigo! Do you love us?

Ichigo, covering his ears: No.

Mashiro: Aw, Berry-tan

Ichigo: Shut up, seaweed brain!

...

*Shinji and Kisuke sitting in jail together*

Shinji: So who should we call?

Kisuke: I’d call Hiyori, but I feel safer in jail

...

Shinji: Hey, how old are you?

Ichigo: Twenty-four--

Ichigo *remembers that the soul society doesn’t have the same age system*

Ichigo: two hundered

Shinji: 

Shinji, concerned: did you just say--

Ichigo, nervously: TWO HUNDRED

...

Shinji: What do you think Ichigo will do for a distraction?

Kaien: He’ll probably, like, make a noise or throw a rock. That’s what I would do.

*several building explode due to Getsuga Tensho*

Kaien: ... or he could do that.

...

Kisuke: I know you’re a time traveler, Kurosaki-san

Ichigo: (Play dumb!)

Ichigo: Who's Kurosaki?

Ichigo: (NOT THAT DUMB!!!)

...

Love: What's a word thats a mix between 'sad' and 'mad'?

Kensei: Disgruntled, miserable, desolated-

Mashiro: Smad

Kaien: Ichigo

Ichigo:...

...

Shinji: Who thinks I can fit 15 marshmallows in my mouth?

Kensei: You’re a hazard to society

Hiyori: And a coward. DO TWENTY.

...

Ichigo, babysitting: Violence isn't the answer.

Byakuya: You’re right.

Ichigo: *sighs in relief*

Byakuya, reaching for a brick: Violence is the question.

Ichigo: What?

Byakuya, running to hit Gin on the head with a brick: And the answer is yes.

Ichigo, running after him: NO-

Ginrei, watching the chaos while drinking tea: ... Today’s a beautiful day

...

Kisuke: *Accidentally hits Hiyori in the face*

Kisuke: *Trying to decide between saying 'I’m fucking sorry' and 'Are you okay'*

Kisuke: ARE YOU FUCKING SORRY?!

Hiyori, confused: What’s wrong with you?!

Shinji: *wheezing in the background*

...

Ichigo: Can you please be serious for five minutes?

Mashiro: My record is four, but I think I can do it.

...

Kaien: Do you think different paints have different tastes?

Mashiro: They do.

Ichigo: ... Why did you say that with such certainty?

...

Shinji: I was born for politics. I have great hair and I love lying.

...

Kisuke: I’d like to offer you moral support, but I have questionable morals.

...

Kaien: Treat spiders the way you want to be treated.

Ichigo: Killed without hesitation.

Kaien: No.

...

Kisuke: *Kicks the door down looking panicked*

Ichigo: What did you do?

Kisuke: Nobody died.

Ichigo: WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT?!

...

Kaien, euphoric from his date with Miyako: Date someone who will drag you outside at 3am to look at the stars.

Kukaku: If anyone, and I mean anyone, wakes me up at 3am to go look at the damn sky they will be removed indefinitely from my life.

...

Aizen, trying to be friends with Ichigo b4 he died: I made tea.

Ichigo: I don’t want tea.

Aizen: I did not make tea for you. This is my tea.

Ichigo: Then why are you telling me?

Aizen: It is a conversation starter.

Ichigo: That’s a lousy conversation starter.

Aizen: Oh, is it? We are conversing. Checkmate.

Ichigo:

Ichigo: *two seconds away from a homicide

...

Mashiro: what is it called when you kill your friend

Ichigo: Amicicide

Kensei: Murder

Mashiro: Homiecide

...

Ichigo: *looks like Kaien and Isshin*

Kaien: *suspicious but has no proof*

Ichigo, lying becuase he doesn’t want to deal with the emotions that come with seeing Isshin again: I’m not a Shiba

Ichigo: *uses Getsuga Tensho*

Kaien, throwing a table: oKAY, I CALL BULLSHIT

...

Ichigo: *having a chill day in Rukongai by himslef

baby Rukia, Renji, and their gang: *chased by a merchant they stole from*

Ichigo: 

Ichigo: *adopts them*

...

Okay, that’s more than enough for one post

Yes, Kaien is hollowfied here because I want him to be, yes, I really like adding animalistic traits to characters I love don’t ask me why

This is so much longer than I planned but it was too fun to stop

[crispybonkeggllama]

I wanted to do a little sketch for my Bleach Canon Divergence AU but then decided to add color TT

TimeTravel!Ichigo who, because of his injuries and reiatsu exhaustion took a form of a child (like Nell), thus remembering the future, but unable to control his emotions and acting accordingly.

He regains his mental stability later with the help of the Soul King - yeah, he time travelled THIS far - and became a member of the Zero Squad, though unannounced.

Also not-so-subtly called 'your highness' or 'prince' by Zero Squad since Soul King took him under his wing (who also not-so-subtly is being a doting parent) and him being a clingy child most of the time.

He hasn't recovered fully, hence he usually sleeps on the SK's lap or in his arms, surrounded by non-threatening reiatsu so much similar to his (which SK picked up on, already realizing that this child is trully his, needing to be coated in parent's reiatsu to recover faster)

After The First Sin, Yhwach's sealing and establishment of C46 and Gotei, Ichigo lowkey says "fuck it" and just-

Wakes the King.

Yeah.

By bombarding the crystal with huge amount of his reiatsu whenever he has the moment.

The funniest thing? He also translating his thoughts and emotions of how everything will be fucked up in about a thousand years and that the King will be killed. But the thought that finally wakes the King up is when Ichigo got too stressed and desperate.

"I need you. Your own son is SEALED and I fought him, I KILLED him, he lost it and he is your fucking son and he needs you even more than me so wake the fuck up- PLEASE I DON'T WANT TO KILL HIM AGAIN HE WAS SO LOST AND DROWN IN MADNESS AND HE LOVED YOU HE JUST WANTED HIS FATHER- PLEASE-"

And it happened quietly. Soul King gently hugging the sobbing kid, peaking a look in the futures.

Yeah... Maybe this was not the best descision he made in order to protect the worlds.

He then proceeds to find his first son which he didn't do to not be 'too bothering of a parent', breaking suspicouisly familliar spells and wards intended to not let HIM find Yhwach, and yanking him in the Palace, also coating him and the youngest in his reiatsu, contemplating his life descisions as to why in the world he listened to Ichibe to let his son wander the world 'a little'. Like, yeah, his son has enormous amounts of spiritual energy but it's expected, and even if Yhwach was absorbing a little too much from him as a toddler that only proved him having a pote-

Oh.

OH.

Wasn't he weakened enough by that to try finding his son and not being able to see even his soul ribbon before being sealed?..

*Somewhere, Ichibe felt shudder runnig down his spine*

***

So the Gotei 13 an C46 aren't aware of Ichigo's existence, he slept through a lot of things (not to mention hawking Soul King being paranoid after disappearance of his first child).

SK's physical body parts slowly deceasing (Ukitake lives yay!).

Yhwach is sane, not fatherless anymore, they talked things through, and very much a doting older brother as much as his father even if he doesn't like to admit it (the braids with flowers and colourful ribbons admit it for him)

Ichigo is having a long-lasting childhood since his soul 'matured' even before time travel and he looks younger than Toshiro for like forever (until he figures out how to grow up, waiting for Urahara to become 12th captain to ask him), cringes every time Yhwach calls him "brüderlein" (as if being called his son wasn't traumatizing enough), thinking what to do with Aizen while waiting for the tea-lover to appear.

Oh, and he's also Zero Squad member with privileges (obviously).

Seriously, i made up this whole AU just because i wanted kid!Ichigo in captain haori XD

Anyway, here're the sketches

[sunflowersandcherryblossoms]

Seriously... The Fullbringer Arc Bankai form, Ichigo's newfound, nonchalant, self assurance... The way this was — for me at least — the perfect time for Ichigo to embrace all of his facets and find balance...

... GRABBING A FUCKING CERO WITH HIS HANDS!?

The shihakusho

The Zanpakuto

The new Tensa Zangetsu

The white details

The tattoos/markings on his skin

The overall fierceness in his eyes

It could have ended here.

It should have ended here.

We could have had a flash forward to Ichigo graduating university, with the captains and lieutenants in Gigai attending.

We could have had a close up of Ichigo smiling fondly at them.

We could have had a fade to black scene with whichever voice you'd prefer, (I'd prefer Byakuya for many reasons, not all of them pertaining to shipping.) saying:

"Ready to go home?"

And Ichigo, with a low rumbling chuckle:

"Ready."

The last image is a Senkaimon opening with a bunch of Jigokucho flying out.

End Theme with scenes of everyone, years afterwards.

The former Karakura Team, flourishing, with a World Of The Living squad, that had taken on the mantle and responsibilities Ichigo used to have. Karin is with them, donning a shihakusho herself.

Yuzu, with a doctor's coat lab, opening the door of the Kurosaki clinic.

Isshin going through the Karakura hospital's corridor, a patient chart in his hand, talking with Ryuken.

Keigo, Mizuiro and Tatsuki, walking by the river, looking at photos and laughing. We get a close up of Mizuiro's hand to see one of the tickets Kyoraku gave them.

Finishing with our own peek at the photos they were looking at...

It's images of the Seireitei:

Ichigo with the Academy uniform, smiling widely

Kenpachi moping because he didn't want to take a picture.

Ikkaku, Yumichika and Hisagi waving at the camera.

Hitsugaya, being photographed from above, glaring at the camera.

Matsumoto hugging Hinamori and Nanao tightly. The other woman are wide eyed.

A photo of all of the captains in front of the First Squad's offices

All of the lieutenants having a picnic and cheering with their sake cups.

The first official photo of Ichigo with his new Squad mates (preferably the 11th)

Ichigo sitting on the engawa of the Kuchiki Manor, between Rukia and Byakuya, Renji by Rukia's side. Byakuya is smiling widely.

End credits.

[beesechurgerzz]

glass half full, glass half empty

[mediumsizedpidegon]

enough of ichigo taking the soul king's place. thematically and power-wise, orihime replacing the corpse on the throne is far funnier and also twice as agonizing for everyone involved.

[aurora-313]

I've been openly critical of Thousand Year Blood War since its weekly manga release way back in late 2010s. It was so immemorable that I'd legitimately forgotten it, and by extension Bleach, existed until the announcement in 2022.

The revelations presented require so much backreading and contradicts earlier established facts, it make it difficult to tolerate. Interpersonal reveals reflect incredibly poorly on many characters, demonstrating in some cases outright negligent tendencies in their duty of care towards others and themselves.

(Masaki, Isshin, you don't have to tell him everything but its not hard to teach your god-child basic safety and the supernatural equivalent of 'don't run in oncoming traffic'. The fact neither did of you did, makes you damned irresponsible parents imo. Almost like your powers were retconned into existence without thinking through the rammifications, huh?).

The sum total of my issues are too numerous to mention but my biggest issue is theme of fate in Bleach; how it applies to Ichigo's desire for self-determination and how TYBW in particular gleefully pisses all over that.

While fate and destiny can be aspiring things, they are by definition traps. Confines. Set parameters that must be fulfilled. As a result two primary attitudes exist in response; one must rise to meet the occasion gloriously or defy it to forge one's own path (success varies).

Ichigo's opinion has always fallen into the latter category.

Ichigo wanted to destroy fate. Wanted to negate its unfairness. To remove its strangling shackles from his life and those he cares for. To quote:

If fate is a milestone, then we are the grist. There is nothing we can do. So I wish for strength. If I cannot protect them from the wheel, then give me a strong blade, and enough strength... to shatter fate.

In essence this is how Ichigo wants express his agency and self-determination, by protecting others. He wants to defend the downtrodden from the unfairness ugliness of reality. An agency he gains through obtaining Shinigami power from Rukia.

Or so he believes.

Problem is, every arc and especially TYBW exposes that theme as a total lie.

Whenever Ichigo believes he's expressing agency to combat whatever ill fortunate awaits those he wishes to protect, he is in fact playing into the hands of others.

He believes he's making an active choice to defend and guard and protect, but in reality Ichigo has never had a choice in anything, merely the illusion of one. Worst of all Ichigo never realizes most of his choices are illusions.

With every subsequent arc, the sad truth is that Ichigo is enslaved to fate. Shackled to its designs since the dawn of reality. Enchained by the literal gods and devils on his shoulder. At one point, fate even turns Ichigo's own body against him as his Quincy blood forces him to slay the previous Soul King.

In his drive to break fate's confines, Ichigo becomes its ultimate poster boy and enforcer.

But in a sad yet classic prophetic twist; Ichigo believes he's actively fighting an unfair destiny.

A destiny written by the Soul King's Almighty eons ago.

In a word, the Almighty is omniscience. First held by the Soul King and later Yhwach.

Conceptually, omniscience and free will cannot co-exist. The world is self-determination or pre-destination. There's no middle ground.

This in mind; the Soul King knew precisely how he would die. He knew a Shiba scion would eventually gain the power to release him from his torment eons upon eons after his sealing under the compulsion of Yhwach's Quincy blood, then slay Yhwach to replace him.

In other words, Ichigo's desire for self-determination was the greatest lie of this story. His every action and reaction were predicted and cemented since the dawn of time. Taken to its logical extreme, Ichigo arguably had no free will at all (absolutely fitting because he reads like a damn automaton in the last arc). He's a pre-programmed organic robot blindly following the path set before him by his creators, there's no error codes (ie. questions or hesitations) because his programmers told him exactly the right command prompts to set him loose.

And almost as the ultimate spit in the face for Ichigo's futile wish for agency in his own fate? Yhwach curses him in the end. Cursed Ichigo with a prophesy that at the moment of his greatest happiness, Yhwach will return to crush it to dust.

Meaning Ichigo is now destined to carry that curse for the rest of his days, his days as a human, his days as a soul, possibly even after his soul death and winding up in hell.

By the avatar of fate's own command, Ichigo is never permitted to find true happiness again.

Which actually rather neatly explains why Ichigo seemingly retired from shinigami work after the war concluded. And a rather damning indication of his marriage to Orihime and his own son.

When is Ichigo at his happiest? When he's engaged with the spirit world. What's he done in the ten year timeskip? Cut himself off from the spirit world. When does Yhwach show up again? The first time Ichigo engages with the spirit world after ten long years.

All told, its a rather tragic tale, isn't it?

Then again, I suppose that could be Kubo's intention. The more Ichigo tries to fight fate, the more fate bitch slaps him and tells him 'get back in your lane.' And Ichigo, after years of being thoroughly defanged, bows his head and obeys.

If that's so, then I congratulate him on delivering such a tragic despair-filled message.

[laughing-moonlight]

Ichigo: Thank God!

Aizen, Yhwach & Soul King: You're welcome

Aizen, Yhwach & Soul King:

Urahara: Hoo boy

[troius]

Yhwach hates the Soul King so much that even his great^50 grandchildren's bodies involuntarily act on that hate. That's unprecedented levels of hating, right there.

Did we finally learn what his sword does? This doesn't seem like it would have been particularly useful against Ichibe.

[zanguntsu]

always felt like the idea of being a king or authority or of any higher status was antithetical to ichigo as a person. he never cared for titles, everyone is on his playing field with the same level of respect. his bosses? old men old hags. godlike people are just the average guy to him. no ones above him no ones below him. he was always about the little guys, the outsiders than he does with the status quo

[suprememysticalbeing]

Aizen x Urahara x Soul King Ichigo

Redemption or Destruction : which one will you be to me

[justwaytomuchfun]

Ichigo in the TYBW Cour 2 opening be like:

[aypiyai]

Bleach top 10?

my top ten has changed a lot but here’s the order

Soul king(Reio)

Ywhach

Aizen (if you think Ichigo goes here I’m not going to argue much)

Ichigo

Ichibe

Oestsu(can be replaced for Senjumaru)

Senjumaru

Tenjiro

Kirio

Kenpachi Zaraki

[iamumbra195]

Okay, I’m genuinely curious about this ‘cause from what I know the soul king is the lynchpin and it’s only without him that the universe collpases. Going off that, wouldn’t that mean that the soul societies annihilation of the quincy’s was entirely unneccesary??

Given that the whole Yamamoto vs Yhwach happened a thousand years ago, it seems more like this is case of Soul Society propaganda or did the shinigami like chase the surviving quincies until they found a civilization twp hundred years ago and proceeded to kill them

But the fact that Rukia had no idea what a quincy until urahara told her was shows that it probably heavily covered up like many of the soul societies other fuck ups like the Visored thing or the Kuchiki Koga situation

So. I’m confused and I don’t particularly care about spoilers if they’re from the tybw arc 

[killer-mata]

Me want to see more ichibei fanart hmph 🗿

[kingofanemptyworld]

chapter 2 of 3 is posted! double the Grimmjow, double the suffering for Ichigo. and also Kon is there. all good things, I promise