The first phrase Askin says here is fairly straightforward:
"No matter how many strategies
I come up with,
he always finds a way
to outmaneuver them…!"
The second, however, is a couplet of yojijukugo, a Japanese four-character idiom. This is a common folk saying that can be represented with four kanji, and comes imbued with cultural and social significance. So, let's unpack them!
円転滑脱
To handle things smoothly without causing any friction. "Enten" means to roll smoothly, so it is a metaphor for things moving forward without stagnation. "Sukidatsu" means to change freely according to the situation, so it means to respond without leaving anything out.
権謀術数
A strategy to deceive and belittle others. "Gonbo" is a strategy that adapts to the situation. "Jutsuju" means strategy. Particularly within a group such as society or an organization, it refers to a strategy to increase one's status or reputation by putting others down and creating a situation that is favorable for oneself.
You've probably picked up on the fact that while the first phrase is positive, the second is negative. In any other context, Askin would be calling Kisuke a "smooth-operating social climber"!
The Viz translation renders it as:
"His schemes are always fluid and flexible!"
This feels a bit more complimentary; we know he's pretty great at adapting to situations and maneuvering them to his benefit. But if we think about it, the face value of Askin's comment is not so far off the mark. We know he was taken in and promoted by the Shihōin, so he does have friends in high places. And he does seem to be able to finagle access to things he shouldn't. How is it that he's managed to re-create most of the the Royal Guards' inventions? How did he see the Soul King? Whatever he's gleaned from the access he's gained, masterful coordination pulls it all together. Scheming does capture it pretty well.
u said urahara is ur fav character but u keep calling him asshole in ur tags and posts?
Er… yeah?
That would be because *drumroll*……..
……….he IS an asshole.
Let me be clear here: I don’t mean that he’s evil, or anything of the sort, but not evil ≠ not a jerk. Kisuke has good intentions, he genuinely wants to help people and can be very kind and sweet when he’s so inclined, BUT that doesn’t mean some of the things he does are justified or any less shitty just because he doesn’t mean to hurt anyone.
Once more, with feeling:
THERE ARE PERFECTLYLEGITIMATE REASONS FOR SOMEONE TO DISLIKE URAHARA. PERIOD.
I never onceclaimed that there aren’t. Kisuke may bemy favorite character, but that doesn’t make me blind to his faults.
Kisuke is brilliant, kind, funny, helpful, caring, and a big ol’ sap.
He is also manipulative, mistrustful, insecure, sarcastic, at times arrogant, a liar, a pervert, a troll, and he is convinced that he always knows best.
People can enjoy fictional characters withoutendorsing some of their actions (or any at all). In fact, if it weren’t for his shadier tendencies, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy his character nearly as much as I do, because c’mon, how utterly annoying would a handsome, powerful genius be if he were also the best, nicest person ever?
I have literally 0 issues with people who dislike him for all the faults I listed above and would never make excuses for him when it comes to them.
HOWEVER…
When people use him as an easy target to vent their misplaced frustration… That, I take great umbrage at. Like I’ve repeatedly said, he is my favorite, my problematic baby, so if you’re gonna hate him, it had better be for the right reasons.
Case in point, the very recent example of chapters 662 & 663, where a great deal of the anger that should’ve been directed at Kubo alone was instead also unfairly directed at him. I’m sure a lot of people won’t/didn’t agree with me, for which I don’t really give a fuck ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, but I am never, ever going to attribute the onus for Yoruichi’s horrid treatment in those chapters on him. That is on Kubo.
When it comes to the list of Shitty Things Urahara Kisuke Has Done, placing the Hōgyoku in Rukia easily ranks #1, closely followed by releasing Mayuri from jail even though he was most likely very aware of what he could do. I won’t list everything here (because I don’t have all day xD), but it’s worth mentioning that manipulating Orihime into that dress also ranks very high.
His actions in 662 & 663, though? I would place them pretty close to the bottom. As in Still Not Exactly Nice, but Not Nearly as Bad as Everyone is Making it Out to be. The constant shots of Yoruichi’s ass weren’t his fault, her outfit wasn’t his fault, her behavior in cat form wasn’t his fault, yet a whopping majority of the posts I saw those days acted like it was, to the point that by the end of the day, people were claiming Kisuke drugged Yoruichi (?????), turned her into a catgirl for no reason other than to satisfy his own fetish (lel?) and actually equated him to Mayuri (I am not exaggerating even a little, feel free to search the tags for the relevant chapters and go see for yourself).
SO.
As I said, I fully recognize when my beloved asshole is being an asshole. But the fact that he does shady things very often does not mean I’ll throw him under the bus for every distasteful thing that happens in the manga just because he happens to be in frame.
I read some of your stuff in defense of Urahara, but don't you think he should be different with Yoruichi? they have a different relationship as you said, so shouldn't he respect her more than others. And that cat scene was still really skeevy, I mean he calls her 'good kitty' :S
*sigh* Okay, anon, let’s start off with the easier part. Kisuke never calls Yoruichi a ‘good kitty’ :
See the original text? What Kisuke is saying here is:
(original)「はっはっはっはっ よーしよしよし」
(transliteration) “Hahaha, yo–shi, yoshi, yoshi.”
(translation) “Hahaha, oooooookay, okay, okay” (or ‘there, there,’ if you prefer)
The addition of ‘good kitty’ was probably just some innocuous flair thrown in by the translator. I personally didn’t find that addition skeevy or out-of-place or anything of the sort, but since you brought it up, I thought I’d address it.
Now I realize lots of people who read manga don’t speak/read Japanese, but it’s important to understand that translation is never perfect. I’ve done some amateur translating in the past, and let me tell you, bridging the cultural gap between two languages is no small feat, especially with languages as different as English and Japanese. At the very least, some measure of nuance will be lost in translation (there’s a reason the phrase exists).
In order to get your free online copy of a manga in a timely manner, the translator may need to rush through something that required a second look, or take liberties that end up making the character sound OOC, or, heaven forbid, make a mistake. I’ve written about this extensively concerning the past couple of chapters (here, here and here).
More often than not, these details go unnoticed because the subject matter of a chapter isn’t as controversial as the last two have been. But they do add up, and they do affect the overall tone.
If you want to read more on how I interpreted that scene, there’s a link at the end of my post where I go into more depth.
On to the meatier part of your question, whether Kisuke should have a different attitude toward Yoruichi. The short answer is that in this particular case, no he shouldn’t, and if he did, then that would mean he doesn’t respect her.
The long answer…
Back when chapter 622 came out, I made the following post:
Shunshui dropping all the truth bombs.
I run a small blog, even smaller back then, so the amount of notes this got was quite significant, considering how few followers I had. Which should tell you that this was a sentiment people readily agreed with. As well they should.
War is a time when delicate sensibilities fly out the window. When Shunsui brought Aizen into the fray, he was thinking like a leader, and leaders often need to make controversial decisions that won’t endear them to others, but will help achieve the end goal.
And when the Shinigami all set out together in the Royal Realm, did you happen to notice who Shunsui unofficially chose as his second in command? It wasn’t Soifon, it wasn’t Shinji, nor Byakuya, nor any other current captain. It was Kisuke. Because Shunsui knows that he and Kisuke are very similar; he knows Kisuke is strong enough to shoulder the displeasure of his subordinates in order to do what is necessary.
Simply put, Urahara Kisuke gets shit done.
What both amuses and scares me, anon, is that in an arc where we’ve seen authority figures release murderers from jail, kill thousands of innocents in the name of maintaining the balance of the worlds, leave subordinates behind for dead because they needed to press on (all necessary actions, imo) THIS is what sparked the greatest outrage? A man making a morally dubious decision in order to save a friend? Really? And this isn’t directed at you in particular, but my observations on the overall reception of 662 and 663 on tumblr.
Consent is a very important matter, I fully agree. It is especially important for female characters because they’ve been historically robbed of their agency and treated atrociously in both reality and fiction. But you can’t have it both ways, anon. You can’t demand that authors deliver gritty stories about war, then have their characters sit down for tea while the world crumbles around them, in order to discuss the best way to deal with a situation without hurting anyone’s precious ~*feelings*~ Either you want a semi-realistic portrayal, or you don’t, take your pick.
What’s funny is that even if Kisuke had somehow magically found the time to have a proper talk with Yoruichi, it probably wouldn’t have mattered. Yoruichi is not unreasonable, but she is proud and stubborn to a fault. Remember back in the Aizen fight when Kisuke teases her about the armor breaking so easily? She’s so touchy about the mere implication of a mistake on her part, even one made in jest, that she instantly overreacts.
I get why people are upset here: the demeaning trope of having a female character rescued from her own stubbornness/foolishness in the name of her own good by a man is all too common. But the reason why I feel any anger is misplaced in this scenario is three-fold:
a) Even a character as awesome as Yoruichi will not make intelligent decisions all the time. To think of her as flawless is not only a misinterpretation of her character, but also a gross oversimplification of it. Yes, I know, I call her ‘my flawless Queen’ about fifteen times per post, but it’s obviously an exaggeration because I love her so much :p Yoruichi is well-developed enough to have flaws, and her tenacity can, at times, be one of them.
b) Yoruichi may be stubborn, but she’s not naive. She has always understood that the end goal sometimes trumps people’s feelings on a matter. She didn’t hesitate to drug and incapacitate Ichigo to save him, even though he had asked her not to intervene. Just like Urahara Kisuke, Shihōin Yoruichi gets shit done and makes no apologies for her methods. She’ll be pissed at Kisuke, but she’ll understand.
c) But MOST importantly: Yoruichi has shaken Kisuke out of his own idiocy in the past. When he was being a drama queen about his missing Lieutenant in TBTP and embarrassing himself (and Hiyori) in front of his colleagues, she chewed him out without batting an eyelash. And rightly so. She was harsh, but her words were the kick up the ass Kisuke needed to calm down and start using his brain. Him doing the same to her is in no way a repetition of a tired old trope, but part of their give and take as people who share a deep intimacy.
If your friends never call you out on your BS, then they’re not really your friends, anon. I don’t know about you, but I consider momentarily hurting my friend’s feelings, or even truly upsetting them, a small price to pay when the alternative puts their survival or well-being at risk. I can take the resentment, the lashing out, or anything they may throw at me in the aftermath because I love them.
And the fact that Kisuke is not afraid to take a beating and incur the wrath of his best friend, rather than cater to her pride and treat her like a petulant child, speaks VOLUMES about their relationship. Yoruichi wouldn’t want him to treat her with kid gloves, or sugarcoat things for her; she’s never treated him that way herself, even at the expense of truly hurting/humiliating him.
I’m gonna wrap this up because it’s getting too long and I’ve already spent massive amounts of digital ink writing about the matter.
If Yoruichi’s new form wasn’t so highly sexualized and ridiculous, 80-90% of the reactions wouldn’t exist in the first place. I’m pissed about both those things, anon. I just understand they’re not Kisuke’s fault.
If you want to read a more comprehensive post I made on both those chapters, here.
PSA: Urahara Kisuke and Shihōin Yoruichi are NOT nice people
Have I got your attention? Good.
This is a post about the issues of consent, power balance, pervertedness and whathaveyou that have been brought up in light of Bleach 662 and Bleach 663, as well as an examination of two fan favorites, one of whom has been taking a verbal beating online as of late.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you never liked Urahara Kisuke as a character, then this post is not for you. You do you, friend. This is a post for people who only recently started disliking Kisuke.
I’m going to break this down into popular arguments I’ve seen floating around, followed by my take on it.
====================================
“Urahara is acting like a massive pervert.”
====================================
Well... yeah.
Though to be perfectly honest, up until the debacle with Orihime’s outfit, I never found him to be particularly perverted.
Speaking of Orihime.... (sorry Orihime, I hate to pull these panels up because this one IS very gross >.<)
There is no defense here. Orihime is a shy, 17 year old girl and Kisuke somehow thought a boob-window dress was a good/funny idea. And THEN...
Kisuke’s part in this is far worse; Yoruichi is slightly redeemed by the fact that she points out Orihime was clearly coerced into the dress, but then again, she did just slip her hands between a girl’s breasts with no warning. And then proceeded to make matters worse when she went on to slap poor Ichigo and scream at him for not complimenting Orihime.
Yoruichi is also being a massive hypocrite in this scene. Lest you have forgotten:
Funnily enough, all of this precedes that Orihime incident, making Yoruichi a far bigger pervert up until then.
But see, this is exactly what I meant in the post title:
Urahara Kisuke and Shihōin Yoruichi have no fuckin’ respect for boundaries. None whatsoever. They’re mildly sociopathic jerks who toy with people’s feelings and discomfort because they think it’s funny. I’m sure both of them would roll their eyes at someone for taking such pranks seriously instead of laughing, because they can’t see what the big deal is. Actually, scratch that. That’s Yoruichi. Kisuke would apologize, then think this privately, because he’s sneaky like that.
You’ll notice neither of them has many friends.
There’s Tessai, and possibly Shinji in Kisuke’s case, or Kūkaku in Yoruichi’s, but that’s about it. And even so, none of the above come even close to the relationship those two have with each other, and it’s pretty clear why: NO-ONE ELSE CAN STAND THEM ON A MORE FREQUENT BASIS. Soifon’s relationship to Yoruichi is vastly different, and while I do believe Yoruichi cares for her deeply (just like both she and Kisuke care a lot about the kids and their Shinigami peers), it’s not a friendship.
With that in mind, I am inclined to believe the boundaries Kisuke and Yoruichi have set between them are not what one might expect of a more traditional friendship. And again, in case you have forgotten, Yoruichi has been massively ‘inappropriate’ with Kisuke in the past, too:
THE HORROR, HE LOOKED AT HER FULLY-CLAD LEG AND CHUCKLED!!1
Kisuke pays for that perfectly innocent reaction by GETTING HIS NOSE BROKEN. Yoruichi is a violent person, prone to such overreactions, and it’s very troubling to see that people are OK with casual violence, but a pat on the butt and a pervy comment instantly make Kisuke the friggin’ Antichrist.
If you want to characterize Kisuke as highly problematic, then go on ahead, he is. But so is Yoruichi.
And the only reason 662 and 663 work for me, is precisely because of how fucked up both of these characters are. I’m very, very not okay with their behavior when they do it to innocent bystanders, especially underage kids. But if you think for a minute Yoruichi would stand for Kisuke’s bullshit if she wasn’t equipped to deal with it, or if she wasn’t exactly like him herself (in most respects), you don’t understand these characters at all.
He sure did. And if that surprises you, I dunno which manga you’ve been reading.
Like I said at the very beginning of this post, if you’ve never liked Urahara, then great, you do you. But if you liked Urahara and forgave the shadier aspects of his character up until 662-663, then I’m sorry, but you've been completely misinterpreting the character.
Again, just like Yoruichi herself, Kisuke is a kind man, but not a nice person. He can’t afford to be, as a strategist. Do I believe his apology to Ichigo after their return from SS was genuine? Yes, yes I do. In terms of Japanese culture, the posture he adopts, the removal of his hat etc, are all very shocking; you can see it in how the kids react. Urahara is making a genuine apology there, and while this doesn’t excuse his actions in any way, both the characters and the audience forgave him.
And I don’t know about you, but I find it extremely worrying that people were okay with him putting a dangerous artifact in the body of an innocent girl, but are suddenly horrified when he triggers a change in Yoruichi just as she’s about to die, so they can take down a powerful enemy.
And yes, any other option in that particular scenario was extremely risky. People might not be aware of this, because it was missing in the translation for 662, but Kisuke spent some time listening in on the fight before intervening. Don’t believe me? The original line, straight from Yoruichi’s mouth:
大方隠れて話を聞いておる間に作った免疫強化剤といったところじゃろうな
“Perhaps an immunity-enhancing drug you made while you were hiding and listening in?”
Kisuke therefore knows what Askin can do, which means that he knows if he gets too close, he’s caught in Askin’s radius. If he tries to use Kidō or one of Benihime’s abilities (save for bankai, perhaps) from afar, Askin will only absorb the attack and then gain immunity to Kisuke’s reiatsu as well. And then all three of them (Yūshirō is also there, poor bby) are finished, kaput, expired and gone to meet their maker, joined the choir invisible.
So what does he do? He temporarily gives Yoruichi her mobility back and then suggests they unleash her uber thundercat form.
Yoruichi refuses, but Kisuke insists it’s imperative (and later on in 663 we see why he even suggested it in the first place instead of any other attack), so when Yoruichi attacks Askin again and fails, being seconds away from death, he triggers the transformation.
Now the thing about consent, is that trying to find loopholes is a slippery slope. You won’t catch me arguing otherwise. And yet our society and even our laws understand that there is such a thing as extenuating circumstances. A person who commits manslaughter while defending their loved ones is always a sympathetic figure in court, because people who have something to protect can mentally place themselves in that position. It’s not perfect, but neither are humans.
(21/02 EDIT:
@schmaltzmama Also brought to my attention yet another bad translation bit from 662.
(MS translation) “I’ll never of my own free will turn into that disgusting, half-cocked, undignified form again!”
(Cnet translation) “As if I’d ever take on a creepy half-assed form like that again!“
Again, tone matters and just like Kisuke sounded terribly OOC in 662 when his words were made to sound more vulgar, so does this bit take away from the way their original banter plays off)
And the most important part in this particular relationship? Yoruichi understands this already, because she is exactly like Kisuke when it comes to similar situations: she sees the bigger picture.
Ichigo expressly told her he doesn’t want the help, but Yoruichi knows the fool is about to die a painful death, so she drugs him, violently incapacitates him and carries him away, despite his wishes. There were also a million different things Yoruichi could’ve done here, but as she herself explains to Ichigo later, none of the rest were real options, so damn his pride.
One of the (lesser) reasons I believe people never took offense to this scene, but did in Kisuke and Yoruichi’s case, is that Yoruichi has a mentor/student relationship with Ichigo. And I get that, but let me remind you that calling each other out on their bullshit is a cornerstone of Kisuke and Yoruichi’s dynamic:
True friends don’t shy away from calling their friends out when they’re being idiots. And when they’re about to make massive, life-threatening mistakes, then you can damn well bet consent flies out the window. Especially when it comes to war; don’t forget that Kisuke and Yoruichi are soldiers.
So, then, why does the situation in 663 make so many people uncomfortable? Because...
It is. It’s cheap and tacky. My biggest complaint about it personally is how gimmicky it is (I was okay with it until she went into pounce-y kitty mode), but I can perfectly understand if this isn’t your cup of tea.
The problem though, is that the blame here lies entirely with the creator, not with Kisuke. Curse at Kubo all you want for the reiatsu thong and pasties (thanks, @princessandshopkeeper xD), but this was not something Kisuke was responsible for.
Again, I’m with you here (except for the will part which I’ll get to in a bit). I think it would’ve gone down waaaaaay better if she had remained feral the whole way through, but it’s the misplaced comedy/cuteness Kubo was going for that made this scene much worse, in my opinion.
Also, the form’s inherent flaws/abilities are not Kisuke’s doing. While I do believe this form was the result of him experimenting on mixing Yoruichi’s shunko with her cat form, there is literally zero evidence suggesting he took her speech etc deliberately, or without informing her of the side-effects first.
Yoruichi hates this form because she finds it ‘undignified,’ in her own words (and she’s right). Not because it swaps higher mental faculties for more power.
Does he? Does he really? Let me put up the following mini-collage for your consideration:
(Yes, I edited that top panel with a more accurate translation, because it was bugging the hell out of me. I explain why here)
Interesting how in the first instance, while Yoruichi is still herself, Kisuke is being a pervert. Yet when she switches to her new mode, when her reasoning and much of what makes her Yoruichi is gone, the pervert up and vanishes.
Kisuke pulls away from her. She has to yank at his collar to keep him in place and in both the last two panels, he’s sweating awkwardly, then does no more than pat her on the head. Sure he enjoys affectionate Yoruichi to some extent: the man’s crazy about her (imo). But he knows this is not really her, and he never once takes advantage of her in that vulnerable state, knowing he’s gone far enough by simply triggering the transformation.
Kisuke acts like a perv to regular Yoruichi because he’s a five-year-old in a grown man’s body, pulling at a girl’s pigtails: he wants her attention, not neko!Yoruichi’s attention. Kubo, who has been in full-on perv mode since 662 could have easily had Kisuke act like he was in the previous chapter, but he very deliberately shows us the shift in attitude.
As for Yoruichi being docile...
=================================================
“Yoruichi’s new form makes her subservient to Urahara.”
=================================================
*Cue any person who has ever consistently interacted with a cat DYING of laughter*
Okay, so the thing about cats, real, actual cats? They are not tamed animals. Not in the sense dogs are. Humans have interfered with canine DNA for thousands of years now, and wolves already carried a pack mentality in their genes to begin with. Meaning that dogs are literally wired to respond to a superior, an Alpha. In wolf packs, that’s the Alpha dog. In a human-dog relationship, that’s the human.
But cats are vastly different. Humans have only been messing with cat DNA for the past 100 years or so, and only for cosmetic reasons. Human-cat relationships have always, always been relationships between peers. The cat keeps your granary free from vermin, and you keep it consistently fed, then cry when it jerks away from your touch because it’s just so damn cute WHY WON’T IT LET ME PET IT????? *ahem*
Comedic exaggeration aside, this just goes to prove my point: cats don’t interact with anyone unless they choose to. If you bug a cat, it’ll either scratch you or simply leave. A cat will even turn away from their human peer (I never say owner because LAWL does it not apply here) when they’re being try-hards and keep bothering their cats while they’re clearly not in the mood. Which is why when a cat comes to you, ahhh... Now that is trust. And If they give you the slow-blinky thing, too, you’re basically BFF status and should be crying tears of mirth that nature’s cutest assassin has bestowed you with such an honor. Praise Bastet, amen (can you tell I kinda like cats?)
Yoruichi doesn’t return to Kisuke because he has a hold on her. He literally spells it out for you in the chapter that she does as she damn well pleases. The only thing Kisuke has control over is when her transformation happens (and possibly when it ends). Period. When she returns to him, it’s because she likes him. He’s her human.
It’s still a cheap and easy way to showcase how fond she is of him, I agree. But there is zero dominance/subservience subtext here.
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MY OWN THOUGHTS IN CLOSING
=============================
Bleach 662 and 663 showed us very little of the Kisuke/Yoruichi dynamic that we didn’t already know. If the chapters themselves weren’t so fanservice-y, I’m pretty certain most people wouldn’t be reacting the way they have been.
If you want to argue that the cat transformation made Yoruichi look ridiculous and took away from the gravitas one might expect at this point in the story, I am in full agreement. It was gimmicky and silly, but it does not change my opinion of either character one iota.
For all his occasional fuck-ups, Kubo laid a lot of foundation over these last fifteen years for me to suddenly disrespect a character who has done nothing but be a badass throughout the course of the manga. Even in 663, Yoruichi kicks some major ass, and has in fact been doing so since the beginning of the God of Thunder arc, fighting against an opponent who is not only massively OP, but also her natural enemy in terms of fighting styles (archer with AoE ability up against a melee fighter).
The nyan-nyan silliness does leave a bad taste to my mouth, but Yoruichi remains my flawless, problematic Queen. Who will undoubtedly open up a massive (and fully deserved) can of whoopass on her asshole friend once she’s back to being herself.
