Can Bleach Shippers all agree that Kubo ‘’baited’’ us regarding the romance in Bleach!?
Yes, I know Bleach is a Shonen Manga and isn’t focused on romance, but Kubo did decide to have Ichigo end with Orihime and Rukia with Renji.
That’s canon despite how I and others feel about it.
With the comeback of Bleach’s Anime, the shipping wars between Ichiruki and Ichihime have ‘’resurrected’’ and this has caused speculation on what is the better ship, and what Kubo intentionally wanted. In all honesty, we don’t know what was originally planned regarding the romance in Bleach, we aren’t Kubo, we are not 100 percent sure of what he thought while writing the story. Authors change their stories millions of times, this happens with Mangaka’s since they have to write chapters weekly so they don’t get time to flesh out ideas at times.
Based on the Manga (Source material) no matter what you shipped Kubo did cater to both Ichiruki and Ichihime in various ways. Shippers are not wrong for shipping Ichiruki and Ichihime. I used to think how could anyone ship Ichihime when it was so one-sided, I even wrote posts on it in the past. Based on the manga and story, Ichiruki had more depth to it, no matter if you are a shipper or not. But looking back on how everything panned out I can see how Ichihime shippers got invested into this ship.
With Ichihime Kubo focused a lot on Orihime’s crush on Ichigo. A lot of the romance of Ichihime came from Orihime’s view/standpoint. She is the one who says she would love him in 5 different lifetimes, Orihime chose to spend her last night next to Ichigo before being taken to Hueco Mundo by Ulquiorra, and she wanted Ichigo to save her from Hueco Mundo (she initially went there with no resistance because of this). I can see why shippers would run to ship this because in canon Orihime likes Ichigo, it’s been said and showcased in the Manga/Anime with all these moments. Fans of her character can see why it’s important to her so of course they would want her with Ichigo. But that’s where the material ends. Kubo only gives anything that pushes for Ichihime from Orihime’s standpoint and not Ichigo’s.
It’s only after the manga ends that he tries to make the connection from Ichigo’s standpoint in the light novels. Why not in the manga?
Plus, I can surely say for a fact that Orihime was challenged as a character whenever she was around Ulquiorra and Uryu. And those characters were also teased too to be with Orihime at some point and it was very subtle. They had some small romantic moments with her and it worked well with the narrative of the storyline.
I always questioned why Kubo would make Orihime have a crush on Ichigo but then include multiple moments of romance between Ichigo/Rukia?
Why did Kubo have Orihime love Ichigo? What did he plan to do with the romance and how would it add to the plot of the story? Was it to add to her character arc? Because aside from Hueco Mundo and her mini-arc with grieving over her brother Sora, and unlocking her fullbring powers to protect Tatsuki in s1, she didn’t get much attention or story. I know she got some moments outside of these areas but they weren’t vital. Her love for Ichigo only revolves around her really, he’s not that involved if we think about it. Most Anime fans who know of Bleach only know Orihime for screaming ‘‘Kurosaki-Kun’‘ while Ichigo is seen as his character/person outside Orihime.
In comparison, let us look at another shonen anime like MHA.
Yes, we know Uraraka loves Izuku and it’s been shown to be stronger on her end than his. While he does love her it’s taking him more time to know he is in love, since he’s so focused on becoming the best hero. But he has shown many actions of love/affection towards Uraraka in the anime/manga. However, the difference is Uraraka has her character and continuing storyline, her love for Izuku pushes the narrative of how heroic Izuku is. He inspired her to be a better hero and to be more confident and serious about getting better.
That works for the story and Uraraka’s character.
With Bleach, Orihime’s love for Ichigo ends with her. This is because Kubo didn’t make it convincing enough with the material in the manga. He gave Ichihime fans some ground to work with, but also kept pushing the narrative of Ichiruki in the meantime. For me, Ichihime falls flat because there is not enough material or push on Ichigo’s end throughout the whole manga to support that he loved Orihime. No confession in the Manga/Anime while it was running (or at its height during the 2000s), no artwork or spreads of the two (ALONE) to showcase romance/affection from Ichigo’s perspective, and nothing from Kubo either if we want to keep it real. He never talked about Ichihime being the endgame couple or hinted at it, and I surely remember him saying Ichigo and Rukia were more than friends less than lovers.
Why was he so happy to talk about the relationship between Ichigo x Rukia, when he could have shut down the speculation of them being together?
At this point I don’t have to write why I and any other shippers shipped Ichiruki...the manga is right there. We didn’t ship them to spite anyone, Ichiruki was pushed heavily at the start of the manga and many moments in-between after that.
Why make Rukia stop Ichigo’s rain and not Orihime? Why has Ichigo repaired the broken relationship with Rukia and Byakuya in the SS arc and not Renji? Why has Ichigo saved Rukia and not Renji? Why let Rukia say Ichigo’s the man in her heart?
Shouldn’t that be Renji? But it wasn't....
Another thing I want to talk about is Rukia being like a sister to Ichigo. Many fans say this or that she’s just a friend. Kubo said himself that she’s more than a friend in an interview so we can’t caller her that. So is she like a sister? What would be the need for that? Ichigo has two sisters already (Yuzu x Karin say hi!) and we see how he acts with them. He’s protective but secretive at times to protect them from knowing his identity as a soul reaper during the first few arcs. Ichigo pretends to be happy and okay when he’s really depressed inside when it comes to his sisters. He even showed this behaviour to Orihime, remember he was depressed about his mother’s death anniversary and he pretended to be happy around Orihime at school? But with Rukia he didn’t act that way, he straight up told her he was depressed and not okay because of his mom’s murder.
He’s transparent with Rukia.
It’s clear Rukia is above the role of a sister when it comes to how Ichigo views her. Remember Orihime was nervous about their relationship and even spoke to Rangiku about it.
Why would Kubo add that in if he was 100 percent gunning for Ichihime? Make it make sense because the math ain’t mathing.
Aside from this point, even with the new anime promo for Bleach Kubo is making official art with mostly only ‘’ichiruki’’ panels. He knows that people like them as a pair (the way many of his ichiruki japanese/international fans reacted to the ending by burning bleach volumes says it all) so he keeps on giving us content. I wondered why Ichigo and Orihime have not had any official art together or to promote them as a couple?
The same question I ask here for Renruki?
I just wanted to make this post because I feel like from both sides are being played when it comes to ships, I just wish I could speak to Kubo and get some clarity.
I do think it’s fact that Ichiruki felt more earned and believable than Ichihime based on the fact that BOTH sides showed romantic actions/cues towards each other in the manga. It didn’t seem one-sided and you can’t deny they have an unbreakable bond.
I will always be a Ichiruki fan but I just wish Kubo didn’t pander/tease various couples. It did more harm than good and now with Bleach coming back it’s going to be a ship war again.
