Unohana’s Weird Ethics 1
So. Unohana, as a person, does not have what one might call a “normal” or “healthy” relationship with what we accept as morality. However, that does not mean Unohana doesn’t have moral fiber! It’s just that her morality is a bit...different. It’s the sort of morality that doesn’t see anything inherently wrong with killing someone but does consider interfering in an another’s even escapade to be an ethical travesty. It’s going to take multiple posts to unpack everything about her unusual values, so for this one, I’m going to focus on a particularly major point of her mentality.
Unohana believes that every being that exists can be separated into one of two categories: Predators or Prey.
The thing that determines who is what is nothing less than ones core instincts.
Prey are those that only fight for some other purpose. The battle is a means to an end, and even if the Prey ends up enjoying those means, the fight is never the goal in and of itself. Their instincts do not allow them to indulge in battle without reason.
Predators, in stark contrast, are those for who the fight is the goal. Each might have their own ways of getting there, but battle is reason enough unto itself. They fight for the sake of fighting. That is their instinct.
It should be noted, however, that being Prey in Unohana’s estimation does not mean she thinks that person is weak. Prey animals, after all, still have powerful jaws and enough teeth to pack a mean bite. They have horns with which to gouge and hooves with which to crush. They are not helpless victims to be slaughtered by the meanie-pants Predators. Unohana would consider both Yamamoto and Ichigo to be Prey, and they’re some of the strongest people in history. Even bloodthirsty maniacs like Grimmjow and Nnoitra would be Prey, as they ultimately fight to prove their superiority or die trying. The vast majority of everyone everywhere are Prey.
The major figures in Bleach that we know for a fact she would consider Predators are herself, Zaraki, and Ikkaku. The Fight is not the only thing in their lives, but it is the most important thing. Just as real life predators cannot survive without the flesh of others, Predators cannot live without conflict in their lives. Ikkaku would have an existential crisis if he were crippled to the point he couldn’t engage in glorious battle any longer, and Zaraki would probably cease to exist on the spot.
Unohana inflicting a (mostly) peaceful existence on herself was both pure hell and completely intentional. She came to care about others much more as her second go-around as Retsu, but make no mistake; despite her ever-present smile, Unohana is miserable without battle in her life, as she knew she would be. “Retsu” was reimagined as her own private punishment for herself, a never-ending agony that would only cease when she atoned for her greatest failure. The only reasons she didn’t go completely mad during all those centuries is because 1. she still deployed to battlefields in order to heal the wounded, 2. Isane was there, and 3. as a professional combat medic, she still got to fight on very rare occasions. Sure, beating people back with Kido isn’t nearly as satisfying as cutting them down with Minazuki, but it was something.
All of this matters because Unohana has a double-standard when it comes to what she expects from people. Predators and Prey do not get the same treatment from her, especially in battle.
For Prey, Unohana is an extraordinarily patient woman. She takes things at a relatively slow pace, preferring to draw out the potential she sees in them through careful and (now-a-days) compassionate tutelage over an extended period of time. She does her best to let them learn at the rate they are most comfortable learning, contenting herself with nudging them to be that little bit better than they were before. Since most people are Prey, most people will know Unohana to be a caring and understanding figure, someone who is very reasonable and always willing to lend a helping hand.
For Predators, however, Unohana is a much more brutal and demanding taskmistress. She is relentless in her drive to push them to be their best selves, and she is particularly harsh when they fall short of their own potential. She is not incapable of patience with Predators, depending on the situation, but that patience is predicated on the notion that it will push them further than a merciless march. However, since fellow Predators are so very rare, Unohana also feels a great deal of responsibility towards them. This means refining them into their best possible selves, yes, but it also means ensuring they never run out of worthy foes. She knows the awful feeling that comes from running out of people worth fighting, and she refuses to leave anyone else like her to suffer in that way.
There are other things I could talk about, like how she bitches out Zaraki for showing admiration to an enemy, but I think that’s best saved for the eventual post about the differences in her morality as Retsu and her morality as Yachiru.