#jackattack rambles

[jackattack20writes]

I’m seeing an uptick in people saying it doesn’t make sense why Ichigo and Rukia aren’t endgame in bleach and for what is my like 100th post on it, here’s a breakdown on why it does actually make sense because Bleach is actually a tragedy centred around Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship.

Just based on 685 and 686 we know that Uryuu and Chad are objectively in lives they hate because Uryuu’s left alone working while his friends are having a party (the nurses even comment on how he’s being forced to work instead of going when he wanted to go) and Chad’s career is fighting. Mr I’ll only use my hands to protect and my pride in my skin lets me protect the people I care about, is getting paid to beat people up now. Like just with those two we get the set up that this isn’t as happy as it appears (especially if you compare it to Naruto a contemporary of bleach that’s reasonably similar and yet it’ ending is happy, Naruto ends up hokage and has a family to go home to.) this is then compounded by what it is that brings Yhwach back, unlike his original resurrection he doesn’t give a timeline he specifies a moment. When Ichigo is his happiest Yhwach would come back. And what moment is this? Not the day of his wedding, not the day he sees his best friend “happy” and married. Not even the birth of his son, it’s bickering with Rukia after seeing her for the first time in what is from what we can assume is Kazui’s birth at the latest.

We see from dialogue in 686 that Ichigo and Rukia have drifted apart, and this is further compounded in WDKALY where their relationship is already basically non-existent. Orihime is the one Rukia talks to to invite her and the rest of the karakura gang and the two don’t have a single one on one conversation in the whole book. And yet Ichigo’s happiest moment that brings back Yhwach is bickering with Rukia. And then the real kicker that I don’t think I’ve brought up in my other posts is that post 686 we see that Ichigo and Rukia are talking all the time now! Suddenly Ichigo and Rukia have phones that work between the Seireitei and the human world that allow for calls (which is kind of a moot point because they could also just pop through Urahara’s to visit for half an hour) but the point is off the page their relationship has been totally reinvigorated and the only change is Yhwach’s final death at the hands of Kazui. And this is without even touching the insanity of the imagery used in WDKALY or even just its title.

And the reason this makes sense is because legitimately everyone in bleach bar two specific characters are cut from the “I’ll sacrifice myself for my friends.” Cloth and they all know not to talk to any one else about it because they’d try to talk them out of it with bs about honour or something. So as part of the debrief they would’ve had post TYBW (cause there was always a debrief at the end of an arc and TYBW is the only time we don’t see one) they bring up Yhwach’s threat to come back now at this point everyone starts coming up with contingencies to keep Yhwach’s threat from coming true, Chad takes up boxing as his career, Uryuu follows his father into medicine rather than tailoring, even Orihime gives up on her dreams of higher education or her other four lives and stays at the bakery without even dating Ichigo yet (based on what timescale we do get Ichigo would’ve been finishing his second year of uni in WDKALY and he hasn’t even had a single date with Orihime until after that book’s finished) and now the real kicker is Ichigo and Rukia let their relationship collapse completely.

Like even if you argue not from a ship perspective it’s incredibly clear that the state of Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship is horrendously worse after the second timskip than it is at any other point in the manga. The best of friends “platonic soulmates” have barely spoken a word to each other in years to the point that they don’t even get to celebrate Rukia’s captaincy in the seireitei. And yet we know from breathes from hell that if the primary person want Ichigo involved he is. And as we see as soon as the two bicker Yhwach comes back. Ichigo and Rukia sacrifice their relationship to protect the world from Yhwach that’s why they don’t end up together. Not because Kubo changed his mind at the last minute but because I believe at least this is the only thing he had planned in the entire TYBW.

TLDR: it seems insane because it is insane. Kubo slipped a tragedy into his happy ending and Occam’s razor after TYBW almost forces you to assume that its mistakes rather than intentional.

My posts on the absolutely insane imagery WDKALY is playing around with

Post by @jackattack20writes · 1 link

💬 0  🔁 3  ❤️ 30 · Reblog by @jackattack20writes · So after waking up way too early and being stuck at work for ages I had a realisation abou

[jackattack20writes]

Also as a more serious post I keep seeing claims that Gquuuuuux is telling a story about Gundam or is doing “uc slop” or sudden rebuild bullshit in the last five eps but no it’s not. It’s telling a story about two possibly three teenagers proving that they have the right to decide their own destinies and not be bound by what the older generations have decided for them. It’s just that it’s achieving that by using the most iconic parts of Gundam to represent the older generations.

The UC “bullshit” is the culmination of the shows thesis about how the newer generations need to be left free to chart their own paths. Nyaan and Machu represent two ways in which younger people live with this. Nyaan aimlessly floats through life without convictions or passion for what she’s doing, her only wants restricted to her needs while she pines for what she truly wants but is unwilling to grab it until her hand is forced, and Machu is raging against the bonds holding her with no regards to what happens if she breaks free, she just knows she needs to be free becuase that’s worth whatever she’ll lose in the process. And then if I’m right about Shuji (and even if I’m not the earlier stuff with the red Gundam still fits) he’s the total loss of identity outside of the older generations wants and needs he no longer has his own id or ego he’s subsumed by the older generation and mirrors them (like those kids whose parents never made it in sports or whatever but they “totally could’ve” so the kids are forced to push themselves to the brink no matter what they actually want to enable their parents need to vicariously live through them.)

The fight against RX-78 isn’t just them fighting to prove their universe’s inherent right to exist but also the younger generations right to chart their own paths. This is why Challia and Kycilia’s treatment of Nyaan and Machu are so contrasting, Kycilia impose her own values and beliefs on Nyaan and Nyaan fights against them, she used the gun she was given to protect her self to protect someone else finally choosing what she wants rather than floating along. While Challia gave Machu the freedom to do what she felt was necessary and her gun was used to free herself and the Gquuuuuux to not only achieve what they wanted but to reach their full potential with the omega psycommu. It’s the same reason Challia doesn’t want to kill Xavier. he let Xavier go the way he wanted to and do what he felt was necessary and even though they’ve ended up on opposite sides he doesn’t want to take that freedom away from him in death. Whereas Kycilia was fully willing to kill Nyaan as soon as she didn’t align with her beliefs. And I think this is partly why Challia was chosen and written the way he is. He’s not an icon of Gundam like Char, Lalah, Kycilia, Amuro or even the titans. He’s of the og series but isn’t bound by it, it’s why he can straddle the line of being of the older generation but not trying to bind the newer generation to what they decide and be the only one willing to let them have the freedom they deserve.

The RX-78’s appearance is the manifestation and climax of this, the gquuuuuux timeline isn’t doing what it’s supposed to so it must be destroyed. This isn’t a show about Gundam, its not a meta story about Gundam needing to move past the UC timeline, it’s a show using the most iconic example of the old generation that Gundam will ever have to be the final boss in Nyaan and Machu’s journey to prove that they have a right to decide their own destinies. It’s why Beyond the Time works so well at the end of ep 11, it’s not only a callback but a call to arms for Nyaan and Machu to change their destiny and futures and share the happiness that’ll come from being finally, truly free.

[jackattack20writes]

So first thing I wanna bring up with the Nyaan section is how they’ve set it up for Nyaan and Machu’s positions to be switched. Not only is Nyaan now the one living the “cushy” life but she also has the dressings of higher society and a “mother” who has specific plans for her without getting her input, while Machu’s now the “refugee” “wild child” on the run from the police. And just like Machu Nyaan doesn’t have an interest in the life being set up for her and struggles to connect with her “contemporaries.”

“I don’t really want to go to school”

Moving past that is just how the blatant attempts to make Nyaan happy just unnerve her, the most obvious we see being Xavier. Every word he says while well intentioned is clearly carefully chosen to be whatever he thinks will most appeal her to Zeon and Nyaan notices. She calls him out on how he changes his opinions on luck and skill before and after she’s able to operate the GFreD and he doesn’t have a response so he just goes quiet.

However these faux niceties peak even before this in the episode with Miguel and the cake. The scene starts with Miguel and Xavier acting all friendly and sort of trying to include Nyaan but she just hovers on the outside with conch speaking up once or twice to say how nice it is to have friends like them, friends that would bake them a cake. But even so Nyaan’s so seperate from the two that when they talk about her possibly dying she’s able to sneak up on them which I think was intentional to show just how outside of Zeon Nyaan truly is. Then the faux niceties continue until Miguel tries to kill Nyaan, he tries to kill Nyaan with the cake she was admiring him for cooking.

And this is just the piece de resistance of the ep and possibly the show. The cake looks good, it looks rich and tasty and has chunks of fruit and thick icing and according to Xavier it tastes good. On the surface just like Xavier’s friendship with his classmates, Zeon’s willingness to take in Nyaan, and Kycilia taking special interest to look after her. Almost like it’s supposed to be exactly what Nyaan wants in life just like Machu’s mother’s plans for her. Good friends that’ll make her a cake and a home. But the cakes poison and the friends are, if not outright trying to kill her, willing to put her in situations where she’ll die for no reason at all. The cake and Nyaan’s wider interactions in Granada are a much more overt violent version of Machu’s life for the first half of the show, something that looks good but underneath is poisoning her.

And the best part is, Nyaan can tell! She calls Miguel out as the murderer before vaporising him, she calls Xavier out for saying what he thinks she wants to hear and she starts thinking about going to earth as soon as she finds out Machu’s going there. Because Zeon was always a short term fix to get away from the cops in side 6. There’s a reason Nyaan either has a death grip on them or conch is sitting on her head the entire episode, she knows where she wants to be and it’s not in Zeon it’s with Machu and Shuji. And now that she’s knows that not only has Machu escaped from Sodon (everytime I think of this ship I have to correct myself from saying white base) but she has the Gquuuuuux and is heading to earth Nyaan is going to meet her there.

Because as Nyaan said Machu’s the real deal. The thing Nyaan has faith in isn’t Zeon, it’s Machu. After last episode and Nyaan’s words this ep it’s pretty clear Nyaan is holding herself responsible for what happened with Shuji, not only did she “fail” to get him to Machu, she “failed” to keep him safe. In her eyes Machu’s plan was perfect she just messed it up. So she ran because she couldn’t bear to face Machu with her failure, But now she has a Gundam of her own, so she can help Machu save Shuji from whatever happened and sure, she might feel stronger things for both of them than they do her(in her mind at least) but they’re the people she feels a home with and unless something changes wildly I don’t think anything Kycilia does will convince Nyaan otherwise.

(PS. Like I think there’s a point to Nyaan specifically calling out Miguel for betraying Xavier and killing their friends and how much trust they would’ve had in him because Nyaan thinks she did basically the same to Machu with Shuji. I couldn’t really fit that in with the cake stuff but it felt important to mention.)

TLDR. Nyaan and Machu have swapped social standing and and social situations and Nyaan has no allegiance to anything other than the dense bisexual tomato and in her eyes she can’t do anything wrong.

[jackattack20writes]

I hated how Bleach fans turned Rukia into a IH Shipper possibly because her English voice actor Michelle Ruff hates IR!!! 😣😩

So I’m not 100% sure what you’re looking for with this ask, but I actually do really like Rukia and by extension Renji being driving forces behind IH getting together. Sorry in advance if this gets a bit rambly, but firstly is it is reasonably established in canon, as multiple orihime has her moments of doubt/insecurity/other mental crises Rukia does appear as a sort of cheerleader the most prominent example being the training in the Arrancar arc.

And then in WDKALY Orihime is the point of contact between Rukia and the human world and Renji starts pushing Ichigo towards her, something I doubt he’d do without prior prodding from Rukia, at least specifically towards Orihime, I could see him doing a general “damn I’m happy about being married, you should get a wife Ichigo.” But I think the fact it’s specified implies Rukia’s involvement. And now because I recognise your screen name I know you’ve seen my most recent ramble about the ending but as I discuss in there, I think it’s incredibly in character for her especially if you think she has feelings for Ichigo. Rukia is an incredibly self destructive character when it comes to doing things for people she cares about, her Bankai is even a perfect reflection of that with how it’s from what I remember the only one that risks so much damage to the wielder.

And the fact that we see Rukia pulls away in the lead up to and period after her wedding Rukia is trying desperately to refuse the fact both that she has feelings for Ichigo and Ichigo has any ability to exist in a space not limited to the human world. We know that his friends get soul passes but there’s never any indication he gets one, Orihime is who Rukia talks to about getting the Karakura gang to her wedding and in doing so leaves out Isshin, Karin and Yuzu, further evidence that she’s trying to undo her time with Ichigo.

And as a capstone to what we see even though we know he’s still considered at least partially part of the Seiretei still from his invite to Ukitake’s fairwell ceremony and yet theres an implication that prior to Yhwach’s return in the time skip both from what we see in WDKALY and the post timeskip chapters that their interactions continue to lessen in number this way as there’s definitely a lack of implication that Ichigo and the others know that Rukia’s now captain of squad 13 but then we also know that by BFH they’re calling each-other to talk about rather mundane things, a fairly significant shift. This of course also feeds some fantastic angst potential between the two of them in regards to how they’ve sacrificed their happiness to stop Yhwach. I mean I’ve written a couple things were Rukia tries to slide Orihime between herself and Ichigo to get him to move past her while sacrificing her feelings. So I’m not actually opposed to IH matchmaker Rukia at all.

[jackattack20writes]

Playing the MHA game is really reminding me that if Bakugo was like 5% less of a douche 5% more of the time I’d like him so much more. If he was allowed to show a fraction more emotion that wasn’t anger it’d just be so good. Like the moments fighting shigaraki where he’s thinking about if he’ll stay alive are so good. And like I like him being a douche as a hero it’s just outside of that he gets almost no moments that actually show he likes people. It’s not even a he should’ve been nicer from the start it’s just if he got to change his behaviour slightly as the series went on to showcase his growth rather than it being shoved into 4 scenes while he acts the same the rest of the time. Like every other character acts differently consistently and there’ll be peeks of who they used to be but bakugos the other way around

[jackattack20writes]

Yeah, no the more I think about it the more confident I am, Machu definitely pulled the ultimate bisexual power move of confessing to a boy and a girl in the space of ten minutes.

[jackattack20writes]

I finally started watching witch hat atelier, and I am currently waiting for this qifrey guy to reveal he’s been reincarnating for centuries to fight his ex wife who bathed in evil goo and has an army of evil monsters

[jackattack20writes]

So after waking up way too early and being stuck at work for ages I had a realisation about Rukia’s wedding veil. Also before I get into it this is insane and I’m 99% sure this is not what was intended but the fact that there’s only a couple leaps in logic to make it make sense made it feel worth bringing up.

So I’ve discussed Rukia’s veil previously in this post here. However in that post because of the translation I read and the art I’d seen I assumed that Rukia’s veil was a western style one and I focused on that and ignored the possibility of it being a Wataboshi rather definitively.

Reblog by @jackattack20writes

💬 6  🔁 8  ❤️ 35 · So just expanding on this because I got asked on Twitter and thought I’d include it here, the wedding veil is strange beca

However I have had the realisation that if it was intended to be a wataboshi or even if it was being treated with the meaning a wataboshi is over a western veil that makes everything more insane. Because in my reasonable level of research into Japanese wedding traditions the wataboshi is generally left as the pure white as it represents the wife’s purity and such, that being said it isn’t forbidden or anything to decorate it the way Rukia’s is in WDKALY.

However the kicker to this is what is used to decorate the veil. the designs of strawberry flowers are embroidered onto the veil and this is interesting because A. Ichigo is the character associated with strawberries and B. The wataboshi is no longer pure white, it’s “dirtied” by the strawberry flowers. Now this is wild because this could be taken to mean that just like her wataboshi’s purity is defiled by strawberries, so is Rukia’s defiled by Ichigo and what do flowers often represent? Life.

Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. Rukia’s veil implies that Ichika is Ichigo’s. Now while timelines are tricky between TYBW and the epilogue because of a lack of concrete points and Kubo saying contradictory things, we know that there’s 10 years and WDKALY is about 3 years into that. Adding to that we know that Ichigo isn’t seeing anyone until after the wedding and possibly even later depending on where his overseas university lines up (I think it’s possible for him not to start dating until year 5) and we only know that Ichika is younger than 7 in the epilogue because of when WDKALY is. So it’s not like Ichigo would be cheating for this to be true, and if Rukia’s relationship moved as fast as Ichigo’s relationship does later on, there’s a lot of wiggle room for Ichigo to operate and have potentially gotten busy with Rukia once or twice. Because we know that Rukia isn’t dating her husband in TYBW and knowing Rukia she’d put anything like dating off until repairs were well underway so we’re looking at probably 1-2 years for that and most probably one year of dating pre wedding.

Now you may be thinking ‘wait that also matches why Rukia barely says a word to Ichigo at the wedding and gets Orihime to pass on the invite Rukia knows she’s pregnant and can’t tell him because she’s hiding it so he doesn’t feel ‘trapped’ with her in soul society instead of the living world. That’s super in character for her’ and yeah I’d agree with all that.

But then you may also be thinking but ‘wait Ichika gets way more from her dad than her mum,’ in which case possibly not! Now yes the crimson hair is a biggy but other than that there isn’t much Renji in her, like she’s got a much rounder face and eyes making her look more like her mother and the eye colour and hair texture could just as easily come from Ichigo as Renji. For example if you look at Ichigo’s hair colour compared to his mother it’s much brighter, something that might’ve repeated with Ichika’s hair giving her a similarly different colour. Also there’s the whole name thing. Like Ichi-ka Ichi-go… like it’s different kanji from what I understand but still. That’s the sort of thing you pull out as a flimsy defence.

Is there anywhere in particular I was going with this? Yes I just wanted to illustrate once more just how insane the stupid fucking veil is. Like seriously what the fuck? It’s like the only time Rukia liking strawberry flowers is ever mentioned and one of the main characters is consistently referred to as strawberry especially in relation to Rukia as Death. Just fucking wild.