Character that I enjoy reading about despite canon developments: Kurosaki Ichigo
Now let me be honest: I hate hate hate, the most recent arc of Bleach. Its long, its unnecessarily draggy, and while some characters are finally getting some screen time, does it do anything to advance plot? Not really. Cause all its doing is killing off really powerful mooks that have no real reason to be there other that be killed off.
On the other hand there is Ichigo. I have to say that despite how draggy it is, I do enjoy reading Ichigo backstories. And because of it, it answered a few questions that I never did bother to ask myself, always attributing it to a bullshit excuse. Here are the questions: why did Hollow Ichigo always call himself Zangetsu? And if Hollows and Shinigami were of opposing natures, how did Zangetsu fuse with Hollow Ichigo for the Final Getsuga Tensho? In fact, why did they need to fuse with each other in the first place???
Of course the Zanpakuto restoration portion of the Quincy arc was a huge answer. Hollow Ichigo was the Hollow Half of Zangetsu. Old Man Zangetsu was the Quincy Half of Zangetsu. They both were the same Zanpakuto, one with two separate spirits. For Final Getsuga Tensho to be taught, both forms of Zangetsu had to combine their powers, as Ichigo had been operating on half of his true power due to his Quincy half restraining the Hollow half, yet this had easily put him on Captain level power. This would also explain why Ichigo had been way more powerful than he should have been once he got out of the Dangai. That had been the first time he was using power from both his Zanpakuto, and while more powerful than before, if we included time in the Dangai, he would have been exponentially more powerful.
Okay, power aside (Above was a case of explaining why the hell Ichigo managed to go God Mode Sue before loosing all that power), I actually love Ichigo’s attitude to most people. Here’s a comment I made on Ichigo in a fanfic: “...all blunt and 'I do not care who the hell I am dealing with. fuck consequences. I managed to ensure my friend's safety.'”, “ piss Ichigo off i.e. go after his friends or try to manipulate him, and you are in for a very pissed off Vizard who was capable of destroying the doors to hell.”.
Ichigo is at his peak when he has something to protect. He does not take kindly to manipulations. He does not take kindly to attacks on his friends and family (He retaliates hard in light of that. Case in point: Rukia’s execution.). He does not take kindly to authority figures telling him what he can and cannot do when he has the power to do something (Case in point: Orihime’s kidnapping AND Yuzu’s kidnapping.).
I also loved the emphasis on Ichigo’s period of powerlessness during the Fullbringer arc. Ichigo has gotten used to having the ability to protect others with his spiritual powers. With the loss, he actually has lost his purpose, thus the perpetual state of depression he was in at the beginning of the arc. He does odd jobs because he’s trying to find said purpose. Ginjou give him the ability to do this back, and I see Ichigo wanting to have him buried in the human world as a sign of respect and gratefulness to the man for pulling him out of his depression despite the hidden agenda, as well as ensuring that Squad 12 does not get their hands on him.
Now, remember how I said Ichigo does not take manipulation kindly? Well... remember Tsukishima? Yeah, you can see how pissed and scared for his friends Ichigo was when they suddenly acknowledged a complete unknown as their friend and teacher.
One of the other reasons why I love Ichigo so much is actually his potential to fall into enemy hands or become an outright enemy of the Gotei 13. This has been acknowledged in fic after fic, be it Ichigo siding with Aizen, siding with the Hollows, siding with the Zanpakuto (i.e. Zanpakuto rebellion arc), fully siding with the Vizards, etc. Ichigo could have end up on the wrong side of the war if the Gotei 13 had made the wrong order, or had turned on Ichigo.
Good thing is, because of the Sereitei Invasion arc, Ichigo most likely has several supporters who would rebel if anything happened to him. They, like him, do not like having their hands tied by orders despite being able to do something. Same could be said about the Arrancar. I mean... Ichigo is the least judgmental character I’ve seen in a LONG WHILE. Look, he does not care that he looks like a punk, he does not care that Chad is a different race, he does not care that Uryu is a Quincy, he does not care that he has a Inner Hollow (Despite initial impressions), he does not care that the Vizards have inner hollows, he does not care that Arrancar are hollows. He says ‘fuck status quo’ and goes and turn it on its head by defying it in all ways possible. All while changing the mentality of those who have been so used to status quo. Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist follows this in a similar vein, but I swear it was Ichigo who started it all.
I always find that Ichigo is a large mass of instinctual feelings. He loves, he fears, he protects, he fights, all by instinct. Zangetsu(H) put it accurately, Ichigo works by instinct. He instinctively loves and protects his family and friends as if they were pack. He instinctively fears what he does not understand or knows he is weaker than, occasionally causing him to falter. He instinctively finds those that he knows he can trust [e.g. Urahara (Who is so freaking shady I always wondered why does Ichigo trust him so easily unless he instinctively knows that the man has good intentions), Zaraki (Mr fight fight fight who is just as bad as Zangetsu(H)), Renji (Mr I want to protect Rukia but I can’t please do it for me), and somehow Grimmjow lol (who asked Orihime to heal Ichigo, his rival! If Ichi did not trust him then, the Quincy arc would have been a pretty big hint at how much Ichi trusts Grimm.)]
All in all, I love Kurosaki Ichigo. Sure, canon has me completely put off reading the series for a long while, but that does not deter me from loving the main character that is Kurosaki Ichigo.
