[GIN. RAN. GINRAN. ICHIMARU GIN X MATSUMOTO RANGIKU. GIVE ME THE ENTIRE ESSAY WITH QUOTES FROM FOLKLORE TO BOOT.]
Send Me a Ship and I’ll Rate it from a Scale of 1-10 and tell you my thoughts on it.
Opens Tumblr. Locates Ask. Peers at computer screen, “My thoughts on GinRan you say?” Takes a sip of coffee. Cracks knuckles. “Let’s go.”
GinRan: 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000/10 – WILL SHIP TO THE END OF TIME. WILL HAUNT REMAINING FRIENDS AND FAMILY JUST TO TELL THEM ABOUT THIS SHIP.
The GinRan ship while technically canon, it has all the makings of a typical shonen ship. Their relationship is seen mostly in flashbacks and one sided narratives (and depending on manga/anime, those narratives are sometimes not even directed at the correct person), the purpose of it used more for character development and redemption than for actually showing a relationship.
We are absolutely going to start at the very beginning. Gin and Rangiku’s character history is tied tightly to their intertwined storyline. We know nothing of their lives prior to their first contact with one another – because let’s be honest, why would Kubo give us any sort of proper character history when he can just fuck us over for years. The fact that we’re introduced to their characters first as adults also sets up how these characters are going to be contrived once their histories are revealed. For Gin, from the minute he is introduced, he is given an air of villainy. For Rangiku, unfortunately she isn’t given much in the beginning, until of course her connect to Gin is revealed, to which a sense of internal conflict and tragedy is developed (also her strength, loyalty and own personal convictions because my girl is a strong independent woman who doesn’t need a man but loves one who is going to ultimately BETRAY HER).
Gin’s childhood story and Rangiku’s introduction to his story is meant to show his convictions. Like I said, we see nothing of his story prior to Rangiku, but due to them growing up in a lower district, we can deduce that Gin was the type to do whatever it took to survive – this is heavily influenced by his adult characteristics – so for him to witness a crime, that FACT had nothing to do with him and ultimately swear revenge shows that his character is far more complex than given credit for in the beginning. He is a child himself, struggling on his own to survive and he decides to take on the responsibility of another but also devote his life to avenging actions taken against her. For Rangiku’s childhood story, we see how much she relied on Gin. How his presence impacted her life – case and point, her birthday. The way she marks a year of passing, of life, is based on when she met Gin. Her decision to become a shinigami is because Gin was going to – her development; the person she becomes is highly influenced by Gin’s decisions.
So how is that a century passes and we see NOTHING of these two – because Kubo hates us. How is that; from nearly the first moment Gin meets Rangiku he sets a plan to get revenge on the men who wronged her but in doing so will alienate the woman he loves more than anything, destroy his reputation (welcome folks to the Adams administration) and sign his own death sentence.
BECAUSE HE LOVES RANGIKU MORE THAN HIS OWN LIFE.
He puts her value above his own, every action he took made it so that she was set up to succeed and ultimately be able to live – HAPPILY (maybe) – without him. His reason to become a Shinigami was so that she wouldn’t cry anymore – he didn’t want to see her suffer. There was no hope for them otherwise, if he didn’t make something of himself, Rangiku would continue to suffer, to struggle. Her decision to follow him, allowed her the opportunity to make something of herself. To expand her world, build friendships, find a family; to have her purpose – where Gin purposefully kept himself alienated, crafting an image that would keep nearly everyone at arms’ length.
Gin did this as well to Rangiku, his bad habit of disappearing, while necessary could have potentially held two purposes. There is no way Gin could have known what he would ultimately have to do to avenge Rangiku from Aizen&Co (Yes, step one was become a Shinigami because he knew he couldn’t even touch them without doing that first. And let’s be honest, after his found out how to break the illusion he could have just been like ‘fuck it, I’m gonna stab this motherfucker’ on like a random Tuesday and stopped the whole betrayal before it even started but NoOoOoOoOoOoOo he had go and be all noble). But even as a child, he distanced himself from Rangiku, so that she’d either she’d grow some resentment towards his actions (and him) – and so that she could learn to hate him (WHICH DIDN’T WORK).
I will forever believe that those two in that century of deception and plotting, still fucked like rabbits and we’re the cutest with one another. GinRan is the epitome of every Taylor Swift break up song because you want to believe it’s going to be a lasting relationship but then it just ends in TRADEGY and HEARTBREAK. Also firm belief that Gin would be the type to send Ran a text message at like 11:34 PM on a Wednesday that just says “you up?” and you know it’s FOR A BOOTY CALL. AND I’M NOT MAD. Rangiku would also totally do that to Gin too for quickies in the middle of the day. FIGHT ME.
Ideal relationship – NO.
A fantastic one for fan ficition, drabbles, roleplays – ABSOLUTELY.
You have to love a Shakespearean tragic romance, where the fates of two lovers are intertwined but will ultimately lead to their own tragic ending. Gin and Rangiku were meant for one another, they were meant to be together, to find one another because they each are each other’s greatest strength but also their weakness.
There’s just something about a tragic love story that’s too good not to love. I mean, everyone thinks Romeo and Juliet is the be-all-end-all of love stories and IT HAPPENS OVER 4 DAYS, HE’S 18 AND SHE’S LIKE 14 AND MULITPLE PEOPLE DIE. How is GinRan any fucking different from that?
In conclusion, after my insane ramblings and character study, if you don’t love a good tragic ship than are you a true Bleach fan?
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
If you’d like to scream about GinRan for all eternity with me, please add me on Discord and we can just scream, cry, analyze everything until the end of time.
