“Kubo ended the manga how he intended to from the beginning.”
First of all, let’s examine what Kubo “wanted”
BLEACH IS A SHONEN NOT A SHOUJO. What Kubo has stated is that he doesn’t like or intend to include romance in Bleach, he enjoys writing action and doesn’t plan to delve into any romance. So then... what the hell is up with Orihime’s character? A character who’s entire arc is centred around romance to the point where there is nothing else! Orihime, less so in the soul society arc, is a device used to prop up the main character as an amazing kind gentleman. She’s there to bring comic relief, fanservice and judging by how Kubo refuses to give in depth motivations for her character and explanations of her powers, not much else. She’s a plot device for the hueco mundo arc. She’s a convenient character to have around when Kubo batters his characters to the point of no come back by which point he can just have Orihime use her suddenly godly powers to undo the damage. She doesn’t need to have in depth motivations or well explained abilities, just enough convenience as a character to fill a few plot holes that in the end do nothing for her. The whole time reading the manga, Orihime feels less and less like a character and more like a fan girl self-insert. If you remove Orihime from the manga entirely, you have no obvious romance! Any romance that Kubo wants to include is oversaturated in Orihimes character. She’s basically his beacon of Shoujo. Something for female audiences to relate to as well as appeal to the male gaze. Orihime was never treated like a serious character by Kubo. So, apart from her character, the occasional side pairing and chapter 686, Kubo hasn’t included any obvious serious romance within his manga.
ICHIRUKI IS AS ROMANTIC AS A SHONEN COUPLE COULD BE. This is where Ichiruki comes in. Even without the romance aspect, these two characters undoubtedly have the deepest bond within the whole manga. With no mutual romantic pairings, we usually grasp onto whatever’s closest we can get to that. Ichiruki is the closest. Sure they’re not making out or proposing their undying love for each other but throughout the manga, they’re constantly saving each other’s lives, putting each other first and learning a lot through their encounters with one another. Their bond is the heart of the manga and keeps the plot moving forward because it’s the way these characters have changed each other that leads to the decisions they make which, as main characters, influences the entire series as a whole. Throughout the mange being written, ichiruki have been referred to as soulmates, they’ve been paralleled to canonically romantic pairings like Isshin & masaki and have also had their bond spoken on from the perspectives of other characters. Orihime being one of the main ones with her wanting to be what Rukia is to ichigo because she recognises how much he relies on her above other characters. Their bond might not have been outwardly romantic but it was never just a normal friendship either. They were meant to stand out.
ENDING AFTER AIZEN. Kubo’s original intentions with Bleach were to end after Aizens defeat with Ichigo losing his powers & Rukia returning to the soul society. That was the ending that was set up from the start. He was pushed to continue even when he had already set up the ending and perhaps that’s why the fullbringer arc was so lacklustre with undeveloped plots, underwhelming villains and the neglect of important characters (this was chads arc and he was barely there). I have to admit that I did enjoy the ending of the fullbringer arc much more than the actual ending and the would have been ending just because it symbolised hope. Ichigo’s growth in that arc was amazing and the ending with him getting his powers back and saying he’d see Rukia again was very open and satisfying. If it had ended that way, I would have been happy just because we wouldn’t know what happens beyond that point & could go on assuming our own versions of what happens 10 years later and whatnot. It tied it together nicely while leaving room for more.
But, if we take Kubos word on the fact that he did intend to end bleach after Aizen then no, bleach was not ended the way it was intended from the start.
LETS SAY PLANS CHANGE and that he still intended on that particular ending after the fullbring arc, i would say: no he didn’t. The ending he intended on involved a dead Byakuya, more in depth fights and plots and most importantly, more time to develop that. He didn’t have that time. Kubo even admitted that he had to rush the ending and could not develop it in the way he wanted to.
The ending, I’m guessing, was a result of a poor plans and rushed storylines. He had to wrap it up very quickly and what’s the quickest and most low effort way to do that? Oh yeah, a lame time skip with marriage and kids. It’s the naruto blueprint. Ori & Renji were the convenient since Kubo didn’t have an excuse to Ichigo to be in the soul society or for Rukia to be in the human world.
I feel like I should stress that the reason I personally was unhappy with the ending was not because Ichiruki wasn’t endgame, i absolutely wanted them to be but I never expected them to be since it was a shonen manga. The issue I have is that RR and IH made even less sense as a happy ending for the characters. That ending felt depressing for all characters involved with Chad becoming a boxer, Uryu following in his fathers footsteps, Ichigo also following in his fathers footsteps despite his entire character being about how bored he is with human life and Ori settling for a life as a maid despite having the ambitions and the capabilities to become so much more. Rukia might’ve gotten the worst of it because despite becoming a captain, she still had to marry r-ren-🤢 renj-🤢 i can’t even say it (jk i think she got the happiest ending somehow but only because the bar was real low).
ANYWAYS, my point is that there is no way Kubo wholeheartedly wanted that for his characters. He just fit them into their tiny little stereotyped boxes and went to bed.
This is an idea I’ve been rolling over for a while: but it really seems like these two should have been together at the end of the series.
Not romance. Just, a pair.
They should have been together at the end. Not just a token visit to watch tv. They should have been working and living and striving to keep the momentum of change in Soul Society going. There was so much left for them to do.
Best friends. Comrades. Captain and Lieutenant. Spouses if you have to go there. However it ended up, they should have been in it together, not old acquaintances that only meet up at class reunions, weddings and funerals.
Literally everything about them is equal and opposite, but matching. Complimentary.
Male and female. Tall and Short. Colorful and bright vs black and white. Grumpy and Cheerful. Loud, but trying to be reserved, Reserved but always ending up being loud. Selfish and Selfless.
They were like inversions of each other.
Yet at the same time, they are uniquely alike each other. Their passions and goals and worldviews are extremely aligned. Where they differ, once they meet they meld. Learn from each other and take on knowledge and attitudes to fill the gaps in their experience. What qualities they don’t end up sharing in common always act as a counterbalance to the other’s shortcomings. Rukia is self assured, but not always confident. Ichigo is always overflowing with confidence, but doesn’t always have a direction to point it in. Rukia gives Ichigo that direction as he gives her the courage to stand her ground instead of folding meekly as she’s been shown to have done as a shinigami before she met him.
Two sides of the same coin.
Toward the end, it was looking like their zanpakutou were also perfect opposites and perfect compliments. Zero Degree Kelvin and (possibly) 100 degree kelvin - heat so intense it cuts everything. I’ve been wondering if maybe Rukia was “normal” until her powers had a metamorphosis after their time in Ichigo. Maybe she wasn’t misaligned with Sode no Shirayuki at all until her power evolved in Ichigo’s care, then was returned to her with the same semi-divine quality he has. Creating or giving her what was necessary to take the next step in evolution.
Absolute Zero and Absolute Heat.
The two ingredients for a “big bang”.
A decent ending to the manga would have been to just have Ichigo succeed in killing Ywach and become Rukia’s lieutenant, working together to make Soul Society better.
A perfect ending (to me) would be to have been to have Ichigo and Rukia act as a kind of new, dual bodied deity and take the place of the Soul King.
It could have started at the final fight. Each attacking from a different side, and their two extreme powers crashing together to create something which would destroy Ywach. A new being/soul king to take the last one’s place, or just a renewed melding of their powers - making them one spiritual being with two bodies or something (like a force dyad) - that makes them able to take the Soul King’s place in the world and kill Ywach. A perfect dual Soul King so they don’t have to be encased in crystal or imprisoned in the Royal Realm to hold the balance, but can take turns or something when they want to go down to Seireitei.
Or maybe have them gain the ability to physically and spiritually fuse into one genderless, ascended being. A badass, all-powerful Mugetsu!Ichigo-looking thing swathed in shadows and ice and solar flares that curbstomps Ywach into nonexistance before separating. Maybe they can never do it again. Maybe it’s a power they need to train to do again. Maybe they’re stuck that way and have to work to unbraid themselves.
If the manga had done this, they would have been King and Queen and been obligatory-married, but I think it would have been cool for them to have essentially melded into one platonic being, but just have different bodies. An unviolent, uncorrupted, natural version of how the last Soul King had been cut to pieces and the parts gaining sentience and personality of their own.
That would have been cool. And also left a lot of future stories open to happen.
Or, if not that: there are so many ways this could have worked.
Gatekeeper and Keymaster from Ghostbusters style where they combine energy (maybe with another stab, an echo of their first meeting?) to open the way to the “real” heaven to call on a real god (or Bodhisattva?) to help. Elden Ring style like Radagon fused with the goddess and gained the ability to turn into the Elden Beast. Naruto style of two powers that combined cancel out the big bad. AtLA style like the avatar state - maybe there were other soul kings, other worlds, and combining power lets them access their knowledge and memory; the final stage of ascension Ichigo started with Mugetsu. Some other new and interesting twist that has the two of them creating a better world and building on the progress they’d made from the beginning.
Anything would have been better than what actually happened.
Just. Bare minimum would have been to have Rukia present to witness the fucking fight even if she didn’t do anything, but no. She wasn’t there at all. None of that happened or could have happened. Everything they fought for and achieved was worthless and they never fought beside each other again. The Sogyoku was rebuilt. Ichigo didn’t become a true shinigami. He went back to the world of the living and got a job and kept being only a substitute on the weekends. Rukia walked into her captain promotion with no one standing at her back.
THE most egregious crime of the Bleach ending is that it permanently separated Ichigo and Rukia.
Don't know if you got same question as this ... But I want to ask can you explain why relationship between Rukia and Ichigo is romantic not friendly and show moments which actually shows how they have romantic feelings for eachother?
** you can ignore it if you want ... But I'm new here and in the fandom too so I had questions 😶 **
That’s the beauty of Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship! They love each other in many ways and since very early on. I think the Fullbring arc really cemented that they also love each other romantically because after having time apart we see just how much (and how fondly) they think of the other... and how nobody else comes close.
Chapter 424 is Ichigo telling us what’s been going on since the battle with Aizen and every panel is full with the calm life he’s living except when talking about not having powers. To me it suggests he has a lot of feelings about that fact and, given the size, he tries not to think about it too much.
But when we get to the panel about Rukia there’s so much empty space it takes up half the page. It’s presenting itself as the heaviest thing on his mind after the battle; not being able to see her.
Also, (this is just a theory) seeing this in color makes it look like the panels are connected up to this point... like if he thinks too long about what happened he’ll eventually think about her. “Now I don’t have any soul reaper powers” changes the subject to Karin. “It’s been 17 months since the battle” changes the subject to school. “Ever since then Rukia hasn’t come to KK once” the scene ends and transitions to one about missing her. It’s like Rukia is always in the back of his mind and after all this time it’s easier to avoid it.
Of course he misses her, but having an excuse for her ready proves how much she’s been on his mind, and outright denying it is so like him. I wouldn’t say this specifically is rooted in “romance” but with other moments we can see just how much he wants to see her again and it really goes beyond what he feels for anyone else.
Take for example when he only mentioned that Rukia hadn’t come to visit him despite having other friends from the SS, especially Renji. In the next chapter he dreamed of them and Byakuya but it’s Rukia that stands out.
She’s singled out from the guys and her panel is bigger, but what really separates her from them is the fact that it’s cropped sooo close to her face. There isn’t even a sliver of her shoulders, Ichigo is really concentrating here. Renji and Byakuya’s presence is enough but not when it comes to Rukia, he seems desperate to see her again.
Being a protector is literally in Ichigo’s name so losing the power to do so was hard on him, anyone could see that. Orihime was glad at first but ultimately had to ask Rukia to figure out a way to get his power back and Chad could barely look at him since he lost it. Chad goes on a little bit more about how wanting to fight/protect those around him makes Ichigo who he is, and while that’s definitely correct what comes next suggests that there’s something more important.
Love is subjective. Riruka drew her ability out through her love/adoration of cute material things and the happiness it brings her. Orihime persevered because of the love she feels for her best friend Tatsuki who always protected her. Chad manifested his ability because of the pride his family (his grandfather, who he loves) instilled in him. Fullbring can be activated with love that is familial, platonic, or even with a hobby/inanimate things.
Saving his sisters from the same monster that killed his mother wasn’t enough to activate his fullbring. Helping Orihime, Chad, and Uryu, his friends, also wasn’t enough. Being strong enough to hold back the equivalent of 100 thousand blades in the form of a ginormous, fiery bird wasn’t enough either. Apparently it doesn’t even slightly trigger it.
Remember when I said Ichigo was avoiding Rukia? She was present in each event he thinks about. Of course she isn’t the most important person in each scenario, but even in the moment he saves her life he doesn’t picture her face like the rest of them. Him doing that cements the fact that he’s trying to hold back thinking about her... until he can’t anymore.
The power comes all at once when he finally thinks of her. Just her.
At the end of the SS arc we figure out that what Ichigo wanted most when he saved Rukia was to see her smile again, and because of the power he gained for her sake he was able to do that; because of power he was able to save so many other people, too. The thing is, he remembers her in the moment he lost his powers; not one of the times he saves her or she saves him or the result of any of that. He began training for fullbring to protect the people important to him but it isn’t being activated by those bonds and instead by the pure desire to see her smiling again.
Putting everything together tells us that he loves her romantically; if his fullbring isn’t being activated by his platonic or familial bonds or the pride in having the power to protect them there is only one type of love that separates her from the rest.
We can keep going... with a liiiittle bit on Rukia, too.
Seeing her for the first time in 17+ months literally stopped the rain and put light back in his eyes after he lost his power AGAIN with the people he’s closest to turned against him. He was bawling his eyes out, more powerless than he’s ever been, and unsettled about his dad and Urahara’s sudden appearance, but she immediately put him at ease without any effort at all.
He believes in her right away just like she does in him. Like she always does.
When Rukia gets the chance to fully think about how special and strong Ichigo is, both in strength and heart, we see her in complete awe.
If she was simply proud and or amazed by him she could have replicated the smile she had at sokyoku hill when she felt his power “flowing into her.” The expressions on her face here (off the top of my head) are completely new and softer than ever. It looks like her own heart skipped a beat —
— It skipped just like time does when they’re seperated.
The arc opened with Ichigo wondering if he can keep up with the speed of the world without her and just about ended with this poem, “When the two that share destiny part and reunite, beyond the frame of time, the ceased clock will awake and start to tick once again.” Ichigo and Rukia are incomplete when they’re apart and are at their happiest when together.
When remembering her happiest moments during her fight with As Nodt, Rukia thought of Ichigo the most. When fighting Yhwach and remembering his most despairing moments, the night Ichigo lost Rukia to Renji and Byakuya comes second after losing his mom. The emphasis on their bond is consistent throughout the story and even until the last chapter.
If Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship was supposed to be strictly platonic the amount of content we were given would have to be cut in half. Cut down on the anime fillers/openings/endings, the movies, the musicals, the color spreads... the poems about the other person, the speeches about how one feels about the other, the emphasis on their shared trauma and the fact that they saved and helped each other overcome their misery, the overwhelming feeling of wanting to see the other person happy, Ichigo’s parents replicating his and Rukia’s first meeting, “The Love and Destiny Ichigo Inherited,” the partings, the reunions... Y’know, put all the ships on an even playing field, but that’s not what happened.
Ichigo and Rukia have the kind of relationship that was said to be “more than friends” since the second arc. 200 chapters later when they spend over a year without seeing or even speaking to each other we can see how they spent that time thinking of the other and more than anyone else. Time goes on but their bond will never break, and they don’t deserve anything less.
Trying to communicate with who reads only literally it’s like talking to the wall. Of course it is also dangerous going too far form literal meaning of phrases. The vast way is the middle one.
Now, I still see how Bleach fandom still is toxic in 2022. If this was pretty normal in 2016 since most of fans were teenagers, now it’s is not anymore, because such teenagers are supposed to be young adults. I am one of them, and I can relate the change of experience in shipping, of course more rational.
I can’t understand why people can’t feel free to ship what they want without being attacked or insulted.
Actually I read that IchiRuki is a fiction figured out by crazy people who just saw the anime. Actually, every IchiRuki fan knows what fillers are. And I want to add that it was not casual that anime stressed on Ichigo and Rukia, because that was a suggestion that came from the manga at first. Studios want to make money, so they invest in the right way. Also now main Bleach gadgets have Ichigo and Rukia always togheter, because they are the start and the end of Bleach. Thinking them as a pair is perfectly natural. The argument according to which in pilot chapter Ichigo and Orihime were already canon is weak, because Kubo didn’t write it in the end. According to that chapter, also, Ichigo had to have black hair, but Kubo changed the design in order to make it more suitable with Rukia. Already by pilot they were at least 50/50, if we want to be intellectually honest.
I don’t agree with the idea that IchiHime was obvious since always and not IchiRuki. That’s a lie. As it is a lie that IchiHime, RenRuki, UlquiHime and IshiHime weren’t possibile. All of them had the potentiality to be canon. But despite the possibilities, people have differente tastes of how a couple should be developed. I won’t give here my reasons for the other pairs, I just want to focus on IchiRuki and IchiHime.
As IchiRuki fan I won’t deny that IchiHime was a possibility, and even a strong one since is canon, but that won’t change that it’s bad written. IchiRuki is the only pair with totally mutual dynamics. In my opinion IchiRuki dynamics are not romantic, but are a necessary requirement for a romance, but not an usual one, a mature and deep one. What most of IchiRuki shippers find amazing, and the real reason why they ship IR, is the ability Ichigo and Rukia have each other to make their lives better. That’s the real point and the only one.
Orihime, despite her feelings, has never been able to cheer him up as Rukia did. That is not an opinion of mine, is written in SS arc and HM arc and plus as told by Orihime herself. Also in the last arc, in which was already clear since the half of it that in the end RenRuki and IchiHime would have been canon, Rukia has been the one able to give new strength to Ichigo, not Orihime.
If you like a romance of the sweet girl in love protected by the cool guy, then IchiHime is perfect for you and Bleach there are a lot of hints for that to be canon. I won’t argue that, are tastes. Orihime is not mrs unknown to Ichigo, is anyway a dear friend of him just like Chad and Ishida. But linked to that, I don’t understand why people see as romantic Ichigo’s aim to protect Orihime, because he wants to protect all, even more his friends. I am pretty sure that if Neilel didn’t was a child 2/3 of the time, they could have been interpreted as romantic too by some people. The only real romantic interaction in the whole series is Orihime’s creepy kiss attempt to an asleep Ichigo. That’s a clear hint, I agree. But then the author must give coherence and total mutuality in order to develop significantly the pair. And what did Kubo? When Ichigo went in HM Grimmjow literally told him he didn’t go there for Orihime but to fight. Now, of course he was there for Orihime, but also to fight. The focus is lost. It had to be totally on Orihime’s rescue like has been for Rukia. Also in FB arc., Kubo had way too much chances to develop significantly IchiHime, he didn’t. He wrote about Keigo asking if he missed Rukia, he wrote of Ichigo dreaming of Rukia calling him, and also wrote a panel in which Riruka power of love was unlocked with the panel of Rukia. These are not interpretation, these are facts. You can also say that Rukia represents only the power, but that doesn’t change anything: Rukia is that important for Ichigo since she gave him without any interest, without even knowing him, and going to face a certain death sentence, the power to protect people, that was exactly what Ichigo always wanted.
In the last arc, the first part was effectively oriented towards IchiRuki. Since the half, the switch was obvious. Last chapter wasn’t a surprise to me in the end, because Kubo literally interrupted Ichigo and Rukia interactions in favour of RenRuki and IchiHime ones. It’s absolutely true, but not well written, just rushed.
Canon doesn’t mean well written. A canon pair can be more or less obvious but still not well written.
Fellas, is it gay to blindfold your childhood karate nemesis, drag him to an abandoned warehouse, and circle him like a lion fixing to devour a gazelle before putting him through strenuous physical activity, staring at his ass as he climbs a chain, shouting praise at him, and calling him baby?
whats the point of it all if johnny and daniel don’t meet each other on the beach two days after the 1984 all valley tournament and johnny, broken and sad, asks if miyagi is taking new students
Johnny [wrapping up his 15 min monologue]: ….and look I’m just saying, it’s totally normal to admire other mens’ physiques in a heterosexual way. There’s nothing weird about it! It’s really just the manly thing to do, if you think about it. I mean, look at little Danny Larusso—the guy has an ass on him! Oh, and don’t even get me started on those shoulders. But that’s a totally normal thing for me to admire, man, nothing “homosexual” about it at all!
Robby: I literally just asked if you have a spare pen
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