im really not a fan of the good guys are really bad guys twist. dampers it for me a bit.
Still it's neat to see these novels expanding on the story since the end of the manga
im really not a fan of the good guys are really bad guys twist. dampers it for me a bit.
Still it's neat to see these novels expanding on the story since the end of the manga
As at least a few others including myself have pointed out, the twist itself isn't surprising or much of a twist since we all could sorta see it coming. The real twist that got us all shocked was how deep it ran. We were expecting a table flip but then when it got revealed to us the table was given a triple axel somersault. Most of SS don't even realize it and think the Soul King is a living being that rules everyone.
The first thing he did when the manga was over was have surgery that cut his tendons. He was legitimately in pain and had health issues stopping him from being able to keep going.
They were never explicitly stated to be good guys. Everyone just made that assumption. Hell, they first appeared as the bad guys, we learned they committed genocide in the past, then we ran into fucking Dr. Mengele, the hollows actually being fairly reasonable sapient beings when in their home territory, and about a dozen other clues like how morally outraged the "bad guys" always were at the political structure of Soul Society. Then near the end they hammered the point home via it's own citizens being culled with noone giving a shit once a Captain said he did it.
The face melter in all this is the hints were there, they were just very subtle.
I was always curious why we never got more information on the 4 noble families; they were so important to the overarching story but he never went in depth on them.
Edit: SOME of the hints were there.
If only Kubo placed more than 3 panels a page he would have been able to go more in depth.
I can't recall which arc it was in but there were hollows screaming out asking why the Shinigami were hunting them down.
Reading that snippet though makes me empathize with Aizen all the more.
Do you guys have any links to the LN either for reading or purchase. It's not coming up in my Googles.
edit: nvm, literally found it like 2 minutes later.
Some of the things I could excuse. Like they at least had reasons for some of the stuff. Trying to maintain balances and such. Maybe not the greatest of ones or maybe should've at least tried to find other ways. Culture was way overly strict and inflexible which was basically a constant theme from the get go and a lot of what Ichigo was fighting to change but not overt just bad.
What really hit it for me was the Coyote Starrk fight. Dude refuses to fight several times, completely decimates them when he's forced to defend himself and then lets them go a couple of times and they are still like nah we gunna keep fighting until you one of us dead until finally sneak up behind and literally stab him in the back. Would rather die than give up fighting an enemy that doesn't even want to fight you or anyone really.... that's some hardcore fanaticism or you just the bad guy
Well, it seemed fairly obvious the Soul Society pre-Ichigo was in a relatively shitty state, quick as the 46 or whatever they were called was to come down on Urahara for his attempt to clean up Aizen's mess. And while Aizen was manipulating things related to Rukia's punishment, how much they might've strayed is a mystery. As well, the fall of the Shiba clan was something we had left hanging overhead for a while until it more or less culminated in Isshin falling for a human/Quincy. Frankly, I'd like to see the whole last arc retconned, but I guess continuity is rollin' with it.
I think what always bugged me most about Bleach's representation of the afterlife, however, was that it seem to ignore anything and everything outside of Japan. Nation of origin and all that, sure, but somewhere along the way I would've liked to see a nod that the Soul Society isn't the only afterlife and this could've somehow played into Ginjou's substitute status. Instead, we've pretty much gotta accept people who died and not went to Hell were destined to be hobos in "Heaven" as represented in the outer districts, and aside from birdboy, apparently memory wiped. And what was eventually depicted of the SK's domain was a severe disappointment because it didn't really indicate there was a potentially better life for worthy souls than the slums.
Overall, the Hollow side of the universe equation doesn't bug me all that much. Vengeful spirit left unchecked goes all masky? Fair. Those then eat other humans or hollow? Also fair. Stages of evolution along the way? Okay. Yeah, we poke fun at how trashy the Menos eventually became in the story or how the VL's might not've lived up to the hype because of the power creep Ichigo triggered, but I think beings like Stark or Halibel being high up in the hollow pecking order was a sensible place for them to be in even before Aizen's meddling and going all Oprah with their form of bankais. Basically, hollows might not want to have been "born" as they were, but once they got past living on instinct alone, you could probably call them "people" too.
For those that care
At least we're getting some animated form of these guys, right?
All this just serves as a reminder of all the bad ass art that went to waste on such a shit finale.
New threads over here
https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/13...ach-2-0-thread
if you have a suggestion for a new thread title, post it in the new thread~