IDK who i am so I'm trying to find out 🧍🏾‍♀️

When he saw Little Byakuya train, he said, "I'm touched" (by Byakuya's hard work) and Byakuya, despite the super formal language (which is also understandable considering the culture/family standing), seemed genuinely happy that he'd get to chat with Jii-sama. Okay at the end he seemed a bit worried about Byakuya's temper but I guess all parental figures would be concerned about having a little brat who goes around challenging Soul Society's most powerful captains with death threats lol

It's from a filler, but Ginrei told Kouga that it's not all about individual power, it's also about working with other people in your team/division (or something like that, I may be paraphrasing cuz I don't remember what exactly he said in the anime)

I think this was after the ending of that same filler episode? So I guess it's more like an omake than canon evidence, but Ginrei said "I spoil Byakuya/I let Byakuya have all he wants and he grows up to be like this" (then Ichigo told him about Real World parenting books lmaooooo) which also got me thinking that maybe Soujun died before that TBTP chapter/episode, as Ginrei basically said that he was the one who raised Byakuya

Iirc the only time that we saw anything about duty was when Ginrei told Byakuya about the Kuchiki duty of killing Kouga and even then it was just... that.

It’s over but I had fun giving giving my own evaluations and also I’m not caught up past the fullbringer arc:

Isshin: I really feel like he wouldn’t have sex with anyone after Masaki’s death and if he did it would be “a moment of weakness” and he would genuflect or flay himself for like a month and come back home like nothing happened lol

Askin: I don’t know him but he probably only fucks because he’s sleazy and coercive

Chad: definitely not a recreational kind of guy. If he gets a partner he’ll only do it if they ask and might find someone to settle down with and only do it with them lol

Urahara: oh he fuckin

Yhwach: idk

Kensei: ya

Grimmjow: I don’t think he fucks because I don’t think he’s interested, but if he does he’s like koutarou from slow damage by which I mean very and casual and noncommittal

Ulquiorra: be so fr

Renji: I feel like he would go to sex workers every now and then but thas it because of his crush on Rukia unless they’re already dating

Aizen: he’s sex repulsed aroace for sure. Probably tried it once and was like “that’s enough of that” 🤣. Either that or he finds one person he’s interested in and pursues them forever. Might’ve used sex as a tool while he was infiltrating the Gotei 13 tho

Tsukishima: probably occasionally, he’s got host club escort vibes…or he takes it up the ass

Ryuken: probably like Aizen but he’s just really picky

Yamamoto: maybe when he was younger but IDK maybe he fucks severely even as an old man

Byakuya: celibate like Isshin after his wife’s death but probably used to sleep around when he was younger but also probably not because he’s very uptight

Hisagi: I think yes but he’s the one who’s usually approached Kaien: ONLY WITH HIS WIFE

Ukitake: uhhh no…? I don’t think he’d have the stamina for it and would comically pass out in the middle. pillow princess btw

Kenpachi: maybe once in a blue moon because first of all he’s scary and second he seems like he would turn away most advances unless he was really in the mood PLUS he's always accompanied by someone so he wouldn't get the chance either way

Shunsui: he’s either a whore or he can't get any I can’t find a middle ground

Gin: uhmmmm he fucks often but only if he is bottoming LMAO but in all seriousness he probably only really has eyes for Rangiku and that's why they're always closed

Starrk: he’s giving picky vibes too UNLESS the other agrees to bounce on it for him shgjdhgkdv

Mayuri: he’s aroace but if he does still have his dick (because I feel like he would’ve cut it off for some reason???) he uses it only for science 💀

Ichigo: he’s not horny and he’s rather chaste in regards to sexual things and he definitely didn't have sex with Orihime until he was well into his relationship with her haha I love him

Ginjo: probably has a hook up every other night to be honest

Kaname: CELIBACY GIF

Ikkaku: frequent visitor of the 100% consensual adult only brothel that’s probably in the soul society lmfao

Komamura: CELIBACY GIF

Shinji: he actually gets zero bitches ever. Got lucky once and never again

NAHH BC WHY'S HE SO HOT WHEN HE'S IN PAIN, ALL BLOODIED AND BRUISED UP 🤩🤩 This position...kinda...freaky yk 👀👀

So, my brain has been absolute trash lately. It has hit capacity. Too much is happening all at once. But, between life and the occasional and often much-regretted look at the news, I muse. My most recent Bleach musing is: Kuchiki heirs!

And, oh, boy, prepare for mushy brain time!

So Byakuya's father, Sojun described as being gentle and kind, not liking fighting that much despite being very talented...

And i was thinking; how great his dinamic with Jushiro would be. Like honestly, two men with a simmilar baseline personality. It would be so fun to watch.

Also i think papa Kuchiki would have became a fan favorite very soon. Like an actual Kuchiki who's a swearheart? Come on...

So a thing I always loved about Bleach is how Kubo looooves his wordplay, and it’s actually not that subtle, but it’s the kind of thing that gets lost very easily in translation.  We forget that in English, names are all borrowed from other languages, or rooted in fairly archaic forms of English, but in most languages names are actually pretty straight forward and literal.  In particular ideographic languages like Chinese and by extension Japanese are SUPER literal in that the meaning of a name is unavoidably apparent at a glance.  So, for one of my favorite examples, let’s look at some family naming schemes that Kubo played with, starting with…

朽木: Kuchiki

For one it’s an actual surname, but it’s written with the characters Kuchi(朽) and Ki(木), meaning “Decayed”/”Rotten”(but also “secluded”)” and “Tree.”  The verb Kuchiru(朽ちる) meaning literally “to decay/to rot” is also used in metaphor to mean “to die in obscurity” or “to be forgotten [over time].”  The homonym phrase Kuchiki(朽ち木) refers to “a life lived in obscurity” or “a meaningless death,” evoking the poetic imagery of a lone dead tree, not collapsed, but rotted on the inside.  For one, this obvious evocation of Death as a theme is a direct play into the role of Shinigami during Rukia’s first introduction.  But it also influenced her somber look in the very first chapter, as well as Byakuya’s similarly sullen disposition when he first appears.  It’s innate thematics also influenced Rukia’s status as an orphan, and Byakuya’s status as a widower, as well as the apparent end of the Kuchiki bloodline proper.  The Kuchiki family tree is literally a dead one: incapable of growing further, but still standing.

Moreover, Byakuya, his father, his grandfather, and even Hisana actually all share a naming convention in which each name evokes a specific color:

Byakuya(白哉)

…is actually kind of a tricky one to start with…  The Byaku(白) at least is super straight forward, being the kanji for “White,” but the Ya(哉) is a peculiar particle used for emphasis, but that has no direct translation of its own.  So in a sense his name means “White!” but given translations of 哉 in different contexts of actual prose, it could also be read as something like, “How White!“ or “White, alas…“ or “sadly, [it is] White“ or “how sad, [it is] white.“  Which are all kind of appropriate.  The exclamatory form being an overstatement of his purity, referenced in his stringent adherence to rules and law that defined his original role in the plot of Rukia’s execution; but also the lamenting form describing his relationship regarding his wife.

Soujyun(蒼純)

…is surprisingly clever for a name given to a character with no real appearance or role in the story, let alone any real personality or history to reference.  His name reads as Sou(蒼) meaning “Blue/Green“ and Jyun(純) meaning “Purity”/“Innocence.”  The Purity/Innocence part is effectively an echo of Byakuya’s use of “White,” tying the father and son together, but also perhaps a reference to the fact that no drama seems to have marred his character?  (i.e. He’s innocent and his life was pure.)

So a few notes: There was a time when Japanese didn’t actually distinguish blue and green as colors, instead treating them as differing tones of the same color.  From this the phrase “Blue” also describes someone immature, naive or inexperienced, as in an unripe fruit. (basically exactly the same as the English phrase, “Green.”  But midori(緑) is the word for “Green” and only green, and doesn’t get used in this way in Japanese.)  But Sou(蒼) can also be used to describe a color like a “Pale Blue,” a “Gray,” or even just translated as “Pale.”  This feeds back into parallels with Byakuya’s “White,” as well as…

Ginrei(銀嶺)

…the patriarch of the Kuchiki family.  His name is written with Gin(銀) for “Silver,” referring to both the metal and the color, and Rei(嶺) meaning “Peak” or “Summit.”  The phrase  together actually refers to a “snowy mountaintop.”  The “Summit” part refers to his status at the top of the family, and the “Silver” in reference to the color completes this 3 stage progression down the men of the family: From lustrous silver, to pale gray, to emphatically pure white.  The Kuchiki family is literally fading away, again referencing the metaphor of having been forgotten over time implicit to the name Kuchiki.

 But that’s not all! 

Hisana(緋真)

…Byakuya’s late wife, and Rukia’s eerily identical older sister, actually fits into this naming scheme too!   Even in just the brief moments we’ve seen of her, her name is written with Hi(緋) meaning “Scarlet,” and Sana(真) although more commonly read on its own as Shin, which means “true”/”truth” or “real”/”reality.”  The phrase “Scarlet Reality” or “Scarlet Truth” might seem jarringly out of place in this family of fading innocence and purity, but that is actually the point.  She is the harsh, blood red, mark on Byakuya’s emblematic White that cannot be ignored.  Her death is the brutal bloody truth of Byakuya’s tragic past, and she’s also the red flame of passion in his otherwise emotionless facade.

So curiously,

Rukia(ルキア)

…has no kanji for her name, just katakana.  On the one hand she came first in the list of characters, so it’s just likely that she wasn’t supposed to have a gimmicky name at the start, but it is a little odd that he specifically forwent any overt meaning at all.  There are some rumors flying around the Kubo named her after a species of Cosmos flower native to Mexico, which certain sounds in line with a bunch of Kubo’s interests and themes in Bleach, but the supposed interview has never been properly cited or otherwise corroborated.  More over, there is no indication of a flower in that family with a name that could be misconstrued into Rukia. (and presumably it would’ve been the name Lucia.)

Is this worth it? I told myself id never watch OP bc it's too long, and my dumb ass barely made it thru naruto Shippuden, like I swapped to the manga halfway into the war, and never finished the anime. (But I did finish the manga. (Boruto was never touched and I refuse to touch it))

Season 1 does leave some stuff out (a flashback for exemple) but it's not THAT bad so you could start there.

But yeah I'd recommend reading the Manga! That's how I got into it at first before switching to the anime.

It has extra material like cover stories that are not featured in the anime and you don't have to deal with filler and sometimes god awful pacing (dressrosa 🧍🏾‍♀️)

Tho there IS one filler arc that's pretty good and could be worth watching.

Is this worth it? I told myself id never watch OP bc it's too long, and my dumb ass barely made it thru naruto Shippuden, like I swapped to the manga halfway into the war, and never finished the anime. (But I did finish the manga. (Boruto was never touched and I refuse to touch it))

That’s alot of time to miss someone you used to know intimately. A whole life has been lived there. And think how much Mihawk must have changed how much shanks himself has changed. All this to say that I really think Shanks loves watching this version of Mihawk being domestic and having his little old lady hobbies.

He loves watching him cook and bake and talk about recipes and how to make sure the little gremlins under his care are getting the proper nutrients. He loves watching him tend to his garden with his ridiculously domestic sun hat, he loves watching him pick strawberries and put them into a little quicker basket and plant and harvest cocoa trees for Perona, and teach Zoro how to chop vegetables really fast and embroider his little flower patterns and read erotica and newspapers Like the same thing and take naps in the sun spot like a cat and interact with the kids and just he likes seeing Mihawk live his life because I will never come down from the hill that Shanks really kind of subconsciously worries about him and his loneliness and kind of the empty way he was living his life.

Cause like I think for shanks it’s such a jarring juxtaposition with the Mihawk that’s still freshest in his memories 10 years ago. 20 something young dangerous and wanted. Mihawk back then was probably the definition of vagabond literally bound to nothing and no one except occasionally shanks. Sailing around in a tiny ass boat with only wine and his sword a one man calamity.The Mihawk he remembers was always itching for a fight and would gladly start one. And because I headcannon Mihawk probably didn’t get his title till after his big blowout with shanks this is still a Mihawk with a lot to fucking prove and he’ll prove it every chance he gets. This is a Mihawk who still regularly accepts challengers and is also actively challenging people. This is a Mihawk that is hunting marines for sport (or revenge Or both) His life revolves around wine, sword-fighting, violence and blood shed and in the way only a man that doesn’t even realize how lonely he is it revolved around shanks.

I just think 20 something Mihawk had 1 friend and 1 hobby and hewas a lonely fuck who was so intensely single-mindedly putting all his energy into both he ends up kind of losing both (shanks crumples under the weights of his expectations and he literally positions himself so far above the crowd in swordsmanship and the one fight he actually does want to have is ruined for him that for a long period of time he doesn’t even experience the same joy that he used to while fighting it’s just another thing he can no longer fully indulge in) 20 something year old Mihawk was a discontent mess rapidly spiraling into depression and nihilistic boredorm and like Shanks can’t do anything about it because Mihawk won’t do anything about it he won’t even properly acknowledge it’s happening. And suddenly they aren’t friends anymore the love of his life literally walks out of it.

Pros : Perona, Shanks, Sanji are getting them YIPPEEE