Ever since the first time I read Bleach (I was there in the trenches at the very beginning), my favorite het ships have been Ichiruki and Ishihime. While I know I’ll continue picking up Ichiruki/ishihime vibes, I’m also going to try focusing on Ichihime and Renruki as I read. I’ve deep dived into plenty of Ichihime blogs/posts to understand where their feelings on the ship(s) came from (alongside the epilogue making it official), and I want to do my best to see the ship(s) through their eyes. I don’t suspect I’ll like them better by the end, but I would like to have a greater appreciation for them. I already love Orihime, so it’s be nice to enjoy her canon ship more.

All that said, I’m a multi-shipper and gay shipper first. So I’ll highlight a lot of things along the way.

I’ll be posting my thoughts as I’m reading here. I’ll tag it as RayeReads so feel free to block/ignore if need be.

And as a last note - there is so much ridiculous discourse in the Bleach fandom (example: Ichiruki being p*dophilia). If you’re sincerely curious about my take on all this discourse, you can send an ask. If you’re just here to troll, keep scrolling.

And I won’t be participating in the shipping wars. I’m just going to say this once: I know Kubo has finished the story/there is established canon. I have preferences for ships/plot points/character arcs which I’ll bring up as I go, fully aware that this will not change canon. I’m not trying to change canon. I don’t know Kubo. He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t care what I think. I don’t care what he thinks. I’m just a fan interpreting/critiquing the story he released. Since I’m not a person who thinks Authorial Intent supersedes Fan Interpretation, I like to engage in fandom with head canons/theories/interpretations/etc. this is in full knowledge that Kubo still doesn’t care and nothing I say will change things.

If you’re genuinely curious about my take on a ship, ask away. If you’re not, keep scrolling.

I’ve tagged this with a trigger warning but here’s another one: sexual assault/rape

Here we go…

Let’s start with something breezy! This is the perfect summation of Orihime’s panic response. We’ll see this in HM too. Sometimes I wish Bleach was a Shojo that had great action sequences. Or that it was written by a significantly better writer. Orihime is relatable and interesting and incredibly brave despite being terrified. She wishes she couldn’t see the hollow, but accepts she can and wants to protect her friends. This matches the themes (like Chad’s arc), and shows the similarity of Orihime, Chad, and Ichigo’s motivations… and Kubo makes this whole sequence disturbing instead of inspirational by mirroring it to rape and having Orihime’s clothes ripped off.

Sure, the hollow in this instance says it’s going to have everyone kill her. It says nothing of violating her, but Kubo drew the scene like this anyways. Kubo has her clothing get torn to the point you can see half of her bra. Kubo deliberately angled the panels this way and included so many men (where are the women being controlled outside of our names characters?), and we all know why.

It was exhausting to read.

Thankfully we have some TatsuHime as a pallet cleanser! Tatsuki is wonderfully protective of Orihime and incredibly capable of beating back the zombie hordes. I love her being eager to keep fighting while Orihime is a bit worried. Also, Tatsuki always beats up anyone who makes Orihime cry? Girlfriend material.

But it doesn’t last.

More rape/sexual assault imagery and the hollow actually specifies rape this time, which is horrific. We all know this hollow is disgusting, but Kubo felt the need to emphasize it.

Also, the hollow having heart shaped eyes in its mask is revolting. I guess credit where it’s due, Kubo. This hollow makes me want to vomit.

Also, more Orihime backstory!

Kubo actually describes Orihime with chestnut hair a few times, but official art has her with brow-orange hair. Regardless, I’ve read plenty of personal stories about Japan’s frustratingly rigid adherence to black hair, especially in schools. I wouldn’t be surprised if Orihime experienced this.

It makes my TatsuHime flag wave more, honestly. Tatsuki is a genuinely wonderful person, just like Orihime. Perfection!

This scene hits pretty hard though, because Tatsuki is being controlled and we get a chance to reflect on how important Tatsuki is to Orihime.

And boom! Orihime gains her powers because she wants to protect Tatsuki! Unequivocal! She gains her powers for her best friend! Also, I enjoy Orihime stepping up to the plate here. She’s devastated, traumatized, and the love she has for her friend pulls her through. Tatsuki has always protected her, so now she’ll protect Tatsuki!

Luckily, more pallet cleanser with Orihime’s new buddies… but…

Kubo trying to retcon himself literally a chapter later. This isn’t the first or last time he’ll do this though.

I know Kisuke later becomes the voice of the retcon, explaining that ichigo’s awakened spiritual powers awakened Chad and Orihime’s slumbering powers too, but come on… Ichigo doesn’t deserve all the credit! Yet Orihime’s own power-buddies highlight him and NOT Orihime’s selfless devotion to her friend. Maybe Ichigo started running the tap, but Orihime is the one who turned it on full blast! And it was because of Tatsuki. Ichigo’s already the Mc, he doesn’t need anyone hyping him up.

I also don’t and won’t remember those spirit-things names. They disappear by end of SS.

Now, let’s end on a high note.

Beat its ass, Orihime! Her powers are true ku amazing, and I’m sad we get so little development of them. We’ll see some growth and change for them, but yeah…

Well, that was terrible. Orihime deserved a better arc for gaining her powers, but here we are. At least there was TatsuHime.

There isn’t too much in this chapter, though we finally get some backstory on Chad! And it works as emotional payoff, even though we don’t know Chad that we’ll (his appearance has been minimal since he was introduced).

The mainstay of this chapter is Chad being a great guy as always! He saves his friends, saves Karin’s friends, saves Karin… Karin even likens Chad to Ichigo in that way (protecting people).

Also, great teamwork Karin and Chad! Honestly, the random pair up is kind of fun… it builds on Karin’s character too, which means I have to mention: what the heck is up with dropping this plot thread, Kubo? Karin being sensitive to spirits is mentioned a lot in the substitute shinigami arc! More than I ever remembered. We’ll see if it comes up in the little bit of human world shenanigans in HM, but I also remember it being a big deal in FB! And it goes nowhere! It really feels like he had a plan for it and ran out of space and time.

If anyone has any other explanations, I’d love to hear it! Because I’m at a loss.

Moving on…

Chad’s past! Our first glimpse! I like the character motivation that drives Chad forward. He’s strong, big, and he doesn’t want to hurt people because his Abuelo urged him not to. Chad’s power comes from wanting to protect people! It comes from wanting to do good… it’s really meshes well with the themes so far and with Ichigo’s own character arc. Ichigo gains his power to protect everyone, Chad does too!

Sometime I’ll go into this at length, but Ichigo is a great ‘motivator’ character. He experiences some character development, but mostly he’s a fixed personality; but that personality is so charismatic and just it ultimately makes everyone around him grow and change into something better.

If Ichigo hadn’t gotten his power, Chad (and Orihime) never would’ve gotten their’s. Likewise, Uryu and Rukia would never have grown and changed either! So many other characters get impacted by Ichigo too… it’s just cool!

Also, this is a great end to Chad’s fight! He’s so (un)cool! It’s also very Chad. He’s not a serious, angsty fighter type. He’s strong and brave and helps people… while also being kind and a bit corny.

Honestly, Chad’s slow disappearance through the arcs is such a waste. He’s a high quality character and Kubo doesn’t really do anything with him.

Ah well… Orihime is next!

I remember reading these Uryu chapters a thousand times over. Uryu is one of my favorite characters (both when I first read Bleach and now).

The humor of early Bleach is unmatched. I miss it in later chapters, honestly.

There’s a lot of humor between Ichigo and his friend group. I just picked this scene but there’s a lot in this arc! It’s also nicely juxtaposed with deep insight about Ichigo before we hop into Keigo’s humor. Also, the comedy of Ichigo and Chad ranking in the top 50 was perfect too.

Into the meat here…

Uryu’s introduction is excellent. We see him briefly in the Don Kanoji stuff, then his lurking presence is noted a few times before he finally reveals himself. It’s a great way to build suspense. Uryu comes across as a real threat and we get some nice world building on top of it. I’ll touch on that a bit later… overall, he gets style points for his introduction! Also, I’m a big fan of this Quincy cross design. The star is fine (though it always reminds me of a starfish), but you can’t beat how badass this version of the Quincy Cross is.

TatsuHime! And Orihime being excellent in general. I enjoy that she’s super smart (another reason to love IshiHime, but I digress). I wish Kubo put it to more use. Now, academic intelligence is different than, say, tactical or battle intelligence, but it’s specifically noted she’s smart… and she doesn’t have to be smart or a tactical genius to be important, I just wish Kubo highlighted her intelligence more. We see she’s somewhat emotionally intelligent, but that doesn’t make you top 3 in school tests scores. I don’t recall Orihime using her keen intellect for… anything, actually. Maybe it’ll happen in Soul Society, then I can be pleasantly wrong.

Since I’m cynical, I’d say Kubo added this only to build on the ‘big boob girl is kind of ditzy but surprisingly smart’ cliche. It’s why there’s no narrative payoff for this scene. She’s just smart but also has big boobs (Tatsuki even implies this).

Orihime is still the best though, so it’s whatever.

Moving on!

Uryu sewing! I love him. Also Orihime being crafty! IshiHime begins. I’ll wax poetic about this when we get there, but eventual IshiHime would’ve been my het-romance preference. It’d require good character growth for both Uryu and Orihime… Ah well.

Notably, Ichihime is showing up a bit here. Orihime is once again not speaking her true feelings and Ichigo is once again not noticing her feelings or concerns. If this actually improves on both fronts, the ship will have more sway with me. For now, Ichigo is completely oblivious and dismissive - though this makes a level of sense. They still aren’t good friends here. To him, Orihime is a nice friend of Tatsuki’s. He’s not going to share his thoughts with her. Meanwhile, Orihime would really like a connection with him, but is clumsy and awkward about how to achieve that. Other than losing a loved one, they don’t have much in common; and don’t have any similar interests or goals. He won’t talk to her and she can’t make him talk. One-sided love done perfectly, honestly.

Now the world building!

There’s some level of discourse out in the fandom about Kubo’s foreshadowing ability. For example, ‘Kubo knew about TYBW events (the history of the Quincy’s and Zangetsu) from the very start!’.

Ill keep this somewhat short. He didn’t.

He didn’t plan all 600+ chapters of his story from the start, and plot holes are everywhere. That doesn’t make him a bad writer (there are plenty of other things that make him a bad writer). Over 600 weekly chapters for a series that grows in complexity… of course there’ll be plot holes, plot devices, ret-con, and contradictions!

Here’s some proof (and for fun, I’ll point out more as they pop up).

The world building here is excellent. The Quincey were around, then 200 years ago they were exterminated (by Soul Society). A first hint Soul Society may not be “heaven” as previously described (though Soul Society has yet to be implicated). Uryu’s rage at Shinigami (especially after we learn about his grandfather in later chapters) makes perfect sense. Uryu’s reaction to Ichigo also makes sense. We also learn over the SS arc that Quincy are rare since they’ve been exterminated. Mayuri has some specifics he discusses in his fight against Uryu.

There’s absolutely zero indication that the Quincy are alive and kicking, that Ichigo is part Quincy (his spiritual energy is red for goodness sakes), or that 1000 years ago there was a big war and only 200 years ago did Soul Society decide to finish the job. Sure, once could say Kisuke is lying, or Ichigo’s spiritual energy is red because it’s related Rukia’s or because his Quincy powers aren’t awakened yet… but twisting ourselves into knots to “prove” Kubo planned this when the more obvious answer is right there?

I believe he had plans for the Quincy. He didn’t just introduce a rival “species” to Shinigami for fun. But there’s no way he knew the specifics. Later on, once he figured out the details, he ret-conned what he could, left plot holes for the rest, and viola! TYBW. No problem with that. That’s just showbiz.

Anyways… I prefer this level of world building and wish he would’ve fleshed out the 200 year old extermination instead of making everything so much grander in TYBW. Kubo’s strategy for Ret-con is mostly to add scaffolding instead of furnish the interior. Not my preference, but here we are…

Back to Uryu!

The hollow bait never comes back, but it’s an interesting concept! It was probably used by Quincy to attract hollows and keep them from killing communities… wonder what would happen if you used it in Huecho Mundo. Also, I imagine the bait is just spiritual energy (did he talk about its composition and I just ignored it?), but it’s be pretty funny if it was like catnip for cats. I digress…

I like that, up until now, we’ve only seen cool, composed Uryu. Now we see Uryu with righteous indignation! We see him being emotional and confrontational. I also love the recklessly protective characters, who actively try to protect everyone even when it puts those same people at risk. The ones who burden themselves with protecting others for their brand of Justice. It’s *chefs kiss* Such a contradiction in their characterization! Such complexities!

Also, IchiIshi begins. They were my first fave gay ship, and I still love them together. They grow together through the series and have excellent banter.

And for quick reference: No, I don’t believe Ichigo and Uryu are related. Yeah, Kubo had some throwaway lines in EBTR about Masaki being cousins with Ryuken, but this comes across as a front for the Ishida family. They bring her into the house, say she’s their cousin to avoid scandal, and eventually the plan would be Masaki and Ryuken get married. I actually happened upon some interesting information about foster care/orphans/unwanted children in Japan (while reading about one of my favorite video games). Like many places, there seems to be a stigma against orphaned/unwanted kids. It can even impact that person’s ability to get a job or housing. So Masaki being orphaned would’ve been a huge “stain” on the Ishida family. Ryuken could never be allowed to marry someone “like that”. So bringing her into the family, pretending she was a relative instead of a stranger, makes sense. I believe some level of cousin-marriage is allowed in Japan (like most places), so Ryuken marrying his “cousin” isn’t scandalous, but him marrying an orphan would’ve been. So, by bringing Masaki in, the Ishida’s get to keep one of the last pure-blooded Quincy close by to ensure her safety, and they avoid scandal. Masaki wasn’t brought into the family out of compassion (we can see that by how she’s treated). It was all political. Masaki is well aware of that too (Ryuken even mentions it).

Anyways…

There are great emotional stakes here. Uryu is purposefully doing this to prove a point. He’s being a reckless teenager with trauma and a grudge, and Ichigo ends up helping him through it. Yes, we’ll see Ichigo be super strong because he’s the MC and the shounen plot demands it, but the emotional storytelling here? Excellent.

I’m also excited to see Chad and Orihime gain their powers… we’re moving towards Soul Society! Full speed ahead!

Anyway, the next arc starts and ends with a comment about horoscopes. We see Ichigo’s dislike for things like that despite the fact they seem to be true…

Though, the only reason I’m bringing it up is because my favorite manga of all time has a part where one of the characters mentions his horoscope, saying “it’s supposed to be a bad day for Scorpios”. For Bleach, it’s supposed to be a bad day for Cancers.

We have some great moments with the rest of the cast doing Don Kanonji’s iconic laugh. I love Ichigo’s face when even Chad is doing it. I also like that it’s revealed later that Mizuiro is only doing it to annoy Ichigo.

There are also plenty of TatsuHime moments in this arc! I really wish Tatsuki didn’t mostly disappear after they go to soul society… at least she’s in HM some.

Also, Kubo gives us some interesting panels to consider:

The first is a good intersection between Ichigo and Orihime. It’s not romantic, but it’s our first glance into Orihime’s character beyond her bubbly friendly demeanor. We see her act… sad? Frustrated? With the complete disappearance of the background and Orihime repeating herself “yeah, you’re right… it’s normal… it’s normal…” even though she’s smiling she’s clearly conveying something else. My personal feeling is Orihime is surprised, and a bit upset, by Ichigo’s answer. I think she’d been hoping he came to the Don Kanonji thing to see her, and was surprised his real reason was so considerate. Her reason for being upset is two-fold. One, she’s sad Ichigo didn’t come to see her (I’m sure inside she knew it was foolish to hope for but couldn’t stop herself), and two, she really doesn’t think highly of herself or others. In her mind, Ichigo is truly an outlier. She may even think that she’d never do anything like that (even though she’s actually a very kind person). I don’t think she’s being mean with this line of thought, mind you. Instead, I feel like it’s hinting that Orihime isn’t just a kind, bubbly person - she’s multifaceted and complex, and can have feelings that contradict her “default” personality.

Regardless, it’s an honest interaction between the two. And probably the most personal outside of her introduction arc.

For the second panel, the thought of “kindness” comes back. Ichigo noticing how kind Rukia is, despite him thinking a basic level of kindness is normal. I’m not sure why Kubo’s juxtaposed this. Maybe it was an accident. But it’s interesting with Ichigo he says it’s normal to be kind, but then with Rukia he’s surprised by her level of kindness. It feels like Kubo’s continued efforts to showcase the main duo’s bond. Also, it leads nicely into some humor.

And more Tatsuhime!

I also like Orihime is the first one of the Karakura Gamg impacted by the spiritual pressure. Sure, we see Ichigo and Rukia, even Karin, but who’s sensitive enough to notice next? Who’s does Kubo identify? Orihime! We also have some low key Ichihime. I don’t think Orihime seeing Ichigo run off is peak ship material, but Kisuke seems to be alluding to the next arc (Uryu!), when he’ll confront Orihime and Chad about their powers and whether they want to help Ichigo. It’s noteworthy Kubo put Ichihime on the panel where Kisuke is alluding to the next big development in the story.

(Is Don Kanonji even going to show up in this review?) The rest of the story doesn’t do too much world building. The most important is the reference to the soul chain, which will come back later. Otherwise, we get some heroic ichigo, we get some of that humor I enjoy (ichigo- we can fight as long as Don Kanonji doesn’t show up! Kanonji- shows up), and an oddly emotional payoff for Kanonji’s arc. Especially since he’s mostly a throwaway character.

This was all clearly a buildup for Uryu and the subsequent chapters though.

So last thoughts:

“It’s my twin brother. Separated at birth” perfect humor.

This being told from Orihime’s POV? Oris it Ichigo’s… someone is thinking this. Sometimes Kubo does this and even when it’s clear who’s thinking it (Uryu’s monologue in SS and HM come to mind), we don’t get a sense of when it’s being said. Why is someone saying this in past tense? When are they saying it? (Is think after Rukia leaves, but why put that here?) I’m a bit torn between saying Kubo has a reason for this and I’m just too dense to figure it out, and that Kubo was just using a popular storytelling technique and it doesn’t have a specific reason, it’s only meant to foreshadow (some vague threat). Whatever. It’s not that deep.

And who do I spy on the horizon? The beautiful, the perfect, the wonderful Uryu Ishida!

The fight with Grand Fisher is intense. It’s well paced and well drawn.

It’s also the first time Ichigo is fighting on his own. We haven’t had a chance to see him use combat smarts, but he pulls it out in the end!

But jeez, Kubo wanted to make sure we all hated Grand Fisher, huh? Making Ichigo fight his mother brings the trauma straight into the spotlight though. Ichigo has to literally facedown his past to get stronger… not subtle, but it is effective.

Also, did I mentioned Ichiruki? They really do win in this arc. Ships aside, this is a powerful moment hinting at Rukia’s past. Ichigo’s fight is something she’s familiar with. And she’s terrified of losing Ichigo, but she knows she can’t interfere…

You can’t convince me Kubo knows about Rukia’s past yet, but that seems to be Ukitake? As I remember nothing about Rukia’s past other than Kaien’s death, I can’t say much more… but it’s apparent having to watch Ichigo fight is painful for Rukia. She wants to help, but knows she must let him fight alone.

And Ichigo kicks Grand Fisher’s butt!

Which is good because he’ll never see Grand Fisher again.

And even though Ichigo initially views this as a loss, the audience knows it’s a victory. Ichigo let’s his past get destroyed for the sake of seizing his future! One where he can protect everyone.

And who better to accent that point other than Rukia. It’s truly a touching scene between the two of them. And it’s such a classic trope that the concerned love interest thanks the unconscious love interest for not dying. Rukia is 100 percent falling for Ichigo here, and I’d wager Ichigo is starting to like Rukia more and more.

Obviously this is interpretation and not canon… but it’s trope compliant, haha! Kubo just doesn’t end up using them.

Also I need to talk about Orihime again.

She’s perfect. She’s so funny and has such a bright personality! I wish Kubo had kept the jokes up as the series went on…

We also have Orihime realizing she understands Ichigo better after Tatsuki’s story. I’m glad she understands him more… I can only hope Ichigo will eventually be given screen time to understand Orihime in the same way.

And to finish out MITR, the conclusion.

The first scene just gets me. I don’t know what it is about humor like that (“ten years ago-“ “six years”) but I just love it.

And then we have the emotional conclusion! Isshin comforting Ichigo. Ichigo finally realizes the reason no one blames him the way he does himself. We get some closure to the events that have haunted Ichigo, and it’s so beautiful that Isshin is the one who gets this moment with his son.

While Isshin is often used as a gag character and is sometimes made into a pervert, even for his own family, I like serious Isshin. Wish we got to see more of him.

On a related note, I don’t recall Everything but the Rain having Masaki comment on Isshin’s hands while smoking. It didn’t happen in the anime, but obviously scenes were cut for time, so maybe it’ll be in the manga. I hope so. What a quirky thing to mention only to never bring it up again when you have the chance.

And now everyone say goodbye to Grand Fisher because we won’t see him again until the beginning of HM. Also, at the very end of MITR, we see Grand Fisher being reborn into a stronger version of himself. Where is he supposed to be? I’d guess Huecho Mundo, since nowhere else seems appropriate. It really feels like a dropped plot threads since Grand Fisher beefs up and swears revenge on Ichigo, only for him to become a throwaway villain for Isshin to kill. I am glad Isshin gets to kill him though… just wish it’d been in grander fashion. And maybe with Ichigo tagging along. They both deserve some revenge, but it is what it is.

Anyways. It was fun to reread MITR. It’s one of those arcs you “know” but the details are hazy.

The biggest exploration of our characters so far, with Ichigo’s past being revealed. It will later be revealed even more in different conflicting ways, but we’ll focus on MITR for now.

I thought it was an interesting contrast to start the arc with Ichigo being relatively normal. We start with his thoughts on protecting people and then cut to a normal morning with Kon and Rukia. It’s not until Ichigo looks at his watch that he realizes it’s almost the anniversary of his mom’s death.

Ichigo finally has a way to protect his friends and family, something he’s been yearning for. And having those powers has really brought him out of his ‘rebellious punk ways’. He’s becoming happier. And then he sees the date and reality comes crashing down again.

Then comes the exploration of Ichigo’s angst!

But first - Orihime! She’s fantastic once again! I love the picture she drew for her future self. Also, TatsuHime alert!

I am glad Kubo had Orihime notice Ichigo was off. Though it’s another instance of ‘how did everyone not notice?’. Orihime’s Friend 1 says Ichigo is in such a good mood… does she really not think somethings off since the usual scowl is gone from Ichigo’s face? And then Tatsuki says it took her three years to notice he was faking it around his mothers anniversary? To her credit, Ichigo used to be friendly and smiley so maybe she hoped he was finally moving through his trauma? But still, when your childhood friend’s personality changes post-mom-death, no part of you wonders if he’s faking his sudden chipperness on the anniversary of said mom’s death? It’s an odd choice on Kubo’s part.

Regardless, Orihime’s empathic abilities are active again. She’s smart and can read people’s emotions decently well… she just doesn’t know what to do with that information. She can figure out what people are feeling, but can’t figure out how to talk to them (we’ll see this in action later).

Also, I’m a bit tired of Kubo having Orihime notice things about Ichigo, but not having Orihime and Ichigo interact in any meaningful fashion. At this stage, Ichigo is still an acquaintance with Orihime. When do they start becoming actual friends? Kubo, I’m waiting!

Moving on!

It’s time for Ichiruki. It really shines in this arc. Even looking at it platonically, this arc is pivotal to their growing bond. We see their emotional connection deepen as they go through an important interpersonal conflict.

Rukia has noticed Ichigo’s mood and is trying to cheer him up, then chastises him for wanting to skip practice only for Ichigo to drop this bombshell! Also, Ichigo and Rukia haven’t known each other long and Ichigo still reveals this to her. I think it shows the depth of their current bond, because this isn’t information Ichigo shares with anyone else. I’m fairly confident he never tells anyone else about this (on screen), so him sharing it with Rukia showcases his trust in her.

Alternatively…

Tatsuki has to share this information with Orihime (instead of Ichigo sharing it). Tatsuki really has no right to share such personal information, but whatever…

And I get that this is mostly a narrative tool for the audience. We get some insight into the past Ichigo couldn’t/wouldn’t share; but we can’t ignore how Kubo choose to deploy this narrative tool. Not having Ichigo share his past with Orihime is a bad move on Kubo’s part. This won’t be the last time Ichigo doesn’t relay important information to Orihime about himself. And it’s a shame, because this kind of emotional intimacy really should go to Ichihime but Ichiruki gets it instead.

And it wouldn’t even be that big of a deal if this didn’t become a trend in Kubo’s writing. I “get it” right now. Ichigo and Orihime are still acquaintances. But I can’t excuse later arcs. Who knows, maybe I’ll have changed my mind when I get there, but I distinctly remember Orihime meeting a brick wall in FB when trying to talk to Ichigo. She once again knows somethings wrong but he won’t tell her anything.

Putting that aside, the interpersonal conflict between Ichigo and Rukia continues! Importantly, it’s because Rukia is still working on understanding Ichigo. She hasn’t realized yet that he blames himself for his mom’s death…

But when she realizes it, oh man! It’d a drop in the stomach. The paneling is great here as we ramp up the emotional drama right before the big fight.

I also love what this does for Rukia’s character. She’s always so brash and serious. She acts older than she is, trying to impose an air of superiority, but it crumbles as Ichigo bares his soul to her.

And we see her go through a big character change here. She reflects on what she said and by the end of the arc, she’s matured some. She’s figuring out how to talk to people, something she’s been struggling with since chapter one.

And it obviously means a lot to Ichigo. Famously, Kubo brings this line back hundreds of chapters later when Ichigo is talking to Isshin. Its clear Rukia is having a profound impact on Ichigo. And while not the focus, Ichigo is having a profound impact on Rukia (see my above point). When people ask why I like Ichiruki, these are the scenes I point to. Their emotional bond, their trust of one another… it’s just beautiful.

And then there’s Grand Fisher.

Nightmare fuel.

I also miss Kubo’s gag humor, which decreases as the series goes on. Maybe he thought the story was more whimsical at first, but as it became more serious less whimsy was needed? It’s not gone, but we don’t get gems like this:

And here’s the main man himself!

This scene just gets me. “Early to bed, early to rise”. Just perfect.

Also, Orihime is back! I was hoping she’d show up again soon. She’s so cute. Plus, a huge shoutout to the Tatsuhime in this arc. They’re such a cute ship.

Also. That’s not how weight works Kubo.

In all seriousness, if I could get Kubo to listen to me on one thing, it’d be not increasing Orihime’s bust size in FB, TYBW, and the epilogue.

We get it Kubo. She’s busty. And this isn’t a criticism at Orihime’s character. She’s clearly more than her physical appearance. This is a criticism of Kubo’s design choice. Orihime is already busty, and Kubo increases that. For what purpose? We all know why in our heart of hearts.

Also - a quick note. Orihime’s friends are in this chapter, Chizuru and Others. I dislike Chizuru’s portrayal. She’s “perverted” for comedy purposes which I dislike as a trope. Kon falls into this category too. So suffice it to say anytime there’s comedy about a woman being bothered/groped, know I’m sighing and rolling my eyes. As this is by far not the last time this trope will impact Orihime, I’ll save my lengthy thoughts for another day.

Moving on…

Orihime says she “smells Ichigo” which is supposed to be funny (I’m with Tatsuki on this one: Girl, what?) and Kon appears to flirt with her (Tatsuki looks ready to murder. No one touches her girlfriend!).

Importantly Orihime is the only one who noticed Kon isn’t Ichigo. Though I’m more surprised the others didn’t notice. Do they really think Ichigo leapt up to the third floor window? Does Tatsuki really think Ichigo hardcore flirted with her and Orihime?

I think this shows Orihime is smarter than one might give her credit for. Yes she’s hopelessly in love with Ichigo, but she’s not stupid.

Also, here’s Ichigo freaking out about kissing girls. And while Ichigo says it’s embarrassing, the paneling doesn’t make it seem like flustered-embarrassment, more like mortified-embarrassment. Look. Here’s my thesis. Kubo is 100 percent not writing Ichigo to be gay/bi but he accidentally made Ichigo into a gay/bi icon by refusing to show him engage with women. He blushes at women, sure, but does he connect with them, really? Or are most of his emotional connections with men? I’ll have plenty of time to prove my thesis. And there’s so much evidence (I’m only half kidding). He also has a lot of Ace coding… look. I’m going to make all of these characters LGBT+ and no one can stop me.

Also, Ichigo freaking out over his image being ruined! I like Rukia being confused. Even though she’s growing fonder of Ichigo, she hasn’t quite realized his tough guy act is a facade (don’t worry, Rukia, MITR is next…)

But seriously… Kon! His backstory is so interesting! His character fits in well with the early themes Kubo is establishing! Will we ever learn more about Kon (no). Will we ever learn more about Kon’s past (no). So much potential… But he’s relegated to comic relief instead. I have to guess Kubo meant for that to happen give how quickly Kon becomes a gag, but I wonder if he ever meant to pick up mod-souls again. We have a brief mention of them in TYBW, and that’s it to my memory. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I mean… we could’ve had more of this:

Very cool!

Well, onwards to MITR.

We still got a good intro for Chad.

Also, I wish this came up more! Chad has a weakness for cute things? There should’ve been some Uryu&Chad scenes since Uryu has a skill for sewing, but what he creates isn’t necessarily cute.

Anyways, we see how strong Chad is, and that’ll play into his power later. I enjoy that even without his awakened powers he’s able to stop a steel bar from crushing his friends and rip a literal telephone pole out of the ground. It makes you wonder why Kubo gives Chad so many Ls by the end of the series…. Maybe I’ll have more insight by the end. For now, Chad for the win! And while I’m mostly neutral on Chad’s character because Kubo really does leave Chad in the dust, I’ll still root for him! He’s also got a cool character design.

Besides the running around, there’s also plenty of Ichiruki. While I see a blossoming romance, the key takeaway is their growing bond. But first: Rukia’s being cute.

Followed by Mizuiro and Keigo both commenting about Ichigo and Rukia as possibly dating. Look, this is the clearest example of ‘everyone knows the two characters like each other except the two characters’. Super common trope. It usually evolves once one of them realizes their feelings…

What’s with that smile, Rukia? Are you catching feelings?

In different news, I know Ichigo and Chad’s past and I’d thought it came up in this arc. I’m surprised it didn’t. I’m not sure when it’ll show up. I think Ichigo has a flashback in Soul Society, at a minimum? Do we have to wait that long? Hopefully we get more hints sooner. With such an intense character focus in Orihime’s arc, I really thought Chad’s character focus was up next, but we don’t even get his backstory. But we do see he’s super strong, so that’s something.

(A literal telephone pole)

My only other comments are about Ichigo’s pure rage at the hollow’s big reveal. While I don’t think the hollow being a serial killer and tricking the boy-bird into finding him victims was a huge plot twist (because the boy-bird is so obviously good and the hollow is so obviously bad), I do think Kubo is giving us the smallest hint to how Ichigo feels about his own mother’s death (which was mentioned this chapter). I kind of wish Kubo had explored this more in regards to Ichigo’s character…

We rarely see him enraged. I don’t even remember a time we see him this gleefully vindictive unless he’s a Vasto Lorde. I’m almost positive the hollow inside him hasn’t awoken yet, so this is just pure Ichigo Fury.

As an aside, I wonder how Chad feels about this reveal. We don’t know because Ichigo takes front and center as soon as he shows up (the opposite of what happened with Orihime). Interesting to compare/contrast Orihime’s intro arc to Chad’s.

Random thoughts:

Ichigo slowly acknowledging he cares about Rukia.

Also…

I saw someone mention that Isshin is talking to the hospital here, which means when he says “tell your manager this is a request from Kurosaki”, he means to tell Ryuken. Perhaps? Also, got to love corner-Ichigo.

And… is Rukia being serious here?

The top panel, where she hesitates and is fumbling with what to say almost makes me think she’s not? But I think I might be trying to retcon for Kubo.

I think Rukia means what she’s saying here. When Kubo wrote this, he really thought Soul Society would be these things. He didn’t know the structure of Soul Society, so he didn’t have much to say about it. Then he changed his mind. He gave soul society have extreme poverty outside the beautiful seireitei. We know Rukia had to steal to survive while living in poverty, so do souls really never get hungry? We also know soul society is not 9 times out of 10 better than the human world… also, boy-bird won’t remember who he is when he gets there. His mom won’t remember him either. They never meet again.

So I believe the original intention was to show how bad Rukia is at comforting people/knowing what to say. She showcased that in the first chapter and will again in MITR. It’s part of her character growth… and here she realizes that the boy-bird is scared, sad, worried, and she should say something to comfort him but doesn’t know what that is.

Orihime is so perfect…

The car hurt her. Kill it.

Also, this arc gives us some more details about hollows and gives us some more character building. Even though the details of what hollows are seem to become irrelevant as the series goes on, it’s still neat.

I also enjoy Ichigo and Rukia training together (I miss that from later arcs).

We also get our proper introduction of Orihime and Ichigo, and true interactions between them. Orihime is as precious as always, and I like seeing protective Ichigo. Though he does get a bit exasperated with her nonchalance regarding her injuries. Also, RukiHime begins!

From a reader POV (pretending I’m the target demographic of teenage boy), I can see how Orihime is gearing up to be a love interest. Her clear crush on Ichigo is classic in shounen, but (more importantly) she’s shown as someone Ichigo is protective of. The reader is supposed to identify with Ichigo, meaning they’ll feel protective of Orihime too. Ichigo protecting someone isn’t unique to Orihime, but she is the first character to get this treatment.

Now this is an important scene:

I do see a lot of I/H fans say they’re childhood friends, but Ichigo is clear that they’re not close. It’s not the biggest deal, but they are near strangers. He goes on to say he’s only recently learned that Orihime was the same girl from this incident.

Aside from ships, Kubo is setting us up for a kickass reveal. As someone who hasn’t reread the series in awhile, I actually had a “woah!” moment…

I think the build up to this reveal was excellent! And leaving the chapter with this page is perfect suspense. I know hollows are the ‘corrupt’ human souls, but a lot of that nuance disappears later in the series. It was actually surprising to read this “reveal” because it kind of doesn’t mean anything by the end of the series…

Also TatsuHime.

And there are more cute Orihime fantasies involving Ichigo. She really is precious. I love her.

That bear hurt her. Kill it.

This arc is a great way to tell us about hollows, Orihime, and the soul chain (which comes back!). Especially in these earlier arcs, you can tell Kubo was keeping notes of what he’d brought up, because it’s inevitably come back again. Great writing.

But I do want to talk about this scene:

I’ve seen some cool parallels on here from much smarter people than me - they highlight how Orihime’s brother issues and Rukia’s brother issues are somewhat similar. While the parallels might extend further than I’d give Kubo credit for, I can’t deny them outright. Ichigo’s speech to Sora isn’t verbatim what he gives Byakuya, but the feeling is the same. Byakuya does say he’d let his own sister die (we’ll see if he specifically says he’ll kill her. If memory serves, he says he’d kill her himself if need be… oh my beloved Byakuya. So dramatic). Man, Ichigo is just correcting family issues left and right in the beginning of this series! I’m actually a bit sad some of these familial elements disappear later on… but this narrative of Ichigo challenging the status quo, of him using his grit and charisma to make people change for the better (Sora letting himself be sent to soul society, Byakuya eventually saving Rukia and mending his bond with her, rapid fire: Uryu, Renji, all the captains…) this is quality Bleach. The story eventually gets bogged down in character fights and we lose these themes and the focus on characters. It’s so nice to have this time to spend with Orihime and let her shine while Ichigo’s mostly in the background.

Anyways - I think this arc gives us so much for Orihime’s character! She’s such a strong kind-hearted person.

The hollow hurt her. Kill him.

More proof of Orihime’s love for Ichigo in Kubo’s paneling here… and also some great insight into Orihime. I think it’s so easy to brush her off as an air-headed big boobed love interest when she’s really a compassionate, caring, empathetic person. She doesn’t want other people to be sad, she tries very hard to make everyone happy… she’s so sweet! And some may say that she’s cliche or whatever, but so what??? Not every character needs to be Super Unique and Total Different. She embodies the cliche well, filling it out and bringing her own charm too. I really don’t have a problem with her. Also, I like that Kubo later makes some of her traits flaws so we can explore her character later. It’s neat!

Also… Kubo, can I ask you a question?

When the heck did Ichigo and Orihime have a conversation about her hairpins? We don’t need to see it onscreen, but Ichigo made it clear earlier in this arc that he doesn’t know her very well. I guess Orihime would be the nervous type to blurt this kind of information out if Ichigo even mentioned them casually, but you expect me to believe Ichigo noticed those hairpins when he didn’t notice the giant bruise on her leg? I can see why some people think they’re better friends at the start of the manga than they’re supposed to be. Kubo doesn’t even seem to remember from chapter 3 to chapter 6.

I think her crush is so cute. She’s such a delight! I’m hoping to see her feelings develop some. Right now, her crush is very much based in fantasy (very typical for a young high schooler, so can’t blame her) - here she says she likes imagining his grimacing face, and then cracks up at her own imagination. It’s certainly not a real reason to like someone, though if memory serves we get a better feeling for why she likes him in a few chapters (when we explore Orihime’s past). It’s still cute though. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t wave my TatsuHime flag here. I’ll always stan Tatsuki and Orihime even as Kubo slowly decreases Tatsuki’s screen time to zero.

Also -

The beginning of my love for Ichiruki. They’re already making each other better people.

More importantly, Ichigo is establishing himself as the person who’ll go and save all of his friends during the series. Both Rukia and Orihime (and Uryu to some extent) will later be surprised by Ichigo going to save them even though he literally says, “I save him because I wanted to save him.” He’s such a hero type.