In retrospect, Lieutenant Sasakibe should have stepped in to save the lieutenants from Ayon instead of Yamamoto.
In the whole Fake Karakura Town arc, Sasakibe was tasked with guarding the barrier that enclosed the FKT fights despite him being Yamamoto's right hand man and captain level due him having a Bankai in his TYBW flashback. (Yes I know Kubo didn't plan his character out and gave a more concise reason why he mainly stayed by Yamamoto's side instead of fighting on the frontlines but I think in the Winter War against Aizen, the stakes are much higher to take action himself.)
Almost every lieutenant except Sasakibe in these battles had a moment for their character, even Iba got one where he lectured Ikkaku but it still displays his dedication to the Gotei 13 and holding another officer accountable for failing their duty. (Honestly, it makes him being Squad 7’s captain after TYBW a perfect choice despite lack of feats).
Instead, while Yamamoto is setting Ennetsu Jigoku up, Sasakibe can make up for the Captain-Commander's inaction in the battle by fighting in his stead as his right-hand man. It would be a good way to display his strength and show him saving the other lieutenants as a lieutenant himself. Since Hisagi's lightning kido didn't work on Ayon, Sasakibe's Shikai would be a demonstration of the difference between an elemental Kido and elemental Kido-type zanpakuto considering his own skilled lightning/weather control. (Also, he could fight the Tres Bestia afterwards while leaving Harribel to Toshiro, a fellow shinigami that also controls weather.)
Compared to how he was easily taken out in the Soul Society arc by Ichigo, this rewritten moment serves to re-introduce his character as a lieutenant like the fight against Findor did for Hisagi who was beaten by 5th seat Yumichika in Soul Society before his ability was revealed. This leads up to him in TYBW where his death/flashback can be more impactful to the viewer. Plus, Hisagi is present when Driscoll uses Sasakibe's Bankai so him previously being saved by that same lieutenant adds to the moment's weight of witnessing the stolen Bankai being used against Yamamoto.
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I'm very much mentally debating on revision the arcs Substitute Shinigami to Soul Society or just leaving the be going straight for the arc after (Bount Arc or, mayhaps, a rewriting of the first movie...since the Valley of Screams is apparently canon)
The thing is, I feel the Substitute Shinigami Arc and all the way to the Soul Society Arc is actually fine. I did think about trying out alternative approaches and maybe even some changes because of what we know now (if anime watchers had seen the revival anime, boy howdy!)
...Wait. I don't think I've ever given the reason for this project. Well, it comes down to what I believed to be the main cast of Bleach: Ichigo (duh), Rukia (double duh), Uryu, Orihime, Chad, and maybe Renji.
Not sure about anyone else, but the ones whom I thought to be part of the main cast (namely Uryu, Orihime, and Chad) verrrrry often gets pushed off to the side in favor of the other Shinigami.
Look, I get it. I love the Gotei 13 (Byakuya and Yumichika, my husbandos, and Rangiku and Unohana, my wifus), but...come on.
So, I actually called my project the Six Heart Project (as it's the charas I believe are the main cast). I want to give more attention to these six characters. Obvy, Renji is more of an antagonist for most of the start arcs up until the end of the Soul Society arc.
All this to have a poll asking if I should just go on ahead to rewrite stuff after the Soul Society arc or include the Soul Society arc and everything else before for a soft reboot. If I do the latter, I might need some assistance on how to improve the arcs, if there is anything to add or remove or work around, all that. Extra eyes and brains would be appreciated cuz my brain is somewhat overworking itself trying to figure it out.
Obvy, I will give credit.
Include Substitute Shinigami to Seireitei arcs in Rewrite or Skip it?
Include Substitute Shinigami to Seireitei (Might need assistance)
Skip those arcs
Voting ended onMay 24, 2025
Not gonna lie...I honestly don't wanna deal with ships...because they are nerve wrecking.
I'll be honest I'm kind of weird in my relationship with headcanon and fanfic in that I'm kind of not all that engaged with characters as characters, if that makes sense? I'm not the type to get hung up on "he would not say that" sort of quibbles, or really dwell freefloating in the spaces inbetween canon characterization the way a lot of fanfic writers, or RPers, or stans or shippers or whatever else you'd call it do. I can appreciate the need or the preference to do so but it doesn't really call to me the way it seems to to them. So what I tend to do is try and round up all the otherwise loose bits of canon trivia and try and piece them together, only loosely speculating about things that havent happened based on their adjacency to things that have. I dunno if that makes any sense at all as a distinction...
Anyway point being is that the fact that I've never thought very hard about how old the Visored are individually/relatively sort stems from that M.O. but also I can definitely figure out what my own existing headcanon would imply is the answer to that question, and so that's what I'm going to do.
(And to be clear I'm not really going to fuss about the ages, relative or otherwise, within the strict canon of completed manga so much as I'm going to take my headcanon/AU for the character concepts and run with things from there. That might not make sense right now, but it should clear itself up as I get going.)
oh boy this got long...
So as a refresher on the AU I never wrote: Given their introduction between vol.21-26, my headcanon is that the Visored were never a bunch of gotei captains and lieutenants, they were a bunch of humans, each became something like a substitute shinigami in their own right, and then had those powers taken from them, at which point Urahara conveniently appeared and took advantage of each of their desperation to get their powers back to experiment on them, working out the system he'd eventually use on Ichigo. So it's not only the hollow aspect as an impurity, but the fact that they (re)obtained their shinigami skills in spite of being stripped of their substitute shinigami status that makes them criminals. But in the process, each of them would either be abandoned or otherwise escape Urahara's "care" and/or observation.
Given the implicit consequences of the Shattered Shaft method, and Bleach's general world building, the elephant in the room we never had addressed was that because Ichigo and in this interpretation of their premise, the Visored, all had their soul chains severed, thus separating their soul from their body, making them ghosts. That in mind, I consider them all to have stopped aging when the Visored process took place, and THAT is where I anchor most of them to certain time periods based on their basic design and sense of style. (technically I do sort of head canon them as all having been turned in the 1970s, thus ~30years prior to the start of Bleach, which is, ya know, the right age for the father of a 15yo to have been about 15 30 years ago... but if i just left it at that it'd be kind of boring, so I'm letting these age ranges drift a little, if only to make this whole thought experiment more interesting.)
So for starters, I associated Shinji with the British Jazz-Rock and Mod scenes of the 1960s: the hair, the teeth, the ugly ties, the scolor scheme, even the trenchcoat he wore the one time at random, the only thing he was missing was a moped. I also very specifically think of him as a Pete Townshend analog for some reason. So given that he passed as a 15yo highschooler in Karakura, I'm going to say I think he was 15 when he was turned in 1965, so it aligns with The Who's release of the song My Generation. So that puts Shinji's birth in 1950.
The easiest to nail down actually would just be Mashiro, since she clearly borrows from very Himitsu Sentai Go-ranger specifically, but also Kamen Rider more generally. That puts a cap on how old she could be at 1975 as the airdate of the original Super Sentai series. It's hard to judge her age considering she's so distinctly childish, but it's kind of implied that even supernatural aging aside, she's immature for her age. It's an arbitrary call to make, but I'm gonna say she was 10 in 1975 when the tokusatsu thing left an impact on her, but got turned when she was older and just never grew out of it. So born 1960.
Another somewhat straight forward one to pin down is Kensei, who I associate with the Vietnam War, and implicitly the 1969 lottery draft, and the US Military occupation of Okinawa as a launch pad into Vietnam. Although historically the actual draft applied only to those born between 1944-1950, making any draftee who deployed in 1970 at least 20yo, and I see the Visored as kind of explicitly teens, so I'll say he wasn't drafted but volunteered and was 18 in 1970 and when he was turned. That makes him born in 1952.
(I could have alternatively nailed him down to the 1980s bosozoku scene on account of his later theming, but the super distinctive cargo pants, combat boots, short hair, and a rubber grip combat knife all point to more of a military theme than a biker thing --also there's some military motif in one of his random attacks to boot. Although arguably that style of knife grip is even more modern, but I don't get the impression Kubo was thinking about it that hard, just about whether it gave off the right (para)military vibe.)
Funny enough Risa is one of the harder ones to really tie to a time period, as her classic sailor-fuku could be placed anywhere from the 1920s to the 1980-90s when they started falling out of style. Notably though they have a stronger association with middle school than high school, and Risa is also a pervert, so I want to say she's wearing it as a fetish thing, rather than as an actual student. That in mind, the school girl fetish really took off in the 80s and hit its peak in the 90s just before social awareness and political actions to try and curb the trend started being put into place. (Oh and I forgot, her Visored mask is a Gyan from Mobile Suit Gundam, so that already caps her at 1979.)
(I was also going to add something about Comiket and the birth of the doujin market, but that actually overlaps with this timeline already so it doesn't really narrow things down at all. It's pretty arbitrary but I'm gonna pin her to 1984 as the date the term "Cosplay" was first used. Assuming she was also 18 at the time, that makes her born in 1966)
(There's ALSO a weird thing in one of her attacks, and the general style of her shikai, and very very loosely a possible Chun-li reference that all seem to suggest she's got a bit of a chinese thing going on too? but I don't see how it gels with the rest of it, and it's just kind of a deadend to look further into. Technically there's a whole character type of the fujoshi/female otaku being very into chinese historical/fantasy, so like... maybe that because ti woud mesh with the general otaku vibe of the school girl uniform??? Theres a reason I didn't pursue this angle...)
Rose, I could try and triangulate the whole bishounen trend in 70s shoujo manga, but I'm gonna be lazy and just say he's the same age a Bjorn Andresen and born in 1955 as that more or less lands him right smack dab in the timeframe I would've ended up pinpointing anyway, give or take. For technicality's sake I'll say he was turned at 17, thus technically qualifying him as a proper bishounen and not just bidanshi, making him turned in 1972.
Hacchi is so hard to work with in this context... So long as this is all just headcanon anyway I'm gonna let go of even loose anchors to canon and just say his whole tux getup is a host club thing. (I know that doesn't quite feel right, even to me, but I gotta pick something instead of just juggling "maybes" and "sortas" for forever... I can't really match the look to much else eotherwise... Like a wedding caterer maybe? One half of a classic Japanese standup comedy act? Some kind of a stage magician?) Host clubs only really took off in the late 90s, peaking in the 2000s. Considering the range of dates on the other members this does kind of afford him the chance to be older, although it's sort of weird if he's the only physical adult in the whole group... If I call him 25 at the tail end of the slow decline post 80s bubble economy pop, around 2002, then that makes him born in 1979. (if i shift that back to the start of the pop in 1992, it slides him more in line with the others at 1957, but then he's kind of out of the range of the host club thing.... I dunno, man, Hacchi's an enigma... He really is maybe the absolutel single biggest wrench in this whole thing, which is a damn shame because he's maybe my favorite visored.)
(love that the little cartoon in the sweatpants was the exact thing that showed up when i googled guudara[ぐうたら]:"lazybones; good-for-nothing; idler; slacker; loafer")
It took me a second to remember who I'd missed. Love and his weird slacker, drop out, tracksuit thing scream 80s to me, and technically the whole adidas tracksuit look was in fact a 70s-80s thing. it's a much less specific kinda look than some of the others where it can be tied to specific characters, titles, and authors, or historical events... I'm gonna go out on a limb with this one and just tether it to 1984 and the release of the Run-DMC album, if only because they're the only specific names I can tie to the tracksuit look, rather than just a general casualwear trend. If Love was, say, 17 in 1984, he'd have been born in 1967.
And then that just leaves Hiyori.... Hers is such a general look that I have like zero idea where to place it. It falls into a similar time span as Love's with the track suit thing. but then she's got that mountain hick country bumpkin sorta thing going for her, which suggests she's kind of out of style, so then is her tracksuit look sort of out of date? She very specifically has some general parallels with Kumiko, in the manga Gokusen as a homely, spunky, firebrand kinda gal. If I consider that Gokusen came out in 2000, and had Kumiko be 23yo, then if I map that onto Hiyori, she'd have been born in 1977? But clearly turned very early as she's by far the youngest of the Visored physiologically.
BDAY - name (age apparent/real)
MAY 10, 1950 - Shinji (15/55)
JUL 30, 1952 - Kensei (18/53)
MAR 17, 1955 - Rose (17/50)
SEP 8, 1957 - Hacchi (25/48)
APR 1, 1960 - Mashiro (16/40)
FEB 3, 1966 - Risa (18/39)
OCT 10, 1967 - Love (17/38)
AUG 1, 1977 - Hiyori (13/28)
I guess the only thing I'd do to manually tweak these is nudge a few years around to more evenly space them out... Maybe make Mashiro a Visored before Kensei, because I feel like that's how their some of their conversations in the early arc pointed. I can't figure out if I feel like Hiyori gives off the vibes of being the first or the last recruited Visored... I like that she bosses others around like she has seniority, but also she seems like the most inexperienced and rough around the edges, as well as the overt comparison to Ichigo. Although actual age-vs-apparent age aside, the order in which they were actually recruited into the ramshackle gang they are is a timeline all its own.
Again though, I think of the Visored as that ramshackle band of undead kids squatting in an abandoned factory hoping the samurai death cops don't find them, or the mad scientist that threw them into a hole in the first place --half of them convinced that the whole process was a mistake and who just want to not have a monster inside them anymore, and that the hogyoku is the key to turning them back, but then at least Shinji secretly convinced that he's just a god in the making and wants to hougyoku to push the transformation even further.(ala the general thrust of the Fullbringer premise) The ones Ukitake betrayed for the sake or balance and order, ala his yinyang theming. The one he's secretly using ichigo to monitor via the substitute badge. Rather than just a bunch of weird coworkers who had one bad night and then just sat around doing nothing for like 100 years.
(Again, see all the odd little details of how they were introduced that later got steamrolled or just outright ignored: Urahara and Isshin talking as if they're not in touch with the Visored. Hiyori's between-two-worlds talk with Shinji emphasizing the line between humans and shinigami. Hiyori and Shinji having signs of a practiced recruitment process they're using with Ichigo. Kensei not being at all familiar with Mashiro's training process. Kensei thinking Orihime slipping thru the barrier could've been another visored, as if it's just assumed there are an indeterminate number of others out there unaffiliate with them. etc... yadda yadda.. I've made this post somewhere before, right? or has it only ever popped up in bits and pieces?)
Anyway all that just to reiterate that this whole exercise is less preoccupied with trying to make any particular "sense" out of the manga's canon backstory, and more just a pulling on loose threads of my own headcanon.
(Oh, and because there wasn't any better place to throw it in there: in this headcanon, Shinji was Isshin's substitute 30 years ago.)
El Caesar's answer: I’d try to find a narrative reason to introduce the elements of Bleach that often end up outside of the manga adaptation
This would actually be a really cool rewrite and a really cool way to fully flesh out the story while also giving it an interesting end. I like the change in Yhwach's motivation, the deal he made with Yamamoto. It makes it more compelling and also kinda makes Ichigo's powers less Gary Sue-esque, I guess. Him having a part of Hogyoku, a part of the Soul King within him, thus stabalizing his soul when he was a child because I'm pretty they said somewhere that he should've been torn in the womb for being a hybrid mess of Shinigami-Hollow-Quincy-Human. His powers kind of being sealed so he could a human was Kisuke's wish for Hogyoku so it did that but over time, Ichigo grew stronger and more aware of spirits.
Rukia and the Hogyoku Aizen planted inside her kickstarting his powers makes their whole friendship way more awesome as well because they're actually connected in a spiritual way. It makes Aizen and Ichigo's final fight more impactful-- the two halves of the Hogyoku fighting
Ichigo sealing his own powers away after Aizen is gones but slowly getting them back. Ginjo hearing about him and his powers and becoming interested. He wants to steal the Hogyoku in Ichigo but ends up only stealing a portion of it. Ichigo, believing that he had now lost his powers indirectly sealed them once more and Rukia comes back to kickstart it once more because even if the half of the hogyoku that had been in her is gone, some of it's reiatsu lingered and that came through in their connection along with all the other captains reiatsu
Ichigo gets his powers back and blah blah blah but rather than Ginjo training Ichigo and all that shit, it's more of Orihime and Chad's arc where he only joined because he was unwilling to leave them to this weird shady guy that wouldn't leave him the fuck alone
The whole thing about the zero squad and Yhwach using Ichigo to find where them and the Soul King were hidden is a really cool idea as well
Having the Soul King actually have a consciousness rather than being sealed away in an orb and a mutilated body kinda sounds like a cool idea too. Him making the conditions of the SS better (especially for RUKONGAI, yes I'm fucking bitter about that)
I'd be content with that sort of ending but if you wanna include the hell arc you can still do all the same shit as canon cause I'm pretty sure it was stated in one of the light novels that the Soul King didn't do anything to Hell beyond closing the gates
But in comes Kazui the even weirder hybrid. Who apparently sends innocent souls to hell behind his parents back??
But whatever. Yk those creepy hollows from hell that we saw in the No Breathes From Hell one shot? Yeah, I want Orihime's mom to have been attacked by one of those guys and that's how she became a fullbring. Yes, I'm doing that because my girl deserves actual screen time and some explaination on how exactly she became a fullbring just from proximity to Ichigo's reiatsu. If that was true, Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Keigo should've gotten powers as well.
Anyways so some weird soul/genetic bullshit happened and Kazui, rather than having similar hollow powers to his dad, is a Shinigami-Hell Hollow-Quincy-Human (Fullbring I guess??) hybrid.
That's why he can open the gates of hell the way he did.
Also him taking a part of the Hogyoku from Ichigo in order for his soul to be stabalized
(Wow, the Kurosaki line is so fucked up when you think about it. If Kazui and Ichika are a thing like Kubo was hinting at, the soul situation of their offspring would be so fucking weird)
Anyways back to what I was saying, whoever the antogonist of the Hell arc is probably manipulating the kid and teaching him some fucked up shit and that's why his parents seem to have no clue
I'm pretty sure Hell is said to be an actual entity so maybe it's using Kazui in order to upset the balance because he's sending souls to hell right? Idk why it would do that but it'll be like an army and all the dead captains, arrancar and quincy.... yikes, they'll be facing the original gotei and all the other dead captains and Kenpachis
Since Yhwach is kinda gone in this rewrite you wouldn't have Kazui absorbing/destroying/what ever he did to Yhwach's soul wouldn't happen
Ichigo felt his legs stop, his lungs refusing to breathe. Instead, he stared at Kokutō, unblinking as he tried to understand what was just said. "You… murdered everyone in the palace." The words didn't feel real.
Kokutō stopped a few steps away, a blank look on his face. "It seems like a dream sometimes." His eye narrowed, his head turning away. "Sometimes, whenever that memory comes to mind, I try to remember if I even felt a hint of satisfaction, but I always return empty-handed." A hint of sorrow could be heard in his voice. "And in the end, I never even got to see my family again. I never got a chance… to say sorry."
Well, that explains why he's here, Ichigo thought, his jaw tightening. He didn't know what to do, what to say. Conflicted, he stood next to Kokuto, eyes narrowed. "So, what do you hope to accomplish by helping me find my sisters?"
Shrugging, Kokutō sighed. "I'd rather you not have to fall into the same fate I did." He looked up, meeting Ichigo's eyes. "I'm a lost cause, there's nothing that can undo what I've done. And, to be honest, I don't regret what I did." His voice was cold. "That bastard deserved his fate, and I would do it again if I were given the choice. However, if I can help you find your sisters, I feel like… I can break a cycle." He crossed his arms, looking down. "Ya know what I mean, kid?"
Unsure if he completely believed what Kokutō said, Ichigo nodded slowly. "Sure. I think I do, at least." But how can I know? Wouldn't he want to find a way out? His thoughts began to echo loudly in his mind, fear and uncertainty in his chest.
"Don't worry, I promise you we'll find them." Kokutō offered a tired smile. "And if those bastards have harmed her in any way, we'll make sure they regret it." For a moment, he looked older, like a tired old man who had held onto a grudge for far, far too long.
Forcing a smile, Ichigo sighed. "Thank you." He walked ahead a bit, turning away from Kokutō. "I'm grateful to have you here to help me prevent that fate, Kokutō."
Light filtered in through the darkness, illuminating the stone, worn stairs. Ichigo stared in disbelief, wondering if he were seeing things. Did… did we reach the end of the stairs? How long have we been walking?
"Finally!" Kokutō sprinted down the stairs, standing in the entry way. "We've made it! In no time at all, we'll be able to make it to Captain Amagai's fortress!" He turned, staring out into the desolate wasteland that stood before them. "We're not out of the woods just yet, of course, but we're so close now. We can celebrate that at least."
Ichigo…
The hairs on Ichigo's neck stood up again, that familiar shiver trailing down his spine once again. Turning back, he could no longer see the stairs, only pitch blackness, thick and deep. He could just make out a shape in that darkness, moving slowly towards him, reaching for him. Ichigo… Ichigo…
"Hey, are ya comin', kid?"
Brought back once again, Ichigo stepped out of the entryway, watching as it crumbled and fell away, leaving him to stare into the horizon, fear curdling in his stomach. What… what was that?
Read more of Bleach: Re(Vers)ed here (on hiatus): https://archiveofourown.org/works/21523390/chapters/51305074
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So gigais are fuckin weird right? If you think about it, that must have been really weird for Rukia. Imagine:
She’s a little slower, her limbs feel heavier, her muscles aren't up to par and she runs out of breath. The body slows down, it gets ill, it can't fight as well, it gets tired more easily the longer she wears it... but what really messes with her is she gets COLD. And she always forgets, so she'll show up with blue tinged lips and cold hands (Gigai have bad circulation).
So Ichigo always has to remember to bring her an extra jacket (or guess who’s gonna get guilted into giving his up). He holds her hand (”JUST SO IT DOESNT FALL OFF FROM COLD. GOD”).
It's 4 in the morning and he's making hot chocolate in his kitchen. Why? Yuzu has literally never seen him use the stove before. Rukia's never had it before, so she doesnt know that it's weird, burnt and sour at the same time. She's just psyched to feel her face again.
(For mine and @holyfuckabear‘s angry, bitter Bleach rewrite)
I need to come up with a cover for this project. I am in the process of practicing drawing the main characters.
Anyhoo, I wanna share what I have in store so far in terms of fics.
Alternated Paths, Same Destinations
A fic containing snippets that have occurred during the first two arcs. They may not have changed things drastically, but they are significant enough to bring attention to. Expect new moments, original characters, changed scenes, and maybe even other battles.
Again, thank you @bleached-socks for the advice. You rock!!
Autumn Leaves and Summer Breeze
An alternate take of the first film, Memories of Nobody. The Valley of Screams and the Shinenju is canon, so I figured I would try to put it in.
Ichigo and company have arrived back from the Soul Society and Ichigo resumed his duties, but without Rukia. When hunting down a Hollow, he crosses paths with a Shinigami he hasn't met before.
Meanwhile, strange beings in white cloaks are roaming about, seemingly looking for something...
Kaleidoscope Threads
Ichigo, Rukia, Uryuu, Orihime, Chad, and Renji are put to the test in a series of trials conducted by a shadowy group.
The Coven's Convictions
The alternate take on the Bount Arc and the Bounts themselves.
(Plus some inspiration from Zerbrechlichkeit by LadyGinoza)
Summer break ends and everyone returns to school for the second semester and, at first, all seemed well. That is, until Uryu starts suffering from an undetermined condition.
And to make matters worse, a new threat comes to town, their eyes on the ailing Quincy.
Are they affiliated with Aizen?
