#rewatching bleach

In Karakura Arc, we see Hisagi win and fail. We see Ikkaku being stubborn to the point of losing battle. We see the best boi taichou Komamura reveal his strength and see Yumichika being awesome! And then there's Ggia Vega and deadly Soifon, and trio of lady arrancars, and Starrk and Kyōraku as a dynamic duo, and, oh-- I just really enjoyed this arc. It was well-paced and eventful, and it was surprisingly nice to have a break from Ichigo and the gang for a while.

Every character there had enough of a backstory by then to keep me interested, to keep me watching the battles and bickering. It made me feel that every division has a story of its own, has secrets and dramas and hinted past - all that creates texture of a story. For me, The Past Arc did a particular good job with adding texture layers. We finally see that there was something to Soul Society before Ichigo came barging in; that there was injustice, and undefeated villains, and unresolved conflict. I liked the sense of a murder mystery unwinding. And now, the Visored have backstories which intertwine with the stories of characters that we already know, and all in all this is brilliant storytelling (...for shōnen).

But back to the characters. Shaking up the story with little time-travel also adds dimension to characters. When you show your characters from more than one side, you give them personality instead of a label. For example, Kensei. Before the Past Arc we only knew that he's one of the Visored, the kinda-strong guy who also cooks and yells at people sometimes. But the Past Arc showed him as a Captain, a strong leader with dedicated following. We see that he has principles and confidence, and we also see a kind of awkwardly nice side of him - that scary smile he gives Shuuhei when he saves him.

Here - it's not much, but this shows the character a bit more in-depth, and this, oh, this is what we, the creative audience, can work with. (Watching shōnen is a great exercise for creative imagination, because authors don't often treat us with versatile characters or, god forbid, with character development, so we have to come up with personalities and backstories...).

I gave Kensei as an example because, for me, the Past Arc made him noticeable. I hadn't quite realised that he existed before that arc. 

But when we know at least a few personality traits of the character, we can work from there. After all, this is how many of us interact with stories and characters - our imagination starts working, we unravel and make things up, and it makes us happy. All we need is tiny bit of depth and substance.

Where was I getting with this?..