Bleach
One of my weekly rituals has become watching the anime BLEACH on cartoon network at the same time as one of my online friends Ryvaken. I introduced him to the anime, telling him he’d probably like it, and at the moment he is such a Fanatic of the show, it’s almost scary. He counts down… in seconds till the show starts.
One of the best parts of this ritual has become the part where, together, we speculate about what may or may not happen, or be true about the series. I watched some of it before it was Dubbed, so I’m ahead of the current arc in Bleach.
Some speculations I made before when watching he’s missed, and I don’t want to spoil the series for him. A few times I’ve stepped him through some logic and it was like pulling teeth. However other times he has had some startling insights, more and more so as he slowly catches up to where I am in the series.
We’re both fans of Orehime, and like to guess about her various preferences, and WHY she eats things the way she does.
Ichigo just spouted the “You crazy ass clown” line, and I’m pretty sure he’ll bring it up during our commercial YIM conversations.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:49 am
6 days 12 hours 20 minutes and 25 seconds!!
February 18th, 2007 at 10:52 am
On the "pulling teeth" part, if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, I had skipped past that conclusion as incomplete. I’m too pragmatic to be a soul reaper, I can tell you that much.
February 18th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I guess I was wrong about "Crazy ass clown" but oh well.
And I was talking about trying to figure out the role of Mr. Hat & Clogs.
February 18th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Hat&clogs could have been any number of things that probably don’t exist, but were beyond the scope of the soul reapers’ purview. His carrying a zanypacto is a bit more decisive.
There is a simple lack of information regarding the rights, responsibilities, and abilities of soul reapers, dead souls, and anything else. I mean, what the heck was Giant Big Man with the axes of evil?
February 18th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
How many times do I have to say it? Axe != Evil!
And really, early on his existence was rather wonky and hard to decipher, but even once Rukia got the duck candy (instead of Chappie the rabbit) the evidence had started piling up.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Only evidence that he had ties to Soul Society economy. As far as one could tell, it might be trivial for souls to gain tools to enter the living world. The kids, big guy, and cat are all still unknown and point to the existence of one or more factions within the Society without direct ties to the Reapers.
February 18th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
The ability to pull resources specifically useful to a soul reaper, and the fact that a soul reaper knew about him did imply connections to the soul reapers, if nothing more than being under their jurisdiction.
February 19th, 2007 at 8:33 am
He pulled resources specifically useful to a soul using an animated physical body. Again, no indication of how many groups would have access to or need of such equipment.
February 19th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Yes, however you specifically were wondering how he got license to stay in the living world. He’s obviously got connections to the spirit world, yet he’s not a current soul reaper, and he hadn’t turned into a hollow. He also knew a lot about the soul society.
Even with the info we have now he might be a duck spirit inhabiting a Gigai, and have a Zanbakto because he has the ability to generate any weapon of any kind he wants. It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility.
But until another group is introduced, you can only project strong theories based on the groups you know exist.
February 19th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
That still doesn’t explain the kids or the cat. My theory, before, was that the Soul Reapers employ civilians of the Soul Society to carry out mundane tasks, such as manning a supply point in the living world. Service to the Soul Society is given in exchange for certain freedoms. He might also have been a human with unusual powers, recruited for the same purpose.
Given his reaction to that gate a few episodes back, though, I’m thinking he is an exiled Soul Reaper.
February 19th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Which was a possibility I was thinking of since he first appeared. Not a conclusion, but a strong possibility.
The same way that since I first knew about a traitor in the X-wing series of books, I was thinking of "X" as the most likely person to be the traitor, discounting "Y" the logically obvious choice. Literary sense was what made me discount "Y".
X and Y have had their names disguised for their protection, and protection of those who may read this blog, who have not yet read the books. Such as my step father, who loves star wars, and wanted to be a fighter pilot.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Of course, the very concept of an exile leads to a number of questions regarding Soul Reapers, their system of justice, their laws, and perhaps most importantly, what happens when you kill a creature of the afterlife?
February 19th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
And what’s up with Rukyia’s sentence having a duration?
I still wonder why none of her powers have come back at all. Has Ichigo completely ripped them out of her?
You know, if the ‘execution’ isn’t permanent, but rather sends her to the living world (Alla Mr. Hat and clogs) but allows her to restore her powers, perhaps her brother isn’t as bad as we think now.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
EXACTLY. Although that particular individual was shocked when her sentence came back as death — there’s a gap in translation I think, or that guy just hasn’t thought the situation out too well.
There’s also a lot of questions regarding the emotional doctrine of the Reapers. Rukia espoused emotional detachment of an extreme level, yet Clown-nose and the jester way back when were hardly unemotional.
February 19th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
It could be that different families and schools of instruction have different ideals of what makes a good reaper. The brother seems to be quite unemotional, so it could be that the lack of emotion is a family doctrine.
April 29th, 2007 at 12:11 am
[…] those of you that are not aware, in the Anime “Bleach” a lot of attention is payed to the relationship between the living, the dead, and beings […]