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With Bleach: Tybw being animated, new fans joining and old ones dusting off their manga collections, have come a lot of theories and takes on the story, the characters, the world builds etc.
I’ve found myself agreeing and disagreeing in equal measures, but there is one take I’d like to talk about, one that stuck with me and that I’ve finally managed to put into words and why it bothered me.
One take I’ve seen that I fundamentally disagree with:
‘Ichigo should not have accepted the Old Man as one of his spirits after learning the truth.’
Now, I’ve seen this even from creators I usually agree with and I don’t want to pick a fight somewhere in a comment section or in general.
Usually, this take is about the Old Man being a parasite who deceived Ichigo and is not a native part of his soul and should have been carved away so only the 'true’ Zangetsu would remain, thus leading to Ichigo in his final and 'original’ form.
I disagree.
To start off, I think it’s important that we remember when and where Tybw is set. This is still the same world and the same characters as the Winter War.
What was Ichigo’s character arc in the Winter War?
Accepting yourself.
He spent that entire Arc struggling with his hollow - who was just that, a hollow bent on taking over his body at that point as far as he and we knew - and trying to suppress it.
That culminates in two points:
1. The Lust and the Vasto Lorde Rampage
2. Mugetsu
Mugetsu was fundamentally about Ichigo accepting all of himself, all that his spirits - and therefore his Soul - were and then fusing with them to become them, to put it simply.
In trying to do so he was faced with his spirts:
1. Young Yhwach/Young Old Man/Tensa, who told him 'What we care about and want to protect is not what you care about and want to protect’, translation: fuck your family/friends/town/the soul society, we only care about you specifically
2. Shiro/Zangetsu/the Hollow, who didn’t day much but ultimately didn’t have to, because he’d just demonstrated that exact sentiment not hours ago. Vasto Lorde Zangetsu did not give two shits about Uryu or Orihime, only about keeping Ichigo alive and his enemy dead. And Ichigo was badly shaken by that, was scared by that power, to the point where he didn’t use it against Aizen, which even that guy remarked on ('Had you used your mask, this migut have worked’)
Ichigo then finished this Arc by accepting both of these spirits, their very narrow focus on only himself and their volatile beings and power.
And then we get Tybw and Ichigo is faced with the spirit of the Old Man, who tells him that he 'wanted to keep him away from the shinigamis’ but 'grew to care for him’ and 'wanted to protect him’
Old Man then begins fading away, seemingly disappearing for good, while restoring Ichigo’s access to his entire power.
That Ichigo there?
He is not looking at the Old Man and going 'ah yes, this is someone who lied to me for years and betrayed my trust’.
The Old Man is not the blatantly abusive Isshin.
The Old Man is not the very obviously manipulative Urahara.
The Old Man - from Ichigo’s point of view - is his first Spirit Companion, a piece of His Soul, who stood by him since the Rukia Rescue Arc. He answered his calls, helped him against Kenpachi (that scene now in retrospect screams of Blutvene to me), gave him his Bankai.
Ichigo is not rewriting the entire Bleach Series in his head to find those instances where the Old Man probably hindered him or now suddenly seeing everything through the lense of 'this is the usurper who had a hand in suppressing my Real spirit’.
(Which, pretty sure that was Isshin’s doing, with his powers being used to bind down White in Masaki and then Ichigo, and his powers returning after the Rukia Rescue Arc because the binding on Zangetsu was breaking)
This scene is fundamentally about Ichigo being faced with the very real fear that he is about to loose this, his, spirit, who yeah did just say he lied to him, but also told him all the way back by Mugetsu that he only cared about 'Him’ and just stated that all he did was to 'protect Ichigo’. After, it should be mentioned, he already feared having lost him through the whole 'broken bankai cannot be restored’ bullshit thing (which is absolutely bullshit by the way, even in Canon!).
Basically: that is His Zangetsu and he is loosing him again (please remember the Fullbringer Arc and how depressed he was after having given up/lost his spirits and access to the spiritual world, this could very easily have been a source of trauma and really should have been).
Ichigo accepting both of his spirits - after having already done so for Shiro Zangetsu and under decidedly worse circumstances and with less trust - is absolutely in character for him.
Hell, its one of the very few things he does in Tybw - right after trying to pin a very much a traitor Ishida down to get an explanation and shake sense back into him - that I am completely on board with and consider in character for him.
Ichigo gaining two blades to symbolise the two parts of his soul, is very fitting and narratively satisfying.
Everything after that, including the reio crystal scene, we can discuss and argue over.
But Ichigo accepting the Old Man and manifesting two blades?
I’d argue that would have been Out of character for him to try and purge the Old Man.
Do these three need family therapy? Absolutely.
Did our boy deserve a justified crash out over everything he’s learned during this war? Yes.
We could have gotten an entire Chapter after Tybw about him trying to sit down ans talk things out with his spirits, with angry accusations flying around and crash outs of epic proportions.
Ngl, I would have enjoyed reading that (especially more then the Epilogue we got)
Would an in character Ichigo post-mugetsu - and you can even throw in the Zanpakuto Rebellion Filler Arc and the whole Muramasa Situation in there - reject one of his spirits? Specifically the one that, from his point of view, always stood beside him?
No.
No he would not.
Saying otherwise feels less like Ichigo himself reacting and more like long-term fans of Hollow Zangetsu reacting on his behalf.
Now, you can of course still believe that and say that, I’ve even read some fanfics who did exactly this (though they then usually just…completely glossed over how he feels about that to focus on other things) but…claiming that it would be more canon or accurate or anything like that?
That’s very much untrue of our boy Ichigo and who he is.
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Suspension tuning is key when it comes to car control. There are baseline settings that work well for getting started, but personal feel and preference ultimately make the difference. Some drivers prefer a softer setup, while others like something much stiffer.
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“Hold up why’s everything in black and white? This better not be a 1950s TV tribute episode….”
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*If Bleach had a talk show arc AU*
[In a studio]
Kyoraku, standing before the table, gesticulating: “Here are the two photos of Yhwach. Can both of you tear them?”
Ichigo, on a chair and holding the photo, smilling: “Of course yes.”
Haschwalth, also on a chair, gulping his saliva whilst holding the other piece: “Why do I have to be dragged in this nonsense?”
Uryu, standing next to him, whispering: “Don’t be foolish, okay?”
*The cameramen circling them from a distance*
Haschwalth, side eyeing him: “I know.”
Kyoraku gesticulating: “Now, please.”
[Backsound: Rest in piece shinigami. Rest in piece your family. Yamamoto I see ya. Just as soon as we die (we die)]
Ichigo, tearing the photo and laughing sarcastically: “I did it. Am I going to die?”
*everyone laughing except these two people*
[Backsound: (Bad things happen to the people you love) He knows. (And you find yourself praying up to heaven above) He knows. (But honestly, I’ve never had much sympathy) He knows. (‘Cause those bad things, I always saw them coming for me) And I know, he knows (I’m gonna run, run away)]
Haschwalth, gulping, just holding the photo and pondering on it: “Well…”
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Credit:
Song: J. Cole - She knows
Note:
🚫 DO NOT COPY THIS WORK! 🚫
I WILL BLOCK AND REPORT ANYONE WHO DOES IT ‼️
