Comments | geniusgirl: CAPSLOCK ENTRY B/C WHAT ELSE CAN THERE BE?!

geniusgirl

CAPSLOCK ENTRY B/C WHAT ELSE CAN THERE BE?!

Apr 03, 2009 12:57

SPOILERS, YO. ONLY SEMI-LJ-CUT; CAVEAT EMPTOR

OH MY GOD!!!! BLEACH CHAPTER 352!!!

I CRIED. I KID YOU NOT, I CRIED.

ALSO, ICHIHIME?
CANON. ON BOTH SIDES. BECAUSE HE JUST SERVED UP HIS HUMANITY ON A SILVER PLATTER FOR HER ( Read more... )

bleach, anime, fandom, yay!, wtf?, manga, awesomesauce, omg!fangirl

Comments 68

YES knittedninja April 3 2009, 13:52:59 UTC

CANON. There is no way that IchiHime is not love. You put down what I was thinking much better than I could have lol.

I wish the chapter had been longer!!!! :squee:

Re: YES geniusgirl April 3 2009, 13:56:15 UTC

I wish the chapter had been longer I know! Only 19 pages. I was disappointed :( I can't wait for the next chapter now. Also, I totally forgot to mention it but on the subject of the chapters themselves, am I the only person squeeing over the fact that all this going on under "Lust"? XD

Re: YES knittedninja April 3 2009, 14:52:30 UTC

No, I'm squee-ing over "The Lust", too.

I wonder how he's going to come out of it - I figure she'll have something to do with it, but I'm interested to see how it will go. And a week til the next chapter, dang it.

I did briefly hope that Orihime would finally kick somebody's ass a few chapters ago. I was hoping she would be all "Noooo Ichigo!" and squish Ulquiorra, but she's just too nice... and this is better, anway. <3

snoozy April 3 2009, 14:00:46 UTC

The fact, that his ONLY reason to fight, is to protect her, pretty much speaks volumes to me. "I will protect you" that said, last chapter, is not same as the "i came to save you" that Ichiruki used to counter, what Ichigo said back in SS to Rukia. {and i am not even arguing about Ichiruki vsZOMG Ichihime, i am just comparing situations to show, what Kubo, the way i see it, wants to establish.} Save, is a feeling of instant, something that you want to do in the spur of the moment and potentially from the same person, in the future again, given the circumstances of relationship of person a + person b have not changed.
"Protect" however, is a promise. It is something that embodies future. And in this arc, it is Ichigo ---> Inoue.
Balance. Exactly what the couple needed. You ask me, too many good things for Ichihime.

geniusgirl April 3 2009, 14:13:21 UTC

You know, his use of the word "protect" always struck a chord with me but I could never put my finger why. You just hit the nail on the head. Thank you. I completely agree with you, of course. Kubo, I believe, is spoiling us silly with all this IchiHime :)

snoozy April 3 2009, 14:18:50 UTC

Haha, no need to thanks, Ichihime great minds think alike. 8D
But really, like i said in one of my entries in the near past, {the protect one 8D}, it isn't about protecting all his friends; it's protecting her that is driving him. It is the first time he has singled someone out subconsciously; even in the SS arc, he always mentioned all his friends when saving rukia. Her being able to reach him/ his inner consciousness in such a way is in itself something to note.
Orihime always drives ichigo to have the most intense reactions . He's helluva protective of her, a tad bit moreso than any of his other friends.

geniusgirl April 3 2009, 14:29:46 UTC

Protecting her. It's true. You might notice that in my entry, I kept bringing friends back into it because the SS arc kind of pre-programmed me to think, "Ichigo is protecting someone. Ichigo is protecting his friends." But upon re-reading the recent chapters, you're right. There's no one but Orihime in his mind. "She's calling me," he thinks, "I have to help her. I will protect her ( ... )

Thread 6

shinigami002 April 3 2009, 15:22:56 UTC

Lovely entry. I definitely didn't see it that way. I've always been an Ichihime fan, but just to play devil's advocate, I want to argue against you. If it was anyone else in Inoue's position, when the Yammy and Ulquiorra attacked the first time, Ichigo would have done the same thing. Because Inoue was hurt after his arrival (unlike Chad), Ichigo felt more responsible for her injuries, and vowed to protect her (key issue as to why he transformed).

We all know he has OCD when it comes to protecting people he loves. And he knows Inoue isn't very combative and on some level understands that she wants his protection (though he's too dense to know the full reason). I believe these are the reasons that he transformed.

I agree that it was purely for Inoue- but it might not be for romantic reasons. It's purely by his drive to protect his loved ones, and he'd do it for anyone.

geniusgirl April 3 2009, 22:35:09 UTC

Thank you.

Your contrary arguments are very compelling and, a couple of chapters ago, I would have seen more sense in what you're saying than in what I'm saying. Even as I was writing this entry, I kept reminding myself of Ichigo's Must-Protect-Everyone complex in the hopes of it not becoming pure shipper-fantasy. But even then, I still saw too much evidence to deny it.

This whole arc is playing out in typical Bleach fashion. And yes, what Ichigo is doing for Orihime would arguably be done for any of his friends. But I propose that it's not so much what Ichigo is doing but the tone in which it's all being carried out that gives credence to our shipping hopes. I said early on in the post that I was going a lot on the feelings I got from the scenes. I say, substitue anyone in Orihime's place and see if Ichigo gives off the same sort of vibe. He'd do the same things but I believe he'd do them very differently.

shinigami002 April 4 2009, 00:44:44 UTC

What do you mean by differently?

Ahh...your entry has me really seeing the intensity of Ichihime in the recent chapters, but I'm so scared to be utterly disappointed after this fight is over, and have no more Ichihime moments(or more Ichiruki moments).

It'll be interesting to see what Orihime does. She really should do something drastic for him to change back. Someone mentioned hugging him like she did with her brother when he became a hollow. I would LOVE to see that :D

geniusgirl April 4 2009, 10:18:31 UTC

To be honest, I have no idea what I mean by differently. It's just how it occurs to me.

I'll miss the IchiHime moments if nothing comes of this but if we suddenly go IchiRuki after all this, I may have to send KT a strongly worded letter or something.

I can't wait to see what she'll do either. I hope it involves touching (not inappropriately, of course -- they're in ...public?). But I already have this image in my head of her reaching out for him behind the mask (fanart is to blame; damn dA) so I'm hoping it kind of goes something like that. A hug would be awesome but considering how hugs are treated almost lightly in Bleach, I want something just a shade more intimate for them. If a hug is all I can get though I'll take it :D

Thread 7

unedited April 3 2009, 17:10:59 UTC

*applauds*

I was willing to accept that it was all on Orihime's side with potential, but not confirmed, to be on Ichigo's side as well. But in this arc I've seen a lot of Ichigo acting slightly uncharacteristic on her behalf. Rukia might be dying and he's marching off to save her but the only thing Ulquiorra has to say is "I'm the one who took her, you know," and Ichigo goes flying back at him in a rage ( ... )

snoozy April 3 2009, 20:18:31 UTC

Actually, if Bleach was NOT THAT crystal-shonen, i would say, that Ichihime has every cliche, of the main guy, wanting to protect the girl he loves, at any cost. In a way, it kinda is.

unedited April 3 2009, 21:27:50 UTC

Honestly I do think we're leading up to it (is Kubo really spending 350 chapters -- since Orihime's crush has been obvious since the beginning -- building up Orihime's feelings more and more and more significantly and making Ichigo go through all this to get her back just so that he can not have them hook up?) but everyone goes "It's a shounen no wai there's never romances in shounen except for all of the shounen in which there are romances" so I try to err on the side of caution when discussing it in public. So yeah, I was willing to allow that we might just let Orihime be the girl who loves the main character and is never noticed -- until this arc.

snoozy April 3 2009, 21:57:53 UTC

Me too. I mean, a LOT of signs lately. Actually, not even signs. They are promise-declaration. "Protect" is a promise, and a cliche-word, that is being used, between the fighter and the girl he loves. The way it has been featured, too.

Thread 5

ex_serah April 3 2009, 19:25:36 UTC

Lovely post ( ... )

geniusgirl April 3 2009, 23:38:21 UTC

Thank you.

You're right about the dark tone of the arc but Bleach hasn't ever tried to present itself as a completely light-hearted manga. There's always something sinister in the shadows of this series and this just proves the complexity of everything in Tite's work. If an IchiHime relationship does come out of this arc, it's not going to be all flowers and rainbows. From a purely literary perspective, it's a genius move because it gives a writer so much scope for future arcs and further character development.

Of course, this is not the most pleasant formation of a relationship but I don't think it's the worst they could have gotten. Like Mulan's dad said, The flower that blooms in adversity is the most beautiful one of all. If Orihime's love for him can survive doubts about Rukia, fearing him as he fought Grimmjow, watching Tesla kick the shit out of him, and both of their feelings manage to survive the next few chapters; it's going to be epic ( ... )