#but yeah Ichigo is an addict and the adults around him keep feeding it unhealthily

[aurora-313]

Random bleach thought of the day:

Reframe Ichigo's desire for power as an addiction to power (which it is) and BLEACH becomes an even more horrifically tragic tale.

Think about it. Ichigo's whole attitude is he wants power to protect his friends? That he lusts after it? And how much of Ichigo's misery revolves around being powerless. Now replace that lust for power with a lust for a narcotic substance. Doesn't that rather sound an awful lot like an addict itching for their next fix and being angry/irritable that he's denied it?

Ichigo suffers from an addiction he can't break, or more accurately isn't allowed to break, thanks to the adults in his life actively encouraging it as a means to keep him under control. And even the world itself refuses to let him break it. This highly self-destructive drive that's gotten him killed and had his soul sundered, in a reality where the aspiration of power is rewarded with crushing isolation and ultimately eternal damnation.

Not exactly inspiring at all, is it?

Instead of that, wouldn't a healthier message/theme be a journey that prevents Ichigo from falling into the cycle of addiction once more? One where he mentally evolves to a place where he doesn't require it, despite or in defiance of the world's best efforts? To the point of being content with sacrificing the powers that, for as much pride as it's given him, he recognises its been the ultimate source of misery and self-loathing in his life?

Perhaps a similar arc conclusion to Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. After gaining such arrogance and conviction the world's problems could be solved by alchemy, he ultimately recognising his own hubris and sacrifices his ability to perform alchemy in an act of humility, which earns him his brother back.

And if Ichigo followed a similar path and ultimately sacrificed his own powers for good after coming to that deep internal understanding, then he's free. Freed from a world that pushes the addiction of power onto him; free from Ichibei's plans to sacrifice him to a corpse god's throne; free from the Gotei 13 who use him as a pawn; free from Kisuke's schemes and Isshin's bullshit.

A world where Ichigo gave up his power and embraces it as his healthiest life, is a world where Ichigo is completely free.

#addiction #bleach #ichigo kurosaki #brainwave #brain dump #probably doesn't make sense #but yeah Ichigo is an addict and the adults around him keep feeding it unhealthily #Only a few actually bother to regret it