#byakuya's vibrant inner life

[bleachbleachbleach]

Maybe you've answered this before, but which of the bleach movies are you favorites? Do you like them in general? I feel like I've watched the DDR 100 times, but the movies aren't really talked about much in general it seems....

Neither of us really think about them as discrete "movies"—we take them more as a collection of elements, many of which we find very appealing. I think we’ve rewatched them almost annually since 2020, but I’m not sure either of us could actually explain to you what happens in them. We’re too distracted by the dazzling glamor of the Elements.

I will say, like you, Diamond Dust Rebellion holds a special place in my heart! It was the only one that premiered during my first stint with Bleach, and I definitely have vague but fond memories of watching a raw copy on an 11" iBook that I assume was approximately 120p.

Here are my personal favorite Elements from all the Bleach movies—some of which are scenes, some of which are character moments, and some of which are honestly… the laundry lint equivalent of "things that were part of this movie" that I still really love because, as this post will immediately make clear, I have serious Blorbo Disease.

MOVIE 1: Memories of Nobody

1. Commuting: Honestly obsessed with the fact that Hitsugaya and Matsumoto spend so much of this movie commuting. They just keep… going back and forth between dimensions? AND FOR WHY. Peak Gotei efficiency!

2. Bridge Whimsy: The scene where everyone jumps off the bridge into the water and are super duper extra about it. @dont-look-up has a great gifset of Renji and Rukia trying out for the Soul Society Diving Team. 

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto are also great in this scene. They’re both crouched in the same nook of bridge for some reason? And when Matsumoto encroaches on Hitsugaya’s space he wordlessly moves her arm out of the way and it’s so casual and non-eventful. Love that for them but also love that for the animation, because it’s an "unnecessary" non-eventful movement that got to be drawn and animated. You can’t have unscripted movement in this medium—it adds nothing and everything! Unfortunately, searching "bridge" on B3 didn’t turn that gifset up, so it wont’ be includd in this post.

3. Blobby Hisagi: Speaking of animation, Hisagi basically only appears in this movie as a blobby smudge of color in the background. My co-blogger put together a comprehensive account of every time Hisagi shows up in this  movie, and it is a post I love dearly.

* Honorable mention to the kidou cannon, which comes up a lot in conversation, considering how little reason there is to do so. But THE KIDOUUUUU CANNONNNNN

MOVIE 2: DiamondDust Rebellion

1. LAWSON TRUCK!!!!

There’s a transition scene where a Lawson truck randomly drives by and I am OBSESSED with it. I mean, I love Lawson, which is a Japanese convenience store chain. But most of the stores/brands in Bleach are either generic or made up, as is true of many anime. Yet there’s a real, honest to god Lawson Truck in this movie. It makes me wonder if there was some kind of Lawson promo that went with DDR’s release. Anyway, I see you, Lawson Truck. I love you.

2. Hitsugaya's Bow: After finding himself in Ichigo’s bed after passing out in the forest outside Karakura (and, one assumes, bleeding all over his sheets), Hitsugaya leaves without a word in the dead of night. But he still takes the time to bow at the Kurosaki house, as thanks for its hospitality. I love this quiet, quotidian gesture in the midst of a whole lot that is neither quiet nor quotidian. 

3. DETECTIVE BYAKUYA. BYAKUYA, ON THE CASE. This is best explained by my earlier post about this.

It’s best dramatized by the second music video I’ve ever made in my life, a tribute to Detective Byakuya and Law and Order: Soul Society.

We have a whole tag for Detective Byakuya (and more posts to yet to be written!):

4. Hisagi/Kira vs. Hitsugaya is one of my favorite short fights (maybe one of my favorite fights, period??) in Bleach. Hisagi gets to be incredibly cool and use a bunch of kidou and backflip onto a torii gate. Hisagi and Kira are then immediately annihilated by Hyourimaru’s shikai once Hitsugaya decides he doesn’t have enough HP left to deal with this shit, but Hisagi and Kira were very cool up until that point!

I’m certain Hitsugaya is capable of annihilating Hisagi and Kira whenever he wants, but I do want to note that it wasn’t exactly a fair fight. Hisagi and Kira didn’t want to hurt him, particularly since he was already heavily injured. Hitsugaya, uh, did not have similar qualms.

5. ZABIMARU EXPREEEEEEEEEEEESS

Soul Society’s most exclusive, breathtaking way to travel. (cue Jrock cover of Disney Aladdin’s "A Whole New World")

MOVIE 3: Fade to Black

1. Byakuya Discovers Doors: One day I’m gonna get it in gear and make a gifset for this, because this scene is the BEST THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO ME IN MY LIFE. There’s a full sequence of Byakuya combing through the Kuchiki Estate and opening every single door. Just walking around. Opening all the doors. In the dead of night.

And OKAY, the context for this is that he’s in Detective Byakuya mode; he can sense that something is amiss but isn’t able to discern what—he’s searching for anything that will help the missing pieces fall into place. (The missing piece is Rukia’s entire existence.) But it’s not like he tells any of his retainers this so for all they know he’s just going around opening all the doors in the dead of night, and they have to quietly follow behind him and close them all, murmuring, "ah yes, our Lord Byakuya, always working. Very thorough examination of doors and hinges tonight." I love him.

2. Hitsugaya is 11th Division's Foster Captain: Hitsugaya is working with Ikkaku and Yumichika in this movie for some reason—like, goes out to Inuzuri with them, even as he’s left Matsumoto behind to do work with their actual division. This is important to me only because it’s not the only time he’s been the 11th’s foster captain?? I’m not even talking about the Advance Team arc, which is something else entirely. In the Bount arc, when Zaraki is similarly indisposed/unreachable, Hitsugaya also ends up in charge of the 11th. Like, who decides this???

Anyway thank you, whatever bureaucratic processes makes this happen over and over again; I appreciate you. I’m sure Hitsugaya Suffers every time. (But he also probably prefers this over any other option, because the second option is probably just "idk 11th go freeball it do whatever you want!!". Also, Hitsugaya is always volunteering for this stuff.)

MOVIE 4: Hellverse

Okay, we just saw this movie (well, we just saw all of them, but this one was last!), but I’m not remembering a lot of it right now because it’s low on Blorbo Disease triggers. I do very much enjoy the Six Hearts gang running around in Squarespace (Hell)!! But this post is very long, so I’ll just say:

1. Byakuya Projecting by offering his fairly lengthy opinions about Ichigo and Yuzu, considering he’s known of Yuzu’s existence for about 2 seconds and she has been bereft a soul and comatose the entire time. 

2. Why is Hitsugaya even here, edition 90009: I love the fact that Hitsugaya is part of this Hell Portal team at all. Byakuya and Ukitake make some sense, in that Rukia and Renji are the Gotei officers most involved with this. But why is Hitsugaya there lol. I like to think that he thought it would be a good opportunity to learn about portals, and considers this professional development.

#If there'sone thing I can say about this post #it certainly offers a vivid picture of what it's like to be me lol. #really just a portal into the brain #'my favorite part was the part where hitsugaya was in it in spite of or perhaps because it makes no sense for him to be involved' <- me #bleach movies #bleach anime #hitsugaya toushirou #kuchiki byakuya #hisagi shuuhei #lawson truck #asks #no brain just bleach

[bleachbleachbleach]

Rockstar Byakuya

Another installment of Byakuya’s vibrant inner life: Rockstar Byakuya

Forgive me for making yet another extremely self-indulgent post about Byakuya, courtesy of Miyavi (who plays live-action Byakuya in the Bleach movie). Thanks to Miyavi, we have Byakuya out here in the human world, living his best rockstar/celebrity/actor/humanitarian life.

A couple weeks ago I went to a Miyavi concert. I knew I was in for a good show, but boy oh boy, I could not have predicted how amazing it was. Miyavi is of course, a fashion icon, and I was excited to see what human world Byakuya was going to wear. Not in my wildest dreams though did I expect THIS:

IT’S GRIMMJOW Y’ALL. Of course Byakuya would cosplay as Grimmjow for his rockstar AU. Think of how many band AU stories there are out there (and I'm sure Byakuya is always something like the manager if he's in them at all). Well, in Byakuya's inner fantasy, HE gets the spotlight.

I also managed to get incredibly close to the stage. I really never expected to be this… close.

Of course I had an amazing time at the show, and it was made even better by thinking "wow, Byakuya is really going for it here." (yes, I am that person). But asdlkjfalkgdjh Byakuya!Grimmjow!rockstar AU isn't something I thought I was missing from my life, but it was.

#i don't even know what to tag this #it's just pure crack #miyavi #bleach #byakuya's vibrant inner life #rockstar byakuya

[bleachbleachbleach]

Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion, Another Hyourinmaru Detective Byakuya

I want to introduce you to an element of Byakuya’s vibrant inner life that is near and dear to my heart. 

In DiamondDust Rebellion Ukitake informs Nanao that 6th Division is investigating the scene of Kyouraku’s assault, which I was naturally curious about because like, why 6th? Did they otherwise have a bye week? Did Byakuya volunteer? I mean, he’s clearly into it--he takes a literally hands on approach to the investigation, and when does Byakuya ever touch things he doesn’t have to. 

Detective Byakuya is living his best goddamn life in this movie. A crime scene to investigate? THRIVING. Like pls, allow me to commune with this magical ice by allowing it the dignity of contact with my palms. And then he shows up in Kyouraku’s hospital room! So extra! He’s certainly not there to worry over Kyouraku’s welfare--he’s a big boy and he’ll be fine. But Byakuya wants to do the “interview the victim” scene SO badly!! Ukitake’s just like, my bruh, he is unconscious and part of Byakuya’s like, well, I don’t see how that’s relevant. I’ve never lived my life according to Kyouraku’s timetable and I see no reason to start now. Gotta do the SCENE™️. 

Being able to tell Ukitake that he’d mapped out the timeline of events and the current working theory would have required Hyourinmaru to be in two places at once? Best thing that’s happened to Byakuya all year. He had a whiteboard. He pushed pins into a map of Manhattan, arbitrarily labeling portions of it Soul Society and Karakura. 6th became a perfect replica of an NYPD precinct office. Really, Ukitake had no choice but to humor Detective Byakuya and at least join him at 12th, even though Byakuya kept calling it “the forensics lab” and muttering about “1PP.” 

Byakuya has his eyes closed in 50% of his shots in DDR, and he would have micronapped his way through the entire thing, writing it off as some crisis or another that’s not directly related to anything or anyone he cares about-- Hyourinmaru this, Hitsugaya that, blah blah. But when he realizes it’s an opportunity to awaken his hardboiled alter ego, he’s all in. Really, the particular situation is ideal, because Byakuya’s always been secretly jealous of Hitsugaya’s investigative role in the SS arc. (Of this, all Hitsugaya has said is, “...He’s welcome to it.”)

In his mind, the entirety of DiamondDust Rebellion plays out with Detective Byakuya center stage, sleuthing clues and ensuring justice on the streets. He’s not delusional: He’s well aware that others do not share this fantasy, but he also thinks they should; and if they don’t, it’s not as though he’d deign to explain. If those around him aren’t following Byakuya’s train of thought, it’s their loss.

Despite taking part in portions of the investigation alongside his captain, even Renji isn’t fully aware of the Detective Byakuya story. He’d be all in if Byakuya ever let him in on it!! Maybe someday.

Seireitei’s Finest.

#those Law and Order caps are from three different Law and Orders you say? #do you mean to suggest that Byakuya hasn't seen all 1144 episodes? #kuchiki byakuya #bleach headcanons #bleach movies #bleach anime #bleach #detective byakuya #it's a joke but it's not at all a joke #this is canon honestly

[bleachbleachbleach]

I’m really grateful I found another good bleach infodump blog. I love people rambling about this weird inconsistent manga. Who are your favourite characters to ramble about?

Aaaaah, thank you for this ask! <3333 BLEACH INFODUMP BEST INFODUMP. This blog is a tandem account run by two people, but we consume Bleach together and we’ve developed most of our HCs together so it made the most sense to have one blog for all that this manifests. But we’ll answer this separately! I’ll go first:

@whipplefilter: Character-wise I probably spend the most time thinking about the 10th and anyone else Aizen&co. curbstomped in the SS arc (Hinamori, Kira, Hisagi). I also spend a lot of time thinking about Byakuya, Byakuya’s vibrant inner life (a separate entity from the first), Renji, and Rukia. Also, the Kuchiki clan’s whole deal. And how work assignments work in the Gotei 13? Really, the great love of my Bleach life, DENSER THAN MY BONES THEMSELVES is every single mundane, administrative, ecological, geographical, detail of Soul Society. Seireitei Communications? OBSESSED. The Academy? OBSESSED. Class structures, cultural traditions, which barrack has the best food, what the chores are, how the sleeping arrangements work, which divisions have plumbing, what the climate is like, how commerce works (or doesn’t), how infrastructure works (or doesn’t), what the lives of regular cannon fodder shinigami are like, how far away the ocean is, literacy in Soul Society, all the frustrating bureaucratic inefficiencies that SS just accepts is normal and immutable—OBSEEEEEESSSED. The Colorful Bleach book is my favorite in the world. All the myopic non-essential B-roll details, please!!

I love all the bright adorable morale/hobby things that make up shinigami life and all the structurally-empowered engines of steady-state trauma at the heart of what it means to live in Soul Society. <3

I also spend a possibly uncommon amount of time thinking about Sasakibe??? Mostly because I had to come up with a bunch of Sasakibe lore for a fic once and now he lives here with me forever. But also because we have a kind of runaway ongoing Sasakibe+Zaraki bathhouse HC, LOL.

—

@ippoddity: Oh gosh... how do I even begin to answer this question. While I spend quite a bit of time thinking about characters, I probably actually spend even more time just wondering how Soul Society itself works. That being said, I am a big fan of the group we have dubbed the "nerd squad," which mainly consists of Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hisagi, and Kira (+ a few more depending on the situation). Out of them, I probably spend the most time thinking about Renji (I love how many hobbies he has), Hisagi (especially his Seireitei Communications shenanigans) and Yumichika (who singlehandedly keeps 11th running). I feel like it's fun to think about these three especially because we know a bit about them, but not a whole ton? So I am free to imagine their vibrant inner-lives that we don't get to see because it's not relevant to the Bleach plot. Like my co-blogger, I really just love thinking about what a normal, "day in the life of a shinigami" looks like, no matter how mundane. So I'm also happy to think about nameless cannon fodder shinigami and their little lives too. If there was a slice-of-life Bleach spin-off that was about Soul Society I'D WATCH IT IN A HEARTBEAT.

#bleach #bleach sociology #soul society #asks

[bleachbleachbleach]

For the ask meme: E, K and R!

Ask game here!

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

Lots of crack, for sure! Hilarious—that’s not for us to decide. If we find it hilarious to ourselves, we will post it.

One of our favorite topics of conversation between ourselves is Byakuya’s vibrant inner life. Detective Byakuya, Director Byakuya, Rock Superstar Byakuya (TBA)… The man is brilliant, a trailblazer, and I don’t think he cares if anyone fully comprehends or follows. He saves those expectations for his employees.

Some of our other crack post favorites:

Sasakibe + Zaraki bathhouse bros

Hisagi’s Impeccable Fashion Choices

Pikachu Face 10th Division, AKA our favorite screencap in all of Bleach

Seireitei Communications: Special Birthday Edition, which is not all hilarity/crack (but please make sure to check out the Komedy Korner). We are super proud of this creation and will shamelessly self-promote it any chance we get.

Here’s a link to our original content posts, many of which are some flavor of crack!

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

ippoddity: This is going to sound incredibly cliche and sort of a cop out, but I’m just gonna have to say Ichigo. I know he is our main character, and literally the entire series is about his development! But I feel like I can’t even pick just one development arc for him, because they’re all good ones in terms of his growth. Look at these faces and tell me this boy did not go through Hell (literally) and come back changed and evolving and growing and UGH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

(inspired by this post and this post, which I think about a lot)

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

whipplefilter: Hoo boy I could throw a dart and hit a friendship that I adore in Bleach, and my hand-eye coordination is not it! I like…all of them… Yamamoto and Sasakibe, live your best lives my friends (er, poor choice of phrase—RIP). Byakuya and Rukia, amazing. Byakuya and Renji. Renji and Rukia. Ichigo and Rukia. Ichigo and Orihime. Orihime and Rukia. Orihime and Tatsuki. Ichigo and Tatsuki. Byakuya and Zaraki and Hitsugaya running around together in the reigai arc. THE NERD SQUAD (all configurations of Renji, Kira, Hisagi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Akon, Matsumoto, Hinamori). The SWA. Ukitake and Kyouraku. Ukitake and Kyouraku and Byakuya. Urahara and the shop fam and the fact that they’ve all been to Hawai’i together. Akon and Mayuri (not because it’s a fulfilling relationship, Akon is just the one man for the job). Anyone and their zanpakutou. SASAKIBE AND ZARAKI, BATHHOUSE BROS. Byakuya and Yachiru. Matsumoto and Orihime. Matsumoto and Hitsugaya. Hinamori and Hitsugaya. Hinamori and Shinji. Hitsugaya and Jidanbou! (What’s their origin story? What do they do/talk about? How often do they hang out?)

I was going to choose one to talk about in more depth here, but then I ended up with SCREENCAPS and ASIDES and I’m just going to… put that in a separate post because I'm already taking too much space here!

ippoddity: ^^ x1000. I'd also just like to add Hanatarou into the mix, because he's low-key one of my favorites and even though he's actually there in a bunch of crucial scenes, I think he often gets overlooked. Hanatarou and Byakuya? Hanatarou and Renji? Hanatarou and Ichigo? But really, one of the greatest things about Bleach is that there are hundreds of characters for you to choose from and imagine any flavor of relationships between them.

#thank you for the ask! #ask meme #once again it took way too long to craft this post because i had to go hunting for the perfect panels of ichigo's face #i do not know the manga well enough to do this quickly or efficiently and have great admiration for those who can #thanks for enduring our giant walls of text