#sorry this is so long; i just have very specific opinions about ichigo's feelings that i can't summarize with a shorter post😅

[zabiume]

LOVED your response to the ichihime ask about ichigo's feelings, and i guess i wanted to add to it by asking how you would envision ichigo's crush on her, what kind of thoughts he would think, because he's very hard to read in the romance department lol

i got another ask similar to this one about ichigo's feelings, but my inbox seems to have eaten it up because i don't see it here anymore (even though the number of unread asks it says i have still hasn't changed...), so i guess i'll answer them both here

i mean, we know their first meeting had a big impact on ichigo, even if orihime herself doesn't remember the encounter, and we also know based on what he says to rukia that he'd kind of been keeping an eye on her ever since their paths crossed in high school, so i'd say it began as a kindred soul thing: she lost someone close to her, he lost someone close to him, he knows what it's like, so he can't help but keep an eye out for her, worry about her, etc. he notes that she gets hurt every day, so i'm guessing it was a kind of situation where he'd be minding his own business or going his own way and then out of the corner of his eye, he hears/catches sight of her getting into something clumsy as usual. a dropped book here, a loud crash there.

i'd say his feelings at this time are pretty similar to orihime's feelings in the 'one way sympathies' chapter. he begins to understand her or feel closer to her because of this loss, but they're not necessarily close friends so he can't explain why he feels close to her. he mostly just ignores it all as background noise unless she's directly in front of him. we also know that she told him about her brother and her hairpins some time pre-canon, so maybe she brought it up in casual conversation once ("i never go anywhere without them" etc etc) and ichigo remembered it because he remembers seeing her and sora at the clinic and he knows how much sora meant to her. it's not unreasonable to guess that, having sisters of his own, he could kind of put himself in that situation and feel vehement about that happening to his own sisters. who would take care of them if he died? little sisters need big brothers, and having lost hers, ichigo probably couldn't help but really feel for her.

i think it's important to remember that ichigo ends up caring about people deeply very easily. after orihime encourages him to save rukia, and after she accompanies him with his other friends to help him fight a battle that has nothing to do with her, i think it's safe to say he's touched and he considers her a friend–and a cherished one at that, since she ends the arc by telling him she's sorry she couldn't protect him. ichigo doesn't get to hear people say things like that to him often, because he's....usually the one saying them. so his face in that moment speaks of fondness, tenderness, maybe even a little gratitude as orihime cries about his well-being.

ichihime really gets its push in the HM arc, though, i mean it's no surprise that the amount of ichihime fanfics probably tripled in number after the arc began. and for good reason! it's kind of incredible how many times orihime gets singled out this arc even before she gets kidnapped, like the time ichigo promised to protect her, even though chad and tatsuki were also there and also injured. it's clear that he feels like he's got something to prove in front of her, and i think, at the time, he justifies it to himself as needing to make it up to her because he let his own insecurities about his hollow get in the way of protecting her from yammy. and i don't think he's even lying to himself about it. ichigo was very, very occupied with his own trauma and the plot constantly happening all the time so i think he was satisfied with surface-level reasons of, "she's a pacifist, she has trauma with her brother and THAT'S why i've got to personally make it up to her."

but i do think, deep down, he has this tendency to only ever want to look good and strong and kind in orihime's eyes, because he likes the way she looks at him when she lets some of that love and admiration shine through. he's seen it before and i think he's a little addicted to it, because when he later remembers moments where he was proud to be a shinigami, orihime shows up there twice, both times crying about how much she cares about him lol. he clearly loves it whenever she expresses her feelings for him, though i don't think he's examining it as anything deeper than the simple joy of making his friends happy.

the repeated hand motif is another thing that i think is an important indicator of how ichigo feels at the time. here's a post i made about it a while ago that never came out of the drafts:

all this to say, i think ichigo has a feeling all throughout the HM arc that orihime left her heart with him when she said goodbye. he doesn't know how to justify this feeling, just that it exists and it's strong and he needs to prove to her that he won't be letting her down. the anime surprisingly rounds this out nicely by having ichigo hold her hand after the grimmjow fight, but so much of ichigo's behavior this arc feels like the narrative's response to orihime's insecurities about their bond in chapter 199. ichigo does some pretty balls-to-the-walls crazy things this arc for orihime, so it's kind of like he's responding to her confession with magnanimous action of his own (though he doesn't know that's what he's doing; it's subconscious behavior, coming from the part of him that heard her even when he himself was asleep—his heart. this repeats for a second time when he dies at the tower but his heart hears her again. not the physical, beating thing of course, but the metaphysical thing that transcends physical form). what does orihime mean to him at this point in the story? he would say she's his friend, of course, but to us it's clear that their bond continually reminds him of what he's fighting for. he sealed his promise to her with the kanji that makes up his name. his life's purpose lies in protecting people, and as long as there's someone to protect, someone he promised to protect, he'll never die.

fullbring arc shakes things up by a) having them get closer as friends who share mundane interests, like reading the same manga or sharing mutual friends (esp tatsuki, who he seems to have made up with) or just chilling and hanging out in his room and b) having him actually acknowledge that orihime wants to protect him, too, and is now actually capable of doing that. before, ichigo could easily brush her under the wing of his protection, but it's here that he's got to contend with the fact that he might have an equal soon—a potential battle partner, which is something he's never had before going into horn of salvation.

which brings us to the 10-year-timeskip. i've said it before, but once the surface-level reason of wanting to protect her, just like he wants to protect everyone, is swept away, i do think he's got time and space to consider the fact that he might actually have a crush on her. AKA, this, to me, is the first time he realizes it for what it is and says it out loud to himself. he's always been able to distract himself or justify his feelings to himself using plot events before, but they're in a period of peace now and that's when i think he realizes that he wants to be with her. i don't think he could have ever had that realization if he was still paranoid about her safety, because duty comes first to him, but now that he's not, i think he realizes that he just likes spending time with her and spending hours in his room, with or without their friends, just talking and relaxing. they grew up together and she's seen every side of him—pre-powers, shinigami, hollow, quincy, powerless, what have you—so i think it moves him, knowing that she's been by his side through it all, seeing him up close in all his forms and versions, and maybe he's ready now for her to see what he's like as a lover too. if she'd love that version of him, just like she did with everything else! he's sensitive and protective of his own feelings, so he'd only make that move once he had a guarantee that it would be accepted. that he would be accepted. and orihime has obviously always tried to accept him for who he is, even when he was at his worst, so he feels safe in giving this side to her too!

#sorry this is so long; i just have very specific opinions about ichigo's feelings that i can't summarize with a shorter post😅 #ichihime #asks #to the other older asks in my inbox....i'm sorry but i literally can't see them anymore😭 idk why this is happening #i think most of ichigo having a crush is just him going: i wonder what inoue is doing...i wonder if inoue got home safe... #i wonder if inoue would come over today if i found the right reason to invite her...👉👈 #inoue looks so nice..let me not look at her at all and then scream if uryu or chad make a comment about it #he's very smart but he's also very dumb <3

[bazz-b]

THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all had witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat.

MUN NAME: Thomas/Tom     AGE: +25       CONTACT: IM, Ask, Discord

CHARACTER(S): Bazz-B, King Baraggan Louisenbairn, Kurosaki Ichigo, Ichibei Hyosube

CURRENT FANDOM(S): Bleach

BLEACH FANDOM(S) YOU HAVE AN AU FOR:  I have an ATLA and LOK AU for Bazz-B, but no Bleach AUs for external muses

MY LANGUAGE(S): Passable Japanese, Survivable Italian, Fluent English

THEMES I’M INTERESTED IN FOR RP: FANTASY / Science fiction / Horror / WESTERN / ROMANCE / Thriller / MYSTERY / DYSTOPIA / ADVENTURE / MODERN / Erotic / Crime / MYTHOLOGY / Classic / HISTORY / RENAISSANCE / MEDIEVAL / Ancient / WAR / FAMILY / POLITICS / RELIGION / SCHOOL / ADULTHOOD / CHILDHOOD / APOCALYPTIC / GODS / Sport / MUSIC / Science / FIGHTS / ANGST / Smut / DRAMA / etc. (what Bazz-B wants is reflected in italics)

PREFERRED THREAD LENGTH: one-liner / 1 para / 2 PARA / 3+ / NOVELLA.

ASKS CAN BE SEND BY: MUTUALS / NON-MUTUALS / PERSONALS / ANONS.

CAN ASKS BE CONTINUED?:   YES / NO    only by Mutuals?:  YES / NO.

PREFERRED THREAD TYPE: CRACK / casual nothing too deep / SERIOUS / DEEP AS HECK.

IS REALISM / RESEARCH IMPORTANT FOR YOU IN CERTAIN THEMES?:   YES / NO.

ARE YOU ATM OPEN FOR NEW PLOTS?:  YES / NO / DEPENDS.

DO YOU HANDLE YOUR DRAFT / ASK - COUNT WELL?:  YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. (usually but I need to catch up at the moment)

HOW LONG DO YOU USUALLY TAKE TO REPLY?: 24H / 1 WEEK / 2 WEEKS / 3+ / months / years. /DEPENDS ON MOOD AND INSPIRATION, AND IF I’M BUSY I

I’M OKAY WITH INTERACTING: ORIGINAL CHARACTERS / a relative of my character (an oc) / duplicates / MY FANDOM / CROSSOVERS / MULTI-MUSES / self-inserts / people with no AU verse for my fandom / CANON-DIVERGENT PORTRAYALS / AU-VERSIONS.

DO YOU POST MORE IC OR OOC?: IC / OOC.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WITH FOLLOWING OTHERS?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.  

BEST WAYS TO APPROACH YOU FOR RP/PLOTTING:  You can IM me or send an ask, but the tumblr messaging systems SUCK so I encourage y’all to add me on discord and then just go ham. I’ll only turn down a plot if it’s OOC for Bazz-B, but otherwise I’ll usually try anything. If it’s not working out I’ll typically let you know, but I’m game for most things.

WHAT EXPECTATIONS DO YOU HOLD TOWARDS YOUR PLOTTING PARTNER:  Honestly, not a lot. You can be as invested or as chaotic as works for you. You get the urge to suddenly write a specific theme? Hit me with it. The urge goes and you lose interest, that’s fine. Four weeks later and the muse hits you again LETS DO THIS.

WHEN YOU NOTICE THE PLOTTING IS RATHER ONE-SIDED, WHAT DO YOU DO?:  I don’t typically struggle with this issue. If anything, I’m the lackluster end of the plotting side. I typically run things through Bazz-B as their happening, rarely looking forward. Unless there’s an overarching story we’re specifically working towards I’m pretty weak sauce. Sorry people!

HOW DO YOU USUALLY PLOT WITH OTHERS, DO YOU GIVE INPUT OR LEAVE MOST WORK TOWARDS YOUR PARTNER?:  I’ll typically propose an idea and then see where our muses take us. If my partner needs a rough road map, I’m happy to negotiate what we’d each like to see happen. Generally speaking I let Bazz-B take the wheel.

WHEN A PARTNER DROPS THE THREAD, DO YOU WISH TO KNOW?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS. - And why?: If you want to drop a thread, I’m completely fine with it. The only reason I’d want to know is so I don’t start panicking and think that I forgot to reply you your latest response to it.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY LEAD YOU TO DROP A THREAD?:  If I lose the thread, or if I think it’s reach a natural conclusion. I don’t typically abandon one in the middle on purpose.

- WILL YOU TELL YOUR PARTNER?:   YES / NO / DEPENDS.

IS COMMUNICATION IN THE RPC IMPORTANT TO YOU? YES / NO.

- AND WHY?: I don’t require a constant, nor deep level of communication, but it’s important to voice concerns. People tend to internalize problems until they become these big ordeals. A friendly message every now and again can save everyone a lot of drama later.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH ABSOLUTE HONESTY, EVEN IF IT MAY MEANS HEARING SOMETHING NEGATIVE ABOUT YOU AND/OR PORTRAYAL?: I BEG for negative feedback. Even if you feel like your nitpicking, it’s the number one thing I crave from writing partners. Tell me what you dislike and I can work on it.

DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE SUCH SITUATION IN A MATURE WAY? YES / NO.

WHY DO YOU RP AGAIN, IS THERE A GOAL?: To tell a story. Bazz-B is my primary muse, and his entire tale is so interesting to me. The foundations of his identity are flawed and I want to explore that as much a I can, throw him into as many situations as possible and watch him evolve.

WISHLIST, BE IT PLOTS OR SCENARIOS:  My left arm for an entire roster of Sternritter, of course. Bazz-B and Liltotto surviving after the war. A reality where Bazz-B finds happiness and acceptance in himself. A healthy bond with a Shinigami. 

THEMES I WON’T EVER RP / EXPLORE:   I’ll not write rape, it’s understandably triggering for a lot of people and writing it glorifies it, I think. Also racism in a real world setting? I’ve come to terms with it in regards to Shinigami and Arrancar, but they’re fictional groups. I wont engage with it outside of that. Finally, trans-phobia. If a guy like Bazz-B doesn’t engage with that sort of vile nonsense, none of you should either.

WHAT TYPE OF STARTERS DO YOU PREFER / DISLIKE, CAN’T WORK WITH?: Starters that provide a setting and a purpose are great. The sort of starter that turns it back at the recipient with something akin to “Why are you here” are confining. Also, if in the starter your muse is already pushing away mine.. Bazz-B might just nope outta there.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE MOST?:  Despite my main muse being Bazz-B (or perhaps in favour of it) I typically write as old men cemented deeply in their ways. Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni, King Baraggan Louisenbairn and Ichibei Hyosube are just some examples. Bazz-B kinda fits the bill too.. I GUESS.

WHAT TYPE OF CHARACTERS CATCH YOUR INTEREST THE LEAST?:  Cold, distant, dispassionate sorts. I could never write as the likes of Ishida, Ulquiorra, Haschwalth, etc. They’re all very nuanced characters, they just don’t mesh well with me. 

WHAT ARE YOUR STRONG ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: I typically respond lightning fast, my last two weeks or so a poor example of that. I’m passionate, you’ll not find another person so desperately in love with Bazz-B as this fool. I’m easy-going, you can take as long as you want and I’ll still be ready to rumble.

WHAT ARE YOUR WEAK ASPECTS AS RP PARTNER?: Tumblr confuses the hell out of me, I don’t understand a lot of lingo and the big CARDINAL LAWS of writing. I struggle with scene transitioning and limb placement, and my tags are a mess.

DO YOU RP SMUT?:  YES / NO/ DEPENDS.

DO YOU PREFER TO GO INTO DETAIL?: YES / NO / DEPENDS.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH BLACK CURTAIN?: YES / NO.

- WHEN DO YOU RP SMUT? MORE OUT OF FUN OR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?:  What I want and what Bazz-B want are wildly different things. This man is planting a flag in the middle of bonezone whether I agree or not. I commonly write smut because it’s what Bazz-B wants, but I prefer to do it for development.

- ANYTHING YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO RP THERE?:  I am personally the most vanilla dude you’ll meet. I can google things but it might not translate very well.

ARE SHIPS IMPORTANT TO YOU?:   YES / NO A characters growth should never be locked to a specific person, but exploring a character in isolation can only get you so far. As people, we grow from one another. Romance is a key factor in formulating a person’s ideals, but that’s no the only form of ship. The eventual friendship between Bazz-B and Liltotto and Giselle is one of the most interesting things to me. A romance surviving Silbern is incredibly powerful in my opinion. The bond of a teacher and a student. There are so many situations that force a character to change how they would typically react.

WOULD YOU SAY YOUR BLOG IS SHIP-FOCUSED?:  YES / NO. More and more I’ve been thinking that I’ve been writing Bazz-B in more ships, but that is not the blog’s focus. Ultimately I’m exploring the character of Bazz-B, and that just happens to be inclusive of ships. Some of my most active writing partners also happen to be muses that Bazz-B has excitedly/begrudgingly/unexpectedly fallen for.

DO YOU USE READ MORE?:  YES / NO / SOMETIMES WHEN I WRITE LONG STUFF.

ARE YOU:  MULTI-SHIP / Single-Ship / Dual-Ship  —  MULTIVERSE / Singleverse.

 - WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO EXPLORE THE MOST IN YOUR SHIPS?: Individuals who challenge Bazz-B, who force him to rise above what he is, what he thinks he should be. Who tear down complacency and demand better of him in all ways. Whether overtly, intentionally, whatever! 

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PRE-ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS?: YES / NO. - If you come to me and sell me a story, I’m in. I’m easily swayed by visual art, written lyrics (my ears don’t work so good with music for some reason) and themes.

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- WHAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE YOUR MUSE INTERESTING TOWARDS OTHERS, WHY SHOULD THEY RP WITH THIS PARTICULAR CHARACTER OF YOURS NOW, WHAT POSSIBLE PLOTS DO THEY OFFER?: Bazz-B is a fun guy to taunt, and to cause havoc with. But he’s more than just a hothead, you can read any one of my many rants if you wanna find out about that. With a plot to kill God spanning 1000 years, a burning fury and misguided ideals dragged through the mud of “the lesser of two evils”, he’s a real party trick.

- WITH WHAT TYPE OF MUSES DO YOU USUALLY STRUGGLE TO RP WITH?:  Muses who, from the start, wish to disengage with Bazz-B. I understand it might be in character, but both Bazz-B and I are gonna struggle to engage if there’s not some allowances made.

- WHAT DO THEY DESIRE, IS THEIR GOAL?:  His ultimate goal is the death of Yhwach. In a perfect world that would coexist with a Quincy victory over the Shinigami, vengeance for genocide. But he’ll take the former over the latter.

- WHAT CATCHES THEIR INTEREST FIRST WHEN MEETING SOMEONE NEW?:  Style, first and foremost. If a Quincy had modified their Wandenreich uniform he’s gonna take notice and make some judgement calls. The rest comes after.

- WHAT DO THEY VALUE IN A PERSON?:  Honesty to themselves, and a drive to survive. Not to be buried by what’s expected of them, or what they should do. Free will is one of the fundamental truths of the world.

- WHAT THEMES DO THEY LIKE TALKING ABOUT?:  Motorbikes, Pop-culture, Fashion, Movies, Himself.

- WHICH THEMES BORE THEM?:  History, loyalty beyond all else, the importance of leadership and hierarchy, lectures of all kinds.

- DID THEY EVER WENT THROUGH SOMETHING TRAUMATIC?:  His family was burned alive by the man who claimed to be their God. Entering a war on the losing side, his kind facing extinction. Hiding in the shadows, surrounded by a extremist military cult.

- WHAT COULD LEAD TO AN INSTANT KILL?:  After a certain point in his life, it’s really only Hollows that should fear indiscriminate murder. Unless you threaten his fragile peace, or claim Yhwach was just.

- IS THERE SOMEONE /-THING THEY HATE?:  Bazz-B hates Hollows, and any Quincy loyalists that stand by Yhwach post-Aushwalen. Anyone who saw the true colors of their progenitor and still deluded themselves into thinking him right.. it’s disgusting.

IS YOUR MUSE EASY TO APPROACH?: YES / NO. - Best ways to approach them?:  Stoke his ego and you’re usually set for a good few hours.

SOMETHING YOU MAY STILL WANT TO POINT OUT ABOUT YOUR MUSE?: Nothing you cant already find on one of my many ramblings about that greatest Quincy that every lived, Bazzard ‘Bazz-B’ Black!

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

Tagged by:  @equipollency (I got a phantom notification so I rolled with it)

Tagging: @diepower + @zombiequincy + @verzinken + @cheonsaaui + @bleachsthetic + @senboago + any other quincy reading this

#meme: answered #I dunno who has done this so take a mass quincy tag

[cero-blast]

Your post about Gin "messing with people's heads" makes me think, doesn't this also apply to Ulquiorra? He also psychologically tortured Inoue, don't you think it's hypocritical to say Gin's actions don't nullify the bad things he did, but say that UH is good/not toxic? I'm not trying to hate on you, I don't ship anything in Bleach, I just wanted to know why Gin is considered a bad inexcusable guy but Ulquiorra's relationship with Inoue is glorified?

This will get… really long. I’m genuinely sorry it’s this long.

I never said Ulqiorra did nothing wrong (though it’s fair to say I didn’t happen to specifically point it out), or that UH is a ship with many positive feelings associated to it. That would be… an interesting take. I hope you don’t think I think that. But I also need you to understand that I don’t base my taste in ships on what I desire/consider healthy in real life. They exist in the context of the canon — not interchangeable with reality considering the existence of superpowers, ghosts, semi-human creatures and time warping — and that’s where it ends for me. Applying the dynamics in my ships to any situation other than the precise one of Bleach’s canon would make them fundamentally different.

I’ve wanted to mention this about Ulquiorra for a while now and I’ll take the occasion to do so. It’s a mistake to put him in the same framework as a human or shinigami. (The latter two also have their differences but based on observation shinigami seem to behave in a much more human-like manner compared to hollows/arrancars.) He’s practically incapable of understanding what empathy is or find any good reason not to hurt other people, which is why it’s surprising when he manages to grasp even a shred of the concept right before dying. Hollows are born from experiencing such severe pain that it distorts their whole ‘essence’, so something has gone terribly wrong with them emotionally by definition, whether they evolve to arrancar form or not. Ulquiorra’s aspect of death, his ‘theme’, is emptiness — characterized by complete neutrality towards everything. Since a person with a healthy mindset tends to focus on danger and negative events, neutrality often comes across as immoral for being equally conceding towards moral right and moral wrong. The point is, Ulquiorra’s motivations for provoking Inoue had nothing to do with him taking joy in causing pain to her. In fact, it’s hinted he’s not even fully aware he’s doing it, like the scene where he tells Inoue he’d laugh at her friends’ foolishness in her place. He’s unaffected by most things AND has difficulty placing himself in others’ perspective, which results in him assuming everyone around him would be unaffected. The only thing that factored into him doing just about anything was curiosity, the need to fill the void, however you want to put it. If a human or shinigami behaved the same way he did around Inoue, it would come across in a vastly different way and I’m not sure it would even interest me as a ship. Ulquiorra is not only a hollow, but a hollow with a particular impediment in understanding how others feel, and this is an integral part of him as a character, of his interactions, of UH, of anything regarding him. I know it’s funny as a fandom meme to act as if he were human, but he’s NOT and this needs to be kept in mind.

This applies to any arrancar or espada, really. It’s tempting to judge them on the same basis as enemies who are closer to humanity, mainly because of their appearance and intellect. But this is the trick itself the narrative plays, a progression that has been present in Bleach since the start: it created a human/monster (shinigami/hollow here) dichotomy, then spent the longest arc deconstructing it by blurring the lines between the two. It doesn’t matter how smart and eloquent the espada manage to get, the only productive way of interpreting them is as people who are missing a very core part of their personality, so someone severely psychologically ill. (I say this as someone who has their own problems, before it gets misinterpreted as condescension.) Should this absolve them from punishment? Bleach says a very clear no. They almost all get killed by shinigami, in Ulquiorra’s case Ichigo specifically — Ichigo, who, by his own admission, empathized with everyone he fought and even gets angry at Yammy for speaking ill of Ulquiorra after his death. (I don’t want to start arguing about how he was in hollow state when he defeated him. He would have killed Ulquiorra either way if he continued to stand in the way of protecting his friends.)

In summary, the espada aren’t human. Ulquiorra isn’t human. It’s unrealistic to expect him to behave like a human. You’re free to pick who you want to have compassion for among Bleach’s positive and negative characters and if you decide Ulquiorra is irredeemable in your opinion, that’s fine — many characters would agree. But at the very least it can be objectively said that Bleach spends a lot of time presenting ‘evil’ characters’ perspectives as nuanced and explicable instead of writing them off. It gives the audience a choice in the matter. A core message of the entire story is that we’re subjective and maybe we’ll never manage to see the world the same way as someone else, but that’s fine and it doesn’t make us all that different; hollows can become *almost* shinigami, shinigami can become *almost* hollows, and they both have ways to relate to one another while retaining the insurmountable differences and even fighting and killing each other.

Now, onto Gin. First off, you seem to be under the impression that I don’t like him as a character. That couldn’t be further from the truth; I only said it in the tags because I figured saying it in the post would have sounded like making excuses, which is not what the post was about. I don’t know if I would call him a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ person. All I know is that I really enjoyed him as a character and I could see how he evoked sympathy — in the tragic way antagonists do when they get some sort of redemption. I noticed it’s a common tool in fiction to make an impact on the audience, I suppose because we’re happier when we see ‘bad people getting fixed’ rather than someone already good doing more good things. It’s a Prodigal Son type of thing; can be argued about but it definitely makes an impact.

Gin is a quintessential ‘mysterious type’; he has a long-running plan that he executes throughout almost his entire life without ever consulting with anyone (an important detail). He had a hypothesis on what would be the most effective way to kill Aizen and constructed a convoluted plan based on it — a plan where the ends would have justified the means in many, many situations, and that required causing problems to a lot of people. He had, however, no certainty that what he was doing would lead to the desired results (which it then didn’t…). A lot of his provocation was a means to create a certain image of himself and there’s a big question of where to draw the line there, whether all of that was absolutely necessary. Leaving to Hueco Mundo and technical demonstrations of loyalty were, sure, but mocking Rukia on her way to being executed? He considered keeping everything a secret a prerequisite for things to work out — presumably because if he talked to anyone, Aizen could have noticed — but was it, really? Many of his actions were based on his personal judgement on what would and wouldn’t have ruined the façade, subjective and hunch-based since he didn’t know the outcome for sure.

Gin isn’t inexcusable, but I noticed a lack of emphasis on the damage his actions caused among fans, both because of the chronological order of the story and his affiliation with the protagonists’ side. Because the last thing he did was a good thing, that’s what he’s remembered by, without taking into account the sum total of his interactions with others. He posited himself as vicious until the last moment and did so consciously. Ulquiorra had a very, very gradual progression in the way he talked to Inoue, which doesn’t make it less rude and traumatic, but there’s a difference between him showing up and telling her she ‘has no rights’ and later taking an active interest in her views on the Heart. It would be equally reductive to interpret him by his last moment and nothing else, but all he did before led to that moment progressively, while Gin’s was a very abrupt twist.

My post was a comment on psychology on the most basic, technical level, not a moral judgement. The two are separate in the way we process trauma and that’s exactly what I find interesting. Having strong negative emotions associated to a memory (what I think Kira, Hinamori, Hitsugaya or Rangiku could have had with Gin’s betrayal) creates a very subconscious reaction that can hardly be fixed by suddenly finding out it was necessary for a positive cause, which is why healing from trauma requires years of therapy. Because *in that moment* you didn’t have that knowledge, the pain remains in your memory and it’s not a matter of logical reasoning. Now, I’m not saying Ulquiorra’s interactions with Inoue were numerous or productive enough to properly process the trauma he caused her — the canon info is ambivalent on how comfortable Inoue was around him towards the end of her captivity because there’s both scenes like the famous slapping one *and* her seeming more light-hearted towards Ulquiorra in Unmasked, plus no one has any idea of which came before which. All things considered, I think repeated discussion and an attempt at mutual understanding does a better job at elaborating something traumatic than one single piece of information on why what traumatized you was justified. And note that the *only reason* the understanding between Ulquiorra and Inoue could have been mutual is because Inoue was exceptionally patient, empathetic and willing to face discomfort, way beyond the base level or what should be expected from anyone. Even if it was a *small amount* of *not very productive* discussion, it’s better than one act in my opinion (which most of the people who had some sort of issue with Gin didn’t even directly witness). Which of them is *morally worse* depends on how you draw the lines and define morality and that’s not something I feel qualified to decide.

So, in the end;Ulquiorra:-working towards enemy goals overtly-motivated by curiosity, which can be considered self-oriented-gradual improvement-not fully conscious of the emotional impact of his actions-Inoue considers him an ambivalent presence but “Isn’t afraid”, in her words-half-succeeded, as in: failed the goal of killing Ichigo but sated his curiosity

Gin:-working towards enemy goals on the surface and soul society goals covertly-motivated by attachment to Rangiku and/or revenge, less self-oriented but still focused on close acquaintances -long-running façade of being a terrible person followed by a sudden twist towards the good side-completely aware of everything he’s doing, plan laid out hundreds of years in advance-Gotei 13 don’t interact with Gin throughout HM arc, consider the traitors a lost cause-failed to kill Aizen

Instead of this encyclopedia I could have just written “Gin isn’t irredeemable, I just said he did bad things before”, but I thought too much about it. And I might go through spelling mistakes once I wake up.

#anon #ask #long post

[x0401x]

Mekakucity Talkers: Chapter 32

A dispute outburst happens in the chatroom! The ones who are fighting, unexpectedly... are Shintarou and Ayano!? Ene, who rushed in, suggested that they resolved it with a fair and square face-off, however...!? 

← Previous || Index || Next →

Mekakushi-dan Chatroom

Ayano: So, it seems this movie is fun.

Shintarou: Oh.

Ayano: Hum, and also, it looks like the tickets for it are cheap if you buy them online.

Shintarou: This kind of thing is common lately.

Ayano: Yup, hum, if you’d like, erm, is it okay if I ask you to buy tickets for two...?

Shintarou: Yeah, it’s fine.

Ayano: R-R-R-REALLY!? Is it really all right!?

Shintarou: What’s that? You’re so exaggerated. Not even I would act like just making an online purchase is a hassle.

Ayano: Yup, yup...! Thank you...! Hum, then, one of the tickets is for me, and about the other ticket... hum, Shintarou, could you pay for it?

Shintarou: Eh? You, does that mean...

Ayano: Sorry for being abrupt, but I wanted to go together no matter what...

Shintarou: Ayano, you...

Ayano: Yep...

Shintarou: You’ll be going with Momo?

Ayano: Eh?

Shintarou: What, so this means I gotta pay for her ticket in her stead, right? I don’t particularly mind it. So you and Momo were interested in these love story movies? And stuff of the sort. That “couples make long lines everyday!” is becoming a topic in the internet too. Well, it seems you’re going to have fun with my little sister, so it’s something to be grateful for.

Ayano: SHINTAROU, YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!!!!!!!

Shintarou: Hoan? What’s that out of the blue!?

Ayano: You don’t understand anything about how girls feel!!!

Shintarou: What’s with you so suddenly? I said I’ll reserve the tickets and buy Momo’s fare for her!

Ayano: Sure, but that’s not it!!!!!

Shintarou: Hah? What’s this out of nowhere? Why’re you angry?

Ayano: I’m not!

Shintarou: You are.

Ayano: I’m telling you that I’m not!

Shintarou: No, like I said...

Ene: Oyaoyaoya~? Things appear stormy for some reason. You two should be fair and square.

Ayano: Ah, Takane-san.

Ene: HEY!??!? COULD YOU NOT CALL ME BY THAT NAME!?!??

Ayano: Eh, ah, I’m sorry! Ene-san, what’s the matter?

Shintarou: What’ve you come here to do?

Ene: Eh~, ahem! I thought that the chatroom was noisy, and when I tried taking a peek, I found the two of you having a rare fight!

Shintarou: We’re not fighting. Ayano is acting on her own accord.

Ayano: I wonder about the person saying that. Being unilateral isn’t a good thing, is it?

Ene: There, there, there. By the looks of it, you have opinions that neither would yield. If you’ll go as far as continuing with this unproductive argument, how about you try to settle it with a competition?

Shintarou: “Competition”, you say?

Ayano: Tell us the details.

Ene: Eeh, eeh, that’s fine! I will explain! The “competition” would be... simply put, a quiz showdown!

Shintarou: “Quiz”?

Ene: The rules are simple! I’ll come up with questions and give points to whoever can answer the quickest! The winner will be the one who manages to give most right answers!

Shintarou: Doesn’t it seem interesting? All right. I’ll do it.

Ayano: I also can only put on airs of being calm and composed for now, so I won’t hold back!

Ene: Fuhfuhfu~, both seem to be more than willing! Well, then, let’s get to it! First question~! Di-Ding! What is the name of the inequality applied to variance and covariance in inequalities that evaluate the possible inner product between two vectors in the energy of the inner product space by the norm of each vector, various inner products for vectors of finite and infinite dimensions in linear algebra, function analysis and probability theory?

Shintarou: Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality.

Ene: CORRECT!!!!

Shintarou: All right.

Ayano: Hey~~~, that’s difficult~~~. There’s no chance for me to win~~~.

Ene: Myy~, being able to give an instant answer this fast... As expected of Master~.

Shintarou: That’s ‘cause typing takes time. I worry only about not falling behind.

Ayano: Actually, Ene-san! Isn’t this a quiz!? That a math problem, wasn’t it?! Let’s leave out this kind of thing! ‘Kay?

Shintarou: There’s no guarantee that quizes will always be riddles. To be precise, it’s about “asking something”. In other words, it’s “asking questions about trivia”.

Ayano: We don’t need this now! I’m talking to Takane-san!

Shintarou: Hieh...

Ene: H-Hum~, I’d like you not to call me “Takane-san”~.

Ayano: Enough already! Please on with the next question!

Ene: Y-Ye~s. E~rm, then, let’s get it together and move on to the next question! Di-Ding! In the sword battle anime that was a hit in the year 1980, “Fighting Swordsman! Shout, Genjuurou”, what were the last words said to the protagonist Genjuurou by his life-long rival Izaemon?

Ayano: “My friend, let us meet again.”

Ene: Corre~ct!

Ayano: Yay~!

Shintarou: Kuh, so that field is your specialty...?

Ayano: Huhu~n. Just being good at studying won’t cut it!

Ene: You’ve also given an instant answer, as expected~. This series is quite old, but you knew it very well, huh?

Ayano: This anime is really interesting! The scenes where he fights to protect the heroine are cool! Wouldn’t Shintarou understand a little of how girls feel if he watched it?

Shintarou: Gngh...

Ene: Oyaoyaoya~! The fight has gotten exciting, huuh?! Then, let’s continue with the third question! The next will also be a question from an anime series!

Shintarou: What!?

Ayano: Yay!

Ene: No complaining at the proposed questions~. Well, on to the problem! Di-Ding! What’s the item that the protagonist of the the super popular anime “Mahou Shoujo ☆ Sister Angel”, Ichigo-chan, uses when transforming?

Shintarou: Pretty ☆ Angelic Rod!!! I got this!!! It’s correct, isn’t it?!!!

Ene: Uuwah... it is, but... this is a late-night anime in which only pretty little girls show up, y’know...?

Ayano: Huun. Even though you normally say that you don’t watch anime, Shintarou, you watch this genre. Heeh~.

Shintarou: iaier—No, I just knew—I just knew it by coincidence! It coincidentally came in the question!

Ayano: Hu~n.

Ene: Myy, as expected of Master~! You’ve gained one point, but it seems you’ve lost something important in exchange, huh~?

Shintarou: What!? “Something important”!? What did I end up losing!?

Ene: Yes, yes, there are sacrifices even in quizzes. Because this is a battle!

Ayano: That’s right, Shintarou. Even if you grin like a madman while watching animes where lots of cute girls appear, Shintarou, if you’re okay with that, then isn’t it fine?

Shintarou: What’s up with that specific way of speaking...?

Ayano: Nothing.

Ene: Now, with Master at a one-point lead, we head to the fourth question! The fastest person will be the one to answer this question~. Please focus! Di-Ding! 5783903 : 469745 = ?

Ayano: 12

Ene: By casting away the decimal points... Huh, eeh!? Correct!

Shintarou: Ayano!? That’s not a matter of input speed... It’s almost like you’ve known the answer since earlier!

Ayano: Huh? I pressed the numbers by mistake, though...

Shintarou: A typo?!!!

Ene: No, no, a win is still a win! This is part of the so-called power of luck~!

Ayano: Is that okay!? Thank you very much! With this, the points are even, right?!  

Shintarou: No helping it...

Ene: Both haven’t yielded a single step in this incandescent battle!! Next is the last question~!!

Shintarou: Oh, come at any moment!

Ayano: Let’s do this!

Ene: Then, this one will be impartial, from an information about the latest movie! Last question! Di-Ding! What was the release date of the big-hit romance movie that is currently screening “My and Her Bright Red Eyes”?

Shintarou: Ah? Ain’t this the movie that I got asked for tickets?

Ayano: “Release date”? What day was it again...?

Shintarou: I saw it in the site earlier... If I’m certain... Right! It’s October 20th!

Ene: Pinpon, pinpo~n! Completely correct!

Ayano: Aah... I see... Last Saturday...

Shintarou: This date sort of stayed in my memory.

Ene: It seems this movie has been recording an exceptionally huge hit a week after its release, y’know? It seems it’s not just a romance movie, but also has a mystery and battle aspects. It’s super fun, they say!

Shintarou: Heeh, is it that good a movie...?

Ene: How about you see it in the big screen of a cinema for a change~?

Shintarou: Hn, aah, that’s right. I’ve become used to going outside lately too... Ayano.

Ayano: Hea—Y-Yes!

Shintarou: About the movie that was just mentioned, can I go too?

Ayano: Huwah. SSSSSURE!!! OOOOOOF COURSE!!!!

Shintarou: Why are you getting so high-tension...?

Ene: Oops~! Isn’t it already thi~s late~?! Shall I excuse myself here~? Now you two young ones take it easy...! O~hohoho!

Shintarou: Haah? What’s gotten into her?

Ayano: W-W-What happened, huh~? She was acting weird, wasn’t she~? Ehehe.

Shintarou: You too, what’s been with you since earlier? Actually, about the quiz showdown of a while ago, you took me for a splendid ride, but I ended up winning. Are you not angry anymore?

Ayano: I was never angry~. Ehehehehe. More importantly, I’m looking forward to the movie!

Shintarou: Oh? Oh... I really don’t get very well how girls feel after all...

#kagerou project #kagepro #mekakucity actors #kisaragi shintaro #tateyama ayano #ene #enomoto takane #mekakucity talkers #kagerou daze #kagerou days #my translation

[pumpkinpie59]

rant thing idk:

someone decided to get nasty with me during a discussion about masaya on amino ...

them: His personality is unrealistic because they didn't give him any character flaws which is why to me he was not an interesting character

me: no character flaws? dislikes humanity, can get jealous, keeps his personal life a secret and therefore has few friends, etc. the only reason we don’t really see his main flaws is because the series is from ichgo’s pov so we see things how she sees them. she sees masaya as a kind and caring individual, so we don’t see all the nitty gritty stuff. also it’s been shown that he works rlly hard to be “perfect” bc that’s what people expect of him. he liked ichigo because he felt like he could be himself. sorry, but i do not see how he could be unrealistic or uninteresting :/

them: I don't remember him ever getting jealous always accepting ichigo's being late all the time ,he always protects her and senses when she is in danger , never one got mad at her, acts to perfect which if it is in her prove to , he would be just as manipulative as kisshu , he felt like he could be himself in front of her but yet he still tried to act perfect, therefore he was never his true self in front of her and realistically eventually he would get mad at her for being late all the time and would feel like she's not making an effort to show up despite his secret life , he despises humanity which would mean he would secretly despise her to, there for he had a motive for acting perfect so he was using her all the same

me: he gets pretty jealous in the manga many times. also he says he’s a bit jealous of ryou in the anime. protecting his gf is what he should do as a bf? he got mad at her in episode 4 since she was being secretive and ran off and he was rlly worried about her. he’s definitely not as manipulative as quiche. quiche forces her to do things she doesn’t want to do, while masaya lets her make her own decisions unless he feels uncomfortable (which is a very healthy thing to do in a relationship). if you watch the christmas episode, he admits to his secrets to her and from then on is able to be honest with her when he’s upset or uncomfortable. as for the last few sentences, where does it ever show that he’s mad at her for being late/not making an effort (which he knows isn’t true)??? he said himself that she’s helping him accept humanity and learn to love it. he wasn’t using her, he just saw something in her that he didn’t see in other people and admired her for it and eventually fell for her. that’s innocent and sweet and i don’t understand why you hate him.

them: But he wasn't honest from the very start and neither was she so that would be a toxic relationship. And you got to look at how both were raise I'm not saying it was right but he was raised as a soldier since he was young and properly taught to take everything by force but then you know what he realized his mistakes , I don't ever remember him openly admitting he was jealous of you and ad a boyfriend he also should let he be independent and not so clingy , how wasn't he using her if he was the vessel of deep blue ??and also remember when he turned into dark blue if his love was true enough he would have not at all and she was the first one he went to kill so he was also violent and no better then kisshu ,the problem I have was hes not an upfront and blunt character as kishu and atleast he admitted he was wrong and then he let her be happy though honestly he ended up going to England afterwards then left her alone to be a mew mew to fight by herself

me: okay 1, you started this discussion claiming that masaya was too perfect, and now you’re claiming that he’s toxic. you went back on your claim. 2, masaya wasn’t deep blue. he was his own person, but deep blue only created his body to later be his host body, but masaya was not deep blue himself. 3, masaya and ichigo went to england together. ichigo left him there to help the mews, and he missed her and came back to see her later. he tries to keep in touch as much as he can. and finally 4, not being honest right away is not toxic. they were in the testing phase of their relationship, and thus had to work up to an understanding that both could benefit from. he was able to give her her space so she could grow to accept him and vice versa. that’s healthy. yes, quiche learned, but he still has such a long way to go before he can have a healthy relationship. also, ichigo insisted so many times that he leave her alone. she is in love with masaya and he needs to respect that. even ryou respected that. i don’t hate quiche, but he’s not a great choice for her. at least not at his age. i really don’t want this to get nasty, especially given that i’m a curator and want this to be a safe and enjoyable community, so i would like to respectfully ask you to drop this.

them: You can seem perfect and be toxic it's called narcissism look it up , look in the manga he was his vessel which mean he is deep blue (...) Not being honest is being dishonest , your getting nasty because you don't respect my views and can't handle I have good points , but think what you want you even have in your profile you hate ppl that hate mayasa you must be extremely young and can't handle a good debate but w/e be immature because I have a different opinion and you can't handle it

then they blocked me.

so here’s the thing. i’m not sure if it’s because of my high school background of debate or whatever, but coming up with counter arguments is how debate works? i wasn’t trying to insult them or antagonize them. i was trying to have an intelligent conversation.

this is how i would’ve responded had they not blocked me:

“i wasn’t going to respond because i want this argument to end, but you’re choosing to insult me specifically. i’m 19 and have been active online for ten years now. i never said i hated people *who* dislike masaya. i said i dislike the fact that people hate masaya. completely different. having a good argument means being able to deconstruct a point and giving an alternate point clearly. i literally went to a classical school that taught how to debate. i may not be best at it, but i’m not inexperienced. i’m not trying to be nasty. i’m just trying to respond to your points with my own, which is how debate works. i really wish you’d stop this tho. you’re calling me disrespectful and yet you go and call me immature. this argument is pointless and at this point you’re being hurtful, which is itself a fallacy called ad hominem.”

some more things i wanna say just to get it out of my system: coming up with counterpoints is not disrespecting someone’s opinion. they can believe they have good points. that’s whatever. i believe i have good points. the whole point of a debate is to take an argument and analyze it. tbh i don’t think they were fully reading my points and instead came to conclusions.

“not being honest is being dishonest.” maybe in some cases, but i literally said they were in the early stages of a relationship. idk about anybody else, but say i had a toxic family life as a child. i wouldn’t tell a new partner that right off the bat. i would wait a bit before sharing something so personal so i know it’s safe with that person. same with masaya and ichigo.

“masaya is narcissistic.” i don’t even know how to argue against this because it’s such a ridiculous claim.

tbh tho i kinda wish i had been able to come to some middle ground in the end with a better understanding of each other’s opinions. i keep feeling like i made a wrong choice ... i dislike it when people assume things about me because i honestly want to get along with people. what did i do wrong?

i’m choosing not to tag this

[shinigamikarinkurosaki-archive]

ur last text post piqued my interest, so headcanons on how karin's temper is (how she lets it out) depending on the person?

This post? I’m actually glad you asked!! I don’t get to explore this part of Karin often.

Largely shinigami!Karin.Just forewarning– this is about as long as a Doctoral thesis which is totally your fault, & the entire thing contains potentially triggering content. Warnings include alcoholism, implied BDSM, minor character hate, mentioned suicide, discussion of: dysfunctional family units, violence, racism, LGBT+ prejudice, misogyny, sexual harassment, & various manifestations of abusive situations. I would like to publicly apologize to mobile users.

Karin’s expression of her anger his highly dependent person to person. I’d first like to say that Karin rarely gets angry. Most of her anger is frustration. Of course, she does get angry, but that is caused by violation of her values which I’ll explore after her expression of frustration with specific relationships.

With her loved ones, her reaction to her frustration is a slider of violent to nonviolent highly dependent upon individual to individual, rather than offense. When Karin does become violent, it’s not to achieve an end like Aizen’s abuse, it’s because she’s legitimately reached the end of her rope & violence is her best method to get back at her slights, perceived or otherwise. Mostly.

With Toushirou, violence is a part of their sexuality. I won’t discuss this much because expression of sexuality in teenagers is Wrong™ which throws Me & literally every COCSA survivor under a fucking bus & promotes conservative sex ed which doesn’t work & I will get yelled at. I will say that any violence between Karin & Toushirou is perfectly consensual & performed after they’ve compromised in an argument to blow off steam & I will also say that aftercare is of utmost importance to them.

Karin will never be violent with Momo ever. Don’t get me wrong, Karin does get frustrated with Momo. Karin gets frustrated when any guardian figure won’t let her do something– namely dangerous, possibly fatal things. For instance, if Momo & Karin are on a senpai-kouhai day date & there’s a hollow, Momo will normally let Karin slay it herself if Momo thinks it’s in Karin’s capability. If Momo thinks Karin will get worse that little scratches, Momo will force Karin to sit on the sidelines while she takes care of it. Well, Momo isn’t around all the time, & Karin knows she can take anything up to a Menos Grande, so Momo denying her this is very frustrating to Karin because Karin knows she can take a lot on despite the injuries she may suffer. But like I said, Karin will never get violent with Momo. Momo is too important to Karin, as Momo is one of the few people whom would respect Karin’s autonomy so long as nobody is harmed, including Karin. Karin expresses her infrequent frustration with Momo by pouting, but Momo easily diffuses Karin’s frustration with affectionate gestures like baking Karin cookies or giving her a big ol’ wet senpai forehead kiss.

Yuzu is the person Karin gets frustrated with second most. Now, Yuzu doesn’t do anything to really trigger Karin’s frustration. Even Yuzu’s infatuation with their brother doesn’t really tick Karin off. Karin loves Ichigo just as much as Yuzu does, the only difference is Ichigo’s treatment of them. Ichigo’s favoritism of Yuzu– namely he giving Yuzu more freedom than Karin, such as not policing Yuzu’s friendships– isn’t Yuzu’s fault. That said, Yuzu is the only reason Karin doesn’t kill herself through junior high & high school. Yuzu is legitimately the other half of Karin’s soul. But keep in mind Karin isn’t fulfilled by a normal human life. It’s only a matter of time before Karin resents Yuzu for keeping her from living a happy life as a shinigami. Karin hates herself for feeling this resentment towards sweet Yuzu but never gets the resources to really soothe herself. Karin snaps at Yuzu a lot because of this resentment. As sweet as Yuzu is, Yuzu is still a Kurosaki & won’t roll over for Karin. Their frequent screaming matches eventually get as heated as Ichigo & Karin’s. Really, the only difference between them is that Karin has never struck Yuzu.

Karin has struck Izuru on occasion. They mostly fight about Izuru’s passive aggressive treatment of Toushirou. Toushirou was one of the most important support systems while Karin was still alive. While she doesn’t support Toushirou’s harassment of Izuru simply because of Izuru’s proximity to Momo, Izuru’s equally assholish behavior is offensive to all the things Toushirou has helped her through. When Karin & Izuru are fighting about Toushirou, Karin normally storms out. If Izuru follows her, regardless of his intent to apologize, Karin normally socks him. Thankfully, Toushirou & Izuru start getting along while Karin is in the academy so she & Izuru don’t actually fight much anymore. When they do, they’re mostly drunk, not sure what they’re fighting about, & end up just being petty & scathing & totally cool in the morning.

Karin isn’t infrequently frustrated with Ururu & Jinta. That said, she’s never been violent with either of them while she’s frustrated. Karin is mostly frustrated by their refusal to divulge much about shinigami for fear of retaliation from Ichigo. These are Karin’s battle partners. They’re her longest & most important friends. It’s offensive & demeaning that the two most important people in Karin’s life won’t be honest with her, just like Ichigo. Karin throws tantrums, she screams & bawls her eyes out, she begs for them to have the decency to love her like she loves them– with total trust & devotion, but to little avail. Karin may not speak to Jinta & Ururu for a few days after these tantrums, but that’s about all. Karin can’t stay away from them, they’re simply too important to her.

Ichigo is the person Karin is most often frustrated by. I won’t discuss this much since I already talk about Karin & Ichigo so much, but Karin hasn’t gone one argument with Ichigo without trying to hit him. She’s at the end of her rope the minute Ichigo walks in.

Where do I even start with Ichigo’s crew? I was originally going to do original sections for each of them but Karin’s reasons for her frustration with them & reactions to them are virtually the same. Karin does not like anybody in close proximity to Ichigo. At all. Karin thinks all of them are blindly loyal to Ichigo & agree with Ichigo’s treatment of Karin. This isn’t true, Yasutora & Rukia are especially offended by Ichigo stifling Karin’s potential so. Even so, neither of them do anything to put Ichigo in place which, in my opinion, is almost as bad as agreeing with Ichigo. The only person spared from Karin’s violence is Orihime, & only because Karin gets very soft, kind vibes from Orihime which reminds Karin too much of Yuzu to raise a hand against Orihime. Otherwise, everybody else is fair game. Byakuya is included in this category.

Renji is not included with them. Karin harbors complex feelings for Renji. On one hand, Renji reminds Karin strongly of her brother. Renji & Ichigo share similar body language, syntax, & “vibes,” & Renji’s proximity to Ichigo worries Karin. That said, Momo trusts Renji & Karin trusts Momo’s opinion. There’s not one thing that ticks Karin off with or about Renji, because her mixed feelings themselves trigger her frustration. Now, Karin doesn’t act on her frustration herself. Karin gets violent when she feels trapped her pestered by Renji. Her attacks rarely work since Renji is so much larger & stronger than Karin, but Renji is very respectful of Karin’s space for the most part so there aren’t a lot of altercations between them. The rare times Karin tries to beat the shit out of Renji normally result in Renji putting her in time out with Momo & Momo making Karin apologize for her behavior after Karin has cooled off. Karin’s never sure if she’s really sorry.

Isshin genuinely loves his children. Isshin doesn’t know how to be a father. That’s perfectly reasonable, it’s not like there’s a manual for raising children at all, let alone children with troubles such as the Kurosaki siblings. That said, Karin doesn’t feel like Isshin takes her seriously. This makes it hard for Karin to go to Isshin for any amount of help because he just makes a joke out of everything. Of course, nobody can bottle up the turmoil Karin experiences without it negatively impacting their behavior. When Karin feels mocked by Isshin, she gets violent with him. It’s mostly spontaneous violence, while Isshin is being a goofball.

Karin’s relationship with Shuuhei is hard to articulate. It’s pretty uncomplicated since Karin doesn’t hang out with Shuuhei as much as she hangs out with Izuru, Momo, & Toushirou. Karin has never been violent with Shuuhei, she hasn’t even really fought with him. I just want to touch on this though because Karin does get frustrated with Shuuhei on occasion. Shuuhei is still very loyal to Tousen despite Tousen manipulation & hypocrisy. THIS doesn’t anger Karin. Karin knows emotional abuse is extremely complex & takes time for the survivor to process their experience, heal, & relearn self-respect. Karin admires Shuuhei incredibly though as Momo admires him too, which is rare for Momo. Karin just wants Shuuhei to learn to give himself the respect he deserves, she just wants Shuuhei to see how wonderful he is. She mostly keeps this to herself though.

Karin generally loves Rangiku. Rangiku is fun & bright & is almost as good as Rose & Momo at cheering Karin up. Karin just has one complaint– Rangiku’s avoidance of work & Toushirou consequentially picking up her slack. Rangiku isn’t a bad person, but Toushirou is very overworked & a good partnership requires lifting one’s weight in & out of battle. Karin’s frustration with Rangiku slacker habits never escalates into a screaming match or a fight, but Karin can be quite venomous if she catches Rangiku slacking off somewhere. It never really hurts Rangiku’s feelings. Rangiku knows Karin loves her but loves Toushirou just as much, & Rangiku knows Karin is right, Rangiku’s just so sad that it’s hard to sit down & concentrate. Karin understands, she was disassociated her entire senior year & literally flunked out because she got nothing done, but being sad doesn’t excuse burdening loved ones.

Yukio rarely triggers Karin’s frustration. There’s this ease between them Karin doesn’t get with many individuals at all. I’m not even sure what they’d fight about, let alone either of their reactions. Yukio’s initial disdain for Toushirou would tick Karin off at first, but Yukio & Toushirou eventually develop a friendship of their own eliminating any reason for Karin to get upset over that, & Karin can easily see through Yukio’s aloof, sarcastic facade because it’s exactly like her own. I think any problems Karin & Yukio would have with each other would be resolved quickly & maturely.

Karin’s friends Ryohei, Heita, Kei, & Kazuya are people Karin considers “underdogs” like herself. I’ll make another post about my headcanons for Karin’s friends another time– probably reblog it from my roleplay blog– but Karin has only been violent with these four once. Like, with the intent to get back at them instead of just shut them up when they’re being obnoxious. It’s just after the five of them enter junior high. It’s weird for boys & girls to be friends now, & Ryohei, Heita, Kei, & Kazuya don’t like being teased for being friends with a girl. They try to just stop talking to Karin, “let her down easy” so to speak, but Karin’s having none of that. When Karin confronts them about their distant behavior, they really don’t have any choice but to tell Karin they don’t want to be friends with Karin anymore. Of course, Karin is broken-hearted. Kazuya, Ryohei, Kei, & Heita have given Karin a sense of normalcy throughout elementary school. She throws a fit, throwing two of them into the river, dislocating one’s arm, breaking another’s nose, & storms off. She never sees them again. Fine by her, she tells everybody, despite how her chest aches.

Karin is scarcely frustrated with Shinji to point of violence. His lax demeanor in the office gets on Karin’s nerves frequently, but she respects Shinji too greatly to throw a temper tantrum of any sort. This wasn’t always true. Oftentimes, Karin felt Shinji was comparing her to her brother, but Momo talked to Shinji about Karin’s disdain for her brother & Shinji respects that Ichigo hurt Karin very much, so even if Shinji still cares about Ichigo he & Karin just don’t talk about anything having to do with Ichigo.

Rose normally doesn’t irritate Karin in any capacity. Rose used to sound condescending, with his insistence to make the most of life & exploration & art, but after Rose & Karin converse about making oneself happy, pursuing the things that bring them joy instead of seething in misery, Karin likes him. It’s summarily what she did when she killed herself, however tragic. The most Rose does is irritate Karin when he’s being prissy & finicky. It doesn’t even elicit any smart comments from Karin, mostly just an eyeroll. Nothing ever escalates into violence.

Kensei, on the other hand, can make Karin go from 0 to 100 in a third of a second. Karin doesn’t totally despise Kensei. She actually doesn’t know Kensei very well as a person, but she knows how Kensei treats Shuuhei & it’s totally unacceptable. I’ll cover more about Karin’s reactions towards witnessing abusive situations in a couple of paragraphs. But the moment Kensei snaps at Shuuhei while Karin’s in the vicinity, she’s almost immediately up in Kensei’s face screaming at him how he’s a captain & should know better, how Shuuhei’s done jackshit to deserve being berated like Kensei sometimes does. I think Kensei would be ticked off that some kid is screaming at him like Karin is, but Karin has a lot of good points. I won’t explore my thoughts about the dynamic of Squad 9 in this post so I’ll stop there.

Karin doesn’t really know what she thinks about Mashiro overall. I do think Karin is sometimes annoyed by Mashiro’s immaturity but otherwise Karin doesn’t find a lot to get annoyed with Mashiro, nothing that warrants more than a couple of ticked off remarks at least.

That’s all for Karin’s individual relationships– 2.3k words of it…. Just real quick, I’d like to cover a little bit about Karin’s biases towards certain relationships.

Karin’s family relationships leave much to be desired. She doesn’t really care much for her family, since they’re so distant & Yuzu is the only one who hasn’t betrayed Karin in some fashion. She doesn’t think very highly of her family as a whole because of their dysfunction, however much she may love them. She responds to anger with them similarly to her friendships.

Karin is a very insecure person. There aren’t many people whom are forward with her, & she’s already ostracized from her classmates thanks to shit that went down with ghosts in her primary school years. When Karin gets a new friend, she is entirely loyal & loving of them. Anything she may view as wrong or as a betrayal Karin will react to with incredible hostility. Like her family, she thinks friendships are based in honesty & when that is violated she’s broken-hearted & volatile.

Boyfriends & girlfriends are a different matter altogether. Karin will forgive a lot more with them. You see, Karin is a very physical person. Her two primary expressions of love are physical affection & emotional support. It’s more normal for romantic partners to snuggle, so if Karin is ticked off or just finished throwing a tantrum, she’s going to forgive pretty much anything & everything. If her tantrum is interrupted however, Karin will immediately equate this action to Ichigo’s demeaning behavior & she will turn violent & terminate the relationship.

Moving onto violations of Karin’s values. Overall, if Karin even thinks something is amiss she’ll get ticked off & start screaming or beating the shit out of someone. Karin is intolerant of intolerance, even from her loved ones. Truthfully, if any of her loved ones violate her morals, she’ll react even more hostilely than she will a stranger because her loved ones know better. It’s not to say she’ll never forgive anyone for these, of course, but she believes that cruelty needs to be met threefold.

Karin’s biggest trigger to violent action is LGBT+ discrimination. Being bisexual herself, Karin is directly impacted by homophobia & biphobia. She doesn’t care who or where or when this occurs, she will destroy anyone who exhibits homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, aphobia, et cetera. However, Japan has a very repressed culture, & Karin is aware that some people aren’t malicious, simply ignorant. While she’s most likely to respond violently to LGBT+ prejudice, she’s also most likely to forgive it in the future.

Karin is also really ticked off by xenophobia. The Kurosaki kids are biracial– German/Japanese mix, Masaki being German/Japanese herself– so Karin & her family are impacted by this. Less so Karin since she looks more traditionally Japanese, but Yuzu gets a lot of unwarranted harassment because of Yuzu’s more Western appearance. Karin will react violently to any amount of racially or culturally centric discrimination, regardless if Yuzu is on the receiving end or not. This is an unforgivable offense to Karin & if she sees the same individual over & over again, still behaving xenophobically, Karin will beat the shit out of them until they totally disappear from Karakura.

Misogyny is a good way to elicit Karin’s wrath. It reminds Karin of Ichigo’s treatment of her, & seeing as how Karin & Ichigo can’t go a day without trying to rip out each other’s throats, of course Karin acts hostilely towards this behavior.

Abuse & rape apologism wasn’t high on Karin’s radar until she met Momo. Of course, it was on there, but it had more to do with misogyny than abuse itself. Karin’s violent streak is triggered by praise of known abusers & belittlement or harassment of survivors. This is an unforgivable offense & Karin will at least try to chase said offender out of town.

Any form of harassment or abuse of Karin’s loved ones will result in hostile reaction by Karin. Karin is incredibly protective over her “clan” & would risk her own life for anybody she cares about. While Karin won’t immediately resort to violence, an example being Kensei, if the situation is taking a turn Karin doesn’t like or the behavior against her loved ones continues, somebody’s gonna end up with a knife in their lung. This offense is rarely forgivable to Karin, but she’s not so black & white minded to think that everything is simple as it seems. Sometimes, abusive behavior really is just a mistake that can be remedied, but Karin never receives mistreatment of her loved ones peacefully.

Karin would react just as protectively over strangers. It’s the violation of her morals that triggers her violent behavior, not the person, it just so happens that her loved ones can trigger more volatile reaction.

I want to cover relationship violence specifically for one reason– Karin will plainly murder any romantic or sexual partner of her loved ones whom are mistreating them. No warning, no forgiveness. This is basically because of Toushirou. It’s hard for Karin to watch Toushirou be sad in any capacity, especially when Toushirou blames himself for Aizen’s abuse of Momo. That, & Momo has a huge influence over Karin. Momo talking about Aizen’s abuse make Karin’s blood boil. Between those two influences, Karin has no tolerance nor forgiveness for abusive spouses or partners.

Hm. I was revising this when I noticed Karin’s misandry. I want to specify something here too– Karin does not give preferential treatment to women because they’re women. Most of the offenses Karin has suffered have been via men, & most of Momo’s horror stories are of Aizen. Karin has a very skewed perspective of men therefore she more likely to react violently against men, not because women need to be protected.

#I FEEL LIKE I'VE RAN A MARATHON #I WROTE THAT IN 6HRS I'M DYING #I love talking about my pear child #brotp: for you I take the warpath #brotp: heaven is an uphill stroll #brotp: knots of flames tie our hearts together #familial ichikarin #familial karinyuz #hitsukarin #karin kurosaki #okay seriously tho thanks for the ask #otp: shut up & kiss me #platonic jinkarinuru #platonic karinhina #platonic karinyuki #platonic kirakarin #platonic rosekarin #platonic shinkarin #sinalaking #kogi talks bleach hcs #shinigami karin