As you all know, I shouldn’t be doing this.

However, the whole manga/anime industry feels the need to throw this kind of crap in my face. You know what I’m talking about. You definitely know what I’m talking about. Bleach Chapter 686, also known as ‘the last chapter’. If you haven’t already read it, please leave right now because there will be no limits on how far I go today. I’m so emotionally damaged right now that my whole emotional switch-breaker has completely been rendered useless.

Once again, I’ll just be giving you some background information on this whole ordeal right now.

I started watching Bleach when I was eight. My older brother and I started watching it at the same time, however, he kind of diverged and went on to Naruto while I stayed truly devoted to Bleach. So I’ve been with Bleach for a DECADE now. Okay? It’s been ten years since I swore my devotion to this whole epic experience and Tite Kubo decides to show his gratitude by crapping out chapter 686, spitting on it and just slapping it right across my face. REALLY?!

Honestly, if you haven’t already been aware, I’ve been on an anime hiatus for up to three years now. I just kind of fell out of it for a while. There was school, changing interests and trying new things. I still loved it, anime will always be a big part of my life (do you know how many hours I’ve already committed to this? I ain’t gonna stop now) but I just haven’t seriously sat down and ploughed through a whole series in a very very long time. (Don’t worry, Haikyuu season 2 and 3, I’ll get to you eventually) However, Bleach will always be in my heart. I’ve sat through all 366 episodes, watched all 4 movies and even laughed through all of the Bleach Musicals. (Don’t get me started on the concept covers and the seiyuu events)

 

So ever since 366 aired, I haven’t really been keeping up with the manga because I always believed that the anime series would come back and when it did, I wanted to follow it every step of the way; fresh. Of course, I couldn’t escape the spoilers like Ichigo being a Quincy, the Quincy war, Toushiro being an adult and the goddamn end chapter. It’s because of stuff like this that makes me go: ‘COME ON! I turn away from anime for a few years and THIS kind of shit happens!’

I found out last Wednesday. My friend (who has been keeping up with all things anime) casually told me that Bleach ended. I was cool with it, I wasn’t even expecting Ichigo to end up with anyone. I had no expectations- because I knew Tite. I just assumed that he would say they lived happily ever after, no one ends up with anyone; just all open ended stuff. I would have been cool with that! It would have been completely fine!

My friend handed me his laptop and told me to read the final chapter and from the very start, once I saw this, I knew what was up.

I looked at my friend and asked him the dreaded question.

‘Does Ichigo not end up with Rukia?’

His face said it all but he still urged me to read on while saying that ‘the end was so shocking’.

Long story short, Tite Kubo spat in my face.

Before I even reach that gaping Ichiruki shaped hole in my chest, let me just highlight all of the ‘little’ details that Tite shoved to the side.

First of all, Ishida became a doctor. The guy that hated his dad (who was a doctor) and secretly loved sewing all things costumes, making clothes and creating his own outfits as well as repairing others, became a doctor. HE BECAME A DOCTOR. What are you doing, Kubo?!

It gets worse.

Chad, the soft-hearted and amazing character, who vowed to his grandfather (uncle Diablo?) that he would never fight for his own self-gratification- became a world-renowned boxer. Oh yeah, that didn’t just completely smash out fifteen years of character development not to mention, Chad’s core personality. Good one, Kubo

And finally, let’s dive into the very issue that really got to me. I mean, what were those ten years of commitment for?!

According to the last chapter, where Kubo just said FUCK IT ALL and skipped ten years ahead, Ichigo ends up marrying Orihime and knocking her up. (Excuse my crude language today but I’ve had to endure all of this pent up frustration for 3 days and right now, I’ve just got to do what I have to do. Remember, I’ve spent 10 years waiting for Ichiruki to happen). I don’t care if their kid looks a little cute. It’s completely unfair, you can’t just give me a tiny little kid and say it’s all good.

And honestly, the kid really only has Orihime’s features. You could pass that off as Ishida’s kid and no one would blink twice. I mean, where did the spiky hair go?! If you’re going to give the kid Orihime’s droopy eyes, you gotta at least save the Ichigo hair. Come on! Even the name! Why would Ichigo ever name his kid that?! At least Rukia’s got it right, she named her kid Ichika. I mean, Kubo if you’re going to subtly hint that Ichika is just an amalgamation of Ichigo and Rukia, you might as well have just ended the whole thing with Ichigo and Rukia getting married.; like every single fan of Bleach wanted. Ichihime fans were obviously not watching the entire Bleach franchise unfold. I mean honestly, other than the time he went to save Orihime in Hueco Mundo (but then did everyone else, because they had to stop Aizen too), there was nothing developing between them at all!

And come on! Before she was taken away by Aizen, she practically broke into Ichigo’s house, attempted to kiss an unconscious Ichigo while groping him and crying all over him. If that’s not begging someone to save you, then what is?! Also, while I’m taking the time out to point things out, I’d also like to say that Orihime is a terrible friend. Who is supposed to be the most important person to Orihime? That’s right, Tatsuki! You’re telling me that you are given the chance to say goodbye to only one person and you just ditch your, supposedly, best friend for some guy that practically ignores you at school?!

Great message to send to all your young female readers, Tite. Best message ever. It’s also a great message to share with young teenage boys. I mean : ‘It’s okay to ignore girls that are pining over you because women are whores and no matter how many years you ignore their feelings, they’re still gonna want to have babies with you.’

(Once again, my level of crudeness right now is completely self-explanatory)

I would also like to bring up the fact that when Rukia left Ichigo because she knew that she was going to be brought back to Soul Society for her execution. She didn’t do all of that crap to Ichigo. She had planned to leave quietly but Ichigo sensed that something was wrong and he went after her in the middle of the night. He also almost got himself killed and Rukia saved him YET AGAIN; even if it meant that she had to kick him and leave him wounded on the ground. And you could see how much it pained her to do such a thing but all Rukia cared about was the fact that Ichigo lived and remained in the human world, not following her and potentially getting himself murdered.

Also, remember how Byakuya stabbed Ichigo in that first fight and announced that he was dead but then Rukia still ran towards Ichigo and when Renji strangled her and told her it was meaningless because touching him would only add more years onto her sentence. She asked him what was wrong with running towards the person that she caused to get injured. Then when Byakuya asked her whether she cared for this child enough to sacrifice herself, she SAID YES.

Orihime wouldn’t even do that! All she did when she was captured was help the espada that wanted to kill her and shout for Ichigo to save her! I mean, everyone’s all about empowering women and you’re really trying to promote this kind of behaviour? Do you honestly think that Orihime fits the part of being a healthy role model that empowers women?

Even while Rukia was held captured in Soul Society  she kept telling Hanatarou about her adventures in the human world with Kurosaki Ichigo. From here, we found out that Ichigo taught Rukia many things, like how to drink from a juice pack (It still puts a smile on my face because it’s so ridiculously cute)  or that modified souls could be placed in non-living beings (such as KON). Even Hantarou kept saying that every time Rukia told him a story of the living world, it was always centred around just one person – Ichigo. During her whole sentence, Ichigo was all she could think about but she didn’t wait for him, she didn’t want him to come and save her. No, she wanted him to be safe, all that mattered to her was that he was alive.

(Not to mention she said: ‘Ichigo and I only spent 2 months together but he’s become someone that I completely trust.)

Not to mention, Ichigo, (ONLY KNOWING SOMEONE FOR 2 MONTHS) risked everything to go save her. He also pushed himself to be the best, just for her.

Throughout the whole lead up to him saving her, he made sure to tell everyone that HE CAME TO SOUL SOCIETY and that he even ACHIEVED BANKAI just FOR HER.

(Shut your face if you even try to bring up the whole ‘Orihime sacrificed everything to go to Soul Society too!’ WHAT THE FUCK was her motive for going to Soul Society? She didn’t give a fuck about Rukia. She even said to Ichigo that she was going to Soul Society as well and she didn’t care about what happened because she just wanted to follow Ichigo. AND DO WHAT?! What the fucking hell did she do in Soul Society?!

(Oh yeah, she fucking WAITED. I mean, wow people are getting injured and fighting to save lives and Orihime’s like : ‘yeah, I’m cool with just waiting for Ichigo to finish this fight.’ Like Ichigo’s fucking wounded and she’s just chilling. Sorry, no she’s attending to her very important waiting duties. SERIOUSLY??? You have Ichigo fighting his butt off and getting beat up and you have Rukia getting Aizen’s fugly green hand pulling crap out of her body and Orihime (still completely unscathed) is just FUCKING WAITING. )

Other than stealing a couple of shinigami uniforms just so she could cosplay for a bit before running away and leaving Ishida to do all the fighting! Like her being weak is not the main problem, WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE DOING TO BECOME STRONGER. Okay, let’s just forget the fact that SHE HAS ABSOLUTELY no goddamn powers. Her hair clip’s complete bullshit, she ain’t doing shit. It’s those little fairies that are doing all the work. She’s not the one creating the shield or the little healing hub. And what the fuck is the point of her healing powers?! ARE WE FORGETTING THE FACT THAT RUKIA CAN FUCKING HEAL TOO!!??

Speaking of healing and strength. Remember the time in Bleach – Hell Chapter when Orihime was like’ I wanna be next to Ichigo because I can heal shit’. And remember her putting that heal hub on Yuzu and it just shattering in her face?! Oh yeah super useful. During that time when Rukia encountered the grand fisher in the grave yard and she protected Yuzu and Karin even though she was only in a gigai and she didn’t have shinigami powers?!

It’s stupid to even go any further because this is just the tip of this whole mass rage that I have pent up within me. So let’s just talk about how Ichigo and Rukia are meant for each other. Usually, I hate placing two people together and calling it fate but with this couple, it’s just completely inevitable. Everyone KNOWS that Ichigo and Rukia are just a thing. It doesn’t need a label, you just KNOW.

Nel knows it! The girl that couldn’t even remember herself and was shot in the head (And probably has some sort of brain damage) KNOWS IT!

Orihime definitely knows it.

Renji obviously knows it and has accepted it entirely. Did you not listen to the duet he did with Byakuya for the concept covers? Plus there’s also this…

I mean fucking Ichigo KNOWS IT.

Urahara knows it. (Oh he definitely knows it and he’s just having fun with it all)

[I mean Urahara’s literally seconds away from Benihime-ing Kubo’s face off right now]

Chad knows it

Even Studio Pierro knew it.

Even the little Angry kid knows it

I think you get the point. EVERYONE FUCKING KNOWS IT.

They constantly save each other. They have each other’s back. Things aren’t right when they’re not together.

Did you see the way Ichigo was a fucking hot mess for those 17 months when he wasn’t allowed to see Rukia?!

Orihime tried her best to get into his pants throughout those months but HEY! THERE WAS NO DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN THEM AT ALL! Kubo fucking time skipped to when Ichigo started working on his fullbringer powers for fucking who?? DAYUM. RUKIA! HELLO?!!!

Rukia saved Ichigo.

Ichigo saved Rukia.

Bleach Fade to Black came out and BAM! Everyone fucking forgot about Rukia but Ichigo remembered her in like 2 seconds! And went to save her even though she didn’t even know who the fuck he was. Did you even watch it?! Did you see how desperate he was to make sure that she FUCKING KNEW WHO HE WAS?!

And after that whole thing, he saved her, he gave some of his power to her (going back to the whole things that there is literally a part of Ichigo in Rukia’s fucking body) and then he gave that whole speech on how they both share a special bond that will always be there even if their memories fade- and that they probably knew each other in another life.

(I mean if that’s not a friggin’ speech that a 70 year old man would give to his wife, I have no idea what the fuck is)

Going back to the whole thing, Rukia saved him in Hueco Mundo and then she actually had to remind him that their goal was to save Orhime because HE WAS SO FUCKING GLAD TO SEE RUKIA.

And then when Ulquiorra told Ichigo that Rukia was dead, Ichigo was like FUCK ORIHIME and he just turned back to go rescue Rukia but Ulquiorra prevented him from doing so by blasting a FUCKING HOLE through his chest. Which Orihime just stood there and WATCHED IT ALL HAPPEN. She didn’t even TRY to protect Ichigo at all. WHAT THE FUCK MAN. THAT AIN’T LOVE.

I mean even Nel, the girl that got blasted in the face TRIED to do something. Remember?? That whole scene where she was crawling towards a practically dead Ichigo and just crying??? God that scene made me cry and Bleach just kept replaying it over and over!

(By the way, don’t give me that whole crap that Orihime respects Ichigo’s man pride and won’t step in even if he’s got a fucking hole where his goddamn heart should be! I mean, when Ichigo was slowly losing his powers and Rukia was supposed to make sure Ichigo didn’t fight any hollows- she didn’t want to hurt him so she just FOUGHT ALONGSIDE WITH HIM. That’s what people who fucking love each other do! You can say that Ichigo and Rukia are just friends but Orihime’s not even up to that fucking level yet.)

[No, she’d much rather wait and leave Ichigo to die. Ichigo doesn’t need a goddamn cheerleader thank you very much.]

Then when Ichigo defeated Grimmjow and saved Orihime what the heck was the first thing he said?! He said she was FUCKING HEAVY. (I embellished that slightly. But he did.) Remember how Nel bit Ichigo and told him even if a girl was THE MOST FUCKING HEAVIEST THING EVER he musn’t tell her that she’s heavy. (god, Nel was great. Once again, Nel didn’t say ‘fucking’ I embellished that too.)

I don’t know about you, but saving Rukia was way more natural. And he trained so hard just so he could do it. He learnt all those new skills just so he could fight better. What kind of new skills did he gain when he went to save Orihime?! NONE. He used the skills that he attained FOR RUKIA to rescue Orihime. Orihime didn’t even motivate Ichigo to reach further.

Then Ichigo lost his power to save everyone and defeat Aizen (I’m skipping all the Bounter crap because that arc was just a complete waste of time) and then WHO THE FUCK SAVED ICHIGO AGAIN? Rukia did! She fucking stabbed him again and gave him her powers ONCE AGAIN. Who was the one that actually convinced all the captains to donate their reiatsu to Ichigo? Rukia did. For those 17 months she was slaving away and thinking of a way for Ichigo to be able to be whole again, to be able to see her again. What the FUCK WAS ORIHIME DOING?? Trying to make Ichigo forget his past as a Shinigami. She could’ve easily consulted with Urahara and discussed a plan to restore Ichigo powers but NOPE. Taking advantage of Rukia’s absence was so much more important!

FUCK THIS, MAN.

Kubo obviously intended for Rukia and Ichigo to be together, Kaien Dono has the same friggin’ character design as Ichigo for crying out loud!

Ichigo and Rukia sang many duets with each other for all the Bleach CDs!

Have you seen the 26th Bleach ending? The Haruka Kanata Bleach ending? The Gallop Bleach ending??

Even in the very first Bleach opening, Ichigo and Rukia are arguing like a newly wed couple!

And what do we in the last chapter??!! Ichigo and Rukia arguing like a married couple!

What the fuck happened Kubo?

Did the girl you based Rukia on break your heart or something because this is just unacceptable.

One shitty chapter cannot destroy 15 years of progress. Not to mention the 10 years that I devoted to this whole thing!

Ichigo and Rukia will always be together. Everyone knows it. Even Ichihime worshippers know it. Why do you think that they have to form the Ichiruki ANTI club. How pathetic is that?! It’s ignorant and idiotic. It’s like forming the friggin’ ANTI GRAVITY club.

I’m done. I gotta go. Life awaits me. (Studying that is)

But before I do, let me just leave you with this. (Keep in mind, Ichigo blew Rukia away too in the Hell Chapter movie but he damn well made sure to bloody catch her)