Name: Eternal Paradox or E.P.

Age: Guess

Gender: Male

Likes: A lot of things

Dislikes: Harems among other things.

Favorites stuff to do: Watch anime, webseries, read books, play video games e.t.c. (All that jazz)

Aspiring goals: Graduate, become an accountant and hold a double degree and a minor, in creative writing and philosophy respectively.

I will fill this all in later.

Still flushing out the idea. Will post whenever I feel like.

L.A.R.P.ING: It is something we all do, there really is no point in deigning it. Embrace the larper embrace it.

OBITUARY FOR THE LATE MR. COMMON SENSE

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been
with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth
records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing
when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't
always fair; and Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than
you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing
regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6 year-old boy charged with sexual
harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using
mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student,
only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that
they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It
declined even further when schools were required to get Parental consent to
administer Calpol, sun lotion or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform
parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband;
churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their
victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar
in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize
that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and
was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife,
Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To
Blame, and I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized
he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the
majority and do nothing.

Read this outloud.

This is this cat

This is is cat

This is how cat

This is to cat

This is keep cat

This is a cat

This is dumbass cat

This is busy cat

This is for cat

This is forty cat

This is seconds cat

Now go back up and read the third word in each sentence. If you didn't catch it the first time through, copy and paste it. And you know that you didn't.

25 REASONS I OWE MY MOTHER

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished
cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3 . My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of
next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the
store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't
have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION .
"Just wait until we get home."

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that
way."

19. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My mother taught me HUMOR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don 't come running to me."

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."

-Oscar Wilde

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

-Albert Einstein

"When arguing with a fool, make sure that the opponent isn't doing the exact same thing."

-Abraham Lincoln

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; Fools talk because they have to say something."

-Plato

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable it is, must be the truth."

-Sherlock Holmes

"If you can't convince them, confuse them."

-Harry S. Truman

"A word to the wise ain't necessary; it's the stupid ones that need the advice."

-Bill Cosby

"Life is the greatest teacher, unfortunately it kills all its students."

-Unknown

"Life is like a video game. Everybody’s got to die sometime."

-Devin Moore

"Don't take life seriously, no one ever gets out alive."

-Unknown

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."

-Albert Einstein

"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

-Unknown

"Never look down on somebody unless you're helping them up."

-Jesse Jackson

"You can kill the dreamer, but you can't kill the dream."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

"It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well."

-Rene Descartes

"They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up."

-Chris Rock

"Titties and tater tots don't mix."

-Chris Rock

"Earth is another form of Hell and men are it's demons."

-Lucifer, Dante's Inferno (animated movie)

"Death gotta be easy, cuz life is hard, it'll leave you physically, mentally, emotionally scarred"

-Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Many Men(Wish Death)

"I love it when a plan comes together."

-Colonel Hannibal Smith, The A-Team

"Cash don't buy guts kid. Or brains. And you're short on both."

-Liam Neeson as Colonel Hannibal Smith, The A-Team

"Old habits may die hard, but, they still gotta die."

-Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as Corporal Bosco "B.A." Baracus, The A-Team

"Victory attained by violence is tantamount to defeat, for it is momentary."

-Mahatma Gandhi

"It is better to be violent if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence."

-Mahatma Gandhi

"Only those who die get closure, the living do not."

-Niko Bellic, Grand Theft Auto IV

"War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other."

-Niko Bellic, Grand Theft Auto IV

" "I'm just saying Sheldon that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."

"You can catch even more with manure, what's your point?" "

-Leonard Hofstader and Sheldon Cooper, Big Bang Theory

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

-Dr. Seuss

"...While sticks and stones may break your bones, words leave psychological wounds that never heal."

-Timmy Turner's Dad, Fairly Odd Parents

"...in this cursed world, there is nothing more fictional than a peace where people could TRULY understand one another. It's merely a lie brought on by wishful thinking."

-Pein in Jedi Knight Naruto Revised: The Clone Wars, Ch. 9, by sergeant assassin

Starting tips for new writers

Guys, I been noticing a lot of writers with difficulty, even though I am not one of the best, I can still give some good tips, so here are a few tips to writing and organizing a good and nice story...

1. Write down your ideas, do not be afraid to put it in actual paper what you think of the story and what you want to happen.

2. Organize those ideas, place them in order, list down what you think is best and in which order you want to happen, what will help achieve what, what is needed to achieve what. The conflicts, the drama that you want to happen.

3. Think about the characters, how do you want them, their roles, their personalities, how they would act upon a situation, don't be afraid to write it down. In case you are adding OCs, list down their qualities, their disadvantages, good things, bad things, give them a quirk, a habit, make them into REAL characters, real people that you can actually see existing.

4. When you make a character, have in mind how many times you want him to appear and what it is that you want for him during the course of the story, not only the OCs, but every single character in the story. Write down what you want for them, how they will live, potential love partners and people they will get along, and even how you want them to die.

5. A chapter is what define a part of the story, there is no limit or magical number of words to make a perfect chapter, because that is not how things work. Chapters define a section of the storyline, they are a part of history, divide your chapters by what you want to happen already keeping in mind how you will continue it. Generally though, people tend to do so at around 5,000 words more or less.

6. Getting down to the actual writing, start off with a structure, a rough sketch of what you want to happen.

Ex: MC goes to the bar - MC meets bartender and flirts- MC discovers she is an old friend- Random guy comes in and flirts with her - MC gets into a fight with random guy.

7. Fill in the spots, add in dialogues, don't be afraid to make them cheesy or simple, just add it in to fill in the spot of what you want to happen.

8. Be sure that the paragraphs aren't too long, no more than 4 lines unless you are experienced, long sentences tend to be hard to read.

9. Go back and re-read. Polish the dialogues, once you re-read it you will see what is the problem and what is missing, the emotions, the reactions, etc.

10.Wait a day and re-read it one more final time, lots of writers are afraid to re-read what they wrote, when they go back they don't like it. If YOU don't like what YOU wrote, what makes you think OTHERS will like it? Be proud of what you wrote, if you like it then you will re-read it many times.

1. Bad grammar

I cannot tolerate people with horrible grammar and spelling. If you want to write, go ahead. Nothing's stopping you. But if you simply cannot write, which you will be able to tell if you are literate, then please, please go and do a bit of reading up before you come here.

2. OOC

I know not everyone can write as well as Rowling or Tolkien but since you're using their settings please do them a favour and write their characters in character. Edward (Cullen) and Harry (Potter) never did speak in monosyllables and do not use the four-letter expletive starting with "f". (If you do not know what word this is then you shouldn't actually be in here.)

3. Mary-Sues

Everyone wants to be perfect. I do, too. But that does not mean that you can. Sure, it's fiction, but even then it has to be realistic. So be realistic. For those who don't know: A Mary-Sue (or Gary Stu) is an overly idealized character that lacks flaws, is immune to failures and is liked by almost everyone in the story. She (or he) primarily functions as wish-fulfillment fantasies for the author and perhaps readers too (possibly the only reason why any reader would like this disgusting creature). She is a pet character of the author, and is favoured over all other characters in the story. Usually characterized with a tragic past. There are many different types of Sues, all which can be found in Wikipedia.

4. It's just fiction!

This is not an excuse for humans to start mating with Pokemon or for Hermione to start sleeping with Voldemort. You're using the writer's stories or the plot of the game/anime/film, for goodness' sake, not rewriting it. So please do show a bit of decency and not throw all their hard work away by ruining it with your fanfic. Sure, you may not ruin the authors' stories in the literal sense, but I have no desire to have my enjoyment of these stories ruined because of some idiot's horrible imaginings.

5. Thesaurus Rape

I'm sure you've seen these (especially if you've written one of them). Language used in stories that involve the use of mile-long words usually do not match the theme. Unless your setting is a Literature competition, in which case I have nothing to say, but allow my heart to bleed for the poor thesaurus.

6. Blatant ignorance of the existence of the Dictionary

Thesaurus rape is bad. But not using the dictionary and placing all the wrong vocabulary in the wrong places is worse. At least thesaurus-rapists know what they're talking about.

7. Obvious, outright Illiteracy

If you appear not to be able to form a coherent sentence, start it with a capital letter, or end it with a fullstop, please go and read a decent book. By which I mean not Twilight. Too many people's heads are full of Twicrap, SMeyer crap and possibly marble (which they somehow find sexy, but I digress). If you can't write, or read for that matter, please go and get an education before posting your crap here. It's not intelligent sounding, and since only five years of your life has passed, what's the hurry?

8. Lack of Paragraphing

It's amazing how some people can make their way through abominable, non-paragraphed blocks of text. When I see a chunk of words that are meant to be in paragraphs but aren't, I click "Review Story" straightaway and start firing off.

9. Violation of Site Guidelines

Read whatever's below. It's copied and pasted directly off FanFiction, no editing.

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Here is a list of conducts that should always be observed:

1. Spell check all story and poetry. There is no excuse for not performing this duty. If you do not have a word processor that has the spell checking feature, use a search engine such as Google.com to find one.
2. Proofread all entries for grammar and other aspects of writing before submission. 'Hot off the press' content is often riddled with errors. No one is perfect but it is the duty of the writer to perform to the best of his/her ability.
3. Respect the reviewers. Not all reviews will strictly praise the work. If someone rightfully criticizes a portion of the writing, take it as a compliment that the reviewer has opted to spend his/her valuable time to help improve your writing.
4. Everyone here is an aspiring writer. Respect your fellow members and lend a helping a hand when they need it. Like many things, the path to becoming a better writer is often a two way street.
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10. Shameless Rip-offs

Self-explanatory. The same goes for plot lines, writing styles, use of language, life habits, and behaviour.

11. Apologies for 'sucky' summaries

This is an unwritten rule of FF.net : if an author makes an apology for the summary that they just KNOW "sucks so much", it's a good indication that their story sucks too.

Summaries are not difficult to write, people. A summary is a condensed version of a larger reading. A summary is not a rewrite of the original piece and does not have to be long, nor should it be long. To write a summary, use your own words to briefly express the main idea and relevant details of the piece you have read. Your purpose in writing the summary is to give the basic ideas of the story. What was it about and what do you want to communicate?

Ninety-five percent of the kids out there are unconcerned by the dismal state of their education, or the fact that their fanfiction is raping the English language. If you're part of the five percent of fanfiction writers/readers who do care about such things, cut and paste this, and then leave reviews for those poor souls who know not what they are doing.

If you want to cry when you see punctuation marks abused (and when you can't edit them), copy and paste this into your profile.

So I’ve seen a couple of people here and there stating how Ichigo and Rukia never thought of each other more than just friends, and that there was nothing special between them. Especially those ichihime and Renruki fanatics.

I don’t usually ship, I find it usually to be petty and rather nitpicky. Also superficial in the sense that you only want two characters to get together cause you think it’ll be cute. Bleach broke this rule for me for the following reasons

The development of Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship influences each of them in significant ways, while contributing to their character development (1)

Their background narratives provide a comparison that highlight the similarities both of them have been struggling with, leading to an etching of detailed characterization (2)

The symbolism involving them offer contrasting elements which contribute to the supporting characterization the author wants to present (or at least wanted to) (3)

The relationship between them (until the last arc) was handled with such sensitivity that the reader can be compelled to feel their mood and feelings for each other (4)

Their struggles and support for each other, heavily contribute to the theme of death and having the courage to overcome your fears, and become stronger and change as a better person (which imo is a pretty generic theme in shounen, but their involvement made it less so) (5)

I know some may point out that some of these points can be used with Ichigo and any of his friends, however, with Ichigo and Rukia, it is executed in a way that is a lot more central to each of their characters, and not in a way that isn’t so one-sided as I’ll explain below.

Now see, I’m not gonna link past scenes and be like “look, they look at each other, see? That’s romance”. No, I’m actually gonna explain the purpose of the scenes, which apparently have gone over some people’s heads.

In the beginning of Bleach, we see ichigo not fully committed to using his powers to save everyone like a soul reaper should:

Things stay more or less the same here and there as orihime is introduced and ichigo fights sora’s hollow. When we see chad and the parakeet, we get rukia’s notice of ichigo’s small change in attitude:

This tiny tidbit later contributes to something else, but more hollow fights go by, then we get to masaki’s death anniversary, where we learn Ichigo was burdening something since the start of the series:

This is super important. We learn that Ichigo has been upset about his mom’s death, and that through his fights at the Dojo, he felt he was getting stronger and had the capacity to save more people, until his mom died and his whole family basically regressed, Ichigo taking more of the burden than the other members. His happiness revolved around her, and he has been regressing it while blaming himself, to which Rukia notices and tells him to talk to her about it when he feels like he can:

His fight with Grand Fisher brings out his anger that he’s been harboring, and we see Rukia actually frightened for Ichigo’s life for once:

This is just the prelude to Kaiens death, but it still shows something new, what previous hollow fights were considered a run-of-the-mill duty, we see Rukia show a much more vulnerable side and Ichigo’s anger over his mother’s death (4). This encounter and his talk with Isshin changes Ichigo to fully accept the duties of a soul reaper and be strong like he wanted to be when his mom was alive:

Then, for Don’s Concert TV thing, Orihime approaches Ichigo and tries to point out his kindness for coming just for his family, as a way for her trying to show her sympathy for him after hearing about his mom and his background, to which Ichigo completely doesn’t take notice:

Then comes Rukia who tells him he should take it easy, of which Ichigo immediately notices her kindness:

Stuff happens with Ishida, but later we see Rukia running away from Ichigo’s house, realizing that she has gotten too close with him, and knows that she will be in trouble and doesn’t want to get him involved:

Then we get Ichigo fighting Renji and getting owned by Byakuya, after which we get one of the most important scenes for the main character for the entirety of the series:

See this isn’t a scene where he just loses a friend. A buddy. A comrade. No, this scene serves as an important comparison with the death of Ichigo’s mom. The purpose of their similarities is to show that Rukia gave him the power to protect others like he wanted to do when his mom was alive, and that like how his happiness revolved around that and his mom, in turn, his new happiness revolved around his powers and Rukia.

That he thought he could save people in his Dojo classes only to be distraught by his mom dying to save him, the same thing happens here, Ichigo thought he could save people with his powers, only Rukia goes to her execution to save Ichigo.

This is also a painful scene for Rukia cause of Kaiens death, as Ichigo was the one to provide Rukia with the happiness that she was devoid of by treating her normally whereas Renji left her, Byakuya shunned her, and other people kept having whispers about her when she graduated immediately after being accepted in the kuchiki family. (2). I don’t even need to say how both characters lost their loved ones in the rain, and it just so happens to rain here.

Now, what does Ichigo do following Rukia’s departure? Does he silently shoulder his feelings in anger? Does he shrug and pass out? Does he do the generic shounen protagonist thing and say “damn you bastards!”? No, he does something that is done by every other male hero in a romance where the woman leaves/betrays him, and something he never ever does for any other character in the series, he cries in agony in the rain (4):

http:// mangasee.co/ manga/?series= Bleach&chapter=56&index=1&page=19

No other two characters in the series have shared this kind of experience, where the development of their relationship and their backgrounds come clashing together to mix and create a deeply emotional experience for both parties.

This scene of despair for Ichigo, (which btw mirrors so many romances its not even funny), is so prominent that its up there with his mother’s death over his whole experiences of despair:

The others involve Aizen, tensa zangestu showing ichigo his hollow form, and ginjou taking his fullbring.

Their similar backgrounds of losing loved ones are essentially repeated right here, showing the reader that Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship has developed into something more than just friends, while detailing their character (2). That Rukia leaves thinking he’s dead contributes to her submission into feeling that she should die, whereas Ichigo lost someone that greatly help clear his regression over his mom’s death, as when Ichigo learns that he can save her, the feeling of despair clears from him:

When Ichigo goes to the soul society, we see Ichigos determination to save Rukia through characters like Hanataro and Renji:

This scene in of itself, i.e., without context, is really similar to the generic shounen protagonist wanting to save their friends. However, what you have to take into account, as it’s a story, is the previously mentioned prominent scene, Rukia isn’t someone who’s just a pal, she’s someone who changed Ichigo’s whole world:

This passion is part of what made the soul society arc so great. You have two characters meeting from different worlds, developing a relationship where they build trust, and then realize that their bond has developed into something important, strength and love. Strength to overcome the grief of loved ones, protect the ones close to you, and in turn, love, because that Ichigo’s mom was able to provide her love and comfort to Ichgio, and Kaien was able to provide his love and comfort for Rukia, Ichigo and Rukia were able to provide each other the love and comfort to be strong and protect each other and their friends, which comes together in one of the most iconic scenes in manga (1, 4, 5):

This relationship continues after the soul society arc.

In her fight with arroniero, we’re shown Rukia being reminded of Kaiens comforting words to give her strength, and in her moments of reflecting on her friends, she is reminded of Ichigo and the strength he gave to have her live on as she was pained as a prisoner, no longer feeling that she has to die for Kaeins death (1, 4, 5):

We also see Ichigo reflecting on Rukias words way back from the first arc when he realizes his dad is a shinigami:

No, this is not a romantic confirmation in of itself, this rather shows the development Ichigo has gone through with Rukia, and how he is able to express a different, patient, and mature trait that he learned from her. (1)

Point is, Rukia did not disappear from Ichigo’s influence and character after the soul society arc. They both showed important changes in their character, one overcame the grief they were burdening, the other learned to be more calm and collective rather than jumping in. They both reflected their thoughts for each other and provided each other with comfort and strength that changed them and made them better and stronger people. (1, 4, 5)

Then after their touching goodbye after aizens defeat, we’re immediately shown in the next chapter that Ichigo is reflecting on his soul reaper powers and how Rukia hasn’t even shown up once since he lost his powers:

And keigo asks him if he misses rukia, to which ichigo says there’s no reason to miss her:

because he got the peace and quiet he always wanted:

But after ishida gets hurt, and his friends slowly get hurt one by one, Chad tells Ichigo that he knows that Ichigo has been upset since day one of losing his powers:

And in trying to activate his fullbring, we see ichigo recalling several moments in the past where he used his powers to save his friends, orihime from grimmjow, Karen from gran fisher, and even rukia from her execution.

Though the one thought that Ichigo puts above all of these important moments in the series is Rukia herself:

Now I hope some of you realize that this isn’t just him thinking of a friend who gave him his powers. This isn’t a scene of Rukia offering her blade to him like she did in the beginning of the series, no, we learn two important things from Ichigo after this scene, that he wants to have powers to protect everyone as much as he can, and that he misses Rukia, which is why this scene isn’t a flashback, it shows her leaving through the soul society gate. The two go hand in hand, Ichigo’s ability to have strength to save others and change others around him to be better people, stem from the change Rukia made on him, and that’s the pride he has in himself and of her.

And Rukia realizes this later on in the fullbring arc (1, 4, 5):

The theme of having the courage to overcome your barriers and change to a better and stronger person was central to Ichigo and Rukia’s characterization and development. That both Rukia and Ichigo were able to provide the strength and comfort to each other as their older loved ones did before they died, and as Ichigo is the main character, this shows how he was able to change Byakuya, Aizen, and Ginjou, and a whole lot of other characters.

This is also supported in the symbolism present between them, the poems in the volumes and databooks. How Ichigo is the “black sun that is dragged down by the rain” and how Rukia is the “white moon that dries the black sun”, and this is also presented in the imagery of Ichigos fully black powers (tensa zangestu and mugetsu) and Rukias fully white powers (her bankai). We also know that zangestu hates the rain, one of Ichigo’s moments of despair is being in a flooded world when tensa zangestu shows him his hollowfied form. (3)

We don’t see this theme in the final arc. We don’t see the kind of change that Ichigo brings or even him reflecting on the conflict that is present in the arc. Instead, we get an ending that goes against this theme (as I’ll explain below) and character dynamic that Ichigo and Rukia made prominent throughout the series, even if it was reduced in quantity after the soul society arc. Personally I think Kubo was aiming towards something between them and making them central to the plot again. That we get a volume length parallel between Isshin and Masaki (literally every parallel possible between them was drawn) suggests to me that we would have gotten something similar to them as parallels are meant to display the importance of two or more characters/scenarios.

We did not need that long of an explanation for Ichigo to understand his powers, Isshin was able to tell him that within a chapter. Not to mention urahara, the guy who is Mayuris rival, and is feared for his unpredictable methods (his plans have plans) apologized to Ichigo and Rukia on leaving everything up to them as he collapsed.

And that Kubo was taking his time building up Ichigos despair against Yhwach, only for tsukishima to show up and get him on his feet right away, perhaps Rukia would have an important role in giving Ichigo his strength as she did when he was afraid of his hollow powers and losing his fullbring. There is also the question of why Urahara chose to hide the hogyoku inside Rukia. That, and the symbolism present in their power ups (mugestu and bankai) made me think that there was gonna be a power twist with them and saving all worlds. But we did not even get to see them fight together. Nor did we get a meaningful closure between them as Ichigo got meaningful moments with all of his other friends.

Now the ending, is a complete backwards change on the theme of courage and strength to change. Orihime to start had a crush on Ichigo since the beginning of the arc, and as she tried to get closer with Ichigo throughout the story, he has indirectly helped her be happy considering her depressing background:

However, unlike Ichigo and Rukia, where both were able to directly change each other through their actions and words, Orihimes change was from viewing Ichigo from the sidelines. Orihime felt happy from Ichigo cause she realized his background over the loss of his mom and how he wants to protect everyone, and she wants to return this to him, yet she fails throughout the series. This begins to change however, right as she is about to fight Yhwach with Ichigo:

Yet she still failed. With the theme of having the courage to become strong and change for the better, it begs the question: How would Orihime change if Ichigo rejected her love for him? I think is what Kubo should have addressed, or he was going to before he got rushed. This would have changed Orihime from a static character to someone who has experienced an important change for herself, giving the opportunity to write a stronger character that shows more dynamic and realizes she shouldn’t rely on someone to give herself strength.

I would say both Orihime and Renji were supposed to be used to illustrate the strong bond Ichigo and Rukia had with each other than they did with anyone else. The series emphasizes courage to have the strength to overcome fear and despair, and change yourself to be a better person. Both Renji and Orihime have tried to use their strength to save the people they loved, but failed, Renji had to beg Ichigo to save Rukia as it was something he couldn’t do, and Orihime was jealous of Rukia as she was able to connect with Ichigo in a way she couldn’t.

That a character fails at achieving strength is compelling to the reader when it brings about a dynamic character with multiple traits. This is illustrated in many other stories as well, Zuko in avatar wanted to have the strength to win his father’s pride back, but realized he would be a better person following aang after having the courage to face his father. Naruto had the strength to be a better person after calling out sakura’s fake love confession realizing she still loved sasuke and that he wouldn’t be burdened by the promise he made to her, while contributing to his encounter with sasuke and having the courage to not be scared of losing him. Ichigo and Rukia helped each other with comfort and courage to overcome their losses and help each other become stronger people.

That Orihime and Renji get with Ichigo and Rukia spits in this theme because it rewards failure. It hands them their goals in a silver platter sacrificing the potential to write a character that undergoes significant change and shows dynamic. It is as if Zuko was able to win back his father’s pride and be happy, he would have been in the same place he started in the series. Going against this established theme and development of characters shows is simply bad writing. Similar to the Mass effect 3 ending, where throughout the series one of the themes has been strength through diversity in races, the ending presents a conflict of synthetics vs organics that never was present in the series and proposes a one-race solution that goes against said theme.

This is similar to the theme presented with the kids at the end that their bond is to change the life of someone through the next generation, when such a theme was never present in the series. The parallel with isshin and masaki wasn’t just to emphasize two people meeting and changing each other’s lives, it served as a prelude to how they fell in love, because their change was something personal to the character as they reflected on themselves and the other person (character vs self, Ichigo and Rukia’s conflicts over the death of their loved ones stood in their ways to have strength). It even makes less sense when you realize Ichigo can say “Rukia cleared the rain in my heart and changed my world, but Orihime can bake tasty cookies”, as neither Ichigo nor Rukia reflected on Orihime or Renji in the same way that they did to them.

Praising such writing is simply mocking one-self, its saying you’re ok with writing that goes against the established theme the author both explicitly and implicitly stated, and that you’re ok with the complete lack of development for the characters or filling in the blanks that the author left open. Fans of Renji and Orihime shouldn’t be happy, they should be disappointed that their characters were robbed of the chance to show dynamic change.

TL:DR

Ichigo and Rukia contributed to the theme of having the courage to face despair and become a stronger and better person. Their relationship was carefully built from the ground up, and the comfort and strength they provided for each other contributed to the theme while etching out their characterization in compelling ways. Rukia helped Ichigo clear his regression over his mom’s death, and gave him the courage, strength, and comfort to protect others like he wanted to when his mom was alive.

Ichigo helped give Rukia the strength to overcome Kaien's death and feeling that she should die, giving her the strength and comfort that she didn’t have from anyone after Kaiens death. The ending spits on the theme it explicitly states as it provides Orihime and Renji with goals that they didn’t succeed in getting, rewarding them for their failures while robbing them of the chance to undergo dynamic change to become better characters.

#IchiRuki4Eternity!

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