Not every choice made in Bleach is a popular one with fans. While Bleach is an incredibly popular anime, its flaws are well documented. Sometimes entire arcs are disparaged. Sometimes the audience wants characters to be changed. This shōnen has plenty of controversial elements in it. However, it’s still a wildly beloved series for a reason. Even when the events of the show are disliked, fans can often see the reasoning behind said choices.
Rukia Kuchiki is one of the faces of Bleach. She is the catalyst for the series beginning, and her choices put her front and center in the plot. With so much attention put on her, there have been several unpopular choices made about her character. Despite this, most of them do have solid logic behind them, even if they’re flawed. One of the most controversial moments with her comes in the first episode. Rukia deciding to sacrifice herself by giving Ichigo Kurosaki some of her power is seen as fridging her, especially with how powerful she’s shown to be later on. However, the circumstances around that choice make sense when considering where she was at with her character development and understanding of the situation.
Ichigo is Something Never Seen Before
Even Before He Could Fight, Ichigo Was Powerful
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When Rukia came to the human world to hunt Hollows, she immediately began having trouble sensing them. Even before everything, Ichigo still had enough power to mask Hollows and other spiritually powerful people. Rukia couldn’t rely on her sensing while tracking or fighting Hollows, which put her at a disadvantage in those circumstances. On top of that, when she took it upon herself to teach Ichigo, she let her guard down.
Ichigo was no help during that fight. Not only did he distract Rukia by breaking out of her bakudo spell, but he made himself hard to protect. Ichigo’s personality makes him want to save others, so he has a hard time following Rukia’s instructions when it comes to leaving her to fight. He threw himself into danger when trying to protect his sisters, forcing Rukia to take a hit for him. Even then, Rukia didn’t mean to leave herself powerless when making him a Substitute Soul Reaper. However, Ichigo took more power than Rukia offered, cementing their dynamic.
Rukia Didn’t Have a Seated Position
Rukia Was In Need of Character Development
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After losing her powers, Rukia doesn’t fight very often. When she does, she is clever and uses tactics more reminiscent of her childhood. She doesn’t engage in many fights until after her powers come back, and by that time she’s grown as a character. At the beginning of the series, despite her talent and having a shikai already, Rukia wasn’t even a seated officer in the Thirteenth Division. She held a lot of insecurities and had multiple forces holding her back.
Being in the human world forced Rukia to play to her strengths. Even without her powers, she was adaptable enough to hold her own. Plus, she didn’t feel pressure from Soul Society, so she had room to flourish. That, combined with the fact that so many people were willing to invade Soul Society for her, helped her let go of some of her fears. Rukia was much more confident in her skills, and her development may have helped her with her zanpakuto. She let herself be more flexible and was less willing to sacrifice herself for others.
- Rukia started the series in an unseated posistion, but she had trained with a lieutenant and was close to her captain.
- Rukia worked closely with the two third seats, both in training and in managing the division.
- After the time skip, Rukia very easily takes up the rank of a lieutenant.
Byakuya Kuchiki is Pivotal in Rukia’s Life
One of the biggest hindrances for Rukia has always been her relationship with Byakuya Kuchiki, her adopted brother. He was willing to let her be executed to uphold his clan’s reputation. Byakuya stood in the way of her promotion because he wanted to protect her, but that ate away at Rukia’s self-worth. It wasn’t until they fixed their relationship that the two managed to inspire each other to be stronger. Both of them managed to develop better habits, and Rukia turned their relationship from a weakness to a strength.
There are plenty of good complaints to make about how Bleach handled Rukia’s sacrifice at the beginning of the series. It sidelined her for a long time and made her a damsel to be rescued. However, it also reflected on the state of Rukia’s character at the time. She was off her game going into that fight, and Ichigo made things harder for her. Plus, she struggled with insecurities and self-worth, making a sacrifice seem like a better option than her shikai. Rukia needed her time in the human world and the Soul Society Invasion arc to overcome some of those issues. Her character growth let her show off strength as the series goes on.
Bleach revolves around Kurosaki Ichigo, a regular always-grouchy high-schooler who for some strange reason is able to see the souls of the dead around him.
- Release Date
- September 6, 2006
- Cast
- Johnny Yong Bosch , Michelle Ruff , Stephanie Sheh , Jamieson Price , Derek Stephen Prince , Wally Wingert
- Seasons
- 16
- Creator
- Production Company
- Number of Episodes
- Streaming Service(s)
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