On Ichimaru Gin, shinigami, and the similarities thereof
I've been thinking a lot about Ichimaru, and somewhat about Aizen, lately, and come to couple of conclusions.
A lot of people have theorised that Ichimaru is going to betray Aizen at some point, and it’s impossible to actually know that at this point, since we never get any real explanation of his motivations for doing anything besides the fact that he’s a sadist with a warped sense of humour and an odd fondness for a couple of 'lucky' souls. But I’ve figured out what it is I like about Aizen and Ichimaru, regardless of whether they’re lovers or partners in crime, and it’s much the same thing that I like about Light and Ryuk from Death Note, and for the same reasons.
That 'us against the world' thing, the totally superior megalomaniac with a god complex and the one person he considers worth his attention, the gleefully amoral lunatic who's just 'along for the ride'. Yeah ^_^ And to be perfectly honest, I'd find Aizen without Ichimaru boring. A large part of what I liked about Death Note was watching Light's slow and painful moral decay. You don't get that with Aizen. His motivations are largely transparent, he's never troubled by his conscience, he's really not all that interesting as a character. But he's obviously got something going for him if Ichimaru's following him, right?
The trouble with that is, Aizen’s the villain, and let’s face it, he’s going to lose. So, I’d really like Bleach to end with Ichimaru killing Aizen. But I don’t want him to do it for any nice, sane reason involving ethics or ideology or saving Matsumoto’s life, but because Aizen-taichou’s painted himself into a corner and become boring ♥ Oh, the looks on everybody’s faces would be priceless.
We don’t get to see much of Ichimaru as a person, but from what we do get, he’s quite possessive of the people he considers his, and he’s been with Aizen for a very long time. (Longer, relatively speaking, for him than for Aizen, though.) I really can’t see Ichimaru letting anybody else kill Aizen if he’s still alive. And I don’t want him to die, damnit, or at least not without killing Aizen first, because I want him to win. Regardless of whether he then pulls out sparkly awesome powers and makes Ichigo kill him, or goes off laughing to be locked up in Seireitei for the rest of forever, that would definitely count as a win in my book.
And an odd little ramble:
If Gin was a woman, he’d be a femme fatale in the truest sense, the kind of pale, fragile beauty that would have people writing epic poetry and challenging people to duels; she’d be the woman your friends would try to tell you was no good for you while you were selling your car to buy her jewellery, but you’d never really believe them until you were writing your suicide note in a filthy motel and you realised it still sounded like a love letter, and that she’d probably smile when she got it. Poor Kira, he never had a chance. And Kubo Tite actually wondered why Ichimaru was so popular, especially with women, since he designed him to be creepy... I mean, sex and death, right? It's basic psychology.
Huh, and now I'm picturing Gin as a woman, and Aizen as some sort of sociopathic criminal, and I think they'll wind up somewhere between Hannibal and One Night at McCool's. ^__^ It'd still be really hot, though.
And just because:
A lot of people have theorised that Ichimaru is going to betray Aizen at some point, and it’s impossible to actually know that at this point, since we never get any real explanation of his motivations for doing anything besides the fact that he’s a sadist with a warped sense of humour and an odd fondness for a couple of 'lucky' souls. But I’ve figured out what it is I like about Aizen and Ichimaru, regardless of whether they’re lovers or partners in crime, and it’s much the same thing that I like about Light and Ryuk from Death Note, and for the same reasons.
That 'us against the world' thing, the totally superior megalomaniac with a god complex and the one person he considers worth his attention, the gleefully amoral lunatic who's just 'along for the ride'. Yeah ^_^ And to be perfectly honest, I'd find Aizen without Ichimaru boring. A large part of what I liked about Death Note was watching Light's slow and painful moral decay. You don't get that with Aizen. His motivations are largely transparent, he's never troubled by his conscience, he's really not all that interesting as a character. But he's obviously got something going for him if Ichimaru's following him, right?
The trouble with that is, Aizen’s the villain, and let’s face it, he’s going to lose. So, I’d really like Bleach to end with Ichimaru killing Aizen. But I don’t want him to do it for any nice, sane reason involving ethics or ideology or saving Matsumoto’s life, but because Aizen-taichou’s painted himself into a corner and become boring ♥ Oh, the looks on everybody’s faces would be priceless.
We don’t get to see much of Ichimaru as a person, but from what we do get, he’s quite possessive of the people he considers his, and he’s been with Aizen for a very long time. (Longer, relatively speaking, for him than for Aizen, though.) I really can’t see Ichimaru letting anybody else kill Aizen if he’s still alive. And I don’t want him to die, damnit, or at least not without killing Aizen first, because I want him to win. Regardless of whether he then pulls out sparkly awesome powers and makes Ichigo kill him, or goes off laughing to be locked up in Seireitei for the rest of forever, that would definitely count as a win in my book.
And an odd little ramble:
If Gin was a woman, he’d be a femme fatale in the truest sense, the kind of pale, fragile beauty that would have people writing epic poetry and challenging people to duels; she’d be the woman your friends would try to tell you was no good for you while you were selling your car to buy her jewellery, but you’d never really believe them until you were writing your suicide note in a filthy motel and you realised it still sounded like a love letter, and that she’d probably smile when she got it. Poor Kira, he never had a chance. And Kubo Tite actually wondered why Ichimaru was so popular, especially with women, since he designed him to be creepy... I mean, sex and death, right? It's basic psychology.
Huh, and now I'm picturing Gin as a woman, and Aizen as some sort of sociopathic criminal, and I think they'll wind up somewhere between Hannibal and One Night at McCool's. ^__^ It'd still be really hot, though.
And just because: