a second post for Bleach 262 because it deserves it
I still reserve my opinion on Rukia&Kaien, other than that I’m glad to see Rukia, and glad to see her facing her first real fight.
I don’t think that Chad would die like this, he’s probably like Renji after fighting Byakuya, so severely injured that his reitsu became too weak to sense. After this he will be taken hostage or something will keep Noitora from killing him, I’m hoping for the later because I don’t want him out of the game this early, again. I'm pretty sure about him being alive due to the lack of unnecessary drama, only the Renji's reaction worries me a little (but than again, he's made that face a lot of times lately).
Orihime broke down because Chad might be dead, which is very human and understandable for her, good characterization on Kubo’s part. The part that I don’t understand is why Kubo had her act like she have turned sides in front of Aizen and Ulq, she couldn’t fool them into think that she’s loyal to them just because she is kidnapped (obeying them because she have to, yes, loyal, no), she should know and Kubo should know. I wonder what she will do next; keep on trying to earn trust from Aizen? That obviously won’t work. It’s just a matter of her knowing that or not.
But other than that, I like Orihime a bit better in this chapter (still not because of the slap! She slaped him b/c she couldn’t stand keep on listening to what he’s saying, because it might became the truth and she is so afraid for them). I know she cares about her friends (especially since one of them might just have died), just not as much as Ichigo, it’s still nice to get a reaction out of her because of someone other than Ichigo.
What pisses me off though is, although Orihime is completely helpless and vulnerable, and could not do anything for her friend other than crying, I think she is allowed to be so because she is in a awful situation and she is only a young girl (and I bet many others will agree with me on that), and I’m glad that she acknowledged her friend who came to save her.
But when Rukia is in a similar situation (+facing the impending eaten of her soul and have no unusual power on her side), she didn’t cry and didn’t show a sign of breaking down until Gin (even than she contained her contempt for Gin and acted civilly to Gin). Yet she was accused of being weak and emo and all those things, because she is Rukia and she is not allowed to have feelings. I remember one Rukia fan said (and by no means am I trying to pick on this fan, and kudos to her since she’s trying to be unbiased with a character she love), said that she didn’t like Rukia’s “pathetic face” in the SS because she expected Rukia to face death with grace and a smile.
The thing is, she did face death with a smile in the end, and she contained grace throughout this whole time. Did people expect her to be happy go lucky the whole time while watching her friends go down and knowing that she will soon follow?
The double standards annoys me greatly.