Why I Hate Bleach
...the manga/anime, not the laundry product.
It came upon me as I was reading through the scanslated manga, having enjoyed myself quite thoroughly, that this was really a horrifying situation and I shouldn't be happy about it at all. And having realized that, I couldn't help but loath what I'd previously liked.
Quick summary: the afterlife is not too different from this world, except you don't need to eat and so forth and you live for a long long time. If you die in the afterlife, you get reincarnated here. People can even be born on the Other Side. All well and good so far. The problem lies with those who die here but are too attached to something in the world of the living. If such a ghost remains too long, and his obsession turns in on itself, he risks becoming a Hollow -- a usually mindless monster that eats the souls of the living and the dead alike, destroying them forever.
The afterlife government, the Soul Society, maintains an army of Shinigami or Soul Reapers who force normal ghosts to cross over and who violently "cleanse" Hollows in savage combat, purifying them of all sins they've committed since dying (since Hollows, even the rare intelligent ones, are completely dominated by instinct, their crimes aren't considered to count against their souls' state) and likewise bringing them over to the afterlife.
The problem here is that the Shinigami, especially the extremely powerful high-ranking "seated officers," have the most important job in their world... the most important job possible in any reality to my mind, preventing the destruction of otherwise immortal souls...
...and they treat it like a game. They pull the standard shonen fighting manga tricks of metaphorically tying their hands behind their backs to give themselves a greater challenge. They insist on one-on-one fights against the most powerful of enemies. Their job is one that demands an army of professional soldiers, and instead we get a bunch of kindergarten macho fucking warriors.
I just can't stand it anymore. I'm washing my hands of Bleach (ha ha) and not recommending it to anyone who isn't, like, twelve.
Thank you and good night.
It came upon me as I was reading through the scanslated manga, having enjoyed myself quite thoroughly, that this was really a horrifying situation and I shouldn't be happy about it at all. And having realized that, I couldn't help but loath what I'd previously liked.
Quick summary: the afterlife is not too different from this world, except you don't need to eat and so forth and you live for a long long time. If you die in the afterlife, you get reincarnated here. People can even be born on the Other Side. All well and good so far. The problem lies with those who die here but are too attached to something in the world of the living. If such a ghost remains too long, and his obsession turns in on itself, he risks becoming a Hollow -- a usually mindless monster that eats the souls of the living and the dead alike, destroying them forever.
The afterlife government, the Soul Society, maintains an army of Shinigami or Soul Reapers who force normal ghosts to cross over and who violently "cleanse" Hollows in savage combat, purifying them of all sins they've committed since dying (since Hollows, even the rare intelligent ones, are completely dominated by instinct, their crimes aren't considered to count against their souls' state) and likewise bringing them over to the afterlife.
The problem here is that the Shinigami, especially the extremely powerful high-ranking "seated officers," have the most important job in their world... the most important job possible in any reality to my mind, preventing the destruction of otherwise immortal souls...
...and they treat it like a game. They pull the standard shonen fighting manga tricks of metaphorically tying their hands behind their backs to give themselves a greater challenge. They insist on one-on-one fights against the most powerful of enemies. Their job is one that demands an army of professional soldiers, and instead we get a bunch of kindergarten macho fucking warriors.
I just can't stand it anymore. I'm washing my hands of Bleach (ha ha) and not recommending it to anyone who isn't, like, twelve.
Thank you and good night.