Bleach Philosophy Corner

You (the internet) loved my case study on Ulquiorra (an avoidant psychopath with a heart of gold and a penchence for brain washing) the most popular bad guy of the Aizen saga. So I'm going to keep blogging about Bleach, this time about philosophy and maybe psychology too. Chansu, this is not selling out it's good blogging...

So Ichigo's friend Ishida got shanked by a mysterious bad guy with enormous power. And Ichigo, he's weaker than a wet tissue. It seems like everyone else in the show downgraded Ichigo, like our economy got downgraded by S&P. However, in this case they downgraded Ichigo to something like C. Orihime now feels it's ok to make a move on him (or fail to make a move on him), because he's pathetic.

What kind of hero is Tite Kubo making Ichigo out to be in this arc?

He's Kubo's experiment in the underdog archetype. Kubo went for this vibe during the Soul Society arc and that's why we like Bleach. But for real, in this arc Ichigo experiences being a well endowed person but with no real power at all. A lot like you and me. Ok Chansu, not like you or Luffy but this is about Ichigo and Bleach.

He might as well said "Let's walk away so my now-crappy-son doesn't hear us talking about bad things"

Ichigo for the first time in the series experiences the human dilemma. That we might not be strong enough, that our friends will downgrade us, that our parents and mentors will walk away mysteriously, that strange men will ambush our friends, that the girls that like us don't talk about that stalker guy (Orihime...), that our weaker friends will come to the foreground to flaunt their strength (CHAD...), and the list continues. Ichigo is facing the best human dilemma that shounen anime can offer. And it's the best because it offered too much for a shounen anime. Ichigo is practically that person everyone pretends to be nice to because you don't want to hurt his feelings.

But Ichigo is a shounen hero after all. He is an example of what we should do. Keep trying and keep trying again. Trust strange men... Well not that last part. We should keep trying even when we don't know if we can make it. He never lashed out at his friends for downgrading him, he just kinda stayed chill. We can assume that Kubo instilled such a "theory of mind" to Bleach, I hope. I like to believe Ichigo knows he's been downgraded worse than the S&P though Kubo didn't make this crystal clear (he's got to at least try to tell a story by showing and not by spoonfeeding everything to you).

Ichigo kept trying... Why can't we? Resilience is key...

Never use a calling card given to you by a stranger... Unless you're a shounen hero...