Quote:
Originally Posted by Sabaku Kyu
The members of the Gotei 13 are definitely are the cornerstone for me though. Even though Ichigo, Chad, Orihime and Ishida are the main characters, they just aren't that interesting on their own. If there were ever a point where it was clear that Rukia, the Captains and VC's were absolutely gone for good I think that'd be it for me.
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That is interesting, because I am almost 100% opposite to you in my preferences. I enjoy the Gotei 13 and the bankais/shikais as much as anyone, but I find those characters incredibly stagnant. They have awesome powers, distinctive personalities and cool fights, but really, how much can Kubo realistically develop the characters of captains who have been fighting for centuries? I am not bashing Kubo for that - rather there simply isn't much room for further exposition, especially with the most potentially complex captains in Tousen and Gin unceremoniously killed off, Shinji sidelined, and Urahara's mystery not really examined.
On the other hand, while Chad/Orihime/Ishida and even Ichigo are rather uninteresting now, that didn't
have to be the case if Kubo had written this better. Ishida started the series as Ichigo's rival and near-equal, the last quincy and the only character besides Ichigo to defeat a Gotei 13 captain!! Yet now, he's comic relief. Chad, Ichigo's right-hand man and fearless backup relegated to a joke. And what about Orihime or Renji? The supporting cast of a shounen is the emotional backbone; watching their development mirror that of the hero is one of the inspirational motifs. Seeing them mature into characters worthy to stand besides and against the elite of the Gotei 13 could have been really fun and an epic journey.
And that's where I think the Gotei 13 would have been very effective, serving to give benchmarks and broader context to the development of the main cast, just as the admirals/pirate emperors serve in One Piece, for example. As the core focus of the story, I have a hard time caring whether they live or die.
If I don't see more out of the main characters (non-Ichigo!) soon, I'd probably drop Bleach.