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Gilphon2010-12-11 12:39:17

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Chapter 186 Tell your children the Truth.

Now we get to properly meet the guy who saved Ishida last chapter. his name is Ryuuken, and he’s Ishida’s dad. Doesn’t seem like they’re on good terms, though. But he does effortlessly kill the top hollow, so it’s not all bad. Ishida questions why Ryuuken has Quincy powers, since he apparently doesn’t like the Quincy. He replies that whether he likes it or not, he has fully developed Quincy powers and as such hold the ‘Last Quincy’ title, and has a fancy medal to prove it. the bottom hollow attacks, but Ryuuken easily despatches this one as well, while berating his son for losing his powers. Really adding insult to injury, isn’t he? But then, he suddenly offers to get Ishida his powers back! There’s a condition, though: he has to agree never to associate with Shinigami ever again, meaning his pseudo-friendship with Ichigo would be caput. That a good time to change scene, don’t you think? Yeah, yeah. Back to Kon, who’s running screaming from Grand Fisher, who thinks he’s chasing Ichigo. As he runs, Kon wonders just what’s going on with the Fisher, since his face is visible and he just seems… different from hollow we’ve seen in the past. but then, Fisher gets bored, grabs Kon, and slams him into the ground. He’s about to finish Kon off, but a barrier suddenly appears around him, saving him. And, as it turns out, the barrier is being cast by the charm Ichigo’s dad forced upon him. And then, in a quick twist to end to the chapter, the dad himself, Isshin, appears. He dressed as a shinigami, seems to know that Kon isn’t Ichigo, and knows what hollows are as well, if the dialogue is any indication.

Title’s easy; both Ryuuken and Isshin are revealed to have deceiving their children instead of telling them the truth. Now, I’m going to save most of the things I have to say about Isshin of the next chapter, ‘cause that’s where he starts to us what he’s really like when he’s not hiding underneath his Obfuscating Stupidity. I would like to point that he very pointedly gave Ichigo that charm before our heros left for SS, saying it would protect on his journey. I think that speaks for itself, put in context. What I am going to is talk a bit about Ryuuken. Just as review, the reason Ryuuken doesn’t want Ishida being friendly with the Shinigami is a) The Shinigami massacred the Quincy a while ago, b) they let Ryuuken’s father get killed by hollows  *

and c) Something to do with Ryuuken’s own relationship with Isshin, probably. As for why he doesn’t like being a Quincy: he prefers to work with the living than the dead, so he works as a doctor and leaves the hollows to the shinigami. When pressed further, he says that he doesn’t want to be a Quincy because you can’t get money for it. This view is seems pretty cold, but is actually just pragmatic when you think about it. I mean, the guy has a family to feed; he can’t very well just march off and become a superhero, now can he? Little Ishida’s discussion with his grandpa over the following few pages makes a lot more sense if you keep that in mind; What does Ryuuken want to protect, even if he has to choose not use his cool superpowers in order to do so? Ishida’ll understand, some day, apparently. I didn’t get it at the time, but it’s clear to me now, in retrospect, that what Ryuuken wants to protect is ‘his family’. Sure, he very deliberately distances himself from Ishida, and sure, he’s being a jerk about it, but ultimately, what he’s doing is giving him back what he’s lost and trying to prevent him from getting into a more dangerous situation, no?

Comments

Gilphon Since: Dec, 1969
Dec 11th 2010 at 12:40:00 PM
Noimporta:

Isshin and Ryuuken appear to be made to be contrasted with each other: The loving but overbearing father, and the harsh and distant one, two ways of being a parent that have an obvious incidence on their respective sons' personalities.

Ironically enough, it is Ryuuken the one that comes clean about his powers right away, while Isshin keeps Ichigo in the dark until he has no choice.
Gilphon Since: Dec, 1969
Dec 11th 2010 at 12:40:29 PM
Gilphon:

You raises a good point, and one I honestly hadn't thought of. Might find a place to explore that a bit later on.
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