"Tales of Bleach: Unreal Society" and its two sequels "Return of the Samurai", and "Blades of Destiny" make up a Bleach/Tales Of Symphonia crossover trilogy created by draconichero20 (now 21) that mixes the Bleach cast into the storyline of Tales Of Symphonia.Unreal Society begins with the majority Bleach soul reaper cast virtualized into the land of Sylvarant as per an experiment by Urahara. A lock-in mode transition engages and the cast finds themselves trapped in the land of Sylvarant, forced to play the game to find their way out.Return of the Samurai does to Tales Of Symphonia Dawn Of The New World what Unreal Society did with the original game minus the virtualization part since it turns out the world is real.Blades of Destiny, the final installment, is an original addition meant to, in the author's own words, "tie up loose ends created by the other two series". It's still ongoing, but it hasn't been updated in a while in favor of another fanfic the author has written, Soul Chess, which had its page long before this one.Because of the very nature of the series, spoilers connected to Tales Of Symphonia and Tales Of Symphonia Dawn Of The New World are marked, but spoilers connected to Bleach are unmarked. Also spoilers directly connected to the story are also marked.
Ascended Extra: Virginia As the Emerald Witch of Ymir. Shunsui as a Unexpected Character when he joins the party in Unreal Society for the majority of the fic.
A God Am I: Album Atrum. Very very justified as of chapter 28.
Alternate Universe: On a meta-level the author has stated that such is a case for the series given the discontinuity it has with canon Bleach. Since the fic was created before Aizen's defeat there are a lot of differences between it and canon. Chapter 1 of Return of the Samurai was Retconned to cement that the series follows the anime's continuity since Ichigo mentions that he losts his powers and regained them the previous April (referring to the Xcution arc). However, before the retcon, Tite Kubo made some of the Visoreds captains and Rukia a Vice-Captain and in Blades of Destiny Rukia is still an unseated officer and there are Original Characters as replacement captains for Tosen, Gin and Aizen despite Ichigo being in college, which is long after the events of canon.
After Album Atrum utilizes Crepusculo Palacio Imperial Ichigo, Lloyd and Sheena find themselves in one of these. It eventually extends to the majority of the cast through the use of the Eternal Sword.
Anti-Climax Boss: Most of the bosses prior to the first visit to the Tower of Salvation are this because the Bleach cast is much more powerful than the Symphonia cast.
Anyone Can Die: In Blades of Destiny's Alternate Universe arc things are like this. Hopefully things will be returned to normal or things would really suck. Regal, Serina, and Lavirna have already been killed.
It's worse with the release of the newest chapter. We have on our hands 16 deaths: Tosen, Sajin, Rose, Love, Yosei, Renji, Zelos, Raine, Izuru, Mashiro, Treva, Isane, Momo, Genis, Rachel, and Kiku. Sheesh!
Even before that Alice kills Dondochakka for being a Panty Thief
Artistic License: Invoked to make Lloyd and Colette closer than they were in canon by the end of Unreal Society. Also invoked to describe how Byakuya’s parents died and his and Hisana’s pre-marital relationship.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When infiltrating the cape fortress in Return of the Samurai Zelos utters: "Things are getting pretty damn terrible lately. My sister's been kidnapped, my bud's been impersonated and to top it all off I think I dropped my wallet on the way here."
Berserk Button: Ichigo does not take kindly to betrayal.
Mithos, while attempting to possess Ichigo, found out the hardway that you DO NOT tell Tensa Zangetsu you are his new landlord.
You do not insult Byakuya's late wife Hisana.
Beware the Nice Ones: Sheena is normally easygoing and a very big Tsundere. Never have we seen her get as violent as she did when she marked her territory of Ichigo toward Alice. Emil put it the best: “Women are scary.”
Big Bad: Album Atrum is this of the third and final installment.
Big Brother Mentor: Ichigo’s relationship with Emil in Return of the Samurai. Also, despite being a year younger, this is his relationship with Lloyd in Unreal Society, especially after Kratos' betrayal.
Big "WHAT?!": Genis' reaction when Rukia tells him that Raine and Byakuya kissed each other.
Blatant Lies: How the Bleach cast keeps the Symphonia cast in the dark about the true nature of the relationship between their worlds. If these were original characters it would borderline Mary Sue status. they're that blatant.
Body Count Competition: Kenpachi tries to have one with Ichigo in chapter 34 of Unreal Society.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Sort of. Since Aselia is a virtual world, when Ichigo calls upon Urahara in ch 17, an ominiscent narrator outside the world, Shunsui considers the action such. It later turns out that this is not the case since Aselia actually exists.
Ichigo plays this trope straight when he lampshades how Talking Is a Free Action in Return of the Samuraiwhich is after it's revealed the world is real.
Call Back: In chapter 32 it turns out that Raine never explained to Lloyd and the others what MILF means.
Richter calls Ichigo the Shepard of Regeneration. See Call Forward below.
Sheena is also called a Shepard of Regeneration by Rachel in Blades of Destiny
Call Forward: In chapter 8 Shunsui says that parents might let their kids walk into dangerous situations, but never let them go where death is certain. Symphonia fans will be reminiscent of what is eventually to happen at Altessa's house much later on.
A big milestone for Lloyd in Blades of Destinykilling someone in order to protect Colette. Remember this is Lloyd we're talking about.
In chapter 26 Lloyd has the maturity to not be a glory hog and clear a path for Kratos to reach the Crepusculo Palacio Imperial because of Kratos' importance in the general plan against Album Atrum.
Chekhov's Gun: Sheena creates a special seal based off of hollows in chapter 22 of Unreal Society. She uses it in chapter 23 against Rodyle. It's a gillian's cero.
In Return of the Samurai, Ichigo earns 300 gald for killing monsters in chapter 1. He later uses the money to buy Emil a sword toward the end of the fic.
Chekhov's Gunman: Hichigo Shirosaki leaves Ichigo at the Temple of Darkness and returns by the time the group fights the Sword Dancer for the final time
In Blades of Destiny Serina is noted as having a crush on someone very early on in the fic. It later turns out to be Regal
Clothing Damage: Seen here and there, but taken Up to Eleven in Lloyd's duel with Kratos where both combatants lose their shirts at the end of it.
Continuity Nod: Ichigo suggests Renji use Shakkaho to light up the Temple of Darkness like he did back during the Hueco Mundo arc, or rather attempted to.
Ichigo makes a reference back to Uryu wanting to make an enormous arrow back in Bleach's first arc. Twice.
Orihime maintains her promise that she betrayed Ichigo once and won't do it again.
Tatsuki says to Ichigo, jokingly, not to have to make her put his head through another window, which she did right before the Hueco Mundo arc.
In Return of the Samurai Ichigo mentions how he "isn't working right now" when Richter tells him he isn't obligated to find Marta for him. Remember that Ichigo's job for Ikumi is pretty much the same as the Hawking and Starwind Repairs.
In chapter 3 of Return of the Samurai Ichigo notes that Lloyd is back to wearing red and not green anymore.
In chapter 5 of the same entry of the saga Rukia reminds Ichigo how it's ironic that he never wanted a relationship with anyone when they first met (Ichigo is in a relationship with Sheena by this point) and yet is trying to push Marta and Emil together.
Nel is correct when she says that she was not affected by the Derris Emblem. She stayed back to help Kenpachi and Sajin during the time that the group encountered the trap.
Ichigo remembers beating Omaeda's fat ass atop Sokyoku Hill.
Cool Big Sis: May to her subordinates as well as being Team Mom. Sheena is this to Kiku.
Crazy-Prepared: Uryu had a spare set of clothing and swords prepared for Lloyd just in case his uniform was torn and his swords were broken with regards to his duel against Kratos for Origin's seal.
Crutch Character: Several members of the Bleach cast and the Symphonia cast eventually realizes they can't rely on them forever too.
Presea does this after Ozette is destroyed with Hitsugaya lending a comforting shoulder. She later does the same with Ichigo after killing Vharley because she hasn't had time to mourn her sister's passing.
Hollow Ichigo's battle against the party in the Temple of Darkness.
Cuteness Proximity: Rukia and the rabbit that Emil forms a pact with. She actually winds up taking it for herself as a pet. Later Presea has this same instance with Kon's plush body.
Darker and Edgier: Blades of Destiny is mostly like this to some considering the things that happen and the decrease in laughs.
Drill Sergeant Nasty: In Unreal Society, Soifon is this while training Colette in chapter 22. She even slaps her across the face for overly apologizing.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Considering all the crap the cast had to go through during Unreal Society to reach the heartwarming conclusion that the world exists and everything they did had meaning and for Ichigo and Sheena to happily reunite this trope definitely is not out of place.
Enemy Mine: Ichigo and Sheena's relationship starts out as this
Equivalent Exchange: Ichigo lampshades the use of this trope. In exchange for never being able to use Origin's power again Ichigo is able to take the form of the Final Getsuga Tensho without losing his Soul Reaper powers in order to defeat his rampaging inner hollow.
Even Evil Has Standards: Ichigo's Hollow does not enjoy a battle royale and prefers that it be him against all of his enemies and not have some of his enemies picking each other off while trying to fight him.
Face Heel Turn: In chapter 23 or Unreal Society it seems like Orihime is doing this, but it is a facade much like with Kratos.
Nemu in Blades of Destiny
Faking the Dead: The group, specifically a really annoyed Ichigo, actually fights Zelos and defeats him when he reveals to have been working for Cruxis. It turns out this was planned and Rangiku was in on it.
Fantasy Gun Control: Because Aselia has no actual word for gun in their dictionary. The closest any individual gets to having such a weapon is Cyrus' caster.
Fauxshadowing: Sort of. In the fanfic's continuity Rukia is the lieutenant of Meltokio's Royal Guard, implying that she will eventually become a lieutenant in the Gotei, which she does not. However, Unreal Society was made before she showed up again in Bleach in which she actually is a lieutenant. creating something else entirely.
Five-Man Band: The people living under Altessa's rooftop in Unreal Society, despite the very little fighting they actually do at least until the sequels. Altessa is The Hero. Tabatha is The Lancer. Sajin is theBigGuy. And Mithos and Virginia could be The Smart Guy or The Chick depending on how you look at it.
"Funny Aneurysm" Moment: In-universe example. At one point Ichigo mimics Aizen for comedic effect and everyone starts laughing, but then Momo has a slight Heroic BSOD and Hitsugaya glares as Ichigo.
Also Lloyd cannot know both Demonic Chaos and Demonic Circle simultaneously, though the same rule applies.
Gesundheit: Renji makes use of this trope when the name of Colette's illness, Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium, is stated for the first time.
Genre Savvy: A lot of the characters have moments like this after it's revealed to the Symphonia cast that the world is virtual. Even though it's not.
Gory Discretion Shot: When Unohana kills Mayuri, the author describes only the screaming that is heard by Isane, Hiyori and Uryu, not even having them witness the carnage themselves.
Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Rukia does this in chapter 1 of Blades of Destiny, but she manages to make it awesome and any cuss words added probably would've made it less effective.
Guest Star Party Member: Many of the characters early in Unreal Society come and go with Ichigo as the only Bleach character to really mingle with the Symphonia cast. Renji and, of all people, Shunsui, are the first two to stay.
Heroic BSOD: The Symphonia cast suffers this going so far as to tell the Bleach cast to get lost when Urahara is forced to reveal to them that the world is virtual.
Raine has one during the invasion of Rodyle's ranch when Chad is about to flood the room. She's on her hands and knees completely petrified of the thought of drowning.
I Love the Smell of X in the Morning: Alice gets the line in Return of the Samurai: "I love the smell of burning, destruction and violence in the midafternoon."
I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: On a meta-level the author has said this about Kiku from Blades of Destiny. His opinion is shared by members of the series fandom.
Orihime actually does get to do this for a few chapters.
Interspecies Romance: Byakuya and Raine. It's also a possibility with Altessa and Virginia. Sajin and Virgina is also teased at as well.
Insult Backfire: Rukia calls Rodyle a monster, but he takes it as a compliment
In Blades of Destiny, Sheena calls Kasumi Atrum a conniving little bitch. Kasumi also takes it as a compliment.
It Only Works Once: Album Atrum's Visored mask has a special ability that creates a psionic blast on his target, but only works once on any given target.
It's Personal: Shunsui lampshades that this is what drives Ichigo to activate Bankai against Kratos when he betrays the group.
Just a Flesh Wound: Presea decimates Rodyle with a splitting injury that splits him down from his cranium to the middle of his torso as well as cooking him well done, but he is still able to move around for a bit longer before dying. The narration lampshades the ridiculousness.
Late Arrival Spoiler: If you read the author's notes of the first chapter of Return of the Samurai or Blades of Destiny it is said that they are "direct sequels" to Unreal Society, spoiling that the world does actually exist.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When the words of the Unicorn at Lake Umacy are brought up when the group is pouring over the books at Sybak Ichigo says he doesn't remember anything about it. While the incident itself did happen it was glazed over in the chapter in which it was mentioned and therefore all of the important dialogue was skipped over.
Meaningful Echo: At the beginning of the story Kratos says to Lloyd, as he always does to "be a good boy and wait here". He says it because he believes Lloyd will only get in the way. Come time towards the end of Unreal Society Kratos says the line again, but this time it's to protect Lloyd from getting his butt kicked by Hollow Ichigo.
In the last chapter, not including the epilogue, of Unreal Society, Mithos calls him and Lloyd the Hero of Old and the Hero of New working together. In Return of the Samurai this phrase is repeated with Lloyd as the Hero of Old, Emil as the Hero of New and Ichigo as the Hero of the Outside.
Though Rukia is not a vice-captain in the series continuity she is during the Alternate Universe arc of Blades of Destiny. She is also Lieutenant of the Royal Guard in Unreal Society.
Tropes N to Z
Neck Lift: When Tenebrae blows up, Ichigo performs this on Alice for causing it. Later Alice performs one on Marta during their battle at Altamira.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A minor instance in the duel with Kratos and Lloyd in the Torrent Forest. Lloyd destroys Kratos' shield, but it allows Kratos to fight with an entirely different moveset.
Blades of Destiny reveals that Yuan and the Aselians [[spoier:forming pacts with the eight elemental summon spirits]] did more than cause the kharlan tree to destory Palmacosta
No Sell: Soifon is immune to the Derris Emblem because she already conquered her own darkness when she fought Yoruichi in canon. In the Alternate Universe arc in Blades of Destiny Lloyd and Sheena are not affected by the time warp effects due to the influence of the Eternal Sword and the pact with Origin respectively. Ichigo isn’t affected because he was too close to the blast when Album Atrum activated the power of Crepusculo Palacio Imperial.
Not So Different: Presea and Hitsugaya, which many fans of the series believe is what sparked her interest in the white haired Soul Reaper. Also Orihime and Pronyma, which is lampshaded by the former.
Yggdrasil compares Kenpachi to Forcystus
Not What It Looks Like: Sheena comes in to see Nel (she's in her adult form at the time) glomping Ichigo. Ichigo tries to explain and Nel does not help the situation. Sheena at the time seems like she is developing feelings for Ichigo and promptly runs away, feeling hurt.
NSFW: There is a warning label given at the top of the page that chapter 17 of Blades of Destiny is this. The lemons in the fic are also this to a much lesser extent.
Out-of-Character Moment: This seems like the case for Momo in chapter 5 of Unreal Society, but it turns out she's just experiencing those lovely days of the month.
Phlebotinum Breakdown: Ichigo loses his hollow mask halfway throughUnreal Society. He gets it back.
Power Creep, Power Seep: Averted. The Bleach cast generally is much stronger than the Symphonia cast by default with few exceptions. Only after the Synphonia characters considerably increase their abilities are they even close to rivaling the Bleach cast. This is extremely noticable early on when Shuhei curbstomps the first boss of the game and Renji annihilates Magnius and the guardian of the water temple with his Bankai.
Scars Are Forever: Subverted. Rangiku had a scar on her eye where Decus, disguised as Lloyd, struck her. Marta later healed it. Played straight with Grimmjow walking around with one hand after Ichigo beats him yet again, but he gets a prosthetic one from the Vanguard.
Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Byakuya, in regards to the Kuchiki Clan, at the start of Blades of Destiny so he can marry Raine.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Halfway through Unreal SocietyHollow Ichigo leaves Ichigo's body and goes off on his own.
Self Made Woman: Lavirna raised herself and lived off the land. Not bad considering she also had the half-elf prejudice to deal with. Kiku too having lived in Garocchia forest.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: Ichigo says this straight out to Sheena about him and Nel, but she doesn't believe him.
Shipper on Deck: Ichigo and Sheena are this for Marta and Emil.
Ship Tease: Besides the official couples there's also the constant teasing of Yuan and Nelliel and Hitsugaya and Presea as they are the only pairings yet to make any move towards the other or have any sort of confirmed romantic interest, but there is plenty of ammunition to see that they pair up well.
Shoo the Dog: Sheena tries to do this to Ichigo after the second set of bad news from Urahara, which is that since the world is virtual (even though this turns out not to be true) the Symphonia cast will forget theBleachcast ever showed up and anything and everything they've done will revert back to the way it ways before they showed up. It doesn’t work.
A father and his best friend being betrayed by someone they trusted to the Big Bad only for the father to die and the best friend be asked to report the tragedy to his family? sounds familiar.
Shown Their Work: In the chapter where Raine talks about the growth of rosemary in Return of the Samurai it is actually true that the plant is susceptible to frost and grows best in dry climates.
Spanner in the Works: Grimmjow to Ichigo’s plan in chapter 21 of Return of the Samurai. Sheena, Lloyd and Ichigo to Album Atrum’s plan in Blades of Destiny.
Spit Take: Ichigo does this when he sees Derris Kharlan on its way to Earth on the news.
Take That: Sees a lot of use in-universe. As part of the series' charm the characters often knock each other down a peg or two. Zelos is very often the victim of this, but Lloyd and Ichigo sometimes wind up on the receiving end. A lot of times when Ichigo is the victim it is Byakuya putting him down.
Taking the Bullet: Despite how he's been acting in Return of the Samurai Colette does this for Lloyd when Ichigo tries to attack him after Lloyd still acts cold when the group rescues Seles.
Team Mom: May is this as well as Cool Big Sis to her subordinates as Captain of Squad 5
Tempting Fate: Seen regularly enough by both the good guys and the bad.
The Stations of the Canon: Unreal Society and Return of the Samurai mostly follow this to the letter, but it is completely averted with Blades of Destiny. Word Of God says Blades of Destiny was partially created to have an Xover continuation that averted this trope.
Talbumosuke Atrumier Also known as Album Atrum has utilized quite a few of these in Blades of Destiny
1 was what he did when he had Raine taken into custody and had a war form between the Soul Society and Aselia in order to while he slipped out the back door to work with the Crepusculo Palacio Imperial
3 is the entire point of the war between Aselia and the Soul Society
5 is when he took advantage of the incident used to create #3
6 is also chained to 5 and 3
9 is also chained to the three stratagems above
14 is what he did with the Hogyoku and Crepusculo Palacio Imperial
20 is once again chained to 3, 5, 6, and 9
By this point you should realize he's a master of 35
And he's pulled off 36 rather well too
Oh gee a lot of these stratagems also seemed to be employed by AIZEN!!! Not surprising considering Talbumosuke is Aizen's Apprentice.
The Worf Effect: Orihime's omnipotent Soten Kisshun proves time and again ineffective on rejecting the paratism of a Cruxis Crystal or Exsphere. And reviving Martel is impossible for her as well. Each instance is given proper justification though.
Time Skip: In between the first and second and second and third installments.
Title Drop: The third installment's 32nd chapter is called Shatter Fate with theBlade of Destiny
Together in Death: Decus and Alice become Arrancar inBlades of Destiny.
Took a Level in Badass: The Symphonia cast have a mandatory need of this since they are considerably weaker than the Bleach cast. Orihime when she obtains a Cruxis Crystal. Emil takes this trope Up to Eleven in chapter 29 of the first sequel.
Orihime's badassery goes Up to Eleven in chapter 8 of Blades of Destiny when she decides to rescind Mayuri's right to live.
Unreliable Narrator: When Pesche starts to tell the story of how he wound up in Alice's basement there is a clear difference between his narration and what is actually happening.
Storyteller: No, don't be. I've heard the term used before.
From Ichigo to Origin: Just how do you know about the Dangai Precipice World. And later from Origin at the beginning of the very next chapter claiming that He's met Yamamoto.
Both in-universe and out. Lloyd, after everyone from the Bleach cast has left Aselia, saying "They're gone".
What the Hell, Hero?: In Return of the Samurai Ichigo calls both Kratos and Lloyd on their recent actions. Later, Emil is called on this for nearly killing Magnar.
You Can't Thwart Stage One: Album Atrum real name Talbumosuke Atrumier is able to go along with his plan without a hitch due to the trickery he pulls along the way. The good guys are only able to make a move against him when things are down to the wire.
" and its two sequels "Return of the Samurai
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