History Headscratchers / BleachSoulSociety

** In the beginning Kubo planned for Aizen to be ACTUALLY murdered and for Urahara to be the big bad. Those plans were obviously scrapped, but what if he originally planned to have Hitsugaya as one of the bad guys? After all, Aizen's letter blames Hitsugaya so this could have been foreshadowing to Hitsugaya being a bad guy before Kubo changed his mind.

* How big is the Soul Society? If you take the "balance of souls" thing into account, there should be over 7 billion people there. This means that the Soul Society would need to be the size of Pangaea in order hold them all. Also, they only have 3000 Soul Reapers to manage all of it.

* How big is the Soul Society? If you take the "balance of souls" thing into account, there should be over 7 billion people there. This means that the Soul Society would need to be the size of Pangaea in order hold them all and only 3000 Soul Reapers to manage it.

* I think the concept of the afterlife in Bleach Universe might be based off of the Six Domains of the Desire Realm in Buddhism[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_realms]]. The place the Soul King resides is (in theory, since we haven't seen it in the story) the Deva/God Realm[[hottip:*:The Deva realm is the realm of bliss. The disadvantage of this realm is that things are so very comfortable there, that these beings completely neglect to work towards enlightenment. Instead they gradually use up the good karma they had previously accumulated, and so they subsequently fall to a lower rebirth. The Deva realm is sometimes also referred to as the gods' realm, because its inhabitants are so powerful within their own realm, that compared to humans, they resemble the gods of Greek or Roman mythology. However, while the Devas may be referred to as gods, they are not immortal, omniscient, nor omnipotent, and they do not act as creators or judges at death.]]. Soul Society is the Asura Realm[[hottip:*:The Asura realm is the realm of the demigods. They are here because of actions based on jealousy, struggle, combat or rationalization of the world. They may be here because in human form they had good intentions but committed bad actions such as harming others. The Asuras are said to experience a much more pleasurable life than humans, but they are plagued by envy for the devas, whom they can see just as animals can perceive humans.]]. The Human World is the Human Realm. Hueco Mundo is the Preta/Hungry Ghost Realm[[hottip:*:The sentient beings in this realm are known as "hungry ghosts". They are constantly extremely hungry and thirsty, but they cannot satisfy these needs. In Tibetan versions of the Bhavacakra these beings are drawn with narrow necks and large bellies. This represents the fact that their desires torment them, but they are completely unable to satisfy themselves.]]. Hell is the Naraka/Hell Realm[[hottip:*:The Naraka realm is a rebirth based on strong states of hatred cultivated in a previous life or lives. Those being punished in this realm are not trapped permanently. Rather, they remain there until their negative karma is used up, at which point they are reborn into another realm.]]. The only one that doesn't seem to fit with Bleach is the Animal Realm[[hottip:*:The Animal realm (also known as the Tiryag-yoni realm) is based on strong mental states of stupidity and prejudice cultivated in a previous life or lives. Buddhists believe that this realm is the realm of existence of the nonhuman animals on Earth. Humans can however be seen by the animals, in the same way that the Asura can see the Devas.]]. There haven't been any animals shown in Soul Society aside from the Hogs that Ganju and his gang had and the Hell Butterflies, so perhaps they go to their own afterlife?

** I just realized something. Byakuya has golden koi fish in his pond[[hottip:*:at least he ''did'' until Yachiru stole them and put them in Ukitake's pond as a get well present]]that are extremely rare and have been raised on the Kuchiki grounds for many generations[[http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Kuchiki_Family_Manor]]. I'm probably overthinking this[[hottip:*:I doubt this has any importance at all.]], but since the Kuchiki family is in charge of compiling & protecting the history of Soul Society and animals seem to be rare, maybe the fish are special[[hottip:*:kind of like the koi fish in Avatar: The Last Airbender. They were the moon and sun spirits (kept in a sacred pond), and when [[FanNickname moon-koi]] was murdered, the moon in the sky went dark (dissappeared?), and sun-koi was thrown out of balance and started swimming erratically. I'm not saying the ones in Byakuya's pond are ''that'' important, but that they could be some kind of significant spirit.]]?

**** Actually we have seen the 'real' Central 46 in action. They're the one's who condemned Urahara, Tessai and Yoruichi on seriously paltry evidence, without giving them any chance to defend themselves. Noteworthy, because the condemned were all high officials, with Yoruichi being the heir of one of the Four Great Noble Houses. Other than that, Sereitei is demonstrably not a benevolent government. Urahara, before becoming a Captain, was in charge of a prison for 'dissidents', which is anyone who disagreed with the current system. Kurotsuchi Mayuri used his division shinigami as living bombs, obviously without consent, with no demonstrable consequence. Kon is a prime example of Soul Society's attitude towards sentient, if artificial, creations. Also, it should be noted that Aizen got away with impersonating the Central 46 because of the rigid, I-will-not-question-orders attitude of Yamamoto et al. The fact that districts like Zaraki exist mean one of two things - Sereitei cannot control all of Rukongai or Sereitei allows the situation there to persist. Neither imply good governance. So, yeah...Soul Society is a CrapsackWorld.

*** And the fact his fight with Byakuya proved it takes more than achieving bankai to be captain level. Byakuya didn't need bankai to defeat Renji. He defeated him with kidou and then used bankai just to prove a point. Renji himself believed only Ikkaku was worthy to become a captain under current levels of power.

*** Well, remember the qualifications for captain. The one requires Bankai, which neither has, and the other one they could do (Since they are unlikely to kill their ex-captains with loads of members around) needs reccomendations from 6 captains and approval of at least three more, so basically almost all the captains would have to be behind it. I'm sure in the future they will probably be elected captains of their respective squads, and for now, they count as "active" or "temporary" captain. As for Renji, who has Bankai, well, while I doubt he'd turn it down if offered (He wants to surpass Byakuya, and becoming a captain would help, no?), you can tell he hasn't been tried to talk Ikkaku into going for a premotion (That dub episode just aired so it's fresh in my mind). Even while Renji has Bankai, he's still a rather inexperienced compared to some other choices, as he's only had Bankai for a few months at best. To answer the original point, Ichigo is still A( A living dude (I wouldn't put it past SS to kill people to get them in the power structure, but Ichigo would be pissed), B( Still only a substitute shinigami. Can you imagine those hardasses in charge putting him in a captain's slot straight from that? I can't. He fights "for them" well enough where he is now, C( Since squads apparently have some sort of theme to them, I doubt Ichigo matches the philosophies of squads 3,5, or 9, and D( Though SS probably doesn't know yet, Ichigo is a Vizard, and I bet that doesn't fly in the command structure.

*** I don't know, the way Ichigo's been acting reciently he could fit in with Squad 3. They hate fighting, but see it as a necessary evil.

*** On the other hand, Zaraki seems to be able to inspire absolute loyalty from his squad, so much so that those of his underlings with Bankai don't WANT to be promoted out. They even follow him when he goes against the Central 46 and Captain Commander, with not even one whistle-blower. He's managed to raise Yachiru, so we know he has some sense of responsiblity. He even goes to meetings. And it is implied that his predecessor was a pretty poor leader.
** There's also Urahara, Tessai, and Yoruichi, three former Captains residing in the living world. They were about to be exiled by Central 46 (who are now dead)-- Urahara for conducting Hollowfication experiments (which was actually Aizen), Tessai for helping him, and Yoruichi for helping them both escape. Even if Soul Society doesn't want the former Captains among the Vizored back, those three ought to have a basically clean slate by now.

** Because all Ichigo knows how to do is use his Zanpakuto, and you need to know more than that to be a soul reaper, e.g. kido.

* I don't get it. Whats up with Soul Society they were pretty adamant on killing Rukia for some minor indiscretion and now they are taking it easy on people trying to destroy them and a city? Why did Yama-jii just give those girls some minor burns, instead of out right frying their sorry asses to a crisp. Why is Unohana healing arrancar? Kubo whats up man.

*** Kyoraku and Ukitake have been shinigami for over 2000 years, possibly including their training persiod. Clearly, at some point, aging can just STOP.
*** This troper always assumed that the rate at which you age in Soul Society is inveresely proportional to the amount of spirit power you actively use. Meaning, the more you use, the slower you age and the other way around. That would explain how Renji and Rukia were able to grow up relatively fast as kids - since they used only small amounts of spirit power - but stopped almost completely once they were accepted into the academy. It is also the only way to explain how the world is not MAJORLY imbalanced when it comes to living humans vs. dead people. That is, if dead people have such long *cough* life spans *cough*, and a new human only is born when a soul reincarnates...major mathematical issue, anyone? (Then again, how to account for population growth is really beyond this troper....)
* Among Soi Fong's exact words were, "All who get in my way are my enemies. All enemies must be slain. That is all that matters." Why would she say that? Would some of the people that get in the way include innocent bystanders and children? Does she not believe in ThouShaltNotKill?
** Why would she? She's been trained from a very young age to be a personal body guard to the leader of a clan that traditionally controlled an entire organisation of assassins (among other things), and is now in charge of that very same organisation, not to mention also being in charge (at the same time) of an entire military division that's charged with protecting society. And that's before we get to the subject of why a Chinese character in a Japanese setting would ever adhere to a Christian concept. While Buddhism has its own set of restraints on the subject of killing, that just brings us back to her role as an assassin and a leader of both assassin and military divisions. That's also ignoring the fact she likes to play the tough guy.

* Central 46's judicial process and subsequent judgments: Even setting aside Rukia's sentence (which wasn't actually handed down by the Central 46), their "justice" system makes no sense. Tessai was sentenced to (extremely long, if not immortal) life in prison (at the "3rd level") for using a forbidden kido. Urahara Kisuke was sentenced to removal of powers and eternal banishment to earth for experimenting with Hollowfication on captains. In contrast, Kurotsuchi Mayuri has been unethically experimenting to his heart's content without a peep from the Central 46. This raises the issue that Central 46 (and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the Gotei 13) seem to have the attitude that as long as it's not us/Sereitei, it doesn't matter. But the real headbanger is how they responded to Aizen Sousuke: the man who was discovered to have actually been behind the Hollowfication of the Vaizards, the man who killed the previous Central 46, who created most of the current Espada, who was trying to ''wipe out Soul Society'' was sentenced to 18,800 years in prison. That's ''less'' time than Tessai was sentenced to! Granted, Aizen was sentenced to the highest (8th) level of the prison, but the fact that Aizen could be released--without even having his powers removed--in the future just makes no sense to this troper, particularly considering Tessai and Urahara's sentences

You can't blame them for doing something that simply isn't they're job.

** An ideal afterlife shouldn't have those bad areas to begin with. There's disease, poverty, the Central 46 is a terrible governing body, shinigami can act like {{Jerkass}}es or {{Complete Monster}}s without any real consequences, and the whole society basically functions like feudal Japan, which pretty sucks for anyone who didn't live in feudal Japan.

* The fact that they have probably been too busy preparing to deal with the Quincies when they return to think of a way to resurrect one person would have something to do with it as well.

** Also about Reji even if he was strong enough it would probably be bad for the squads after all Momo and Kira were both his classmates and hisagi was an upperclassmen to him and while squad ten may have just accepted Hitsugiya because he's a genius renji isn't

* During the war with Aizen and Heuco Mundo, why is Soul Society so relatively passive? No reconnaisance by fire from Squad 2 or 11, no attacks on the Hollow armies that Aizen was building, etc. The shinigami do have the ability to travel to Heuco Mundo so since you have at least two captains with WMDs for bankai, why not have Mayuri or Yamamoto just use them on Aizen's HQ? It seems to be the only man-made structure of its size, so large that its visible on the horizon. Even if they don't get Aizen (realistically, wide-area attacks are the best way to counter illusionists), putting a dent in his ranks and possibly killing some of the Espada surely would have been worth it. Considering the hype surrounding Ryuujin Jaka, Yamamoto's bankai could possibly even kill the majority of the Espada and the defector Captains with a quick, surgical strike.