Lol Rawb.
Ketchup, that’s because the cool/boring characters still have at least a little mystery to them.
Okay favs are:
Grimmjow Jaggerjack: He was a very simple character with badass charm. He wasn’t emo in the typical way that Kubo characters are but remained appealing. Most of all, he was one of the most consistent bad guys imo.
Noitoira: He was kind of Grimmjow but the hidden emo in him was actually very interesting to me. He had this self-hatred thing going on that I felt was very accurately portrayed.
Urahara: Also an interesting character, until recently, I thought he got a good amount of screen time for his character, leaving you wanting more is a good thing. He is also one of the most real characters for me. He’s got the manipulative smart guy down because he’s not maliciously doing it, he just doesn’t feel like people are smart enough to handle the truth. He also has a very intelligent affection for people, he cares in a somewhat impersonal-but-deep, and abiding way.
Ishida: While I do resent Kubo for letting the Nakama fall behind Gok-er, Ichigo. I think Ishida has done a great job of remaining relevant despite being too weak. He’s like an underdeveloped Piccolo or Vegeta. The intelligent aspect of him falls second to his pride, and his intelligence is overshadowed by the simplicity of how-to defeat a Kubo villain. Either way, he’s the only human to have any kind of relevance left unless Kubo is going to pay special attention to them.
Yoruichi: Smex. Well, that and she is the B.A. hand-to-hand fighter and on top of it, she’s a woman. She’s like the perfect counter point to Urahara, she’s intelligent but more than that, she keeps Urahara from looking too emo. Together, they make the perfect team and one of my favorite fan pairings.
Nel: Smex, evolved. But again, in addition to being one of the sexier characters, she’s got cool ass powers. Her history was a good plot turn, even if we saw something like that coming. Her past self was a very strong character and, even if it was gimmicky, having a kid self to be somewhat contrary and silly with made her feel versatile.
Lisa: Smex, with a mask. This one was kind of arbitrary for me. Maybe it was Blood: The Last Vampire or maybe I just like the perverted glasses-school girl uniform women who are obviously too old to be high schoolers, especially if you consider she was a shinigami. I was okay with her mask and her release, although I think she could have used either something cooler or a neat power to accompany her mediocre mask release.
Yamamoto: Soutaichou is one of the biggest badasses to grace the Bleach pages and I’m sad he only has one arm now. That’s about it.
Bones to pick:
Rukia: I hate Rukia. I hate that she’s more useless than Orihime. I hate that she is the one who randomly shows up to give Ichigo pep talks at the perfect moment. I hate that for half the story she’s useless for legitimate reasons and is purposely played down as a weak character in order to give Ichigo a spring board into being mr power up. Because I got used to that and then one day she shows up with cool powers and tries to be relevant, except...she’s still the weakest character of the Nakama. Orihime is the healer. The rest are fighters of some kind and she just went through all this backwards development only to one day come back and all she’s got to show for it is her mediocrity. I like her Japanese slap-stick humor and I was down for her history being relevant and somewhat cool. But outside of that, I hate her.
Orihime: I love her. And yet, like the rest of the Nakama and so many other characters, she had a lot of potential to be a game changer. This is what I mean – She was played up for a long time in the opposite way Rukia was, she’s intentionally weak, she’s dumb and airheaded, etc. Later, we learn she’s dealing with a lot of depression and insecurity...except we find out she isn’t. There was a lot of depth hinted at. And rather than build on that potential to make a really sweet character who has a good understanding of people and is STILL intentionally overly gentle or kind, Kubo returns her to being just a space cadet mentally who is good for healing and prop-situational comedy. If not for such a crucial failing, she’d be a fave. Her crowning moment was her very real expression of the potential for depth when she fail-kissed Ichigo when she said goodbye. For me it was very sad and tangible that someone feeling those things would react that way and I’m sad she, and others, fall to the wayside.
Renji: I love him when he was a badguy and then again when he was a very loose affiliate of the nakama. I think his undying love of a thousand suns for Rukia is well founded and another good fan ship of mine. He's even got decent powers, albeit limited. But he's just as lame and underused as anyone else at this point. He is too similar to Ichigo at times, in my mind, to get along with him as much as he does. Kubo just needs to ditch Ichigo for a long while to keep this interesting.
Kenpachi: Another character that I’m in a love-hate thing with. After his fight with Ichigo, you thought you were going to see the depth to make him more than just an anomaly, to be a human. But no, Kubo couldn’t have given him a reason to be an anomaly, he had to preserve the paradox of Kenpachi representing a complete disregard for the "rules” of Bleachverse and gaining power.
Yachiru: Yeah she’s cute but hinting at how powerful she is, is pointless. I’m sick of seeing her and I want her to die or do something. How the heck did she get to be VC if she never does anything?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!
Chad: He’s another one. Goddamn Kubo. This is one of your most underrated characters ever. He was the tank, which was fun and great. His evolution was alright, until you figure out that he still sucks. Now he’s just that abnormally large Mexican kid that tags along everywhere. Way to be the Yamcha of Bleach. I thought that he and Orihime were going to get really fucking awesome backgrounds to their powers but instead we have my next pick.
Ginjo and xcution: These useless filler villains...sigh. Ginjo doesn’t like to be a tool, Ichigo does. Fight. The end. Tsukashima has god power and just decides to emo out of the picture. Eyepatch watchmaker looks like a darkhorse but is really fodder. Rich kid gets beat by his more emo, poor look-alike. Dirty boots is probably the ugliest bleach woman now and forever. Riruka is cute but has a dumb power, dumb reasons and is the only one who does the right thing at the end, it’s what all of them should have done, no joke.
