Jaina (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
effervescible) wrote2007-02-21 12:36 am
effervescible) wrote2007-02-21 12:36 am
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My late (less than) great ch 263 spec post
SO! 263...263. Picks up pretty much where we left off last time:
Oh man, look at those big eyes...oh, Rukia. She's never been so stoic a pokerface as her big brother, but already it's obvious she's really rattled. Well, who wouldn't be? And look at Kaien--that stern expression. Could it really be Kaien? We only ever saw him looking so deadly serious when Miyako died. Maybe it's just a lookalike.
...ahahahaha. And I was worried he'd be pure evil, with no dorkitude left. Okay, I swear that ruffled collar gets shorter in every shot. OH MAN, HIS FACE. One thing I like about this chapter is that while the resemblance to Ichigo is certainly pronounced, those are not Ichigo's usual expressions.
I'm pretty sure this expression is Kon's, though. Kaien = Ichigo + Kon? A frightening possibility.
Aaand there's the rub. Rukia's eyes are even bigger, oh god. She looks like she might be slipping out of her awed/happy subordinate role. I mean, she looks shocked, but she also looks pissed. Hinamori didn't look like that after Aizen showed up alive and cut her. (Ahahaha I bet Rukia can relate to Hinamori a bit now!)
Okay, here are my thoughts. This is just the theory with I'm going with for now--despite my comments about having predicted something Big and Bad for Rukia in this arc, I refuse to make long-term predictions. Cuz--damn, who saw this coming? So my thoughts could entirely change when the next chapter's spoilers come out. Hopefully that will be very soon.
Right, right, disclaimers in place...
I think it's really Kaien. And I think Kaien is telling the truth as he knows it. Frankly, the hollow's reformation makes sense to me--Aizen always was gathering the best and brightest on his side, and who's better than the Vice-Captain who graduated in a year? (I wonder if he had bankai?) If it was on purpose, then Aizen sent the hollow out to collect someone strong, weeding out the weak by feeding on them. If it was an accident, well, he's already proven himself to be quite the opportunist. (This also lends strength to the argument that Aizen's been sneaking off on weekend jaunts to Hueco Mundo for quite a while.) Either way--it's important to note that the hollow and Kaien were still fused when he died. Kaien didn't die of being consumed from the inside; he died from a sword wound. (Someone mentioned to me they thought Rukia's zanpakutou had purified the hollow in Kaien even as it killed him, but I didn't really get that impression, plus if they were 100% fused, it wouldn't have without immediately wiping out Kaien, too.)
But some things don't make sense. Whether the original script is correct in that Kaien "switched" with an espada, or if the scanslation is more correct in that he "became" an espada (but one with an ulterior motive)--Aizen wouldn't leave Kaien be if he was really a threat, and come on, there's no way Aizen doesn't know. And Kaien really seems to be acting like himself here--he's got his grandiosity, his serious side, his teasing side...it fits. And while Rukia's unmistakably thrown by his appearance, she does seem to get the emotional sense that this is really Kaien, and Rukia is someone who has already seen hollow imitators like Grand Fisher. She knows better than anyone that there are imitators. And she believes it's him.
But there's just no way he'd be able to pull one over on Aizen. And he's glad he ran into Rukia? Like it's just a lucky shot that the espada who found her is also the one whose death was one of the strongest emotional events of her life? I call bullshit. But I don't think Kaien's lying.
For lack of a better term, I think it's...multiple-personality disorder. But Kaien doesn't realize, unless that really was an extremely good fakeout and the real him is what came out at the end of the chapter. His explanations for why/how he became an espada are his mind's way of explaining it to himself. I think A'roniro--the espada personality--set out to go to Rukia, and once he got close enough, Kaien took charge. Possibly Kaien's personality emerged with his smile.
The thing that's probably the best evidence is that double-"Kuchiki" word balloon at the end. That's two voices right there. Not just one imitating another. So: Kaien. But not a Kaien who's as in charge of things as he himself would like to believe.
As always, there's an Ichigo parallel. I find it really interesting that Ichigo and Aichi clash violently for control, but for now it's Ichigo the shinigami who's king. Kaien and A'roniro exhibit a nigh seamless transition, but the hollow's the one steering this pony. And though I expect KT will torment us and drag it out like he always does, damn do I want Ichigo and Kaien to meet. Ichigo at least knows there's someone he looks like--regardless of how much he knows about Kaien (and I think he has to know something to know to look for Rukia at the Shiba residence in 181), he heard Byakuya reference him looking like someone when they took Rukia back to Soul Society. He might not have thought about it much since then, but he know the resemblance exists. Kaien...well, who knows, maybe he's fully informed as to what's going on. Then again, maybe not. I hope for the latter, because damn wouldn't that be fun when they come face to face?
I admit, I want this to be Kaien. Because even if it seems a little cheap in the "DOES NO ONE DIE IN THIS MANGA?" department, I think it's a hundred times cheaper if it's just a stunt to screw with Rukia's emotions.
Oh man, look at those big eyes...oh, Rukia. She's never been so stoic a pokerface as her big brother, but already it's obvious she's really rattled. Well, who wouldn't be? And look at Kaien--that stern expression. Could it really be Kaien? We only ever saw him looking so deadly serious when Miyako died. Maybe it's just a lookalike.
...ahahahaha. And I was worried he'd be pure evil, with no dorkitude left. Okay, I swear that ruffled collar gets shorter in every shot. OH MAN, HIS FACE. One thing I like about this chapter is that while the resemblance to Ichigo is certainly pronounced, those are not Ichigo's usual expressions.
I'm pretty sure this expression is Kon's, though. Kaien = Ichigo + Kon? A frightening possibility.
Aaand there's the rub. Rukia's eyes are even bigger, oh god. She looks like she might be slipping out of her awed/happy subordinate role. I mean, she looks shocked, but she also looks pissed. Hinamori didn't look like that after Aizen showed up alive and cut her. (Ahahaha I bet Rukia can relate to Hinamori a bit now!)
Okay, here are my thoughts. This is just the theory with I'm going with for now--despite my comments about having predicted something Big and Bad for Rukia in this arc, I refuse to make long-term predictions. Cuz--damn, who saw this coming? So my thoughts could entirely change when the next chapter's spoilers come out. Hopefully that will be very soon.
Right, right, disclaimers in place...
I think it's really Kaien. And I think Kaien is telling the truth as he knows it. Frankly, the hollow's reformation makes sense to me--Aizen always was gathering the best and brightest on his side, and who's better than the Vice-Captain who graduated in a year? (I wonder if he had bankai?) If it was on purpose, then Aizen sent the hollow out to collect someone strong, weeding out the weak by feeding on them. If it was an accident, well, he's already proven himself to be quite the opportunist. (This also lends strength to the argument that Aizen's been sneaking off on weekend jaunts to Hueco Mundo for quite a while.) Either way--it's important to note that the hollow and Kaien were still fused when he died. Kaien didn't die of being consumed from the inside; he died from a sword wound. (Someone mentioned to me they thought Rukia's zanpakutou had purified the hollow in Kaien even as it killed him, but I didn't really get that impression, plus if they were 100% fused, it wouldn't have without immediately wiping out Kaien, too.)
But some things don't make sense. Whether the original script is correct in that Kaien "switched" with an espada, or if the scanslation is more correct in that he "became" an espada (but one with an ulterior motive)--Aizen wouldn't leave Kaien be if he was really a threat, and come on, there's no way Aizen doesn't know. And Kaien really seems to be acting like himself here--he's got his grandiosity, his serious side, his teasing side...it fits. And while Rukia's unmistakably thrown by his appearance, she does seem to get the emotional sense that this is really Kaien, and Rukia is someone who has already seen hollow imitators like Grand Fisher. She knows better than anyone that there are imitators. And she believes it's him.
But there's just no way he'd be able to pull one over on Aizen. And he's glad he ran into Rukia? Like it's just a lucky shot that the espada who found her is also the one whose death was one of the strongest emotional events of her life? I call bullshit. But I don't think Kaien's lying.
For lack of a better term, I think it's...multiple-personality disorder. But Kaien doesn't realize, unless that really was an extremely good fakeout and the real him is what came out at the end of the chapter. His explanations for why/how he became an espada are his mind's way of explaining it to himself. I think A'roniro--the espada personality--set out to go to Rukia, and once he got close enough, Kaien took charge. Possibly Kaien's personality emerged with his smile.
The thing that's probably the best evidence is that double-"Kuchiki" word balloon at the end. That's two voices right there. Not just one imitating another. So: Kaien. But not a Kaien who's as in charge of things as he himself would like to believe.
As always, there's an Ichigo parallel. I find it really interesting that Ichigo and Aichi clash violently for control, but for now it's Ichigo the shinigami who's king. Kaien and A'roniro exhibit a nigh seamless transition, but the hollow's the one steering this pony. And though I expect KT will torment us and drag it out like he always does, damn do I want Ichigo and Kaien to meet. Ichigo at least knows there's someone he looks like--regardless of how much he knows about Kaien (and I think he has to know something to know to look for Rukia at the Shiba residence in 181), he heard Byakuya reference him looking like someone when they took Rukia back to Soul Society. He might not have thought about it much since then, but he know the resemblance exists. Kaien...well, who knows, maybe he's fully informed as to what's going on. Then again, maybe not. I hope for the latter, because damn wouldn't that be fun when they come face to face?
I admit, I want this to be Kaien. Because even if it seems a little cheap in the "DOES NO ONE DIE IN THIS MANGA?" department, I think it's a hundred times cheaper if it's just a stunt to screw with Rukia's emotions.
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That word balloon is so interesting, isn't it. I hadn't seen it when I suggested maybe it was an echo of another voice, but no, it's certainly interlinked. There is a point at which the two meet. I'm leaning more in favour of the same being true with the hollow/shinigami soul. I'm still not sure how feasible it is for Kaien to be there entirely intact in the way that Ichigo is with his hollow.
Ichigo + Hollow Ichigo seem very much (argh old fandom reference) like Angel and Angelus were in Buffy. When Angelus came out he would reference being trapped inside and watching everything Angel did, and likewise.
Kaien and his hollow are not two facets of the same person. This isn't a case of normal kaien and who kaien could be if he went bad. This is Kaien and someone else entirely, a genetically engineered someone else specially designed to trap a shinigami soul and take it home. So I'm still not sure Kaien could be tere intact, I think that's an eventuality that would be planned for.
Aizen doesn't seem to do the typical supervillain thing of underestimating his foes. Sure, he thinks he's better, but he is always aware of the threats. He knows these people and their power. That hollow could as easily have snagged Ukitake's soul (from it's positioning outside 13th, maybe it was always meant to - Ukitake is VERY important to this whole thing SOMEWHERE, I suspect in relation to Urahara) and Ukitake is only physically weak, his spirit power is one of the strongest of the Captain's. I'm sure Aizen wouldn't be lax about this special hollow's capabilities.
So, there is a point at which hollow and Kaien meet, and I don't think it's a 'two souls, one body' deal. I don't think it's going to be possible to save Kaien from this. Maybe the hollow's personality is mixed in with his own and the hollow can never be stopped without killing the both of them (hi, finding that out would send ichigo into standard fatalistic mode quicksmart).
I AM TORTURED BY POSSIBILITES.
At any rate, I'm still not sure it's so much that there is a transition between the hollow and Kaien as it is the two are so twisted together the dominant personality is able to adopt traits of both.
I cannot wait for Ichigo to meet him. It's a long time since I read the SS arc, but I believe he was told the whole story of Kaien (in parts, by Ganju and Rukia) but never had the dots connected as to who he resembled. I honestly don't quite know if Rukia fully registers it.
This chapter aparently has Renji's fight continuing, along with more RukiKaien. I would really like to see Renji showing up too, simply because the initial impact of who this is and what it means to Rukia won't be lost on him.
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