User blog comment:Godisme/San'ou/@comment-1920550-20120726161308

From the start i never was a full Bleach fan. Loved the characters and their skills and such, but there were always things that p***** me off. Like how the status quo of Soul Society stayed the same for all these years of manga/anime: how was it that Gotei 13 captains were always superior to other beings, who by definition, should be stronger? Like the Arrancar, or some of the Vizard's, who benefit from being hybrids. How was it that a pure Shinigami like Aizen, or Kisuke, or Yamamoto were always stronger than a Vizard or Arrancar, even if said creatures were previous captain/Vasto Lords? That aside, i didn't enjoy Byakuya's death at first...it felt pointless at first, but then it hit me. The status quo of the Gotei 13 took a 180-turn, and for the first time in over a decade of this manga, the Gotei 13 are on the other end of the stick. The Gotei 13 were always shown as these unreachable, allmighty warriors for when Ichigo couldn't hack it alone, they never had a true, proper challenge, not even Aizen, for all his power and badassery, he didn't do that much damage to then in the overall scheme of things. And the Byakuya/As Nodt fight serves as the perfect example of that...this is the fall of Soul Society, that it's not a war, it's a massacre...it's gonna be bloody, disgraceful, heartwrenching and pointless to an extent, because that is the true essence of war. You do not become inspired, or gain anything from a war...it's all loss. The Quincies became the perfect enemy, the perfect bane for the power of Gotei 13 captains (except for the Vizards, we'll have to wait and see how they will deal with that). The Vollstandig, Blut Arterie, the Bankai-stealling medallion, this was all carefully planned. Now in regards to Byakuya's death in general, i had to grow to it, but in the end it was a good way to end him: to have him die by his own trump card, and the point it served to prove is...this is the end of an era and it's going out with a bang.