User blog comment:Lemursrule/BLEACH 342 Review: The Big Goodbye/@comment-1393830-20111005230933/@comment-893506-20111006041751

When it comes right down to it, even if you don't take in what the anime does from time to time, people take moments in the series and breathe a heck of a lot more into a situation than they should and present it as "proof" of their demented fan-shippings, which really bugs me. Ichigo and Rukia are close friends, but they do NOT love each other. The only character who is in love with Ichigo is Orihime, and even then, it is one-sided, as Ichigo is completely unaware of this, and does not, in any way, show signs that he is. Like Lemur said, Bleach is more about the bonds Ichigo forms with his friends, not romance, and Kubo already said he does not plan to make it about romance.