User blog comment:Mrlmm0605/Let's Talk Bleach! Part 15a - Ichigo Kurosaki/@comment-5398287-20160512063650

Oh my goodness this blog is back and I almost missed it.

Anyhoo, Ichigo is an interesting case as far as main protagonists go: unlike Naruto, Luffy, Goku, and Midoriya, he doesn't have any lofty ambition or goal to work toward (becoming Hokage, becoming the Pirate King, being the strongest in the universe, being the #1 Hero), he just wants to protect those that he cares about, which is a much more reasonable and realistic goal for a 15/17 year old. This is part of why I think Bleach isn't quite as explosively popular as Naruto and One Piece - the main character isn't working toward some great achievement in every arc, he's just protecting people, so readers don't get quite the same sense of excitement from him. Personally, I don't really care: if Ichigo, upon receiving his Shinigami powers in the first chapter, had proclaimed that he wanted to become the next Soul King, I think the series would've been far worse off for it.

Personally, I think the Fullbring was a great opportunity to further develop him, and while it did to some degree the Shinigami-based rushing kinda stunted it. Oh well. At least now he knows the truth about himself.