His death was the most badass. He never coward, he never begged for mercy, and when he knew he was dead, he just seemed annoyed. Hahaha, what a badass.
He seemed happy lol. His emptiness was filled in the end. And he finally understood emotions. People say, he was starting to fall for Orihime lol~ He had her heart in his hands, and he WANTED to know where it was. Then at the end, he realized had it with him. So in a sense, Ulquiorra had his heart set on Orihime
I wouldn't call his feelings romantic, but the point of Ulquiorra's character arc was him regaining his lost heart and finally remembering what it means to be human. Ulquiorra was a Hollow who lost his heart and thus lost his humanity. Orihime was sympathetic and kind, and it was through her he remembered what it meant to be human.
I love ulquiorra because he doesn't believe in things he can't see. When he and orihime are talking about the human heart he says, "Tell me, if I tore a hole in your chest, would I see it? If I split open your skull, would it be there?" To me, hes not making a threat to her. He's asking her if that organ in her chest is responsible for the way she acts or if its all in her head. He doesn't believe in the strength of emotion until the end, when he finally sees. "Tell me, girl, one last time. Are you afraid of me?" "I am not. Really. I'm not." "I understand." Its heartbreaking not because of the bond between orihime and ulquiorra but because he showed so much promise of understanding people. He showed so much promise of development. And his life got cut short just as he finally learned what he lacked in the end. He had seen it several times yet refused to believe it. The only thing that he has ever seen and denied. Making excuses "those are the words of someone who had never known the despair of defeat." "That's ridiculous." "This antiquated concept of a 'heart' seems more like a liability than a strength." Because he truly could not understand what he was seeing. Until he was on his deathbed.
Going to add to this 2 years later. Due to Ulquiorra being the representation of emptiness or void depending on who you ask it makes sense that he would be stripped of emotions and would follow a purely logic based method of understanding the reality around him. This backs up what you wrote wholeheartedly as a concept as illogical as emotions would have no method being quantified and it would seem to be the ramblings of a delusional girl to him. The entire time he was trying to figure it out. Then in his last moments when he was most open to change he asked Orihime if she feared him. She responded with the purest of empathy seen in bleach instead of fear or happiness at his inevitable demise. It was then he finally understood for the briefest of moments what the human emotion of empathy was which could only exist in souls with "Heart". In realizing this it contradicted his aspect of death and so he died quite poetically by being filled with the knowledge he had sought from the one being to ever arouse his interest.
Ulquiorra: Do I scare you woman? *reach out his hand* Inoue: I'm not afraid Ulquiorra: I see *withdraws his hand.* Her heart is right in my hands. *Inoue tries to reach his hand but he disappeared* That moment when you actually cried in this scene damn!!
It is still an underlying evil proposition when he states that last line. He basically realizes in order to make orihime fear him he should had killed her friends a long time ago way before this moment. He never understood why orihime was not scared of his threat...cause she always knew ichigo and the others would come rescuing her. So her faith kept her strong. He realizes this too late as he turns to dust and reminsces that her "heart was in his hands..." meaning that if he had killed ichigo and the others sooner orihime would've been trembling before him in fear. L0l. But to each their own - the instrumental is pretty nice. But the novelty requires a bit of forethought to understand the true meaning of his last words and intent. Ulquiorra by no means loved orihime he was just fascinated to the extent of dissecting her to understand why she didnt fear him
@@kimberlytakesthe5043When i read that part in manga, the pannels said "that thing in my hand, was a heart", wich means that he understood what a heart was when he raised his hand. He knew everithing he done, and yet, he tried to reach someone, that's why he understood what a heart is and why he did something so useless and unexpected of him.
@@Nelybandz it’s not like Kubo literally illustrated it and that they are named admirer the pregocnitionsnof death and ripped of Aizens emotions yammy(rage) Ulquiorra (emptiness) but unless the author outright say something you just don’t understand because your brain is as small as a pee you have 0 clue about any story threads unless the author would literally come to your house and slap you with the manga panels
Ulquiorra's death is actually really interesting to analyze. He physically died from Ichigo's attacks. At the same time he also mentally died since he realized the true meaning of human heart, which is contradicting his aspect of death: the feeling of nothing.
Lol "feeling of nothing?" No. He realizes that orihimes faith and resistance of fear as he called it "heart," was in his hands the whole time. At any point in this arc before this part, ulquiorra couldve obliterated ichigo and the others. But, he didnt. So, when the flashback comes and he asks orihime "do you fear me?" She says no, and he didnt understand. Orihime didnt fear ulquiorra because her fear was never there cause she never had a doubt that her friends were not going to rescue her. So when ulquiorra turns to dust he states "her heart was in my hands..." meaning, a flashback reminiscing that it was the idea that at any moment he couldve crushed her heart by killing her friends previous to this moment. But he didnt and now he knows that humans faith in others outplayed his ideology of power as an arrancar and mere puppet 0f aizens purpose.
@@mazuki7602 didnt Ichigo undergo lots of hollow control training before this fight? I am pretty sure Ulquirra was halted by Yourichi and Kisuke saving Ichigo's life the first ulquiorra and ichigo met.
@@mazuki7602 as you can see the more Ichigo excel in controlling his powers his dark side increases as well - cause it is wanting to take over his body.
In 2009, fans voted Ulquiorra death as the most impactful of the year. No surprise, his death was more unique and therefore more amazing than most deaths. He died just he finally understood feelings and emotions, and to me that's what makes his death one of the most famous.
ulquiorra had one of the saddest deaths in the anime his aspect of death is emptiness and he only found some sort of solace at the end, the other one is starkk as he represented loneliness and ended up losing/dying alone after lilynette died
Honestly though Starkk's whole character wasn't that impactful to me. He was one lazy ass dude met with an opponent just like him. He didn't even seem that strong or at least take it seriously and I'm still surprise that he was Espada No.1. Although fighting against Kyoraku who also didn't take the fight seriously the whole time makes me think that Starkk probably had much more strength than he showed.
@@thangnghiem4229 he also mentions how everyone in the espada seems to be fighting for themselves… there is no sense of brotherhood, as they are being taken out by the captains, which i guess it makes it even more sad he had to die to Kyoraku, someone like him probably would have befriended Stark had he not aligned with Aizen
It's him acknowledging her existence I think. In other words, at the very end, because of her, he was able to overcome his nihilistic views on the world
Imo Ulquiorra is by far the most interesting espada. The way that even above aizen's will, what was most important to him was contemplating what this heart was that she spoke of. It's even more impactful if you read the bleach novel about Ulquiorra's backstory.
Ulquiorra was not evil; he only carried the weight of infinite sadness in his heart. Not knowing what love is and feeling empty. I think he started to feel something for Orihime. It would be awesome if they both got together in an alternate universe or something.
@@zerstorungdeslichts4706 Would he though? He had but several opportunities to kill her, I mean he had no objections to kill anything worthless even without the order. Yet he was coming up with the excuses why he should keep her alive, even defending her from Ichigo's accidental Getsuga. Not to mention, he was guarding her against vicious arrancars wanting to hurt her. I mean this wasn't necessary.
@@meiru2453 He's just awaiting Aizen's orders.. Aizen just wanted to fuck Ichigo up by helding her hostage until he's ready to face him. At the end he didn't order Ulquiorra to kill her, rather he let him do what he wants. Ulquiorra can either kill her but he started to be interested on her, which is lucky for her.. If Aizen ordered him to KILL her, he would've done so. Ulquiorra is no hero. He's Aizen's most LOYAL Espada. He can be redeemed if he survived. But during the Hueco Mundo arc he's at Aizen's direct command.
Ulquiorra's Death is definitely one of the saddest villain deaths in anime. There are some villains deaths who are pretty satisfying, but this one was just heartbreaking.
@Dark Master Gaming Ph This will sound very bad, but I haven't watched Hunter x Hunter yet. My sister is always telling me to watch, but I didn't make the time for it yet...
@@barbarapereira7790 yes you should try, you won't regret watching HXH, best and at the same time the saddest moment was in HXH final episode of chimera Ant Arc.
The sad thing about Ulquiorra is that potentially he could've been a good guy... It's just that he never understood the concept of love, kindness, remorse, sympathy, empathy etc. until the very last moment. Ironically, just before dying, he finally started to feel something for Ichigo and Orihime and feels pure anguish in knowing that he will never see them again. The only people who he never could read and understand completely... ;(
I never find Orihime as interesting character. She is just kind and little sappy. But for some reason I'm so much in Ulquihime thing. Ulquiorra finaly get interested in people and find "heart"... soul... anyway it's all because of Orihime. Maybe he fell in love first time. And she is not afraid of him. I know first she tells that thats why her friends came after her, but in the Ulquiorra's death scene she trying to reach his hand after telling this. They like perfect couple for me.
in my opinion, In hueco mundo arc, after being with Ulquiorra for a lot of time I feel like even Orihime started to have feelings for. to be honest I feel like Orihime's character was only strong emotionally and physically in Hueco Mundo arc and her character development was the most in hueco mundo arc. And Ulquiorra was the only key for her character development since he was the only character who thought Orihime was strong unlike other characters who demotivated Orihime. After the Hueco mundo arc Orihime's character went to square one. I also feel that Ulquiorra had fallen in love with Orihime. Since their love would have been "forbidden" He had to die. Because he couldn't be a human. Even if IchiHime has been cannon, One has to admit it that UlquiHime was the ship which was actually cannon.
Dean is love - It could be Stockholm Syndrome, but then again, Uliquiora was the only Espada who wasn't a complete asshole. And she never developed feelings for Aizen or Grimmjau, even though Aizen could simply use his Zanpakuto to brainwash her and turn her into his willing slave.
@@dplocksmith91 Yeah I mean Ulquiorra was strangely polite with her, even when she bitchslapped him. And lets be honest, Ulquiorra isn't really that kind, he had no hesistation to wreck others, he even smacked Yammy with a full strenght.
ehhh I dont think ulquiorra fell in love with orhime cuz someone as nihilistic as him wouldn't just sprout such strong emotions all of a sudden. Although I admit there was something that developed there when he faded. Like he said, he just sparked an interest with humans and IMO it's all thanks to Orihime. Orihime's sympathy and kindness are perfect for Ulqui's character development in terms of his indifferent personality. They were a perfect match-up (not in a romantic way) for this arc.
When she was tearing up as he asked that for the final time, she answered with grief rather than any other emotion understanding that she's about to lose someone she started caring for. And as for Ulquiorra he finally understood what the meaning behind those words were al be it too late. But hearing orihime say that she wasn't scared but more sad that he was about to vanish from existence made him realize that her heart was in his palm that very moment.
Jornalator he has bro. Its call ulquirra unmasked i think. Shows what ulq looked like before he wmet aizen. He naturally became an arrancar and was a vasto lorde i think.
@@dinominate69 Indeed. More than that, not only did he become an arrancar on his own, but unlike the rest of the espada who were originally human at some point, Ulquiorra was _born_ a vasto lorde. It was possible in the time before the current cycle of souls for a hollow to spontaneously come into existence without having first been a human, and Ulquiorra is the only known example.
Ulquiorra never fell in love with orihime, rather, he understood the true meaning behind orihime's words and finally was able to perceive human emotions in his last seconds
Crazy. At the end of it all, Ulquiorra, was only trying to figure out if he was just a monster, without a heart, set out to be an attack dog; something he valued himself for. However, Orihime saying "I'm not afraid" proved that he was more than just a tool that instilled fear in someone else; a thing to push away another soul. He actually was more than a lone soul to someone else. He found solace in the compassion that Orihime showed him. Through his interaction w/ Orihime, he found his 'compassion' for another person; a "heart" if you will. Ulquiorra will forever be one of the best written antagonist known to the 90s babies.
People like Ulquiorra who grow up not knowing or understanding what love is and I'm talking about people who live with bad parents anyway I feel sry for those types of people who don't know what love is. T_T
Given Ulquiorra's background in a side chapter, he had a terrible past. That made him detest the world so much and feel his existence is pointless, hence a nihilist. Deep down however, he wanted his existence to have a meaning, it's just that the world is so cruel he got so disappointed and thought his desire was a lie. So he suppressed it, lived his entire life in denial until finally Orihime uncovered it. He has a big ego, he continued to live his life wanting to be proven right all the time about how the world is a cruel and meaningless place. Anything running contrary to his nihilistic belief would spark his curiosity and made him want to dissect them slowly but completely so he could end up feeling he was right after all. That's why he's always passive, slowly build up to test Orihime and Ichigo in every angle, leaving no stone unturned. It irritated him they never react like how he expected them to. With Ichigo, he started off exercising massive restraint, slowly level up as Ichigo responded. From 1st resurrection onwards, he's completely overwhelmed Ichigo, yet it irritated him Ichigo refused to give up. He wanted Ichigo to give up so he could prove himself he was right, at one point he even lost it and raised his voice is anger "I TOLD YOU IT'S USELESS!" It's his ego that made him snapped and yelled. His ego was completely shattered though when Hollow Ichigo overwhelmed him. He thought he was the perfect hollow, only to be proven he's not by HIchigo. He hated that he got defeated so much, he just wanted to die. Which makes it intriguing why he bothered to save Ichigo's friends when he could've just stay dead. Conventionally, his nihilistic belief should not made him act, everyone will die, yet he did act. To me, this is his turning point, he probably thought "maybe i am after all..." thus jumped and cancelled Hichigo's cero. He was probably inspired by Ichigo's never give up attitude, even if he wouldn't want to admit to that. Slowly, his heart that he suppressed began to uncover. He thought Orihime logically should be scared, yet she told him she's not, because of her heart. That irritated him, yet he took things step by step, threatened if he opens her chest, will he see this intangible, ridiculous thing she called heart? Then threatened to crack open her head. His objective is to get her to feel scared, so he could feel like he's right after all. Yet until the very end, she was never scared of him, even caring for him to even want to reach out to him. At that point, finally all the beliefs and desires he suppressed all the while get freed. Hence there was a relief in his voice that his existence does have a meaning, his desire was not a lie. He finally saw it. In the very end, he finally get to experience warm feelings of embracing and caring each other these humans spoke of. Orihime showed him what it means to care for others. That explains his final line, "her heart was in my hand". He felt it at last. He felt cared because her heart had touched his.
@Zero Freederick i agree. It's not love or crush, but rather empathy and compassion for each other. Ulquiorra lived a solitude life for so long, and since it had worked well for him, he thought that's the correct way to live. Even if deep down, he probably knew that's a lie he wanted to be proven wrong. In the end, he finally understood it when Inoue showed him compassion and empathy towards him. Something no one else ever showed him, he never saw and thus refused to believe nor understand this thing called 'heart'. I feel like he was able to pass on peacefully having finally be able to confirm this.
I never seen Ulquiorra as evil, he was just loyal and curious.....I wish it changed.....I wish he fell in love with Orihime and had some kind of beauty and the beast vibe 😭 I know I'd help change his views
"Every time you and I connect with each other, a little bit of heart is born between us. Heart isn't something inside you. But whenever you think, whenever you remember someone, that's when heart is born. If you were the only one alive in the whole world, heart wouldn't exist now, would it?" - Kaien Shiba
Literally cried over his death, the way he ended up learning what a heart was and reached out for Orihime. The ending when he came to turns with it and saying “In the palm of my hand was a heart”. I don’t cry over villains but he really had me balling 😭.
Ulquiorra overshadowed every other espada. For time being he became more interesting then both ichigo and eizen. His 2nd battle with ichigo, his 2nd resurrection, his honest curiosity and willingness to understand human emotions, and lastly his demise and orihime shedding tears for him, ichigo not considering it as his victory, ishida being a true homies. Everything hit me in my feels.
Ichigo seems to be a person who doesn't like to cheat to win since he got taken over by his hollow and that made him win the fight.His full hollow form kills anything that is threatening to him, which is a scary and very dangerous power to have. I'm not too sure how better much to describe it.
What makes Ulquiorra's death all the more heart-wrenching is that, like every other Hollow, before he became one, he was once human. Without even knowing it, as he died, he regained his humanity.
Um no, ulqiorra is actually only original hollow thats formed from the powers of hueco mundo, remnant powers of world before soul king. He was born vasto lorde
Not every hollow came from humans. Theyre original creatures. Especially with how menos are made, Ulquiorra was born in hueco mundo not from the human world
Beauty and the Beast, except there were two beasts and one killed the other. Man, I would have preferred Ulquiorra and Orihime together in the end. She could have died with him for a perfect tragedy.
Well Beast had a crush and love for Beauty. But Ulquiorra never had any feelings for her. Ichigo on the other hand was too dumb to realize that Orihime lived him while Rukia,Uryu,Chad and even Renji knew it before him.
I think it wasn't love but he represented depression and dear and he didn't understand how she was not effected by it when everyone else was. He became interested in humans through Orihime I don't think it was love but he felt a a positive emotion around her and awaiting Aizens order he became more and more interested. I wish he became an ally instead of being killed off
he didn't represent depression, he represented nihilism, void. He believes in nothing because he thinks that everyone's life is meaningless. And from his point of view the only meaningful way to live was being conscious of it. Nothingness was what he considerated happiness, because nobody suffers in that way. That's what he realized when he was still a vasto lorde, discriminated and isolated, unable to do anything but walking alone and relying only on his eyes.
I wish they would somehow bring him back. I know in a sense it would be disrespectful to his name, but I wanted Ulquiorra to have a chance to experience happiness and become good. Since all he knew was despair and loneliness, he very much so deserved to experience more than that.
@@shawnjavery Late comment but does the hell in Bleach has a time for sinner and when the time runs out, they will automatically freed and reborn? Or they'll stay there forever?
@@MrNiceGuyPh Its unclear what exactly hell is right now, ie its subject to get massively retconned into something else. But from what its implied its mainly just a holding area for souls that are either too strong to naturally reincarnate or are deemed unworthy to do so. If I had to speculate, its something designed to keep problematic souls outside of the cycle of reincarnation, not a form of punishment for those who transgressed in life. So I doubt there's a sentence since its a matter of protecting the natural order of things.
Ichigo: "Then cut of mine as well!" Somewhere in another dimension, someone: "brrr, why I have this feeling that someone is doing some dumbass Kakarot's level decision?"
it's a similar decision to one Kenpachi would make, it showed that he actually likes fighting just as much as Kenpachi, and he wants to win in a fair fight (i do consider that he fairly beat Ulquiorra because while he wasn't in control his power did beat Ulquiorra but i see why he didnt)
In Japanese, the nuance is "What in my palm is... the heart." So, I thought it referred to Ulquiorra's heart, but I was surprised to see 'Her' written in the subtitles.
I genuinely cried during this scene. He was one of my most favorite characters and my favorite Espada and he totally had the potential to be a good guy. Frick all this, man. Making me cry again...
Okay, clearly obvious to people who can actually fxxxing read unlike me, him reaching his hand out wasn't just to reach for her heart to replicate what he did earlier, when he said, "Are you afraid? You are finished. You will die here all alone, without anyone to hold on to." *He's reaching out for someone to hold on to.* I think it's quite possible he fears death without having anyone to hold on to.
No lol. It makes no sense. First of all, the whole concept of Ulquiorra being interested in heart or human bonds wasn't even there until he began his final battle with Ichigo. During the whole Hueco Mundo and Arrancar Arrival arcs, he was just a cold hearted sadistic bastard, every sentence he said to Inoue verbally abused her, threatened her and used cheap manipulation to make sure that she remains loyal to Aizen. In the end, before his death when he realized that all of that has failed so miserably, he had his "character development". He was dying anyway but you need to show people that his character development, therefore those emotional punchlines. In the Fake Kurakara Town Arc, He kept taunting Inoune until he heard the word heart. In fact, her words about heart was answer to one of his taunts. Only then his curiosity rose. But he didn't change. He kept torturing her mentally and continued nasty psychological war. He only changed when Ichigo refused to kill him. Yes, he was moved by Inoune's new resolve of hope which she got from Ichigo during his fight with Grimmjow. And when he fought Ichigo, in the end when Ichigo refused to kill him, that worked as a big catalyst for his character development. And these happened in a short period of time (in a single fight to be precise), it finished hastily and felt so sudden. It's not like his character gradually developed the whole time he interacted with Inoue. Both Ichigo and Inoue contributed to his character development. Many people downplay Ichigo here which does give Inoue the major role in the character development of Ulquiorra. In the end of the day, it's just another "good" character in anime turning a "bad" character "good" through their work, conduct and thoughts. Another big reason people ships them together is cause Inoue is a girl, if it was a guy in the same role hardly anyone will ship them because most people are not comfortable with homosexual shippings :3 Secondly, I don't believe that Ulquiorra developed a romantic feelings towards Inoue. I mean I heard that there is this official chart that shows different characters relations and Ulquiorra had a pink heart towards Orihime that says "curiosity". In the chart, Rukia shared the same feelings towards Kaien. I don't see this as completely romantic. Now both of these relationship aren't romantic but they are so beautiful! Shipping them actually destroys their beautiful relationship. I believe what Ulquiorra felt towards Inoue is pure thankfullness. If you are having a bad time and someone shows you sympathy or gives condolences, the gratefulness you would feel to that person is what Ulquiorra felt. Saying it romantic is exaggeration. Now, for the sake of argument, let's think that Ulquiorra developed romantic feelings towards Inoue, there wasn't anything from her end. All she got was harsh treatment from him. In the end, she felt bad for him, it was just pity, considering the fact that she is your typical amime princess character, you can expect this much from her (she even healed those Lolly and Melony who bullied her, lol). So shipping them is actually forcing her into it which in my opinion is a disgusting thing to do. Her love towards Ichigo is as pure as her kindness towards others. Last but not least and most importantly, Ulquiorra changed in the end. I felt bad for him and everyone did. But at the same time he can't be forgiven for the horrible things he has done especially to Inoune. He is a grey character. He did nothing to repent for his past. Shipping a character with someone who has mentally tortured the former just because the later has changed in future is extremely disrespectful to the former character. In my opinion that's a sadistic fantasy (I mean no disrespect). Just because it's a fictional character doesn't mean you can execute your weirdest thoughts by twisting their bonds and characteristics. Shipping Inoue with him is disrespecting her and her love towards Ichigo which she developed over the year. Personally to me, torturing someone mentally is no less of a crime than murdering or raping someone. No matter what childhood trauma or sad past made them do the crime, I may show sympathy to them but can't never forget them. Here it's the same case.
I cannot understand how people interpreted an amazing scene of a hollow remembering his humanity and emotions to a disgusting ship 💀 like do y’all forget the psychological and physical torture he put her through? Killing the love of her life in front of her and cutting off her friend’s limp? Letting Loly and Menoly beat the shit out of her? Orihime was just too kind-hearted and empathizes with anyone who’s suffering even if it’s an enemy like when she tried to protect Shishigawara from Tsukishima. And she simply felt empathy towards Ulqiorra when she saw him trying to remember his human emotion but that doesn’t mean she’ll forget the guy she’s already too in love with for him 💀 not to mention it’s downright bestiality 💀💀
Ikr First of all, the whole concept of Ulquiorra being interested in heart or human bonds wasn't even there until he began his final battle with Ichigo. During the whole Hueco Mundo and Arrancar Arrival arcs, he was just a cold hearted sadistic bastard, every sentence he said to Inoue verbally abused her, threatened her and used cheap manipulation to make sure that she remains loyal to Aizen. In the end, before his death when he realized that all of that has failed so miserably, he had his "character development". He was dying anyway but you need to show people that his character development, therefore those emotional punchlines. In the Fake Kurakara Town Arc, He kept taunting Inoune until he heard the word heart. In fact, her words about heart was answer to one of his taunts. Only then his curiosity rose. But he didn't change. He kept torturing her mentally and continued nasty psychological war. He only changed when Ichigo refused to kill him. Yes, he was moved by Inoune's new resolve of hope which she got from Ichigo during his fight with Grimmjow. And when he fought Ichigo, in the end when Ichigo refused to kill him, that worked as a big catalyst for his character development. And these happened in a short period of time (in a single fight to be precise), it finished hastily and felt so sudden. It's not like his character gradually developed the whole time he interacted with Inoue. Both Ichigo and Inoue contributed to his character development. Many people downplay Ichigo here which does give Inoue the major role in the character development of Ulquiorra. In the end of the day, it's just another "good" character in anime turning a "bad" character "good" through their work, conduct and thoughts. Another big reason people ships them together is cause Inoue is a girl, if it was a guy in the same role hardly anyone will ship them because most people are not comfortable with homosexual shippings :3 Secondly, I don't believe that Ulquiorra developed a romantic feelings towards Inoue. I mean I heard that there is this official chart that shows different characters relations and Ulquiorra had a pink heart towards Orihime that says "curiosity". In the chart, Rukia shared the same feelings towards Kaien. I don't see this as completely romantic. Now both of these relationship aren't romantic but they are so beautiful! Shipping them actually destroys their beautiful relationship. I believe what Ulquiorra felt towards Inoue is pure thankfullness. If you are having a bad time and someone shows you sympathy or gives condolences, the gratefulness you would feel to that person is what Ulquiorra felt. Saying it romantic is exaggeration. Now, for the sake of argument, let's think that Ulquiorra developed romantic feelings towards Inoue, there wasn't anything from her end. All she got was harsh treatment from him. In the end, she felt bad for him, it was just pity, considering the fact that she is your typical amime princess character, you can expect this much from her (she even healed those Lolly and Melony who bullied her, lol). So shipping them is actually forcing her into it which in my opinion is a disgusting thing to do. Her love towards Ichigo is as pure as her kindness towards others. Last but not least and most importantly, Ulquiorra changed in the end. I felt bad for him and everyone did. But at the same time he can't be forgiven for the horrible things he has done especially to Inoune. He is a grey character. He did nothing to repent for his past. Shipping a character with someone who has mentally tortured the former just because the later has changed in future is extremely disrespectful to the former character. In my opinion that's a sadistic fantasy (I mean no disrespect). Just because it's a fictional character doesn't mean you can execute your weirdest thoughts by twisting their bonds and characteristics. Shipping Inoue with him is disrespecting her and her love towards Ichigo which she developed over the year. Personally to me, torturing someone mentally is no less of a crime than murdering or raping someone. No matter what childhood trauma or sad past made them do the crime, I may show sympathy to them but can't never forget them. Here it's the same case.
Never liked Orihime, but the Hueco Mundo arc made me like her a bit more. This is where her character developed the most. And I dont know why she went back to "Kurosaki-kun" All over again after this arc. These two are even more canon than the ending, wished that Kubo one day will make and release a few chapters and the true ending because that ending was just like a fanfci. Even Orihime who wanted 3 or more jobs when she grew up ended up being a house wife, Uryu became a doctor when he clearly stated he didn't want to become one and there's Ichigo, after having a whole Arc being depressed because he lost his powers, even to the point of him seeking powers in other ways (which introduced him to fullbring) ended up in a couch watching t.v? Wtf? What happened to the other characters, grimmjow and nel, even harribel? And Ulquiorra's rumored comeback? It is so sad that one of the best shounen manga had to end in the most fanfic way. :(
There was a lot more going on in the background than most people think. Kubo didn't suddenly forget how to write. The life of a mangaka (especially one at Shounen Jump) is fucking ridiculous. An 80 hour work week, with little food, pay or free time (2-5 hours a week) combined with having to work despite illness, or any of life's other hardships and you've got a recipe for damn near torture. Kubo was obviously not prepared for the gruelling schedule, you can see it evident in the manga as his art, Kubo's main focus and strength, steadily gets blander and shittier as time goes by, all in a desperate attempt to pump out pages as quickly as possible. SJ has a readership of 8 and up. Kubo loves blood and maiming people in his work and drawing it in very grisly detail (for a shounen magazine). Then there was Kubo's lack of interest in actually following what was back then and to this day remains a big staple of Shounen manga: The powering up and fighting stronger opponents trope. You can see the cracks in his writing form in the Soul Society Arc though it remains passable, but after that Kubo is well shot of it. He uses the trope with basically barely any care for it, and it feels amateurish and slipshod (looking at you Fullbringer Arc). Then you have the relationship between Kubo and SJ, not much is known about it since few people are willing to talk about such things in the manga industry, but you can tell from a few quotes from Kubo that it was at the very least an adversarial partnership. You can see Bleach's promotional material within the magazine and website steadily decline into barely anything over the years and eventually it gets hurriedly cancelled, even though its sales numbers were still plenty stronger than other works at the time. Who was at fault for Bleach's end being so shitty? Probably a 50/50 blame on Kubo and Shounen Jump. Sure being a mangaka is tough, and doing things everyone else has done can be trying, but plenty of other mangaka deal with it without being angry at their editors or falling into a slump (Oda's still going strong). On the other hand Kubo was a relative rookie only having had a year of being serialized before getting into Bleach which would go on for 15 years. It's a shame what happened to one of my favorite manga, still prefer it to Naruto though, boy did that shit go off the rails.
Wow you didn’t understand bleach at all Jesus these are some of the worst takes I’ve ever seen. “Ended up on the couch watching TV” this might be the dumbest one yet sitting down and doing normal stuff means he lost his powers? “Ulquiorra rumored to come back” by who? “These two are more canon” you mean the Child and the literal demon who kidnapped her tormented her and killed her friends that is more canon?
I disagree with your reason for wanting Ulquiorra to come back, but I do think it could be interesting to see him return, mainly because his existence was revealed in the novels to be a very unusual case: Unlike most hollows, who are originally human, Ulquiorra was born a hollow (he came into existence in the time before the current cycle of souls).
They are not perfect together First of all, the whole concept of Ulquiorra being interested in heart or human bonds wasn't even there until he began his final battle with Ichigo. During the whole Hueco Mundo and Arrancar Arrival arcs, he was just a cold hearted sadistic bastard, every sentence he said to Inoue verbally abused her, threatened her and used cheap manipulation to make sure that she remains loyal to Aizen. In the end, before his death when he realized that all of that has failed so miserably, he had his "character development". He was dying anyway but you need to show people that his character development, therefore those emotional punchlines. In the Fake Kurakara Town Arc, He kept taunting Inoune until he heard the word heart. In fact, her words about heart was answer to one of his taunts. Only then his curiosity rose. But he didn't change. He kept torturing her mentally and continued nasty psychological war. He only changed when Ichigo refused to kill him. Yes, he was moved by Inoune's new resolve of hope which she got from Ichigo during his fight with Grimmjow. And when he fought Ichigo, in the end when Ichigo refused to kill him, that worked as a big catalyst for his character development. And these happened in a short period of time (in a single fight to be precise), it finished hastily and felt so sudden. It's not like his character gradually developed the whole time he interacted with Inoue. Both Ichigo and Inoue contributed to his character development. Many people downplay Ichigo here which does give Inoue the major role in the character development of Ulquiorra. In the end of the day, it's just another "good" character in anime turning a "bad" character "good" through their work, conduct and thoughts. Another big reason people ships them together is cause Inoue is a girl, if it was a guy in the same role hardly anyone will ship them because most people are not comfortable with homosexual shippings :3 Secondly, I don't believe that Ulquiorra developed a romantic feelings towards Inoue. I mean I heard that there is this official chart that shows different characters relations and Ulquiorra had a pink heart towards Orihime that says "curiosity". In the chart, Rukia shared the same feelings towards Kaien. I don't see this as completely romantic. Now both of these relationship aren't romantic but they are so beautiful! Shipping them actually destroys their beautiful relationship. I believe what Ulquiorra felt towards Inoue is pure thankfullness. If you are having a bad time and someone shows you sympathy or gives condolences, the gratefulness you would feel to that person is what Ulquiorra felt. Saying it romantic is exaggeration. Now, for the sake of argument, let's think that Ulquiorra developed romantic feelings towards Inoue, there wasn't anything from her end. All she got was harsh treatment from him. In the end, she felt bad for him, it was just pity, considering the fact that she is your typical amime princess character, you can expect this much from her (she even healed those Lolly and Melony who bullied her, lol). So shipping them is actually forcing her into it which in my opinion is a disgusting thing to do. Her love towards Ichigo is as pure as her kindness towards others. Last but not least and most importantly, Ulquiorra changed in the end. I felt bad for him and everyone did. But at the same time he can't be forgiven for the horrible things he has done especially to Inoune. He is a grey character. He did nothing to repent for his past. Shipping a character with someone who has mentally tortured the former just because the later has changed in future is extremely disrespectful to the former character. In my opinion that's a sadistic fantasy (I mean no disrespect). Just because it's a fictional character doesn't mean you can execute your weirdest thoughts by twisting their bonds and characteristics. Shipping Inoue with him is disrespecting her and her love towards Ichigo which she developed over the year. Personally to me, torturing someone mentally is no less of a crime than murdering or raping someone. No matter what childhood trauma or sad past made them do the crime, I may show sympathy to them but can't never forget them. Here it's the same case.
When I saw this scene, I suddenly remember Luffy vs Katakuri. They respect each other, talk about fairness. Katakuri stabs himself because Flampe interfering. Ichigo asks Ulquiorra to cut him the same way he did when he lose control.
