Defending BLEACH's Most Criticised Moment 

We just reached 4000 likes, you absolute mad lads. Comment below any characters in particular you'd like to see covered~

When the world needed him most, he vanished.

“He wasn’t fully dead inside yet, which means he could still feel emotional pain” Same.

"When Kubo wants to emphasize a drawing, he 'bleaches' all unnecessary details." this was a great line and a great video ;;;;

Just a quick correction, apparently Ulquiorra's aspect of death being "nihilism" is actually a mistranslation. Instead, it's "emptiness", which in hindsight makes a lot more sense. I don't think it retracted *too* much from the video, but I did gloss over the specifics of nihilism to not go on a tangent, mainly defining it as "the rejection of intrinsic values in people and objects as the world has no objective meaning" as a means to parallel Ulquiorra's rejection of "attachment". But, I'm aware the philosophy of nihilism has *a lot* more depth to it, and doesn't fit his character as well as "empty" or "void". Hopefully that didn't bother anyone too much!

All of a sudden I appreciate Ulquiorra more...

Lol come on now we all know there's a lot of demand for Bleach videos

Hey dude, I don’t know if you check this channel nowadays. Maybe you’re stuck in the perpetual mental spiral of becoming overtly critical of every creative work you set your mind to. Perhaps it’s the unwarranted pressure you levy on yourself from the substantial growth your channel experienced from a relatively small amount of videos, changing its nature from a humble personal project to a platform reaching hundreds of thousands of people. Maybe it’s some other personal reason that is entirely your own to have, know, and keep private and to yourself. Whatever the case, know that you made some damn good videos, with a thought provoking perspective and an editing style wholeheartedly original. If the day comes you feel up to creating a new video, I for one would love to watch it. But do what feels natural to you, man. Thanks for all the great videos.

In art school I was “The Bleach Guy” And I always talked about how much I loved the art style of the series, and everyone would say “bleehhh, there’s no backgrounds, MUST BE EASY TO DRAWWW BLEEEHHH”. And it kinda ticked me off because as much as background are important... the characters are what is MOST important, and Kubo does a fantastic job at expressing his characters imo.

Ulquiorra always fascinated me. He's edgy, yes, but it's his own *unique* style of edgy. The was Kubo portrayed him, never hit me as Kubo trying to stuff as much edge as he can to an empty shell of a character, but instead to personify, the most perfect embodiment of *emptiness*. And he did it. The only character I can think of, when trying to imagine someone similar to Ulquiorra, is Ainz Ooal Gown from Overlord. But where, Ainz still has his human memories, but no humanity, Ulquiorra of course, has no human memories. Bleach will always hold a special place in my heart. I can't really blame Kubo. I blame burnout. He tried to give his characters that proper sendout, but it only resulted in, unfinished character arcs, confusing plot holes and even more loose ends left untied. Still, I'm glad Kubo wrote Bleach. It made a lot of kids, teens and some adults happy, including me. And in my opinion, that's one of the grates accomplishments, an author can achieve.

Ulquorra is a perfect depiction of what a hollow is supposed to be

My doctor did say "Without being vulnerable, or even experiencing emotional suffering you can never reach happiness. You will always be stagnant and most likely will stay that way. Humans dislike change when they are already doing 'fine' even if it is an unhappy way to live." to me once. Mostly related with my own issues from child abuse but yeah. Interesting stuff and now I appreciate Ulquiorra so much, I used to already but now I understand WHY.

Ulquiorra was the most impactful character of the series for me. His storyline hit so hard for me because it's such an accurate reflection of how it feels to be depressed and afraid of connection. I was so heartbroken Kubo chose the "Redemption in Death" trope instead of allowing Ulquiorra to experience what it means to be "human" and learning how to grow into having a heart. I definitely would've stuck with the series if Ulquiorra had stayed.

I legitimately believe Bleach has underrated depth compared to the other 2 members of the big 3. By no means was it flawless, and dear lord did Kubo drag things out a lot, but I've always loved the setting and characters more than Naruto's or One Piece's. Everything about how the Zanpaktou and how they work and evolve alongside their user is super cool and interesting, and when Kubo was on a roll it was some of the best stuff I've been from Shonen. I really feel Bleach could use a DBZ Kai treatment. Cut out all the fat and what's left is pretty solid most of the time. Shame the final arc never got animated or finished in the manga though, but that's what the books are for I guess.

It's been three years. Even Bleach and Berserk have made a comeback. I fear Soul will never return.

Bleach NEEDS more analysis videos. There's way too many videos just claiming that "Bleach got bad after Soul Society"

this is the first real character analysis of ulquiorra i'd seen. Congratulations!

i think Ulquiorra was the most tragic character in bleach in the entire anime each character had a motive no matter what their morals was bad or good it's their feelings that defined their persona thus their ambitions for aizen was envy for power for uryu was his pride as quincy but Ulquiorra had nothing he was like blank page he never had the chance to experience different emotions he had nothing and no one to protect his existence was basically meaningless and when he meet ichigo and orihime he couldn't fathom their motives for ichigo and his friends was friendship and love but for Ulquiorra it was just nothingness at that moment a reaction started to occur inside him and begin to change but unfortunately the clash between him and ichigo lead to his death but at his final moments you can see in his eyes that he was showing feeling feeling of regret.

I love this video so much. Finally someone who understands. Ulquiorra has been my favorite arrancar for many years.

"True inner strength does not come from a lack of fear. No, true inner strength comes from being afraid, acknowledging you're afraid...and pushing past that fear to do what you need to do regardless." - Some Wise Old Bastard, probably.

"Don't be afraid to be afraid" so true, so true.

I finally find an anime youtube channel that isn't shit and it turns out the guy just made 8 great videos and left (or died)

This is unfortunate. Seeing such an amazing character just disappear is quite saddening.. I hope you made it through Covid, and that you're still alive at the very least.

He retweeted the trailer for season 4 part 3 (part 2) of Attack on Titan last month. So no he's not dead but is probably busy with other things. Just letting people wondering know after looking it up.

When the world needs more Soul. He disappears.

Dude, don't worry too much about sounding pretentious. You can enjoy and learn a lot from very dumb things, or at least the thoughts they lead you to. Regardless of the original intention of the artist, your way of seeing it is what's interesting.

You should do video about Gin Ichimaru, think that would be pretty interesting, keep up the good work.

Kentaro Miura has passed away. Will we see an essay about the unfinished state of Berserk?

I always liked Ulquiorra, but I never fully understood him. Thanks for the great explanation.

We need more bleach content. The story is better than ppl ever give it credit

So what you're telling me is, Kubo isn't just 200 IQ he's 400 IQ. *nice*

I love how you analysed the depth in Bleach, in terms of Ulquiorra's character. I don't think you're a pretentious pseud at all, I think you're awesome for making this video! I love Bleach so please make more. I subscribed for the sake of that.

Kubology?? LOL sign me up

I read Soul Eater some time ago and they had a COMPLETELY BLACK two page spread. They even put an editor's note in the corner explaining that it was intentional, and not a printing error. So Kubo's not the only who's done this kind of thing.

This was a great video. Seriously, you do not get enough credit. Ulquiorra was my favourite Arrancar and his final moments is heart Breaking.

"If we reach 4k likes.." Unlucky. Rip my binge of Soul vids. Loved the Bebop and Bleach ones especially. Hope the channel aint dead c:

This video was incredible, it is an incredible study about a strong choice a mangaka made, putting such a strong word, in that context, on a blank page means everything it should without any superficialities. A lot of contemporary art focuses on this, and it is important to also see this part of life, on not decorated bit bare for us all to see

I always saw Ulquiorra as a weird reflection of the Buddhist detachment from the material too. Its why I think he has 2 resurrections, one to break free of his humanity/hollow form, the second to break free of the cycle of hollow and human that the Shinigami curate, because all those things are still tied to existence and he was free of that bond. To defend it some, I see worth in Ulquiorra's perspective too. He gained a lot of power through his detachment, too, even if it was to no true end. There's value in learning when and how to detach. When to separate yourself from your emotions to get something done or enduring something arduous. But like anything, you can have too much of a good thing, or nothing in this case. You may have to learn to be empty to a purpose (detachment), or your purposes can be made empty by your own hands - which was sortof Ichigo's moral during that fight and later allowed him to have a power like his last Getsuga too. It was a good one because *nobody* really won anything. All their principles collapsed and the remaining just had to build something.

Bro is still gone

I asked out a girl I had a crush on a few days ago. She was quitting the same job we both worked, I had a crush on her for awhile. When I found out she was quitting I knew time was running out. I hardly got to work with her as well so I had to make my choices there and now. I told myself that maybe its just better to just let these feeling pass, but I couldn't deny how I felt about her, I couldn't avoid them...I was afraid to approach. I was afraid to feel the pain of rejection, but I was even more afraid to feel the feeling of what could have been...I would have been more upset with everything if I said nothing. So one day I got up out of my chair while on break went to see her and it was like the universe knew what I was doing because she came out of the first door that I walked up to. I felt the world sway left to right. Fear and courage, now or never. I remembered the anger I would have towards myself if I didn't say anything. I asked her out. She became nervous and started to blushed and didn't give me a straight answer at first, but she did confirm after the emotions that she wanted to go on a date with me. When she got nervous I immediately calmed down because 1 I felt great after facing my fear and 2 she felt the same way that I did. She was nervous too...I laughed at myself. I was so nervous when she also felt the same. I didn't feel alone in how I felt.

Finally RU-vid recommendations work, this is an awasome video

Dude the way that you blend anime and psychological, philosophical, and religious themes is fucking amazing! I think about this shit a lot when I read manga/watch anime and I am thrilled to have found someone who appreciates and analyzes this shit especially on the level that you do c:

I'm so glad people with real appreciation for Bleach are still around.

Soul forgot his password

HEY WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS WONDERFUL CHANNEL I WAS SO EXCITED AS A PHILOSOPHY ENTHUSIAST AND GOD DAMN WEEB I FOUND THE PERFECT CHANNEL AND THIS LAD ONLY HAS 8 VIDEOS AND YEETED OFF TO YUGOSLAVIA NEARLY 2 YEARS AGO WHERE IS MY LAD

He was one one of the coolest characters. Underlying his stoicism was something of an irritation to Ichigo's inability to see the futility in second battle (rather that is when he sheds the cool exterior) and despair to his own inability . In the conclusion. I'd argue he was more fatalistic because he never rejects the supremacy of strength and power, never questioning the absolute authority of power. There is a vague parallel not only to Zarasthrustra, but Nietzche as well, although Nietzche's philosophy was pushing ahead regardless and making one's own happiness despite suffering (much like Ichigo who eeps getting back up regardless of suffering,which Zarasthrustra does in his solitude). The parallel is one of lonliness, although both Zarasthrustra in Nietzche's masterpiece both have a profound understanding of the human heart. Nietzche of course having had to cope not only with the agony of a brain tumor, but relationships that broke apart and long periods of loneliness , the loneliness I find is the only connection and the isolation. Other than that, Ulquiorra is the antithesis of Zarasthrustra, Nietzche (who persevered a whole lot, and as tries to find happiness and a since of pride in dignity despite the suffering in experiencing it with no fear) . Ulquiorra is rather what much of Nietzche's works criticize ; seeing joy in rejecting what was the reigning belief and moral compass at that time, and promoting the individual to create thier own morality and triumph over the herd even if one can't connect by sheer perseverance. The Gay Science goes into this. Ichigo seems more like Zarasthrustra who never quite gives up despite despair. As u pointed out, he is indeed parallel to Ichigo in both knowing suffering, but opposite in his response which is submission to what he sees as inevitable,; the definition of fatalism . Nihilism is more or less deconstruction of what one believes knows and values, which of course has to be followed by a reconstruction.

Reminder we love your content mate, cheers and take it easy.

This a golden video, the analysis is very interesting and well constructed. Thank you for bringing this awesome type of content into the Bleach community !

"if we somehow reach 4000 likes, I'll make more Bleach videos like this" he says......2 years ago

if we reach 4000 view,i will make more bleach videos 7 mounts later,noting,hope your doing well

I didn't understand Ulquiorra the first time I read Bleach. I thought his final moments were kind of vague, but not terrible or cheap or lazy. But over the years, as I got better at analysis, I arrived to a similar conclusion as seen in your video. I figured I couldn't be the only one who saw his character this way. Great vid.

2 years and we’re still waiting for your return

I was an Ulquiorra myself (he's my top 3 character in fiction) ever since I could remember. My philosophy when it came to other people was "connecting is not worth it when there's a chance you'll get hurt", so my life revolved around either sleeping or playing games/RU-vid. A few months ago I met somebody who ended up being the first and only person to make my heart beat so hard that it feels like it'll explode out of my chest, make me smile like an idiot every time I think about them and who I'm genuinely interested in. Simply being around and interacting with them brings me a kind of happiness I couldn't begin to describe even if I wanted to, even if there are moments where their actions make me feel hurt too, and all this is coming from a person that has identified with Ulquiorra long before knowing what Bleach is. A heart can only exist in the hands of 2 different people. If you're alone then you don't have a heart

damn, just found this channel and his last upload was 2 years ago.

This was really eye opening. I struggle to really understand Ulquiorra's character because being _that_ dead inside is hard for me to relate to. This really helped me grasp his character a lot better, so thank you for that. Also 10/10 for the humour sprinkled in.

Brillant video man, Ulquiorra has been my favourite character in anime since I saw him for the first time and knowing that I'm not the only one to understand him really makes me happy. 10/10 video.

I come back to this video every so often, kind of sad to see that it's the last thing you did on this channel.

Ulquiorra - "Not Funny, I have depression that has come from deep-seated issues since birth that I am attempting to cover up by talking about emptiness Didn't Laugh" The man was dead at all moments expect his death.

I still miss Ulquiorra till this very day...

Where are you man... I need your soul-crushing wit

mom why did dad leave?

Why is he not back? Is he ok? I come back every 5 months or so to his channel and see no new updates. Im sad

Objectively, as I’ve never read the manga, that page was needed (as you said) to portray Ulquiorra’s message. Bleach my favorite shounen and one of my favorite animes of all time because of its use of simplicity to imply drama. Great video!

kubo was quite good at using minimalism. it definitely had meaning

I see kubo as one of the absolute ARTISTS in manga. He just has so much control over the gestalt that people whom usualy don't comprehend the empty space as space gets confused. I hope you get to that some day

Ulquiorra and Stark were my favorite Bleach characters as I grew through teenage life as a very disconnected, very angsty teen dude. I could only ever pin down the bare basics of why that was the case, later on in life, so I'm glad someone like you made this video. It gets across the depth that Kubo was capable of. I hope he comes back to the world of manga to do something that won't become a burden to him, unlike Bleach became. If Kishi can turn things around with Samurai 8, I'd be ecstatic to see what Kubo can do with all the experience he gained with the success and failure of Bleach. Oda can't just stay king forever, can he? Also please do an entire video about Orihime. That is all.

Yo dude no way you're Soul Madness!! that's crazy, fk i have mad respect for you

2 things 1) I like your profile pic/character you have 2) You are amazing with these videos that go deeper in a character. By any chance are you going to do video game characters with this?

i never understood really understood ulquiorra until this video

Ulquiorra was easily one of the best written characters in the series. It was sad when he died, he had so much potential. Hopefully we will get to see him more in the new Hell arc manga chapters if that ever gets finished. Great video. Loved it. Good to see some Bleach stuff again.

I don't think I've clicked and liked a video so quickly before. The fact it happened to be on the topic of Bleach was just icing on top of a freaking awesome cake. Ulquiorra definitely grew on me, as he is one of the more complex characters created for the story. I absolutely loved the way you broke down something so seemingly bland and dismissive on the surface (The bleached page) and really dug into its roots. You connected your thoughts on it to Ulquiorra quite well, and in the end not only did you make him more understandable and sympathetic as a being born alone and afraid, you made him more humane. You did his character justice, I believe, and it's just such a shame he couldn't get a second chance at life before meeting his end. I do hope you continue creating Bleach videos, as it looks like you have a few strong opinions on the series. I definitely want to hear them (As I'm sure other Bleach fans would love to hear as well). There is truly a lot to unpack here.

That was an unbelievably well put together video, great stuff man I loved every second of it

I always related to Ulquiorra and i never knew why but now i feel more appreciative of him and like him even more now

Ulquiorra has always been the best Arrancar cept for maybe Grimmjow and Stark

Thank you for this analysis, I really liked how you described Ulquiorra's arc. The cuts with the subtitles were funny too, just too quick so I had to rewind the video to read it xD Especially when hollow Ichigo fires a cero at Ulquiorra's face, I feel the same way quite often too. I know worry and anxiety are not like that, but I think there was no need for them regarding this video, it was very detailed and probably my favourite so far on this topic because of the editing and the connections made with Buddhist art, and also the line "Don't be afraid of being afraid".

This video was sooo good! Ulquiorra is like my favorite anime character ever and I haven’t seen a character analysis/ analysis on a concept on a piece of the story done like you did. Thanks for helping me get a better idea of what Ulquiorra was about and what the meaning behind his final moments were about

Thanks for remembering again that he is dead. No I'm back to depression

Im here to pay respects to this channel

Thank you so much for this video. [CW self-harm, depression] I have a lot of psychological problems and they are closely related to thoses talked in your video, I had to cope with my feelings by harming myself and relied on depersonalisation to simple stay alive without giving it all up. I just recently confronted some of my emotions and I am still having problem with them but video like yours that uses CW and does not force people to get in the norm but rather encourages them to essentialy get better is really awesome. Really, thank you.

Turned on the bell notifications just in case my guy ever returns.

When’s the next vid been waiting for a year must be a banger

Thank you for all the hard work you put into this video. Ulquiorra got me into reading Bleach (admittedly out of order), and I'd never seen another character like him and what he stood for. A decade later and I still adore him. I'm happy someone cares and puts as much analysis into him as I once did.

I always loved Ulquiorra and the connection between him and everyone else. My academic background has been in Comparative Religious Studies which has a lot of overlap with aspects of Philosophy and I REALLY enjoyed your analysis of Ulquiorra as an entire character. I've loved the manga and the anime because everything has so much more depth than what you can see at first glance. And I appreciate that!

This was lovely to watch! Thank you for making it - it's clear quite the amount of heart was poured into it. Ulquiorra takes up the biggest part of the cherished memories I have of Bleach. There was always something intriguing (and fundamentally... human..?) about his character that I could never quite put my finger on, and I think you managed to captivate whatever it was perfectly! Really hope to see more Bleach content from you! :-))

Yo wtf come back bru I’ve been watching your vids for months now on repeat

Damm the videos of this guy are really cool I wonder what he makes nowadays Oh

One if not the best presentation on this topic, I love how you do a proper essay type script with all the research and proper quotes.... Great work! Hope to see more of these videos soon

If Someone is Reading this Just to let u know yes, Soul is alive and he is producing a new video..to know more About it Just follow him on twitter

I really like this video! I love to see new aspects of the manga i love! I love to see how people have deep looks on anime and manga they love! Thank you for holding the torch for an outstanding manga!

This is an amazing video. More like this, please! Your passion for Bleach mirrors my own, and your thoughtful style is much needed with todays "seasonal" anime community. Great job!

Hey Soul, love your vids (just binge watched all of them in the past two days!) - you put so much thought and care into them. Hope you're doing well and the days are kind to you!

Thank you for making this video, it's truly a masterpiece.

Who would have thought that this would hit home... Great video by the way.

This is such a great analysis. My appreciation for this character is greater thanks to you. Thank you.

even if you never make video's again i still want you to know that thay are amazeing and that i want you to have an amazeing life

this is the first character analysis i've seen of Ulquiorra! And i can say that this is one of my favorite bleach videos I've seen in a long time!! congrats on the superb job on this!!

I'm not even really a Bleach fan but I enjoyed this video a lot.

Definitely one of the best anime-video-essays channel out there. Its a shame that we dont get that many videos from you.

I cant beleive how brilliantly put together this is. Im going through my own void right now and this struck me hard it hit me with such a realization. My friend you have a mind like no other ty for this video .

I kept giggling every he said that no one would be interested in these videos. I beg to differ, kind sir.