User blog comment:Njalm2/Nanja's Point of View: Shinigami Edition/@comment-1493741-20150503073419/@comment-18812574-20150503143315

I'm going to have to agree with Z on this one N, (besides from the promiscuity part, which you did not say. Heh.)

I mean, yes, the really old Captains like Unohana, Yamamoto, and heck even Kenpachi, they are a lot different than regular humans or younger Shinigami, and in my book all of the older ones are pretty screwed up. I don't believe they've "transcended" anything necessarily, but after you've lived for that long, it seems like you start to just not care about morality or ideals. You have a much bigger scope on things, and therefore can't be concerned with what is right or wrong, or even petty trifles such as love. I think this is a matter of their age effecting their perspective, more than anything, like you said. But in my opinion it is rather a more negative than positive thing. They aren't just death gods at that point but demons, having seen so much war, death, etc. that nothing really surprises them, they just cast their haughty gaze on it all and basically say "meh" before proceeding to destroy the nuisances standing in the way of their goals. So I guess what I'm saying is that they can't be troubled to care.

And of course there's a huge distinction between younger shinigami (I'd push "younger" all the way to 200 or 300 years old, tbh) and the ones who are centuries if not milleniums old.

But like Z said, I think they're still "human." How much power you have or where you live doesn't change what you are. With the cycle of souls it can be argued that everyone-– Hollows, Shinigami, Pluses, are Human, just at different stages in the cycle. In that same vein it can be argued that many Humans are also (were) Hollow, or Shinigami and so forth. I mean, it's obvious that there is SOMETHING that differentiates the Shinigami from your average Soul, but so far all we've seen is that it's an inherent level of Reiatsu that has the potential for evolution. And I think that's where we get the "classist" thing Z was talking about. To borrow from Orwell, "All are equal, but some are more equal than others." Meaning, "Shinigami? Oh sure we're Souls. But we're not like THOSE Souls." Borrowing from Aristotle, "some men are born to lead and rule while others are born to serve." In a Shinigami's case this would be: "some are born to be Shinigami while others are born to be the dust under their feet." It's an unmaleable fate, but doesn't change whether they are human or not.

And I'm going to steer clear of that marraige debate, aside from pointing out that Ishiin (yes, was eccentric) but gave up his powers for Masaki BEFORE marrying her, meaning he loved her. A lot. Even before he really knew her, he loved her. Then like the examples Z gave, Kaien and his wife seemed to be considered "normal," like, they were both Shinigami and both officers and married but no one seemed to consider this a problem, Byakuya obviously loved Hisane and was devoted to her, even though she was from the slums... yeah okay, we've covered all this. As far as "older" Shinigami go, well, let's not forget Tousen. The love he had for that one woman drove his entire existence and was the impetus for everything he did later on. That's pretty major, and he's a lot older (?) than the other examples given. Then you have aspects such as friendship and the like to consider. I'm thinking of the Visored here. Sure, they may have gotten a lot closer due to them being outcasts and having no one else out there for them, but Shinji went to extreme lengths for Hiyori even before then, beyond what I would have thought normal for a Captain and Lieutenant relationship. But, eh, perhaps not. *shrugs* I don't entirely disagree with you on the points you made on love, obviously since Shinigami have so many years under their belt they would be more likely to have more relationships, but at the same time that doesn't seem to be a focus for them, as their duties in the Gotei 13 take precedent 9 times out of 10. (Well, there's Hisagi and his crush on Rangiku but...) Oh yeah. What about Gin and Rangiku? It wasn't exactly clear, but seemed like Gin was sort of like Tousen in the fact that his motivations were driven by the need to avenge/protect (?) the one he loved. That's pretty powerful as far as examples go, if you ask me. At the same time, it's probably because Kubo is homophobic, but nevertheless, it seems like loving someone "for eternity" is just about as common as having many loves throughout the existence of a Shinigami.