User blog comment:Njalm2/Nanja's Point of View: Shinigami Edition/@comment-1493741-20150503073419/@comment-1493741-20150503215620

Well... This is gonna be a long response. I want to preface it by saying that, none of what you've said is fact Njalm, and that makes it bad as a guide. Its valid as an opinion, but its no more valid than how I see it.

That said, here we go:

Its not about a pedestal, its about a foundation. The canon is fact in this case. We're dealing with Shinigami here, the most central figures of the series, and so canon serves as the foundation, from there you can branch off and do what you want. But to me, it needs to have implication and reasonable grounding in the series itself for it to be believable. Otherwise its just pulling crap out your arse to justify things that don't happen. When it comes to purely fanon material, sure, go nuts. Call it limited all you want, its how I work and it works just fine, dude.

No, their perspective will still be Human after several hundred years. The likelihood of becoming jaded and cynical as you age is common enough, some might become removed and despondent. This doesn't make them something else, just old. To have an increased lifespan doesn't immediately alter ones perspective, and even when it does, the difference isn't something that would make them alien to us. As I said, its far more like a cultural divide. Whatever differences they gain are not irreconcilable, knowing about the spiritual world and the things in it aren't a Lovecraftian feat that only Souls can achieve.

Yamamoto is thousands of years old, and yet he never amounts to anything more than a prideful old man. What makes him so incredibly not-human? Nothing. There is no indicator of him doing anything that your normal Human wouldn't. He's prideful, arrogant, and militant. All very deep rooted traits among us Humans.

Yasutora Sado, a Human, has categorically survived every encounter he's ever been in, in spite of the fact that in almost 100% of his fights, he suffers injuries that would kill any Human. One's ability to suffer through damage is not an indicator of anything in this franchise as what constitutes any sort of weakness flip flops at will. But Shinigami need to breath, cold temperature affects them, and they can even be taken down by reaching the lethal dosage of poison (Otherwise Sui-Feng wouldn't waste time making herself immune to poisons) and blood. Shinigami are dead people, Humans. They have simply gained superpowers after going to the after life. When 90% of your people are made up of dead Humans with a select number being explicitly born as Souls from the get go, then, yes, you definitely are Humans (just dead ones) with abilities granted by learning how to channel spiritual energy (Which exists in Humans as much as everything else) and talking to a sword.

Superhuman, is literally a Human with abilities beyond that of the average Human. To call Shinigami Superhuman is to call them Human. As already stated, endurance and so on doesn't really work as a point, we're dealing with ghosts (dead Humans) in the first place. Their abilities are all trained, Ichigo a Human with Shinigami powers can manipulate his own Reiryoku, as can all of the Fullbringers (Humans with some Hollow taint in the genes) and the Quincy (Humans with a very creepy dad) which can be used to teach things like Kidou and Shunpo. A Zanpakutou is an external ability, there's nothing to say you can't give one to a Human and they wouldn't develop the same relationship. Therefore the abilities of Shinigami aren't Superhuman, they are learned skills.

On Saiyans, they have different genetic traits, a tail being the most obvious and they turn into giant fucking monkeys under the light of the moon. Yes they look almost identical to us, they are essentially a supercharged reality of Human evolution. But they are aliens. Shinigami are, for the umpteenth time, dead Humans. Superman has one key difference, he acts like a Human, was raised by Humans, and is treated as if he were a prime specimen of Humanity. But he has a traceable line all the way back to being an Alien from the planet Krypton. Shinigami don't have this, they are literally people who died and went to Heaven. Bleach is about the cycle of Reincarnation, as Chico points out pretty much all of the races are Human at differing points of the cycle. But even Superman has genetic differences from Humans, in the presence of a yellow Sun he essentially becomes the ultimate duracell battery and he possesses a weakness to green crystals from his homeworld.

What genetically separates a Human from a Shinigami? Is it the fact that they're ghosts? No, because as shown with Ichigo he has a soul form that can be detached from his body. Is it the Chain of Fate? No, Shinigami retain this albeit with a different name and it remains central to maintaining their powers as the Chain remains central to keeping the soul of a Human linked to their body.

Even though Hollows can be considered Humans the same way, they at least possess differences that make them very obviously inhuman. They have a hole where their heart was removed and all Hollows don a white mask, that can be considered their actual face, without exception. They have wildly different physical structures, not only from Humans but between themselves and their skin pigmentation is far more fluid than our own (And is likely not decided by the same things Human pigmentation is). This is all things that make it impossible for a Hollow to be Human in any normal sense. On a mental level they are more akin to wild animals. And, no, Komamura doesn't count as an example of this, his affliction is expressly stated to be a curse.

On older Shinigami, I went into Yamamoto already, he's a militant old man. A veteran. Kyouraku? A lecher with a somewhat philosophical bent to him and a willingness to discard morality for results. This isn't inhuman, its not even close. Ukitake? A friendly upbeat individual with the unfortunate luck of being on death's bed 24/7. He sacrifices himself to save God with another God that saved his life. This isn't inhuman either, the circumstances are definitely supernatural, yes, but Ukitake himself is very Human in this regard. Many people try to be lively in the face of incurable diseases that will inevitably kill them, I've watched more than my fair share of friends and family go through this kinda shit to know that. Sajin "Justice & Friendship!" Komamura... is probably the most Human guy on the cast list. Unohana comes closest, I'd say but she still exists within the definitions of Humanity. She has a tremendous lust for battle, and was the greatest swordsman ever until Kenpachi Boner, and yet now she's a healer. Humans have an incredible tendency to be paradoxical, hypocritical and conflicting.

There's no underlying foundation that separates a Shinigami from a Human mentally or genetically. They are the same species, one just happens to be a dead member of that species doing a job that requires longevity and super powers until they die and pass onto the next phase of the cycle (Which is, guess what? Human again).

But this is your interpretation, and that's fine Njalm. But the problem is that you're calling this a guide... When its not. It wildly deviates from the canon in favour of speculation and conjecture which is not what a guide should be doing. It should highlight what we know and what would be good form and may make implications as we go. Its not something new users, or old ones, should take as a primary source for making and characterizing their own Shinigami. They should become familiar with a canon and then make their own interpretation, or follow someone elses, like your own, or mine, or Saris' or Sei's.

On the marriage deal, I did point out that Isshin's case was unique. But eccentric as he may be, he's not anymore eccentric than Orihime or Keigo Asano. He clearly knows Ryuuken beyond those few scant meetings he had while they were saving Misaki, so he clearly doesn't spell all of his time at home. In fact, he's often out of the house himself on the rare times we see Ichigo at home living his daily life. He's a doctor running a clinic, its definitely likely that he makes house calls. That's a lot of grounds for interaction with people.

Regardless, my point was to highlight dedication. Byakuya and Isshin both have never sought out new partners, they clearly married for love. Kaien died avenging his wife. Clan politics has absolutely nothing to do with these situations, Isshin abandoned his post as a Captain and clan head all for the sake of a single Human girl. Not once did we see any inkling of him caring about how this mattered to the clan, neither did Kaien. His wife had been killed and he sought revenge for her, dying in the process. The Shiba clan did not even cross his mind. Byakuya did the same thing and the only political connotations of his relationship revolved around bringing Hisana's little sister into the household.

Yes, people form more than one relationships over their lifetime, I didn't dispute that, I even agreed that a Shinigami would likely have a longer one just that it isn't likely to be so varied. People have a tendency to stick to one thing, they'll take a point to experiment, sure, but the long run is very often that one thing over and over. A woman who keeps dating violent men, isn't likely to stop even if she decries being beaten up constantly. Because something about her upbringing has codified her to accept that as something she seems to want in a relationship. Just the same people stick to one kind of sexual appetite. A man may want to be with other men, women, cats, sheep, and so on. That is unlikely to change (Especially if sexual orientation is decided at birth) because its a hard wired thing. Shunsui clearly prefers young women exclusively.

To me, it all remains a difference in culture and class, it has grounding in the series itself and I don't need to twist anything about to make it viable. Because all the implications are there within the series itself. And Chico even has the perfect quotes for it.

Abyss. Things change. Yes, marriage may have started out that way, but its predominantly been done out of love for a long damn time now. It doesn't always pan out, its often done out of rashness, but the idea remains the same.

The same thing applies to surnames. They began as a means of denoting someone's craft. Smith was a smith, Baker made baked goods, Carpenter, Thatcher and so on. They became a means of denoting someone's house/clan and allegiance and have wildly spurred on from there. They're still used to assign affiliation to a household just as marriage is still negotiated between parties today, but it is not their only purpose anymore.