User blog comment:Njalm2/Nanja's Point of View: Shinigami Edition/@comment-1493741-20150503073419/@comment-2089817-20150504011620

Well, since I'm me and I can't let a good debate go unanswered, I'mma state my opinion as well. And since Z is against the guide by using canon content, then I shall defend the guide using canon as well.

Firstly, I want to go back to the whole Shinigami = Human thing, which personally, I think is a load of hoopla. Shinigami definitely serves a dual existence as a profession and a race of its own, and there is canon evidence to prove such a claim. One of the easiest ways to prove that it is a profession is that Komamura is a youkai. I don't care what arguments any of you can present, but as the canon has suggested, he is a full yokai; not a hybrid, because no canon evidence supports that. This werewolf thing cursed his family to become these beasts, but well, a lot of youkai stories claim that particular types of youkai were born from human spirits being cursed or whatever. I'm not an expert in Japanese lore but I know that much for sure. His only clan members was the giant dog of a grandfather. And from that information, the fact that he is of that species remains clear. Yet, he is a Shinigami as well, and wields a Zanpakutou. This proves that the "Shinigami" is a profession.

However! The Shinigami are also a race in and of itself. And why is this? Well, ask yourself what a race actually is. And a race can be defined in many ways, so let's go through them all.
 * "A group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group." - Shinigami have their own culture and history, obviously. They speak Japanese, and speak like other humans do, but that is simply a form of communication which depends upon intelligence. They have encountered humans during their work so the language they picked up is only natural. And well, I don't think this argument goes any further, since humans themselves have distinctive cultures all throughout the world.


 * "a population within a species that is distinct in some way, especially a subspecies." - For those of you that desperately need to think Humans and Shinigami are in some ways similar, then this is the definition for you. But it still supports the idea that Shinigami are their own race. I heard the "genetic" argument earlier. And as much as I like to get zen about it (we're all the same, bruh), biology doesn't really help your case. Lungs? All mammals have 'em. Heart? Pretty much every living being of animalae has a heart. A mouth? Hair? Bones? Skin? Cells? C'mon guys, don't be ridiculous. So now humans are the same race as fish? Or foxes? Or mice? Or dolphins? You can not say Humans and Shinigami are the same because they look the same. That is a superficial argument at best. Shinigami bodies decay at far slower rates, way slower, they respond to different stimuli, they do not suffer the same weaknesses as a human body. Let me remind you, when Ichigo used Bankai for the first time, the sheer size of its power was making his bones weaker and fragile which slowed him down. You could argue that it was because it was compressed, but it doesn't matter. The reiatsu in Bankai is huge no matter what form it takes. And then you have Renji. Renji and Ichigo, at this point in the story, were about even in terms of power and strength. But did Renji also suffer that problem? He still needed to learn how to use his Bankai properly, but he did not slow down nor suffer any similar weaknesses. That ALONE should show that human bodies (even in reishi form) and Shinigami bodies are vastly different, even between two individuals of equal skill and strength; like Ichigo and Renji.

Something else to add. Animals, especially in research and observation nowadays, typically show certain behavior traits among themselves and their packs and whatnot that we would never have expected to share with them. Yet even though they share some traits, we don't consider them human too, because we know they are not. Calling the Shinigami "human" just because they look human and appear to have similar human-like traits, is the exact same as somebody calling the Saiyans in Dragon Ball "human" because they look the same as humans, sans the tail, and are capable of reproducing with humans. It's silly.

Now, take Nanja's blog for what you will. And choose to believe what you want to believe, because that is your right and you are no more in the dark about Bleach than I am. We're not Kubo and my guess is just as good as your guess, and vice-versa. However, there is more than enough canon evidence to prove Nanja's guide accurate, just as you believe there is enough to debunk it. The purpose of this blog is to have you guys question the wall of canon before you and to peek over that wall to see what can lie beyond it. Dismissing this blog would be a grave mistake because it is out-of-the-box thinking like this guide that helps us to evolve and advance as writers of the site. And as such, while you should always take things with a grain of salt, trying to find any excuse to dismiss it or debunk it just closes you guys off to the glorious possibilities that exist.