BLEACH "Soul Society & Hueco Mundo : Kubo's Perfect Narrative Inversion"

One of the most common criticism Bleach has received during it's run is that both the Soul Society arc and Hueco Mundo arc are one and the same. This is not one a very surface level observation of the story but a lack of understanding as to why Kubo decided to give these two arc similarities on the surface level.

The underlying theme of both of these arcs is very different from the beginning. The Soul Society arc is mainly about questioning a flawed system and their sense of Justice, gaining powers and changing their view. Where as the Hueco Mundo arc has "understanding one's self" ,the struggle with one's inner demon and coming to realize the consequences of failing to do so while also accepting those demons(The latter comes into the narrative during the Fake Karakura Town arc but since it's connected it thought it should be mentioned).

Human reasoning plays a pivotal part in the conflict associated with the Soul Society arc where as the animal instinct within oneself becoming an important aspect when it comes to the Hueco Mundo arc as the conflict with one's inner demon is based on them(White's speech to Ichigo during the Vizord training)

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To have the characters in these two arcs play along these themes, Kubo differenciates the espadas from the shinigami since their origins by associating them with different animals/insects. Like Grimmjow with Panther, Harribel with Shark, Nnoitora with Mantis, Nel as horse/goat, Ulquiorra with a mixture of Bat and mammel(since his resurrection also has a tail), Stark's ceros being in the forms of wolves and so on. These powers and forms represent the animal instinct of a human.

Where as in the Soul Society arc, the powers of the Shinigami have a certain grace to them and they are very much in line with the human ego rather than the animal insticts represented in the resurrection forms of the espada. Byakuya's bankai is sakura flowers representing beauty but also the fact that people are buried under the Sakura tree as well(Hisana), Tousen's Bankai rids the opponent off all their senses except for Touch just like how Tousen's blind, Komamura's bankai is a Japanese soldier clad in complete armor, just like Komamura who's face was always hidden within an armor, Yamamoto's shikai is fire showing power and strict governance over the system, Gin's bankai is a poisonous long blade snake like his nature, Aizen's shikai is pure hyponis and making illusions just like how his whole outword personality was a lie. Even though Renji's zanpakuto has the form of a Monkey it's more in line with his personal arc of standing up against the nobles and the system despite being a rat on the street.

Throughout the Soul Society arc Ichigo's shown to be achieving powers through his training for becoming a Shinigami and later on achieving Bankai with his Zanpakuto(Old man) helping him in doing so. Where as in the Hueco Mundo arc those very powers(White) serve as a conflict for him to overcome, not just physically but later on by coming to an understanding with them.

Wow too deep didn't read.
Sasuga Kubo.

Uryu's fight with Mayuri is about his pride as a quincy with also a theme of fatherhood playing a bigh role. Nemu despite being abused by Mayuri has a certain level of understanding of him while Uryu is completely disconnected from Ryuuken. Both "fathers" being rather cruel but rather seen through a different perpective through their artificial and human children. Uryu even apologises to Souken saying he doesn't understand his father and still has to use the ultimate technique. Although Mayuri escapes he is defeated by Uryu who in the end is saved by Nemu who gave him the vaccine to stop the poisoning.

Uryu's fight with Szayel starts as him basically assisting Renji in defeating him and despite all of his new techniques both of them fail in defeating Szayel and are ultimately saved by Mayuri who gives his famous speech on perfection and why he loates it, completely in contrast with Szayel's desire to become a perfect being. But Mayuri's very hatred of perfection later on comes to haunt him in the last arc as he also feels despair at the loss of Nemu who he came to subconsciously believe to be a perfect artifical soul with their own beliefs and desire, finally breaking the boundries with which she was created. Ultimately coming to an understanding of how much Nemu means to him. Same with Uryu who finally understands what Ryuuken wanted to protect all along, his reasons and following the path of his father by becoming a doctor(something which he disdained after watching Ryuuken disect his mother). I went a little to far here basically towards the end of the manga but that's because this narrative of fatherhood is very much linked to Mayuri and Uryu till the end and isn't resolved until then.

Kubo masterfully inverts these arc by showing the contradiction between the understanding of human compassion when it comes to a shinigami and a hollow aka a pure soul that was saved and a corrupted one that was left to rot consumed by his negative desires. Hanataro comes to recognize Rukia as a good individual through their conversations and the kindness she shows to him where as Loly and Menoly look at Orihime as a monster for showing them kindness and compassion. Even in the end while Hanataro actively helps Ichigo to save Rukia, Loly protecting Orihime was more about self preservation against Yami.

Ichigo's fight with Renji is more about Renji finally coming to an understanding with what he wants to do when it comes to Rukia. His fight against Ichigo serves to change his personal view on the conflict, following his heart rather than the system even if he is no match for that system. His views are changed through Ichigo's resolve. The flashback given to Renji here highlights his reason for abandoning Rukia all those years ago due to his own powerlessness in front of the system in contrast with Ichigo's resolve.

Ichigo's fight with Grimmjow has more to do with Ichigo finally accepting his animal instincts and overcoming his guilt of having to fight with the hollow powers that makes his eyes look like Sora's which makes Orihime fearful of him. Here Orihime's acceptance of his struggles and disregard of his method of protecting her as long as it's him is what helps him overcome Grimmjow. Here it's Grimmjow who helps Ichigo in accepting his animal instinct while it's Orihime's emotional support that finally helps him in overcoming his subconscious fear of his inner demon. The flashback given to Grimmjow also helps in highlighting the contrast in his journey compared to Ichigo. As Grimmjow was even willing to eat his own comrades to keep evolving, leaving them behind and not even feeling any remorse when they were killed during his invasion of the Karakura town compared to Ichigo's resolve to save Orihime and bring all of his frinends back to their home while defeating Grimmjow, Ulquiorra and Aizen.

Another interesting way which Kubo uses to invert the narrative in these two arcs is through Yoruichi and Nel and how the personal narrative of these two characters with others(Soi fon and Nnoitora) differ completely by the end. The emotional comflict Soi-fon has with Yoruichi is about her feeling betrayed by being left behind and finally reconciling with Yoruichi where as Nnoitora's conflict with Nel is about his hatred for being looked upon as the Inferior and mocked as one by Nel in her own way(The reason she follows him is being she likes to look down upon him and remind him of his inferiority) and it ends with Nnoitora staying true to this hatred while getting the death he always wanted from Kenpachi.

And finally Kubo basically makes his intention of inverting these two arcs very clear by contrasting the Ichigo vs Byakuya and Ichigo vs Ulquiorra fight in the most obvious way possible.

Ichigo wins his fight against Byakuya not just in a physical way but he also wins the ideological conflict , and wins it by overcoming the demon within him and winning as himself. Byakuya finally accepts being in the wrong and respects Ichigo and his resolve. He is changed by ichigo's resolve.

Ichigo win his fight against Ulquiorra in name only as it's won at the very expense of the ideals he upheld against Byakuya. Here Ichigo finally gives in to his inner demon(against his choice as he was basically dead) which he was able to overcome against Byakuya, becomes a monster, slaughters an enemy, almost kills a friend with said friend ironically being saved by the enemy he was fighting against. After his fight with Byakuya Ichigo screams his victory with Joy but here he only screams in shame of the victory he achieved. Here Ulquiorra's nihilistic outlook is changed not through Ichigo's win but rather his fall and Orihime.

In conclusion Kubo wanted to give these two arcs some similarities on the surface while giving the character completely different personal narratives with the protagonist reaching two completely different conclusions by end of the final major fights in these two respective arcs, and he achieved it masterfully in my opinion.

There is also the aspect of "The heart" conveyed through Rukia's fight against Aaroenaro and Ulquiorra's against Ichigo. Where Rukia finally comes to the realization that even though she is facing Kaien in body and mind(AA has his memories as well) his heart will belong to her, while Ulquiorra realizes in his last moments that even after all the suffering he had Orihime go through, she wasn't afraid of him and understood him, the thing he was holding in his hand was the very thing Kaien talked about people having in their palm when it comes to their understanding of others. Kubo Masterfully connects this theme of "The heart" from Rukia (someone who assists Ichigo)to Ulquiorra(who stands against Ichigo) brilliantly.

Kubo often doesn't get the praise he deserves as a writer so I thought highlighting these things would at least help people in understanding why i think he isn't a bad writer. And before anyone calls me a fanboy, i didn't like how the second half of the FB arc was rushed, the fullbringers didn't get enough time for themselves, the famous shinigami came in to rob the human characters from the limelight. I also didn't like second half of TYBW after the Ichibe vs Yhwach fight as much as the first as thing were very much rushed despite it being filled with some great stuff like Mayuri vs Pernida, Urahara and co. vs Askin, Jugram and Bazz's backstory which doesn't get enough time in the finale of Hashwalth's fight with Uryu and especially the rushed and unsatisfying ending that left things open for the novels to answer. Kubo is by no means perfect but he deserves far more praise than what's given to him.

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I'll bump your thread but I still think you put more thought into this than Kubo ever did.