I started watching Bleach when I was twelve and like any little twelve year old I thought Hitsugaya Toushiro and his ice abilities was the coolest thing to ever hit the planet. Then we get to his fight with Ichimaru Gin and up until this point I thought he was amusing but... you know, that was it. Up until this point. And then we get the flashbacks, the fight and how coolly he takes everything.... and it was that day that I decided Ichimaru Gin is my most favourite character, period. As in throughout all series of anime or manga or books or movies, Gin is hands down my most favourite character ever.
There are lots of reasons for this but a large part of it banked on his relationship with Rangiku. I mean yeah, he was a villain, he was in league with Aizen and Tousen (both whom I don't like, at all - especially Tousen but that's a rant for another day)... but there was a gap. A noticeable gap between the boy who found Rangikuu on the road and this sly, fox-faced, man. Even as a villain his motives were completely unclear. He wasn't like Tousen with a warped view of justice, or Aizen and his determination to be King. For all intents and purposes it seemed like Gin was a bad guy for shits and giggles and cause it was fun - and in some ways that's even more terrible. But the thing was it didn't really add up to me. Even as a kid Kubo drew Gin to be... kind of cute. More innocent. So innocent that you kind of wonder when and why the transformation to this sarcastic freak took place.
And we get our answers. In a very painful way. We get the answers when the guy is falling into his death bed. I'm not saying Gin is a good guy, because he's not. But his love for Rangiku (if you can call it that), the amount that he care about her... she is literally his everything. The reason he lives and fights - he is the reason he became a shinigami. I'm pretty sure if he never found out about Aizen, the shnigami, he wouldn't have bothered. Or if he did bother, they'd become shinigami together at a much later date (maybe when they were both older) and he'd have been less of a creep. It's so bittersweet too, because he never tells her any of this. Any of his motives, his reason, he just ups and leaves, but then he comes back all the same sweet caring boy he was when they first met... all the while doing all these terrible things.
I love Rangiku too. I think she's so much more than an air-headed, big breasted woman who drinks too much. The thing is, she's the total antithesis of Gin and I think a large part of why she is able to be so happy and carefree is because of him. He let's her shine while he hides in the shadows. She's also strong, and smart, much more than she seems at first glance. But it's almost like how you never really think about how skillful Gin is during his fight with Hitsugaya until you sit back and really examine his character.
Then these two together. All the small snippets we got from the manga. The finding her on the road, the giving her a birthday. Most of the flashbacks are sad, they're images of Gin leaving her but you do get these small moments where you can see he cares so much for her. That they care so much for each other and although we don't know what they were like after becoming shinigami I think it's safe to say that they did keep their relationship up some-what because Hitsugaya does mention it, even if Rangiku brushes him off. I'm sure the one who drew the line was Gin though - although I think he was never really able to truly draw the line at a definitive point.
My head-canon for them is they went to the academy together and Gin excelled and got a position and there was a period when things were a bit rocky between them because Rangiku was still making her way but she was the only one that got close to the "fox-eyed freak 3rd seat" that everyone else was so scared of... even if she was just a student. Then when they both grew older, and maybe he was a lieutenant and she herself became a seated officer they spent more time together and things became more intimate but in a very bittersweet way. Where Rangiku was aware that Gin was hiding something that was potentially dangerous, and Gin was getting more desperate at keeping her away the deeper his feelings got, but neither could truly pull away from each other. Sure, there'd be moments in the midst of sex where they'd remember the happier times, but it was after that they'd both lie there in the dark both realising that this couldn't last even in Rangiku didn't know the reason and one of them would end up returning to their respective rooms.
And then he becomes captain and Rangiku becomes a lieutenant and I feel like both of them draw the line. Partly because Gin realises that things just can't keep continuing like this for her sake, because he knows what's going to happen down the line, and Rangiku because the emotional stress is getting to be a bit too much. She loves him and she knows he loves her back but she knows he has this wall around him which she can't break and it hurts - so they both back out. When they meet it's all respectful greetings and polite nods, both pretending everything is okay while everyone else around them can feel the awkward tension in the air.
One of the thing that hurts the most is everyone else view on Gin. Rangiku is the popular girl, everyone like hers, and Gin is the opposite. Everywhere she goes she hears comments about him, about her relationship with him "I don't understand how you can be so close to him, he's so creepy" and this is also on the emotional stresses she's had. She's spent years trying to defend him, trying to show them that Gin really isn't that bad but it gets to the point where even she begins to see the Gin that everyone else sees and it hurts. It hurts because she knows that this Gin is a fake, but she's afraid that one day it might become real - and then in a way it does. It does when he's found to be with Aizen and in some ways Rangiku hates herself for still believing that he isn't a bad guy when her captain and everyone else hates him so much more than they already did.
Then he dies. The thing is Rangiku doesn't really know what happened. She was knocked out - she knows that as he's always done, Gin protected her and then she realises that he's died and he hasn't answered any of her questions. All she's left with is the same shadow that she's been chasing after - the same mystery that she was never able to solve - and she realises that this shadow, this phantom figure, actually makes the pain less. Because she has nothing concrete to really miss anymore. She's spent so many years already feeling miserable at this new person, this new Gin who she can't understand that now when she's gone the loss isn't as permanent - because in a way she had already lost him so long ago. It allows her to move on because his physical death is the catalyst which finally allows her to let go. Before, if he was still alive physically, then she would always be chasing after him - to have her questions answered - but now that he's gone she has nothing to chase and this gives her the ability to run free. In a way she realises that Gin had limited her, and truthfully Gin had realised this as well which is also why he tried so hard to separate from her, to keep her distance, to give her the ability to get on without him.
...can you see why I adore this ship?
But with all this being said all I wish is for them to have a happy ending (which they will obviously never get) so it hurts so much. I honestly wish that Kubo would just bring Gin back and I wouldn't even care if the way he did it was absolutely stupid and didn't make sense. Life if he a pulled a "let's bring everyone back to life thing" at the end or "oh look Gin actually survived lols!" (which I know won't happen because Kubo admitted that Gin was dead - which makes me sob so hard). But seriously could he just bring the guy back? I don't even care how it happens, he just appears out of nowhere and is like "'Sup Rangiku, I'm here to save your ass and by the way I love you". It's not fair that only Aizen survived. Tousen can die, I don't care about him but Gin could've survived. Kubo could've been nice.
Can you imagine how Gin would be in this current invasion by the Quincy? I feel like he would kick so much ass. With all the captains running around like "shit where's my bankai!!?!" and Gin would just be like "well, this is fun" with his annoying little smirk.
GOD DAMN IT KUBO JUST BRING GIN BACK ALREADY SO I CAN HAVE MY HAPPY ENDING. *SOBBING*
oh and Burimyu also gives me major Gin x Ran feels like whoa.
Anyway that is all, super long post but I had to let my feels out or else they'd consume me and I'd be left unable to study for my midterms which starts tomorrow!!!
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