Bleachness

warning: shipping

The new CD cover for the ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D song for the anime ED that had IchiRuki fans heats a-thumping amuses me. It's a predictably IchiRuki cover alright buuuuut ... well, look:

( what's Orihime doing thar? )

The ED was the talk of the fandom--shippy stuffs in Bleach usually are. ( #4 most discussed vid in film/animation Japan and other YouTube stats)

I do wonder if Hime's presence there isn't a deliberate ship tease. No doubt some parts of fandom may read that Ichigo may be looking at Rukia but his heart and the song belong to Orihime XD while the majority will read the cover to read like the famous 4chan post:

( Friendzoned )

Meanwhile, Valentine's Day is coming up--think that Sensei will give it a nod? Last year we got that pretty spread of the boys and their chocolates. The year before last we got Rukia's dewy-eyed "beauty of the heart" color page. The official release date for the next chapter in Japan is Feb 14 and so far there's no announcement of a Bleach color page, only that a new manga will have the lead color page, but I'm so hoping for a glimpse of Orihime hard at work making chocolates for the customers in her shoppe! Or do you think we'll get a Riruka love page? XD

Finally, a couple days ago Sensei retweeted a very cute tweet in which a sixth grader (in an earlier post I'd mistakenly identified her as six yrs old) made put in a question to an advice columnist about how to confess. There was a long answer in whichshe was told that she should know what love is before she confesses. Her love was compared to the feeling she has toward favorite foods or the feeling of sunshine.

Anyway, I do think it's interesting that Sensei seems to be considering the nature of love lately. XD As a perennial shipper, it gives me hope for squee material. I found it interesting that Ichigo seemed to realize that he wasn't "in love" with his Shinigami badge, merely "fond" of it--while Riruka, given her girly penchant for LOOOOVING things (and wanting to be "crushed to death," lol, by them) made them into minatures. Surely Ichigo feels more seriously about his Shinigami identity than Riruka feels about his "hotness!" Maybe this is a commentary on how girls can discount and trivialize something as serious as love. If so... *looks at dolly collection and goes ouch* Maybe there's more to Riruka. After all there's more to me than my dolly collection! *glances at Ishida-lookalike hubby* XD

ETA: Shippiness continues. <3 More about the CD from the IR FC at BA. Translation by melodymix  from infos on the site:

ROOKiEZ is PUNK'Dの新曲は、初のラブソング。ただ一人の女性を守るために、もがき叫ぶ男の心境をストレートに表 現した感動の一曲に仕上がっている。 ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D's new song is their first love song ever. The song has been completed into a very emotional piece about a man who is struggling and screaming his emotions out in a very straightforward manner, in order to protect one woman.

I drew stuffs!   A holiday Orihime (I like timeskip!Orihime in the manga but her hairpins are there in this pic because Orihime without her hairpins makes me nervous. She's happier with them I think. I want them back in her hair again! ) and an shoujo IchiRuki (for Annie and the current IR FC Christmas Wedding challenge).

Holiday Hime DA link

Wedding Night for annie

Big images under the cuts (bc I took the full size from DA and am too tired from drawing to resize at the moment)

( images )

More Mezzo translations! We had Oririn comment about Rukia a couple entries ago and this time mezzo_marinaio translated Yuki's words about Orihime's role in the movie. Frankly, I was happy with what I'd heard about Orihime's role but Yuki's words made me wince a little, but then again, I've never really liked her take on Orihime. At least one person on 2ch said Yuki made Orihime look bad.

( Yuki speaks ) eta: more viewer reviews of movie from nacchan at the IchiRuki FC (naturally with an IchiRuki bent) and a photo from poppy_moon's blog of really cute cut-outs promoting movie during tour of Ichigo and Rukia HERE

Since I know you people want to hear it, here's another quote from Sensei about the IchiRuki calendar spread.  From here (and quirky ):

Annie noticed this recent tweet from Kubo:



A fan thanked Kubo for the calendar spread, then asked if Rukia's clothes were original (i.e., if they were his own idea and not based on any brands). The fan also said she wanted Rukia's outfit and that Rukia's accessories were very cute, too. Kubo replied that "those resort clothes" were original and were all his idea. Yes, Kubo called them "resort clothes." Annie said: "just say honeymoon outfits, sensei"


Who was the one who called "resort clothes?" in this comm? I know I echoed it. XD
And if you didn't like Ichigo's looooong legs in the original, maybe you'll appreciate his widdle chibi-ness in this fanart by saki:

( chibi honeymoon! )

eta: A clever way a fan is hanging the calendar. Kubo enjoyed this and said it was well displayed. His is currently being hung vertically.

Waaah! Tell me it doesn't look like Ichigo and Rukia aren't on a Caribbean honeymoon! Sheeet, there's a bottle of wine! And what's that look, Rukia? XD

Well, I was expecting Sensei to up the ante from last year's IchiRuki spread but my oh my! *orders despite my poor pocketbook*

THANK YOU ANNIE WHO FOUND THE PICS ON 2ch and posted in IR FC on BA... those lucky people who got their calendars in the mail scanned right away.

( first scans )

ETA: I just noticed that Rukia is wearing LIPSTICK. OMFG. And the dress clothes--this screams date date date... er, honeymoon. XD XD XD.

ETA2: calendar order info for those who have inquired:


amazonjp

yes asia

ETA3: WE HAVE A BETTER QUALITY PIC! HERE (keep clicking to enlarge) and WOW, EYE CONTACT! ICHIGO IS LOOKING RIGHT AT HER (and he looks so ... sweet!<3) and MORE PICS FROM THE CALENDAR HERE thanks to oAABBo at IR FC at BA. Omg, the telephone spread manip! <3

Thank you to Ku (poppy_moon)  who scanned a two page ad from this week's WSJ that features the Ichigo and Rukia parting scene from the last chapter. There were some other Hellverse pics in the Jump issue but unfortunately we don't have them scanned. One featured Ichigo wrapped in tentacles too ( sorry, tentacle fans). Anyway, image under the cut. It's only a few more days until spoilers and a brand new color spread by Kubo-sensei.


( Jump ad )

ETA: Fugly minions scan from same WSJ issue found by Annie on 2ch but no trace of Ichigo in tentacles (yet :(  )

Also, Sensei drew Rukia on cardboard at some event. The fans on 2ch are very excited. We should definitely have a scan of that soon. It's late in Japan just now but later yes.

I have such a crush on Morita-kun. Videos have been posted from a fan question/answer at the Anime Expo in LA earlier this month. The Q/A seemed pretty relaxed and open and questions were apparently not screened beforehand; people lined up and were asked to make their questions Bleach-related and not anything offensive.

There were  lots of "what were your favorite ---?" questions and Morita answered that his favorite part in Bleach was when he went ban kai for the first time and that his favorite episode was the Memories in the Rain one. He said it is the origin of who Ichigo is today, that it made Ichigo realize who is important to him and that Morita still thinks of it while working on Bleach today. So there you have it, IchiRuki fans (and go forth and discuss among yourselves but behave ye shippers--I'm out at a picnic today and listen trolls, I don't even care if you get us on Fandom_Wank again--that place is beyond boring these days--it's former Roman colosseum glory gory days are over).

Early on, a fan asks what was his favorite thing Rukia said to Ichigo, but Morita misunderstood the question and the translator misinterpreted. Morita answered that his favorite thing was "I will save you" which is obviously what Ichigo said to Rukia, not vice versa. Morita's favorite line: "I swear to my soul!" The scene Morita thought the funniest was when Kon was tied to the toilet and also when Rukia drew the mustache on Ichigo in episode one (the translator didn't seem to understand how to say this so Morita acted out the bit and drew the mustache on himself with his fingers in the vid--so cute).

He's quite a crowd pleaser, Morita. He said he always works his hardest on Ichigo. He said that once voicing Ichigo, he strained his throat so hard it bled so "I make Bleach with my own blood." He mentioned that the a.c. is not allowed to run during recording because the recorder picks up the sound so he asked fans with money to donate a cooling system to their studio.

Part three (Morita appears near the end)

Part four

Part five

Part six