Shipping is often a divisive and outright toxic source of discourse in anime, and Bleach is no exception. At the peak of its popularity, Bleach, much like Naruto and My Hero Academia, would always have fans fighting over their favorite ships, and much like those other stories, it allegedly got to the point that Tite Kubo was being sent death threats over how everything played out.

Bleach was never a good fandom to discuss shipping, but Tite Kubo never let that stand. In the advent of social media, it’s become common for creators to address their fans in more direct ways than what used to be the norm, and thanks to that, creator Tite Kubo managed to give the perfect response to his biggest haters. Considering how little shipping discourse has changed over the years, it’s something great to look back on, especially since Bleach’s renaissance has provided even more reason to pay attention to it.

How Bleach's Creator Brutally Took Down Toxic Shippers

What Bleach's Creator Thinks About Shipping

Several years ago, in an interview with Tite Kubo, Kubo spoke about seeing toxic shippers in the Bleach fandom, specifically people who wanted Ichigo to be with Rukia while simultaneously putting down Orihime. Talking specifically about someone who said that they love Rukia and hate Orihime, Kubo said that he didn’t think they represented all Rukia fans, but he still referred to it as “abusive language”, and from there, Tite Kubo reasserted that no shippers would make him change the way he wrote Bleach.

In the same interview, Kubo brought up how readers don’t have the privilege to change the story they read, so if they didn’t like his work, then they could draw their own manga, but if they had no talent and just wanted to complain, then they could just “hide in the corner, open their mouth only to eat rain and dust, and maybe they’ll actually live somehow”. In short, Bleach creator Tite Kubo basically said his toxic fans needed to die if all they could do was complain, and that response is as brutal as it is amazing to hear.

Why Bleach's Main Couples Are Better Than People Think

Bleach's Romance Is Surprisingly Good For A Shonen Anime

Bleach’s shipping discourse has always been bad, especially because of how unwarranted it is. While Bleach doesn’t have the best handling of romance, mostly because that was never incredibly important, Rukia and Renji had enough development and chemistry to justify becoming a couple, and from the very start, Bleach put in a lot of work to develop Ichigo and Orihime’s emotional connection, and they became a truly great anime couple because of it. Bleach’s main couples were always far better than people gave them credit for, and that’s why the shipping discourse was always so hard to sit through.

That idea, of course, feeds into why Ichigo and Rukia never would have worked as a couple. As close as Ichigo and Rukia’s bond is, it was rarely ever the driving force behind their actions past the Soul Society arc, and by comparison, Ichigo and Orihime’s relationship only ever became more important. Add in the massive age gap between Ichigo and Orihime, and Ichigo and Rukia never made as much sense as a couple as people say, a statement that’s as true now as it was over a decade ago.

Why Is Shipping Such A Toxic Issue In Anime?

Shipping Will Always Be A Point Of Discourse For Anime Fans

All of the shipping discourse surrounding Bleach is symptomatic of the larger issue of shipping being so toxic in anime and fandom culture as a whole. As people get invested in their favorite stories, they often develop specific headcanons about how they think the story should go, and that includes how certain romantic pairings should play out. Unfortunately, people often get too invested in their headcanons and will lash out with extreme vitriol at anyone or anything that goes against it, even if it’s the creator of the story, and shipping headcanons are the biggest source of those reactions.

At this point, it would be ridiculous to assume that shipping discourse could die down, and in the advent of social media, it’s only gotten worse in recent years, so in that regard, creators being like Tite Kubo in that they have no problem calling out fans on their bad behavior is exactly how toxic anime fans need to be dealt with. The fact that Tite Kubo was so willing to do that is a true testament to how great a story Bleach is, and hopefully, those issues won’t reappear when the anime gets to the finale.

Source: Reddit.