Soul Reapers spend a lot of time reassuring dead humans that they’re there to help - because after all, a Soul Reaper’s job is to protect human souls. Yet, the more we learn about Soul Society, the more it becomes clear that Soul Society is one messed up place! And we humans have great reasons for being a little afraid of it. I mean, just consider…
1. Dying may mean going to a terrible place.
And not because you’ve done something wrong - sure, *really* bad souls go to hell, but normal souls go to Soul Society….which appears to be, in many cases, way worse than the world of the living. The Rukongai is the big example of this, of course - a place where dead humans go to be poor, crowded, hungry, and miserable. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for this; when you die, you may, for no reason, end up in a really terrible place from which you can’t escape.
2. Dying does not mean being reacquainted with your loved ones.
Remember back when Chad rescued that dead kid who was trapped in a parakeet? And when it came time for the dead kid to be sent to Soul Society, Chad reassured him that he’d see his mother in Soul Society - and if you watch carefully, you can see Rukia make a weird, “Uh, well, actually….” face - because, as we later learn, that poor dead kid does not find his mother. Because dying means getting sent to some random part of Soul Society, and there’s no mechanism in place to reunite families.
3. You can still die in the afterlife.
Also, there are Hollows roaming about Soul Society - not to mention the fact that Soul Society seems to have invaded/attacked a lot. And if you die when you’re dead….well, apparently, you die again, and it’s never made entirely clear what happens to you then.
4. Soul Society sometimes exterminates humans.
Soul Society takes its job of protecting humans very seriously…even if this means exterminating them. Soul Society tried to wipe out the Quincies, an entire tribe of humans who, to be fair, were causing the fabric of reality to unravel a bit. But still. Soul Society’s normal response to trouble seems to be “KILL THEM ALL.”
5. Soul Society can’t admit its mistakes.
Sometimes Soul Society makes bad decisions. Like Project Spearhead, which created the Mod Souls. Or blaming Urahara for everything Aizen did and then exiling him. Or declaring the Vizard to be “basically hollows” and ordering them to be killed. Or the Bounts, if we’re counting the filler arcs. Anyway, the point is - even when Soul Society realizes that it’s made a mistake (ohhhh….so Aizen is the evil one!), it tends not to do anything to rectify the situation. Urahara remains in exile. The Mod Souls are exterminated. And so are the Bounts. Because burying the mistake is better than trying to fix it.
6. Soul Society isn’t very well protected.
Soul Society has its 13 guard squads….but thanks in large part to the fact that none of them will cooperate with any of the others, they’re not terribly efficient. Which is how Ichigo and his friends managed to successfully invade Soul Society even before they had fully developed their super powers. And it’d be nice to think that Ichigo’s success would cause Soul Society to reconsider how it runs the guard squads….but then, we did #5 already.
7. Soul Society didn’t even give Aizen a life sentence.
Really, Central 46? 20,000 years? The guy’s immortal! Do you think being bound for 20,000 years is going to make him MORE sane? Assuming he doesn’t escape before then?
Okay, I think it’s about time for Ichigo to just take over Soul Society. It’s our only hope.
1. Dying may mean going to a terrible place.
And not because you’ve done something wrong - sure, *really* bad souls go to hell, but normal souls go to Soul Society….which appears to be, in many cases, way worse than the world of the living. The Rukongai is the big example of this, of course - a place where dead humans go to be poor, crowded, hungry, and miserable. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for this; when you die, you may, for no reason, end up in a really terrible place from which you can’t escape.
2. Dying does not mean being reacquainted with your loved ones.
Remember back when Chad rescued that dead kid who was trapped in a parakeet? And when it came time for the dead kid to be sent to Soul Society, Chad reassured him that he’d see his mother in Soul Society - and if you watch carefully, you can see Rukia make a weird, “Uh, well, actually….” face - because, as we later learn, that poor dead kid does not find his mother. Because dying means getting sent to some random part of Soul Society, and there’s no mechanism in place to reunite families.
3. You can still die in the afterlife.
Also, there are Hollows roaming about Soul Society - not to mention the fact that Soul Society seems to have invaded/attacked a lot. And if you die when you’re dead….well, apparently, you die again, and it’s never made entirely clear what happens to you then.
4. Soul Society sometimes exterminates humans.
Soul Society takes its job of protecting humans very seriously…even if this means exterminating them. Soul Society tried to wipe out the Quincies, an entire tribe of humans who, to be fair, were causing the fabric of reality to unravel a bit. But still. Soul Society’s normal response to trouble seems to be “KILL THEM ALL.”
5. Soul Society can’t admit its mistakes.
Sometimes Soul Society makes bad decisions. Like Project Spearhead, which created the Mod Souls. Or blaming Urahara for everything Aizen did and then exiling him. Or declaring the Vizard to be “basically hollows” and ordering them to be killed. Or the Bounts, if we’re counting the filler arcs. Anyway, the point is - even when Soul Society realizes that it’s made a mistake (ohhhh….so Aizen is the evil one!), it tends not to do anything to rectify the situation. Urahara remains in exile. The Mod Souls are exterminated. And so are the Bounts. Because burying the mistake is better than trying to fix it.
6. Soul Society isn’t very well protected.
Soul Society has its 13 guard squads….but thanks in large part to the fact that none of them will cooperate with any of the others, they’re not terribly efficient. Which is how Ichigo and his friends managed to successfully invade Soul Society even before they had fully developed their super powers. And it’d be nice to think that Ichigo’s success would cause Soul Society to reconsider how it runs the guard squads….but then, we did #5 already.
7. Soul Society didn’t even give Aizen a life sentence.
Really, Central 46? 20,000 years? The guy’s immortal! Do you think being bound for 20,000 years is going to make him MORE sane? Assuming he doesn’t escape before then?
Okay, I think it’s about time for Ichigo to just take over Soul Society. It’s our only hope.
