“Actually, Hisagi kind of seems like main character material…”
That was a discovery we made when Narita told me he wanted me to “write Hisagi as a main character.”
Though he’s dashing, he’s a character you can fiddle with.
Though the people he adores won’t pay him any mind, others treat him well.
Though he was a crybaby once, he was saved by a hero and decided to take the same road.
Once he met his teacher, he faced his weakness and became stronger.
Eventually, he has to confront his own teacher who strayed onto the wrong path.
Though I knew that was the kind of character Hisagi was, when I heard Narita’s proposal, it was the first time I recognized that he was “main character material.”
This work is mapped out to be the final novelization of BLEACH, and it is a grand work that is supported by Narita’s usual high attention to detail in his reading and, as ever, by his extreme enthusiasm.
Narita’s ability to differentiate between many different characters all in one work and in written form, and his talent for knowing the difference between many different characters’ charms in even his own work, all add up to a hardcore intention to serve the readers so they enjoy it.
Hisagi’s and Hirako’s bankai, which ended up not getting time to shine in the original work, also are now able to play a role thanks to Narita, which has me delighted.
Hisagi!!! Good for you!!! You got to have a big part!!!
TITE KUBO
✦ ✦ ✦
“I plan on ending BLEACH’s serialization in one or two years.”
When was it that I first heard that from Tite Kubo’s mouth? My reaction upon hearing that was quite blunt.
“Ha ha ha, great joke.”
But eventually, one day…
The time for the end of BLEACH arrived.
According to what I heard from the editorial department, when they received a formal intention from Kubo to end the BLEACH serialization in a year’s time, apparently the mood felt solemn, as though an era were ending.
However, I am truly grateful that at the same time he reached out to Matsubara and me about his passionate desire and important plans to create a last novelization to add a flourish to his fifteen-year story!
When Matsubara and I met Kubo directly in order to prepare for the novels, we asked him rapid-fire questions about the mysteries remaining in BLEACH’s world: “What about that?! What happened in that part?!” “What about that character’s past?!” When we heard Kubo’s responses, I was blown away by his many charming creations.
“Wh-why didn’t you include the past of the Reio and the aristocrats and the underside of the world in the original story?!”
When I asked him that, he gave me a clear answer that I couldn’t disagree with: “This is a story about Ichigo and the Soul Reapers’ battle, so I didn’t want to muddy the story’s focus by taking it away from that.”
Regardless of the past, Ichigo and the other Soul Reapers were fighting in order to stay true to their souls. If the story’s focus were shifted away from that, then it would no longer be a part of BLEACH’s original narrative.
However, though he had purposefully not written it as part of the original story, when I heard about the many incredibly fascinating backstories he had, I automatically asked him, “In that case, may I divulge those things you’ve established as part of my novelization?”
I was sure that would cause him to angrily respond, “Did you even hear what I said?”
However, rather than being angry, Kubo was kind enough to give me even more intricate details about what he had created and gave me a lot of advice about a new character that would need to be created.
Then, as a result of the conversation about which character, who wasn’t Ichigo and who would preferably be part of the Soul Reapers themselves, could fight against that malicious head of the Four Great Noble Clans, we chose Shuhei Hisagi as the main character.
When Kubo first looked over my plot, he deliberated carefully about the many BLEACH fans, asking, “But will writing this much of it down take away from the readers the fun of imagining the underside of the story?”
Regardless of that, I unreasonably said, “Yes, that might end up being the case, but even if the ability to imagine it is taken from the readers, I would like to tell the story of the past the Soul Reapers stand upon and how they continue their path going forward. Please let me write it,” and he kindly allowed me to write it.
In other words, all of this was my own self-indulgence.
All I can do is convey my gratefulness that Kubo allowed me this indulgence.
If there are any readers who say, “I can’t believe you did something so unnecessary! You stole the fun of imagining Hirako’s and Hisagi’s bankai and also the secrets behind the Reio!” I really do not have any excuses.
As far as that is concerned, all I can do is offer my apologies—I am truly sorry…!
However, I was unable to exhaustively tell the full tale of BLEACH’s vast world in these three volumes.
So if, when it comes to the “hearsay” that I wrote from the perspective of the Osho and Tokinada, you were able to spread the wings of your imagination and felt that there was possibly more to the story, or possibly not, and it continued to fit the aesthetics of the BLEACH world, then…
…as a spinoff novelization author and also a fan of the original work, there is nothing that would make me happier.
I am genuinely grateful for those of you who followed this twelve hundred-plus-page story from the first volume to the very end!
By the way, after Matsubara and I heard the story of how Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihoin met, both of us said the same thing immediately.
“You have to draw that with your own hand as a manga, Kubo!” Or “Really, I’d like to read that as a manga!”
Those fascinating characters as well as a story hidden within the world…
I do not know if the day will come when that will be created in some form, but as a fan, I will pray that the BLEACH story will continue to expand.
To all those who followed along up until this point, and to the editorial department, especially Rokugo, whom I troubled with a several month-long hospitalization as well as several other issues, and to Makoto Matsubara who wrote about an aspect of the story I was not able to as part of the last novelizations…
And also to Tite Kubo, who drew and spread a vast, magnificent world before us, and to the BLEACH opus itself…
Thank you so very much!
October, 2018 while playing BLEACH: Brave Souls,
RYOHGO NARITA