for a manga that's wifely known as the weakest of big 3, Kubo did write one of the first of most interesting, relatable and (then) unconventional main girls in shounen and y'all need to put more respect on her name for that

im talking 2006/07 when we'd just started watching the big3 animes. compared to the boy-obsessed sakura and sexualized (at least by OP fans back then) Nami, to me as a 9 y/o girl rukia was just a lot more comfortable & easier to connect with. but personal preference aside,

rukia's character was largely built on internalizing abuse/thinking she deserved all tragedy that came to her to the point that she completely refused the acknowledge the part of herself that wanted to make selfish decisions. she tells herself & everyone else she gave ichigo her

powers to save him, but subconsciously she did it bc he reminded her of kaien. so a past personal trauma that she never recovered from bc of her unhealthy tendency of internalizing led to a decision which set of a series of events that affected every single person around her.

she also tells everyone she accepted her execution sentence bc she broke a law, but it was actually bc she felt pressured by the guilt of knowing she did bc she was projecting kaien onto ichigo. yikes girl. her r/ship with renji & byakuya +her decision to become a kuchikis

while leaving the only person who stayed by her side unconditionally (renji) is a WHOLE other can of worms that made me think This Girl Needs Help. rukia was a brittle character from the start who put up a steely front, which easily cracked with the slightest push bcos of how

much unresolved trauma she forced a lid upon w/o ever trying to come to terms with them. the nicest was to see her slowly undo them and eventually become a stronger, fully realized person who even actually acted as a ichigo's pillar & a source of inspiration to many around her

i cant believe this turned into a whole thread abt HST of all things, but rukia was a big part of my pre-teens. it was rare to find a female character in the shounen genre back then who made you go "omg i wanna be like her" so this is from personal attachment than anything else

i also really value her r/ship with ichigo bc to me they were very obviously NEVER written from a romantic perspective n do i even have to say how rare that is. they both did and meant THE MOST for each other but it was completely familial and the dynamic was just so beautiful