Soul Society?

[Simon_L]

ok so i've just started watching bleach and i'm up to episode 33 and i'm starting to have a serious problem with the concept of soul society, so it was established that wicked souls in life would get sent to hell, ok makes sense and good souls get sent to soul society after soul buriel or whatever, why on earth does soul society just seem so much like life when it is supposed to be heaven?
By example i mean rukia and renji growing up in a down-trodden town and trying to make their LIVES better by becoming death gods wtf.

[Tidusauron12]

Originally Posted by Simon_L

ok so i've just started watching bleach and i'm up to episode 33 and i'm starting to have a serious problem with the concept of soul society, so it was established that wicked souls in life would get sent to hell, ok makes sense and good souls get sent to soul society after soul buriel or whatever, why on earth does soul society just seem so much like life when it is supposed to be heaven?
By example i mean rukia and renji growing up in a down-trodden town and trying to make their LIVES better by becoming death gods wtf.

Because the Soul Society IS NOT heaven (you know with little naked angels with wings and crap). It's basically another world, where people who die in ours go. The reason Rukia was talking about how great the soul society was is to help people pass on. If they stay in the living world they might become hollows, so it's best to send them to the SS. Also, their is a balance to keep in order.

I don't even know why their is a distinction between the 'real world' and the 'dead world'. Even the Soul Reapers use the term 'real world' when talking about the plain that humans live on. Why? Both worlds seem pretty realistic to me. I think it's all just for us, the people who read the manga or watch the anime. Makes it easier to understand. It's just that realistically, if I was some kickass soul reaper that was thousands of years old, I'm pretty sure the standard for which world was 'real' or not would be pretty damn nonexistent.

[Simon_L]

Yeah it would seem that way, is there an actual heaven in the bleach universe, if there were i'd find the other world scenario of soul society acceptable, i mean come on you get hell but no heaven what a piss-take that is.

[Tidusauron12]

Originally Posted by Simon_L

Yeah it would seem that way, is there an actual heaven in the bleach universe, if there were i'd find the other world scenario of soul society acceptable, i mean come on you get hell but no heaven what a piss-take that is.

Well, to tell the truth, the Bleach scenario of 'heaven and earth' works out pretty well. There has to be a balance between the dead and the living. People who die in the SS wind up as humans again on Earth, and Soul Reapers send the dead on Earth back to SS. It's an endless cycle, and it works out. Personally, I would like that system better than... um, well whatever system RL works off of. Oh well, I always have hope that I'll eventually become a soul reaper... maybe... someday.

[Vaikyuko]

Hell is specifically reserved for those souls with deeds too unutterably horrible to say in life, basically, so you're going to get a lot of people in SS and not too many in Hell in comparison; Hell is basically the prison of the afterlife, trying to make life better for the rest.

Unfortunately, that makes no sense since there's new evil guys every other second and the "reincarnation" when you die in the real world and/or in SS are loosely defined if defined at all. So if you keep your personality, and all the bad souls are rooted out in Hell, why are there still bad souls around? If you don't keep your personality, then it is statistically possible that every soul will go to Hell at some point, etc.

Bleach has holes in the way it works, don't bother questioning them.

[Tidusauron12]

Originally Posted by Treize X Magamin

Bleach has holes in the way it works, don't bother questioning them.

Yeah, you're right... 0_o

[Sushikins]

Maybe they're released from hell after a set time...ah who cares...just get back to the fighting...

[Simon_L]

Originally Posted by Tidusauron12

People who die in the SS wind up as humans again on Earth, and Soul Reapers send the dead on Earth back to SS. It's an endless cycle.

I did not know that thank you, that seems to make some kinda sense, ahh well i don't usually pick holes in anime as they are unavoidable just this one really bugged me lol

[Tidusauron12]

Originally Posted by Sushi-X

Maybe they're released from hell after a set time...ah who cares...just get back to the fighting...

Yeah, those thoughts ran through my mind, but then I was like: "Hey, they never said anything like that in the anime (yet), so what the hell?"

Originally Posted by Simon_L

I did not know that thank you, that seems to make some kinda sense, ahh well i don't usually pick holes in anime as they are unavoidable just this one really bugged me lol

You're welcome.

[Talon]

Originally Posted by Treize X Magamin

Bleach has holes in the way it works, don't bother questioning them.

People fall through plot holes when they are killed.

[goddessofanime]

Originally Posted by Simon_L

ok so i've just started watching bleach and i'm up to episode 33 and i'm starting to have a serious problem with the concept of soul society, so it was established that wicked souls in life would get sent to hell, ok makes sense and good souls get sent to soul society after soul buriel or whatever, why on earth does soul society just seem so much like life when it is supposed to be heaven?
By example i mean rukia and renji growing up in a down-trodden town and trying to make their LIVES better by becoming death gods wtf.

I always thought that basically the concept of the SS follows the Buddhist/Shinto tradition of once you die, you are born again.

Though I'm trying to figure out if Hueco Mundo is supposed to be the Hell or purgatory perhaps?

[Talon]

Originally Posted by goddessofanime

Though I'm trying to figure out if Hueco Mundo is supposed to be the Hell or purgatory perhaps?

I think Hueco Mundo is just another world where the hollows reside. Kind of like a Soul Society for hollows. Since not all hollows are evil, not all of them are sent to hell.

Hell is where evil souls are sent for punishment, whether they be hollow, human, or shinigami.

[Aya Nakamura]

I was wondering about soul society too like do you appear the same age that you died or do you just like grow up again and if so what happens when a shinigami dies? do the go to another version of soul society or something?

[Vaikyuko]

Originally Posted by Aya Nakamura

I was wondering about soul society too like do you appear the same age that you died or do you just like grow up again and if so what happens when a shinigami dies? do the go to another version of soul society or something?

Shinigami die and are reincarnated as humans. It was mentioned somewhere (possibly Memories of Nobody, which is non-canon) that you don't retain your memories from when you die, so I would presume it goes like this:

Born as human --> death --> either SS or become Hollow --> if SS, then no memories but rejuvenated youth? --> death --> reborn as "new" human.

It doesn't really make sense, but then again this hasn't really been covered by Kubo yet. Souls apparently live for a longer time (sometimes in excess of 1K+ years, as in Yamamoto's case...at least, IIRC he was 1K+), but still die.

[Sushikins]

Yamamoto is at least 2000 years old, that is when he founded the Shinigami Academy, and keep in mind, during flashbacks to back then, he still didn't look young. Then again, maybe he just died old...