Bleach: Were [SPOILER'S] Marriages Always Meant To Be?

WARNING! Major spoilers for the end of Bleach's manga rest below!

After more than 15 years in print, Tite Kubo finally brought Bleach to an end back in August 2016. The beloved supernatural series wrapped shortly after the manga's 'One-Thousand Year Blood War' arc ended, and fans were anxious to see how Kubo would bring Bleach to a close. Plenty of fans wanted to know how Ichigo Kurosaki would balance his life as a Soul Reaper and a human. And, of course, diehard shippers were dying to know who the orange-haired hero would end up with.

Unfortunately, Ichigo's surprising romance left dozens of fan-wars in its wake.

Chapter 686 of Bleach left fans shocked when it was revealed that Ichigo Kurosaki ended up with Inoue Orihime. Over the years, shipping wars sprung up between fans as they argued over whether Ichigo should end up with Rukia Kuchiki or Inoue. In the end, the latter won Ichigo's heart whilst Rukia ended up with Renji Abarai.

The chapter also touched on other characters like Chad, Karin, and Yuzu. Ichigo's former classmate wound up pursuing a career in heavyweight wrestling while his sisters began to study their spiritual powers in earnest. As for Ishida, the fan-favorite fighter was sadly left out of the chapter alongside other warriors like Nel and Grimmjow.

Still, it was Bleach's sudden marriage bomb that had fans suiting up for Internet warfare. Fans on both sides of Ichigo's shipping debacle argued that Kubo never set up the hero to end up with one girl. And, in some ways, those fans were right; The creator of Bleach was never overly focused on adding romance to the series.

During a visit at San Diego Comic Con, Kubo commented on Bleach's controversial love triangle well before it came to an end. The artist said he was asked about romance a lot, but he wasn't too focused on that kind of storytelling.

"I don't want to make Bleach into a love story because there are much more exciting things about their personalities and things that they can do instead of getting into the romance aspect of their relationships," he said.

However, fans can trace back moments which hint towards Ichigo's romance with Inoue. The latter had a blatant crush on Ichgio during the series, and the Soul Reaper was protective of Inoue. After all, the hero did charge head-first into Arrancar territory to save her after Inoue was kidnapped by Aizen's guard.

As for Rukia, her childhood connection with Renji was a strong indicator that the pair may wind up together. Renji's inability to save Rukia when she was first threatened with execution soured fans to the red-headed vice captain, but Renji worked to prove himself as a strong warrior from that point on.

When it comes down to it, the final chapter of Bleach simply tied up the loose end's of Kubo's canon - but that shouldn't stop fans from having their own take on Ichigo's heart. There are dozens of fanfic sites out there for fans to pair Ichigo with whomever they'd like or even no one at all.

Just, don't pair him with Kon. Fans might have a hard time unseeing that.