No I did not notice that! I will have to go back and look again.....and don't think he will kill him off just yet...it will either be right before Ippo has his title match, during or right after it. And Takamru will probably struggle in his next weight class trying to take the belt and we will see a deeper insight of what is going on with his eyes.

Is that why the IH fanbase in Japan is nonexistent? X.X

Japan had freakin' IchiRuki festivals, man. lol.

I haven't talked much about my opinion on this whole thing, but here's what I think.  What made me (and many others) think that IR would happen is how Rukia was always getting singled out in relation to Ichigo (and I mean things like Ichigo saying goodbye to her and not the other Shinigami, Rukia noticing that Ichigo's harboring something in chapter 514 when Shinji didn't, being the one to get him out of slumps - something Orihime said she was jealous about, etc.), this pretty much stopped early on in this arc after chapter 514. The last thing you can remotely call IR related were the Everything but the Rain chapters, with the parallel going on there. Since that, there's been a lack of Ichigo/Rukia interaction. Their bond, whether it was love or friendship, was the most developed one in the series, and that's why I find it extremely OOC of Ichigo to not visit Rukia's promotion ceremony. That shows a disconnection from Soul Society, something that goes against the FB and early TYBW arcs' themes, but that's another story.

On another note, here's a classic Bleach meme

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T-T

In general I agree, and I think a lot of the readers miss that point, though I have seen cases where an author loses focus or shifts his plan, which I would argue can be objectively wrong, assuming it contradicts the main theme. A story should always maintain a certain level of consistency, after all. Not calling out specific examples...just in general.

With Ichi/Ruki, I think some of the bitterness is justified, since most of the story was about their relationship, and they easily had the strongest bond out of all the characters. Even in the last chapter, Ichigo and Rukia's partners were basically non-existent, and most of the chapter was focused and Ichigo and Rukia's reunion. I guess where Ichi/Ruki fans were wrong is in assuming that bond had to blossom into romance, when Kubo seemed to have no interest in writing anything explicit there. He only really added pairings in order to have kids appear in the end, which is why I can't really see why anything is worth celebrating exactly.

Keep in mind that I preferred Orihime to Rukia, this is just how I see it objectively.

And not to get nitpicky, but Shounen is a demographic, not a genre. :P I get your overall point though.

Nice :)  what yugioh series are you watching if you don't mind me asking?

Yeah I can see Takamura's case happening very soon to give Ippo the push he needs. Kamogawa dying will probably be at the very end when he's fighting  or is gonna fight Ricardo Martinez. It would be pretty awesome if Takamura became Ippo's Second for that last fight :o

And it would be really tight if that happens! Because it will be like it was when he first came to the gym! The coach maybe in the hospital or something watching or in the crowd and Takamaru as his second! I can see that coming full circle!

I started reading Berserk, and I can't stop.

Morikawa make this happen!

One Piece: Wow, Gear Fourth hasn't taken this guy down yet. I wonder how much longer Luffy can keep it up...I'm sure he has to have another trick up his sleeve.

Lots of other things in motion. Seems like the Vinsmokes have a super sentai theme. Sanji "Black"? 

And what's going on with Shanks? The Red-Hair pirates are at wedding in some ruins? Need to think about this...   

Hero Academia: Ahhh...it's cute how Deku knows Ochako so well. He's showing some real improvement too. I hope the real Ochako shows up next time...I want to see her be as awesome as Deku makes her out to be.

Sexy girl has morphing powers...this could be bad. Curious how he'll get out of this one. 

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Kinda late...but Gin being topical.

That's probably going to happen...though I hope she gets a cool fight alongside Deku while she's at it. I love the pairing, but I also want to see her get another badass moment like during the Tournament. Turning her into pairing fodder would be dissapointing IMO.