Comments
End of Soul Society arc spoilers below:
It's true, there is actually a lot of foreshadowing of Byakuya not being as cold hearted as he seems. He spared everyone he ever fought in this arc, he never went to finish them off. Ichigo, Ganju, Renji. and Ichigo again. In all 4 cases there was an opportunity for him to kill them, but the fact that he didn't kill them suggests he showed mercy whether conscious or subconsciously. Of course he would never show mercy to them if they were ACTUALLY trying to destroy Soul Society, but they were all fighting him to save Rukia (his beloved sister) which is likely the reason he spared them. Some might even say Byakuya shattering Ichigo's soul chain and soul sleep in the world of the living was to prevent him from invading the Soul Society and being fruitlessly killed in battle. None of this is confirmed, but after finding out the kind of man he really was I don't think it's out of the question.
It's true, there is actually a lot of foreshadowing of Byakuya not being as cold hearted as he seems. He spared everyone he ever fought in this arc, he never went to finish them off. Ichigo, Ganju, Renji. and Ichigo again. In all 4 cases there was an opportunity for him to kill them, but the fact that he didn't kill them suggests he showed mercy whether conscious or subconsciously. Of course he would never show mercy to them if they were ACTUALLY trying to destroy Soul Society, but they were all fighting him to save Rukia (his beloved sister) which is likely the reason he spared them. Some might even say Byakuya shattering Ichigo's soul chain and soul sleep in the world of the living was to prevent him from invading the Soul Society and being fruitlessly killed in battle. None of this is confirmed, but after finding out the kind of man he really was I don't think it's out of the question.
It makes sense that people are not dying. Soul Reapers are harder to kill than humans, so they can incapacitate each other without killing. Keep in mind the goals of every character. In all of these fights, killing the opponent was not necessary to achieve a character's goals at all. Byakuya's goal was not to kill Renji, he just wanted to stop him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have even bothered to give Renji the chance to give up or left him alive at the end. Same with Ichigo and Byakuya, their goals were both directly related to Rukia's execution not the death of their opponent.
You say Ichigo should just kill Byakuya, but that's not in character for him and it's not smart either. I think you might have the idea that Soul Society is some evil organization that should just be killed off like in other anime, but it's not like that. They aren't "the bad guys". Byakuya is Rukia's brother, and Rukia loves him despite him not trying to stop the execution. Ichigo would not want to kill her only family if he could avoid it. Byakuya gave his word, and Ichigo could probably sense his sincerity. Byakuya was also half-dead, he was not gonna catch up to Renji at that point.
On top of that, it's not wise to kill a captain. That will only worsen Ichigo's future relations with Soul Society. His goal is to save Rukia, and to somehow smooth things over with Soul Society so that they don't come to hunt him and his friends down immediately afterward. He doesn't want an all-out war with Soul Society, he would never win and Rukia wouldn't want that either.
You say Ichigo should just kill Byakuya, but that's not in character for him and it's not smart either. I think you might have the idea that Soul Society is some evil organization that should just be killed off like in other anime, but it's not like that. They aren't "the bad guys". Byakuya is Rukia's brother, and Rukia loves him despite him not trying to stop the execution. Ichigo would not want to kill her only family if he could avoid it. Byakuya gave his word, and Ichigo could probably sense his sincerity. Byakuya was also half-dead, he was not gonna catch up to Renji at that point.
On top of that, it's not wise to kill a captain. That will only worsen Ichigo's future relations with Soul Society. His goal is to save Rukia, and to somehow smooth things over with Soul Society so that they don't come to hunt him and his friends down immediately afterward. He doesn't want an all-out war with Soul Society, he would never win and Rukia wouldn't want that either.
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