Reflection and Analysis

Bleach - Is Isshin Really Kaien's Uncle

Now, hear me out. I've been waiting some time to be proven wrong on this, because this is what the majority of fandom believes, and I've never had a problem continuing with my non-canon headcanon.

And--

So, first, we got in the Anime what we got from the Manga, so, aka, neither the Anime nor the Manga actually says that Isshin is the uncle. It's assumed, and there's a whole issue in that, something I covered at the time, well, sort of, which I'll get into in a bit, but--

Well, supposedly this was confirmed in a Light Novel that there is no official English translation for, that Isshin supposedly mentions hearing about his nephews death and being saddened, but it's worded as if Isshin is actually in the Light Novel -- 

Only the Bleach Wiki doesn't list him as a character in WE DO knot ALWAYS LOVE YOU.

Don't get me started on how one of my issues with the epilogue is there no sign of Isshin being a doted grandfather, how ODD that is, given how he dotes on Karin and Yuzu. 

But I'm struggling to confirm this.

As for what is the Anime and Manga?

Well, there is an "uncle" mentioned, no telling if it is Isshin, and he's according to fandom a part of a branch family which is supported by the English subtitles and dub for the Anime, though I'm not sure given what we've learned about localizers and agendas if this isn't one of those places where there wasn't an agenda, because I kind of felt this way with the raw scanlations back then, which I read so as to not get spoiled because I got spoiled bad by some idiot popping a story that one could tell was a spoiler in the fanfic feed.

Yeah, so...

There's this thing where fandom struggles to wrap it's head around the idea of Isshin being family head before Kaien, Kaien being next and Kukaku next, or vice versa it going Kaien, Isshin and Kukaku. The former is more likely. So they insisted he had to be a head of a branch family, because the main branch isn't, well, a main branch, but they said the "uncle" referred to Isshin, when it could have easily referred to Kyoraku or Ukitake, but--

Uh, just watch Summer Wars where there is a major age gap between siblings and the younger half-sibling does in fact call his elder siblings aunt and uncle, before insisting further on this, but the main branch is still a branch. 

But to quote something I wrote back in 2014, "There is another line that causes people to think this way though. The first translation of the line is "I know you're a branch, but if the head of the Shiba family behaves like that it will affect the honor of the main household too!" The other translation happens to be, "I know you're not from a lesser branch, but if the head of the Shiba house continues to act in this manner you'll do irreparable damage to the main branch!" People tossed out the second translation because it didn't make any sense and went with the first translation because it went with the theory that Isshin was the Uncle as he would have been a branch."

I think the original one might have said "head of the "Shiba branch family", but it may not have. More importantly, someone provided the kanji and I did my own translation and struggled in getting to the first translation because there was this definite "not" statement in there that gets completely left out of the first translation that still baffles me, but at the end of the day, the idea that it had to be the first had to do with the favored headccanon within the fandom and the fact the second translation debunked a theory.

Sort of. It more of has to do with the timing of Isshin's disssapearance, about whether it happened before or after Kaien and how headship couldn't possibly have gone through not two people (Kaien and Kukuku), but a third, Isshin.

But, more importantly, Isshin being a branch doesn't rule him out as a sibling.

Which, I could find myself proven wrong if and when a translation of the Light Novel comes out, becuase that's supposidly where the pudding is, only I'm not sure given Isshin isn't listed as a character.

It's kind of why I'm writing up a series of essays on the Todorki family and Japanese culture along with the misconceptions on AO3 because I saw a similar confusion in the Bleach fandom.