sincere | In Rangiku's head

green_and_warty was interested in hearing me analyze Rangiku, so. Some of this is paraphrased from my sample application for her, which is where all the analysis started, and from conversations with

libekory.

Rangiku is, first and foremost, a woman who loves her creature comforts. She loves shopping, and expensive clothes and trinkets, and making other people pay for them. (What else is that Soul Society charge card for??) Her hobby is taking long naps, and she spends a lot of her spare time drinking, especially if she can make other people pay for her booze. (For this reason, Shuuhei and Kyouraku are her favorite drinking buddies -- she can always get them to fork up the cash.) She'll also spend a lot of her work time drinking, if you don't keep an eye on her.

So, drinking. Whenever we see Rangiku, she's always either at work and lurking behind Hitsugaya, wherever she is, or drinking with friends. (The Bleach Official Bootleg just keeps talking about how she gets drunk with different groups of people. Her division, the 8th division, Shuuhei, etc.) Drinking seems to be her excuse for being social, for not thinking, because on those rare occasions when we do see her alone, she's usually being pensive -- even if she's only en route to somewhere else, she seems... deflated when she's by herself. (E.g when she leaves Hinamori's cell, we only see her alone for about twelve seconds, but she's already being depressed by her own thoughts about what just happened.)

Rangiku seems to be a somewhat pensive person, when left to her own devices. She fixes this problem by not being left to her own devices -- by being drunk whenever convenient, and with other people whenever not.

Oh, and by the way, Rangiku is not a slut. She is, however, reasonably slutty. Yeah, she knows she's the hottest thing in Seireitei, she knows that guys appreciate her... assets. She's not shy about using them, to the point of apparently being willing to strip down in exchange for the right to stay at Ichigo's house when he was chasing everyone else out into the street. She's utterly shameless, talks about her breasts pretty freely and is willing to show them off! :D

But I don't think she's really as much of a slut as guys of her acquaintance would like. Shuuhei and Iba worship her, but from afar -- Shuuhei in particular lives for her good opinion, and if he could tap that anytime (and if any of her admirers, it'd be him) then I doubt he'd be so crushed when she criticized his writing (as related in the Bleach Official Bootleg). He wouldn't worry so much about her opinion of each aspect of his life if she was sleeping with him unconditionally, right? But all the power in this relationship is in her hands, which implies that he's not getting any, which implies that she probably has sex when the whimsy hits her, but she's not promiscuous.

Which brings us to Rangiku's emotional hangups.

Gin: We know that Gin saved her life when they were children, and that she lived with him, probably for years. During this period, he was the center of her life -- she even decided to celebrate her birthday on the anniversary of the day that they met. You wouldn't even be stretching to suggest that they had sex during this time -- they were young, but there only seems to be one futon in their tiny shack, and he woke her when he left in the middle of the night.

But regardless of whether or not they were sexually active, there's no question that her world revolved around him. And he walked out, left without a word, without telling her where he was going... That's his "bad habit," she says.

Rangiku doesn't seem to be under any delusions that Gin is a good person. She doesn't understand his motivations, but she also doesn't pretend that he isn't capable of horrible things. It doesn't surprise her to think that Gin murdered Aizen, even though the two men had once been close. But... a part of her still seems to be like that little girl, gazing after him and wondering if this time...

What it boils down to is that Rangiku has no power in this relationship. (In her own eyes, anyway. She affects Gin more than he'd admit -- except inasmuch as it keeps her hoping. But that's his hangups, not hers.) Gin has hurt her, abandoned her, and she's still waiting for him to come back.

Rangiku doesn't like that. Who likes that? So Rangiku makes sure that her relationships with other men aren't like her relationship with Gin.

Kira?: These are two people who understand each other, and Rangiku's compassionate nature kicks in. Gin has hurt Kira -- not like he's hurt Rangiku, but deliberate little breaks and cruelties -- and Rangiku understands that, wants to help him. They can drink together, commiserate loudly and drunkenly, and not have to worry about the ghosts that haunt them both when they're alone and sober.

But venting with him doesn't make her vulnerable. Rangiku is still the stronger person here. Kira is broken, recovering only slowly, barely able to smile half the time, it seems. Rangiku is the one who takes him places, prods him to get out sometimes instead of burying himself in paperwork.

In short, she's allowing him into a private part of her life, but... he still doesn't have any power over her.

Hitsugaya?: It wouldn't surprise me if Hitsugaya grows up to shape Rangiku's perception of the ideal man. (I'm sorry, crazy people, this will have to wait for him to grow up.) He's a real hero -- noble, confident, strong, self-sacrificing, protective, with the will and capacity to lead. Her world revolves around him inasmuch as it revolves around anyone these days. She seeks his opinions out and trusts them; she's loyal, devoted, and would do anything for him other than paperwork. Why wouldn't she want a man like him?

But I also think that a large part of the reason why she'd want a man like him is because he's safe. She can admire a man like him, because... well, because Hitsugaya isn't interested in her. He doesn't blush or get flustered when she's pressed up against him, when her breasts are practically or literally surrounding his head, and it's not that he's not aware of her sexually. (He tells Hinamori specifically, "You'll need to sleep for ten years straight to look as good as Matsumoto," so he knows that she's attractive! He just doesn't care.) He's also a little fixated on Hinamori: he joined the academy because he followed her there; he learned Hyourinmaru's name because he wanted to protect her; he will flip the fuck out if you hurt her or are responsible for her getting hurt. The Bleach Official Bootleg emphasizes that the only time he stops thinking rationally is when Hinamori is involved.

So... he's safe. Hitsugaya doesn't want her. He wants Hinamori. And even if he did want her, I think that would... disappoint Rangiku. He would stop being this ideal, this picture-perfect man. He'd be... just like everyone else.

It's not healthy. But I feel like that's what she'd want. And that makes sense, of course. If Hitsugaya really wanted to, he could change her life, the way Gin did -- he'd have power over her. And that's scary.

Shuuhei??: Back to Shuuhei. Canonically, he has a crush on Rangiku. I mean an immense crush on her. He buys her whatever she asks, fantasizes about being her hero, does things hoping she'll be impressed, and is crushed if she thinks poorly of him -- the Bleach Official Bootleg relates an anecdote about how the series he's writing for the newspaper has declined in quality, and she sent in a bad review, and he locked himself in his office and refused to come out for three days.

In short, Rangiku has all the power. She can afford to be very comfortable with him, because he'd do anything for her -- taking advantage of him (I'm not going to lie) and hanging out with him and calling him by his first name (and she's not on first-name basis with a lot of people). He's not threatening, so why not?

It doesn't have to stay that way forever. There is a potential that Shuuhei will become the kind of man who frightens her -- powerful, secure, in control of his life and still admiring her, seeking her out -- and that it could sneak up on her, so that she's still comfortable with him when he's no longer wrapped so tightly around her fingers.

But the point remains that right now, her relationship with Shuuhei underlines that Rangiku is... maybe a little scared of relationships she doesn't have the power over. She shies away from stronger men, who could hurt her the way Gin has, who could change her life, unless she knows that she's safe with them. (Kyouraku, for instance: he plays up the fool enamored of any woman who'll look his way, but he isn't, really, and she'd probably be nervous if he turned the insight behind those bleary eyes on her. She's happy enough to shunt him off to Nanao and keep her flirting to men who aren't... scary.) Instead she chooses to be the unattainable goal, casual flings carefully chosen.

Interesting stuff. That's my take on Rangiku and her relationships.

(If anyone wants more details about things I mentioned about the Bleach Official Bootleg, just ask. I have more than half the divisions translated at this point, and will be posting them when I'm done with all of them.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

..... I think I love you alot now. <3

♥! I'm glad you enjoyed. I adore Rangiku, but I adore so many of the Bleach females... XD

Hehehee! I like Nanao myself, mostly her interactions with Shunsui. I

have this fic in my head where he serenades her from under a balcony while playing the ukelele and Ukitake got talked into accompanying on tambourine. She will be torn between being flattered and dropping a flower pot on his head.

That was really interesting to read. ♥ for Rangiku! One of these for Orihime would be interesting, as well. XD

Hmm, Orihime~ A lot of the misconceptions about her are stupider than the ones about Rangiku. (e.g. "Rangiku is stupid/a slut!" is a more understandable error than "Orihime is a slut!" because lfkjgdljg canon says you're fucking retarded)

I could dissect her relationships, and I'd love to address her reaction to Hollow!Ichigo. XD It would be fun.

I'm glad you liked Rangiku's, though. XD

(Oh, lol, fandom. Sorry but big breasts =/= whore.)

Yeah XD and god knows she gets enough shit about her reaction to Hollow Ichigo. Everything she's done in this arc seems to be a mistake to people - why she let herself be beaten up by Loly and Menoly, why she only thanked Ichigo for coming to save her, why she needed reassurance from Nel about Ichigo, what's going on with her resolve to destroy the Hougyoku, etc. and I have my own thoughts about these but augh class in a bit and I gotta run.

Out of all these, though, I think the best reaction to Orihime in this arc is that she's going to become evil. Just .... what????

It was an interesting read. XD

Seconding Orihime! :)

And then you married me, you and all your insight *____*. ♥ Thanks very much for this! Ahaha, and for ending our endless babble. I have an inability to just stop.

Not having given much thought to Rangiku (most of my in-depth analysis tends to gravitate toward those I happen to pick up for role-play... or, not, toward characters I end up playing, or don't, I can't even make a blanket statement here, just that I haven't for Rangiku), this was great. And works completely, dlmdaskf yes. Drinking, NOT A SLUT, relationships.

I'd love to see you PLAY Rangiku, too. ... Bleach Bootleg yes plz.

I'd be playing as Rangiku (also Aizen) in the RP you saw mentioned elsewhere on my LJ, so one of the sample applications that's up there is the one I wrote for her. The application is in an unusual format (tell us about your character's personality, then tell us about your character's relationships, even non-canon ones, to demonstrate how much you know about them/can extrapolate about them) so I wound up writing about Rangiku's thoughts on Gin, Hitsugaya, and Nanao, and that really got me thinking about her relationships. I'd never seen Hitsugaya/Rangiku seriously before, but suddenly I thought, yeah, she might like him, but that doesn't mean it's going to be a pairing. I don't think she'd like him as much if it were one.

So yeah, I totally know the feeling of a character you look at for RP gaining a lot of depth. XD But I'm happy you liked it and thought it worked, lalala.

On the bootleg I'm done with the division sections for the 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 13th, and I'm mostly done with the 11th. I've been too lazy/too busy writing to continue translating, but I'll try and kick it back into gear tonight, because I want everyone to see these. XD (Nanao-Hinamori is so adorable. They like have their own private book club!)

I dropped by your journal after reading your Ichigo-Renji-Iba-Ikkaku fic, and after reading this and other posts, I gotta say again: I really love your characterisation of the Bleach cast. Rangiku's one of my favourite Bleach characters despite my dislike of boob-flaunting in general because she's just so much more than a sexy blonde--that's the main appeal of a lot of Bleach characters, actually, being more than their stereotypic images. I like the analysis on her extrovert side, that when she's alone, we always see her pensive (after Hinamori's cell, before Kira apologize, outside Orihime's apartment). I wonder if there's anyone she shows her weak side to.

(Btw, you know the form thing from the Official Bootleg with the ugly drawings of Hisagi's face? Was that Rangiku's review? I've always wondered what they say because no one seem to be interested in translating them...)

I'm really glad that you're enjoying my writing and all! I like to think that characterization is one of my strong points, because I love analyzing and dissecting the canon. XD Rangiku is one of my favorites as well, although that doesn't say much because I adore a lot of Bleach characters -- but she is so much more than "that cheap floozy with the huge rack". I had fun analyzing her solitary behavior and little neuroses.

(That's a good catch; I haven't looked at that particular image in ages, but you are correct. XD It's Rangiku's review. I'll poke at it when I have more time, but basically she contributed that she found "Teach me, Shuuhei-sensei!!" to be idiotic, just give it up already, etc, (but also she thinks it's kind of cute). She tried several times to draw a picture of Shuuhei to give him some cute words of advice, but apparently didn't like her drawings, so she just scribbled them out and wrote "Keep trying, Shuuhei!" with lots of heartmarks and squiggly lines around it. It's adorable.)

Hi, I was just browsing through your journal but I really loved your analysis of Matsumoto, she is a lot deeper than I first thought admittedly and this analysis just backs it up. Mind I friend you?

Hi! Of course you're welcome to. I'm happy to make friends who appreciate my rambling. XD

Thanks, :friends:

You don't know me, but I am in awe of the depth of this analysis. Do you mind if I friend? You seem an interesting and thoughtful person...

You're very welcome to friend, of course! I'm glad you enjoyed it, since I love analyzing things. :3

Great summary and ideas :)
And that took me a lot of time till I found chapter Rangiku comforts Orihime ^^ It will be aroun 199 chapter, now I know ^^

In Rangiku's head

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