Bleach calendar wank
So, there's this Bleach calendar, and it's released by Studio Pierrot, and it features the cast drawn as various figures from Japanese history.

But Bleach fans can't seem to decide whether Orihime is dressed as a generic samurai's wife, or Murasaki Shikibu, author of The Tale of Genji. Likewise, is Rukia a geisha or Atsuhime?

It is very, very important that Bleach fans resolve this, not least because there are about a million manifestos dedicated to whether Ichigo belongs with Orihime or Rukia. WE'VE GOT MONEY RIDING ON THIS, OKAY?

(Note: FWIW, you can see some of the costumes by scrolling through this post.)

The wank report here goes over most of the ensuing furor (and spawns its own wank, which is worth looking at). Basically, IchiHime and IchiRuki fans bicker as to which character is who and can therefore be used as fodder for the shipwars. Some of them even tweet Kubo to demand that he weight in (he is not a history buff and apparently has no idea, as he didn't draw the images). Unfortunately, either comments were deleted or I just fail at wading through 2000+ pages of shipgushing, so here are some snippets:

* Chrysanthemums are prostitute flowers. *pearlclutch*:
"The primary reason why I say she looks like a 'prostitute' was because of the chrysanthemum flowers. Why because these are the flowers that made people give comments like 'she's so feminine!!', 'she's so beautiful!!' 'she's so sensual'. It isn't the clothes that make her everything you say about her.....it's the flowers."

* Yulie-ana's brain leakings:
"Orihime, on the other hand, is dorky, artistic, imaginative, and eccentric. She has crazy ideas, she has weird logic, she has interesting dreams. Overall, costplaying as a writer, and a famous one for that matter, really compliments her personality. So, why oh why must she be a bloody samurai's wife?"

...Wait, was that a thread of logic in there?

* "Even after the gentle, angelic Orihime drew her future self as a laser shooting robot, instead of being pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen, they still have to bring that into the argument under the pretense that just because she didn't say she wants to be a wife, that doesn't mean she wouldn't be happy with that. Technically, it's true, but that would also mean that Orihime can, technically, move to Spain and become a bull fighter, because anything is possible, right?"

Nope, lost it.

* VALIDATION FROM KUBO okay kind of maybe maybe not

* "Oh look, even the painting of AtsuHime totally makes her look like geisha, eh? Bloated Kimono, a letter, hair ornaments and she even painted her lips! Now I wonder what kind of excuse in denial haters have now to insist she's a geisha? Thank you for finding the drawing of Atsu-Hime, Debbie. I cannot stop staring at Rukia picture from a calendar. She looks really gorgeous and elegant. We need more graphics out of this picture and squee how she's a princess."

* ...okay, maybe they're all dressed as characters from NHK dramas.

And finally, a sample tweet from a Kubo fan about the matter:


For the record, I think those tweets above and below are saying things like, "Good morning, sensei!" and "I ate yummy rollcake at Tully's!"