A little rant on Sui-Feng

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A/N: I wrote this because I'm pissed. There are too much Yuri/Shoujo-ai stories about Soi Fon, and it really pisses me off. First of all, she's not a lesbian maybe she swings both ways but who knows but she's not a full lesbo, second of all neither is Yoruichi and last but not least it's getting old. YoruFon is getting very very very old. Pair her up with Aizen or even Tesla for all I care, no more Yuri. I'm beginning to detest Yuri just because of this.

This is the author's note from a fic in ff.net ("Soi Song Shots", by SuppaOtaku); it's silly, but it made me think of how I have little interest in Sui-Feng if we are to take her relationship with Yoruichi out of the picture - well, at least when it comes to fanfics; I'd love to see her appear again in the manga for any amount of time, doing anything with anyone. Actually, I just started trying to catch up with Bleach, so I don't know if she has showed up again yet.

First I thought that I'm probably neglecting other aspects of Sui-Feng's character, and that maybe I don't like her as much as I thought I did. But when I thought better about it, I came to the conclusion that, as it stands, everything in the manga so far only shows how Yoruichi is somehow related to her every thought and action. I can accept her not being a lesbian, or even her having a romantic relationship with someone else (male or female), but it seems there's absolutely no way to have Sui-Feng in character in a fic in which Yoruichi plays no part. Also, in the manga, her relationship with Yoruichi (the nature of which is open to interpretation) is her only important issue.

Finally, I think I understand why some people might be pissed at the focus on YoruSui relationship (except for the fact that it's getting old, which is true, but still an odd reason to be pissed at it - Byakuya x Hisana is just as old, but won't ever get less true). Real die-hard Sui-Feng fans should really hate Yoruichi and everything related to her, because she's the biggest flaw on Sui-Feng's character. If we take Yoruichi out of the picture, we have a Sui-Feng that's a powerful warrior, commander of two forces in the Sereitei, who is "cool", looks good, takes no shit from anyone and has her own fan-club (in the omakes) - a perfect Mary-Sui. Add Yoruichi and she's insecure, obsessed, etc. But that's the way she is, and her being that way was what drew me to her character in the first place, so, until Kubo shows other sides of her (unlikely) that's what I'll keep focusing on when I write or read fics about her.

Haha, yeah I saw that AN. It's generally not a good idea to begin your fic by antagonizing the largest population of potential readers or by claiming to know more than everyone else does about the characters.

You can't have Sui-Feng without Yoruichi. It's simply impossible. They are intrinsically related. You could argue about what specifically the nature of that bond is, but at the end of the day it still there.

I take issue with your assertion that "die-hard' Sui-Feng fans should hate Yoruichi because she is the source of all of her flaws. If you are a fan of Sui-Feng who only likes the tough, no-nonsense Captain and hates who she becomes in relation to Yoruichi, then you are not a true Sui-Feng fan. You can't ignore over half of who a character is and call yourself a fan.

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I take issue with your assertion that "die-hard' Sui-Feng fans should hate Yoruichi because she is the source of all of her flaws. If you are a fan of Sui-Feng who only likes the tough, no-nonsense Captain and hates who she becomes in relation to Yoruichi, then you are not a true Sui-Feng fan. You can't ignore over half of who a character is and call yourself a fan.

I actually agree with you; I said that to exemplify people who want only to see the good points of their favourite characters (or people!) and ignore the rest. Mary-Sue writers probably fall into that cathegory. They call themselves "fans" because they can go on and on about how perfect the character is, and can't accept when someone points out their flaws. In the end, they just don't understand the character at all.

I stopped giving any fucks about people like that. It's like Soldier said.

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You can't have Sui-Feng without Yoruichi. It's simply impossible. They are intrinsically related. You could argue about what specifically the nature of that bond is, but at the end of the day it still there.

Same argument for Yoruichi. You can't have Yoruichi without Sui-Feng.

I respect that people don't see YoruSui as a romantic relationship. But to deny that they have a relationship at all or to deny that Yoruichi had no effect on Sui-Feng is just ignorant. Sui-Feng would not be the person she is today if Yoruichi wasn't part of her life.

I wasn't exactly bothered by that AN. It just made me rethink some things.

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Same argument for Yoruichi. You can't have Yoruichi without Sui-Feng.

Yoruichi is a lot harder, to me. We still know very little (if anything at all) about her motivations and issues - unless there's some new information I don't know about. For now, her relationships with Urahara and Sui-Feng and her position as a high noble define her, but you could write about Yoruichi ignoring Sui-Feng's existence if you wanted to. But, to me, she's not yet an interesting character on her own (she's interesting in her relationships with other characters), but she has a lot of potential that Kubo is just wasting.

Anil wrote:

Yoruichi is a lot harder, to me. We still know very little (if anything at all) about her motivations and issues - unless there's some new information I don't know about. For now, her relationships with Urahara and Sui-Feng and her position as a high noble define her, but you could write about Yoruichi ignoring Sui-Feng's existence if you wanted to. But, to me, she's not yet an interesting character on her own (she's interesting in her relationships with other characters), but she has a lot of potential that Kubo is just wasting.

Yeah, it would be easier to sell me on a Sui-Fengless Yoruichi fic than a Yoruichiless Sui-Feng fic. At this point, Yoruichi seems to exist almost in a vacuum. All we really see is how she effects others, and not how they effect her.

Hopefully that'll change though. Sooner rather than later would be nice.

SoldierG65434-2 wrote:

Anil wrote:

Yoruichi is a lot harder, to me. We still know very little (if anything at all) about her motivations and issues - unless there's some new information I don't know about. For now, her relationships with Urahara and Sui-Feng and her position as a high noble define her, but you could write about Yoruichi ignoring Sui-Feng's existence if you wanted to. But, to me, she's not yet an interesting character on her own (she's interesting in her relationships with other characters), but she has a lot of potential that Kubo is just wasting.

Yeah, it would be easier to sell me on a Sui-Fengless Yoruichi fic than a Yoruichiless Sui-Feng fic. At this point, Yoruichi seems to exist almost in a vacuum. All we really see is how she effects others, and not how they effect her.

Hopefully that'll change though. Sooner rather than later would be nice.

One would hope that Yoruichi's conspicuous absence from Fullbringer would lead to greater emphasis on her in whatever comes next, especially since Kubo is still clearly thinking about her (given that he mentioned her in the Q&A on Soi Fon).

Odds are on her absence relating to whatever the next problem is, with speculation ranging from something to do with the Royal Realm (more likely), to my own half-joke theory that Urahara is going to turn (unlikely, but there is precedent for "nice mysterious guy with unclear motivations is actually evil," two times over)