In the world ofBleach, the Soul Society represents the afterlife that most people will get to experience when they die. However, despite its portrayal by characters in the series, the Soul Society is no “heaven,” and the darkest parts of its world prove it.
In chapter 12 ofBleach, Rukia describes the Soul Society to a ghost that she’s about to send to the afterlife. “Don’t worry, the Soul Society is a nice place. You’ll never be hungry, and you’ll be happy.” It paints a rosy picture of the Soul Society, to be sure, and since fans haven’t yet seen the Soul Society at this point in the series, there’s no reason to doubt her. However, even Rukia knew she was lying when she said that, based upon her own personal history in the Soul Society.
Bleach’s Soul Society is Stricken With Inequality
The Soul Society is Divided Heavily by Class
It’s true that souls in the Soul Society feel no hunger, as they have no need to eat any longer. But being happy? That’s a whole different issue altogether.Rukia’s past in the Soul Society begins around 150 years before the start ofBleach, when she died as a human and came to the Soul Society with her sister, who soon abandoned her. Rukia lived in the Rukongai, an impoverished sector of the Soul Society where the bulk of souls exist. The Rukongai is enormous, consisting of over 320 districts that are all heavily populated, making it near-impossible for people to be reunited with their families.
Rukia lived on the streets until falling in with Renji’s group, creating a found family of sorts. Districts of the Rukongai with higher numbers are often lawless, anarchic places where might makes right, and people have to steal and kill to survive. The spiritual pressure created by powerful beings, such asSoul Reaper captains, can cause souls to pass out just from being in their vicinity, particularly those who are weak already. Rukia and Renji were able to escape this life thanks to their naturally high spiritual power, allowing them to become Soul Reapers and live better.
Rukia is far from the only Soul Reaper to come from the Rukongai, but most of the Soul Reapers are aristocrats who come from the Seireitei. The Seireitei is closely guarded to keep those in the Rukongai out, and, comparatively speaking, is a near-paradise. Only Soul Reapers and members of the Soul Society’s noble houses live here, so things are peaceful. However, this disparity between the Rukongai and the Seireitei is worse than almost any real world country’s inequality, and one’s experience in the Soul Society is going to vary radically depending on where they are.
The Soul Society Has Committed Unforgivable Sins
In The Name of Preserving the Status Quo, The Soul Society Has Done Horrible Things
Most souls in the Soul Society are merely living lives as before, unaware of what the Soul Reapers and noble houses are up to. That, however, doesn’t change the fact that the Soul Society has done some very questionable things over the centuries, and some things that are very obviously evil.The Soul Society launched a campaign of extermination against the Quincy, for example, because Quincy powers disrupt the balance of souls flowing into the Soul Society by destroying Hollows. The Soul Society also dismembered its own god, the Soul King, in order to maintain the status quo.
Those things happened a long time ago, but there are still lots of bad things going on in the Soul Society, with Head Captain Yamamoto’s tacit permission.The most obvious case would be Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the Soul Reapers' resident mad scientist, who makes it clear that he enjoys torturing his experimentation subjects. He doesn’t even treat his own “daughter” Nemu very well, often physically abusing her and berating her. Mayuri was allowed to do effectively whatever he wanted to Quincy and Hollow test subjects, killing them when no longer useful and subjugating the rest.
Even before Mayuri, there was Urahara, who had plenty of sketchy experiments of his own to his name. Urahara was familiar with the dangerous process of cutting the soul chain, for example, something which would normally never be done. Aizen also preyed upon the weak for his own experimentation in creating Soul Reaper/Hollow hybrids, taking souls from the Rukongai and experimenting upon them. While Yamamoto had no knowledge of Aizen’s experiments, they did know someone was experimenting like this, and very little was done to protect the residents of Rukongai from this fate.
Is Becoming a Hollow Really Worse Than Soul Society?
The Soul Society Isn’t the Only Option for an Afterlife
Of course, inBleach, one doesn’t always go to the Soul Society. Souls that remain on Earth can grow resentful of what they’ve lost, and slowly turn into Hollows, defined by a hole in their body where their heart once was. Hollows are horrible creatures that strive to fill the impossible emptiness they feel, and will kill and devour their original families first, preventing their souls from entering Soul Society as well.Hollows can also go to another world, known as Hueco Mundo, a quiet, empty land of eternal night occupied entirely by monsters.
There is one other option: Hell.Those who have committed heinous acts in life, as well as those who have grown too powerful to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation, are sent to Hell, a terrible place of suffering which the manga has barely explored. Fans are eager to learn more about Hell, which featured inBleach’s anniversary one-shot, but suffice it to say it’s not an option most would choose.
It seems that unless one is particularly lucky, the afterlife inBleachis actually quite miserable. One either becomes a monster that kills one’s family, goes to Hell for eternal suffering, or winds up in the Soul Society, living in poverty and anarchy while the wealthy and powerful live it up, just like on Earth. With all that brought into focus, Yhwach’s motivations to recreate the universe from scratch are almost understandable.
