Intro: Geez, I'm only ten episodes in for an over 300 episode series, and I'm already shipping something?! That's pure talent right there. Too bad I was spoiled... then again, in this case, I think the spoilers were a good thing for once.
Proof: From what I heard, about 95% of the entire series builds up this romance. There were cute moments, arguments, angst, all that good stuff that makes a ship a great one. But... like many of the greats, it fell to a canon.
For inexplicably no reason, Ichiruki is not canon. Seriously. While the girl Ichigo ends up with was confirmed early on in the series to have a crush on him (even though we're never given a reason why)... That really doesn't compare to the innumerable amount of moments Ichigo and Rukia have.
See, in a series where a ship is teased from, almost literally, the very beginning, fans sorta expect that ship to be endgame. It's a no brainer for anyone who understands basic storytelling. But when you have over 300 episodes of buildup, just to pull the rug out from under it makes absolutely no sense.
You can tell that I'm pretty salty that I found out that the ship I was just introduced to and really starting to like is not endgame. Doesn't help that I learned that the ending itself was really crappy too.
What I think: I haven't watched the entire series yet, but I'm really mad that Ichiruki is not endgame. But hey, I'll see moments, squeal, and not care about the canon.
All I'm really doing is hoping and praying that Trollshima doesn't pull a Bleach on us with Fairy Tail. Like, after all that buildup for Nalu, he just makes Nali canon. Nalu fans, if that happens, you will understand the Ichiruki pain.
