The manga did have a lot of Ichigo x Inoue already a lot in the original manga but never that strong. I'd say Kubo wasn't aiming at romance but the other staff members from the anime were confused as heck when you revise the ending sequences of the movie shipping.
Rukia and Renji had at least a backstory in the early volumes but the anime completely removed that in favor of Ichigo x Rukia content. The anime sure liked shipping.
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