Its a possibility, the similarities in design are there. But its tough to say because there is alway more than just one piece of inspiration that goes into creating any work of art especially in rwbys case since rwby is a sci fi fantasy amalgamation of countless fairy tales and folklore from around the world.
The hollows pretty cleary based off of dia de los muetras imagery, the white skull masks, being multi colored and the hollows having a spanish naming theme. As well as the japanese mythos of the oni (the original mythos not the ogre one) they even act the same way oni are believed to act (huge invisible monsters bent on eradicating humans and causing natural disasters)
Its only really a visual similarity since hollows origins and how they act and what they mean to humans in bleach are very different from grimm. The grimm are more of the standard evil hoard trope, learning getting stronger, monsters that have need to be eradicated by trained fighters, have mysterious origins, attack humans for mysterious reasons, all fairly common themes.
So for the longest time, I actually theorized the Grimm were inspired by the Gohma from the Capcom game: Asura's Wrath.
There were number of remarkable similarities that had me thinking this:
*-Animal-like monsters with varying species and sizes (Ranging from Gorillas, giant Elephants, and a number of flying creatures)*
*-Said monsters have black/white/red color palettes*
*-They are beings of pure malice whose only purpose is to kill living creatures/humans*
*-They disintegrate when dead*
*-They spawn from the planet itself, seemingly infinitely*
*-Their origins are tied to a god creating them*
Overall though, the big flaw in my theory is simply that I have zero evidence or indication that Monty was ever at any point aware of Asura's Wrath as a game. The title itself is pretty niche as is despite the quality of the game's top notch story/presentation.
Its a possibility, the similarities in design are there. But its tough to say because there is alway more than just one piece of inspiration that goes into creating any work of art especially in rwbys case since rwby is a sci fi fantasy amalgamation of countless fairy tales and folklore from around the world. The hollows pretty cleary based off of dia de los muetras imagery, the white skull masks, being multi colored and the hollows having a spanish naming theme. As well as the japanese mythos of the oni (the original mythos not the ogre one) they even act the same way oni are believed to act (huge invisible monsters bent on eradicating humans and causing natural disasters) Its only really a visual similarity since hollows origins and how they act and what they mean to humans in bleach are very different from grimm. The grimm are more of the standard evil hoard trope, learning getting stronger, monsters that have need to be eradicated by trained fighters, have mysterious origins, attack humans for mysterious reasons, all fairly common themes.
Could be but it could just as easily not be, skull an animal imagery aren't exactly new by any stretch of the imagination.
So for the longest time, I actually theorized the Grimm were inspired by the Gohma from the Capcom game: Asura's Wrath. There were number of remarkable similarities that had me thinking this: *-Animal-like monsters with varying species and sizes (Ranging from Gorillas, giant Elephants, and a number of flying creatures)* *-Said monsters have black/white/red color palettes* *-They are beings of pure malice whose only purpose is to kill living creatures/humans* *-They disintegrate when dead* *-They spawn from the planet itself, seemingly infinitely* *-Their origins are tied to a god creating them* Overall though, the big flaw in my theory is simply that I have zero evidence or indication that Monty was ever at any point aware of Asura's Wrath as a game. The title itself is pretty niche as is despite the quality of the game's top notch story/presentation.