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branchandroot) wrote2010-09-20 01:21 pm
branchandroot) wrote2010-09-20 01:21 pm
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Case study, Bleach: tools vs transformation
There's a theory I've had for a while and been collecting examples of: that, in anime and manga that feature both possibilities, power externalized as a tool is generally beneficial, or at least controllable, while power internalized as a transformation will generally get out of hand. Bleach has been my flagship example for a long time now.
I'm waiting to see whether the latest turn will bear out or run against this theory.
We start with the shinigami and the hollows, who bear out the theory very well. Shinigami externalize their power into swords while hollows transform to embody their power. The contrast only became more pointed when we met characters who approached the meeting point of the two. The visored gain the faces of monsters when they release their power while the espada gain the form of humans only until they release their power. Power, Bleach tells us, is two-edged and must be handled with care lest it run away with you.
This being the case, I was, let us say, unsurprised that Aizen has become steadily less human in appearance. He's taking the wrong path, symbolically significant six wings notwithstanding, and it's going to get out of his control; this is already written out for all to see in his body, and we've seen it follow along narratively in his increasing loss of emotional control.
Ichigo is the one I still wonder about. He has already taken a jog down the out-of-control path and nearly killed one of his own companions just to emphasize the fact for us. Now, however, we have something that looks a bit different. He has, apparently, accepted Zangetsu, the personification of his power, into himself completely, and the result is a transformation. This transformation, however, is human, and even having, as he says, become his own attack, he still manifests a sword.
Tool or transformation?
The whole question may be complicated by the approach of apotheosis, which has after all been the trajectory of the story nearly from the start. After humans, asura (shinigami), and hungry ghosts (hollows), with animals implicit and Hell shown at least once, of course we need devas to round the tally out. Will that mean some form of fusion, of internalization of power, that somehow remains under control? Ichigo's current form, and Aizen's response, seem to suggest it. But the very limitation of this to Our Hero (hail the King? or will it be more complicated than that?) really just sustains the theory for general use.
Which means that, even as Naruto and KHR devolve into the uninteresting and the forced, I have at least one series I'm hanging on, week by week.
I'm waiting to see whether the latest turn will bear out or run against this theory.
We start with the shinigami and the hollows, who bear out the theory very well. Shinigami externalize their power into swords while hollows transform to embody their power. The contrast only became more pointed when we met characters who approached the meeting point of the two. The visored gain the faces of monsters when they release their power while the espada gain the form of humans only until they release their power. Power, Bleach tells us, is two-edged and must be handled with care lest it run away with you.
This being the case, I was, let us say, unsurprised that Aizen has become steadily less human in appearance. He's taking the wrong path, symbolically significant six wings notwithstanding, and it's going to get out of his control; this is already written out for all to see in his body, and we've seen it follow along narratively in his increasing loss of emotional control.
Ichigo is the one I still wonder about. He has already taken a jog down the out-of-control path and nearly killed one of his own companions just to emphasize the fact for us. Now, however, we have something that looks a bit different. He has, apparently, accepted Zangetsu, the personification of his power, into himself completely, and the result is a transformation. This transformation, however, is human, and even having, as he says, become his own attack, he still manifests a sword.
Tool or transformation?
The whole question may be complicated by the approach of apotheosis, which has after all been the trajectory of the story nearly from the start. After humans, asura (shinigami), and hungry ghosts (hollows), with animals implicit and Hell shown at least once, of course we need devas to round the tally out. Will that mean some form of fusion, of internalization of power, that somehow remains under control? Ichigo's current form, and Aizen's response, seem to suggest it. But the very limitation of this to Our Hero (hail the King? or will it be more complicated than that?) really just sustains the theory for general use.
Which means that, even as Naruto and KHR devolve into the uninteresting and the forced, I have at least one series I'm hanging on, week by week.
no subject
For example, there is a theme of Ichigo's possibly losing himself in his search for power, exemplified perfectly in his fight with Ulquiorra, as you say. But the implications of this are not revisited, or haven't been as far I've read. Then, the fact that he takes on the power of Zangetsu in himself, but loses all his powers in so doing, again links to this theme, but I don't think that the implications were fully explored.
However, I will agree with you, flawed as Bleach may be, at least it's not uninteresting.
no subject