The reason why I love Doujinshis!!!
Before anyone thinks I’m going to review Bleach on a regular basis, let me disclaim: NO, I’m not. I find it utterly pointless to review long running shonen anime or manga. Why? Because they are ALL THE SAME. They’re all about fights and annoying (though yummy) boys screaming and hacking at each other while screaming taglines like “I must get stronger!”, “I’ll protect you!”, “I’ll definitely defeat you, just you wait!” and the yadada.They ramble on for hundred of episodes, recycling the usual (yes I’m going to repeat them again) I-must-get-stronger-and-protect-my-friends/girl/family/”brother”(meaning yaoi lover but in denial. Cue Sasuke and Naruto) story line season after season. That is not to forget all, ok to be fair, MOST protagonists/antagonists in the genre are at one point of their lives or worse all their friggin lives (cue emo bastard Sasuke), angsty, depressed, irritatingly self-sacrificing, hetare, overly macho… To put it succinctly, ridiculously INSUFFERABLE. Well I guess this is shonen for you. What is a good decent shonen story without a lead suffering from Savior Complex right?
HOWEVER, it does not stop me from religiously following standard shonen picks like Bleach, Naruto, FMA and D.Gray Man (though I still hesitate when it comes to One Piece). To be honest, I’m a shonen jump fan. I dig shonen manga and anime. I dig their portrayal of heroes and villains. I dig their bishies. I dig their fantastic weapons and killing moves. I ADORE Shonen manga and anime to the death, but that does not stop me from rolling my eyes at Ichigo whenever he goes friggin emo, or cringe whenever Naruto shouts 強くなれだってばよ! I’ll get stronger! I guess it is a love-hate relationship…
Once again, I digress (i’m really living up to the name of ramblings of a yaoi fangirl…) Alright, to the kill!
The latest episode of Bleach caught my eye. (Finally! After all the boredom in the last few episodes.) The last it did was when Byakuya came to save Rukia in Hueco Mundo. Huurah! Bya/Ruk fangirl here! I went out of the way to pick up Bleach anime after a long hiatus just to watch that particular scene. I dropped Bleach right before the filler arc and picked it up for the continuing Hueco Mundo arc only to drop it once again after seeing how the producers shamelessly recycle scenes from the previous episodes and attempt to pass them off as recaps. Yeah nice try idiots, recaps that drag on for 10mins… Then they’ll draaaag a single fight with long eyeball staring contests, repeating still cuts from previous episodes, 10seconds shot on the surroundings, for example, how the dust settles after Ichigo serves his killer move or how the wind blows… it doesn’t matter what nature has to offer, as long as it eats time well. Urgh. Naruto suffers from this too, but when the fight really gets going, it’s all worth it.
Being a Bleach fan despite all its shortcomings, (the bishies have alot to contribute to my dogged loyalty) I straggle along with the episodes. But this episode POPPED for me. The reason was I entirely forgot about the ambiguous relationship between Nel and Nnoitra! When I read the manga, it had occurred to me how peculiar the interaction between them was and it piqued my interest. I can’t believe I entirely FORGOT about them. So, after this episode, I’m pretty much convinced that my suspicions are correct. Nel and Nnoitra. I’ll be damned if there is nothing going on between them. It’s pretty subtle, yes, but there is something nonetheless!
Nnoitra: Why do you save me? You know I freaking hate you!”
Oh Nnoitra Nnoitra, haven’t you heard? “The more you hate, the more you love…”
Nnoitra: “Why do you follow me around all the time!?”
Nel: “…Because you’re weaker than me…”
Nel Nel, isn’t it obvious that you want to protect him???
You may dispute but seriously, when a mangaka decides to etch an image of a character into the dying eyes of another, enhancing it with flashbacks containing suggestive dialogue and a murmur of the character’s name… HE IS SAYING SOMETHING.
There. You have it. Call it fangirl wishful thinking, whatever, I don’t care. Nel and Nnoitra, like it or not, are undeniably canon. Though it is also tragic that when you can pinpoint its canon-ness, Nnoitra goes and gets himself killed. That’s what DJs are for then!
