Volume 42 Doodles and Poem
Dec. 6th, 2009 09:19 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/ posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
bleachnessMzD provided the scans and most of the translations here. For more see the BA thread about Volume 42
The doodles are hilarious. MzD thinks there should be a sexual violence warning for the last two images.
Scans and translations provided by MzD. She writes: I'll explain what I can. The last two may be a bit disturbing for some...just a warning. Going to double spoiler that part.
359: Kon in Ichigo's body has been spotted by the research division. He's trying to play dead so they'll leave him alone.
360: Kon is willing them to go away in his head. They're still staring at him, a bit too close.
361: Now they're really too close, lol eyeball. "What is that?"
362: Now another person has stepped forward. Kon notices it's a lady with a sweet voice.
363: Wow, this lady can rival Rangiku. The most important part is her sparkling cleavange. Truly Kubo is a boob man. (MzD's comments in italics)
364: Kon is taking notice, it's a new cleavage that Kon hasn't embraced. He's forgetting all about his faking death and attempts to jump her.
These next two are not for people with a sensitive constitution.
Poem translation by Toto:
Shock of the Queen
There is no world without sacrifice
Are you unaware?
We are
In a sea of blood, ashes floating in hell
Crying the name of
A fading world.
Again with the name resonance like in FTB. Kubo's emphasis on names reminds me of my own culture. In my Jewish mystical tradition, there's the idea that naming something creates it or gives it identity--that's why one respects the very word G-d and doesn't write it out because any naming of the subject would belittle that which defies definition. I know Bleach isn't Kabbalah or whatever but I like the poetic care that Kubo-sensei gives to his character's names, even ret-conning Rukia's name to mean "a ray of light" to Ichigo long after he'd come up with it and years of volumes had been written. And how giving a name (as to the twins in the movie) allowed them to pass on as distinct identities after Death. And how calling a name means you cherish that name's holder ( Morita-kun's "Rukiaaaaaarghhhhhhh!") In this poem, all I come away with is that loving the world is what makes it real and keeps it alive. One has to wonder why Hollow let themselves exist. Their very searching to ease their pains, whether those pains are Starrk's loneliness or any one of the sins of the Lust arc unsatiatied--starved gluttony, unreleased rage, beaten down pride--this searching for relief IS their life. And that makes Hollow just like us right? We live in part to just fulfill our desires and ease our pains.
We live for higher things too, though, and that's what separates us from the heartless. But I so love Kubo's Arrancar, each of his Espada with their pretentious assignations and aspects of Death, and all the care Kubo-sensei put into making us love these bad guys who, at the very beginning of the manga, were just monsters in the night.
The doodles are hilarious. MzD thinks there should be a sexual violence warning for the last two images.
Scans and translations provided by MzD. She writes: I'll explain what I can. The last two may be a bit disturbing for some...just a warning. Going to double spoiler that part.
359: Kon in Ichigo's body has been spotted by the research division. He's trying to play dead so they'll leave him alone.
360: Kon is willing them to go away in his head. They're still staring at him, a bit too close.
361: Now they're really too close, lol eyeball. "What is that?"
362: Now another person has stepped forward. Kon notices it's a lady with a sweet voice.
363: Wow, this lady can rival Rangiku. The most important part is her sparkling cleavange. Truly Kubo is a boob man. (MzD's comments in italics)
364: Kon is taking notice, it's a new cleavage that Kon hasn't embraced. He's forgetting all about his faking death and attempts to jump her.
These next two are not for people with a sensitive constitution.
365 BOOB PWN!! WTF!!
366: It's a claw that's come from her boobs! Again WTF? Kubo has explained it all in Kanji, anyone wants to take a guess, all I can get is Kon's "Uggh!"
366: It's a claw that's come from her boobs! Again WTF? Kubo has explained it all in Kanji, anyone wants to take a guess, all I can get is Kon's "Uggh!"
Poem translation by Toto:
Shock of the Queen
There is no world without sacrifice
Are you unaware?
We are
In a sea of blood, ashes floating in hell
Crying the name of
A fading world.
Again with the name resonance like in FTB. Kubo's emphasis on names reminds me of my own culture. In my Jewish mystical tradition, there's the idea that naming something creates it or gives it identity--that's why one respects the very word G-d and doesn't write it out because any naming of the subject would belittle that which defies definition. I know Bleach isn't Kabbalah or whatever but I like the poetic care that Kubo-sensei gives to his character's names, even ret-conning Rukia's name to mean "a ray of light" to Ichigo long after he'd come up with it and years of volumes had been written. And how giving a name (as to the twins in the movie) allowed them to pass on as distinct identities after Death. And how calling a name means you cherish that name's holder ( Morita-kun's "Rukiaaaaaarghhhhhhh!") In this poem, all I come away with is that loving the world is what makes it real and keeps it alive. One has to wonder why Hollow let themselves exist. Their very searching to ease their pains, whether those pains are Starrk's loneliness or any one of the sins of the Lust arc unsatiatied--starved gluttony, unreleased rage, beaten down pride--this searching for relief IS their life. And that makes Hollow just like us right? We live in part to just fulfill our desires and ease our pains.
We live for higher things too, though, and that's what separates us from the heartless. But I so love Kubo's Arrancar, each of his Espada with their pretentious assignations and aspects of Death, and all the care Kubo-sensei put into making us love these bad guys who, at the very beginning of the manga, were just monsters in the night.
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Date: 2009-12-06 04:41 pm (UTC)1. 'Whoa, Byakuya with boobs!'
2. I now ship Akon x Kon. Hard.
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Date: 2009-12-06 05:02 pm (UTC)And those sketches!!! Hahahahahahaaa! Poor Ichigo! If his body remembers anything at all, no wonder he's scared of boobs! He can sure go Ishida one better now.
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Date: 2009-12-06 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-06 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-06 06:11 pm (UTC)Boobclaw-fu? Damn, Orihime should take classes of this!
*remembers 'Hime's future self*
OH SHI-
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Date: 2009-12-06 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-06 06:17 pm (UTC)However, to whom is the poem directed to? Tia? Rukia? Any woman of Bleach? Who is it?
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Date: 2009-12-06 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-06 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-06 07:37 pm (UTC)I wish I could write like Kubo.
So does the "we" in the poem refer to the Espada/Arrancar/Hollow/Everybody?
Also, LOL. Those last drawings are kinda disturbing. It's funny how Kubo can draw something like that and then write a poem so serious and austere in its beauty like the volume poem.
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Date: 2009-12-06 08:38 pm (UTC)She looks like one of the 12th's creations, maybe a robot thingie like Nemu?
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Date: 2009-12-06 08:38 pm (UTC)No shit. Poor KON! Ishida only got suffocated by 12th division boobs--Kon got K-O-ed by them!
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Date: 2009-12-06 08:40 pm (UTC)I'm going to presume that the speaker is the character on the cover so it's Tia talking. That's the way it is for most of Kubo's poems except when there's some omniscent narrator talking about some aspect of the volume cover's character. The poem is directed to all of us? Arrancar? Humans?
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Date: 2009-12-06 08:45 pm (UTC)I'm fairly certain the speaker is Tia and she only knows a Hollow life so she's speaking about the Hollow but as a general reader one can extrapolate from that microcosm into the larger world. The Hollow beings themselves are a sort of sacrifice, a sort of victim that allows the world to exist as we know it.
Well, that's one interpretation. There are others floating around in there. When you talk about giant concepts like Life and Death, there's a lot to be gotten from even a tiny poem. I like how Kubo calls attention to the "are you aware?" part of being. There's something about Hollow that is still human--they understand and know that they suffer.
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Date: 2009-12-06 09:38 pm (UTC)But this poem... it's odd. It's very ambiguous. (And very well written too, might I add. I love poetry, and this guy is really good at it.) It's unclear whether it's Tia or Kubo himself who is talking to us. And to whom, or what.
Personal Interpretation: (skip if you like, I don't mind)
If, and I say if, the poem is reflecting the game of chess (queen, sacrifice) as a metaphor for what happened and what's yet to come, then you could say that both 'black' and 'white' sides lost their 'queens' respectively, who are Tia and Hiyori.
And both in trolltasic situations, I might add.Judging by this fact, the ambiguity of the poem is a little alarming. Will either side lose more, or the worst is yet to come? This is indeed mysterious. And unnerving, goddammit. Like there wasn't enough tension already.Although, if you count Tia's loltrolled moment in the manga and the poem is indeed about her, then she's keeping her temper fairly in check alright. You gotta give her credit for that.
Eithway, Kubo sure knows how to make a person think alright.
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Date: 2009-12-06 09:48 pm (UTC)Is that the definitive translation for it? I saw at least three different version of it on BA, so I'm wondering now which one is the most accurate.
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Date: 2009-12-06 09:49 pm (UTC)Hm, I was also wondering about the "are you aware?" part. Who's "you"? It might just be a general "you," but for no reason at all I think "you" is Aizen. But that may just be me thinking about the last chapters Halibel was in, making that last lunge at Aizen...
I love it when Kubo underscores the differences between humans, shinigami, and hollows.
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Date: 2009-12-06 10:02 pm (UTC)LOL at that chest punch, poor Kon XD
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Date: 2009-12-06 10:06 pm (UTC)Best of the versions I saw, or at least the most literal. I forgot to put up the Japanese for our Japanese readers to pick at. Here's the image.
Your poetry insight is silly! D:<
Date: 2009-12-06 10:26 pm (UTC)There is no world without sacrifice
Are you unaware?
We are
In a sea of blood, ashes floating in hell
The cannibalism that the Hollows go through to survive (both with plus and minus souls) may reflect the harsh rule of nature of the survival of the fittest that we 'developed' humans have long forgotten that exists, because in our fabricated world, we are super predators that can kill and eat anything, so we automatically assume that we don't count in the circle anymore. And yet, whether we are aware of it or not, all of this still happens in the background, and we are indeed still are part of it all, whether we like it or not. Between the 'civilised' world and the 'brutal' one, there isn't that much difference. Kubo uses a thin reflection between the Espada and the Shinigami cast is quite often. Compare Szayel with Mayuri. Both are at opposite end, but what's the difference between them? That they are at opposite end? Really, is that it? Might as well they join forces and experiment on their respective test subjects for their required research. Which would not beneficial for the experiments of course.
Considering the sea of blood, is HM worse than Hell? For in Hell, you are there because of your own actions. But in HM? You were just a soul led astray. Do you deserve to be there, to eat others or to be eaten by others? To be actually aware of those actions, and to cling on to that awareness, or else you'll lose it forever? It doesn't sound like so. And yet, judging by the little Hollow experiences we got, it doesn't take that much to become a 'monster of the night', so to speak. So fairness and virtue do not count in HM after all. Maybe that makes it a place worse than Hell itself. In hell, you're merely ashes. In purgatory on the other hand, you're your own worst nightmare.
Crying the name of
A fading world
The last two verses are the weirdest part. The world of anything may be a society, a person, or a person's ideals. Does this mean that Hollows have thoughts, feelings, dreams? Are they not so different than we are? Why do they cling to this idea of a fading, collapsing world? Why do they even try? Who is the monster and who is calling for help? Can a monster call for help?
Can we even let them do that? Do we? Or a monster is just a monster in our eyes? Who cares if it dies or is in pain, it's just another brick in the wall after all. Moving on, moving on.
----
I wish to read an accurate interpretation of this poem. It's so... open for interpretation isn't it? Very inspiring work.
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Date: 2009-12-06 10:29 pm (UTC)Imagine the poem. The sheer beauty of how it would be.
Woof. Woof.
Woof.
Bark. Woof.
Grrrrr *CHOMP*
Woof.
Poetry at it's finest. :'
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Date: 2009-12-06 10:57 pm (UTC)Although you just created beauty by yourself 8D
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Date: 2009-12-07 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-07 12:20 am (UTC)Re: Your poetry insight is silly! D:<
Date: 2009-12-07 12:24 am (UTC)That was an awesome interpretation. I think you did just fine there because the poem asks us, as basically the whole HM arc asks us, to consider the similarities between ourselves and these Hollow beings--they are, after all, an imaginary construct in an imaginary tale meant to make us look more intently at ourselves.