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Bleach has always struck me as a rather Freudian show, what with Ichigo's ENORMOUS sword and all the "My zanpaku-to is bigger than yours!" and "Yeah, well, I'm more skilled with mine!" And the possibly unintended subtext of the "Menos Grande" episode did not escape my notice when I read the manga. But it's all so much more in-your-face when it's in color and motion.
I watched that episode last night, and... wow... could they possibly have laid on any more penis symbolism? It was like Our Spirit Weapons, Ourselves: A Book for Boys.
The whole thing is about Ichigo and Ishida wielding their whacking big weapons in a classic male pissing contest. (Amusingly subverted by the appearance of Urahara's strange little freaky-bangs girl with a bazooka-- a great moment. By the way, I love Urahara, and I love his voice actor too.)
Then this sort of stupid-looking but ENORMOUS Hollow shows up: Menos Grande (The Big One?), whose distinguishing feature, apart from his ENORMOUS size, is acarrot phallic symbol for a nose.
The guys are unable to defeat him, because he's just too big. (I adored Ichigo's lunatic plan to cut him down piece by piece until his head came into range.) But then Ishida touches Ichigo's sword, and his bow suddenly grows much bigger and more powerful!
Ishida realizes that Ichigo is a font of spiritual energy, flowing like a tap that never turns off. At that point there is a helpful cut to a tap turning on and off and water spraying all over the place. Despite the generally serious nature of the story at that point, that put me into hysterics, which is pretty much where I stayed for the rest of the episode. Because I am twelve.
Ishida yells, "Touch me with your sword!" And his bow gets reeeeally big, and can now shoot reeeeally far.
Menos Grande shoots a really powerful force-bolt, which Ichigo is (barely) able to withstand. However, that scares Menos Grande enough that it flees. But then Ichigo collapseson top of Ishida to the ground. Having shot his wad given it his all, he has taken on more energy than he can control, and it's overwhelming him.
So Ishida stands next to him and drains off the excess energy by forming it into arrows and firing them into the air. Which saves the day!
I am going to try really hard not to look for more penis symbolism in the Soul Society arc, even though a whole lot of it consists of "Look! My great big zanpaku-to can get even bigger!"
I watched that episode last night, and... wow... could they possibly have laid on any more penis symbolism? It was like Our Spirit Weapons, Ourselves: A Book for Boys.
The whole thing is about Ichigo and Ishida wielding their whacking big weapons in a classic male pissing contest. (Amusingly subverted by the appearance of Urahara's strange little freaky-bangs girl with a bazooka-- a great moment. By the way, I love Urahara, and I love his voice actor too.)
Then this sort of stupid-looking but ENORMOUS Hollow shows up: Menos Grande (The Big One?), whose distinguishing feature, apart from his ENORMOUS size, is a
The guys are unable to defeat him, because he's just too big. (I adored Ichigo's lunatic plan to cut him down piece by piece until his head came into range.) But then Ishida touches Ichigo's sword, and his bow suddenly grows much bigger and more powerful!
Ishida realizes that Ichigo is a font of spiritual energy, flowing like a tap that never turns off. At that point there is a helpful cut to a tap turning on and off and water spraying all over the place. Despite the generally serious nature of the story at that point, that put me into hysterics, which is pretty much where I stayed for the rest of the episode. Because I am twelve.
Ishida yells, "Touch me with your sword!" And his bow gets reeeeally big, and can now shoot reeeeally far.
Menos Grande shoots a really powerful force-bolt, which Ichigo is (barely) able to withstand. However, that scares Menos Grande enough that it flees. But then Ichigo collapses
So Ishida stands next to him and drains off the excess energy by forming it into arrows and firing them into the air. Which saves the day!
I am going to try really hard not to look for more penis symbolism in the Soul Society arc, even though a whole lot of it consists of "Look! My great big zanpaku-to can get even bigger!"