Allegorical Bleach

Finally, Zaraki has had enough and decides to use his ultimate technique: kendo. I believe there’s a moral lesson here about cooperation between equals buried in the metaphor of using both hands. If only one is doing all the work, only half the result is achieved. It’s by working together that one can be truly strong.

As we see in 312, it takes not one but two blows before this lesson fully sinks in for Nnoitra. During the infinite moment before the second blow, Nnoitra realises that Neliel has never treated him as an equal. She has always considered him a weak child who needs to be protected, a younger sibling to all intents and purposes. She protects him without thought of being protected in turn as would happen between equals. This is in contrast to Tesra protecting Nnoitra from Chad so nothing would happen to Nnoitra. He was worried about Nnoitra and only him; Neliel would do the same for any person she perceives to be weaker.

The second blow drives him to his knees and sprays up sand around him, but he stares heavenward with a peculiarly exalted expression, the very image of one who has had an epiphany.

He glances downward, noticing in passing how Orihime uses her abilities to protect others as he looks past her to Neliel. This is the second time Nnoitra has seen Orihime’s shields in action, and he has seen how Tesra’s shield works. Perhaps now Nnoitra will finally realise the truth: you cannot protect someone by maintaining your distance. If you want to protect someone, you stay close to them and at all times remain ready to shield them with your own body if need be. If he had discovered this truth sooner, Tesra would not have been cut down.

The information he seeks from Neliel is confirmed as she opens her eyes: the sand from Nnoitra’s fall is reflected in her eyes, but he cannot see himself. This is a parallel to Orihime’s revelation during Ichigo’s battle with Grimmjow, that she cannot see herself in Ichigo’s eyes.

Neliel even calls out to him questioningly, the tone suggesting that she does not recognize him in that form. Indeed, if she has never seen his Hollow form despite their missions together, she does not know him, does not know what he is really like. She has never understood him. With that issue settled at long last, he pitches forward into the sand.

The end of chapter sketch for 312 shows his Hollow form shattering, yet his reiatsu remains intact. The usual interpretation for this is that the character is still alive. Nnoitra may have been defeated and may have fallen, but he shouldn’t be dead yet.

Normally this would be the end of it for a villain (or pair of villains, in this case). They’re both down finally, on to the next villain. However, there is presently one more chapter to their story, and it seems to be a parallel to the later ch 354 (“The Heart”): ch 313 (“To Close Your World”). The chapter cover has the title written in the shape of a key, suggesting that somewhere there is something to be locked or unlocked. Or perhaps it can be so simple as to the revelations of the chapter being a key to the storyline of Bleach. Only time and further chapters will tell, though.

Closing one’s world sounds to me like an inverse of what happened to Ichigo in Shattered Shaft. As we know, the removal of the heart creates a void that causes one’s inner world to spill out. This is why one becomes Hollow. We don’t know precisely what happens after a Hollow regains a heart but theoretically, if a Hollow could regain that lost heart, the void would be filled and the inner world could be restored.

In any case, the first half of the chapter consists of three short flashback sequences. This is Tesra’s memories of what Nnoitra’s reasons for fighting have been in the time he has known Nnoitra.

The first sequence shows Nnoitra casually killing another Arrancar. When questioned, Nnoitra remarks that he killed the other because he could and that Tesra should not expect him to be merciful. As emphasized later in the Lust Arc, showing mercy is a human trait. To be merciless is to be Hollow. Only those with a heart can afford the luxury of mercy.

A time skip, then the second sequence in which Neliel questions Nnoitra about why he fights while Tesra is eavesdropping from nearby. Nnoitra’s response is that he fights for the sake of the battle itself. Neliel proclaims this to be intoxication, to which Nnoitra agrees. Battle for him at this time is a drug, an infatuation, a means to fill a void in his life. It would appear that he realises that something is missing in his life. Being Hollow, what is missing is his heart.

Another time skip, and we find a sequence that should have occurred recently. Nnoitra is in his current uniform, which supposedly was a post-Hogyoku change. Aizen has had the Hogyoku for less than two months at the time these battles in Las Noches occur. We see that there are two peculiar things about this sequence.

The first is that Nnoitra is talking with Tesra about the possibility of redemption. You wouldn’t think Hollows would think about such things, but they’re discussing it. Nnoitra doesn’t feel they deserve it because of what they are, poor things.

The second peculiar thing is that nowhere in this sequence does Nnoitra indicate just why he fights. He speaks of getting stronger and fighting until he can no longer stand and is cut down, but he never gives a reason for this.

Consider for a moment just why characters in Bleach get stronger. Ask any of the nakama group, and they’ll say that they want to get stronger to protect their friends. Ichigo gets stronger because he has a whole mountain of people to protect. I can’t think of a single character who gets stronger for no reason whatsoever, isn’t that odd. Protection seems to be the motivation for gaining strength; characters with no one to protect laze around and rest between battles.

Now consider why characters in Bleach fight. Some are like Hollows; they need no reason to fight. Others fight to fill a void; for them battle is no more than an infatuation. Finally, we have characters who fight, as Kaien tells Rukia in their flashback, to protect what’s most important to them; they fight to protect their hearts.

Nnoitra has fought because he could, and he has fought to fill a void. In the last sequence, he gives no reason for what he does, but instead tells Tesra these things as though Tesra should understand what he’s trying to say. They are speaking as equals would, a very casual discussion between two who understand each other. It’s Tesra’s flashback, and he is the only person who knows why Nnoitra fights now, the only one who truly understands Nnoitra. Nnoitra has found a reason to fight, and that reason is worth dying for. He has found his heart, and his heart is shared with Tesra.

This connects directly back to the first time we see them together in 263: while Tesra is the only one who knows why Nnoitra fights, Nnoitra is the only one who knows why Tesra fights. Thus we finally learn why Nnoitra accepted Tesra’s explanation that he protected Nnoitra from Chad so nothing would happen to Nnoitra: because this is why Tesra fights — to protect Nnoitra. Kubo is very good about tying up the loose ends.

The flashback cuts out to current-time, to a scene of Tesra after he was cut down and returned to his human form. Surprisingly, he is still alive. Even more surprisingly, he is crying, the only Arrancar we’ve seen cry like this. Nnoitra is nearby as well, also back in his human form. I like to think that he turned toward Tesra as he fell, and that’s why he isn’t face down; there is no way to know this, however. Their bodies are as intact as can be expected under the circumstances, and they share identical distant expressions as though they can see something the rest of us don’t. Perhaps they do, for the heart cannot be seen, yet we all know it exists between two people who care about each other.

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