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Bleach- What's up with the Spanish?


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BellosTheMighty



Joined: 27 Nov 2007
Posts: 767
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:40 pm Reply with quote
So, the latest SJUSA showed up today, and while reading Bleach I noticed something. Well, I'd noticed it a while back, actually, but I only started to think it was significant here. What's up with all the Spanish-language flourishes in this manga? The first that I recall was "Menos Grande", and now they seem to be all over the place, with chapter titles, names of Arrancars, and so forth all seemingly taken from Latin American contexts. There's also Chad, of course, but he hasn't mattered all that much since getting clobbered by Captain Rose Petals. What's the story? Does Tite Kubo have a passion of some sort for Latin culture? Does he just think the words sound nice to a Japanese ear? Or is he trying to appeal to the (as I understand it) DBZ-raised South American market?
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Zoe



Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 898
Location: Austin
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:50 pm Reply with quote
It's just the theme he has picked for all things Hollow-related. Their world is Hispanic while Soul Society is Japanese.
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braves



Joined: 29 Dec 2007
Posts: 2309
Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas)
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:49 pm Reply with quote
I don't mind that Kubo is using Spanish in Bleach. I mean, you hear plenty of English in anime and manga. So why not Spanish? Cool
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MokonaModoki



Joined: 30 Oct 2005
Posts: 437
Location: Austin, Texas
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:31 pm Reply with quote
I would be shocked if this was anything but a simple attempt to sound 'cool' in a different way than using English or French like other manga-ka do. You're talking about the guy who named his manga after a Nirvana album after all. Nothing wrong with that, but looking for a deeper meaning is a treacherous path to take.
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JacobC
ANN Contributor


Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 3728
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:07 pm Reply with quote
MokonaModoki wrote:
I would be shocked if this was anything but a simple attempt to sound 'cool' in a different way than using English or French like other manga-ka do. You're talking about the guy who named his manga after a Nirvana album after all. Nothing wrong with that, but looking for a deeper meaning is a treacherous path to take.


So that's what it was!

Seriously, I'm such a n00b. I've been wondering for years why in the world that manga was titled "Bleach." Now I know.

And yet I don't. What does that have to do with the plot? At all? -.-'
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Zoe



Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 898
Location: Austin
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:32 pm Reply with quote
The closest thing we've gotten to a mention was that everybody thought Ichigo bleaches his hair.
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joel_s95387



Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1804
Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:35 am Reply with quote
Zoe wrote:
The closest thing we've gotten to a mention was that everybody thought Ichigo bleaches his hair.

Its getting a bit off topic but I thought that it is still unknown why he named the series Bleach. People say it's cause of a Nirvana album, others cause of Ichigo's hair, but last I heard Mr. Tite Kubo has not admitted to any of these "theories"... or has he admitted to any of these the time I've been easing off anime?

As for the Spanish in Bleach, I like it. It's funny speaking with my friends who don't speak spanish trying to pronounce the words, I mean spanish people hear it from English speaking people all the time so its a nice change. As for WHY he did it, I personally don't know.
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bahamut623



Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 1463
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:02 pm Reply with quote
It's really just a stylistic choice to set apart things related to Hollows.
Soul Reapers have Shunpo, Arrancars have Sonido, etc. Similar things, but just different names.
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MokonaModoki



Joined: 30 Oct 2005
Posts: 437
Location: Austin, Texas
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:20 pm Reply with quote
joel_s95387 wrote:
Zoe wrote:
The closest thing we've gotten to a mention was that everybody thought Ichigo bleaches his hair.

Its getting a bit off topic but I thought that it is still unknown why he named the series Bleach. People say it's cause of a Nirvana album, others cause of Ichigo's hair, but last I heard Mr. Tite Kubo has not admitted to any of these "theories"... or has he admitted to any of these the time I've been easing off anime?-


Nope, you're absolutely correct, he's never said why the title is Bleach. Both notions are guesswork, but I consider one to be more valid than the other.

The hair theory depends on a single premise: it's the only thing that anyone who has only read the manga/watched the anime could reasonably guess at. But Ichigo's hair color is natural, which introduces a pretty big logical inconsistency into an otherwise logical theory: there's no bleach involved in his hair. Of course the application of logic to the use of English-language words in the titles of manga/anime can often be an exercise in futility, but still...

The Nirvana album title theory has a couple of things going for it. The biggest being the fact that he has said that he is a Nirvana fan, which at the very least implies exposure to the word via the album title. Since I operate from the assumption that it was just an English word he had been exposed to which he decided sounded 'cool', the fact that it was also the the title of an album by a band that he's said he likes just sort of supports both elements there.

I did lose myself a bit in asserting it as a fact, but my acceptance of the notion fundamentally shapes my own theory on the mingling of Spanish to differentiate the world of the Hollows: i.e. he had some exposure to it at some point, decided it sounded cool.
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BrothersElric



Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Posts: 1996
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:33 pm Reply with quote
Well I don't know about anyone else, and yeah, we definitely don't know for sure why, but what I've always assumed is that it's a metaphor for "cleansing" evil souls. And honestly, it really wouldn't surprise me if it was something as clever as that. Because Tite Kubo is just that inventive, and it really is his style of witting to do something like that with a title. I mean seriously, just look at some of his chapter/volume titles. "Death and Strawberry" is a perfect example (especially if you know the pun on Ichigo's name Wink ). He does practically the same thing with all of these as well.

Anyways, to be more on topic, not sure myself as to why exactly he uses Spanish themes in his series, but I honestly don't think it matters. The only thing that really matters about it is that it's cool. Cool
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sj21



Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 312
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:52 pm Reply with quote
why would they do that. its like, why cant the anime world (except fma) be japanese. japan has the coolest battle settings. now i will admit that mexico and rome have some cool ones but still it is wierd.
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Celes



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 223
Location: Madison, WI
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:25 pm Reply with quote
I thought it was called Bleach because when Ichigo first took Rukia's powers from her in the first episode, her clothes went from black to white- were "bleached".
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MokonaModoki



Joined: 30 Oct 2005
Posts: 437
Location: Austin, Texas
PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:47 am Reply with quote
BellosTheMighty - I suspect you've seen that your question got answered in the June SJUSA - the shocking truth revealed!

Tite Kubo wrote:
Spanish has always sounded bewitching and mellow to me.


And the Arrancar names are variations on the names of designers and architects (i.e. Grimmjow came from Nicholas Grimshaw).
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Red Lotus
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 16 Apr 2008
Posts: 85
Location: In the tunnels beneath your feet
PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:13 pm Reply with quote
I really think that it is cool I speak a little Spanish so its funny on the anime to hear them try to speak in Spanish. But my guess is that the reason for the Spanish would be something really simple like the one above and the title is a inside joke.
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sj21



Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 312
PostPosted: Mon May 05, 2008 7:53 pm Reply with quote
Celes wrote:
I thought it was called Bleach because when Ichigo first took Rukia's powers from her in the first episode, her clothes went from black to white- were "bleached".


I thought it was because when they killed the hollows like the hollows saw white light like it was bleached but thats just my weird opinion.
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