harmless? bananas!

bleaching the sky
first off, my apologies for the short two day hiatus. was a tad busy yesterday, and i kind of came back brain dead. added effects due to the 40 hour famine that i'm participating in. havent eaten since 1pm yesterday, and tomorrow i'll break fast at 12noon. so yes, i am abit dreary. but intensity last night went well, and as usual, God is teaching loads to all of us.

anyhow, i'm going to be on the subject of the anime bleach today.

recently, there seems to have been alot of christian conotations and references in the themes discussed by this anime.

currently, the archtypal hero, kurosaki ichigo is undergoing a process where he is going to release the 2nd and ultimate level of his sword, known as the bankai (note: second opening).

the background is that the weapons that ichigo and other shinigamis (or death gods) use are called zanpaktous (soulslayers). the zanpaktou isn't just a physical weapon, but a manifestation of one's spirit force. and if that isn't confusing enough, each zanpaktou is kind of "alive" with its own spirit force and name. in order to release the first form of the zanpaktou (shikai), the wielder must be able to hear the zanpaktou reveal its name. in the 2nd step, the wielder was wrestle with his zanpaktou and force him to hand the power over to the weilder.

aside from this, the zanpaktou which ichigo wields, whose name is zangetsu is constantly telling ichigo not to rely on his own potential as a wielder, but constantly put his trust and faith into the zanpaktou, zangetsu himself.

its a beautiful picture of symbiotic fighting, where the zanpaktou is useless if it is not wielded with courage, but without a powerful zanpaktou, the wielder is not potent.

almost quite like the christian faith. where we're told not to rely on our own strengths, but to rely on God fully.

in fact, ichigo is currently going thru training to forcefully release his bankai. the training that zangetsu puts him thru, is to defeat zangetsu by choosing the right sword amongst a battlefield of countless swords. and the clue, is that each sword on that battlefield is a shard of ichigo's soul. so ichigo has to find the ONE shard of his soul that is bent on winning, or succeeding, that will not back down even if torn to pieces. and use that to wield the ultimate form of zangetsu.

its just beautiful, the significance that runs through the anime. why not start your collection today?