Manga is a type of graphic novel/comic book originating from Japan and available in many different genres, similar to regular comic books. There can be as few as five volumes, or as many as fifty-plus volumes to a series.
I have found the most excellent examples of mind-searching poems in my favorite manga series, Bleach. The author, Tite Kubo, will put a short verse on the first page behind the cover of every volume. These verses reveal the innermost thoughts and purposes of the one character featured on the cover of the volume while relating to the storyline portrayed in that particular volume. One of my absolute favorite poems comes from volume forty from the mind one of the antagonists, Ulquiorra Schiffer.
This poem is one of my favorites ever written, and I will analyze it's meaning and what makes it so deep.
His poem is as follows:
"I envy because of the heart
I glutton because of the heart
I covet because of the heart
I am prideful because of the heart
I sloth because of the heart
I rage because of the heart
Because of the heart
I lust for everything about you."
Now, without story context, one could come up with the simple solution that this man's heart is full of negative emotion for someone. It even ends up sounding romantic towards the end. It almost emits a sort of "forbidden love" feeling. That's not far from the conclusion I, and many others who read the series, have gotten to. I will provide a brief backstory and why the "heart" is so significant in this poem.
To summarize, Ulquiorra is nihilistic. He finds no meaning in the world. He does not feel emotion. He eventually meets the bright and pure hearted character, Orihime Inoue.
Ulquiorra was ordered by his leader to kidnap Orihime in order to distract the main heroes of the story from the destruction of their home town. Later on, the evil leader announces his true motive and dismisses Orihime from her use. Once this happens, Ulquiorra questions Orihime if she is afraid that she will die alone, without her friends. She answers him with a clear no. She tells him that she is happy that her friends came to save her, and her heart is with them. This confuses Ulquiorra, who does not understand.
He tells her, "Heart? You humans toss around that word like it's nothing...as if it's something you can hold in the palm of your hand. This eye of mine reflects everything. There is nothing it can't penetrate. What cannot be seen simply does not exist. That's what I've always believed. What is a heart? Can it be seen if I rip open this chest of yours? If I crush your skull? Will I find it there?"
He isn't speaking about the physical heart per se, but philosophically. Being nihilistic, he simply does not understand. As a reader can see, the "heart" subject is very significant to Ulquiorra's character.
Several chapters later in volume forty, after a huge battle with the main protagonist, Ulquiorra is dying and crumbling into ashes. He turns to Orihime, who is present in the remains of the battlefield, and says, "And to think I was starting to become interested in you people." He then asks her if she is afraid of him specifically. She again tells him no, and he reaches for her. She reaches back, but his fingers dissipate right as her hand meets his. While he begins to fade, he thinks, "Ah, this in my hand...is the...heart."
It's the epic conclusion. Mister Big-and-Bad, Mister Emotionless has gained a philosophical heart through reaching towards the girl he interacted with most.
Remembering the poem, each line, save for the second to last one, features the word "heart". Knowing the story context, the meaning is understood.
The reader should also recognize Kubo's use of the Seven Deadly Sins. These are all emotions, something Ulquiorra claims not to have, and sinful ones portrayed negatively. Judging from the wording of the poem, he has accessed these emotions through gaining the "heart". I believe that it plays on the "forbidden love" theme through the use of these not-so-innocent emotions. However, it needs to be clarified that in the original Japanese characters, the word "lust" doesn't carry the sinful connotations it would in English. Instead, the characters used are translated as "desire" or "longing", yet it's still obvious, even to Japanese readers, that he is playing upon the Seven Deadly Sins.
You may ask, "But is it really her he's speaking about?" This is a common question in the Bleach fandom. The answer is yes, and this can be proven with the original Japanese text.
"I lust for everything about you":
お前のすべてを欲する
The same characters used in the word "you" in the original Japanese kanji is the same he uses when speaking to Orihime in the main storyline.
In conclusion, Ulquiorra's deepest thoughts are a longing for the person who was so opposite of him. This poem, though simple and not all that complex, conveys a lot of emotion. Since this is my favorite manga series, this poem is special and more beautiful to me, being familiar with the characters. I was awed at how Ulquiorra changed as a person only to fade into the air after finally experiencing something so climactic. He is the antagonist, the character who is stereotypically "bad" or "evil". It is very meaningful for him to have developed such a contradiction to his original personality and purpose, all because of one other character. His poem heavily implies the "forbidden love" theme, reflecting on how he selfishly wants what he can't have. More emphasis is put on this in the way that his feelings are expressed through sins. He is evil and dark, she is good and light. Stereotypically two things that aren't meant to mix.
Even if it wasn't featured in Bleach, it is still a beautiful poem. Romantic or not, I find the use of the Seven Deadly Sins incredibly intriguing and clever, while the theme of "forbidden love" adds a heart-melting feeling to it. It is one of my very favorite poems ever written, and I thoroughly enjoy analyzing it and the background behind it.
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