Warning: Contains spoilers for Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War episode #22.
This article contains discussions about transphobia
Bleach: The thousand-year blood war episode #22 just aired and censored a controversial moment in the English release. Episode #22, “Marching Out the Zombies”, begins the central conflict with Sternritter Giselle Gewelle, and in a surprising turn of events, Yumichika reveals that Giselle, despite appearing female, was born was assigned male. Considering that Giselle is considered female both in and out of space, this unexpected revelation caused countless debates surrounding Giselle’s gender and sexual identity, and it is something that still persists to this day, years after it first happened in the manga.
Giselle’s gender reveal was a big surprise in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War and the anime censored a controversial moment in it in an odd way. In both the anime and the corresponding manga chapter, the reason Yumichika calls Giselle a man is because she “smells of semen,” and while the original anime kept that quote, the Hulu release shows a completely different scene. another when Yumichika simply said that he found her. outside. That was probably done to avoid creating a terrible stereotype, but it’s still strange that the anime has two different versions of certain scenes.
Bleach’s anime cuts out Yumichika’s cross-gender insult
The controversial moment in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War that was censored revolved around Giselle’s gender and sexual identity, so it stands to reason that it needed to be clarified as clearly as possible. Based on what was stated in episode #22, it can be assumed that Giselle was born male, which is further supported by Tite Kubo himself, reaffirming on his blog that Giselle is physically male. However, Giselle presents as female and is referred to as such by other characters and literature, including the novel Can’t Fear Your Own World, so Giselle is most likely a transgender woman or at least Most, do not identify as male.
Ultimately, however, Giselle’s gender doesn’t matter much. Whatever gender Giselle chooses to identify with doesn’t change the core of her character, and it’s something that’s never even mentioned after her first arc. The larger point of discussion stems from how the English release of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War censored key moments surrounding Giselle and sexuality, as that would have been a surprising development regardless of Giselle What is determined?
Bleach’s Western censorship avoids terrible stereotypes about transgender people
The most logical reason behind Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War’s censorship for Hulu could be to avoid the series being accused of fueling a major stereotype surrounding transgender people. Unfortunately, fictional stories often feature biologically male villains who dress as women to commit violent and sexual crimes, and that in turn perpetuates stereotypes about transgender people. are violent predators. Immediately after the reveal of Giselle’s gender, she is portrayed as a sadist who is physically aroused by abuse, so it would be easy to see her character as transgender, and therefore, it’s fitting. It makes sense that Hulu wants to avoid being associated with anime. that pattern.
However, a side effect of this censorship is that it helps fix Giselle’s character. Because of the sexual themes involved with Giselle, the idea of her being a transgender character is often at the center of discussions surrounding her, but with Hulu editing out the scene saying she “smelled of semen ” and other sexual moments, Giselle’s sadism can be considered separately in terms of her gender and sexual identity. While that doesn’t entirely justify the anime engaging in censorship, it does help focus on the parts that are important to Giselle and Bleach: The thousand-year blood warand the anime is all the better for it.
Bleach: The thousand-year blood war releases new episodes Saturdays on Hulu.
Source: Twitter, Reddit.
