Me who has suddenly rejoined the Bleach fandom but Only for Mayuri and Mayuri related things.
In times of great sorrow sometimes you get a returning autism interest that hits you suddenly like a brick from off to the side.
You shall now hear about my brief and likely incomplete (because I don’t have all the new to me lore yet) Mayuri character analysis with babies and motherhood.
So yes Mayuri is a silly fucked up little guy of the highest magnitude. But a reoccurring theme for him is infants and children. It’s so attached to his core character that even his bankai is apart of it, which informs someone about their deepest parts.
Mayuri’s is a fucked up baby that makes things liquid (which womb reference) originally yet we never see it’s intended functionality. Mayuri has altered it fundamentally to suit him.
Which I think speaks about Mayuri as a person. He is deeply intelligent but retains a deep well of whimsy, its the deeply disturbing kind but falls in that category still.
People forget that fairies are most whimsical even when they steal people’s tongues and turn them into sentient pocket change.
This is an expression of his whimsical nature but it also feels to me like he’s trying to change or deny something about his core self. At least cover it up somewhat.
Which brings in the whole motherhood thing. I see a lot of people use Mayuri as an example of a more masculine allegory for the concept. But it doesn’t strike me as such. Mayuri is featured with a fetus, the very start of what could turn into a baby in a womb. Which leans more into the whole motherhood thing for me.
I do see a lot of duality for both of those in him though. He is both mother and father.
I think a lot of Mayuri’s character is hidden behind subtlety and subtext and him being an unreliable narrator at the best of times for his feelings beyond his joy of messed up science.
When Kisuke is discussing letting Mayuri leave, he said that he’s happy with his life here. Setting up a precedent for Mayuri not being necessarily truthful about his real feelings on things all the time. Kisuke knew that was a lie and called him out, offered him something he did very much want.
In the newer scene with Nemu heading off to fight the hand to protect him, his remark about it being humiliating struck me. I don’t think he was humiliated at the fact that Nemu stepped up and was strong and capable enough to fight on her own. But the fact that he’s basically admitting his own perceived weakness.
That he cares. That he wants her to live beyond a functional capacity.
No matter what he does. No matter how he mutilates and takes it apart and rebuilds it. He can’t get rid of that part of himself. Which is evident in his bankai, it always takes the form of a baby. Its a dark and warped perception of motherhood that he both refuses and embraces in equal part.
He says Nemu’s creation was simply to spite Kisuke, to make something better. But by all definitions this iteration of Nemu exceeded his expectations and he did what he sought out to do. In all regards its a successful and finished experiment by the books. Yet he remade her, wanted to raise her up exactly like the first. Which isn’t conducive to his stated purpose. To improve his experiment. To make it the same as it was doesn’t make sense.
In some light novel comments from the other captains, they say he is eager to go see his cute little Hachigo. Which, enrages him. He doesn’t care one bit.
I think him and Kisuke are very nice foils to each other in a lot of ways. I think Kisuke isn’t as nice as people think and that Mayuri is kinder than one would assume. Kisuke hides more than Mayuri, his intent and his goals. Where Mayuri is very upfront about how twisted he is and what he desires for the most part.
I think thats why Kisuke makes him angry but also why I think Mayuri never changed his Haori like the other captains for a long time, it remained the same as when Kisuke had it because he cares. And he hates that so therefore he hates Kisuke too. More than everyone else because he’s a smug asshole.
Do I think Mayuri cares about everyone? Probably not. But those he does you can tell because they are still there and have remained there with little damage since the start like Akon.
The rest turn into meat bracelets and umbrellas.
He is a very fucked up little guy and that isn’t to say he treats his group the nicest and yet they still stick around for some reason. Which may imply things happening in the background and in private that endear them to him.
So there is my ted talk on Mama Mayuri and his messed up little pseudo family he created that he hates because he loves them 💕
He’s a very honest liar and I love him and all his horrific little issues and crimes against human decency 🙂↕️✨
