@@truthspreader1996 If you read the light novels a villain called Tokinada uses Kyoka Suigetsu and gets defeated easily, His Zanpakto is only useful when someone intelligent like Aizen uses it
If you've ever read Nietzche, you'll see that Aizen doesn't actually think of himself as "evil", but more like someone who transcends beyond good and evil. He doesn't think in that binary, he has a goal, and will follow his will to power to achieve it by any means. That's why I think he doesn't do stuff like finish off the Gotei 13 after beating most of them (unlike Yhwach, who would), but when it pleases him, or it's part of his goal, he'll nuke a whole town just for his grand designs. As a result, by the standards of grounded morality, he's evil, but he doesn't even think of "good and evil" as something that applies to himself. If he can do it, if he wants to do it, if it makes sense to do it, he will. Aizen feels very Nietzchean that way.
@@spriggylotus4476 It’s no coincidence that Kubo has a cover/drawing of him that literally says “God is dead.” For better or worse, Aizen is very much an existentialist. Wouldn’t go so far as to say a nihilist like Ulquiorra.
@@dytgyfgyffuh243Naruto getting either beheaded or end up in endless torment by KS illusion until Aizen loose interest ie if he had interest in him in the first place.
@@dytgyfgyffuh243 If Naruto couldn't talk no jutsu Madara who was nothing more than a puppet. If he couldn't talk no jutsu Sasuke without defeating him, even after everything they've been together, there's no way he could persuade Aizen.
I mean i knows him more from all those 2017-2019 clips of him enacting his plans, turning himself white, then got sealed. And all i gotta say is that: "yup he is *HIM* alright"
What man him such a great antagonist to me is that Aizen’s defection from Gotei 13 weights so heavy is because he was one of the most promising soul reapers to have ever worn the mantle. Perfectly illustrated at the end of the arc where he abandons soul society and left them with Ichigo. Aizen is intelligent, polite, ambitious , patient, calm, professional, talented and teaching Ichigo is loud, compassionate, impatient, funny, headstrong, rowdiness, sarcastic and emotional Ichigo became what Aizen didn’t want to be for his peers. He was able to somewhat fill the void after a declaration of war when everything settled down. Ichigo is already regarded as a legendary hero that will go down in history. As Aizen will forever be the eyesore of soul society.
Ichigo felt that Aizen was lonely when the fought. He was lonely being more talented than everyone else around him, which is why he built up Ichigo's strength. However, he also had to increase his own power in order to carry out his plans.
This little detail of Ichigo pointing out how lonely Aizen was is the cream de la cream of the manga, honestly. Like "what is the point of all this power if you're lonely What is the point of getting what you want if you will be lonely in the end" And that is so unreasonable for ambitious and selfish people, things that Ichigo absolutely is not.
that is reason why i like bleach character more than other in big 3 cause none of them have like super high hope bs where they wanna be for example king or hokage and save everyone in the world but rather just save who they like cause they can't save everyone. same for aizen cause his motivation after being all this powerful is still so humanly relatable , and he just like to have control over his own autonomy and choices like all of us.
Dude becoming God and not and of over throwing the government are the two most extravagant goals ever and he does it all because he thinks his better than everybody so nobody has the right to dictate his actions
brother what ? aizen wants to to be on the top because he thinks of himself as a higher being. He even explains the duties of a god at some point. yeah aizen has relatable traits like wanting to be understood. but overall he is definitely a larger than life character. since his goal happened just because he was born stronger than normal humans. unlike someone like doflamingo who we get a detailed process of becoming who he is in the most realistic way possible.
Another great Aizen scene was when he mocked those judging him for his crimes. After all he knows about Bleach's original sin. He knows all the horrible things soul society has done. So... why should he be judged by those who did the same as him? The difference is that they won in the end.
A lot of people want Aizen to have a deep backstory but I don't. His motivation is simple: Aizen discovered that God was a corpse the Shinigami made and decided he should become God instead.
He has also done good things like reforming division 5th standards. Hollows were freed from having to desperately eat and could all have their masks removed.
@@ShonenOujiaizen is actually more madrara uchiha they both are anti villain that are similar about how the system and government of thier worlds are croupt and hypocrites naruto has the shnobi system being hell and bleach has the soul society system being croupt and evil both madrara and aizen wanted to change thier world to become better
@@dytgyfgyffuh243 first of all. this is not how anti-villain is defined. actions is what defines characters. secondly. at least madara had an idea of a world that can be peaceful and tried to achieve it. Aizen didn't, he thinks that him being at the top is the only thing that sounds right.
@@wwe12153 I would say Yhwach is more of an anti-villain since one can argue that while his motivations are still relatively selfish, they do have a hint of altruism since he desires to create a new world that he believes would be beneficial for living beings in general, free of death and the fear of death, and said selfish motivation is a bit more relatable since he wanted all the pain he personally felt from the people who died and grieved over said deaths to simply go away. Also is so torn by seeing his father being put in such a humiliating state, a far cry of what he was in his prime, being taken advantage of by lesser beings, that he is willing to destroy him to supposedly free him of his misery(what he fails to realize though is that the Soul King probably foresaw his own "death" and allowed it happen for reasons unknown). In the anime, he also seems to imply that he also HATES his father, the Soul King, for creating a system of worlds unsuitable for quincies, interpreting that as the Soul King abandoning him and his people. Aizen just wanted to be God. What's funny is that Aizen would backtrack on this sentiment later, supposedly seeing the existential value brought by the Soul King's sacrifice, and would chastise Yhwach for it. Yhwach on the other hand was frustrated with the actions of said God and wished the world could go back to the way it was.
Kubo's approach to Aizen is very much in the same vein of Milton's Lucifer from Paradise Lost, rebelling against God and forming a kingdom in Hell that's the inversion of Heaven with other fallen angels and demons as his minions. Milton's Lucifer also read as a compelling anti-hero, one who grabbed the reader's imagination in a dynamic will-to-power kind of way even if he is the very definition of Evil in the Christian worldview. Aizen's most Luciferian quality is also his ultimate undoing, which is... well, pride. The notion that his experiment which was Kurosaki Ichigo - to ensure his own evolution - would evolve beyond him was simply unfathomable.
I feel like another important element in this is how Kubo points out the flaws in Aizen's philosophy of the singular individual. Aizen only ever has eyes for Ichigo, especially once he achieves his so-called transcendence. Ichigo is the only individual that he can imagine challenging him- the only rival he can picture- and, even then, he's confident that he'll come out on top. And the thing is, he's right! Ichigo's Final Getsuga emptied his tank but wasn't sufficient to get the job done. Aizen survived it, still able to regenerate, fight, and evolve even further. Had this battle truly been between the two of them, Aizen would have won quite handily. It wasn't just between the two of them though, and it was that collaboration- that collective effort- that finally handed Aizen an L. I firmly believe that realization was the philosophical gut punch that lead to Aizen's tantrum at the end of the fight. It didn't matter that he could potentially come out for another round and come out on top. The fact that he had lost at all in this manner meant that his thesis was fundamentally flawed, and, for a man like Aizen, that's a tough pill to swallow.
He's a great villain because he doesn't percieve himself as a villain--he's just doing what he thinks he needs to do. We also aren't 'told' how powerful or how smart he is we get to see it. We get to witness first hand in the story it develops slowly and we're shown through the character interactions. We really aren't outright told how smart or how strong he is or the fact he's several steps ahead of everyone else until we hear Gin talking about it as a voice over during the town fight with the other captain level characters. Of course by that stage we already have seen Aizen's plan in motion and come to the conclusion he's in a league of his own. So when Gin tells us 'you've got plans to his plans? They aren't good enough. You've got plans to those plans to counter him? Still not good enough" we believe it, because we've SEEN it. It's one thing to be told how strong and smart a character is its completely another thing to be shown through the story actions just how smart and powerful they are. I think the slow burn method of showcasing a great villain works really well--and you see it in a lot of mystery peridocial shows--the over arching bad guy who only has a name and not much else is known--they are usually smarter than everyone else with the exception of the said protagonist and some shows have pulled this off well while others not so much. Bleach pulls it off masterfully regarding the slow burn development of Aizen as a character. I'm not sure he fits the archetype of a true anti-villain, as anti-villains use evil or deplorable methods but have noble justifications and goals. They do awful things but have good intentions but I'm not sure Aizen's intentions are noble or just, they are just different. I'd probably still classify him as a villain, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't see himself in that way but most great villains don't see themselves as the bad guy.
I'd say that Aizen is an anti villain as what is his goal ? To destroy the status quo and the system that the Great Houses have created with the betrayal of Reio, he wants to erase that and reshape everything. He's the quintessential Ubermensch of Nietzsches, the man who sees the reality of the world and makes it his mission to use the fact he's no longer bound by traditional morality or worldvieew to change it as he sees fit. It may sound egotistical, but once you see how genuinely evil the Great Houses and ESPECIALLY Ichibei are, I believe his plan was genuinely for the greater good. It's a case of the villain being vindicated in his motives a few arcs down the line
5:10- he's also a colossal hypocrite in this as he strips an Arrancar of all of its free will and is a total control freak in general- it's less about making so that others can make their own lives, it'sm more about him being allowed to have freedom to screw around everyone under his thumb if his rule over the Arrancar is any indication.
I don’t think he does it out of genuine good heartedness but he gave almost all Espada the thing they wanted most. He gave Stark a group of people he could call comrades, he brought law into Hueco Mundo like he promised Hallibel and also a lot of fighting for Grimmjow
It's hard to hate Aizen when you know just how psychopathic, self centered, and dictatorial, the Soul Society is. The Gotei 13 are not peaceful. They do not seek peace. They do not seek compromise. You do exactly as they order you, or it's instant war until one side is dead. It was only until Ichigo arrived that people like Urahara and Yoruichi even felt comfortable not being in hiding 24/7.
I personally still think Aizen is a pure villain and not an anti-villain. I personally see his motivation a bit differently, i got the impression that he is dissatisfied with the current state of the world, because Soul king, who is supposed to be an Allmighty (pun intended), all powerful being, but in reality is just an empty husk, used as a pinchpin for the world by the weak geezers in central 46, and that's why he says that "nobody's stands atop the heavens", because the one who does isn't actually rulings anything, and he wants to change that by "dethroning" the Soul king and becoming a God, who will rule this world himself.
I bet he does. Getting outsmarted and being used as kind of a sacrificial pawn by his vice-captain in the past must have hurt. And that said vice-captain played a major role in saving the world from Yuha. And that he needed the help of that pesky Kurosaki child to seal... Ok, i'll stop. Don't kick a rat on the ground, as my grandma always said when my grandpa was drunk.
@janekge6761 Lol, should have fact checked that before talking big... No idea how i always confuse these two, somehow they share the same space in my brain. Well, shit happens.
@Cat-uv7dy You think so? I wouldn't go so far to say he outplayed Aizen, it was more a team effort. Without the inevitable mc powerup they would have been royally screwed. Or are you implying that Kisuke can even see beyond the fourth wall and he planned that?
He has pride, but he's learned from it to not underestimate anyone (from Ichigo's final fight with him). He's genius, yet not entirely leans on it. He's strong, but not so to enjoy fights or go in alone irrationally. It's the goldilocks for a villain, who was arch-antagonist at one point.
The "system where the society is dominated by the Soul King is unjust"? Aizen isn't upset with the Soul King dominating. He's upset the Soul King is practically dead, chopped up, a useless puppet, piece of meat trapped in a crystal (and he references that he knew this when he called the Soul King "that thing" or speaks of the throne being vacant) and everything is run by "his" subordinates, the Zero division and Central 46, all of them being (likely) inferior to Aizen in terms of intellect and later also inferior in terms of reiatsu and possibly unique abilities (Kyoka Suigetsu, etc.) He doesn't like what happened with the Soul King historically, how he was all hacked up and also the continual coverup and deception in the upper parts of Soul Society governance, all the theatrics to make it seem they all support the Soul King when he's pretty much their murder victim left in a vegetative state, and wants to make things his way - possibly a society with a real king that can do things, that has agency.
Describing Aizen as an anti-villain is an interesting one. Let me watch this vid. His villain group was incidentally led by an anti-villain (Starrk) Id say he fits the trope of Affably Evil, but his clear antagonism to the protagonists and several of our friendly allies makes him villainous, especially with his use of Kyoka Suigetsu.
You forgot to mention that the soul king was a hybrid being and the noble families used him (he let them) to stabilize the world and dominate it as Shinigami. That is the status quo he's talking about. He intends to break it and replace the soul king after he would have absorbed Ichigo who'sanother hybrid.
The aizen hype literally comes from him stopping Ichigo's theme song. That's it. His philosophy is weak (God's not real, I'm God, God's dead, God's evil, we shouldn't have God, I'm gonna be God). His feats outside of treating fodder characters like fodder are non-existent. And he's not that smart, q even used his bankai or shikai on ichigo. He had one good feat and a lot of shit talking
One more thing to add is Aizen wants everyone else to see the truth too. He constantly asks Toshiro why he is fighting, is it because of rage or his sense of duty? Toshiro isn't able to give him a straight answer, proving Aizen's point that even they don't know what they are fighting for
One of my favorite villains that I don't think gets enough attention is Lord Viren from the Dragon Prince. He has clear motivations, he doesn't just do evil things for the sake of evil, but is not above getting his hands dirty to achieve his goals. He is also willing to reflect when questioned and change direction if he doesn't like what he sees.
If Unohana doesn't go around and chase down potential Aizen hiding places after she figured out the corpse trick, Hinamori and Hitsugaya would have been dead since that place is one of the most secluded area within Seireitei and everyone who should have been there are all dead. Aizen intended to kill her. Unohana is just the better healer.
Size is a man who had the intelligence to be able to look into the abyss and when it looked back, he rejected it... Unfortunately the road to doing so still drove him mad, madder than if he hadn't. What I find ironic is, the soul king would probably agree with him, because the status quo is itself ironically one started and perpetuated by the noble houses and all it's injustice can be routed back to them and their unrepentant arrogance.
Well, kinda. He seems to see himself as superior to everyone else, except for Urahara. When people are so far beneath himself he is burdened with the loneliness that comes from being exceptional. Urahara is somehow able to maintain his connection with others, and as a result he’s the only one who could’ve shared Aizen’s loneliness with him, but he chose not to disturb the status quo because he already had friends and relationships. In essence, Aizen acts selfishly because he literally doesn’t have anyone who he can confide in, he has no real relationships, he can’t relate to anyone, and he can’t even admit to himself that he is lonely because that would imply that he can’t take the final burden of being a “god”, that is to be the final being who doesn’t depend upon any other being.
Imo that statement about him being selfish couldn’t be more wrong, I don’t mean to offend you, though. To me, the only instance where he did something for himself and no one else is when he lost to Ichigo, and at first he didn’t even realize that. He wanted to change the status quo for the sake of everyone, because in his vision, that would benefit everyone. But he also is extremely lonely, to the point that he doesn’t know how to connect with anyone because everyone is weaker than him, and the only one who measures up to him (in intelligence) isn’t willing to try and fix the corrupt Soul Society. This is where the only selfish thing he ever did happens, he wished for an equal to get rid of that loneliness, and the Hogyoku granted it, resulting in him losing to Ichigo. Yet he didn’t even realize it at first. I believe that he could even be considered a martyr; because everything he did, he believed was necessary in order to fix Soul Society and he was ready to sacrifice everything, even his humanity, for the sake of his vision (which again, he genuinely believed would benefit everyone).
I just don't get why he doesn't just use his shikai to make people feel like there being stabbed by a thousand needles or something. He also doesn't attempt to show his shika to Ichigo even when he's desperate.
I haven't read bleach, but do I understand this right, that Aizen is another example of a villain being right but then doing so much evil shit that is used to invalidate his philosophy?
eh, idk he kinda just seems evil to me no matter how you look at it, i mean he was conducting hollowification experiments on soul reapers for the longest time
Good and evil is a social construct so he's evil for the people he's going against. Let me give an althistory scenario.If axis won WW-2, j*w would be a slang word for an evil treacherous person rather than just an ethnic group. Everyone would forget about the things Germany would do in eastern Europe, just like they forgot about Armenian genocide. So certain aspects of morality are relative to the time and they're shaped by power. Aizen knows he has the power so he believes he should be the one taking action because he is the most powerful in soul society since Yamamoto is clearly not going to do anything.
He's definitely not the type of guy to be pretentious doing the "right" thing. He's more of a guy that has a goal and if it benefits him, he'll make an exception
@@arnasDurnas I'm not talking about what he does, I mean that his ideas sound based but then he's a piece of shit so the ideas are automatically discarded. Is it like that
It mirrors our own world and history. We’ve many more uraharas in this world than aizens and thus we live in a fucked up world. Not sure that any aizens could actually fix it either. Things are what they are. It’s hard not to be an urahara. I’m an urahara. I prefer to find peace and be peaceful and give up on fixing the world. Everyone trying to fix the world usually ends up in violence. So I prefer to live my best life and let the world be. Maybe it’s fucked up but it’s hard not to be fucked up in a fucked up world.
If there's one constant in the anime analyst community, it's that the writing for Anime's Josh Groban is always praised. This was a really informative video!
I feel so stupid now that i used to think, Shikamaru and madara were brilliant Minds Aizen is the "Brain God" , not just cuz of his head, but also cuz his personality is soo misleading that it can always fool you.
I wish the soul society would've reduced his sentence or at least let him be in the zero squad. I mean he "fathered" Ichigo which if not for Aizen all existence would've been eradicated
it is a huge misunderstanding if you really think that aizen is a humanist. In fact, he is the complete opposite of that. He doesn't have a problem with a competent god. that's why he calls the soul king "that thing" . He would rule the world as a god
like saying that Aizen wants to create a world where individuals trust in themselves is honestly very funny. Aizen is disgusted by them. but he never tried to change them. He just accepted that he is above them and even called it his duty to take on that burden. how did you came with the conclusion that he wants to change people? it doesn't make any sense 👽
He not evil tho, I guess😂....... He is extremely smart, one of the smartest fictional characters ever, this mad lad even created a literal "camera sun" for hueco Mundo and casually creates fully functional living beings in a lab(hollows)..... And even created a replica of an artifact that is literally apart of THEE GOD of the verse
Bleach is simple - the more shinigami power you have, the closer to the throne you are. Aizen was just bullshitting about changes, because he would build exactly the same system, unless he was going to sit the crystal instead of Soul King, also absolutely destroying and rebuilding the world (we obviously understand he wasn't going to). So all his "why you ok with status quo" is weird bait at most.
lol 😂 humanitarian my ass , that man hit Ichigo with that “Ningeeen!” Scream 👴🏻 Also for a humanitarian he is obsessed with being a God 💀… Still top 5 anime villain though 🗿
Decent logic, but Aizen is the opposite of a humanist. He despises the system, because he was always strong - he never experienced what it means to be weak. He wants to change the system to one that doesnt benefit others, but himself. Aizen is Rick Sanchez in his central finite curve - a big fish and a small pond. OPM/Mob Psycho is full of characters like Aizen, and it would be hilarious if he got humbled like the guy from House of Evolution. I dont disagree with his sentiment, but his process is flawed and he uses his flawes ideology to shield his brittle ego. He exclaims that his acting for the sake of higher ideals, when in reality he's just Garou throwing a Chuunibyou-ridden temper tantrum. Get off Nietzches dck, Aizen.
Oh my word, if you think Aizen is an Anti-villain then I think you might need a second opinion cuz you have lost the plot. Allow me to refer you to some actual examples of what you are talking about Shogo Makashima from Psycho Pass. Light Yagami from Death Note Ray and Charles Beams from Eureka Seven Garma Zabi from original Gundam series Lordgenome from Guren Lagann Soo won from Yona of the Dawn
Aizen is like madrara uchiha anti villains that wants to change the croupt system of their wolrd and the irony is that thier both right aizen is right about the soul king and original sin and madrara was right about the shnobi system being hell end 33 proves it
This comment section here will most likely be an Aizen meat-riding thread, but here are my 2 cents. Aizen's not even that smart. In fact, he's pretty dumb creating unnecessarily complicated plans when a simpler solution is staring him right in the face. Yeah, he manipulated SS, but he didn't really have to. Why didn't he just go find Rukia in the real world and take the Hogyoku right then and there? Instead of devising a huge ass grandiose plan with so many variables that he doesn't control. Also, his main objective being to overtake the Soul King, why didn't he make sure he had as much of the Espadas as possible when moving to Fake Karakura? He could've captured Ichigo and co, until the other captains arrived instead of losing so much of his forces in pointless fights. And he wanted Ichigo to test out his powers, but neither did that work, nor is it a good way to go about it. So when I hear "He has 20 other contingency plans ready", All I can do is call bs.
@@hitkid2456 they are not, it is a very new term that was first used by a youtuber a few years ago. Anti villains are not a thing, as in they dont really exist, because the term Villain is very broad and not complex, unlile the term Hero, wich is very ancient and complex, and can chance drastically depending on time and culture. This is why we have anti-heros, because Hero is a term complex enough so you can subvert it, but since villain is not a complex term at all, there is nothing to be subverted. All the so called anti-villains are just villains, period. And to keep in mind, I didnt say that Villains cant be complex characters, they can. Same with Heros. I am refering to the term Villain, as in its definition.
How would you describe Aizen? How does he compare to other Bleach characters?
His is very complex character
Fr i watched bleach only bc him
@@aymangourram4293I disagree there's many interesting charecters but Aizen is the best villain
He's nothing but a megalomaniac who got luck to have such a busted zanpakutō.
@@truthspreader1996 If you read the light novels a villain called Tokinada uses Kyoka Suigetsu and gets defeated easily, His Zanpakto is only useful when someone intelligent like Aizen uses it
What makes Aizen great is that he is able to learn and grow as seen by his monologue at the end of series....
I mean yeah, dude learned and mastered every skill tree , and somehow managed to master science and philosophy on the side.
If you've ever read Nietzche, you'll see that Aizen doesn't actually think of himself as "evil", but more like someone who transcends beyond good and evil. He doesn't think in that binary, he has a goal, and will follow his will to power to achieve it by any means. That's why I think he doesn't do stuff like finish off the Gotei 13 after beating most of them (unlike Yhwach, who would), but when it pleases him, or it's part of his goal, he'll nuke a whole town just for his grand designs. As a result, by the standards of grounded morality, he's evil, but he doesn't even think of "good and evil" as something that applies to himself. If he can do it, if he wants to do it, if it makes sense to do it, he will. Aizen feels very Nietzchean that way.
@@spriggylotus4476 It’s no coincidence that Kubo has a cover/drawing of him that literally says “God is dead.” For better or worse, Aizen is very much an existentialist. Wouldn’t go so far as to say a nihilist like Ulquiorra.
I wloud like to see naruto try the talk no jutsu on aizen
@@dytgyfgyffuh243Naruto getting either beheaded or end up in endless torment by KS illusion until Aizen loose interest ie if he had interest in him in the first place.
@@baldwinivofjerusalem47 KS isn't Sharingan.
@@dytgyfgyffuh243 If Naruto couldn't talk no jutsu Madara who was nothing more than a puppet. If he couldn't talk no jutsu Sasuke without defeating him, even after everything they've been together, there's no way he could persuade Aizen.
What makes Aizen different?
He stopped the MC's Theme song with his Pinky finger. 😂
didn't he do it with his index finger
@@dawnh oh yeah.... My Bad..
NO, he erased it from the playlist. After that we never heard that track again.
only remixes were played after
@@dawnh technically it was with his index and middle finger.
It's crazy how iconic his character is, even people who haven't watch bleach already knows who aizen is😂
He’s just that guy.
I mean i knows him more from all those 2017-2019 clips of him enacting his plans, turning himself white, then got sealed. And all i gotta say is that: "yup he is *HIM* alright"
All part of his Keikaku
Do think that kubo tired to justify aizen with soul king and soul society system being croupt
You mean Josh Groban?
Smash master groban.
Lord Joshington the 3rd.
JB Grobo on his marble sitting throne.
It's the chair, that's where all his charisma comes from.
Chairisma
Chair-sama ^^
What man him such a great antagonist to me is that Aizen’s defection from Gotei 13 weights so heavy is because he was one of the most promising soul reapers to have ever worn the mantle.
Perfectly illustrated at the end of the arc where he abandons soul society and left them with Ichigo.
Aizen is intelligent, polite, ambitious , patient, calm, professional, talented and teaching
Ichigo is loud, compassionate, impatient, funny, headstrong, rowdiness, sarcastic and emotional
Ichigo became what Aizen didn’t want to be for his peers.
He was able to somewhat fill the void after a declaration of war when everything settled down.
Ichigo is already regarded as a legendary hero that will go down in history. As Aizen will forever be the eyesore of soul society.
Great point. Ichigo is the perfect foil to Aizen funny enough, which is what makes the final panels of Bleach that much more satisfying.
"You can see forever. I've thought of everything. We are not the same"
-Aizen to 'Bach, probably
Ichigo felt that Aizen was lonely when the fought. He was lonely being more talented than everyone else around him, which is why he built up Ichigo's strength. However, he also had to increase his own power in order to carry out his plans.
This little detail of Ichigo pointing out how lonely Aizen was is the cream de la cream of the manga, honestly. Like "what is the point of all this power if you're lonely
What is the point of getting what you want if you will be lonely in the end"
And that is so unreasonable for ambitious and selfish people, things that Ichigo absolutely is not.
Aizen really is Ichigo surrogate father lol that bleach ending speaking of Ichigo is like a proud father 😂
fr pun heavily intended, he's his Godfather lmao
that is reason why i like bleach character more than other in big 3 cause none of them have like super high hope bs where they wanna be for example king or hokage and save everyone in the world but rather just save who they like cause they can't save everyone.
same for aizen cause his motivation after being all this powerful is still so humanly relatable , and he just like to have control over his own autonomy and choices like all of us.
yeah op is just basic bs lol
Dude becoming God and not and of over throwing the government are the two most extravagant goals ever and he does it all because he thinks his better than everybody so nobody has the right to dictate his actions
"I wanna be hokage!" 😁
"I wanna be the pirate king!" 😁
"I wanna be the soul king!" 😨
@@dawnhno ichigos goal is to protect his loved ones.
brother what ? aizen wants to to be on the top because he thinks of himself as a higher being. He even explains the duties of a god at some point.
yeah aizen has relatable traits like wanting to be understood. but overall he is definitely a larger than life character.
since his goal happened just because he was born stronger than normal humans. unlike someone like doflamingo who we get a detailed process of becoming who he is in the most realistic way possible.
Aizen legit had beef with an Amputy he never met 😂😂
Aizen is so iconic, the new villain had to take notes from his playbook 😂
Aizen is so good, Yhwach went to ask for some tips
What i like about Bleach is that no one is necessarily right or at least right for the wrong reasons
No faction is completely correct. Both had good and bad
@@killuazoldyk2727i dunno man, i don’t think hollows have a very sound philosophy
Another great Aizen scene was when he mocked those judging him for his crimes. After all he knows about Bleach's original sin. He knows all the horrible things soul society has done. So... why should he be judged by those who did the same as him? The difference is that they won in the end.
A lot of people want Aizen to have a deep backstory but I don't.
His motivation is simple:
Aizen discovered that God was a corpse the Shinigami made and decided he should become God instead.
Simple, to the point, and egotistical in a way that is understandable, even if it isn’t reasonable.
That’s kinda how I had it in my mind too
Plus it ties into his Shikai ability of illusions. Without a fleshed out backstory no one can fully understand him. Which adds to his character.
@Windycity_353 it's more of a complement or a insult to his flawed view of the SK hence Kyoka suigetsu
@andrewthomas5694 like how all of soul society embraces the dog and pony shows of the five houses. He gives them one more lie to believe.
I'd make a strong argument that aizen is not a pure villain, but an anti villain, especially if you've read the novels😊
He has also done good things like reforming division 5th standards.
Hollows were freed from having to desperately eat and could all have their masks removed.
Definitely. He’s more on the border than someone like Pain, but you could easily argue Aizen is closer to an anti-villain based on his speeches.
@@ShonenOujiaizen is actually more madrara uchiha they both are anti villain that are similar about how the system and government of thier worlds are croupt and hypocrites naruto has the shnobi system being hell and bleach has the soul society system being croupt and evil both madrara and aizen wanted to change thier world to become better
@@dytgyfgyffuh243 first of all. this is not how anti-villain is defined. actions is what defines characters.
secondly. at least madara had an idea of a world that can be peaceful and tried to achieve it. Aizen didn't, he thinks that him being at the top is the only thing that sounds right.
@@wwe12153 I would say Yhwach is more of an anti-villain since one can argue that while his motivations are still relatively selfish, they do have a hint of altruism since he desires to create a new world that he believes would be beneficial for living beings in general, free of death and the fear of death, and said selfish motivation is a bit more relatable since he wanted all the pain he personally felt from the people who died and grieved over said deaths to simply go away. Also is so torn by seeing his father being put in such a humiliating state, a far cry of what he was in his prime, being taken advantage of by lesser beings, that he is willing to destroy him to supposedly free him of his misery(what he fails to realize though is that the Soul King probably foresaw his own "death" and allowed it happen for reasons unknown). In the anime, he also seems to imply that he also HATES his father, the Soul King, for creating a system of worlds unsuitable for quincies, interpreting that as the Soul King abandoning him and his people. Aizen just wanted to be God. What's funny is that Aizen would backtrack on this sentiment later, supposedly seeing the existential value brought by the Soul King's sacrifice, and would chastise Yhwach for it. Yhwach on the other hand was frustrated with the actions of said God and wished the world could go back to the way it was.
Kubo's approach to Aizen is very much in the same vein of Milton's Lucifer from Paradise Lost, rebelling against God and forming a kingdom in Hell that's the inversion of Heaven with other fallen angels and demons as his minions. Milton's Lucifer also read as a compelling anti-hero, one who grabbed the reader's imagination in a dynamic will-to-power kind of way even if he is the very definition of Evil in the Christian worldview.
Aizen's most Luciferian quality is also his ultimate undoing, which is... well, pride. The notion that his experiment which was Kurosaki Ichigo - to ensure his own evolution - would evolve beyond him was simply unfathomable.
I feel like another important element in this is how Kubo points out the flaws in Aizen's philosophy of the singular individual.
Aizen only ever has eyes for Ichigo, especially once he achieves his so-called transcendence. Ichigo is the only individual that he can imagine challenging him- the only rival he can picture- and, even then, he's confident that he'll come out on top.
And the thing is, he's right! Ichigo's Final Getsuga emptied his tank but wasn't sufficient to get the job done. Aizen survived it, still able to regenerate, fight, and evolve even further. Had this battle truly been between the two of them, Aizen would have won quite handily.
It wasn't just between the two of them though, and it was that collaboration- that collective effort- that finally handed Aizen an L.
I firmly believe that realization was the philosophical gut punch that lead to Aizen's tantrum at the end of the fight. It didn't matter that he could potentially come out for another round and come out on top. The fact that he had lost at all in this manner meant that his thesis was fundamentally flawed, and, for a man like Aizen, that's a tough pill to swallow.
He's a great villain because he doesn't percieve himself as a villain--he's just doing what he thinks he needs to do. We also aren't 'told' how powerful or how smart he is we get to see it. We get to witness first hand in the story it develops slowly and we're shown through the character interactions. We really aren't outright told how smart or how strong he is or the fact he's several steps ahead of everyone else until we hear Gin talking about it as a voice over during the town fight with the other captain level characters. Of course by that stage we already have seen Aizen's plan in motion and come to the conclusion he's in a league of his own. So when Gin tells us 'you've got plans to his plans? They aren't good enough. You've got plans to those plans to counter him? Still not good enough" we believe it, because we've SEEN it. It's one thing to be told how strong and smart a character is its completely another thing to be shown through the story actions just how smart and powerful they are. I think the slow burn method of showcasing a great villain works really well--and you see it in a lot of mystery peridocial shows--the over arching bad guy who only has a name and not much else is known--they are usually smarter than everyone else with the exception of the said protagonist and some shows have pulled this off well while others not so much. Bleach pulls it off masterfully regarding the slow burn development of Aizen as a character. I'm not sure he fits the archetype of a true anti-villain, as anti-villains use evil or deplorable methods but have noble justifications and goals. They do awful things but have good intentions but I'm not sure Aizen's intentions are noble or just, they are just different. I'd probably still classify him as a villain, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't see himself in that way but most great villains don't see themselves as the bad guy.
My thoughts exactly
I'd say that Aizen is an anti villain as what is his goal ? To destroy the status quo and the system that the Great Houses have created with the betrayal of Reio, he wants to erase that and reshape everything. He's the quintessential Ubermensch of Nietzsches, the man who sees the reality of the world and makes it his mission to use the fact he's no longer bound by traditional morality or worldvieew to change it as he sees fit.
It may sound egotistical, but once you see how genuinely evil the Great Houses and ESPECIALLY Ichibei are, I believe his plan was genuinely for the greater good. It's a case of the villain being vindicated in his motives a few arcs down the line
Aizen is such an enigma of a character he almost feels above the terms like villains and heroes also Mojo Jojo always a great OG villain
Lol. Aizen the Ubermensch . Great video by the way
The funny thing is that when known the truth about the soul king and soul society you will realize that aizen was right
5:10- he's also a colossal hypocrite in this as he strips an Arrancar of all of its free will and is a total control freak in general- it's less about making so that others can make their own lives, it'sm more about him being allowed to have freedom to screw around everyone under his thumb if his rule over the Arrancar is any indication.
I don’t think he does it out of genuine good heartedness but he gave almost all Espada the thing they wanted most. He gave Stark a group of people he could call comrades, he brought law into Hueco Mundo like he promised Hallibel and also a lot of fighting for Grimmjow
It's hard to hate Aizen when you know just how psychopathic, self centered, and dictatorial, the Soul Society is. The Gotei 13 are not peaceful. They do not seek peace. They do not seek compromise. You do exactly as they order you, or it's instant war until one side is dead. It was only until Ichigo arrived that people like Urahara and Yoruichi even felt comfortable not being in hiding 24/7.
I personally still think Aizen is a pure villain and not an anti-villain. I personally see his motivation a bit differently, i got the impression that he is dissatisfied with the current state of the world, because Soul king, who is supposed to be an Allmighty (pun intended), all powerful being, but in reality is just an empty husk, used as a pinchpin for the world by the weak geezers in central 46, and that's why he says that "nobody's stands atop the heavens", because the one who does isn't actually rulings anything, and he wants to change that by "dethroning" the Soul king and becoming a God, who will rule this world himself.
"Nobody can outhink Aizen." A local sweets shop owner would like to have a word.
I bet he does. Getting outsmarted and being used as kind of a sacrificial pawn by his vice-captain in the past must have hurt. And that said vice-captain played a major role in saving the world from Yuha. And that he needed the help of that pesky Kurosaki child to seal... Ok, i'll stop. Don't kick a rat on the ground, as my grandma always said when my grandpa was drunk.
@@certainlynotmalo1.0.0 Aizen was Shinjis Vice-captain, Urahara had Hiyori.
@janekge6761 Lol, should have fact checked that before talking big... No idea how i always confuse these two, somehow they share the same space in my brain.
Well, shit happens.
@@certainlynotmalo1.0.0kisuke definitely outplayed aizen, aizen might’ve won the battle in turn back the pendulum, but he certainly didn’t win the war
@Cat-uv7dy You think so? I wouldn't go so far to say he outplayed Aizen, it was more a team effort. Without the inevitable mc powerup they would have been royally screwed. Or are you implying that Kisuke can even see beyond the fourth wall and he planned that?
1:36 except for Kisuke. The Goat himself
He has pride, but he's learned from it to not underestimate anyone (from Ichigo's final fight with him). He's genius, yet not entirely leans on it. He's strong, but not so to enjoy fights or go in alone irrationally. It's the goldilocks for a villain, who was arch-antagonist at one point.
I’m always two Bankai ahead ahh villain
Great villain analysis. Would love to see you do one on yoshikage Kira or kumagawa misogi
The "system where the society is dominated by the Soul King is unjust"? Aizen isn't upset with the Soul King dominating. He's upset the Soul King is practically dead, chopped up, a useless puppet, piece of meat trapped in a crystal (and he references that he knew this when he called the Soul King "that thing" or speaks of the throne being vacant) and everything is run by "his" subordinates, the Zero division and Central 46, all of them being (likely) inferior to Aizen in terms of intellect and later also inferior in terms of reiatsu and possibly unique abilities (Kyoka Suigetsu, etc.) He doesn't like what happened with the Soul King historically, how he was all hacked up and also the continual coverup and deception in the upper parts of Soul Society governance, all the theatrics to make it seem they all support the Soul King when he's pretty much their murder victim left in a vegetative state, and wants to make things his way - possibly a society with a real king that can do things, that has agency.
hes a schadenfreude sadist too
Would like to see you do one of these on doffy one piece
You uploading this video was also part of Aizen's plan?
Yes
Describing Aizen as an anti-villain is an interesting one. Let me watch this vid. His villain group was incidentally led by an anti-villain (Starrk) Id say he fits the trope of Affably Evil, but his clear antagonism to the protagonists and several of our friendly allies makes him villainous, especially with his use of Kyoka Suigetsu.
He is Nietzche's uber mensch, Urahara is Nietzche's Omega Man
The thought of mojo jojo and egg and Aizen in the same sentence is just hillarious to me
You forgot to mention that the soul king was a hybrid being and the noble families used him (he let them) to stabilize the world and dominate it as Shinigami. That is the status quo he's talking about. He intends to break it and replace the soul king after he would have absorbed Ichigo who'sanother hybrid.
Even if you look at him, you immediately can feel the coolness. Just on basic looks, also, he is handsome as hell
95% of bleach characters are attractive tho.
The aizen hype literally comes from him stopping Ichigo's theme song. That's it. His philosophy is weak (God's not real, I'm God, God's dead, God's evil, we shouldn't have God, I'm gonna be God). His feats outside of treating fodder characters like fodder are non-existent. And he's not that smart, q even used his bankai or shikai on ichigo. He had one good feat and a lot of shit talking
I didn't even watch the video, I just liked and subscribed
One more thing to add is Aizen wants everyone else to see the truth too. He constantly asks Toshiro why he is fighting, is it because of rage or his sense of duty? Toshiro isn't able to give him a straight answer, proving Aizen's point that even they don't know what they are fighting for
One of my favorite villains that I don't think gets enough attention is Lord Viren from the Dragon Prince. He has clear motivations, he doesn't just do evil things for the sake of evil, but is not above getting his hands dirty to achieve his goals. He is also willing to reflect when questioned and change direction if he doesn't like what he sees.
I feel like this is the first time I've been able to fully understand what we think we know about Aizen. It all makes sense.
... 'best villains of all time' *shows Lelouch*
me: *holds finger up to speak, puts finger down after a moment.* okay yeah fair enough.
pls make more bleach videos
Villains unalive people. Anti-villains make sure Momo only gets stabbed in the non-lethal bits
If Unohana doesn't go around and chase down potential Aizen hiding places after she figured out the corpse trick, Hinamori and Hitsugaya would have been dead since that place is one of the most secluded area within Seireitei and everyone who should have been there are all dead.
Aizen intended to kill her. Unohana is just the better healer.
The more we see central 46 the more aizen was justified but what will never be justified is why he had such beef with toshiro and momo
He trained Toshiro to be ruthless
Then there’s the part of him where he’s secretly lonely
Size is a man who had the intelligence to be able to look into the abyss and when it looked back, he rejected it... Unfortunately the road to doing so still drove him mad, madder than if he hadn't.
What I find ironic is, the soul king would probably agree with him, because the status quo is itself ironically one started and perpetuated by the noble houses and all it's injustice can be routed back to them and their unrepentant arrogance.
1:54 Eggman my beloved ♥🥚
Aizen probably planned for him to get released in tybw, he always has something up his sleeve you can’t count him out
My favorite character and I never thought of him like that
I mean Urahara gives him a run for his money regarding contingencies.
Aizen’s motivations are selfish. Aizen does things for Aizen, no one else.
Well, kinda. He seems to see himself as superior to everyone else, except for Urahara. When people are so far beneath himself he is burdened with the loneliness that comes from being exceptional. Urahara is somehow able to maintain his connection with others, and as a result he’s the only one who could’ve shared Aizen’s loneliness with him, but he chose not to disturb the status quo because he already had friends and relationships.
In essence, Aizen acts selfishly because he literally doesn’t have anyone who he can confide in, he has no real relationships, he can’t relate to anyone, and he can’t even admit to himself that he is lonely because that would imply that he can’t take the final burden of being a “god”, that is to be the final being who doesn’t depend upon any other being.
Imo that statement about him being selfish couldn’t be more wrong, I don’t mean to offend you, though. To me, the only instance where he did something for himself and no one else is when he lost to Ichigo, and at first he didn’t even realize that. He wanted to change the status quo for the sake of everyone, because in his vision, that would benefit everyone. But he also is extremely lonely, to the point that he doesn’t know how to connect with anyone because everyone is weaker than him, and the only one who measures up to him (in intelligence) isn’t willing to try and fix the corrupt Soul Society. This is where the only selfish thing he ever did happens, he wished for an equal to get rid of that loneliness, and the Hogyoku granted it, resulting in him losing to Ichigo. Yet he didn’t even realize it at first. I believe that he could even be considered a martyr; because everything he did, he believed was necessary in order to fix Soul Society and he was ready to sacrifice everything, even his humanity, for the sake of his vision (which again, he genuinely believed would benefit everyone).
I just don't get why he doesn't just use his shikai to make people feel like there being stabbed by a thousand needles or something. He also doesn't attempt to show his shika to Ichigo even when he's desperate.
Winton mentioned 🐒
I haven't read bleach, but do I understand this right, that Aizen is another example of a villain being right but then doing so much evil shit that is used to invalidate his philosophy?
eh, idk he kinda just seems evil to me no matter how you look at it, i mean he was conducting hollowification experiments on soul reapers for the longest time
Good and evil is a social construct so he's evil for the people he's going against. Let me give an althistory scenario.If axis won WW-2, j*w would be a slang word for an evil treacherous person rather than just an ethnic group. Everyone would forget about the things Germany would do in eastern Europe, just like they forgot about Armenian genocide.
So certain aspects of morality are relative to the time and they're shaped by power. Aizen knows he has the power so he believes he should be the one taking action because he is the most powerful in soul society since Yamamoto is clearly not going to do anything.
He's definitely not the type of guy to be pretentious doing the "right" thing. He's more of a guy that has a goal and if it benefits him, he'll make an exception
@@arnasDurnas I'm not talking about what he does, I mean that his ideas sound based but then he's a piece of shit so the ideas are automatically discarded. Is it like that
In HIS perspective he's right. Morality is grey. You have to make your own decision on if you think he's "right"
Who is a better Anti-Villain between Aizen and Kitami?
Cool vid bro.🐱
Technically Ichimaru Gin outsmarted Aizen with the longest con ever. He was just unlucky that Aizen evolved so much that he survived his strike.
the SK does not protect, he keeps the cycle in check,
Thanks for this.
A great video.
Josh Groban himself.
It mirrors our own world and history. We’ve many more uraharas in this world than aizens and thus we live in a fucked up world. Not sure that any aizens could actually fix it either. Things are what they are. It’s hard not to be an urahara. I’m an urahara.
I prefer to find peace and be peaceful and give up on fixing the world. Everyone trying to fix the world usually ends up in violence. So I prefer to live my best life and let the world be.
Maybe it’s fucked up but it’s hard not to be fucked up in a fucked up world.
If there's one constant in the anime analyst community, it's that the writing for Anime's Josh Groban is always praised.
This was a really informative video!
Thank you so much! Glad to see you enjoyed the video so much.
I feel so stupid now that i used to think, Shikamaru and madara were brilliant Minds
Aizen is the "Brain God" , not just cuz of his head, but also cuz his personality is soo misleading that it can always fool you.
I wish the soul society would've reduced his sentence or at least let him be in the zero squad. I mean he "fathered" Ichigo which if not for Aizen all existence would've been eradicated
I prefer ginjo over Aizen. I went into bleach knowing everything. I knew ginjo was too. But ichigo is my GOAT and when he fall,so do i
Havent heard beinstar depths in a while lmao.
it is a huge misunderstanding if you really think that aizen is a humanist. In fact, he is the complete opposite of that.
He doesn't have a problem with a competent god. that's why he calls the soul king "that thing" . He would rule the world as a god
He would be a fascist.
Yhwach tuah
Good luck
Are there spoilers for thousand year blood war? (Cour 3 and after)
like saying that Aizen wants to create a world where individuals trust in themselves is honestly very funny.
Aizen is disgusted by them. but he never tried to change them. He just accepted that he is above them and even called it his duty to take on that burden. how did you came with the conclusion that he wants to change people? it doesn't make any sense 👽
He wants to rule instead of soul king actually cuz he thinks giving authority to a entity like that is disrespect to existence itself
Correction, 1 person can out scheme aizen.
Don Kanonji?
@ kisuke urahara
Why Aizen is a good villain from a person with an IQ of 12: He looks cool
He not evil tho, I guess😂....... He is extremely smart, one of the smartest fictional characters ever, this mad lad even created a literal "camera sun" for hueco Mundo and casually creates fully functional living beings in a lab(hollows)..... And even created a replica of an artifact that is literally apart of THEE GOD of the verse
Batman with prep time solos
I compare Azien to Xenoblade 1 Egil.
Bleach is simple - the more shinigami power you have, the closer to the throne you are.
Aizen was just bullshitting about changes, because he would build exactly the same system, unless he was going to sit the crystal instead of Soul King, also absolutely destroying and rebuilding the world (we obviously understand he wasn't going to).
So all his "why you ok with status quo" is weird bait at most.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
You made a mistake when you said he forced all of Hueco Mundo to follow him, which isn't true, they all followed him of their own free will.
Aizen believes in God but he wanted to be a God.
3K 14h 22.3K subs
Sōsuke Aizen and Steven Armstrong take libertarianism to the limit, aka Avaritionism.
Oh hey, it's Josh Groban
HIM
lol 😂 humanitarian my ass , that man hit Ichigo with that “Ningeeen!” Scream 👴🏻
Also for a humanitarian he is obsessed with being a God 💀…
Still top 5 anime villain though 🗿
Decent logic, but Aizen is the opposite of a humanist. He despises the system, because he was always strong - he never experienced what it means to be weak. He wants to change the system to one that doesnt benefit others, but himself. Aizen is Rick Sanchez in his central finite curve - a big fish and a small pond.
OPM/Mob Psycho is full of characters like Aizen, and it would be hilarious if he got humbled like the guy from House of Evolution.
I dont disagree with his sentiment, but his process is flawed and he uses his flawes ideology to shield his brittle ego. He exclaims that his acting for the sake of higher ideals, when in reality he's just Garou throwing a Chuunibyou-ridden temper tantrum. Get off Nietzches dck, Aizen.
Oh my word, if you think Aizen is an Anti-villain then I think you might need a second opinion cuz you have lost the plot.
Allow me to refer you to some actual examples of what you are talking about
Shogo Makashima from Psycho Pass.
Light Yagami from Death Note
Ray and Charles Beams from Eureka Seven
Garma Zabi from original Gundam series
Lordgenome from Guren Lagann
Soo won from Yona of the Dawn
The Aizen glazers are just getting out of hand and trying to call him an anti villain because as a villain he is completely toppled by Yhwachs feats
Wassup Wassup
Aizen is like madrara uchiha anti villains that wants to change the croupt system of their wolrd and the irony is that thier both right aizen is right about the soul king and original sin and madrara was right about the shnobi system being hell end 33 proves it
Anti Villian? More liike straight villian
👍
It is the year 2024 and people are still gassing up the poster child of Gary Stu villains. He is good at literally everything and loses to nonsense.
This comment section here will most likely be an Aizen meat-riding thread, but here are my 2 cents. Aizen's not even that smart. In fact, he's pretty dumb creating unnecessarily complicated plans when a simpler solution is staring him right in the face. Yeah, he manipulated SS, but he didn't really have to. Why didn't he just go find Rukia in the real world and take the Hogyoku right then and there? Instead of devising a huge ass grandiose plan with so many variables that he doesn't control. Also, his main objective being to overtake the Soul King, why didn't he make sure he had as much of the Espadas as possible when moving to Fake Karakura? He could've captured Ichigo and co, until the other captains arrived instead of losing so much of his forces in pointless fights. And he wanted Ichigo to test out his powers, but neither did that work, nor is it a good way to go about it. So when I hear "He has 20 other contingency plans ready", All I can do is call bs.
He forced ichigo and himself to evolve through the challenges. No pain no gain.
he isnt on my top 10 list
Yhwach >
Aizen sucks.
I think he's Ok. But Yhwach >>>
He's him
@@forgive.them. he's dim.
Is Aizen communist?
Anti-villains are not a thing, but great video nonetheless
Of course they are
@@hitkid2456 they are not, it is a very new term that was first used by a youtuber a few years ago. Anti villains are not a thing, as in they dont really exist, because the term Villain is very broad and not complex, unlile the term Hero, wich is very ancient and complex, and can chance drastically depending on time and culture. This is why we have anti-heros, because Hero is a term complex enough so you can subvert it, but since villain is not a complex term at all, there is nothing to be subverted. All the so called anti-villains are just villains, period.
And to keep in mind, I didnt say that Villains cant be complex characters, they can. Same with Heros. I am refering to the term Villain, as in its definition.