According to the poll I released not too long ago, the long-haired 'transcendent' form of Aizen's is the most popular with you guys - but how did you feel about the Hogyoku transformations in general? Was it a good endgame for Aizen?
Well I have mixed thoughts. I like the idea of Aizen wanting to be a God when in reality he becomes more Hollow especially with his monster form but I think that few more chapters would make his ending more closed. I really like his fight with Ichigo despite that ta it was very one sided but at this point Aizen was not a threat to be honest because Ichigo dominated him very badly. His Hogyoku transformations were mostly cool except butterfly ofcourse but I found it all to be very rushed. The weakest part of Aizen character is that he doesn't achive a lot in this arc. Despite of that I really like this change in his personality because that made sense for me. He was planning all this time he usually had everything under control and suddenly some human which he looked down on comes and says ''No. I'm stronger than you''. This part of his story is very polarized but I think that Kubo did his best like always.
Aizen's complete loss of control in the end both figuratively and literally shows what the effects of absolute power can do not just that state that shows the real inner monster within. It's the supreme counterpoint of Ichigo willingly sacrificing his own power to stop him. To be expected of such an egomaniac of Aizen's calibre.
Its almost a Devil May Cry situation. Aizen seems to be Ichigo's "Vergil" here. Giving up everything for absolute power, and becoming a monster in the process, only to be defeated by someone who refuses to sacrifice their own humanity.
I really like the final form of aizen. It was almost hollow like but still showing cues to getting close to the soul king since aizens wings look similar to the soul kings In that state. The "hollow" like transcendent being was a wonderful contrast to ichigos "soul reaper" like transcendent being even though ichigo in his mugestu state resembles yhwach.
Supposedly, CFYOW reveals that all Fullbringers (and other characters like Rangiku) have/had bits of the Soul King's carved-up body hidden within them. Considering his arms became full-on gods, it's entirely possible that pre-dismemberment he was every bit as eldritch (likely far more so) as Aizen's final form
I wonder if the inside of the "chrysalis" Aizen was inside had some sort of time-dilating effects. He comes out and not only is he significantly stronger, but his hair is much longer, very similarly to Dangai Ichigo's strength and hair when he finally catchers up to Aizen. Just a thought!
Aizen is continously gaining power in muken, i see people in the comments here saying that hes weaker then he was in monster state.. like wtf? SEALED Aizen threw out an incantation-less hado 90 lmao, besides he can actually merge with his kyoka suigetsu whenever now. Hes growing 24/7
I always thought that Aizen's transcendence was much closer to hollowfication than he wanted to believe. Aside from the obvious visual clues, it was his change in personality that really felt "hollow like". Looking at Ichigo and Kaname, both seemed to take on completely different personas after they fully hollowfied.
@William Blackwood Not to mention humble and merciful. If Aizen had won he would've essentially been a murderous dictator, striking down anyone he sees as beneath him. Which given his god tier ego is virtually everyone but himself.
@William Blackwood That might be by the fact hollows do not hollowfied when becoming arrancar but they "shinigamified" as we know from grimmjow flashbacks hollow evolution process is the oposite, being the hollow almost animal creatures, becoming more and more sentient the more power they have, getting a hive-like mind when they become Gillian unless they have a strong will ik the mix to keep personality, becoming intelligent beast as they get unto Adjhucas and finally composed human-like forms when they get into vasto-lordes, we see that in the hallibell and ulquiorra flashbacks too. Finally in the case of naturalborn Arrancars like Starrk it seems that they have gotten so human like that they can't be hollows anymore and they mask shatters. I like to think in that process as two polar extrems aproaching a mid point that would be the state that teascend both. Shinigamis must become hollowlike and hollows shinigamilike
Absolutely, I think he was *SO* delusional in that state that he was 100% convinced he wasn’t undergoing a version of mutated hollowfication, even while becoming more and more hollow-like.
that would be acceptable if weren't for kubo's description of his final form in the databooks as "Neither shinigami nor hollow but a god" 最終融合 The Final Fusion 一護に遅れを感じたその刻、最後の変容を遂げる。全てを超越したその姿は、死神でも虚でもない 、異形の姿だ った。 Feeling that he is falling behind Ichigo, Aizen achieves his final change of appearance. The apparence of a being transcending everything isn't like a shinigami's or a hollow's, the apparance is strange-looking.
I think he continued to evolve while in prison. In the TYBWA he was able to activate the effects of his zanpakuto without revealing his sword to Quincy Jesus, which means his body was one with his sword. I think becoming one with your blade was the next step in his evolutions because, as he was changing, his blade was physically merging with his body, but after inprisonment, it became one with his spirit.
no the zanpakuto fusion actually should have nothing with the evolution he sought, because a zanpakuto is a shinigami power and what he wanted is to transcend that, while he may have fused without his zanpakuto he still lost his transcendence and thus became far weaker than he was.
@@naboume466 transcending doesn’t mean disregarding; it’s means going beyond. He can’t go beyond Shinigami-level without reaching all the the steps to achieve perfection. To transcend being a shinigami, Aizen fused with his blade. To transcend being a hollow, Aizen gained multiple hollow holes. Fusing with his blade most certainly corresponded with his ascension.
@@devonterushdan3258 I didn't say he discarded anything, what I meant is that he already became transcendent when he became monster Aizen but he obviously lost that power by the end of his fight with Ichigo, fusing with his zanpakuto only means he reached the limit of a shinigami it doesn't mean he evolved beyond his monster form.
I find it interesting that when Aizen was talking to Shinji about reliance he said it was for cowards. Yet he himself relies upon the Hogyoku to give him power, to give him his "transcendence" no matter how he tries to dress up his logic by saying he's the Hogyoku's master. He's still relying on another force to give him that power and it's pretty obvious that the Hogyoku was in control over him for most of that time
Without the Hogyoku.... He ctould body all those people... As stated by Gin Ichigo Ichimaru..... He destroyed Most of those captains.... WITHOUT BAKAI mind you.... So yeah... He really wasnt relying on it as much as you think
@@skyreapery2n164 Without the Hogyoku, he would have died against Urahara, Ishin, and Yoruichi, or to Gin's planned betrayal. He was entirely reliant on it.
@@AzureDragon158 at that point he had stopped putting up his guard for all of them =(including Gin) as noted by Urahara, and aslo stopped using Kyoka Suigetsu, he didn't even fight them seriously, waiting for his challenge in Ichigo... Plus they jumped him... One on one.... Heck even all at once he would have destroyed them with his hypnosis
@@skyreapery2n164 without the Hogyoku he dies against Gin. That is a 100% undeniable fact. You can sugarcoat it all you want to by saying oh he was jumped or whatever. Fact still remains that he was dead without the Hogyoku. So yeah he was relying on it because it literally kept him alive. Not sure what's so difficult for you to understand about that
Honestly now with everything in perspective it's pretty hilarious that Ichigo can naturally do what Aizen needed the Hogyoku to do, transcending passed the barriers of the different races gaining strength without the weaknesses.
You're kind of forgetting that ichigo was born that way. Aizen had to figure out a way to get there himself. If ichigo wasn't made up of every damn race, form blah blah blah in literal existence then he wouldn't be shit. Aizen had to work for it. Ichigo had it handed to him
Kubo is a master of thematic consistency. Think about it. The hogyoku is made of countless numbers of souls but most importantly, it is made from fragments of the Soul King. In each stage of metamorphosis that Aizen undergoes, one thing is always consistent with the hogyoku (bar the monstrous transformation). The cross. These crosses appear on all forms of Aizen's transformations except for the last one. The cross is symbolic of the quincy race and the Soul King was essentially the first quincy. Had Urahara not interupted the metamorphosis multiple times, Aizen could have undergone a quincification so to speak, specifically noting the angelic wings that get pierced by Urahara's attack in that extra panel. Themes of angels and the divine being a notable motif of the sternritter in the TYBW arc. Not only that but the eyes. Aizen has a hidden third eye on his forehead in his butterflaizen form, which opens when he is backed into a corner by Ichigo. When he enters his monstrous form, his wings all have eyes on them, and it can be argued that his entire ebony black head is now the third eye, or as you put it the eye of the hogyoku. All the pieces of the Soul King, particularly the arms, are depicted with eyes, and to add to that, Yhwach's almighty is also themed with eyes. So in theory, Aizen should have undergone a quincification, but due to interruptions and the need to undergo responsive metamorphoses, he got corrupted along the way. Perhaps the hogyoku was trying to originally turn Aizen into a form similar to the original Soul King in the primordial world, but had to constantly compensate for Aizen's shortcomings and as a result it deviated too far from the ideal form Aizen should have become.
I think you're overthinking it, dude. Kubo may very well have thought about making a Quincy arc later on in the series while he was finishing up the Ichigi vs. Aizen fight, but I HIGHLY doubt he would have put so much thought into Yhwach, the Sternritter, Quincies, and the Soul King.
@@nobleactual7693 Well in the Databook unmasked Aizens final fusion is stated to not be either shinigami or hollow and Fragor is stated to be made from compressed Reishi similary to how Quincy make their weapons, so Final Fusion Aizen was without a doubt related to Quincys he even became a sort of Primordial being since he had hollow like and shinigami like powers but was neither.
@@nobleactual7693It was only like…yo know, his entire job and creation. So yeah…I’m SURE he put no thought into it in his every waking moment and just winged it. Right. 🙄
At first I would of said butterflizen was my favorite version because Butterfree is my favorite pokemon. But after we learned how Ichibei Hyōsube abilities worked I like the first evolution with the all white look kind of symbolizing that he is whipping away the restrictions of the name Aizen and moving beyond the powers of the Monk
I feel the butterfly theme suited his evolution obsession very well. I wonder though if he ever lost control of the hygokou or if he just wasn't in tune with himself after his stepping stone and test subject (a natural transcendent) was effortlessly stronger than him. That even at the level he was at wasn't enough to truly best what came naturally. Therefore he gave up on his dream thus losing the will to continue in that direction
I have the theory that Hogyoku has a connection to hell and therefore cannot be destroyed. it can only be destroyed in hell. The butterfly theme is also strongly connected to hell and I would also say that dark purple color is connected to hell. Especially his last transformation was really like hell. I can imagine that Aizen or Hogyoku will still play an important role in the new arc.
@@Lil_Harvard More that the some pieces of the soul king were extracted from shinigami (Rangiku) and used in its (Aizen's not Urahara's so far as we know) creation. Which actually brings in question was it the will of the soul king that gave it sentience or just help its power. We know Aizen fed Urahara's to his own so we can never know for certain if Urahara''s had intelligence (assuming his hogyoku was not fed soul king fragments)
He through a tantrum and the hogyoku tried making up the difference. After losing even that, he felt truly defeated, like a child pouting after being told off.
*Argument:* Aizen was not abandoned by the Hogyoku, it had been merging Hollow (Asauchi) and Shinigami Souls together, with itself, a piece of the Soul King. The moment he was sealed by Urahara was his moment of Re-Birth, not defeat.
I would even argue that actually hogyoku has been trying to devolve aizen to just a normal shinigami, he's so abnormal to the point he needs hogyoku and one of the soul king's fragments to do that lol
@@aiya5777 Yeah Ichigo did say that Aizen probably lost only because deep inside he wanted a equal and someone that would understand him and when Ichigo (his equal/superior and the person closest to understanding him) lost his powers Aizen subconsciously desired to lose them as well.
@@douglascramer1501 It was was not a first Zanpakuto, Ichimonji was already made at the time plus Nimaiya also says that he was in the middle of perfecting his Asauchis when he turned Iko into one meaning that he made them before.
I like the parallel with cocoons that I don't know if most know. When a bug of any kind goes into one, it's not simply its body wrapped in something and changing. It completely and totally breaks the creature down to a base liquid and then rebuilds itself, which is why there's nothing inside of Aizen's cocoon.
Aizen is more powerful in tybw, and it’s assumed he fused with his zanpaktou cause he puts ywach under kyoka suigetsu without having his blade out. Urahara after seeing him out of muken pretty much confirms he’s stronger than his hogyoku transformations as he saw the whole fight between him and ichigo.
Also doesn't Urahara specifically comment that his no incantation hado 90 from the chair was stronger than his full incantation used on dangai Ichigo in his evolved form? The debate with if Aizen is stronger in the chair than flyzen to me is as much a debate as debating Ichigo won because he won, and not because Aizen chose to lose. Ichigo says Aizen chose to lose himself, yet the debate is still there for some reason. In my opinion the way it reads it's clear that Aizen is stronger in that chair. I think where some wires get crossed is how everyone reacts to him and trying to 1:1 measure his feats between forms. Sure, Flyzen has ultrafragor. Chair bound Aizen put an all seeing god into hypnosis and crushed the reio's overflowing spiritual pressure. Let's also not forget that Flyzen *could* die but would be resurrected by the hogyoku to be stronger but that tybw Aizen can't be killed despite being rejected by the hogyoku. Not a contest. After three readings of tybw it just gets more impressive. It makes me wonder if his zanpakuto disappearing at the end of the Ichigo fight was actually the start of his journey like with Ichigo learning mugetsu or if it happened later in Mugen since that was just his base zanpakuto that crumbled and those heal back up eventually. I wonder if it took him months like with Ichigo or if he did it in 3 days like a prodigy.
Never read the manga until the tybw arc. But one of the hypest moments for me is when Ichigo tells Aizen he wants to fight somewhere else and mid Aizen’s response, he just grape aizen and drags him to the middle of nowhere.
I could really feel the dread and terror that Aizen embodied as he continued to evolve and brought down every person that challenged him in that final battle, until Ichigo finally returned and beat him. That is how you write a monster. Not only was he nearly invincible but it seemed like there was no move you could make that he hadn't already foreseen or could overcome with ease. If you can invoke that fear with a villain than you've done your job well. Not to mention that close up of Aizen's face after he first went butterfly mode was so awesomely sinister while still appearing human. Maybe the most sinister looking villian face I have seen in all anime/manga thus far.
I like the fact that Ishan said "The only one who can sense him is someone in that form is the same form". And Ichigo was the only one who could sense him. Plus I really like the fact that even though it still may be attached to him, the Hogyoku reject him. As for which form, they are all cool, but maybe the butterfly one. I also want to add that this ending for him was prefect. To me, especially now, his arrogance shows throw like a pane of glass and he got what he deserved.
Actually an interesting detail nobody ever points out is that after Gin K.Os Rangiku, as he is returning to Aizen he comments how it seems Aizen is toying with Ichigo's friends....implying he sensed Aizen.
The last form is by far the best. His abilities seem to be really thematic and cool in his last form, but sadly we didn't really get to see much of it. : / Although I do prefer the muken Aizen later, it's basically old Aizen as he was, which is the best Aizen you can get : )
32:43 great take. for the longest I did assume that he was transforming again before Urahara put a stop to it. It makes 100% more sense that Aizen is power drunk and the Hogyoku is in shambles after Mugetsu giving him an amalgamated form
I kind of feel like his "final form" (with the hollow mask tentacles and the crazy wings) should have come before his butterfly form. His transformations would have closely mirrored Ichigo's powerups. Ichigo awakened as a Shinigami (base Aizen), obtained the Hollow Mask (Cocoon Aizen), then went Vasto Lorde (crazy form), before finally becoming butterfly form. I do like the butterfly motif, especially after the bombshell in the Hell Chapter, but I still voted as the transcendent form as my favorite. If we include all of Aizen's appearance changes, I would say that Aizen initially removing his glasses and slicking his hair back at the end of Soul Society had more of an impact, but for this arc, the pre-transcendent form still has vestiges of the manipulator villain we grew to love while showing some transcendent qualities.
I disagree. Butterflyzen was clearly what Aizen wanted in his transformations, his final one was clearly the hogyoku's and the way they contrast so strongly and the final one is very clearly not what Aizen was expecting since it was very similar to hollowification makes it work better for what's going on. While I see how you feel that would make a nice parallel with Ichigo it'd required rewriting Aizen's journey through power and the idea of the hogyoku taking control of the transformations would be lost.
I don't think Aizen didn't evolve or lost his powers, I just think they were briefly interrupted because of Urahara's seal. Because what Aizen becomes in TYBW is what Ichigo was during Mugetsu: going from a Zanpakuto fused with your hand to it being fused with your entire body. I think you're right about Aizen believing that the hand merger was the final state of the Zanpakuto. So when he saw the state Ichigo achieved, he (and the Hogyoku) realised there was another way to get stronger apart from hollowfication. So I wouldn't say he lost all of his Hogyoku given powers, he just exchanged the Hollow power-up for a Shinigami based one. It would also make sense since Aizen realised that Ichigo could truly be his equal. So instead of lowering himself to a normal Shinigami's power level, he could simply stay in the same range as Ichigo.
What gets me about the conclusion of the arc is that the final getsuga tensho Ichigo learns at that time is still being suppressed by his Quincy powers. So Aizen could’ve evolved many more times and still would not compare to Ichigo’s true power
Here's how much I love your channel and love watching your enthusiasm about Bleach. I could honestly care less about the content of this particular video, but I want to watch your content so much I have to watch it...
The most interesting aspect of Aizen’s transformation is that his face splits to reveal the monster within because it juxtaposes the transformation of hollows that don a mask to hide their humanity.
Obviously, best Aizen form is Hollow Aizen form, that face peeling and those skull head wings is just sick and the pillar of blood that splatters and falls is the chef's kiss of a transformation! That said, after re-watching the end of the Arrancar arc again there were a couple of things that came to mind (obviously after the TYBW arc came out) can: 1) The reason why Aizen couldn't sense Ichigo's power was because the fact that in order to gain The Final Getsugatensho, was to become Getsuga himself, but with the end of Bleach, we found out that Ichigo is actually the "son" of Ywach and Getsuga him self is just Ywach. Technically speaking, in the final form of Ichigo, his long black hair and red eyes are of that of Ywach, and in this case, Hollow Aizen was actually facing off a portion of what Ywach's immense Spiritual Pressure, which is why Aizen lost? 2) There's no mistake that Aizen undergo into a transformation as much as he did, more specifically his "cocoon" state resembles that closely to of the Soul King itself. After re-watching the Arrancar Arc ending, Aizen already knew about the Soul King, which is I think, is Aizen's path of transcendence done that way was because of his seeing of the Soul King? Outside of Kubo being "lazy" and making the Soul King look like that in the TYBW Arc, I don't think it was mere coincidence Aizen would assume that THAT is the way to transcend into a being like the Soul King during his ascension to a transcended being. Either way, great video and more better clarification that we had watching the anime/reading the manga back in the days.
I like the idea you proposed in another video that the form that was introduced in Brave Souls symbolized where his evolution was meant to end up. Perhaps, taking place after a supposed death at the hands of Ichibe or someone else in squad zero.
I think that's meant to be Aizen's evolution after the end of the series. Since he still has the Hogyoku and he's immortal while getting stronger, he will remain imprisoned for 20k years and after that there won't be anything to oppose him so he will finally be able to evolve.
So would Aizen have transformed into something different if he had a better understanding of just what Quincies were capable of (ie the Sternritter)? If these transformations were the hogyoku rationalizing Aizen’s desire to be a being that combines and transcends Shinigami and Hollow, if he knew what Juha Bach could do would it have made him into a 3 way synthesis akin to the Soul King?
Probably not, since Hollow reiatsu is toxic to Quincies, it probably wouldn't have been compatible. The only reason Ichigo can be stable with all three is that he was born with them. White almost killed Masaki until the hollowfication was suppressed, but she was still able to give both Hollow and Quincy to Ichigo.
@@homelandr9070 the Hogyoku can only do what the holder is actually capable of. Aizen said it himself. Aizen doesn't have the capability of being a Quincy, because he wasn't born one.
How do you explain aizen fusing with his zampaktou literally? I mean the hogyoku literally merged him with kyouka sugetsu? We see in the blood war that he is now kyoka sugetsu seeing as simply looking at him puts you in hypnosis? Maybe am missing something, but l personally prefer the explanation of aizen wishing to lose. This hogyoku would definitely have pushed him harder if he willed it.
I always imagined the white goo was similar to how the hollow masks originally form with the Visored and it was the whole breaking down barriers to transcend, etc.
The first transformation I like.. Dark shades eyes, no mouth which indicates someone you cannot reason with or talk to (despite not being the case) and when you cut or break said cocoon its just nothingness inside or what appears to be.
Def think he was approaching a proximate hybrid. Saw Hollow and eventual cross motifs /reishi manipulation.and hollow holes. Hogyoku was fed pieces of soul king, a transcendent hybrid, so it’s a transcendent quintessence. It recognized ichigo as a hybrid and immediately tried bridging the gap, unsuccessfully. Likely bc Ichigo and the soul king are both also mortal, and Aizen would reject that part. Idk I’m high and this is headcannon
I truly hope the anime expands upon the final battle Aizen has with Ywach because his power had far surpassed what he had against ichigo before he was sealed. We didn’t get to see the full extent of it after finally being released from that damn chair mayuri created just for him 😂😂😂😂😂😂.
The Hyogyuku is fascinating to me. It’s been established it has a will and can hear the hearts and wishes of those around it. Not to mention it was made from a version of Urahara’s and Aizen’s versions. I don’t see it as malevolent but rather having a deeper understanding of the people around it even if they’re not aware of it like Aizen. I’m curious as to why it still sticks to Aizen since it could probably detach itself but maybe it too is curious about Aizen and his future along with his wishes
He likes control but to lose control of himself and to let the Hogyoku that he was subduing with his reitsu to take over, produces a fear stronger than the fear of his demise. Both Gin and Ichigo introduced the feeling of fear to him.
Well, like I said in the comments of another video; I find the Hogyoku using Aizen in it's own way to see how far one being could go is both fascinating and terrifying. The whole thing is an experiment by the Hogyoku, listening and experiencing what Aizen wanted and just seeing how far he could take it. To what level could he "alone" achieve that those with it could not before? That final forced evolution I feel was more of a frustrating moment for the Hogyoku, not in the sense of it losing to mere human made shinigami (at the time) like Ichigo but in Aizen for becoming so complacent, so careless, so unimpressive. Turning Aizen from this angelic, perfected being into a grotesque, almost primeval monster was a punishment for his failure. I doubt he would have evolved further than that, there would be no point for the Hogyoku, it would need a higher being than Aizen to see where it could go from at that point. The whole affair sort of reminded me of when Ryuk gave Light the Death Note. He knew what it could do and how things would probably end up but he just wanted to see what Light could do and where this was going to lead. When they speak of, the will of the Hogyoku, this is what I think it is. A scientist of it's own accord with interests of it's own with no desire for a master, partner or owner. Sure, it will let you think that but, the reality is that it's always in control. I honestly think the shattering of his Zanpakuto is two fold, it rejecting Aizen but, perhaps also saving him too. The Hogyoku made him immortal in the end but his Zanpakuto also fused with him permanently. A blade that was truly powerful in it's own rights, so who is to say that the final fusion isn't what saved Aizen from being permanently killed by Ichigo at the end. That's my two cents on it anyway.
Captain Aizen, base shinigami form Aizen, SS Arc Aizen, whatever you wanna call him, that's my favorite form of his. I'd love an alternate timeline where he doesn't go evil and remains a "good" captain with his glasses :)
I think Kubo create Hogyoku as a things that we as a human can't understand, the idea that Hogyoku is a thing that can make anything that the user want happens to basically happens, Hogyoku just like "oh you want this?" And Bam! Wonderweiss is created "oh you want to be somebody who above everyone else?" Bam! It happens, and this kind of idea, the things that beyond our understanding is pretty consistent were once Hogyoku understand what the user want, he can literally control the user's body to what the user wanted to happens, just like Aizen, his goal is to stand to the top, to be someone who is above everything, and in the Fake Karakura Arc Hogyoku that has fused with Aizen at first wanted to know what Aizen wanted to become Hogyoku searching and observating what Aizen wanted to become and when Hogyoku knows what Aizen wants he just can make anything based on what Aizen wants, Aizen wanted to become someone who above everything and Hogyoku slowly but surely trying to fullfill that wish, and what happens to Aizen after he got attacked by Mugetsu, I would assume that what Aizen wants is now different, the idea of he who are gonna lose against Ichigo, that delusion of losing is what Hogyoku maybe recognize and just let that things happen, Aizen's fear towards losing and doesn't want to win against Ichigo is in my opinion the reason why Aizen lose everything, because that what Aizen thinking at that time, he has no intenton about wanted to become something that above everything he now just think that he's gonna lose and basically thats what Hogyoku understand and let Aizen to lose everything.
I remember in one of your past videos you said all Aizen transformation didn’t go well with the community. But kubos ideas and later on seeing what he does with the Quincy’s I feel he had more for Aizen especially since even though Aizen is currently sealed he seems stronger then ever
I wonder if , the Hogyoku will accept Aizen again in the Hell arc ,will Aizen take that eye patch off and reveal a very different eye with maybe a special power ? Maybe .
I believe that the crystalise stage was him actually becoming a soul king. Much like bach and ichigo, aizen changed the future by stepping on from one grain of sand to another, allowing him to evolve through resurrection. It seems that all soul kings have the almighty but to varying degrees. And with aizen never witnessing this soul king trait before, never had any idea of the possibilities that he could reach. Thus throwing his powers away at the climax of the battle when he realized that he couldn't beat ichigo.
I find Transcendence and Spiritual Dimensions (and then Temporal Dimensions with Yhwach) a touch odd and very messy, but interesting. Aizen implies that the key to it is breaking down the barriers between the different species of the series; so he becomes 3D by becoming Hollow-like. And that Dimensionality can be determined by which beings can and cannot be sensed. This would imply that a regular Human is 1D, while Shinigami/Empowered Human/Quincy/Hollow are 2D, Cocoon Aizen is 3D, Dangai Ichigo is at least 4D and The Soul King is effectively 5D. This all kind of makes sense. A Human is just a human, they can't sense anything. An Empowered Human (e.g Inoue or Riruka) is both a Human and a Spiritual Being, while a Hollow is a Spiritual Being and a Hollow; so they can sense each other. Aizen is then a Spiritual Being, a Shinigami and a Hollow. Thats all fine and dandy. Even Dangai Ichigo makes some sense, because he has fully communed with Zangetsu/White; so (depending on your take on Zangetsu) he's either 4D (Human, Spiritual Being/Quincy/Shinigami, Shinigami/Quincy, Shinigami/Hollow) or full blown, Soul King 5D (Human, Spiritual Being, Shinigami, Hollow and Quincy). I'll give Kubo the benefit of the doubt on the Vaizard/Arrancar and guess that they're only imperfect combinations of Shinigami and Hollow. So they're still 2D enough for everyone to sense them. But that always seemed odd. We start to run into real issues with every other form of Ichigo though. He is capable of sensing 3D Aizen, but 2D Isshin can still sense him. He contains every possible Dimension, but is an unstable mix of them; which seems to keep him at 2D. And at the very end of the series he seems to be a near perfect mix of all 5Ds, but everyone can still sense him; implying that he's only 2D. When he loses his Shinigami/Spiritual Powers he drops to 1D; despite still containing his Quincy and Hollow parts. He then awakens/reawakens his Spiritual Being powers (Fullbring) and goes back to 2D; and remains 2D when he regains his Shinigami powers. Only his Dangai Form even vaguely fits into Aizens Dimensionality system. Then we have Yhwach, who is a complete shitshow. Not only does he seemingly introduce Temporal Dimensions, but he also claims to be the son of the Soul King (so default 5D) and temporarily (then permanently) becomes the Soul King (so again 5D). But he also can't perceive the Soul King in his base form (so less than 5D). But everyone seems to be able to sense him in all of his forms (so 2D in all cases). Either, we've been Kubo'd again and he's come up with a great idea to make Aizen super awesome; but hasn't actually created a functional system, that he then abandons at the end of the arc. Or he's come up with a great system, but hasn't fleshed it out enough for us to understand it; and then abandoned it at the end of the arc. Or (magic option 3) Kubo is actually just fucking with us and Aizen is delusional about Transcendence and all that matters is raw power and the potential for it; so Ichigo can sense Cocoon Aizen because only he has the potential to become as powerful as him, but Butterflaizen can't sense Dangai Ichigo because he lacks the potential to equal him... but this falls apart as soon as you look at Yamamoto and Nanao or Yhwach and everyone. So, any which way you go... big confusion. We need Brandon Sanderson to pop in and iron out this whole system.
About Aizen loosing KS. I acrtually shared your interpretation before his reveal in the TYBW arc. I believed, that either A) KS disappears because Aizen does not want it anymore or B) because of Ichigo's inrterpretation thatAizen reached his goal of an actual equal at his highest point and wanted in his innermost part regress together with ichigo. However I do believe nowadays that he DID evolve. The Hogyoku was effectively "fuck what is this guy? oh... it's just a perfect fusion with his bankai? Kyoka Suigetsu, come here you outdated Bitch!" Because Aizen's form after Mugetsu is VERY reminiscent of Dangai Ichigo. he does not need to show KS to create illusions, and to affect senses that are not the classical five that we know KS to work on. He straight up fuckey YWACHs sense of time. Tzhat's not KSs shikai. plus he was so sealed up he could not have brought it out to show it to YWACH. he must have done it with YWACH looking at him. Then, his sword arm still looks like it's fused. it has fully become a body part. So I believe that either the Hogyoku copid ichigo's evolution or Aizen actually did the same trainng as ichigo while being locked up. But I actually lean more towards the first idea.
I’d like to think that the cocoon form Aizen has has effectively reduced his insides into pure reishi and is why there is no insides when his face is cut or when he removes the cuffs.
The funny thing is, he seemingly just ignored Quincy altogether. Perhaps he wouldn't have fallen behind Ichigo during their fight if that was part of the desire that the hougyoku manifested. Instead, it's all about transcending shinigami and hollows. As we know from the final arc, the Quincy part was a big component of the SK (Yhwach specifically says that the Almighty is "the mark of a true Quincy" - and the SK himself had that ability)
Aizen and Ichigo are more similar than many realise. The power he has in TYBW are similar to that of Ichigo in Mugestu form. He is Kyoka Suigetsu at that point.
A being that strived to transcend Shinigami, turning increasingly Hollow-like in the process, defeated on the precipice by a perfect Shinigami-Quincy hybrid using what's basically a combined Bankai-Letzt Stile form.
Tommo, is it possible you could do a video on Lille vs Aizen? Lille strikes me as near-Godlike, and I'd love to hear more how these two would fare in battle.
Interesting how merging with your zanpakto could put you at a level of existence even higher than a transcendent being I would have much preferred the final fight being that Ichigo unlocked his true zanpakto, and with help from the Soul King or some shit, he's able to access the Final Getsuga Form one more time without losing his powers. Also I always assumed the Hogyoku was basically an attempt to recreate the Soul King's power made by Kisuke after visiting the Royal Realm, and Aizen's evolution is like a evil Soul King because of his dark nature.
According to the poll I released not too long ago, the long-haired 'transcendent' form of Aizen's is the most popular with you guys - but how did you feel about the Hogyoku transformations in general? Was it a good endgame for Aizen?
The faceless white transformation was great. Butterflaizen was ok. The bat wing faces one was not too great. Just my opinion.
Well I have mixed thoughts. I like the idea of Aizen wanting to be a God when in reality he becomes more Hollow especially with his monster form but I think that few more chapters would make his ending more closed. I really like his fight with Ichigo despite that ta it was very one sided but at this point Aizen was not a threat to be honest because Ichigo dominated him very badly. His Hogyoku transformations were mostly cool except butterfly ofcourse but I found it all to be very rushed. The weakest part of Aizen character is that he doesn't achive a lot in this arc. Despite of that I really like this change in his personality because that made sense for me. He was planning all this time he usually had everything under control and suddenly some human which he looked down on comes and says ''No. I'm stronger than you''. This part of his story is very polarized but I think that Kubo did his best like always.
Thank you for making this video! Finally! 🦾😎🤘
The final(or monster) form is so pleasing to look at. I wish it was around a little longer.
I personally liked them all. Each one had its own feel that I find to be very interesting.
Aizen's complete loss of control in the end both figuratively and literally shows what the effects of absolute power can do not just that state that shows the real inner monster within. It's the supreme counterpoint of Ichigo willingly sacrificing his own power to stop him. To be expected of such an egomaniac of Aizen's calibre.
Well said. I never thought about that. You made his demise make more sense. For years I thought that they just did that to him.
even then
aizen still subconsciously suppressed his power
no shikai
no bankai
as its confirmed by ichigo,
aizen even wanted hogyoku to "abandon" him
That plus the orb is meant to grant any wish and by that point hes he had lost in his heart and thus his his gave up the fight
Its almost a Devil May Cry situation. Aizen seems to be Ichigo's "Vergil" here. Giving up everything for absolute power, and becoming a monster in the process, only to be defeated by someone who refuses to sacrifice their own humanity.
@@KijinDiruma devil may cry 5 vibes
That final form is criminally underrated. It’s a shame that such an amazing design was only around for a couple chapters.
Yeah it's my favorite form personally
I'm not the biggest fan of that form but I understand where you're coming from. However, for me the arc wasn't very good at all.
@@Hellsing7747 The substitute arc is my favorite arc overall, but the Soul Society arc has its moments.
Arrancar arc wasn’t the best, I have to agree.
I wish they had an action figure of all of his forms
@@CaptainKotetsu Wow. You don't come across people with the same opinion as you very often. Good on you. Care to elaborate?
I really like the final form of aizen. It was almost hollow like but still showing cues to getting close to the soul king since aizens wings look similar to the soul kings In that state. The "hollow" like transcendent being was a wonderful contrast to ichigos "soul reaper" like transcendent being even though ichigo in his mugestu state resembles yhwach.
Supposedly, CFYOW reveals that all Fullbringers (and other characters like Rangiku) have/had bits of the Soul King's carved-up body hidden within them. Considering his arms became full-on gods, it's entirely possible that pre-dismemberment he was every bit as eldritch (likely far more so) as Aizen's final form
I wonder if the inside of the "chrysalis" Aizen was inside had some sort of time-dilating effects. He comes out and not only is he significantly stronger, but his hair is much longer, very similarly to Dangai Ichigo's strength and hair when he finally catchers up to Aizen. Just a thought!
I was thinking that too
Cool Theory!
Aizen is continously gaining power in muken, i see people in the comments here saying that hes weaker then he was in monster state.. like wtf? SEALED Aizen threw out an incantation-less hado 90 lmao, besides he can actually merge with his kyoka suigetsu whenever now. Hes growing 24/7
Yup Aizen lost the fight but war.
still weaker than ichigo
@@krys8494 if u think this please reread the arc
Anybody whose sealed and released gains more reiatsu, example Koga Kuchiki
@@redred1952 dumb tale
I always thought that Aizen's transcendence was much closer to hollowfication than he wanted to believe. Aside from the obvious visual clues, it was his change in personality that really felt "hollow like". Looking at Ichigo and Kaname, both seemed to take on completely different personas after they fully hollowfied.
@William Blackwood Not to mention humble and merciful. If Aizen had won he would've essentially been a murderous dictator, striking down anyone he sees as beneath him. Which given his god tier ego is virtually everyone but himself.
@William Blackwood That might be by the fact hollows do not hollowfied when becoming arrancar but they "shinigamified" as we know from grimmjow flashbacks hollow evolution process is the oposite, being the hollow almost animal creatures, becoming more and more sentient the more power they have, getting a hive-like mind when they become Gillian unless they have a strong will ik the mix to keep personality, becoming intelligent beast as they get unto Adjhucas and finally composed human-like forms when they get into vasto-lordes, we see that in the hallibell and ulquiorra flashbacks too. Finally in the case of naturalborn Arrancars like Starrk it seems that they have gotten so human like that they can't be hollows anymore and they mask shatters. I like to think in that process as two polar extrems aproaching a mid point that would be the state that teascend both. Shinigamis must become hollowlike and hollows shinigamilike
Absolutely, I think he was *SO* delusional in that state that he was 100% convinced he wasn’t undergoing a version of mutated hollowfication, even while becoming more and more hollow-like.
that would be acceptable if weren't for kubo's description of his final form in the databooks as "Neither shinigami nor hollow but a god"
最終融合
The Final Fusion
一護に遅れを感じたその刻、最後の変容を遂げる。全てを超越したその姿は、死神でも虚でもない 、異形の姿だ った。
Feeling that he is falling behind Ichigo, Aizen achieves his final change of appearance. The apparence of a being transcending everything isn't like a shinigami's or a hollow's, the apparance is strange-looking.
@@olmodelrio1144 Wait wasn't Ulquiorra also a naturalborn arrancar? Didn't he break his mask off in his origin story thing?
I think he continued to evolve while in prison. In the TYBWA he was able to activate the effects of his zanpakuto without revealing his sword to Quincy Jesus, which means his body was one with his sword. I think becoming one with your blade was the next step in his evolutions because, as he was changing, his blade was physically merging with his body, but after inprisonment, it became one with his spirit.
Yea that’s what is implied, he’s actually stronger than his hogyokou forms which was hinted at when Urahara saw him
no the zanpakuto fusion actually should have nothing with the evolution he sought, because a zanpakuto is a shinigami power and what he wanted is to transcend that, while he may have fused without his zanpakuto he still lost his transcendence and thus became far weaker than he was.
@@naboume466 transcending doesn’t mean disregarding; it’s means going beyond. He can’t go beyond Shinigami-level without reaching all the the steps to achieve perfection. To transcend being a shinigami, Aizen fused with his blade. To transcend being a hollow, Aizen gained multiple hollow holes. Fusing with his blade most certainly corresponded with his ascension.
@@devonterushdan3258 I didn't say he discarded anything, what I meant is that he already became transcendent when he became monster Aizen but he obviously lost that power by the end of his fight with Ichigo, fusing with his zanpakuto only means he reached the limit of a shinigami it doesn't mean he evolved beyond his monster form.
It really don't matter because end of the day Aizen is immortal he can't be killed so it's implied he wayyyyyyy more powerful
I find it interesting that when Aizen was talking to Shinji about reliance he said it was for cowards. Yet he himself relies upon the Hogyoku to give him power, to give him his "transcendence" no matter how he tries to dress up his logic by saying he's the Hogyoku's master. He's still relying on another force to give him that power and it's pretty obvious that the Hogyoku was in control over him for most of that time
Without the Hogyoku.... He ctould body all those people... As stated by Gin Ichigo Ichimaru..... He destroyed
Most of those captains.... WITHOUT BAKAI mind you.... So yeah... He really wasnt relying on it as much as you think
@@skyreapery2n164 Without the Hogyoku, he would have died against Urahara, Ishin, and Yoruichi, or to Gin's planned betrayal. He was entirely reliant on it.
@@AzureDragon158 at that point he had stopped putting up his guard for all of them =(including Gin) as noted by Urahara, and aslo stopped using Kyoka Suigetsu, he didn't even fight them seriously, waiting for his challenge in Ichigo... Plus they jumped him... One on one.... Heck even all at once he would have destroyed them with his hypnosis
@@skyreapery2n164 isn't because he was relying in the hogyoku? Since he didn't want to fight 1vs1 against Yama
@@skyreapery2n164 without the Hogyoku he dies against Gin. That is a 100% undeniable fact. You can sugarcoat it all you want to by saying oh he was jumped or whatever. Fact still remains that he was dead without the Hogyoku. So yeah he was relying on it because it literally kept him alive. Not sure what's so difficult for you to understand about that
Honestly now with everything in perspective it's pretty hilarious that Ichigo can naturally do what Aizen needed the Hogyoku to do, transcending passed the barriers of the different races gaining strength without the weaknesses.
Ichigo was also born with it, Aizen wasn't
He is the main character...
its called plot...
Ichigo got a little bit of everything in him. If Kubo gave us an arc in the Caribbean, we’d learn that Ichigo was part Trinidadian or something.
You're kind of forgetting that ichigo was born that way. Aizen had to figure out a way to get there himself. If ichigo wasn't made up of every damn race, form blah blah blah in literal existence then he wouldn't be shit. Aizen had to work for it. Ichigo had it handed to him
Your prose is so beautiful, the elegance with which you explain Bleach truly gives respect to how incredible and grand the series is.
Aizen was the revolutionary who couldn't get enough support to really change the world.
Aizen’s first new cocoon form is one of the coolest looks I’ve seen in anime. It’s so great to me.
Love that last horrific form, just firing off bombs of energy and looking so eldritch and demonic, so sool! Great video as always
Kubo is a master of thematic consistency. Think about it. The hogyoku is made of countless numbers of souls but most importantly, it is made from fragments of the Soul King. In each stage of metamorphosis that Aizen undergoes, one thing is always consistent with the hogyoku (bar the monstrous transformation). The cross. These crosses appear on all forms of Aizen's transformations except for the last one. The cross is symbolic of the quincy race and the Soul King was essentially the first quincy. Had Urahara not interupted the metamorphosis multiple times, Aizen could have undergone a quincification so to speak, specifically noting the angelic wings that get pierced by Urahara's attack in that extra panel. Themes of angels and the divine being a notable motif of the sternritter in the TYBW arc. Not only that but the eyes. Aizen has a hidden third eye on his forehead in his butterflaizen form, which opens when he is backed into a corner by Ichigo. When he enters his monstrous form, his wings all have eyes on them, and it can be argued that his entire ebony black head is now the third eye, or as you put it the eye of the hogyoku. All the pieces of the Soul King, particularly the arms, are depicted with eyes, and to add to that, Yhwach's almighty is also themed with eyes. So in theory, Aizen should have undergone a quincification, but due to interruptions and the need to undergo responsive metamorphoses, he got corrupted along the way. Perhaps the hogyoku was trying to originally turn Aizen into a form similar to the original Soul King in the primordial world, but had to constantly compensate for Aizen's shortcomings and as a result it deviated too far from the ideal form Aizen should have become.
I think you're overthinking it, dude. Kubo may very well have thought about making a Quincy arc later on in the series while he was finishing up the Ichigi vs. Aizen fight, but I HIGHLY doubt he would have put so much thought into Yhwach, the Sternritter, Quincies, and the Soul King.
@@nobleactual7693 Well in the Databook unmasked Aizens final fusion is stated to not be either shinigami or hollow and Fragor is stated to be made from compressed Reishi similary to how Quincy make their weapons, so Final Fusion Aizen was without a doubt related to Quincys he even became a sort of Primordial being since he had hollow like and shinigami like powers but was neither.
@@nobleactual7693It was only like…yo know, his entire job and creation. So yeah…I’m SURE he put no thought into it in his every waking moment and just winged it. Right. 🙄
Aizen is the GOAT aint no character better in my opinion. hes definitely more complex than people think
At first I would of said butterflizen was my favorite version because Butterfree is my favorite pokemon. But after we learned how Ichibei Hyōsube abilities worked I like the first evolution with the all white look kind of symbolizing that he is whipping away the restrictions of the name Aizen and moving beyond the powers of the Monk
I feel the butterfly theme suited his evolution obsession very well. I wonder though if he ever lost control of the hygokou or if he just wasn't in tune with himself after his stepping stone and test subject (a natural transcendent) was effortlessly stronger than him.
That even at the level he was at wasn't enough to truly best what came naturally. Therefore he gave up on his dream thus losing the will to continue in that direction
I have the theory that Hogyoku has a connection to hell and therefore cannot be destroyed. it can only be destroyed in hell.
The butterfly theme is also strongly connected to hell and I would also say that dark purple color is connected to hell.
Especially his last transformation was really like hell.
I can imagine that Aizen or Hogyoku will still play an important role in the new arc.
@@Fuchsfeuer Pretty sure that it was stated in the novels that the hogyoku was part of the soul king
@@Lil_Harvard More that the some pieces of the soul king were extracted from shinigami (Rangiku) and used in its (Aizen's not Urahara's so far as we know) creation.
Which actually brings in question was it the will of the soul king that gave it sentience or just help its power. We know Aizen fed Urahara's to his own so we can never know for certain if Urahara''s had intelligence (assuming his hogyoku was not fed soul king fragments)
He through a tantrum and the hogyoku tried making up the difference. After losing even that, he felt truly defeated, like a child pouting after being told off.
@@oldshazz5556 Goes to show how winning all the time for hundreds years isn't healthy in the long run.
I always end up rewatching the episodes on topic of the video. These last fights of the arc were so good.
*Argument:* Aizen was not abandoned by the Hogyoku, it had been merging Hollow (Asauchi) and Shinigami Souls together, with itself, a piece of the Soul King. The moment he was sealed by Urahara was his moment of Re-Birth, not defeat.
I would even argue that actually
hogyoku has been trying to devolve aizen to just a normal shinigami,
he's so abnormal to the point
he needs hogyoku and one of the soul king's fragments to do that lol
@@aiya5777 Yeah Ichigo did say that Aizen probably lost only because deep inside he wanted a equal and someone that would understand him and when Ichigo (his equal/superior and the person closest to understanding him) lost his powers Aizen subconsciously desired to lose them as well.
Wait but Asauchis are stated my Nimaiya to be made from Shinigami konpaku, where did the Hollow part in here come from ?
@@jankieek8218 The first Zanpakuto were created using Ikomikidomoe, a powerful hollow.
@@douglascramer1501 It was was not a first Zanpakuto, Ichimonji was already made at the time plus Nimaiya also says that he was in the middle of perfecting his Asauchis when he turned Iko into one meaning that he made them before.
I am imagining Aizen carrying a boom box that is playing “baby come back” while in the chair.
I like the parallel with cocoons that I don't know if most know. When a bug of any kind goes into one, it's not simply its body wrapped in something and changing. It completely and totally breaks the creature down to a base liquid and then rebuilds itself, which is why there's nothing inside of Aizen's cocoon.
Ill never forget watching his white form fight urahara, yoruichi and ishinn, that blew my mind
Aizen is more powerful in tybw, and it’s assumed he fused with his zanpaktou cause he puts ywach under kyoka suigetsu without having his blade out. Urahara after seeing him out of muken pretty much confirms he’s stronger than his hogyoku transformations as he saw the whole fight between him and ichigo.
Also doesn't Urahara specifically comment that his no incantation hado 90 from the chair was stronger than his full incantation used on dangai Ichigo in his evolved form? The debate with if Aizen is stronger in the chair than flyzen to me is as much a debate as debating Ichigo won because he won, and not because Aizen chose to lose. Ichigo says Aizen chose to lose himself, yet the debate is still there for some reason. In my opinion the way it reads it's clear that Aizen is stronger in that chair. I think where some wires get crossed is how everyone reacts to him and trying to 1:1 measure his feats between forms. Sure, Flyzen has ultrafragor. Chair bound Aizen put an all seeing god into hypnosis and crushed the reio's overflowing spiritual pressure. Let's also not forget that Flyzen *could* die but would be resurrected by the hogyoku to be stronger but that tybw Aizen can't be killed despite being rejected by the hogyoku. Not a contest. After three readings of tybw it just gets more impressive. It makes me wonder if his zanpakuto disappearing at the end of the Ichigo fight was actually the start of his journey like with Ichigo learning mugetsu or if it happened later in Mugen since that was just his base zanpakuto that crumbled and those heal back up eventually. I wonder if it took him months like with Ichigo or if he did it in 3 days like a prodigy.
I think he was fusing with his sword like ichigo. Like you said in tybw he was even stronger.
Never read the manga until the tybw arc. But one of the hypest moments for me is when Ichigo tells Aizen he wants to fight somewhere else and mid Aizen’s response, he just grape aizen and drags him to the middle of nowhere.
My favorite was the silver surfer/cocoon form. He looked slick and new, and seeing him solo the big 3 (Yoruichi, Ishiin, and Urahara) was nice
I still can't believe how good content you make for us. Madness.
That thumbnail is fire, your videos got me back into bleach. Keep up the great work!
Honestly condom Aizen looks just like the Soul King does in the TYBW which might be an indication of how close he was in evolution to the Soul King
I could really feel the dread and terror that Aizen embodied as he continued to evolve and brought down every person that challenged him in that final battle, until Ichigo finally returned and beat him. That is how you write a monster. Not only was he nearly invincible but it seemed like there was no move you could make that he hadn't already foreseen or could overcome with ease. If you can invoke that fear with a villain than you've done your job well.
Not to mention that close up of Aizen's face after he first went butterfly mode was so awesomely sinister while still appearing human. Maybe the most sinister looking villian face I have seen in all anime/manga thus far.
This was an incredible in-depth analysis worthy of a standing ovation. I personally thank you for making this video.
I like the fact that Ishan said "The only one who can sense him is someone in that form is the same form". And Ichigo was the only one who could sense him. Plus I really like the fact that even though it still may be attached to him, the Hogyoku reject him. As for which form, they are all cool, but maybe the butterfly one.
I also want to add that this ending for him was prefect. To me, especially now, his arrogance shows throw like a pane of glass and he got what he deserved.
Every aizen form is iconic and amazing
amazing walkthrough with these aizen's evolution, really like this video and arc. amazing fight, great memories
Actually an interesting detail nobody ever points out is that after Gin K.Os Rangiku, as he is returning to Aizen he comments how it seems Aizen is toying with Ichigo's friends....implying he sensed Aizen.
Because Aizen dropped his spirit energy down to Human and Shinigami levels of spiritual awareness
Aizen "losing" his Zankpakuto is actually just him fusing with it.
The last form is by far the best. His abilities seem to be really thematic and cool in his last form, but sadly we didn't really get to see much of it. : / Although I do prefer the muken Aizen later, it's basically old Aizen as he was, which is the best Aizen you can get : )
The fact that Brave Souls doesn’t have a playable final-form Aizen is astonishing. It’s been 7 years bruh.
This has to be one of your best thumbnails yet, really well done on the editing.
32:43 great take. for the longest I did assume that he was transforming again before Urahara put a stop to it. It makes 100% more sense that Aizen is power drunk and the Hogyoku is in shambles after Mugetsu giving him an amalgamated form
Thanks for the video! Aizen is the best! I can't wait to see him and chair-sama in the anime.
I kind of feel like his "final form" (with the hollow mask tentacles and the crazy wings) should have come before his butterfly form. His transformations would have closely mirrored Ichigo's powerups. Ichigo awakened as a Shinigami (base Aizen), obtained the Hollow Mask (Cocoon Aizen), then went Vasto Lorde (crazy form), before finally becoming butterfly form.
I do like the butterfly motif, especially after the bombshell in the Hell Chapter, but I still voted as the transcendent form as my favorite. If we include all of Aizen's appearance changes, I would say that Aizen initially removing his glasses and slicking his hair back at the end of Soul Society had more of an impact, but for this arc, the pre-transcendent form still has vestiges of the manipulator villain we grew to love while showing some transcendent qualities.
I disagree. Butterflyzen was clearly what Aizen wanted in his transformations, his final one was clearly the hogyoku's and the way they contrast so strongly and the final one is very clearly not what Aizen was expecting since it was very similar to hollowification makes it work better for what's going on. While I see how you feel that would make a nice parallel with Ichigo it'd required rewriting Aizen's journey through power and the idea of the hogyoku taking control of the transformations would be lost.
I don't think Aizen didn't evolve or lost his powers, I just think they were briefly interrupted because of Urahara's seal. Because what Aizen becomes in TYBW is what Ichigo was during Mugetsu: going from a Zanpakuto fused with your hand to it being fused with your entire body.
I think you're right about Aizen believing that the hand merger was the final state of the Zanpakuto. So when he saw the state Ichigo achieved, he (and the Hogyoku) realised there was another way to get stronger apart from hollowfication. So I wouldn't say he lost all of his Hogyoku given powers, he just exchanged the Hollow power-up for a Shinigami based one. It would also make sense since Aizen realised that Ichigo could truly be his equal. So instead of lowering himself to a normal Shinigami's power level, he could simply stay in the same range as Ichigo.
What gets me about the conclusion of the arc is that the final getsuga tensho Ichigo learns at that time is still being suppressed by his Quincy powers. So Aizen could’ve evolved many more times and still would not compare to Ichigo’s true power
Here's how much I love your channel and love watching your enthusiasm about Bleach. I could honestly care less about the content of this particular video, but I want to watch your content so much I have to watch it...
W thumbnail W Analysis
The most interesting aspect of Aizen’s transformation is that his face splits to reveal the monster within because it juxtaposes the transformation of hollows that don a mask to hide their humanity.
Obviously, best Aizen form is Hollow Aizen form, that face peeling and those skull head wings is just sick and the pillar of blood that splatters and falls is the chef's kiss of a transformation!
That said, after re-watching the end of the Arrancar arc again there were a couple of things that came to mind (obviously after the TYBW arc came out) can:
1) The reason why Aizen couldn't sense Ichigo's power was because the fact that in order to gain The Final Getsugatensho, was to become Getsuga himself, but with the end of Bleach, we found out that Ichigo is actually the "son" of Ywach and Getsuga him self is just Ywach. Technically speaking, in the final form of Ichigo, his long black hair and red eyes are of that of Ywach, and in this case, Hollow Aizen was actually facing off a portion of what Ywach's immense Spiritual Pressure, which is why Aizen lost?
2) There's no mistake that Aizen undergo into a transformation as much as he did, more specifically his "cocoon" state resembles that closely to of the Soul King itself. After re-watching the Arrancar Arc ending, Aizen already knew about the Soul King, which is I think, is Aizen's path of transcendence done that way was because of his seeing of the Soul King? Outside of Kubo being "lazy" and making the Soul King look like that in the TYBW Arc, I don't think it was mere coincidence Aizen would assume that THAT is the way to transcend into a being like the Soul King during his ascension to a transcended being.
Either way, great video and more better clarification that we had watching the anime/reading the manga back in the days.
One of your best essays, Tommo. Not one word wasted, or one word too much.
I wish I knew how strong his human form could do after he was Mugetsu’d
I like the idea you proposed in another video that the form that was introduced in Brave Souls symbolized where his evolution was meant to end up. Perhaps, taking place after a supposed death at the hands of Ichibe or someone else in squad zero.
I think that's meant to be Aizen's evolution after the end of the series. Since he still has the Hogyoku and he's immortal while getting stronger, he will remain imprisoned for 20k years and after that there won't be anything to oppose him so he will finally be able to evolve.
So would Aizen have transformed into something different if he had a better understanding of just what Quincies were capable of (ie the Sternritter)? If these transformations were the hogyoku rationalizing Aizen’s desire to be a being that combines and transcends Shinigami and Hollow, if he knew what Juha Bach could do would it have made him into a 3 way synthesis akin to the Soul King?
Probably not, since Hollow reiatsu is toxic to Quincies, it probably wouldn't have been compatible. The only reason Ichigo can be stable with all three is that he was born with them. White almost killed Masaki until the hollowfication was suppressed, but she was still able to give both Hollow and Quincy to Ichigo.
@@Tesserex maybe the hogyoku could have evolved the Quincy gene to withstand hollow poisoning
@@homelandr9070 yeah, probably. It is kind of an ass pull device after all.
I think that is mostly down to Aizen thinking they (quincy) were worth nothing.... Or else he would have gone Soul repear + quincy combo
@@homelandr9070 the Hogyoku can only do what the holder is actually capable of. Aizen said it himself. Aizen doesn't have the capability of being a Quincy, because he wasn't born one.
How do you explain aizen fusing with his zampaktou literally? I mean the hogyoku literally merged him with kyouka sugetsu?
We see in the blood war that he is now kyoka sugetsu seeing as simply looking at him puts you in hypnosis?
Maybe am missing something, but l personally prefer the explanation of aizen wishing to lose. This hogyoku would definitely have pushed him harder if he willed it.
An aizen video out of nowhere? Impressive, most impressive.
Aizen’s appearance in his transcendence form has aspects of the soul king in his eyes and face
I always imagined the white goo was similar to how the hollow masks originally form with the Visored and it was the whole breaking down barriers to transcend, etc.
my theory is that the Final Getsuga Tenshou compresses all the possible power Ichigo would ever have through out his life into his body all at once
Idk who thought silver surfer Aizen was bad it’s an incredible design and it has sooo much depth
We really need an Aizen character analysis please
The first transformation I like.. Dark shades eyes, no mouth which indicates someone you cannot reason with or talk to (despite not being the case) and when you cut or break said cocoon its just nothingness inside or what appears to be.
Def think he was approaching a proximate hybrid. Saw Hollow and eventual cross motifs /reishi manipulation.and hollow holes. Hogyoku was fed pieces of soul king, a transcendent hybrid, so it’s a transcendent quintessence. It recognized ichigo as a hybrid and immediately tried bridging the gap, unsuccessfully.
Likely bc Ichigo and the soul king are both also mortal, and Aizen would reject that part. Idk I’m high and this is headcannon
LOL I love it
The thumbnail for this video is really damn cool, good job!
I truly hope the anime expands upon the final battle Aizen has with Ywach because his power had far surpassed what he had against ichigo before he was sealed. We didn’t get to see the full extent of it after finally being released from that damn chair mayuri created just for him 😂😂😂😂😂😂.
I hope the anime expands A LOT with the last fights. The rushed nature really ruined so much.
@@trevorninja100 agreed
I personally like butterflaizen because that teleport looks quite similar to Kyoka Suigetsu's release.
The Hyogyuku is fascinating to me. It’s been established it has a will and can hear the hearts and wishes of those around it. Not to mention it was made from a version of Urahara’s and Aizen’s versions. I don’t see it as malevolent but rather having a deeper understanding of the people around it even if they’re not aware of it like Aizen. I’m curious as to why it still sticks to Aizen since it could probably detach itself but maybe it too is curious about Aizen and his future along with his wishes
He likes control but to lose control of himself and to let the Hogyoku that he was subduing with his reitsu to take over, produces a fear stronger than the fear of his demise. Both Gin and Ichigo introduced the feeling of fear to him.
Well, like I said in the comments of another video; I find the Hogyoku using Aizen in it's own way to see how far one being could go is both fascinating and terrifying. The whole thing is an experiment by the Hogyoku, listening and experiencing what Aizen wanted and just seeing how far he could take it. To what level could he "alone" achieve that those with it could not before? That final forced evolution I feel was more of a frustrating moment for the Hogyoku, not in the sense of it losing to mere human made shinigami (at the time) like Ichigo but in Aizen for becoming so complacent, so careless, so unimpressive. Turning Aizen from this angelic, perfected being into a grotesque, almost primeval monster was a punishment for his failure. I doubt he would have evolved further than that, there would be no point for the Hogyoku, it would need a higher being than Aizen to see where it could go from at that point. The whole affair sort of reminded me of when Ryuk gave Light the Death Note. He knew what it could do and how things would probably end up but he just wanted to see what Light could do and where this was going to lead. When they speak of, the will of the Hogyoku, this is what I think it is. A scientist of it's own accord with interests of it's own with no desire for a master, partner or owner. Sure, it will let you think that but, the reality is that it's always in control. I honestly think the shattering of his Zanpakuto is two fold, it rejecting Aizen but, perhaps also saving him too. The Hogyoku made him immortal in the end but his Zanpakuto also fused with him permanently. A blade that was truly powerful in it's own rights, so who is to say that the final fusion isn't what saved Aizen from being permanently killed by Ichigo at the end. That's my two cents on it anyway.
Captain Aizen, base shinigami form Aizen, SS Arc Aizen, whatever you wanna call him, that's my favorite form of his. I'd love an alternate timeline where he doesn't go evil and remains a "good" captain with his glasses :)
This video is very good. I like how you talked in detail about each form. I wish that you talk more about sealed aizen from tybw.
Bruh you broke this down so well 😭👏🏾. Amazing video man!!!
I actually really liked all of his forms including the butterfly form, I just don’t like the dress he’s sporting in that form
I've said it before but these thumbnails are lookin crispy.
I think Kubo create Hogyoku as a things that we as a human can't understand, the idea that Hogyoku is a thing that can make anything that the user want happens to basically happens, Hogyoku just like "oh you want this?" And Bam! Wonderweiss is created "oh you want to be somebody who above everyone else?" Bam! It happens, and this kind of idea, the things that beyond our understanding is pretty consistent were once Hogyoku understand what the user want, he can literally control the user's body to what the user wanted to happens, just like Aizen, his goal is to stand to the top, to be someone who is above everything, and in the Fake Karakura Arc Hogyoku that has fused with Aizen at first wanted to know what Aizen wanted to become Hogyoku searching and observating what Aizen wanted to become and when Hogyoku knows what Aizen wants he just can make anything based on what Aizen wants, Aizen wanted to become someone who above everything and Hogyoku slowly but surely trying to fullfill that wish, and what happens to Aizen after he got attacked by Mugetsu, I would assume that what Aizen wants is now different, the idea of he who are gonna lose against Ichigo, that delusion of losing is what Hogyoku maybe recognize and just let that things happen, Aizen's fear towards losing and doesn't want to win against Ichigo is in my opinion the reason why Aizen lose everything, because that what Aizen thinking at that time, he has no intenton about wanted to become something that above everything he now just think that he's gonna lose and basically thats what Hogyoku understand and let Aizen to lose everything.
I remember in one of your past videos you said all Aizen transformation didn’t go well with the community. But kubos ideas and later on seeing what he does with the Quincy’s I feel he had more for Aizen especially since even though Aizen is currently sealed he seems stronger then ever
I'll say it again Tommo your thumbnails are amazing
ainzen going through metamorphosis is totally beautiful and horrifying, It's wynorrific.
I wonder if , the Hogyoku will accept Aizen again in the Hell arc ,will Aizen take that eye patch off and reveal a very different eye with maybe a special power ? Maybe .
The mullet was glorious
I believe that the crystalise stage was him actually becoming a soul king. Much like bach and ichigo, aizen changed the future by stepping on from one grain of sand to another, allowing him to evolve through resurrection. It seems that all soul kings have the almighty but to varying degrees. And with aizen never witnessing this soul king trait before, never had any idea of the possibilities that he could reach. Thus throwing his powers away at the climax of the battle when he realized that he couldn't beat ichigo.
I find Transcendence and Spiritual Dimensions (and then Temporal Dimensions with Yhwach) a touch odd and very messy, but interesting. Aizen implies that the key to it is breaking down the barriers between the different species of the series; so he becomes 3D by becoming Hollow-like. And that Dimensionality can be determined by which beings can and cannot be sensed. This would imply that a regular Human is 1D, while Shinigami/Empowered Human/Quincy/Hollow are 2D, Cocoon Aizen is 3D, Dangai Ichigo is at least 4D and The Soul King is effectively 5D.
This all kind of makes sense. A Human is just a human, they can't sense anything. An Empowered Human (e.g Inoue or Riruka) is both a Human and a Spiritual Being, while a Hollow is a Spiritual Being and a Hollow; so they can sense each other. Aizen is then a Spiritual Being, a Shinigami and a Hollow. Thats all fine and dandy. Even Dangai Ichigo makes some sense, because he has fully communed with Zangetsu/White; so (depending on your take on Zangetsu) he's either 4D (Human, Spiritual Being/Quincy/Shinigami, Shinigami/Quincy, Shinigami/Hollow) or full blown, Soul King 5D (Human, Spiritual Being, Shinigami, Hollow and Quincy).
I'll give Kubo the benefit of the doubt on the Vaizard/Arrancar and guess that they're only imperfect combinations of Shinigami and Hollow. So they're still 2D enough for everyone to sense them. But that always seemed odd.
We start to run into real issues with every other form of Ichigo though. He is capable of sensing 3D Aizen, but 2D Isshin can still sense him. He contains every possible Dimension, but is an unstable mix of them; which seems to keep him at 2D. And at the very end of the series he seems to be a near perfect mix of all 5Ds, but everyone can still sense him; implying that he's only 2D. When he loses his Shinigami/Spiritual Powers he drops to 1D; despite still containing his Quincy and Hollow parts. He then awakens/reawakens his Spiritual Being powers (Fullbring) and goes back to 2D; and remains 2D when he regains his Shinigami powers. Only his Dangai Form even vaguely fits into Aizens Dimensionality system.
Then we have Yhwach, who is a complete shitshow. Not only does he seemingly introduce Temporal Dimensions, but he also claims to be the son of the Soul King (so default 5D) and temporarily (then permanently) becomes the Soul King (so again 5D). But he also can't perceive the Soul King in his base form (so less than 5D). But everyone seems to be able to sense him in all of his forms (so 2D in all cases).
Either, we've been Kubo'd again and he's come up with a great idea to make Aizen super awesome; but hasn't actually created a functional system, that he then abandons at the end of the arc. Or he's come up with a great system, but hasn't fleshed it out enough for us to understand it; and then abandoned it at the end of the arc. Or (magic option 3) Kubo is actually just fucking with us and Aizen is delusional about Transcendence and all that matters is raw power and the potential for it; so Ichigo can sense Cocoon Aizen because only he has the potential to become as powerful as him, but Butterflaizen can't sense Dangai Ichigo because he lacks the potential to equal him... but this falls apart as soon as you look at Yamamoto and Nanao or Yhwach and everyone.
So, any which way you go... big confusion. We need Brandon Sanderson to pop in and iron out this whole system.
Idk, i kinda like the simplicity of cocoon Aizen.
I also thoroughly enjoy Tosen's form when he first puts on the mask.
About Aizen loosing KS. I acrtually shared your interpretation before his reveal in the TYBW arc. I believed, that either A) KS disappears because Aizen does not want it anymore or B) because of Ichigo's inrterpretation thatAizen reached his goal of an actual equal at his highest point and wanted in his innermost part regress together with ichigo.
However I do believe nowadays that he DID evolve. The Hogyoku was effectively "fuck what is this guy? oh... it's just a perfect fusion with his bankai? Kyoka Suigetsu, come here you outdated Bitch!" Because Aizen's form after Mugetsu is VERY reminiscent of Dangai Ichigo. he does not need to show KS to create illusions, and to affect senses that are not the classical five that we know KS to work on. He straight up fuckey YWACHs sense of time. Tzhat's not KSs shikai. plus he was so sealed up he could not have brought it out to show it to YWACH. he must have done it with YWACH looking at him. Then, his sword arm still looks like it's fused. it has fully become a body part. So I believe that either the Hogyoku copid ichigo's evolution or Aizen actually did the same trainng as ichigo while being locked up. But I actually lean more towards the first idea.
I dig Butterfl-Aizen
I’d like to think that the cocoon form Aizen has has effectively reduced his insides into pure reishi and is why there is no insides when his face is cut or when he removes the cuffs.
I like the monster form the most from his evolutions
Had to download… this is a work of arts
Aizen was so strong Kubo couldn't even come up with a suitable Bankai for him.
I like the cocoon Aizen. He looks menacing af.
The funny thing is, he seemingly just ignored Quincy altogether. Perhaps he wouldn't have fallen behind Ichigo during their fight if that was part of the desire that the hougyoku manifested. Instead, it's all about transcending shinigami and hollows. As we know from the final arc, the Quincy part was a big component of the SK (Yhwach specifically says that the Almighty is "the mark of a true Quincy" - and the SK himself had that ability)
Aizen and Ichigo are more similar than many realise. The power he has in TYBW are similar to that of Ichigo in Mugestu form. He is Kyoka Suigetsu at that point.
I would love a "What If?" of some other character using the hogyoku.
A being that strived to transcend Shinigami, turning increasingly Hollow-like in the process, defeated on the precipice by a perfect Shinigami-Quincy hybrid using what's basically a combined Bankai-Letzt Stile form.
I think Aizen got Kyoka Suigetsu by the Hogyoku against Ichigo in the end when he thought that it fully chosen him.
Wonder what would Dangai Hogyoku Ichigo look like
Tommo, is it possible you could do a video on Lille vs Aizen?
Lille strikes me as near-Godlike, and I'd love to hear more how these two would fare in battle.
I wonder if yammamotos reatsu was reduced or affected by losing his arm since reshi flows through the wrists
I think that Ichigo's resolve relegated the Hogoyku with his resolve to stopping Aizen was greater than Aizen's Drive to get stronger.
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely
Man what a thumbnail, its really nice
Interesting how merging with your zanpakto could put you at a level of existence even higher than a transcendent being
I would have much preferred the final fight being that Ichigo unlocked his true zanpakto, and with help from the Soul King or some shit, he's able to access the Final Getsuga Form one more time without losing his powers.
Also I always assumed the Hogyoku was basically an attempt to recreate the Soul King's power made by Kisuke after visiting the Royal Realm, and Aizen's evolution is like a evil Soul King because of his dark nature.