Key takeaways
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Shunsui makes a deal with Aizen to help the Gotei 13 in the battle with Yhwach to get much-needed help.
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Aizen, a post-Hogyouku fusion, is the most powerful Shinigami besides Ichigo, with transcendent abilities.
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Aizen’s overwhelming power, his mastery of Kidou, and his immortality make him invincible and indestructible.
In the last episode of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood WarThe newly appointed Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, Shunsui Kyoraku, enters the underground prison beneath Squad 1’s headquarters, the Muken. There, while his best friend, Captain Ukitake, makes a deal with a god, Mimigahi, to save Soul Society, Shunsui makes a deal with the Devil, Sousuke Aizen. Kyoraku speaks to Aizen shortly before releasing him from his seal to ask him to assist the Gotei 13 in their battle against Yhwach. Shunsui knows that there is no one as powerful as Aizen except Ichigo, and they need all the help they can get.
It has been two years since Aizen was sealed after his epic battle against Dangai Ichigo at the hands of Kisuke Urahara. And yet, he is still a being on a completely different level than anyone on the battlefield besides Ichigo and Yhwach. While Aizen has always been a level above the normal Shinigami, his fusion with the Hogyouku granted him transcendent power beyond anyone else in the world of Bleach.
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Sousuke Aizen before and after Hogyouku
An anomaly, a being beyond any other
When Sousuke Aizen was born, the balance of souls was disturbed. Aizen is, in every sense of the word, an anomaly. He shouldn’t exist. Already at birth, he was a being far beyond any other Shinigami. But he knew how to hide this, and he enrolled in the Shinigami Academy and joined the Gotei 13, serving as vice-captain of Squad 5 under Shinji Hirako. After his Hollowfication experiments ruined the lives of the Shinigami who would become Vizored, Aizen became the captain of Squad 5, and later Momo Hinamori was his vice-captain. Using his Zanpakutou, Kyouka Suigetsu, he faked his death and betrayed the Gotei 13, killing all members of Central 46. He recovered his Hogyouku and fled to Hueco Mundo with captains Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen.
From the beginning, no one has been in the heavens. Not you, not me, not even the gods. However, that intolerable void has come to an end. From now on… I will be above the heavens.
During his battle with the Gotei 13 in the Fake Karakura Town arc, Aizen easily defeated all members of the force, aside from former Captain-Commander Yamamoto. All of this without using complex Kidou techniques, which he is an expert in, or even his Bankai, if he has one. The only enemy Aizen saw close to him in terms of power was Yamamoto, and he created an experimental Arrancar called Wunderweiss Margera to deal with him.
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He then begins to evolve into a transcendent being, merging with the Hogyouku. He fights Urahara, Isshin Kurosaki, and Yoruichi Shihouin with ease, all while transforming. After reaching a new stage of evolution, his power is so overwhelming that it completely obliterates any human who comes near him. After being betrayed by Gin Ichimaru, he evolves once again, and when fighting a newly evolved Ichigo, he achieves a final monstrous transformation. He is hit by Ichigo’s final Getsuga Tenshou: Mugetsu. And yet he survives. Urahara sealed him and the new Central 46 sentences him to 18,800 years in prison in Muken.
There, Aizen remained fused with the Hogyouku, silently refining his powers, completely discarding the physical form of his Zanpakutou, Kyouka Suigetsu. When Yhwach went to see him during the First Quincy Invasion, he was able to use Zanpakutou’s powers simply by having Yhwach look at him. Aizen has become one with his Zanpakutou and the Hogyouku.
Aizen’s current power
Invincible and overwhelming
Thanks to his fusion with the Hogyouku and his transcendent evolution, Sousuke Aizen is the most powerful Shinigami that has ever existed besides Ichigo Kurosaki, a completely different case. Aizen can manifest his powers with ease, without even needing to release his Shikai. His mastery of Kidou has also increased. He is capable of casting extremely powerful Kidou spells without an incantation. Like Hadou 99: Kurohitsugi (Black Box) and Hadou 99: Goryuutenmetsu (Five Swirling Dragons of Destruction), one of the most powerful techniques in Bleach.
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In addition to his overwhelming power, he is effectively immortal and indestructible. You can suffer any injury and survive. Aizen would have to be hit by divine power to suffer significant damage or even be on the verge of death. Thanks to the Hogyouku, Aizen’s already abnormal power has tripled. When the Muken guard approached Aizen to restrain him, his hands disintegrated as soon as he was close. Aizen’s spiritual pressure is so dense and powerful that anyone who comes close to him will die immediately. The seals do not erase his spiritual pressure, they simply keep it close to him.
I must say… You really are an entertaining man. Would I like to breathe fresh air, you ask? Would that be the fresh air of a Soul Society being summarily crushed by Yhwach?
Shunsui also only undid three of Aizen’s seals: mouth, left eye, and ankles. Which means that most of Aizen’s body is still sealed. This is simply a part of all its power. Yhwach previously revealed that Aizen is one of the Special War Threats. This is due to Aizen’s almost infinite power and spiritual pressure. He is invincible, fused with the Hogyouku, fused with his Zanpakutou and a refined version of his transcendent evolution.
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Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War
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Based on the shonen battle manga by Tite Kubo, Bleach centers on Ichigo, a high school student who is dragged into the world of Soul Reapers. The original anime ended in 2012, but was revived in 2022.