Ichigo was a culmination of all the realms in Bleach; he was part Hollow, part Quincy, part Soul Reaper, and part human. He was exceptional and it was important to have strong villains who could add that threat to the narrative. Tite Kubo ensured that with villains like Yhwach and Aizen. Ichigo’s powers paled in comparison to them, not just once but many times throughout the story.
Every time the discussion turns to Bleach villains, Aizen always comes out on top. He’s the unbeatable mastermind, who has enchanted the fandom with his twisted ways. Similarly, Yhwach had his own dedicated following for how he turned the world upside down.
Both of them had their own ways of overpowering Ichigo, completely crushing him rather than just challenging him. Fans on Reddit discussed which one of them was more successful in doing so, and most people unanimously agreed with Aizen. While that is not surprising, let’s revisit exactly what made Aizen so ruthless.
Here’s why this Aizen scene is forever etched in fans’ minds
Aizen’s betrayal had just been revealed in Bleach. Unohana and Isane were preparing all the Captains to head to his location. In the meantime, Renji was trying his best to rescue Rukia. The moment Renji succumbed to his knees and Aizen was about to attack him, Ichigo arrived on the battlefield. It was reassuring and somewhat expected. After all, Ichigo wouldn’t let his friends suffer alone.
Ichigo’s arrival was a big relief, he lightened the mood with his brief banter with Renji. Even though Ichigo might not have been strong enough at that point, fans still expected a decent fight out of that match-up. However, Ichigo could barely do anything before Aizen completely crushed him. He stopped Ichigo’s Zanpaku-to with just one finger, and even split his torso in half.
This was a huge disrespect to Ichigo’s powerful entry and what he came to achieve on that battlefield. Considering how humiliating this particular moment was, fans on Reddit wondered if Yhwach’s treatment of Ichigo was comparable to what Aizen made him go through.
Who disrespected Ichigo more? Yhwach or Aizen?
byu/Strange-Strength1521 inbleach
Most of the fans agreed that Aizen disrespected Ichigo more. But, we need to remember that Yhwach and his fight is not yet over in the anime. Even though Yhwach might not have been as cut-throat, he caused some great emotional damage to Ichigo.
Yhwach crushed Ichigo’s soul from within
From the moment Ichigo arrived at Soul Society during the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, Yhwach was already on the offensive. Ichigo was fired up having just seen his friends in life-threatening condition. However, he could barely last against Yhwach and even had his Zanpaku-to destroyed. Yhwach put him in an existential dread and stripped away his primary source of powers.
After his confrontation with Yhwach, Ichigo had to return to his roots and regain his footing. He trained and realized his real reasons to fight. When he faced the Quincy King again, the outcome wasn’t much different as he unknowingly destroyed the equilibrium by stabbing the Soul King. With that, it’s clear that while Aizen was utterly ruthless, Yhwach didn’t have any mercy to impart either.
Bleach is available to stream on Netflix.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
