Highlights
- Aizen’s inability to achieve Bankai may be due to his lack of a deep bond with his Zanpakutō, which is essential for its release.
- Aizen’s Zanpakutō, Kyōka Suigetsu, allows him to manipulate his opponents’ senses and has a permanent effect on anyone who witnesses its release.
- Aizen’s duplicitous nature and constant manipulation make it impossible to truly know him, creating a scenario where trust is not possible and preventing him from achieving Bankai.
With the various ways in which he has altered the trajectory of the series’ plot and had a hand in so many of the universe’s most significant events, BLEACH character Sōsuke Aizen is definitely one of the most iconic anime villains. Aizen was initially introduced as the kind and greatly respected Captain of the 5th Squad of the Gotei 13, but came to be known as one of Soul Society’s most heinous criminals and one of the strongest beings in the universe.
For a Shinigami to be eligible for Captaincy, they have various requirements, the most important of which is their ability to perform a Shinigami’s most significant skill: the Bankai. Despite this, we are never once treated to the dramatic revelation of Aizen’s Bankai. It’s possible that Sōsuke Aizen is not yet able to perform the quintessential Shinigami technique, but there’s an even more harrowing possibility – he was never able to achieve Bankai in the first place. How is that possible?
Understanding The Different Aspects of a Zanpakutō
To understand how someone like Aizen could be fundamentally incapable of ever achieving Bankai, one must first go back to their understanding of what informs the mechanic – the Zanpakutō (“Soul Slayer”). Zanpakutō are weapons that begin as Asauchi – blank slate souls that are molded by their wielder and develop sentience as the connection between the wielder and weapon continues to grow. Eventually, a Shinigami becomes able to hear their Zanpakutō calling out to them, and eventually learns the Zanpakutō’s name. In knowing the name of their Zanpakutō, a Shinigami is able to achieve “Shikai”; the initial release of their Zanpakutō that changes its shape and grants it various abilities reflective of the wielder’s soul. Once a Zanpakutō’s name is evident to its wielder, it has developed enough to develop a personality in its own right, not to mention the fact that the spirit of a Zanpakutō can materialize in very special circumstances.
“Bankai” is the second release of a Shinigami’s Zanpakutō, and this is considered the pinnacle of a Shinigami’s abilities and mastery over the Zanpakutō. Usually, achieving Bankai would require even some of the most talented of Shinigami to train rigorously for over a decade, and develop a deep connection to their Zanpakutō. To achieve Bankai for the first time, a Shinigami must be experienced; have already achieved Shikai; and develop a close enough bond with their Zanpakutō to be able to forcibly materialize its spirit. Once materialized, the Shinigami must subjugate the spirit through combat. When Ichigo Kurosaki achieved Bankai under special circumstances, he was forced to compress this long journey into three days. With this subjugation in combat, unwavering trust is established between Shinigami and Zanpakutō for Bankai to be possible.
Kyōka Suigetsu is the Embodiment of Perfect and Complete Manipulation
Aizen’s Zanpakutō is probably one of the BLEACH series’ most notable weapons due to the devastation that can happen as a result of its special ability. Aizen’s Kyōka Suigetsu (literally, “Mirror Flower, Water Moon”) is a Zanpakutō that does not change appearance when activated with its release command. Instead, it retains its regular appearance as a katana with a hexagonal guard and green hilt, but activates the ability Kanzen Saimin (“Complete Hypnosis”), which enables Aizen to manipulate each of his opponent’s senses. He can manipulate people into seeing allies as foes, and to make things even worse, witnessing Kyōka Suigetsu’s release is the condition required for Complete Hypnosis to activate.
This effect is permanent from the moment of exposure, meaning that every single character in Soul Society who has ever witnessed the release of Aizen’s Zanpakutō is still under the effects of its ability even if they were exposed hundreds of years ago, and the effect itself is perfect and absolute – even if one is aware of it, they cannot resist the effects of the hypnosis.
Aizen’s most important use of this ability is, of course, during the events of the Soul Society arc, where Aizen faked his death and put into motion a number of events that would lead to his defection from Soul Society. Every witness of Aizen’s “murder scene” unknowingly put themselves under the effects of Complete Hypnosis.
This ability is so powerful when used by Aizen that it could even thwart the omniscience granted to Yhwach after the activation of his “The Almighty”. The important note is that Kyōka Suigetsu has been used by someone other than Aizen during the events of Ryōgo Narita’s Can’t Fear Your Own World novels and simply was not as effective in the hands of this individual, due to the fact that Aizen now has a ridiculous amount of Reiatsu – so much that it cannot be detected except by individuals of a similar caliber.
Zanpakutō Are an Extension of the Shinigami’s Soul
Aizen’s nature is the most significant reason why he may be fundamentally incapable of achieving Bankai. The “subjugation” of the Zanpakuto refers to the bond formed between weapon and wielder, and is explored greatly through the journey of Ichigo and Zangetsu, particularly with how the Zanpakutō is an extension of the soul. For 6th Squad Lieutenant Renji Abarai, his Zanpakutō, Zabimaru, had only been lending him half of their power as he had not yet gained the trust of one-half of the dual spirit that is his Zanpakutō.
11th Squad 4th Seat Yumichika Ayasegawa’s Zanpakutō inherited his arrogance, love of beauty and flamboyance. They bicker and treat each other with contempt as a result of the clash of two similar personalities. Basically, a Zanpakutō is deeply reflective of a wielder, and, for Sōsuke Aizen, therein lies the problem.
Aizen had maintained a facade for over a century while experimenting upon and messing up countless lives, oftentimes out of mere curiosity, as he continued his research and built up his Arrancar army. Beneath his calm exterior is a cold rationality and megalomania that enable him to continuously manipulate, deceive, discard and use anyone and everyone without remorse in his quest to supplant the Soul King as the ruler of Soul Society and the transcendent being that is the linchpin of the realms.
In his defection, Aizen cruelly manipulated his grief-stricken Lieutenant, Momo Hinamori, into believing that he’d survived his apparent murder before ramming his entire Zanpakutō deep into her chest as he pretended to gently embrace her. It is beyond evident that intellectualism, sadism and machiavellianism are the defining characteristics of Sōsuke Aizen, giving rise to the inherently duplicitous ability for which Kyōka Suigetsu is known. Interestingly, during the Zanpakuto Rebellion filler arc of the original anime, Kyoka Suigetsu was portrayed as the manifestation of Aizen’s desire to embody a perfect state of being who was cast out by the Hogyoku, and vowed to no longer further Aizen’s ambitions.
The Truth is Still Elusive, Much Like Aizen
If subjugation and development of a close bond based on trust and mutual respect is the main prerequisite for achieving Bankai, the duplicitous nature of both Aizen and Kyōka Suigetsu creates a strange paradox. Aizen’s true history is completely unknown, and everything that is known about him always carries the possibility of being a complete fabrication. Before we even consider his use of Complete Hypnosis, Aizen is already a manipulator, liar, and sociopath, and his ability to pretend to be someone else in ways that leave no one suspicious is on the kind of level where it cannot be assumed that the name “Sosuke Aizen” is his actual name or one of countless identities he has assumed and discarded in his long existence. This “impossibility” to truly know Aizen lies in the fact that he is constantly manipulating, and even if he tells the truth, it can always be assumed to be advantageous for Aizen to do so. For two such individuals to exist in Aizen and Kyōka Suigetsu means that neither one can ever fully trust the other because their very essence is duplicity, creating a scenario where “trust” is simply not possible, meaning that the Zanpakutō spirit can never be subjugated as per the requirements of achieving Bankai.
The consequence is that Sōsuke Aizen is fundamentally incapable of achieving Bankai. In the Spirits Are Forever With You novels by Ryōgo Narita, it is briefly mentioned that every great Bankai has some kind of drawback, with that of Kyōka Suigetsu being mentioned as having the weakness of only being effective against those who are already under the effect of his Shikai. How this one line can override our above theory lies in the fact that it is part of the inner monologue of Urozakuro; a former Kenpachi’s Zanpakutō, whose unique ability would theoretically make it possible for her to know of the existence of Aizen’s Bankai without it having been revealed to her per se. As it stands, we still have no idea what kind of monstrous Bankai Aizen could be hiding; if he’ll ever reveal what it is; or even if the inner monologue of Urozakuro is enough to completely dismiss the possibility that Aizen can’t ever perform Bankai.
BLEACH is available on Disney+.
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