Boomstick: Sōsuke Aizen, the Soul Reaper who stood upon the heavens from Bleach.
Wiz: We may dream of glory, but these two have the will to power to take it by force and claim a seat among the gods.
Boomstick: They're the biggest, baddest anime bosses around, and not even death can stop 'em. Ghost versus zombie, let's go!
Two of shonen anime's greatest and most infamous supervillains make their appearance in the penultimate episode of the show's anniversary season. Seeking to gain dominance over all others, they deceive and kill with no regard for their victims, all to fulfill this vision. A pair of masterminds and illusionists as talented as them make each other the best rival to finally end this long-contested feud. Now, Madara Uchiha and Sosuke Aizen end that feud in a death battle.
The first profile covered is that of Madara Uchiha, whose story begins in a land consumed by war. The rival clans of the Uchiha and the Senju had been locked in bloody conflict for generations by the time Madara was thrust into the violence. It was with a meeting with Hashirama Senju where his fortunes changed; though they belonged to opposing families, the two shinobi forged a friendship under the belief that peace could somehow be attained. Madara and Hashirama brought an end to the fighting and founded Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village in a display of unity. However, it seems fated conspired to keep the rift between Uchiha and Senju alive. Hashirama saw peace through cooperation as the ultimate ideal, whereas Madara thought such peace could only be brought about by force. The Uchiha shinobi fled the village and for decades devising a plan to cast the Infinite Tsukoyomi, an incantation that would permanently trap the world's population in a dreamlike utopia. Madara manipulated his clan and those beyond, even having himself brought back from the dead, in this pursuit of his goal, and the world at large spent much of this time none the wiser.
When the time came to take to the field, Madara would face much opposition; luckily for him, the array of powers he has is simply astronomical. His gunbai fan serves as his trademark weapon, with which he can redirect the ninjutsu of others as well as simply bludgeon them. Ninjutsu, various supernatural attacks and techniques, can be performed through weaponization of life energy, or chakra, and as the reincarnation of the otherworldly shinobi Indra Ōtsutsuki, Madara has inherited Indra's own immense chakra reserves. Ninjutsu that shape fire are Madara's specialty, and, after grafting Hashirama's cells onto him, he gained his former friend's own heightened healing and proficiency in wood-aligned ninjutsu. An anomaly of the Uchiha bloodline is yet another tool in Madara's arsenal, and easily one of his most devastating. The anomaly in question, the Sharingan, manifests in an Uchiha's eyes, granting them detailed sight that can view matter on a cellular level and by extension, the muscle movement and chakra flows of his enemies. The Sharingan is also the source of its user's mastery of illusion casting, powerful enough to compress entire lifetimes into a fraction of a nanosecond and killing their victims both in the illusion and reality. Other Uchiha like Sasuke and itachi have cast these illusions and broken out of them, giving credence to the idea that Madara can as well. During his machinations to prepare the Infinite Tsukoyomi, these abilities were increased in their effectiveness, and several more accompanied them. His usage of Hashirama's cells also gave Madara the Rinnegan, and with it, access to the godlike ninjutsu of the Six Paths. Among the abilities of the Six Paths are such skills as creating invisible clones, conjuring meteors of chakra, absorbing the chakra of others, and tearing apart souls. His own Sharingan, which he could swap to when not using the Rinnegan, developed further into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, which let him summon an ethereal samurai made of his own chakra. However, it is his sealing and absorption of the Ten-Tails, an ancient monster tied to the history of Indra's bloodline, that is the capstone of Madara's skillset. With its power, Madara can draw upon a creature of continent shattering proportions and its Truth-Seeking Orbs, orbs of chakra that obliterate anything they touch down to the spiritual level.
Across the history of the world, few if any villains could hope to match the reputation left by Madara. Before the plethora of powers he acquired, the Uchiha prodigy could fire and react to attacks moving at light-speed. His skill was already enough to devastate entire armies, and that experience only grew as he furthered his plots. Once he sealed the Ten-Tails within himself, Madara reached a level of power comparable to Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, the original holder of both the Rinnegan and the Six Paths, who helped created the moon. By the time he could finally cast the Infinite Tsukoyomi in this state, the God Tree Madara needed to ensnare humanity with could spread its roots around the globe. With this much power and intellect, it seems as if the new world order Madara envisioned would finally be within his grasp, but he would be betrayed by the same forces he used to aid him. In his final moments, the resurrected Hashirama comforted his friend, reflecting on their dreams of peace before Madara passed away, this time with no greater plan to save him.
With the founder of Konoha accounted for, the episode then covers his opponent, Sosuke Aizen. As a Shinigami, Sosuke is a member of otherworldly beings who act as psychopomps, purifying corrupted spirits and escorting others to the afterlife that is the Soul Society. Most of Sosuke's personal life is shrouded in mystery, but what is known is his desire for power rivaling that of gods and the experiments he conducted on other Shinigami that turned them into monsters. This mass corruption of Shinigami was part of his scheme to attain the power he sought, expedited by his high rank within Gotei 13, the Soul Society's standing army. When Aizen's fellow Shinigami Rukia Kukichi was arranged to be executed, her spiritually attuned friends from the living world infiltrated Soul Society as part of a rescue mission. Faking his death during their mission, Aizen dragged Rukia's allies into his master plan decades in the making.
As a Shinigami, Aizen is a soul that can manifest in physical form and even remain undetected by those less spiritually inclined. The anatomy of a soul can be divided into three components: reishi, spirit matter that comprises the soul itself; reiryoku, the amount of power a soul contains; and reiatsu, a pressurized aura generated by reiryoku. Those with sufficiently developed reiryoku can channel it into any number of kido, special arts that can be used for direct offense or to support and protect their user. With an incantation to activate it, Aizen can shoot lightning bolts, form protective barriers, a light-bending invisibility veil, and numerous reishi dragons. The greatest of Aizen's kido, however, is the Kurohitsugi. This high-powered kido creates a spacetime-warping coffin that is pierced by spears, tearing the victim within to pieces. Another way a Shinigami can channel their reiryoku is through their zanpakuto, a sword unique to each wielder that holds a certain power. In Aizen's case, his zanpakuto, Kyōka Suigetsu, allows him to control his enemy's senses once they see him or his sword. This hypnosis, once activated, can be triggered when and for as long as Aizen wishes; certain Shinigami have remained under his thrall for little over a century. All these abilities, while certainly worth attention, are also stepping stones to his masterpiece: the Hōgyoku, a device that rewrites reality to suit the desires of its user. Aizen, wishing to be the most powerful being in the universe, crafted the Hōgyoku to fulfill this purpose; inducing evolution so that his power can be amplified further. Not only does the Hōgyoku allow to Aizen recover from injuries as grievous as partial disintegration, it also increases the intensity of his reiatsu and in his transformed state, Aizen can create highly destructive energy with the Fragor technique.
Aizen may be known for his intellect, but his martial prowess cannot be overlooked. From his own merit, Aizen is strong enough to level mountains as a side effect from the blows of his sword; similarly, his reiatsu can disintegrate weaker beings just by proximity. His position as one of the captains of the Gotei 13 is well founded, given he can defeat other higher-ups within its ranks; one such example, Kenpachi Zaraki, can singlehandedly break apart asteroids dozens of kilometers in length. The Shinigami was already a major threat who could level mountains and evade lightning, but with the Hōgyoku, he reached a new level of power. The empowered Aizen was able to usurp the Soul King, the god who oversees the human world, Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo, the space in between. Even the Soul King's son, Yhwach, who can see all possible timelines and claimed the Soul King's power himself, was outclassed by Kyōka Suigetsu. The power Aizen possessed would seem to make him unstoppable, and until he fought Rukia's comrade Ichigo, he was. However, Ichigo, well above the average Shinigami in his own right, was able to keep pace with the numerous skills and forms Aizen had to offer. The Hōgyoku sensed Aizen's own insecurities in his battle with Ichigo and reclaimed its power from him. Soundly defeated, Aizen was sentenced to twenty thousand years of imprisonment in the deepest depths of Soul Society, his reiatsu forcibly restrained. Still, Aizen was defeated, if not fully. An immortal with strategic brilliance like his can achieve great acts of evil, and when he finally breaks free, no one but him will know his next move.
With all the elements laid out, both fighters are clear to engage. One advertisement for Bluechew ED treatment later, and now, it's time for a death battle!
In an arid stretch of badlands, a fire breaks out from nothingness. Sosuke Aizen, captain of the Gotei 13's fifth division, shields himself from the flames as Madara Uchiha emerges from them. Though Aizen is surprised at first that the shinobi can see him, he takes this revelation in stride. Casting aside his glasses, the Shinigami unsheathes Kyōka Suigetsu and points the blade at Madara before vanishing from view. The Uchiha ninja scans the battlefield with the Sharingan when Aizen's taunting voice rings from behind. Quick to react, Madara leaps backwards and draws his gunbei at the same moment it collides with the zanpakuto.
FIGHT!
In a flurry of blinding steel, shinobi and Shinigami parry each other's blows as they touch down. Aizen attempts to widen the gap between them, but is met with Madara's wood elemental jutsu slamming into him. The spiritual swordsman recovers and more alert this time, deftly dodges every following pillar of wood bursting from the ground. Madara, seeing the agility with which Aizen defends himself, takes the initiative to summon a fraction of Susanoo. A glowing blue ribcage and arm envelop the fallen founder of Konoha, but the construct is soon dissipated by Aizen's reiatsu. Madara, taken aback by the spiritual power Aizen possesses, is left vulnerable. Impaled on Kyōka Suigetsu, the shinobi is blasted into the air by Aizen's kido, where he tumbles helplessly. His limbs are severed from him before the Shinigami's sword runs the torso through, prone and free for Aizen to mock as he wipes the blood off his robe. An infuriated Madara uses the Sharingan to break free of the zanpakuto's illusion; alive, but still impaled.
With a violent headbutt to stun his enemy, Madara gains the opening to summon Susanoo and smash Aizen into the dirt. Aizen is downed, but not defeated. Hearing Madara dismiss his reiryoku, the living soul activates his Hōgyoku; the now-empowered Aizen clears the battlefield of wood and stone alike in a single swing. Madara attempts to strike with a plume of fire, but Aizen deflects it with a barrier. Invoking the kido's name aloud, Sosuke calls forth a Kurohitsugi to surround the Uchiha, unaware of Madara performing a jutsu at the last minute. The coffin is pierced and erupts, but Aizen is made to keep his distance, apprehensive as to Madara's next move. Garbed in white and armed with an ornate staff, Madara emerges, drawing from the wellspring of power that is the Ten-Tails. The Rinnegan in his eyes hints to the Uchiha's next move; forming a meteor of chakra that Aizen is soon tossed towards. Mid-flight, the Shinigami recovers and cuts the celestial body to pieces.
The masterminds chase each other through the skies before the Hōgyoku transforms Aizen further. A humanoid abomination with mouths for wingtips, the once Soul King opens fire on Madara, only for his offensive to be cut short. A tengu dressed in samurai armor, Madara's fully formed Susanoo, emerges to swat Aizen away. Forced on the defensive, everything Aizen launches at the Susanoo proves ineffective until he uses another kido; one that calls forth a set of five reiryoku dragons. From atop Susanoo, Madara uses the Rinnegan to produce limbo clones of himself to meet their approach. Dragon and clone whittle down their foes' numbers as Madara leaps out of his chakra construct. The disgraced Uchiha waxes lyrical of his vigor and how the battle fuels his bloodlust; soon, Madara and his clones succumb to violent laughter as they close the distance. Aizen follows suit as his wing mouths charge a Fragor, cackling madmen consumed by power. At the moment of collision, the surrounding meteors explode, accompanying the combatants as they plummet back to earth.
Madara, once more reduced to a torso, sees the viscera that was once the Gotei 13 captain and gives a gloating congratulation to the Shinigami, only for the moment to be cut short with a hand plunged through his chest. The fragments of the fake Aizen disperse into reishi as the real Shinigami dispels his illusion and prepares his Hōgyoku wing mouths to fire a point-blank Fragor. A column of purple energy consumes the pair, and when it dies, Madara is nowhere to be seen. Just as his foe, Aizen savors his victory, and just as happened before, that victory is cut short. With the Rinnegan's Outer Path, Madara brings himself back from the dead and with its Deva Path, he casts a repelling force to send Aizen back. The Truth-Seeking Orbs follow the violent soul, rending chunks of Aizen into nothingness. By the time only his head remains, it ends up impaled on the Ten-Tails' staff, where another Deva Path force blows it open. Madara cleans off the staff and watches the meteor shower, finding contentment in the destruction his battle has wrought.
K.O.!
With the death of the Gotei 13 captain comes the points that lead to his fate. The Soul King maintaining the cosmic balance of three worlds would generate an energy yield of slightly over 140 zettatons, making Aizen's defeat of him the most practical assumption for an upper limit to his power. While impressive, Madara spreading the roots of the God Tree across the world would generate a whole yottaton of destructive energy, outclassing Aizen roughly seven times over. Madara functioning on baseline power could match light-timing opponents, and Ichigo would eventually reach those same levels by the time he fought Aizen; meaning the combatants' speed would be fairly equal. With a slight imbalance in strength and speed at a deadlock, the true debate in this fight comes down to whose abilities better countered the other's. On a general point, the sheer diversity of Madara's skillset would be something Aizen struggles to keep pace with. While Shinigami could remain invisible to regular people, the Rinnegan would allow Madara to see Aizen as it did his own limbo clones. Chakra and reiryoku are spiritual energy with similar functions and generation, so it'd be safe to assume that Madara's ability to absorb and dispel ninjutsu would work just as well on kido. Even Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu, for all its high-powered hypnosis, would be nothing new to a Sharingan user like Madara. The heightened perception of the Sharingan means that any of Aizen's illusions could be broken out of, something Aizen would fail to repllicate. That said, both combatants have such rates of regeneration that they would need some way to definitely end the fight. As the Truth-Seeking Orbs could atomize spirits, preventing them from recovery, it acts as the perfect tool Madara would need to finish off a spirit like Aizen. Between his more plentiful skills, more effective illusions, and a definitive killing technique, Madara had everything he needed to take victory in this match.
Wiz: Do you feel any shame at all?
Boomstick: Eh, Madarately. Ha, double pun! Suck it, Wiz!
Wiz: The winner is Madara Uchiha!
Next time on the season finale...
Madara vs. Aizen contains examples of:
- Always Someone Better: One of the deciding factors in Madara's victory. While jutsu works similar enough to Shinigami techniques, since both require spiritual energy, Madara's genjutsu is superior to Aizen's Kyouka Suigetsu and the latter has no counter for it, unlike with Madara and his ability to dispel illusions.
- Anti-Magic: Thanks to the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan, Madara can break out of illusion-based techniques. This was a deciding factor, as Aizen had no corresponding power, so Madara could counter his illusions but not the other way around.
- Bait-and-Switch: Happens three times throughout the fight with faked deaths. First, Madara gets caught in an illusion where he is seemingly cut to pieces, but breaks free with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. The second is when Aizen fakes being killed by Madara's limbo clones, which is immediately followed by the third: Madara faking being killed by Aizen's Ultrafragor. The last of these sets up Madara's killing blow.
- Blood Knight: Near the end of the fight, Madara starts laughing his head off over how much fun he's having, especially with how much damage Aizen's done to him.
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: Madara is the first Naruto character to win since Might Guy in season 6, as Kakashi Hatake and Rock Lee having been featured in season 7 and neither managing to succeed. He's also the first Sharingan user to win, with the two Sasuke and the aforementioned Kakashi also wielding that power but still losing.
- Call-Back: Much like the last time an Uchiha stepped into Death Battle, the climax of the battle involves a clash between a Perfect Susanoo and a dragon based technique. And interestingly enough, the soundtrack for this battle, "Hollow Dreams", shares a Leitmotif from said episode's song, "Dangerous Gaze".
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Ultimately, the battle turns out to be this. Although both were fairly evenly-matched in the fundamentals of speed, strength and durability, as well as illusions, Madara had hard counters to anything Aizen can throw at him, including the ability to sense and detect illusions, and to permanently destroy spiritual beings, effectively ensuring that Aizen would stand little chance against him.
- Death by Irony: Aizen relied a great deal on illusions to turn battles in his favor. How does he meet his end? By getting trapped in an illusion by Madara.
- Evil vs. Evil: A fight between two of shonen's most famous villains.
- Foil: Both Madara and Aizen are incredible schemers whose plans stretch over the span of decades, if not centuries, though their motivations and how they were defeated differ. Madara was a Well-Intentioned Extremist who believed in "peace through domination" and trapped the entire populace in a Lotus-Eater Machine. He was stupidly powerful, something Wiz and Boomstick point out and lost only because Black Zetsu betrayed him at the last minute. By contrast, Aizen is a Shinigami obsessed with power and wanted to surpass the Soul King, i.e. the "lynchpin" of the Soul Society. Despite achieving incredible power thanks to the Hogyoku, Aizen was defeated when Ichigo matched him in strength and made his resolve falter, causing the Hogyoku to abandon him and leave him at Kisuke Urahara's mercy.
- Foreshadowing: As Madara and Aizen prepare to clash one last time as the two break down into Laughing Mad, the sound of the Sharingan can be heard activating, being the point that Madara activated the Sharingan to permanently turn the match around in his favor.
- Healing Factor: Both Madara and Aizen have extremely powerful regenerative abilities to the point they're nearly impossible to kill. However, Madara actually has an Anti-Regeneration attack, and thus could finish Aizen off while Aizen couldn't do the same.
- Juxtaposed Halves Shot: One happens near the end of the fight. The left half of Aizen's face on one side; the right half of Madara's on the other; both laughing mad.
- Laughing Mad: Near the end of the fight, the thrill of battle overwhelms Madara and soon spreads to Aizen, what follows is both left in fits of violent laughter as they clash one last time and create an explosion.
- Master of Illusion: Both combatants can create extremely deadly, near-perfect illusions as one of their main powers. However, only Madara has the power to break out of them, giving him the win.
- Memetic Badass:
- The ultimate fate of Aizen is to be sealed in a chair. While Wiz assumes the chair's straps drain Aizen of his reiatsu, leaving him powerless, Boomstick takes the opinion that the chair can handle Aizen's power because it's just that damn strong.
- The "Is there any character that can even TOUCH Madara Uchiha" greentext is given a Shout-Out.
- Musical Spoiler: An interesting case, as the battle track's main lyrics seem to end just as Aizen uses Ultrafragor to seemingly finish off Madara and win the match... Though those who listened to the track would know there are at least about 20 seconds of the soundtrack left plus some more subtle background lyrics, leaving just enough time for Madara to take the win.
- Mythology Gag:
- An enraged Aizen hypocritically tells Madara not to get full of himself, just like he did to Ichigo when the latter began overwhelming him in their final battle.
- The shot of Aizen punching his fist through Madara's chest from behind is lifted almost directly from how Black Zetsu does the same thing with Obito's fist during his betrayal and forceful conversion of Madara into a vessel for Kaguya.
- Padded Sumo Gameplay: Despite Madara having the slight edge in pure destructive power, it was noted that both combatants' durability and Healing Factor were such that it would be nearly impossible for either to kill the other through brute force alone, rendering this edge moot. It took Madara possessing the specific properties of the Truth-Seeking Orbs to get around this and cinch the win in his favor.
- Shipper on Deck: Boomstick is unashamed of how hard he reads into the bromance between Madara and Hashirama, making it a running joke through the bio that they're actually a couple.
- String Theory: Wiz explains the set up of the Infinite Tsukoyomi with such a board, featuring pictures of Madara and his pawns and numerous colored strings connecting them that he goes back and forth between during his explanation.
- Villain Song: "Hollow Dreams"
details how both characters are Manipulative Bastards with illusionary powers. - Who Writes This Crap?!: The extremely complex plan Madara set up to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi eventually gets this response from Boomstick. It starts with concern over Wiz's rapid-fire recitation of Madara giving up the Rinnegan and Sharingan and ends with him blacking out on the floor.Boomstick: Look what you people have done to him!
- Worthy Opponent: After Madara finishes off Aizen for good, he's quite content with how the fight went out, referring to it as a dance, something he only does for fights that he genuinely loves.Madara: What a wonderful dance.
- Wrong Context Magic: The Sharingan, or rather Madara's ninja techniques as a whole, are what give Madara the edge over Aizen as while ninjutsu and Shinigami spells are used through the use of spiritual energy (Chakra for ninja, Reitsu for Shinigami), the Sharingan is superior to Kyouka Suigetsu's own illusory abilities, and Madara can use his chakra to easily break free from Aizen's illusions—something very few, if any characters from Bleach could do.
- You Can See Me?: When the fight starts, Aizen is surprised to learn that Madara can see him, unaware he can do so thanks to his Sharingan.
