Bleach

Wouldn't call it selfless. Aizen presumably believes that Ichigo is the biggest threat to Yhwach here and then while he can survive getting impaled like that, Ichigo can't. So make a diversion for Ichigo and then he'll be able to beat the guy Aizen can't.

I like how Yhwach straight up says Aizen knows he isn't strong enough to beat him so he did the very thing he despises.

Aizen being clearly shown to be weaker than Yhwach was an excellent move.

inb4 the Aizen switch is really Momo

Aizenception.

Man, what a great smug-off.

• Yhwach: "Hah! Don't you see that Kyouka Suigetsu is nothing compared to my power?"
• Aizen: "O rly?"

Aizen doing the heavy lifting.

Not going to lie, I'd laugh.

Someone beat me to the Momo comment.

Also, Kubo's love for literal disarming continues.

So apparently people can just pull their swords out of nowhere now. Eh, not that big a deal.

Clearly, you only think there was a sword because you're under the illusion.

Okay but seriously given how we were told Aizen's shikai works, Kyoka Suigetsu should not be the source of the illusions here. At least not how so far as I understand it.

edited 21st Jul '16 11:50:44 AM by Arha

Yeah, there's no way Ywach ever witnessed Kyokasuigetsu being released.

He could have just released it as soon as he pulled it off. The sword doesn't change it's appearance, and we know that super powerful people can release their swords without the command. He's totally plausible for him to be able to release it without anyone noticing.

edited 21st Jul '16 12:22:10 PM by LSBK

No photo edit of momo yet. I am disappointed.

I'm more disappointed that there's no photo edit of Aizen saying "since when were you under the impression that you were piercing me ?"

edited 21st Jul '16 1:17:47 PM by Thesegougou

Would prefer an edit where Aizen asks him "since when were you under the impression I didn't want you to pierce me" with Buckbeard have blush marks in the next panel.

So it seems that defensively, Aizen is actually more powerful than Ichigo. Ichigo, however, has overwhelming attack power that Aizen lacks. Stone Wall (enhanced by illusions) vs Lightning Bruiser, it seems.

That attack blew right through the part of his chest where the Plot Marble is/was. Think that's significant?

Nah. Gin's attack did the same thing. Aizen survived that too. Survived it so well, in fact, that the damn near total destruction of his torso wasn't enough to convince the hogyoku that Aizen wasn't worthy of its protection.

Decently strong guy with a poison sword ≠ the Goddamn Soul King, though.

Gin's attack definitely looked like it ate a much bigger hole though.

Yeah, let's wait and see if Aizen gets a power evolution from this, like he did last time.

Anyway, by helping Ichigo against Yhwach, Aizen gets to let those two wear each other out, gets to study both their current skill/power sets and then make a play for whatever his end game really is.

It's always felt like the quincies and the shinigami were spending this arc doing Aizen's dirty work for him. I just haven't been sure how Aizen and Yhwach fit together, because they do somehow.

If Aizen comes out on top here I'll be very surprised. With two-to-eight chapters left a Hijacked by Ganon now would seem especially wonky.

Eh, I didn't say Aizen would win. I was just talking about how the story's felt until we started getting news that the manga's ending soon.

Anyway, Yhwach's not going to be down - Uryu hasn't shown up with that magical combination of Antithesis ability and Dad's super-special arrow yet.

edited 21st Jul '16 2:59:17 PM by Wyldchyld

It's all going Just as Planned