Bleach

Aizen can do anything if he wanted to. Anything.

He can make you feel pain if he wants to, he can make you repeatedly see everyone you love die if he wants to. Hell, he can make you think you're being digested by a giant prairie dog or some shit like that. All on a whim.

edited 20th Feb '10 10:29:38 AM by K*SPAM

I guess nobody here has seen the last few chapters of Naruto, else at least one person would've suggested that Kyouka Suigetsu's bankai would retroactively make any successful attack by Aizen's enemy(s) - even lethal ones - "a mere illusion" (i.e. negate their effects outright), while making all of Aizen's attacks "a solid reality" (i.e. always hit their mark, regardless of all and any defenses). A special mix of Rewriting Reality and Screw Destiny.

Wow, and I thought that no other Bleach ability could trump Complete Hypnosis' broken status.

edited 20th Feb '10 10:52:14 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Never thought of that. A reversing of the ability... Everything your opponent does is an illusion with no solid reality...

OHGOD.

edited 20th Feb '10 10:52:54 AM by K*SPAM

What? WHAT?!

Something tells me that I would regret knowing if I were participating in the FKT battle.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

It's official. Aizen is no longer a villain. He is now in the realm of Cosmic Horror.

A man with entirely alien thought processes, the power to completely hypnotize you and if our theory is right, control the substance of reality.

WE. ARE. SCREWED.

edited 20th Feb '10 10:56:15 AM by K*SPAM

And thus it is revealed that the very idea of the story being Shōnen was an illusion, and we are exposed to the true genre of Bleach.

I have a message from another time...

So can anyone tell me why Aizen needs Orihime.

He didn't. He just wanted to blend their brains for his amusement.

I still believe that Aizen's cleverly hiding a core weakness in his Complete Hypnosis ability.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

It's gotta have a weakness. It's just gotta. D:

@Enlong: There are hints. Multiple worlds, beings we can't see and that many normal humans can't comprehend, beings that could be considered gods and one that stands above them all with the strength to bend reality. Spiritual awareness in certain humans, lesser and higher beings, the list goes on. The only thing getting in the way is the established system of order set by Aizen in Hueco Mundo and the laws of the SS.

@Electivirus. No. No it doesn't. And if it did, they would have found it by now.

edited 20th Feb '10 11:19:20 AM by K*SPAM

@Marq FJA: For it to be something like that power it would probably have to come with a similar draw-back or limitation to its use, because if its effects last nearly as long as Complete Hypnosis (which can literally affect someone over 100 years after they saw his shikai released) it there is no reason why he wouldn't have use it.

Unless, like Complete Hypnosis, he already has used it on everyone in Soul Society, and he was just able to use it on them without them knowing.

This is really the most hilarious thing about Bleach in my eyes. Just the fact that Aizen could have been doing stuff like inflicting wounds on people that they didn't even know where there. Hell, if the plot got any more goofy I wouldn't be amazed if he had planted bombs on nearly everyone in the Soul Society or something like that, just to fuck with them.

@Electivirus: Of course. Otherwise it would be pointless to fight him. Besides, only a Bankai can be flawless; Shikai are, by concept, supposed to have limits to their power, no matter how great. Ryuujin Jakka, for example, is theoretically vulnerable to any Ice-type zanpakutou that is of equal rank to it (e.g. Hyourinmaru, once Hitsugaya completely masters it; it is already capable of manipulating the weather to some degree, FYI.).

@Grahf: Now that would turn Aizen into a Boring Invincible Villain - unless it ultimately has a proportionate drawback to it.

@K*SPAM: How about I explain why I think Complete Hypnosis does have a weakness and you judge by yourself?

Exhibit A: Unohana noticed that something's "amiss" with Aizen's illusionary corpse.

• This establishes that "Complete" Hypnosis is not so "complete".

Exhibit B: Aizen refrained from offing Unohana at Central 46, despite having a very good reason to do so (see Exhibit A, plus having discovered his carefully hidden plot), and having a significant theoretical edge in overall combat ability  ^*

without factoring the advantage(s) given by his zanpakutou's Complete Hypnosis (and whatever his bankai is).

Exhibit C: It has been shown that he can be taken by surprise and forced to physically move to avoid an attack, rather than using Complete Hypnosis to simply trick the opponent into targetting an illusion. He has also proven to be Crazy-Prepared, to have total disregard for the concepts of honour and morality beyond his fake "nice Aizen" persona, as well as being all too willing to trample over both once he has done away with the aforementioned persona (Affably Evil moments notwithstanding).

• Fridge Logic: Why doesn't he simply use Complete Hypnosis all the time during combat situations in order to ensure that all risks to his person are completely nihil?

Exhibit D: He has not even bothered releasing his zanpakutou's shikai (or sealing and then re-releasing it, if it was already released) in order to ensnare the few people on Soul Society's side that have not caught under Kyouka Suigetsu's Complete Hypnosis, when he's completely safe within an impenetrable yet largely transparent Negacion barrier.

Conclusion: Complete Hypnosis has specific limitations, if not at least one outright flaw whose revelation would severely compromise Aizen's main advantage.

Hypothetical Possibilities:

• Complete Hypnosis consumes a considerable amount of Reiryoku during each use; the more complex the illusion, the more drain incurred.
• The mechanism behind Complete Hypnosis can actually be negated in a theoretically simple way.
  • Personal hypothesis: Perhaps it is similar to how Genjutsu work in Naruto, by establishing a metaphysical connection to the victim's mind; the "eye contact" requirement may be for opening an entry point via visually-based "subliminal" signals that are easily missed, unless someone knows what to look for. The negation of the ability's hold on the victim may also be similar to Genjutsu: by emitting a massive burst of Reiatsu throughout the body to completely disrupt the invasive connections.
    • This actually provides an explanation for why Unohana believes that Ichigo's possession of at least twice as much Reiryoku/Reiatsu as the average Captain-class Shinigami makes him the trump card in the battle against Aizen: Perhaps the aforementioned method for breaking Complete Hypnosis requires that the victim possess enough raw Reiryoku/Reiatsu level to rival Aizen, who has at least twice the level of that of a Captain-class Shinigami  ^*
      ^{He states it as a requirement for momentary activation of the Hougyoku, and proceeds to do just that, without visibly straining himself}
      .

edited 20th Feb '10 1:08:55 PM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

...Christ, man! O_O

My person theory is that the type of illusions he can produce are far more limited than he would have had us think.

Namely, he can make illusionary bodies, completely hide people, or make someone appear to be someone else. But no other type of illusion.

Actually, I now think of three. Aizen's power is absolute control over the mind, which makes it ridiculously powerful, so to outdo it, you'd need control over a more powerful force.

The first, obvious one, would be Orihime's event rejection, by far the strongest power in the series, because it can control reality... of course, right now it's unusable because she's a pacifist and a emotional trainwreck.

After that, the strongest power would be one with control over matter and or energy. In Hueco Mundo, Soul Society and Fake Karakura, matter and energy are the same thing, Spirit Particles. Quincy powers allow control over spirit particles, but it's limited. Their Final Form, on the other hand, could potentially do... pretty much anything (including absorbing it's opponent reiatsu, if the early chapters are of any indication)... of course, we don't know of the existence of any other glove other than the one Ishida used against Mariyu, so it's unusable.

Finally, a third power that could take down Aizen is an overpowering, inescapable force. Taking in count what we've seen until now, Ryuujin Jakka could be able of wiping everything but Yamamoto in a small nuke radius... however, doing so would probably end up with the death of everyone else, so it's unusable as well.

I'm not sure it was all planned by him, but the circumstances are very favorable to Aizen in this battle.

If Ishida's the one to beat Aizen for good....

I know, but chances of that happening are next to zero .

However, something to consider is the fact that Ishin and Ryuuken are still around somewhere. At fist we dismissed them because "there's already too many people in this brawl", however, I failed to consider the fact that they're both Captain level people... who haven't seen Aizen's release, making them a potential game changing addition to the battle.

... so Ishida could potentially be the one defeating Aizen, only not that Ishida.

Like I said Ryuuken Vs. Aizen would be awesomesauce.

Oh, and thanks for the explanation Noimporta.

I put a on the Bleach section that Aizen was a Quincy in life, and that he would pull out his Quincy powers just when it looks like he is about to be defeated.

edited 20th Feb '10 7:10:08 PM by Galeros

Honestly, it's a better question as to why they haven't been seen yet. I could see Ryuken not getting involved, but not Isshin.

Well, his hospital and his clients are in Karakura, so I guess he wouldn't want it destroyed either.

OK, so we don't even have a reason for Ryuken not to get involved.

Except... do Ryuken or Isshin even know Karakura is being attacked?

edited 20th Feb '10 8:46:35 PM by thatother1dude

Well, Isshin is shown to be in contact with Urahara, and I doubt the latter wouldn't at least ask him for his help.

We haven't seen Urahara himself either. However, I think we can assume that he too is under he influence of Kyouka Suigetsu, so he's not much help anyway.

@Marq: I see I'm not the only one who enjoys writing entire essays about anime merely to prove a point. Welcome, brother! Also, for the record, it was pretty well thought out. You made some good points, although I still tend to think that Aizen's defeat would be so much more satisfying if someone just plain beat his ass, god powers and all.

edited 20th Feb '10 9:02:10 PM by K*SPAM