Bleach is one of the “Big 3” and it has once again shown with its newest arc why it definitely deserved that spot. Both new and old fans are familiar with the scheming captain, Aizen who is one of the biggest and strongest villains in the anime world. After a long time, we just saw him in the 6th and 7th episodes of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc. Even while in prison, Aizen is a force to be reckoned with. He even managed to alter the senses of Yhwach while captive.
Who is this Aizen?
Well, in short, Sosuke Aizen was the former captain of the 5th division in the Gotei 13. He left Soul society with his followers, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen. His plan was to use the Hogyuku to sacrifice the people of Karakura Town in order to make an Oken and kill the Soul King.
Momo Hinamori acted as Aizen’s lieutenant. After waging an all-out war with an Arrancar army against the soul society he was defeated by Ichigo Kurosaki. And then sealed away by Kisuke Urahara. In the latest Bleach episodes of Bleach, we get to see Aizen imprisoned in the Barracks. Surely, a character of this caliber has one of the strongest Bankai in the series. However, not once do we get to see him using his Bankai throughout the Bleach series.
Does Aizen have Bankai?
Amongst the Soul reapers, there are stringent requirements for reaching the rank of Captain. One could either defeat a current captain in the battle to get his position or show their skills with their Bankai. Kenpachi Zaraki is the only exception as he is the only captain who did not need a Bankai to achieve his rank. Well then, how did Aizen manage to get his captain position?
He has his Shikai’s hypnotic powers to thank for that. According to some fans, he doesn’t even have a Bankai, just his Shikai, Kyoga Suigetsu. However, his Shikai is so powerful that he could have used it to hypnotize everyone into believing that he has a Bankai. During the captaincy examination, every captain would be present to test Aizen and that would be the perfect chance for him to put them all under Kyoga Suigetsu’s power and reveal his illusionary Bankai.
Since his illusions don’t have a limit, Aizen could have easily kept up his facade till his ultimate betrayal. And Aizen was also popular for being a kind and artistic captain who was a master of Kido spells. So others would not have suspected him for not using Bankai all that much.
Does Aizen ever use his Bankai?
Bleach’s Captain Aizen was never seen using a Bankai. As a matter of fact, his sikai has too much power, and he has a wide knowledge of Kido spells, so he didn’t need to use Bankai at all.
Why does Aizen show his fake Bankai?
Now being a captain comes with some lofty privileges which were exactly what Aizen needed to conduct the project of developing and using the Hogyoku. Before creating his own Hogyoku or stealing Kisuke’s, Aizen needed access to advanced research data and lab funding. He couldn’t do that as lieutenant or ask his then-captain Shinji. So the rank of Captain is something he really needed to carry out his plan with the Hogyoku. And since he naturally lacked a Bankai, he would have made up for it with his Shikai’s Hypnosis powers.
