Sōsuke Aizen
Sōsuke Aizen is a male anime and manga character who features in Bleach.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Sōsuke Aizen (Japanese: 藍染 惣右介, Hepburn: Aizen Sōsuke) was a male Shinigami who came to be an inhabitant of the Soul Society.
Secretly, he began to sacrifice hundreds of Shinigami and Rukongai citizens as part of his experiments with the Hōgyoku. Around this time, he came to encounter a young Gin Ichimaru and noticed his talent as a warrior. Aizen later gained the attention of Captain Shinji Hirako of the Gotei 13 and inducted into his squad the 5th Division. Eventually, he came to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant but this was because Captain Hirako wanted to keep a close eye on Sōsuke as he found him to be a dangerous individual. Despite this, Aizen was aware of this and kept himself one step ahead of the Shinigami Captain. This allowed him to continue his experiments and research on the Hōgyoku where he looked to study the process of Hollowfication.
Around 110 years ago, he was present when the Gotei 13 had gathered including Aizen where they were informed that Kirio Hikifune had joined the ranks of the Royal Guard. Thus, the 12th Division was now leaderless and a decision was made to find a new captain to head them. Ultimately, the position was given to Kisuke Urahara who had been promoted to the rank with Aizen believing that the man was too carefree and relaxed to be a captain.
He along with Gin and Kaname then secretly travelled to Hueco Mundo where they arranged an audience with the self-proclaimed god king of the realm which was Barragan Luisenbarn. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss an alliance between them but Luisenbarn refused where he attacked Aizen but quickly was outmatched by the rogue shinigami. Thus, they were able to force Barragan into servitude whereupon Aizen appropriated his palace Las Noches that he reconstructed in his own image. During this time, he sought out others that could be transformed into Arrancar where he intended for the most powerful to join the ranks of his Espada. He was responsible for evolving powerful Hollows into Arrancar by partly shattering their masks. One of their number came to seek revenge against Tier Harribel though Aizen intervened and killed the Arrancar. This allowed him to recruit Harribel into the Espada and later was responsible for recruiting Coyote Stark.
Soul Society arc
Around this time, Rukia Kuchiki was forcibly brought back to the Soul Society to answer for her recent actions. This meant that the Hōgyoku concealed within her had returned with Aizen then forming an elaborate conspiracy to acquire it. This involved killing all the members of Central 46 where he used his abilities to masquerade as them where he an order made for Rukia to be executed as soon as possible. He also looked to instil further chaos among the Gotei 13 by telling Lieutenant Renji Abarai of a possible conspiracy within the Soul Society.
Heuco Mundo arc
He then dispatched two of his Espada namely Ulquiorra Cifer and Yammy Llargo to the world of the living with the purpose of finding Ichigo Kurosaki to test his potential in resisting them. The two later returned where they stood before Aizen and the Espada as Ulquiorra shared his visual experiences with them all. During this time, Aizen noticed the potential in the human Orihime Inoue who had a power that was seemingly to heal. By this point, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez decided to take a number of Numeros without permission into the world of the living in order to eliminate anyone with spiritual pressure in karakura Town. Kaname Tōsen was responsible for bringing Grimmjow back to Hueco Mundo though the other Arrancar that accompanied him were all killed by their enemies. Brought before Aizen, Kaname suggested that Grimmjow be killed for his disobedience and acting on his own. However, Aizen claimed that Grimmjow was acting simply according to his wishes and had decided to spare his life. Despite that, Kaname cut off Grimmjow's arm as his punishment leading to his demotion from the ranks of the Espada. In this time, he became aware of a low-ranking Arrancar named Patros looking to depose him by taking the Hōgyoku and attempting to unlock it in Karakura Town. Aizen used his illusions to make Patros and his co-conspirators believe they succeeded in their mission but they were ultimately killed by Ichigo Kurosaki's allies. It was then that he decided to enact the next stage of his plans which involved the capture of Orihime Inoe. This saw him dispatch a number of Espada to attack Karakura Town in order to engage the Soul Society and their allies there. In this moment, Orihime Inoe was returning to the world of the living from the Soul Society where whilst travelling between dimensions she was intercepted by Ulquiorra who dispatched her shinigami guards. He then forced her to willingly travel with him to Hueco Mundo leading to the Arrancar attack on Karakura Town being called off as the plan had been achieved. Ulquiorra presented her before Aizen who wanted a demonstration of her power which saw her healing Grimmjow's lost arm thus restoring his position among the Espada. Aizen then commented that Inoe's power was not healing but rather rejecting reality and undoing events which made her useful in his plans in unlocking the Hōgyoku. He then orchestrated events so that Orihime would willingly stay in Hueco Mundo leading to her being declared a traitor by the Soul Society.
In response, the Soul Society staged their next move where they dispatched four Shinigami Captains to Hueco Mundo who battled their Espada counterparts. However, this fell into Aizen's plans who then closed the Garganta thus trapping them in Hueco Mundo. This meant that the Gotei 13's fighting strength had been reduced by half allowing for Aizen to launch his attack against Karakura Town in order to sacrifice it to create the Ōken key. Arriving to the world of the living, he was confronted by the Gotei 13 headed by Captain-Commander Yamamoto who had prepared for this confrontation with the Soul Society having substituted Karakura Town so that they could battle in a fake version of the settlement without any threat to its inhabitants. Despite this plan, Aizen had already seen through this deception but decided to use this as an opportunity to eliminate the Gotei 13 thus allowing him to attack the Soul Society itself. Captain Yamamoto then unleashed an attack that trapped Aizen, Ichimaru and Tosen behind a wall of flame leaving the battle to be waged by his Espada lieutenants. In the battle, many of the Hollows were killed where by this point the flames trapping Aizen were dispelled. The Gotei 13 then received aid from Shinji Hirako and the Visored who had arrived on the scene to lend their might against the Arrancar. Despite events, everything proceeded according to his plans though by this point he came to be disappointed in the Espada. This saw him turning against them where he badly injured Tier Harribel despite her loyalty to him.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Sōsuke Aizen was a shinigami from the Soul Society where originally he was a member of the Gotei 12. During that time, he appeared as a mild featured man who had brown scholarly hair and wore square glasses as well as soft brown eyes.
Within the Soul Society, he was seen as being a very kind and well-respected Shinigami who was looked up by many of his comrades.
As the head of the Espada, he came to rule the Arrancars through respect and fear. They claimed that they all followed him in order to further their master's ambitions. Aizen kept the more unruly members in line through a mixture of intimidation and mind games. It was said that the Arrancar followed him because he showed no fear which they found inspiring as they were creatures born from fear and despair.
Powers and abilities
He had a considerable amount of knowledge about the Soul Society with this covering matters only known to the Captain-Commander. This included being aware of the existence of the Ōken and its method of creation.
According to himself, he was stronger than all the Espada put together.
It was shown that he was a Shunpo (瞬歩, Flash Steps) master allowing him to move at incredible speeds.
Aizen was shown to have an immense proficiency in the use of Kidō (鬼道, Demon/Spirit Way; Viz "Demon Arts") techniques. Among the spells he knew included:
- Bakudō #81: Dankū (斷空, Splitting Void; Viz "Airtight") : a defensive spell whereby a translucent barrier formed in the shape of a large rectangular wall that was capable of stopping Kido-based attacks going as strong as a level 89.
- Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi (黒棺, Black Coffin) : a Kidō spell whereby he engulfed a target within a black spiritual spear where they were beset upon by intense gravity and lacerated by spikes thus injuring them.
- Hadō #99: Goryūtenmetsu (五龍転滅, Five Swirling Dragons of Destruction; Viz "Five Dragon Destruction") : upon activation, energy erupted over a large area around the user that caused the ground to rise up into pillars whereupon five enormous light purple dragons rose into the air above the user.
His Zanpakutō was known as Kyōka Suigetsu (Japanese: 鏡花水月, Translation: Mirror Flower, Water Moon) where in its sealed form and resembled a normal katana. Its shikai (始解, Initial Release) release command was 'Shatter' (砕けろ, kudakero) that could be used to activate or deactivate the blade. This allowed him to use his sword's special ability which was Kanzen Saimin (完全催眠, Complete Hypnosis).
Originally, he was a member of the Soul Society and had been a part of the Gotei 13. This saw him rising from a lieutenant and become a captain of his own division.
Aizen came to be the leader of the Espada (十刃, (エスパーダ), Esupāda; Spanish for "Sword", Japanese for "Ten Blades") that consisted of the strongest Arrancar.
Notes
- Sōsuke Aizen was created by Tite Kubo where he featured in the setting of Bleach.
In other media
Television
Video games
- In Jump Force, Sōsuke Aizen appeared as a playable character in the setting of the crossover fighting video game where he was voiced once again by Japanese actor Shō Hayami.
Appearances
- Bleach:
External Links
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