User blog comment:Salubri/Final Fight: Reflections of an Unrealistic and Ridiculous Battle/@comment-1454424-20100129100315

I would point out that Ichigo wasn't given a chance to reply. Komamura interrupted whatever response he would have made and in addition, I am not disputing the fact that Ichigo is a straight forward kind of person who reacts best with immediate danger. Thus my point that as the quantity of the blood increases, Ichigo will be spurred into action in a way he is not right now.

I do have a whole blog where the majority of the scenarios have Aizen having some sort of victory. But this is because I expect Aizen to have some sort of victory in Fake Karakura. However, the majority of my scenarios does not lead to a dystopic future for Bleach where the majority of the Gotei 13 and the vizards are permanently dead and the rest scattered and broken. I expect the majority of the Gotei 13 and the Vizards to walk away from this alive but with injuries that can be healed and they made whole, i.e. limbs regenerated and the likes. I expect Karakura Town to be fine when the dust is settled. I expect Soul Society to be fine at the end of the Arrancar Arc. Therefore, I expect Soul Society to have some sort of victory as well.

This is the way I see it, it seems clear to me that Aizen is going to be the main villain of Bleach for a long, long time to come. As such, he must defeat some of the protagonists at least. Nor else he doesn't have the threat level to continue to be the main antagonists. As this is the case, nothing has happened that is beyond my expectation.

However, at this current point in time, I do not expect Aizen to be so strong that no one can stop him and he basically massacres everybody. There has to be a reason why he want through the trouble of gathering the Espada or obtaining the Hōgyoku or for that matter, go through the trouble of recruiting Tosen and Gin. Aizen knows there are people stronger then, or at least equal, to him. Whether it's Yama-jii, Kyoraku or Urahara Kisuke we don't know but I am certain someone will stop him from committing genocide on the Gotei 13 and Vizards.

However, I still don't think chapter 390 gives a clear indication one way or the other were this is going. It was designed solely to show of his brute strength. That is all. It does not mean Aizen's victory is assured any more then his victory was assured in chapter 389. The ranks of his enemies have thinned by two. So what? The number and the powers are still in SS's favour.

At the end of the day, this is my take on Aizen: he's the main antagonist. He want to be god. If he wasn't capable of crud stomping at least some of the protagonists, then he hardly deserves to be the main antagonist and his desire to be god would be founded on empty delusions. Aizen is... well Aizen isn't an Espada. He does not share their character flaws. It would have been out of character for him to be exposed as being all vain puffery. He clearly had something backing up his boasts and chapter 390 reinforced that. That is all. I am personally not taking this chapter as anything other then a stepping stone or sorts.

Actually, to tell you the truth. I don't expect that picture of which direction this whole arrancar thing is going until about chapter 398. I expect the arrancar arc to wrap up in volume 46 and so chapter 398 would be the first chapter of volume 46. So that would be the Arrancar Arc equivalent of Volume 20 from SS. Only from that chapter onwards I think we'll start to get a clearer picture of what the future of Bleach beyond this arc is going to be.