User blog comment:Toshiroichigo/Bleach villains/@comment-26420452-20131102214518

I've analyzed carefully the Wandenreich and the Nazis are just one of the inspirations for them.

There are also a lot of analogies with the Teutonic Knights and thus, this war being parallelized to a Crusade to capture the Holy City (Jerusalem/Seireitei).

The religious connotations go even further with the Sternritter growing wings and getting a halo when they become complete (Vollständig). And one day, I realized that the current war isn't simply a crusade, it's the Armageddon.

Opposing all this to the Shinto and shogun culture of the Gotei 13 is really interesting. Kubo has really put a lot of thought into this.

As for Hollows (and Arrancar therefore), I've always had the feeling it draws a lot from Mexico (Día de Muertos specifically) rather than Spain. Hispanic would probably be the right thing to say.

And I almost forgot: it's always impressed me that Arrancars' and Stternritters' names are derived from various languages despite their Hispanic and German themes, while instead those of Shinigami (apart Suì-Fēng's) are all Japanese.