User blog comment:Lia Schiffer/422: The silent victory/@comment-1432572-20101001004441/@comment-1432572-20101001013344

@Salubri, the thing is, Yamamoto is 2000+ years old. Aizen wouldn't have looked to Yamamoto as an equal because they are too different. Yamamoto is more rigid in his beliefs and old fashioned while Aizen isn't. That's why he thought of Urahara as an equal Also, while Yamamoto was physically stronger, he still could never defeat Aizen because his intellect actually makes him better than Yamamoto.

As for Urahara, he realized he and Urahara wouldn't see eye-to-eye because Urahara allows the Soul King to "control" him.

Yoruichi and Isshin were fighting an Aizen that was weakened after Yamamoto's Ittou Kassu and a Getsuga Tensho. Then when he went into his Chrysalis Stage he only allowed them to beat on him until he got tired of them. So they weren't equals either.

Even though Tessai was surprised that a Lieutenant could cast a Bakudo of that level without incantation, it doesnt falsify the fact that Aizen did essentially "beat" him by getting away. Once again, another who was beneath him.

When I said Shinji didn't want to get near him, I meant while aizen was his Lieutenant. Just another person that couldn't (or in shinji's case back then, wouldn't) be on his level.

Reasons? Ichigo just said Aizen was lonely, and all of what I said conveniently fits with Aizen's loneliness. I'm not saying this is canon or anything, just an attempt to make sense out of all of this lol. Sometimes the things we do are subconscious, even if we think we're doing it for a different reason. It isn't incredibly far-fetched to say that subconsciously Aizen was trying to make people powerful so he could have an equal.

As for his conversation with Shinji, it perfectly shows how lonely he is. He'll never put his faith in someone, but others keep putting their faith in him.

Ichigo knows more about Aizen than anyone else right now. He crossed blades with him as an equal (and in manga and anime that means he was able to read his 'heart/mind', watch Goku vs Vegeta or Naruto vs Sasuke to see that its a very widespread concept in Japan, or at least Shonen manga) and saw the loneliness no one else could. Aizen was essentially the Shinigami version of Starrk.

No offense to others here, but I usually hold Salubri's opinion in the highest regard so I have to rethink all of this if he disagrees with it.