User blog comment:Tinni/Distorted Perceptions: The Soul Society Arc vs Arrancar Arc/@comment-1454424-20100125030046

Gimmjow2, allow me to put it this way.

1. The Gotei 13 has a standing force of just 3000 2. There are many more hollows then that 3. The Gotei 13 main function is to "reap" individual hollows (not Menos or arrancar) either straight after they are born (case Inoue's brother) or at a later point, after the Hollow had been active for sometime (Grandfisher)

While both Grandfisher and the other major hollow from the Agent of the Shinigami Arc - Shrieker, had killed a number of shinigami before Ichigo stopped them and we know that Soifon lost all her brothers in the field of battle (although it was never made clear if they died against Hollows or other Shinigami given that they were Omnitsukido and they are more internal police then hollow patrol) the overall implication of the Agent of the Shinigami Arc is that by in large the shinigami have no problems disposing of low level hollows. Both Shrieker and Grandfisher had nasty tricks and were more strategic then the average hollow and therefore threw the shinigami off their game. But by in large, the Shinigami are able to do what they do. I.e. reap hollows.

However, because there are always more hollows then shinigami, the shinigami can't get to every hollow. Which is why the Quincy were formed. But the impression given is that when a Shinigami faces-off against a hollow, the hollow is the one that losses 95% of the time.

What's changed this time around is that Aizen went in and organised the hollows. Made them more powerful and co-ordinated them into an army. Something that the Shinigami have not faced in the last 2000 years. As a result the most powerful of the Shinigami have come to the front lines. Remember that Captain and Vice-captains do not fight unless something special is happening. So now the strongest Shinigami are facing off against the strongest hollows and Shinigami are winning. Would they win if they didn't have Ichigo? Ichigo was a foil to Aizen's plans, who might well have conducted things differently otherwise and killed a number of captains before the rest got wise to what was happening. Ichigo is not tipping the balance in favour of the shinigami. The balance was already in favour of the shinigami.

So the long and short of it is, I don't really see your point. There is no end of hollows, just like there is no end to Plus to konso. Humans die and many of them die in a fashion that makes it difficult for them to "pass on". As a result they turn into hollows. So the number of hollows is always replenished. But reaping hollows isn't a special kind of conflict for the Shinigami. They probably don't even see it that way. Reaping them is just part of their list of duties and another way they help souls "pass on".