User blog comment:Lia Schiffer/415: Deicide 17/@comment-2250530-20100815235744

@Grimmjow2 - Actually we are in perfect agreement. My point is that he tends to do everything else before he engages with his sword.

@Captain Brooks - In point number 1, I mentioned the bankai just as a reflection that he had just mastered it since you mentioned that he was a lieutenant level shinigami with bankai. I think we are in agreement that Renji is not your strongest example.

However, point number 2 is. They were clearly under the effect still of Absolute Hypnosis, but as you (and I in a parenthetical comment) mention it is not clear how that impairs their fighting ability here. I mentioned they all had received significant wounds already so it perhaps would not take much to send them over the edge. Your strongest case, though is Shinji since he was relatively full strength. That is why i made the point of Aizen's comment about shinigame vs. shinigami being a battle of reiatsu and not pure strength which explains his power. The slash of his sword is an extension of that power.

I am not purely denying he is not an adept swordsman since he is captain level. My point is that it does not appear to be his modus operendi of first choice.

As to your last comment, you appeal to what it says on his personal page. I am not sure if I can criticize this (Lia please let me know if I am crossing the line here), but I have noticed on the personal pages, they mostly all have swordsmanship specialist and I am guessing that this is because they are captain level and so this is easily assumed (which I agree with). Again my contention is that based on what we have seen, he does not engage with his sword very often, especially compared to some of the others. Your appeal to his personal page as a defense is thus not a very strong point - look at the evidence in the text/image of the manga itself.

That being said, I would agree that in a sword fight, at least of what we have seen thus far, only Yamamoto would win. However, even in this case he used his strategic thinking to create a more level playing field by manipulating Wonderweiss' abilities to negate Yamamoto's zanpakuto. Therefore he depended on his intellect and planning more than his swordsmanship.

I think that you have convinced me, however, that I should have adjusted what I said to only swordsmanship and not swordsmanship/offensive capability since clearly he is a genius and using many offensive means at his disposal.

Thanks for a great discussion. I know this is a minor point, but I have found Aizen to be kind of fascinating and not too overpowered as many contend; just different.