Board Thread:Improvements and Issues/@comment-29325824-20200518112359/@comment-5398287-20200518182506

Well I'm not 100% in agreement there - Yoruichi, Shinji, and Wonderweiss maybe, but Byakuya's raw power was a considerable focus of his role in the SS arc (being the most powerful clan leader in the history of his family); Isshin fought Aizen to a standstill with only his Shikai before the latter started evolving; Hitsugaya's power is reflected in how he can outright control the weather, create massive structures with his ice; Urahara's got large enough reserves to cast a bunch of Kido spells, use several techniques, and generally keep fighting against the likes of Aizen for a considerable period of time in the span of a single fight; and I think the general idea is all the Espada above 5 are bonkers powerful.

I think the problem may lie in how the series says stuff like "a battle between two spiritual entities is a battle of Spiritual Power", yet on several occasions battles are determined by pre-existing fatigue/injuries (Ichigo vs. Nnoitra), powerful and blanket-effective techniques (Nigeki Kessatsu, Gift Bad), or the element of surprise (Rukia vs. Metastacia, Rukia vs. Aaroniero, Wonderweiss "vs." Ukitake) - and when so much of our power level evaluation is DERIVED from fights, since the series started revolving around that after the first arc, it can lead to having a character's power be determined purely by a series of comparisons between other characters leading up to certain moments.

A solution that just occurred to me would be to introduce ANOTHER tier of Spiritual Power above Immense for characters like Aizen, Kenpachi, Ichigo, etc. to more accurately portray just how far above the rest they are - but I'm also remembering the conflicts and confusion generated by Ulquiorra's Segunda Etapa getting the one instance of a unique power designation (Overwhelming) because of his Reiatsu's nature, so I'm not sure if that's the best idea or what word we would even use here.