User blog comment:Nick D Wolfwood/Routing for Ichigo, the power stat analysis/@comment-1268838-20100819212247

The thing, it isn't just Bleach that has this "problem." Fast-developing young protagonists are a trademark of Shounen manga. The main character(s) will always have this instinctive edge over everybody else that allows them to substitute for years of experience. Power can be gained through short periods of training, near-death experiences, etc. - just about every Weekly Jump manga series is guilty of it, let alone series that are unrelated. As such, it's kind of unfair to single out Bleach, regardless of how blatant Ichigo's growth rate is. If he had to follow the same process as every other Shinigami to reach his current level, we wouldn't have had much of a story to follow.

His ability to overcome all of his opponents through sheer resolve (another common Shounen aspect) is an aspect of the story that has been explored since day one. It can't be considered "total BS" if it's something that every other character has taken note of. Ichigo's character isn't the problem at all.

Aizen on the other hand, as everybody has said, has been pretty much undefeatable since day one. Because of that, it's way too difficult to gauge exactly how much stronger he has become since then. We can only assume that he is (more than, post Deicide) twice as powerful as an average captain, judging by his comments during Margela's birth. "Twice as powerful as a normal captain" sounds familiar regarding someone else, no?

To close up this rant, I will say this: in Bleach, raw power is everything. Because of reiatsu, just being stronger than somebody else can cause them to have an epileptic seizure. Here we have two characters, that have been stated to possess similar "power levels". This upcoming battle will be perfectly reasonable.