User blog comment:Lia Schiffer/415: Deicide 17/@comment-2250530-20100812233952

I suspect that the hogyoku is not as much Aizen's as he believes it to be and that Kisuke still has something up his sleeve that will effect Aizen's power, bringing him down to a more equal level with Ichigo. This would give a better scenario as it would show that Kisuke's intellect and strategic prowess is superior while allowing him a stronger participation in revenge along with Ichigo finding motivation in protecting his whole town from Aizen. two other thoughts about Aizen. It is reasonable to assume that he was not aware of the further level he could attain. we have often seen Ichigo advance as a result of defeat bringing him near death. it seems it was a surprise to him. Just a thought. Also, as to the abilities of his shikai being too powerful, I think not. It evidently has no offensive capability other than as a normal sword, so it more than makes up by using a powerful kido-type ability of illusion. It more than matches Aizen's personality because we have not seen him display any superior level of swordsmanship/offensive capability. However, his kido and strategic intellect more than make up for it. Thus we see zanpakuto and master nicely reflecting each other. The fault is therefore not in his unattainably high level of power, but rather the lack of insight of all the other shinigami (save for a few) to understand his kind of power. Just another thought.