User blog comment:Lia Schiffer/422: The silent victory/@comment-1432572-20101001004441/@comment-1454424-20101001115711

Basic facts, Ichigo thought Aizen was lonely. That's Ichigo's analysis. I am hear a lot of Kubo bashing from people complaining that Kubo is trying to retcon Aizen into some misunderstood person who just wanted a hug. I am not sure that's fair.

In his own way, Ichigo is as empathetic as Orihime. Meaning he feels for his opponents in a way other people would not. Notice that Urahara was giving him a hard-edged stare when Ichigo was rattling on about Aizen's sword being filled with loneliness and Ichigo's theory that the reason Aizen returned to being a Shinigami was that a corner of his heart wanted to be "just a shinigami". Notice again that Urahara's gaze didn't exactly soften when Ichigo was done.

That's Ichigo's take on Aizen. This much is fact. Now you can either agree with Ichigo or you can decide that Ichigo is reading too much into his brief fight with Aizen. You can also say that "Okay he was lonely but so are most geniuses, that's doesn't excuse his behaviour!" or you can go "Awwww! I want to give Aizen a hug", whatever you want to do, is what you want to do. My point is, you don't have to agree with Ichigo's assessment of Aizen or share the sympathy Ichigo started to feel for Aizen in the end. Ichigo's assessment is Ichigo's assessment and that much is written and drawn in black and white. Thus canon.