User blog comment:Nick D Wolfwood/Routing for Ichigo, the power stat analysis/@comment-1454424-20100820064133

Has it occurred to you Salubri, that as someone who didn't like Aizen from the get go, your perspective is a bit skewed? I like the Gotei 13 in general more then Ichigo myself and the last I checked, the Gotei 13 and the Vizards (whom I also liked) did pretty well against everybody but Aizen. In addition, many of them still have one more power-up left: Bankai.

Aizen is the exclusive property of Ichigo. We know this. So what's the issue here exactly? At the end of the Soul Society Arc, Ichigo became so powerful that his humans friends could no longer fight beside him. But then when Ichigo left for Heuco Mundo Chad and Ishida were right there beside him, having gained enough power to fight beside him again. At the end of the Soul Society Arc, lots of people said that the Gotei 13 were going to be sidelined, especially when the Vizards showed-up. In forums still people go on about how "Kubo's original plan was to have the Vizards be the new supporting cast" or something like that when Kubo himself never said once that he had plans to sideline the Gotei 13.

And look what happened! Ichigo defeated just two espada. Everybody else fought Gotei 13 and were killed by the Gotei 13. Harribel's kill of course goes to Aizen and Hacchi get's Barragan. In short, the Gotei 13 was not sidelined and Kubo found stuff for them to do and exclusively focused on them for many volumes, some of whom didn't even have a single chapter were Ichigo appeared.

Yes Aizen can only be defeated by Ichigo and yes, going on to the next arcs, there will likely be enemies that only Ichigo can defeat. But that's his prerogative as the main character. Bleach is Ichigo's story but that doesn't mean that Kubo doesn't have plans for everybody else. He loves the Gotei 13 and the Vizards too!

Here's another thing. You and I like the Gotei 13 but not everybody does. I here complaints from people who stopped reading Bleach during the Soul Society Arc because they wanted the Agent of the Shinigami Arc to be what Bleach was about. I here complaint from people who didn't like the focus on the Gotei 13 during the Fake Karakura Arc because they believed the story was damaged due to the lack of presence from Ichigo and want Kubo to get rid of the Gotei 13 and focus exclusively on Ichigo and his human friends. Then there are others who want a flashback arc exclusively about the Espada. Others want more flashback arcs like the Turn Back the Pendulum Arc about Shinigami only. So who is right here?

The answer is no one is right and Kubo shouldn't listen to any of them. He can't write to please readers because his readers are very different, each with different expectation. Even something like the recent chapters and Gin's development have people who are bitterly annoyed and disappointed because they wanted Gin to be a Joker-like villain or they don't like Rangiku and knowing Gin and Rangiku are wound so tight is annoying them. I am also hearing how people were deeply moved by the recent chapters and how happy they are that they were confirmed in their belief that Gin did care about Rangiku - something they suspected since he said sorry to her at the end of the Soul Society arc.

In short, not everybody is going to like every single chapter of Bleach or every single arc. However, just because you don't like an arc or chapter doesn't mean Kubo is doing something wrong. It just means what he's doing doesn't please you. However, keep in mind that someone else is probably enjoying the chapter or arc very much and putting it on their list of favourite chapter or arc. That's called reader diversity.