I had wanted to write this for a FAnime Friday post, but considering the latest issue of the manga came out on Thursday, I suspected not everyone would have a chance to read it right away. So I bid my time, and now I’d like to put my thoughts out there.

Before we continue, it will be best if you have read the latest installment in the pendulum arc, chapter 318 (-106) or at least followed the anime up pas the Bount arc, but you don’t have to. If you’re just following the English dub or the translated manga in Shounen Jump and do not want any spoilers….well…don’t read past the bold *** further down.

Now, from his first introduction in the series as a baddie, I’ve had a very hard time seeing Aizen Sousuke as just an “evil villain”, to me there is so much more than him. Everything he does is for the ideal of ascending “god’s empty throne” and fixing up Soul Society. Now, SS is supposed to be the good guys, but these good guys, from the very beginning are very much gray. Kubo gives us a very good example of this from the get go. To rehash, Rukia transferred her shinigami powers to Ichigo so that he could defeat the hollow she was unable to defeat and protect his family, making him a human with shinigami powers (as far as anyone is aware at this point). Now, initially SS sends a shinigami to investigate why Rukia is staying in the material world for so long. After that Byakuya and Renji are sent to apprehend her, her faux body, and to kill the human boy that she transferred her powers to. Never mind that the shinigami are essentially supposed to be protecting humans and that Ichigo was an innocent human mixed up in this. Soul Society’s fix for the problem was to kill him and to drag back Rukia and her faux body.

Overkill, wouldn’t you say? In fact, in the beginning we come to view SS as the bad guys because of this behavior. Later we see that SS is just one messed up government with a corrupt individual pulling the strings. But wait, here’s the real kicker. None of the shinigami bat an eye at this behavior. Kill an innocent human? Pft! Who cares?! The few shinigami that caught on to something being awry did not actually catch on until after it was announced that not only would Rukia be executed, but that the method of her execution would be the Soukyouku. Something that is reserved for the execution of captains. That’s when people started thinking “hm, you know, I think something’s wrong here”. Her crime didn’t warrant death, so that seemed a bit harsh, but the real kicker was the shrinking execution wait period and the method of execution.

Now yes, granted, we know Aizen manipulated the punishment, execution time, and method. But the fact that, for the most part, no one was going to move to stop this, let alone that they thought the “murder” of a human boy was wrong, is telling. Just for flavor, lets add in the fact that the inhabitants of Rukongai are scared of and leery of the shinigami, who all seem to look down on them sans a few. This is evidenced by the elders’ words to Ichigo & company after Ichigo defends Jidanbou from Ichimaru Gin. They trust the Ryouka after that incident because they view them as “not like the shinigami”. Is that sad or what? Oh, and don’t even get me started on how all of the spirits, sans shinigami in the “court of pure souls” live in poverty. The hell?!

*************spoilers ahead!*************

Now, I’m not going to go into explicit detail here, because this post is getting fairly long already, but let me throw out some names here; Mod Souls, Bount, and Quincy. The Quincy, a race of humans who developed spiritual powers to fight hollows, and were subsequently annihilated, sans one, by Soul Society because of the imbalance they caused. Talk about whipping out a nuke to take care of an ant hill! Then there are the mod souls and Bount, who were essentially, the results of SS’ experiments. After these failed experiments they tried to wipe them out. Never mind that these were now, people, in essence, with real souls.

Now we throw in the vizard, shinigami who have obtained hollow abilities. These guys, as evidenced by recent chapters, were mostly (Hachi and Mashiro haven’t appeared yet) ranked shinigami of Captain or Vice-Captain rank. Yet, they’re all considered outlaws and would be killed on sight if possible. It doesn’t appear that they have any intention of destroying SS, rather, they feel ostracized now because they’re not wanted by shinigami or hollow, yet they’re clearly viewed as no better than hollows.

And now, with the latest chapter we see that SS is anything but bliss. The Maggot’s Nest, a prison for shinigami who Soul Society and its special forces of the 2nd Division, believe might be dangerous to SS’ functions and ideals. Yes, that’s right, might. Investigations are conducted on members of the Gotei 13 without their knowledge in the shadows. If a shinigami is found to be potentially dangerous he or she is locked up for the rest of their “life” and the members of their division are put under the impression that they “resigned”. But there is no resignation from the 13 squads. Scary, isn’t it?

Maybe not as scary as seeing Mayuri Kurotsuchi in solitary confinement there and being released by Urahara. This is the man who will torture every Quincy he can get his hands on, for the purpose of science of course. A man who will come to be a captain of the 12th division and use it and his position in order to further his goals and who could care less about SS. Urahara felt it was wrong to lock these people up, because he thought their abilities could be used to further SS’ goals. Not because their unfair imprisonment was morally wrong, and he released this monster.

But what does that say of Soul Society for letting Mayuri become a captain? For turning a blind eye to his acts so long as he provides results?

Is Aizen really such a bad guy then? Yes, he wants to use Karakura town to make the King’s Key, but given the scale of change he needs to affect, it’s understandable (although scary) that he has to get the key in order to challenge “god”. Of course, since one King’s Key is already in existence, this means SS and “God” already massacred a bunch of people for the purpose of one key. Bet you didn’t stop to think about that one did ya? Remember, it was said that the location of the King’s Key is not written down anywhere and is instead passed on orally from one Captain Commander to another. Aizen searched the libraries in order to find out how “the first” King’s Key was made. Not only does this imply that one has been made, and using this same method, but that others might have been made over time.

There are some serious issues with SS’ government, it’s clearly corrupt and questionable and Aizen wants to fix this, rework the after life so that it’s equal. It’s not surprising that he’s got people like Tousen (someone obsessed with justice) and Nel falling in line behind him. Aizen isn’t sending out party invitations here or doing serious campaigning to bring people to his side. He’s got the freaks, yeah, but he’s also got people who believe in his ideal and want to see it a reality. He’s not a good guy, but he’s definately not “teh bad guy” here either.

Am I the only one wanting to see Aizen kick some serious ass here now? If I were a shinigami, I have to say I’d be trying to become a Vizard and or joining up with Aizen. Sure, the shinigami aren’t bad per say, but the system is corrupt and needs some serious renovations. What are your thoughts on these latest developments and Soul Society in general?

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