Bleach ch397

I think Ichigo just found out that Aizen is his dad

「 397 – Edge of the Silence 」Aizen continues to toy with Ichigo’s mind with some choice words, and Ichigo is currently reeling from the revelations that Aizen had actually planned every event he’s been going through since the beginning. With Ichigo slowly cracking under, Aizen has him in the palm of his hands. Will Ichigo recover?

Bleach「 ブリーチ 」

Yea, cos Aizen screwed Ichigo's mum

Chapter 397 – Edge of the Silence
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And I don't think Isshin knows it yet

Summary: Ichigo is still in denial over Aizen’s revelations but Aizen explains that it was not a coincidence that he has grown as much as he had. Aizen believed that Ichigo had always had the best raw materials for his research and due to this, he had helped Ichigo in order for him to grow further for the sake of his experiment. He inquires whether Ichigo had found it strange that someone like him who had never laid eyes on a hollow before was suddenly thrust into a situation where he is facing opponent after opponent who were vastly superior to him, yet he stood on even grounds with each and everyone of them. It wasn’t all a coincidence, not his meetings, and not his victories.

After being aggravated further, Ichigo dashes in for an attack, only for his weapon to be easily blocked by Aizen. Aizen remarks that Ichigo should be much stronger than this and that he has disappointed him. Ichigo still doesn’t believe him, saying that after all Aizen had lied about in the past, it would be stupid to trust him now. Aizen retorts by saying that the truth that he believes in are just perceived that way. Adding that people only believe in facts that they consider convenient as truth, the perception is not always that way. He had been responsible for sending Rukia into Karakura Town. He had been the captain that added reiatsu detection on Renji’s zanpaktou. He had been responsible for everything.

Ichigo asks one thing after all this, as he wonders why Aizen stated that he possessed the best raw materials. At what point did he believe in Ichigo? Aizen simply answers by saying that he knew about him from the beginning, since the very day that he was born. Just as it all sunk into Ichigo, his father Isshin swoops into his aid to stop Aizen from toying his mind any further.

My Thoughts: About time someone came to help out poor Ichigo. He is getting mind-raped by Aizen like there’s no tomorrow. I guess Ichigo isn’t mature enough to take these kinds of news calmly but then again, nor would anyone else. With Isshin finally butting in to stop his son from falling further, we can finally get some clarification over how he is a shinigami, how he has ties with Aizen and Urahara, and how Ichigo has Hollow-like qualities in him.

I have several theories about this, since the one I had last week about Ichigo possibly being the key to the king realm might be wrong. The first is that Isshin was exiled from the Gotei 13 and stripped of his captaincy (much like Urahara and the Vaizards) due to him falling in love with a human being. This leads to how Ichigo has shinigami powers and how Aizen knows about him from his birth. What I don’t get however is how he is able to retain his shinigami powers. One would think that Yamamoto would have taken away his abilities as a shinigami as well but I guess that Urahara might have helped in getting his powers back, one way or another.

The second theory is that Ichigo’s mum is actually a hollow, since Ichigo seems to have both hollow and shinigami qualities. This might mean that his mom’s death was not coincidental and that it had something to do with the shinigami or even Aizen. This might be farfetched but it seems to explain a lot of things.

The third theory would be that Isshin and Urahara had escaped from the shinigami realm themselves with Ichigo, who is the key to the whole king thingy. This one is the most unlikely of all my theories but hey, this is Kubo we’re talking about. Heck, maybe Ichigo is actually embedded with a piece of the Hougakyu as well, leading to his hollow-like powers. Maybe Isshin and Urahara escaped with the newborn Ichigo to keep him away from Aizen who they suspect had something cooked up for the future. With Ichigo away from the shinigamis, Aizen’s ultimate plan would not be complete without the final piece, leading him to come up with the plan of luring Ichigo up to where he is now.

Another theory of interest (although stupid) may be the fact that Aizen is the actual father to Ichigo. He may have been an experiment of his, seeing as how he knew about him since he was born and all. As an experiment, Aizen infused both Hollow and Shinigami powers within him and Isshin and co. found out and escaped with Ichigo, leading Aizen to look for him in the human realm (where his mother was unfortunately caught up in the crossifre).

All this may be speculation but I’m hoping for at least one of them to be close to the truth. Since there’s so much more mystery left, I hope the plot doesn’t stagnate more than it already has. While this particular chapter was boring in that it was all talk and not much action, I liked the fact that Aizen had somehow managed to tie up everything to Ichigo’s birth. It’s stupid and farfetched, but I’m gullible like that (although it would make reading the series again odd seeing that everything up to this point was all planned by Aizen). And oh yea, Isshin looks like a beast compared to the stick-like Ichigo behind him lol.

/ 6 Commentsleave a comment /

• Kabitzin says:

  March 28, 2010

  At this point, I'm expecting Aizen to tell Ichigo that he was the one who cut Ichigo's umbilical cord… WITH HIS ZANPAKUTO!!!!
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  • Bass says:

    March 28, 2010

    That seems like the natural progression at this point lol
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• blindability says:

  March 28, 2010

  I'd really hate to think that Masaki was a Hollow or that Isshin isn't Ichigo's real father, but at this point: who knows (other than Aizen, apparently). I think Urahara might know just as much as Aizen, though, and it'll be interesting to see him show up because he may be the only person smarter than Aizen – AND he's been revealed to be involved in all sorts of things too, like helping Ichigo develop is Shinigami (and Hollow) powers.

  But we'll see. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part since I really like Urahara (plus wherever Urahara is, Yoruichi is never far behind).
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  • Bass says:

    March 29, 2010

    Lol yea they do seem a bit farfetched huh? It would add a great little twist, although it would probably be too out there for a shounen lol

    Since Isshin is here, I hope Urahara is not too far behind as well. We haven't seen him since the flashback arc, and that was aggesss ago.
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    • blindability says:

      March 30, 2010

      Plus we don't know very much about Urahara's Zanpakuto – maybe we'll even see a Bankai!
      (Now watch me get completely let down…)
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