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On the way to Karakura town, Ichigo is informed by Unohana that he is the only one with a chance of defeating Aizen, as he alone hasn't seen his Shikai.

Ichigo..apparently does nothing about this. He doesn't blindfold himself or protect his eyes in any way that would be obvious to an anime viewer. Aizen could presumably just activate his weapon and negate Ichigo's only advantage at a whim.

Does Ichigo do anything to protect him from Aizen's illusions? If not, why does Ichigo charge Aizen without any regard for protecting himself from his game-ending ability, despite being warned about it minutes earlier?

Fadeway
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2 Answers2

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Bleach has its share of rather blatant and gaping plot holes, but here are two logical reasons to this question from my perspective:

  1. First Ichigo obliviously plans to finish off Aizen in a one hit kill as he feels that it would be his best chance of winning and goes on with it. He first attempts this in (Refer chapter 388) when Aizen is busy fighting Shinji and the others Ichigo tears into the world with his thoughts racing to cut him down stating that's the only way to defeat him without seeing Aizen's shikai. The initial attack to his blindspot is blocked with kido as Aizen is well aware of being targeted at the back of the neck and Ichigo reveals that he made a split second bad decision without thinking it through.

    In fact it momentarily appears to have paid off where he manages to land a slash through Aizen's neck just as Aizen is escaping from Yamamoto Genryusai's last attack (end of which he lost his arm). Refer manga chapter 397 where this happens and initially the timing and execution of the attack seems exemplary, only being undone by Aizen's new found powers after merging with the hogyoku. It could be summarized that Ichigo relied on his one hit kill plan way too much and in the thick of things did not device a plan B in case it failed.

  2. As to why Aizen did not attempt to lure Ichigo into illusion with his Kyoka Suigetsu's release can be attributed to various factors, but primarily

    • Aizen wanted to be defeated. Aizen's inner (perhaps suicidal) tendency to find a person who could comprehensively defeat him which Ichigo attributes to Aizen's loneliness caused by his incredible power where he was unable to find someone equally powerful as himself. Refer manga chapter 422 where Ichigo discusses with Urahara how he felt Aizen's loneliness on coming to contact with him when Ichigo was fighting on the same level as Aizen.

    • Another aspect like mentioned in the previous answer is Aizen's visible arrogant and megalomaniac like tendency shortly displayed after he fuses with the hoguoku. He feels that none of the Shinigami or Vizards are a visible threat and in many cases does not even bother to dodge enemy attacks during the battle like in the instance where he fends off Kisuke and Yoroichi.

optimusprime619
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It might be because of Ichigo's burning emotions towards Aizen that he doesn't think that through or maybe the author just decided not to add that in. Or maybe Aizen didn't want to show Ichigo his Shikai because he felt he was strong enough to defeat Ichigo without it.

Cyberson
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