The most dangerous characters in Bleach (Anime)

28th of January 2022

Lead Image

Bleach hosts a cast of extremely powerful characters, because of this many fans of the series constantly debate on which characters are the deadliest. Factors such as strength, speed, intelligence, and abilities are taken into consideration. This is especially important in Bleach because fights are determined based on a combination of all these things.

The five special War Powers

The leader of The Wandenreich- Yhwach created a list that included beings that could change the outcome of war. The list is called the five special war potentials. Let’s find out what the five special war potentials is all about.

The five special War Powers is a list created by Yhwach the Quincy King; this list consists of the five most dangerous people during the thousand-year blood war. The list was created for the purpose of identifying people of interests that could potentially decide the outcome of the war. The Quincy’s were to either recruit these guys into the ranks of the Quincy or defeat them. But one can say that the list was created to keep an eye on the people on the list because no one on that list was ever going to join.

Sosuke Aizen

Source

The first person on the war potential list that was directly contacted by Yhwach himself was Sosuke Aizen. Aizen was a character that we all knew one way, or another could unleash chaos during the war. We first learned that he could play a part when Yhwach goes into Muken to speak to Aizen. While all of this is going down, everyone is preoccupied fighting the first invasion of Quincy. Yhwach extends an invitation pretty much offering the invitation as freedom and Aizen being Aizen, he declines. He later goes on to side with the Shinigami and fights Yhwach himself but only for his own sake.

Surprisingly, Sosuke Aizen was on the list for his reiatsu and not his abilities with Kyoka Suigetsu. We always Aizen’s spiritual pressure was unrivalled- he could crush other beings just by flexing his spiritual pressure, he could force powerful beings with a monster instinct like Grimmjow into submission by demonstrating his reiatsu just enough.  

Consider what Gin said about Aizen- “if you fear Aizen just for his Kyoka Suigetsu, you're fearing for the wrong reason”. Aizen has shown that he isn't a one-trick pony. In addition to his dangerous intellect there is his reiatsu which he was going to use to bring down the Soul king's palace from his chair, the reiatsu he used to crush the Soul Kings excess power, this spiritual pressure is too much for Muken. The only thing the soul society can do currently is keep his reiatsu so close to him via the seals, and even that might prove difficult with time as we have seen Aizen has grown extremely powerful by just sitting there.

Zaraki Kenpachi

Source

Yhwach encountered another member on the special War Powers list before Aizen. Loyd Lloyd uses his self-ability to disguise himself as Yhwach and had an encounter with Zaraki Kenpachi- one of the five special War Powers. Some insists that it was Yhwach himself who had the encounter with Zaraki, either way Zaraki didn't stand a chance. It's probably the only time we see Zaraki lose in such a way.

Kenpachi Zaraki was on the five special War Powers list for his strength alone need I say much about this. Throughout the entire series Zaraki has shown that he doesn't need any fancy abilities or the need to be clever in fights, as he bulldozes through any enemy. He even took a bunch of Quincy out before appearing in front of Yhwach and this is way before he knew his shikai. Central 46 feared him and prevented him from gaining any more strength and even his own peers acknowledged that it's best to stay that way.

While not proven by Canon in any way, I think Aizen knew just as well as Yhwach that Zaraki would be enough to end the War. He might have known Zaraki will go looking for the best fight once the captains were dispatched to fight the Arrancar.

Having powerhouses like Ichigo, Grimmjow, Yukio and Nori Tora in one place- Hueco Mundo, would have Zaraki excited. By doing this Aizen was able to close Hueco Mundo off and have everyone preoccupied with the Espada there (a theory). But whether Aizen knew it or not, Yhwach did keep a close eye on Zaraki during the first invasion.

Ichigo Kurosaki

Source

Unbeknownst to Ichigo at the time was his incredible lineage and makeup. It was only Isheen, Urahara, Aizen and Yhwach that knew deep down what Ichigo truly was- a Shinigami-Hollow-Quincy hybrid, and that is what made Ichigo such a scary person to Yhwach and the Wandenreich. Everything about Ichigo and his growth potential was so unknown to everyone else. Before he learned the truth and unlocked his true potential, Ichigo was already growing at an absurd rate. Yhwach was so scared of Ichigo that he wanted to get to get rid of him as soon as possible in their fight while he was infused with the soul king.  

Imagine a guy who just consumed the Soul king and could see and change the future was so scared of Ichigo that he had to instantly end the fight. It was all a laughing matter to him until Ichigo activated his Bankai. He knew playtime was over and that he had to end it or else…. You know the rest.

As you could expect, Ichigo Kurosaki proved to be troublesome to the Quincy initiative, he was the one who dealt the final blow to Yhwach, and even before that he was thrown Quincy's into buildings.

Kisuke Urahara

Source

At first glance Urahara doesn't seem like much of a threat but as we all know this is an act. He doesn't seem like a serious guy but is not someone you want to forget during a war. You want to see what he is always up to or else your plans will collapse from right under you. Unlike the other Shinigami mentioned above who could destroy you with their strength or reiatsu, Urahara could probably beat you that way but that isn't his preferred method. He is calculative and smart, he is the man with the plan- multiple plans to be more specific, which is why he is one of the five war powers on the Wandenreich’s list.

He is unpredictable to keep your eyes off him for even a second. The mastermind behind the defeat of Sosuke Aizen and former research and development head, Kisuke enters a fight with many possibilities figured out already. There isn't anything that slips through the cracks with Kisuke Urahara, he even has plans for when he loses or dies. Coupling all these with the fact that he knows every single person listed so far is also dangerous to the Quincy.

He knows what Ichigo truly is, knows what Aizen is capable of doing, and potentially knows what his next move could be, and he obviously knows Zaraki’s strength. He is too smart to be left unchecked, and if we're being honest I don't think the Quincy's did a good enough job on keeping him checked. I’d say that because keeping him unchecked cause a couple of losses for the Quincy's such as being the one behind Ichigo's escape from the jail, the solution to the Bankai-stealing Quincy badges, and the death of one of you Yhwach elites.

Ichibē Hyōsube

Source

The final war potential Ichibē Hyōsube- leader of the zero division, the final front of the soul society, the protector of the soul king and the creator of names. Ichibē was around before the creation of the soul society as we know it today and was also around during the first war a thousand years ago. Therefore, Ichibē was one of the five war potentials. His insight and wisdom are enough to be considered a dangerous person of interest.

Unfortunately for him his comrades were quickly dispatched, and he was forced to deal with the monster that is Yhwach alone. Despite his incredibly broken ability to rename things, Ichibē fell victim to the Almighty. Unfortunately for everyone on the five-war potential list, Ichibē proved to overpower all their strength.

Aizen's reiatsu was no match for Ichibē and his overwhelming reiatsu as he used it to drown and incapacitate Aizen.

Zaraki's strength was not even on the level of a Yhwach clone, and this was before you Yhwach the soul Kings power.

Urahara's means and strategies could only help so much. He was stopped before he could even participate in this fight against the king himself.

Ichigo was quickly discarded directly by Yhwach. While his potential was feared greatly Yhwach, he was no match for the almighty and its future changing abilities. Our hero was defeated before he could even show off what his true potential was. Ichigo eventually dealt the final blow but this wasn't because of his laying ability or anything. Ichibē had the upper hand for most of the fight but fell victim to being at the wrong place at the wrong time. His defeat really cemented the direction the war was going in and also amplified the situation the Soul Reapers were in.

__________________________

Source

__________________________

What did you think about the five special war powers list? If you think there is a character that I forgot about or that Yhwach should have known about, do not hesitate to mention this in the comment section.

Images used have cited