Editor's Note: This entry contains plot spoilers for the Bleach manga and anime.

About

Sōsuke Aizen is the main antagonist of the Japanese manga series Bleach written and illustrated by Kubo Tite. Due to Aizen's various Diabolus ex Machina abilities, as well has his almost perfect foresight and manipulation of characters and events, has led him to become both a source of mockery and admiration for both fans and critics of the character.

Origin

Aizen first appeared in chapter 79 of the manga,^[1] and episode 23 of the anime.^[2] Aizen is introduced as a kind and compassionate man who cares for those around him. However it is eventually revealed that Aizen is in fact a villain who has been manipulating events to his own favor. He soon becomes the main antagonist of the series until his defeat at the hands of protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki.

Spread

Due to his powers and abilities, Aizen has become one of the more recognizable shonen anime villains, along with others such as Madara Uchiha from Naruto and Freeza from Dragon Ball. The earliest known video featuring Aizen on YouTube was uploaded on July 8th, 2006, by user Erdbeerenserver (shown below).

A significant amount of AMVs have been made featuring Aizen,^[3] the earliest known of which was uploaded to YouTube on November 20th, 2009 by user Trophious (shown below, left), and the most viewed of which has over 5 million views (shown below, right).

Taco Aizen

Taco Aizen is a mixture of Azien and Taco Bell used to poke fun at Huedo Mundo and the other Spanish based elements within Bleach many of which tie back to Aizen himself. According to Urban Dictionary,^[4] Taco Aizen originated from the Livejournal community CAPSLOCK_BLEACH, specifically user spartydragon. The original Taco Aizen post was in fact created by spartydragon on June 7th, 2007 with an image editing Aizen into a Taco Bell restaurant (shown below).^[5]

Taco Aizen has produced several parody images, as well as videos of Aizen's English voice actor preforming a fictional commercial for a Taco Aizen restaurant (shown below).

Butterfly Aizen / Fairy Aizen

Butterfly Aizen refers to the backlash towards Aizen's final forms in which he appears to gain either butterfly or fairy wings and features. On August 18th, 2010, an Urban Dictionary entry was made for "Aizen" which was heavily focused on the fact that Aizen's new form strongly resembled a butterfly.^[6]

Aizen's Plan / Since When Were You Under the Impression

Aizen's plan refers to both the mockery and admiration of Aizen's ability to nearly perfectly predict the events that will transpire in a similar vein to just as planned. On February 21st, 2011, YouTuber CeroPrimeroInc uploaded a video titled "Aizen's Flawless Plan" as a side project to their Arrancar Party series (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References